Week 5, Term 2, 2021

Dear Parents, Staff, Students and SSPS community,

When I write the name Steve Jobs, most people know immediately who I’m writing about. The former CEO of Apple Computers, a visionary in the world of technology and a man who is largely responsible for the level at which computers are integrated within our everyday lives.  Steve Jobs, sadly, died at the age of just 56.

By today’s standards, his life was short. Despite this, he managed to transform the lives of millions of people. His legacy will live on with every iPod, iPhone, Mac, and iPad that graces a desk or coffee table around the globe.

He didn’t gain all of this because he was lucky, or even because he was super intelligent or amazingly creative. He had elements of all of those things. Jobs was successful because he was determined, curious and creative. He started Apple with a friend from his parents’ garage. His first product could hardly be described as an overnight success, but it got Apple noticed.

He went on to become a multimillionaire, only to be fired by the company. He didn’t wallow in self-pity or blame others. Instead, he was determined and persistant, eventually returning to Apple and creating technology that people around the world will line up for days to be the first to own. In a 1995 interview, Jobs said, “I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance which is so hard."

To be determined is a necessary trait, which is possessed by all successful students. Determination speaks to a refusal to give up the pursuit of a goal despite obstacles.  It involves the ability to see failure as a positive learning experience and empowers our students to try and try again until the learning goal is attained.  As we try to teach St Saviour’s Primary learners the value of determination we want them to understand the value of hard work.  We want them to learn how to hone their problem-solving skills and take responsibility for their own academic progress. 

A key here for me is teaching our learners to not make excuses or blame others for failure.  As teachers and parents, we can foster determination by talking to our learners about the benefits of determination and informing them about famous people who personify determanation, such as Steve Jobs. 

Nowadays too many students try to avoid hard work.  They expect learning to be easy and they are all too willing to give up when the going gets tough.  They complain that academic work is boring and difficult.  Determination is vital because it plays a pivotal role in building a habit that keeps on no matter how hard things are. This acts as an inner strength that helps our learners ignore and overcome obstacles and keep moving forward towards their goal or their chosen path.

As we move into the midterm, the challenge is for all learners to develop that key habit of determination.  We want our learners to strive for accuracy in their formative and summative assesment.

The Year Ahead

It is that time of the year again that I begin the process of planning for 2022 enrolments, class structures, budgets and resources.  As you know our enrolments play a significant part in helping us stay focused and achieve our strategic priorities. While we have committed to a range of marketing strategies for our school, in truth, the word of mouth of current families is our best form of advertising and it is almost universally positive. I am always grateful for the parents, their kind words and continuing support. You cannot buy this endorsement but you certainly have to earn it on a daily basis. It is our staff who deserve recognition for this. They are committed and talented professionals who are motivated to do their best for the benefit of our learners. This applies not only to the teachers doing the vital work in the classrooms but the countless other staff who provide a range of support and service to our community. I am repeatedly inspired by their efforts.

Principal Summative Review Feedback

Thank you to our school community, parents, staff and students who were involved in my principal summative review in Term 1.  I was truly humbled to receive such a positive review and will continue to ‘strive for goodness’ for our school community by always placing our learners first.  I am forever grateful for being the leader of this wonderful community.  Following is a link to a summary of my review that has been presented to the staff, School Board and P & F at the recent meetings.

 Principal_Summative_Review.pdf

Wishing our school counsellor, Anne Woodcroft-Brown and her husband Alistair, all the best on the arrival of their first child in the coming weeks.  Anne will be taking leave from next Friday until next year.  We will certainly miss Anne's calm approach and expertise in her absence. We look forward to taking on babysitting duties very soon.  

The interview process has begun for Anne's replacement whilst she is on leave.  This will be communicated to the school community once the process is complete. 

With every best wish for the week ahead.

Madonna  Sleba

Dear Parents and Carers,

We are just about half way through the term and  Winter will be with us before we know it. Our days at school continue to be very busy for everyone, however as I have been been in and out of every classroom lately undertaking Learning Walks and Talks as part of our Illuminate RE Project, I can guarantee that there is lots of great learning happening, with discussion and sharing, particularly around the creation story, the Holy Spirit, St Paul and the liturgical calendar. 

A National Mass is to be celebrated concurrently across the country on the Feast of Our Lady Help of Christians, 24 May 2021 (next Monday).

In Toowoomba the National Mass will be celebrated at 10.30am at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Toowoomba. Schools have been invited to send a limited number of students, however SSPS is able to have all our Year 6 leaders  attend. 

The rest of the school will be watching the livestreaming of the Mass from St Patrick’s Cathedral into their classrooms and parents/ familes are invited to join in online as well. Two of our students feature in video clips which will be shared at the Mass. Riley Woods (5L) is part of the online choir and for the past month has been practising with Mrs Spalding and also learning what it takes to coordinate 22 different schools and set up for videoing of the group. Quite tricky!!

Maya  Smith (6W), representing SSPS as the oldest school in the diocese, is on the video, reading one of the Prayers of the Faithful, along with 3 other students, representing most western, southern and northern schools. 

After the Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral, there will be a morning tea on the lawn, to which Mass attendees are welcome. TCS has encourage a shared morning tea at all schools and have  sent ‘cupcake toppers’ that have the Toowoomba Catholic Schools, 200 years of Catholic education and the themed ‘Southern Cross’ logo to all schools. This is to remind all of us that we are ‘a part of something bigger’ and knowing that all other schools are doing the same. We are lucky to have some wonderful parents and community members who have "volunteered " to make the 450 or so cupcakes to put the toppers on !!

Many of you I know have been a part of the history of Catholic Education as students either in this diocese or others around Australia, so this celebration is for you as well. Thanks for all you do as current parents of children in Catholic Education. We would not be doing the job we love, without your ongoing support.

SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM:

Tomorrow evening there are 39 young people, mostly from SSPS but some also from St Joseph's College, Concordia, East SS, Tmba Grammar and Glennie who will be receiving the sacrament of Confirmation as the next important step in their faith journey. Bishop Robert and Fr Michael will be hostiing the ceremony, and after last year, we appreciate that family members are able to join us. 

Cluster Groups, preparing for First Communion, recommence straight away on Sunday, with First Communion Masses planned for June 5 and 6. It is highly recommended that families book their places at the relevant Mass, via Trybooking.com as seats in St Patrick's Cathedral are still limited to 400.

EISTEDDFOD SUCCESS:

A great day was had by all at the Toowoomba Eisteddfod last week. A huge and sincere "THANK YOU" goes out to Mrs Anita McVeigh (our amazing Drama Teacher), for supporting the students and getting them ready for their performances.

Ayla Allen and Lucy Warner (Year 5) performed "The Captain" and came first.

Sia Luck and Abby Phillips(Year 4) performed the "Outwitted Out West" and came first.

The SSPS Drama Club (Year 6) performed "The Assembly Cough" and came second.

Congratulations to everyone who competed!! You are all champions.

Enjoy the rest of your week,

Judy

Dear Parents and Carers,

SEMESTER 1 REPORTING

A-E Definitions

Semester Two Report Cards will be sent home in the final week of this term.

When you receive your child's report card you will notice that nothing has changed and we are still using A-E grades for each area of learning.  These A-E results come with definitions which you will also see on the report card.

An example of the 'C' definition is below:

Evidence of the student's work typically demonstrates that the student has the targeted knowledge and

• expected conceptual understanding
• expected application of skills
• they are able to transfer the above to familiar situations

As you can see above, a 'C' result in any learning area (Maths, English, Science etc) is the expected result.  Some other key terms that are included in this definition are below:

Evidence: a range of information that teachers collect including data, work samples, digital media, teacher notes, formal assessment tasks.

Typically: allows for those students who may not have displayed this during a particular assessment task, but it is evident in their work with the frequency required within this grade.  No longer are grades given based on one test or one assignment.

Conceptual Understanding: connected web of knowledge.  Different concepts in maths may include angles, perimiter, area etc.

Skills: These are often the things that students need to be able to do.  Some examples include creating texts, asking questions, re-reading and editing and there are many more. 

Transfer: transfer is the ability of a student to take their current knowledge, skills and understandings and apply this into a new scenario and/or different context.  

Of course, several students will achieve above or below a 'C' grade and the definitions do alter to take this into consideration.  The three key terms of conceptual understanding, skills and the ability to transfer knowledge are in all definitions and students show these at different levels and hence the A-E grade.

If you would like any further clarification on the A-E definitions, please don't hesitate to send me an email.

IGNITE LEARNING 

At St Saviour's Primary we want our learners to STRIVE at LEARNING and at LIFE and they can do that through the following learning dispositions:

To follow on from Ms Sleba's newsletter article, I too would like to focus on the disposition of determination.  

Determinate learners are willing to persist intelligently with challenges in the face of confusion or frustration.  They have learnt through experience that the feeling of pride and satisfaction that follows a successful struggle is a very good feeling.

A point to make in relation to this is the fact that learners who have learned to confuse effortless success with intelligence are deprived of this source of fulfillment.  When these learners do happen to struggle, they perceive it as a sign of stupidity.  In reality, when a struggle is happening, learning is taking place.

To help reinforce the disposition of determination with your child at home you can try the following ideas:

Try three before me - If your child is stuck with homework or a task at home, rather that just doing it for them, you can ask them to tell you three things that they have tried to unstick themselves (e.g. reread the book or instructions, asked a sibling, researched).  If they can tell you three things and they are still stuck, you can talk to them about the strategies and perhaps give them a small nudge in the right direction.  

So often learners are used to being rescued by teachers and parents and this strategy might just help to increase their determination.

Source: Claxton, G. (2018).  The Learning Power Approach: Teaching learners to teach themselves.  California, USA: Corwin.

If you would like to provide any feedback, please feel free to email me.  sam.hannant@twb.catholic.edu.au 

NAPLAN ONLINE 2021

NAPLAN online is now complete for 2021.  Well done to all learners in Years 3 and 5 who participated in the testing.  Determination was certainly shown throughout the course of the four tests.  

Sam Hannant

APA

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Being new to St Saviour’s Primary school, I’m also new to a targeted focus on STEM in a school setting. To be honest, I had to double check what each letter of the acronym stood for - Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. I got pretty excited when I started to hear and see some of the great things we are doing in this area at St Saviour’s Primary. Our world is fast-changing and we are constantly expected to keep up with new technologies. We need to foster learning that builds innovative and creative thinkers, who exit our school ready to participate and contribute to our everchanging society.

All year levels are integrating the ideas from STEM in their planning and having great success. From designing a bridge that can withstand a certain weight, to programing B Bots to learn about grid references. As well as this integration, we are providing opportunities to the older students to participate in the design thinking process. Ms Harlen and Ms Parkes-Moller work with the Year 5 and 6 students during our twice weekly STEM club meetings. On Monday this week, the students designed and created obstacles for a putt putt course using sustainable materials. Check out our St Saviour’s Facebook page for some pictures. Students considered their users and the materials they had available and made some impressive obstacles!

Later this term on the 2^nd and 4^th of June, 20 students from Year 6 will visit St Saviour’s and St Mary’s College to attend the spark EDU conferences: ‘It Takes a Spark’. The theme this year is ‘Opening our eyes to the excitement of STEM in the world!’. Some experiences of the day include:

• Participating in hands on STEM activities
• Students running their own workshop for other students on ‘Microbits’ - with the help of Mrs Harlen
• Listening to a keynote speaker from the STEM industry
• Participating in a real-life problem-solving challenge.

Have a wonderful week!

Warm Regards,

Nicki Prentice

This week is Library and Information Week, an Australian wide event focusing on the way libraries satisfy our need for information and stories. We celebrated story by taking part in National Simultaneous Storytime (NSST) and we highlighted access to information via our library database.  All students gathered on Wednesday at 11am for the reading of "Give Me Some Space" from the International Space Station. Older students have had some opportunities to explore the links on the AccessIT homepage to read and view sources from the Australian Space Agency and NASA.

Photos below from our National Simultaneous Storytime.

NSST

After seeing and hearing the story being read from the International Space Station students commented that they were inspired to be an astronaut and to live in space. 

Students Seeking Information 

Year 5 students made the most of library books and links to online sources to gleam some facts about space

Class Browse and Borrow

Yr 4 students were efficient library users during their browse and borrow time this week.

Reminder:

Unreturned library items from Term 1 2021 will be invoiced shortly so if your student has received an overdue letter for loans due January - April please have one more check for these items at home.  

Learning Dispositions - Be Curious

Being curious is key to developing independence and finding joy in learning.

We encourage all library users to look for and borrow reading material based on what they are curious to know and explore.

The library team value this area of our daily work. We consider supporting students to find material that satisfies their curiosity a privilege.

Anne Anderson

Teacher Librarian 

School Sport

I am very excited to announce that Maya Smith made the Darling Downs Football (Soccer) Team. Fantastic effort Maya and we look forward to hearing all about it.

Zone and Darling Downs Trials

All Zone and Darling Downs trials will be placed on SchoolZine. Please check SchoolZine regularly or set up notifications on your phone if you wish for your child to be eligible to trial for Zone and Darling Downs sporting teams as you will be required to obtain paperwork from myself. Any questions, please contact me at brendan.luck@twb.catholic.edu.au.

Upcoming Events (Term Two)

• SSPS Athletics Carnival – 17th June 2021 (9.00am – 12.00pm) and 18th June 2021 (8:30pm – 3.00pm)

Kind Regards

Brendan Luck

PE Teacher

Congratulations to our Weekly Award Winners from Week 4 and 5.  

Week 4

Week 5

School Fees:

Term 2 School Fees are due for payment on Friday 28th May.  Your Term 2 fees were sent home via Email on Friday 7th May.

Please contact the office if you did not receive your school fee statement.

Absentees:

Just a reminder that if your child is absent from school, a notification via the SZAPP can be sent, or a phone call to the office.  It is imperative that all absences be communicated to the office before 9am each day.  All late arrivals after 8.30 am need to report to the office to sign in the late register.  Text messages will be sent home if your child has been marked as an unexplained absence.  Please remember if you inform your child's teacher of an absence, you need to also advise the office. 

Medication at school:

Just a reminder that medication bought in from home, must be labelled by a pharmacy.  The office can not administer any form of medication otherwise.

School Improvement Survey:

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

This year our school will be participating in a School Review and Improvement survey managed by Research Australia Development and Innovation Institute (RADII). As well as school staff and students from Years 5 - 12, all parents are invited to participate in the survey. The survey provides valuable feedback for the future directions of our school. It would be appreciated if parents could update their contact details prior 25 June 2021. This will ensure delivery to the correct parent email addresses are available. On Monday 26 July 2021, RADII will send all parents a personalised invitation to complete the survey online. If both parents' email addresses are on file at the school, the invitation will be sent to both parents. However, the survey will close once the first person has completed it. If you do not wish to complete the survey, simply delete it. The survey will take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete. You can complete the survey from anywhere you have access to the internet. The survey will close on Sunday, 08 August 2021. We encourage you to be very honest in your responses to the surveys. All responses go directly to RADII so they are confidential and anonymous. When the surveys are completed, and responses aggregated by RADII, overall data is sent to us so that we can then share the findings with you.

As our school no longer uses CARMONKEY or OPEROO as it was changed to late last year, we encourage any families who have changed their details (residential or email) to notify us here at St Saviour's of this change.  In particular email addresses. You can email us directly at ssps@twb.catholic.edu.au

Over the next few weeks our school will be transitioning to a Parent Portal.  Information will be emailed home for families on how to access the Portal.  The portal will provide information about your children here at St Saviour's Primary.  Information such as residential address, phone numbers, email, report cards, medical information and so on will be on the parent portal.  All parents who have a current email address and are the primary contact for their child will receive access to the Portal. The Portal will be used by the families to access information and update any changes that occurr throughout their time with us at St Saviour's Primary.

Volunteer Register:

Just a reminder if you are volunteering in any capacity at our school, you must complete a volunteer register form. Forms are available from the office.

Facebook:  

Follow St Saviour's Primary on FACEBOOK.  Lots of events and happenings around the school are posted on Facebook.  It is another great way of staying in touch with what is happening at school.  

Pizza Treat Day:

Term 2 Pizza Treat Day will be held on Thursday June 17.  Ordering will be via Flexischools.  Keep an eye out for when ordering becomes available.

Prep 2022:

If any current St Saviour's families have not yet completed an enrolment form for their child to attend Prep 2022 and are still wanting a place for next year, please contact the office.  This also applies to any families in our community who may be considering St Saviour's Primary for Prep 2022. 

Thankyou.

Skooldayz Uniform Shop:

The Uniform Shop is open the following days and times:

Monday - 2.30pm - 4.00 pm

Friday - 2.30pm - 4.00 pm

Please contact Dan Eagleson during business hours if you would like to place a uniform order outside of these times. 0481 318 398.  Please refer to the skooldayz website for ordering online.  www.skooldayz.com.au or follow on Facebook. 

Outside School Care:

Reminder for families wanting to enrol their children are invited  visit our website www.tckc.qld.edu.au, click on OUTSIDE SCHOOL HOURS CARE tab and complete an enrolment form relevant to St Saviours. Our website also provides you with operating hours, fee schedules and other relevant information. The services offer flexible arrangements to suit the needs of your family and provides the opportunity for children to grow and develop their social skills in a leisure based environment nurtured by our Catholic ethos.  

We can be contacted on 0429 381 561 between 6:30-8:30 and 1:00- 6:00 each day or at SSPcare@tckc.qld.edu.au to help you with any bookings or enquires.

Students and Teachers are continuing to deepen their understanding of Positive Education Enhanced Curriculum (PEEC) through weekly wellbeing lessons. This term students in the lower primary have focused on empathy and compassion, including showing empathy to others and recognizing and understanding different emotions. Our middle and upper primary students have been focusing on developing their creative abilities. Keep an eye out on our ‘Flourishing’ notice board for examples of some of the amazing work we are seeing from students in this space.

Promoting positive wellbeing at home can be as simple as asking the ‘right’ questions at the end of each school day. Asking questions that promote reflection and action can help shift a child’s disposition and overall wellbeing in the face of challenge. Here are some questions you might like to try – we like to a call this activity “a PEEC at your day”: 

• What went well today?
• How could you have made today even better?
• What actions can you take to make tomorrow better?

I also wanted to take this opportunity to inform you all that I will be heading off on maternity leave at the end of Week 6. I will certainly miss being at St Saviour’s Primary, but I trust that our wonderful community will continue to support the wellbeing of all students until I return in 2022. If you have any concerns about your child’s wellbeing or the counselling program at SSPS, please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s class teacher and reach out to a member of leadership. Wishing you all the very best until we meet again!

Anne Woodcroft-Brown

P&F News:

Last Tuesday 18th May we gathered for our monthly FACE meeting. Thank you to everyone who attened on the night.

Mother's Day Market:

Special thanks to everyone who supported the Mother's Day Market.  It was great to hear feedback that the kids enjoyed the market. To our wonderful parent volunteers who helped on the day, your time and effort was greatly appreciated.  To our Coordinator of the Mother's Day stall, Katie Boydpratt a special thanks for all her hard work behind the scenes in setting up and packing down.  We hope everyone enjoyed their Mother's Day.

Toowoomba Catholic Kindy Care (TCKC)

We had the pleasure of hearing from TCKC.  We heard about the new changes that have occurred at St Saviour's with the before and after school care programme and also heard about the process and procedures that have been put in place.  It was exciting to hear about their  involvement in our community and how they are moving forward to become more engaged through our school.

Some upcoming events:

Pie Drive:

We will be holding a Pie Drive in the lead up to the school holidays. Information about how to order will be posted on Schoolzine by the end of this week, but the last day for ordering will be on the Tuesday 8th June and delivery day will be on the Tuesday 15th June. 

Our next meeting will be on the Tuesday 15th of June at 6:00pm, we look forward to seeing our community there.

If you have any questions or want to be involved please feel free to email us at Ssppandf@twb.catholic.edu.au.

Thank you to everyone who supported our recent Purple Day raising money for Epilepsy.  In total we raised $742.00. We received a special note of thanks from Mr Matt Butler, Fundraising & Donor Development Officer for Epilepsy Qld.

The community spirit you and the staff have nurtured at St Saviour’s Primary School is simply fantastic.  A big thank you to you, your team, and the students for working so hard to produce these wonderful results for people living with epilepsy. 

Looks like they had a lot of fun in the process.

Warm regards

Matt Butler

Fundraising & Donor Development Officer

P (07) 3435 5000 | F (07) 3435 5025

Epilepsy Queensland Inc | PO Box 1457 Coorparoo DC QLD 4151.

Below are some photos from Purple Day

Tuckshop Term 2:

Wow, halfway through Term 2!  Where does time go?  

Tuckshop is busy as always……. and thanks to our wonderful mums and dads who volunteer their precious time, so that all our children can enjoy a treat from the tuckshop. 

Without your help, tuckshop simply would not exist….so THANK YOU!!!

State of Origin is approaching fast, we will have our usual special footy food items on offer- iced donuts, dagwood dogs and layered jelly tubs. Ordering will be via Flexischools, with only a small amount kept back for cash sales.

Now that the cooler months are upon us, sushi will be unavailable for ordering.  They will return later in the year.

Please consider volunteering in the tuckshop, even an hour is greatly appreciated.  And the kids just love seeing mum or dad helping in the tuckshop.

Regards,

Natasha Biggar

Tuckshop Convenor