Week 7, Term 3, 2021
Dear Parents, Staff and Students,
We are fortunate to be a school community with a clear set of values. Our daily practice is informed by the four Cornerstones of commitment, compassion, quality and service. Further to these, as St Saviour’s Primary School, we also encourage our learners to live by the motto: strive for goodness.
The challenge in being overt about our values is ensuring that you are always striving to live them out in practice. In other words, our values need to be more than mere words on a page. They need to be a lived reality for our learners, our teachers, our parents and the wider SSPS community.
Sadly, parents, keeping in mind these values, this is a reminder to you that you need to obey the road rules around our school to keep our children safe at all times. Remember the following:
- No parking in the bus stops.
- No parking in driveways.
- Look before you back out of a park.
- No parking at the crossing on the grass in Lawrence St.
- Avoid yelling obscenities at other drivers.
- No entering off Neil St and parking at the Mercy Centre.
The parking situation is going to become even tighter as we begin the building project in the next week. So please, please, please be responsible around our school and keep our families and staff safe.
Next week, we encounter the future of the school, welcoming our 2022 Prep learners on Wednesday 1st September from 9a.m. – 10:30a.m. for their first transition morning. Parents will drop their children to the Mercy Centre by 9a.m. and return to collect them at 10:30a.m. The children will spend time in the Prep rooms engaging in a variety of activities.
It is an absolute privilege to meet prospective families and their children here at school. During their interviews they shared with us their interests and what they are most looking forward to when they begin school. Their answers are delightful and sometimes surprising and we look forward to getting to know each of them a little bit more before they start next year in 2022.
I share with you the thoughts of one prospective St Saviour’s Primary family this week as an insight into this privilege. Their response to the question of why St Saviour’s Primary School was:
We want a place where our son will have every opportunity to try new things in a happy, safe environment. We want a Catholic education for our son so that he learns to be a ‘good’ person to his friends and others. A place where he will make friends and always give his best.
Relationships and learning are at the heart of any successful school and I would like to think at St Saviours Primary School this young boy’s hope can be realised. On the evidence of the way our children generally relate with each other and how connected many of them are with each other, even years after school, there is every chance this hope will be fulfilled.
More broadly, the demand for places for 2022 in Prep is very strong with only a few places left. Thank you to our school admin officers: Julie, Jodie and Alex for their outstanding leadership and organisation of this important process.
Thanks for reading.
Madonna Sleba
Dear Parents and Carers,
Cormac's Special Day:
Yesterday, 1W, myself and Ms Sleba were privileged to join with Cormac Hannam and his family for his Baptism. The students were all very excited as they had been helping with preparations, with some of the students reading a prayer, the whole class singing a special "Welcoming Song" and presenting Cormac with a Commemorative Book that they had all written in. Congratulations Cormac and thanks for sharing your special day with us.
Sunday Children's Mass coming up:
Sunday Sept 12, 9am at St Patrick's Cathedral will be our first Children's Mass for 2021. As we are planning on having the older students take lead roles with singing and reading and the younger students attend the Children's Liturgy, we are keen to know who is coming.
Please click on the following link https://forms.office.com/Pages... by Monday September 6, only if you are planning on having your children attend. Thank you!
p.s There will be a morning tea provided afterwards.
ILLUMINATE RE Update:
As a part of our Tier 1 Illuminate RE Project, some time has been spent at looking at RE Curriculum updates, including Prayer. Last week, I spent time in most classrooms with Lisa Cavanagh (our Education Officer: Formation and Identity) modelling different forms of meditative prayer. These prayers included:
Yr 5: Mantras & using beads
Yr 4: Praying with Colour
Yr 2: Centred Breathing and attending to posture
Discussion was held before and after the prayer sessions and from observation, as well as comments from students and teachers, meditative prayer is already well entrenched within daily classroom practice, with the benefits noted and articulated clearly by the students, with words like, "calming, focusing, relaxing" being used repeatedly.
National Child Protection Week (5 -11 September), raises awareness about protecting the rights of children and preventing child abuse.
2021 Theme: Every child, in every community, needs a fair go.
In Week 9, teachers and classes will be participating in various tasks, discussions focusing on what students can do to keep themselves safe. 1K is preparing a special song to share at assembly on Monday (Sept 6), the Network Song, which is aimed at reminding students about their Safety Network.
PASTORAL CARE:
Thanks to those members of our community who have offered to prepare meals to send home to others. If anyone else would like to assist in some way, then Coles/ Woolies giftcards or Taxi vouchers would be much appreciated.
Enjoy the rest of your week,
Judy
Dear Parents and Carers,
As mentioned in an earlier newsletter, St Saviour's Primary is working hard on developing a language of learning throughout the school.
The learning dispositions are very much becoming part of our daily language at St Saviour's. Our students and staff are seeing themselves as learners and calling themselves learners. The learner at St Saviour's Primary understands the process of learning and knows that it's okay to struggle with something new. Our learners are beginning to have real clarity around what they are learning and are beginning to seek and provide feeback.
As parents, you too can help to foster this language of learning. Here are some questions that you might like to ask your child at home.
Tell me about something you learned at school today
Was there anything you found really tricky? What strategies did you use to help you in your learning?
Tell me one thing you learned at school today and I’ll tellyou one thing I learned at work.
How were you challenged in your learning today?
What are you learning in Art /PE/Numeracy/reading/writing etc?
What are you looking forward to at school tomorrow?
Did you make any mistakes at school today? Tell me what you learned from them.
What challenged you most today?
What was the nicest thing you did for someone else today?
Do you have any questions that your teacher might be able to answer tomorrow?
What are your next steps on your learning journey in numeracy/science etc?
ICAS Assessments
This year St Saviour’s Primary will be participating in the world-renowned ICAS AssessmentsTM.
ICAS is designed to target students’ higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills in English, Mathematics, Science, Writing, Spelling Bee and Digital Technologies. This year St Saviour’s Primary students in Years 3 – 6 have the optional opportunity to participate in the English and Mathematics tests only.
Thanks to parents who have registered their child. The Maths ICAS Test will take place early next week.
Sam Hannant
Assistant Principal: Administration
Dear Parents and Carers,
In Week 3 of Term 4, we will be having a STEM showcase! Teachers will open their classrooms and invite you in to celebrate all things STEM. The purpose of the showcase is twofold – to share what students are doing in their classrooms, as well as give you an opportunity to engage in some hands-on activities!
Along with the showcase, we are also doing a whole school STEM challenge. The children are going to design their ultimate adventure playground! Check out some details below. You are certainly welcome to collaborate with your children and help them design and create a model of their adventure playground!
How to Enter the STEM Challenge:
Take your Playground Design sheet home and fill it in (available Week 9)
- Create your playground (a prototype) – this may be out of lego, playdough, recyclable materials, 3D design on Tinkercad or perhaps you might like to draw it- digitally or by hand.
- Bring your completed design and prototype into your classroom by Wednesday of Week 2.
- During Week 2, students will share their playgrounds with their classmates and the teachers shortlist them to the 3 most creative playgrounds. Classes will then vote on their favourite. The top playgrounds from each year level will then be shortlisted to one per year level.
- In Week 3, some industry judges will choose the most innovative and creative playground from the shortlist.
- On Monday in Week 3, the top 7 playground prototypes will be on display in the boulder area during our STEM showcase for all parents and visitors to view.
Happy Creating!
Warm Regards
Nicki Prentice
Happy Reading
Anne Anderson
Interschool Sport
Year six and five students have been playing against other schools across Toowoomba for interschool sport. We have students in Rugby League, Soccer and Netball. All teams have been doing a fantastic job representing their school and have been winning a lot of games but most importantly having fun playing sport with their peers. I look forward to hearing about interschool sport over the rest of the term (photos attached).
Zone Athletics Carnival (Results)
St Saviour’s students represented their school at the Central Zone Athletics Carnival. They ran, jumped, and throw with two to three students in each event. St Saviour’s did extremely well with many students placing in the top three for their events. All students are to be commended on the way they represented their school and the sportsmanship they showed on the day. Results for the day are listed below (photos attached).
1500m
- 11-Year-Old Boys – Taylor Wann (3rd)
- 12-Year-Old Girls – Maya Smith (3rd)
200m
- 9-Year-Old Girls – Rose Stead (2nd)
- 9-Year-Old Boys – Joseph Black (2nd)
800m
- 9-Year-Old Girls – Rose Stead (1st)
- 10-Year-Old Boys – Taylor Wann (3rd)
- 9-Year-Old Boys – Joseph Black (3rd)
Sprint (80m or 100m)
- 10-Year-Old Girls - Ayen Gakeer (3rd)
- 9-Year-Old Boys – Joseph Black (3rd)
Discus
- 11-Year-Old Girls – Charlee Smith (3rd)
- 10-Year-Old Girls – Lucy Warner (3rd)
- 12-Year-Old Boys – Aiden O’Reilly (1st)
- 11-Year-Old Boys – Hunter Tate-Roche (2nd)
Shotput
- 12-Year-Old Boys – Edge Luck (1st)
- 12-Year-Old Boys – James Currie (2nd)
- 11-Year-Old Boys – Hunter Tate-Roche (1st)
- 10-Year-Old Boys – James Dennis (3rd)
High Jump
- 9-Year-Old Boys – Joseph Black (3rd)
Long Jump
- 10-Year-Old Girls - Lucy Hardy (3rd)
- 10-Year-Old Boys – Luca Chalvien (2nd)
- 9-Year-Old Boys – Joseph Black (2nd)
The following students also made the Central Zone team and would have competed at the Darling Downs Carnival which unfortunately has been cancelled.
Joseph Black – Sprint, High Jump, Long Jump, 200m
- Ayen Gakeer – Sprint
- Edge Luck – Shotput
- Aiden O’Reilly – Discus
- Rose Stead – 800m, 200m
- Hunter Tate-Roche – Shotput, Combine
Congratulations to everyone on a fantastic carnival.
Cricket (Toowoomba Team)
I am very excited to announce that Evie Phillips made the Toowoomba Cricket Team. Fantastic effort Evie 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.
Cheers
Brendan Luck
PE Teacher
“Once Upon a Fairytale Crisis”
St Saviour's Primary School Year 5 & 6 classes is proud to present to you their upcoming Musical
“Once Upon a Fairytale Crisis”.
The Musical is about four children who are uninterested in reading and are transported to Fairytale land where they meet a Fairy Godmother, Prince and fairytale creatures who desperately need their help to save their stories and keep them alive. Unfortunately, an evil Dr Tekko and his Henchman are planning to destroy their land by banishing their stories and replacing them with technology.
Will his evil plan work? Or will the children save the day?
Come and join us and find out what happens to our Fairytale creatures.
TICKETS ON SALE SOON
SAVE THE DATE
Thursday 7th October – 6.30pm – Mercy Centre,
St Saviour’s Primary School
Friday 8th October – 6.30pm – Mercy Centre,
St Saviour’s Primary School
Litter Free Lunch Day - September 2
Much of the rubbish that we generate and send to landfill comes from the packaging on the food we buy, and lunch foods are no exception.
In fact, it has been estimated that on average a school-age child using a disposable lunch generates three pieces of litter per day, which equates to 30 kg of waste per year. This works out to be 15 tonnes of waste produced by a school of 500 students each year from lunch boxes alone!
Based around the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle), litter free lunches are lunches that contain food items with no disposable packaging or single use items, such as pre-packaged foods, plastic bags, juice poppers, bottled water, disposable utensils, plastic straws or food wrapped in cling wrap or foil.
Instead, all food is provided in reusable food and drink containers, so that there is no packaging to place into the bin and the majority of the waste produced is organic (i.e. food scraps) which can be recycled via compost bins
Benefits of litter-free school lunches include:
- students eating healthier lunches, as they are being provided with less pre-packaged 'gimmicky' snack foods and more fresh food in appropriate amounts
- less waste being produced and sent to landfill
- cheaper lunches, as food items bought in bulk are less expensive than pre-packaged products
- a reduction in waste collection and disposal costs to the school, as less waste is being generated by the school community
- providing students with a practical example of how simple behaviour change can easily address a widespread environmental issue
- promotion of environmental stewardship and advocacy within the school
- a cleaner school (research has shown that less litter is dropped in areas free of litter compared to areas where litter is more noticeable)
Introducing a litter-free lunch day or program is a great way to reduce the amount of rubbish coming into your school.
Therefore we are proposing at St Saviour's Primary we have a Litter Free Lunch Day, let's be waste free for a day on 2nd of September.
School Fees:
Term 3 School Fees are now overdue. Please contact the office to make payment if you have not already done so.
Pupil Free Day:
Next Friday, 3 September is a Pupil Free Day. There will be no school on this day. Please see attached flyer to today's Newsletter from Outside School Care Hours, if you need to book a spot for your child next Friday.
Head Lice:
We have had a reported case of Head Lice at school. Please ensure you check your child's hair for any signs of lice. If so, please treat accordingly until there is no sign of eggs.
Lost Property:
We have a large amount of lost property. Please check the lost property basket outside the main entrance to the school, if your child has misplaced any items over this term. In particular jumpers, spray jackets, lunch boxes and water bottles.
Bookclub:
Term 3 Bookclub orders can be ordered via the following link:
https://mybookclubs.scholastic.com.au/Parent/Login.aspx
Unfortunately the school was not sent any brochures this time for viewing.
Thankyou.
Check In Qld APP:
Just a reminder that anyone entering the school grounds MUST check in when entering the school grounds. The check-in posters are placed around the school at all entry points. Thankyou.
Assembly:
Assemblies are held each Monday afternoon at 2.30 pm. Parents and friends are welcome to attend. If you wish to collect your child early on a Monday please note that from 2.30 pm the children are all in the Mercy Centre. If parents could ring prior to 2.30 pm to organise early leave, as often it is difficult to interrupt Assembly. All children must be signed out at the office.
Thankyou for your understanding.
Week 6
Week 7
TRIVIA NIGHT!
Please click on the link below to purchase your tickets to the TRIVIA NIGHT this Saturday 28th August, to be held from 6pm at the Mercy Centre.
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/trivia-night-st-saviours-primary-school-tickets-164099731715
PIZZA TREAT DAY!
Pizza Treat Day is being held on Thursday September 9.
Ordering is via Flexischools. Volunteers will be needed on the day to help distribute the pizzas. If you are available please leave details with the office.
FATHER'S DAY:
Please click on the below link to register for our Father's Day celebrations to be held here at St Saviour's Primary next Wednesday September 1, 5.30pm - 7.30pm.
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/st-saviours-primary-school-fathers-day-bbq-tickets-163982079815
Tickets:
Tickets are now on sale for the 2021 St Saviour's Primary & St Patrick's Cathedral Race Day. Please see flyer below for information on how to purchase your tickets.
Donations of prizes:
If you would like to donate a prize to be used towards the Race Day, any donations, big or small can be left at the school office. Thank you.
Facebook:
Make sure you check out our Event on Facebook. Share it with your friends and family so we can gather a great crowd and make this one of our best Race Days to date.