CARPARK PROCEDURES - DROP OFF ZONE

The combined St Peter’s and MacKillop car park features a drop-off zone that runs adjacent to the bus zone. While using the drop-off zone, the driver must not exit the vehicle. It is designed for quick drop-offs and pick-ups to keep the traffic flowing. Parents collecting St Peter’s students in the afternoon are required to park their vehicles and collect their children from inside the school. Therefore, the drop-off zone is not suitable. When cars are parked in the drop-off zone, traffic banks up, often past the lights, preventing buses from entering the bus zone to safely collect our students. It also causes lengthy delays for other vehicles attempting to enter the car park. Please park in the correct parking bays to prevent this congestion.

SPOTLIGHT ON CREATIVE ARTS - CHOIR

Today, students from K-6 were invited to meet with Mrs Gibb and I in the Music room to express their interest in singing this year in our choir. Previously, Mrs Lawrence and Mrs Packer had been leading our choirs as a K-2 and 3-6 choir. Both of these generous and talented teachers are having a break from choir this year and Mrs Gibb and I will be working with our students. We have had a proud tradition of the choirs in our school supporting enjoyment of this part of Creative Arts through singing at school for special events and for selected liturgical celebrations in the school and Parish. We would love to lift the roof with students’ angelic voices as often as possible!

We are considering this being a joined K-6 choir, allowing for some leading roles for older students and opportunities to add parts to our singing. We had many students from our K-2 classes opting to try choir and not so many yet from our older grades. We would really appreciate parents talking with their children if they are interested in committing to Friday Lunch 1 practices for fun, singing and maybe some rewards for their efforts! We will start singing together in Week 5 during Friday Lunch 1.

MISSION

ST PETER'S PRAYER DAY

Last Friday, each of our classes visited the St Peter’s Prayer Garden to remember loved ones lost from our St Peter’s school community. The students had the opportunity to spend some quiet time in prayer and reflection with their teachers. Our Prayer Day is an integral part of our tradition at St Peter’s, held each February. We offer all our families and members of our community our thoughts and prayers as they encounter the loss of someone special and are comforted by the knowledge that Jesus holds a special place in Heaven for them.

OPEN CLASSROOM + PARENT INFORMATION SESSION

Information regarding your child’s classroom learning and routines will be sent home next week. As partners in learning please take the time to read through this information to work out how to best support your child at school. The open classroom afternoon on Wednesday 12th March will provide an opportunity for you to ask any question to your child’s teacher regarding this information as you walk through their classroom. You will also have the opportunity to view some of their work and listen to the band playing under the basketball court. A pre-purchased sausage sizzle will be available to pick up near the canteen. 

PARENT YEAR LEVEL REPRESENTATIVES

FINAL CALL !!!

Each year there is a parent or small group of parents that represent a year level family group. We are seeking parent volunteers to nominate for this role in 2025. Parent representatives assist to foster Family/School partnerships in these ways:

• supportive of positive communication between home and school and school events
• organisation of 2 social events a year for families to build relationships
• regularly give parent voice at our Parent Community Group meetings (usually held once a Term)

Please email your interest to amanda.thomas@lism.catholic.edu.au

Thank you to these parents who have nominated to be a parent representative for these year levels:

What are DIBELS? 

DIBELS are measures that help teachers and schools determine how students are performing on important reading skills. DIBELS stands for Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills. These measures are designed for students in grades K-6 following extensive research done by the University of Oregon, Centre for Teaching and Learning, which have been updated to an Australian Version.

What skills are measured by DIBELS and why are they important? 

The critical skills necessary for successful beginning reading include: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. The DIBELS measures assess students on four of these five critical skills, which are often referred to as the “Big Ideas” of reading. 

Which tests will be given to my child/children? 

Each student from Year 1 to 6  in Weeks 3 - 5 will complete the tests depending on his or her grade and the time of year.  How often are students assessed? In our system, all students in Years 1 to 6 are given the DIBELS test three times each year; early Term 1, early Term 3 and mid Term 4. Kindergarten students will begin these assessments later in Term 2 due to BEST Start Literacy assessments having taken place at the start of the year. 

How much time does it take? 

Each of the DIBELS tests only takes about one minute to complete. DIBELS tests are “indicators” of the student’s overall reading status, and are not intended to be in-depth or comprehensive measures of reading. Just like using a thermometer to take your child’s temperature, which provides a quick indicator of your child’s general health, these quick DIBELS tests provide teachers with information about your child’s reading health and how well he or she is progressing on a particular early reading skill. Benchmark assessments generally take 2 to 6 minutes to give, depending on the grade of the student and the time of year. DIBELS measures allow teachers to get valuable information about students’ reading skills without using large amounts of instructional time.

How will the results be used? 

7TH MARCH