WEARING BLUE FOR DIABETES

Next Friday 27th November

Two of our senior students, Lucy Randall and Sienna Neumann

(both diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes - T1D) have worked together to promote a day to build awareness around Type 1 Diabetes.

They have included a PowerPoint with a short video to educate peers and our community around Diabetes 1 and their personal experience with this condition.

We sincerely thank Lucy and Sienna for their interest in educating others and particularly, for taking the initiative to tell their story.

FAMDANCE

We have a couple more famlies, who have coordinated their creative potential to choreograph their contribution to ‘Famdance – a 15 Second Hit Wonder.’

We thank the Evans and Anderson families for sharing with us their video snippets of their cool routines. 

The Evans FamDance - 15 Second Hit Wonder

The Anderson FamDance - 15 Second Hit Wonder

Enjoy the next instalment of our Staff FAMDANCE!

KINDER ‘21 TRANSITION

The Kindergarten teaching team for 2021:

The Kinder Team have been industrious organising transitional support, particularly to assist families who have their first child enrolled at St Peters’s in 2021.

The team have continued visiting all preschools this week to say 'hello' to our 2021 kinders and find out all about them from their preschool teachers.

The preliminary transition supports, through video or other communication on Kinder 2021 Facebook page will lead into the main transitional day on Monday, December 7.

The Orientation Day will be split into two repeated sessions this year so we can look after everyone with social spacing. Parents will be invited to the hall for an Information Session while our new friends have some time to explore the Kinder space and get to know the teachers. Unfortunately Due to COVID 19 we are only able to offer one whole grade Orientation Day this year.

We look very forward to welcoming our little Kinder people for 2021 and we know that current families will find a way to welcome new families to our school.

It may be something as simple as a smile or a warm ‘hello’ – doesn’t matter if it is a misplaced call, a thoughtful and genuine acknowledgement can lift anyone’s day. 

NO PUSHBACK IN PUSH UP CHALLENGE

Our Minister of Sport – Mr Jeff Arkinstall has organised a health kick each morning for those early school arrivals. Complementing the parish Spring into Summer initiative, where November has been set aside to promote fitness, Mr A has put the call out for any children, who arrive at school early, to join him in a barrage of push-ups. 

It is the Parish month of push-ups and Mr Arkinstall hit 20 today with the students – aligning the number of push-ups with today’s date. The final target on November 30, will be 30 completed push-ups.

The total is not so important, however – it is more about children engaging in physical activity and seeing the benefits of being active. Thanks Jeff!

LEADERSHIP TEAM CONFIRMED FOR 2021

The Leadership Team for 2021 has recently been confirmed and I congratulate staff who have accepted one year appointments in a leadership role.

Continuing Leadership positions:

Geoff Leary  Principal	Karen Robson Assistant Principal Learning	Rebecca Cameron Assistant Principal Mission
Michael Gallery Leader of Pedagogy	Phoebe Morris Leader of Catechesis	Leanne Kalchbauer Leader of Evangelisation

Leadership positions for 2021:

Kristy Robb  Additional Needs Teacher	Jeff Arkinstall  Leader of Sport
Cathy Stevenson  Leader of Learning	Natalie McKenzie  Leader of Learning

I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank a very committed and industrious Leadership team. I would also like to acknowledge and express our appreciation to the St Peter’s staff, who so often embrace leadership capacity and work with leadership in identifying and supporting our students’ needs.

You know you are in a good team, when people can take the lead when need becomes apparent and when they hold a distinct and genuine investment in how the team is achieving its goal – building success for our children in learning and life.

MISSION

Christ the King Feast Day this Sunday

The last Sunday of the Catholic liturgical year is The Solemnity Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, commonly known as Christ the King Sunday. Christ the King is a significant feast day for the Catholic Church, and this Sunday's Gospel, Mathew 25: 31-46, speaks of the mercy of God and the importance this holds for us as Christians today. When we refer to Christ the King, we are talking about Jesus as he sits at the right hand of his Father, calling to mind his infinite love and mercy, and how he leads us to live our faith in action.

Part of the Gospel reads:

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

Jesus wants our lives to overflow with love, compassion and mercy, the marks of the Kingdom of God. A famous quote attributed to Mahatma Gandhi is “The true measure of any society may be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.”

Jesus is calling us to treat all those around us as we would him. Would we turn Jesus away? 

As we approach the end of the liturgical year and get ready for Advent, let us ponder how we might live our faith this festive season.

Lord, help me to be open to your word,

And that I take steps each day of my life,

To live a faith in action.

Bring us to know the joys of his kingdom.

Amen.

St Agnes' Christmas Hamper Appeal

We are so grateful for all of the donations coming into school for the St Agnes' Christmas Hamper Appeal! Our classrooms are overflowing with festive foods ready to distribute to families in need. This is a true example of our St Peter’s community living their faith in action!

Donations close on Monday 23rd, as we have a busy week ahead assembling the hampers ready for Parish. We are very mindful of the difficult circumstances many of our families have found themselves in this year and are very grateful for the support this appeal has been given. 

CHANGE OF DATE - Go Blue for Diabetes Day

Due to an unforeseen clash in our school calendar, Go Blue for Diabetes Day has been changed to next Friday 27th November. Students are invited to add something blue to their school uniform and bring in a gold coin donation towards the St Agnes' Parish Christmas Appeal.

LEARNING

Challenging Our High Achieving Mathematicians 

A select group of St Peter’s Year 5 students have been expanding their skills and knowledge in a series of Maths and Science challenges with Mr Gallery. The group has been learning about the geometry of circles and were challenged to create a set of concentric circles with specific circumferences. This was not as easy as it sounded at first! The images below show some engaged Mathematicians working their way through the tasks. Next week they will be learning how to apply formulae to calculate speed, distance and time before the final task of making a Bullroarer and calculating its maximum speed! More to come…..

PAT TESTS

Over the past few weeks Primary students have completed their ACER PAT Mathematics and Reading tests.  ACER’s Progressive Achievement approach is used in thousands of schools in Australia and around the world. The approach focuses on assessing and monitoring student growth over time and is underpinned by an understanding that students of the same age and in the same year of school can be at very different points in their learning and development.

These tests are designed to provide objective, norm-referenced information to teachers about their students’ skills and understandings in a range of key areas.  The Mathematics test assesses students’ skill and understanding in the six strands of Number, Algebra, Geometry, Measurement, Statistics and Probability.  The Reading test assesses students’ reading comprehension skills, vocabulary knowledge and spelling.

Why do schools use PAT tests?

• They provide a measure of student achievement in each learning area.
• There is a common achievement scale for all tests within a learning area.
• They are mapped to the Australian Curriculum.
• They provide overall descriptions of the types of skills mastered and those still to be developed based on test performance.
• They can be used to inform teaching and learning and to assist in planning effective and targeted learning programs.

A healthy education system has multiple assessments (large-scale and small), each designed to suit the purpose at hand. Standardised tests are an imperfect measure by nature, and cannot be expected to measure children’s learning as competently as the teacher who spends hours with them every day.

On the other hand, individual teachers’ judgements cannot map learning across the entire education system. We may be experts on the progress of our students, but we cannot compare that progress with students in the school down the road, let alone a school in another state or territory. Standardised assessment provides the best birds-eye view of where the system is working, and where additional attention is required.