Dear Families,

Grandparents Day
It was so wonderful to be able to hold a prayer celebration on Friday for our Grandparents and Special People. We were blessed with a perfect Canberra winter’s day, with beautiful sunshine and no wind. I thoroughly enjoyed being able to finally meet some of our grandparents and enjoyed the stories they told of the school, their grandchildren and children. I was a little worried that some children would have sore tummies after all of the cakes and biscuits grandparents brought along, but they all came in and settled straight back into work after lunch. A big thank you to Skye McPadden, Michelle Mason and the students of Kinder Blue for preparing such a wonderful prayer celebration. We said a little prayer for all of those grandparents who could not join us and hope that they will all be able to attend the celebration next year.

This year, we held our Grandparents Day celebration in the same week as the Feast day of Saints Anne and Joachim, the parents of Mary, the mother of Jesus. We recognise that in Saints Anne and Joachim the example of complete devotion is exemplified. They were people of strong faith, openly expressing their love and devotion to God. They serve as role models of fidelity, love and dedication. As the parents of our mother Mary and grandparents of Jesus, they have a special place in the Church and in our hearts. We recognised during the Prayer Celebration the special role that our own grandparents play in our lives and gave thanks for this gift to each of us.

ELC Building
Many of our grandparents had an opportunity to see that work on our new ELC building has started. As the building progresses we plan to invite new and prospective ELC families to have a walk through the site and be able to see a model of the new building. The new ELC has been designed around the Reggio Emilia philosophy for early learning where we focus as much on the environment surrounding the child as the way we teach. The new ELC building will include a communal kitchen and dining space to allow children to come together over a meal and to learn about good nutrition and the importance of community.

Signing in late students
I would like to give a gentle reminder, that if your children are late to school, you will need to come into the office to sign them in. This process is very quick with the new COMPASS Kiosk, and is a requirement by law.

Check-in
Thank you to everyone who has been entering the school building or attending events for checking in using the CBR app. I often hear the tell-tale ping of the app as families check-in before they come through the front office doors. Our office staff appreciate your cooperating with them in regards to this ACT government requirement.

Teaching and Learning
I have been writing a bit about our school’s journey with introducing direct instruction and phonics across the school. This move is a system-wide initiative for the whole of Catholic Education across the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn. Over the last few weeks our Year 4, 5  and 6 teachers have been participating in training for The Writing Revolution along with teachers in our Catholic Secondary schools. It is great to know that, as a system, we will have a consistent way of teaching using explicit instruction, including when teaching writing. This consistent approach will support students in building their knowledge and understanding throughout their whole education in Catholic schools. A few weeks ago, the Director of Catholic Education for the Archdiocese, Ross Fox spoke to The Australian newspaper about the system-wide initiative. For those who have a subscription to The Australian, you may be interested in reading the article 
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=TAWEB_MRE170_a&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaustralian.com.au%2Finquirer%2Flessons-in-failure-on-education-need-to-be-learnt%2Fnews-story%2Fcaf28295dab28deffb81758a65411997&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium

God Bless

 
Leah Taylor
Principal