May 23 2024

Principals Reflection

Dear Families,

Last Wednesday we gathered together for our whole school assembly that is calendared every fortnight. Prior to the commencement of any assembly, students come into the hall in their class groups and sit facing the front of the room. We have high expectations of students at all times, but I was highly impressed with how all of our students came into assembly last week. Students quietly entered the hall, used their manners with each other, greeted staff and waited patiently for the assembly to begin. This sounds all very simple but the way that the students did this, left me extremely proud to be part of the St Brigid's community.

As I mentioned earlier, we have high expectations of our students at SBW and we expect all students to live out our values of care, curiosity, courage and connection. This is what our school is known for and we are proud to have students who demonstrate these values at a high level in their behaviours. Within our school I observe care on a consistent basis. Care is shown at lunch when a student asks a peer to join in. Care is shown by our staff who ensure that all of our students have the best opportunity to learn. Care is shown by all within our community who greet eachother throughout the day. This morning I arrived to school and there was rubbish over the front entrance. As I headed out to pick it up, a Prep student had already began picking up the rubbish. This is an outstanding example of a young student in our community who has great pride and care for our school. I can continue with endless examples of how care is shown but the vital aspect is that CARE is throughout our community and lived out by our students to the expected high standards that we have. I believe that this is something we should all be proud of.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Nic Saltmarsh

Principal

Religous Education

Make Jesus Real:  Positive Attitudes - Your attitude is like a motor in a car. If you have a good attitude you will go places in life!

This has been our MJR focus for the week and there have been some fantastic examples of students having a positive attitude. At Line Up on Monday, students shared examples of how a positive attitude can help them achieve in different situations.

You are in charge of your attitude! In students' MJR and SOJ books, they are provided with a concentrated time to reflect as a whole class and individually, on how a positive attitude can change one's efforts and situations. Jesus chose an attitude towards children and the marginalised that meant he included them in his plans. We emphasise to our students that an attitude is about the choice(s) they make and how they reflect on their mistakes. 

Some suggestions we offer students towards adopting a positive attitude:

• It’s your choice. 
• Commit to being courteous.
• Pause to think before you speak.
• Consider how what you say will make another person feel.
• Accept that you're responsible for your actions and for what you say.

As adults, we acknowledge that we all have choices to make in life and as role models to our children, it is important for us to encourage them to choose to adopt a positive attitude and with that, they will go far!

Andrea Jaffray Morf

Deputy Principal

Teaching and Learning

Thank you to Ms Baade for volunteering to share a snippet of her daily review from our Grade 6 class. This is a fantastic example of a daily review and the language and engagement used by Ms Baade are in alignment with our school practices and current research. A daily review is a teaching strategy that involves regularly revisiting previously taught material to reinforce learning and improve retention of concepts. It is a structured process where students review key concepts, skills, or content that they have covered in class. It is an effective way to counter the forgetting curve, which demonstrates that memories tend to fade without regular reinforcement. A daily review typically goes for 10-15 mins.

Early Years

We are pleased to welcome two University students into our early years classes during Term 2.  Mrs Nicole Rayner will join the Kindergarten and Prep classrooms as well as have a planning and implementation role in our SetUp for Success program.   We welcome Miss Angel Courtney into Grade 2.   Both ladies are in their third year of their University studies and will be undertaking their professional experience placement at St Brigid’s

Two early years staff attended a professional networking day in Ulverstone alongside other early years staff in the north-west.  The agenda focussed on how the Science of Learning instructional recommendations can align with the Early Years Framework, specifically how we check for student understanding.  

John Hattie speaks about the importance of “knowing thy impact” and how feedback should work two ways; from teacher to student and from student to teacher. For us to know our impact, we must constantly get feedback from our students as to whether learning has or hasn’t happened so that we can respond appropriately. But, learning is something that happens inside someones’ head – it’s invisible – and so we must rely on indirect measures to report on progress.  Staff participated in a modelled TAPPLE demonstration for the early years - Teach first, Ask a question, Pair-share, Pick a random volunteer, Listen to the response, give Effective feedback. Using TAPPLE, early years teachers can get feedback from students to determine the pace of the lesson while still engaging in play-based learning activities.

Literacy

One of the most important skills needed in your child’s everyday life is oral language. Children use this skill every day to make requests, interact with peers, ask questions, and engage in conversation. As a parent and teacher there are many things you can implement to foster the development of strong oral language skills of your child. In the following article Dan Siegel outlines the importance of reflective dialogue and how we can  disconnect from our phones and reconnect with our children:

https://drdansiegel.com/3-steps-to-disconnecting-from-our-phones-and-reconnecting-with-our-teens/

ThinkUKnow.  On Wednesday 10th May, we welcomed Constable Paul Murray from Tas Police to our school to deliver the presentation “ThinkUKnow” for Grades K-6. The sessions are Australian Curriculum aligned and age appropriate for the students’ understanding. We thank Const. Paul for spending time with us!

We learned the following important messages: 

Early Years:

• Always ask for permission from an adult before going online. 
• Use technology in a shared space to allow supervision, rather than alone in bedrooms..
• If you are asked questions about your name, location or personal information, tell an adult straight away. 
• Never use your proper name, make one up! 

Middle Years

• Use the privacy settings on your accounts and games. 
• If someone is bothering you online, asking questions or talking inappropriately, block them and turn it off. 
• Be smart when taking photos, don’t include anything that can say who or where you are. 
• Never accept games credits. 

Upper Primary

• Choose your usernames wisely! Never use your first and last name. 
• Be very careful about what is shown in photos and videos - don’t reveal your information.
• Age restrictions are in place for a reason. Are you old enough to be on these apps / games?
• Anyone can lie online, be very careful about who you trust. Report anyone doing anything inappropriate. 
• Trusted adults are there to help you. Tell them if something happens. 

Who can we go to?

• A trusted adult (parents, teachers, grandparents, older siblings) 
• The Police. They are friendly people who are only here to help us!

ThinkUKnow

Privacy Control for Devices

Ongoing SBW Principal Consultation

As communicated via COMPASS earlier in the week, please see below communication from Catholic Education Tasmania regarding the consultation process for the ongoing principalship at SBW.

Cross country

Friday 24/05/2024

Students will need to wear a sports uniform with the option of wearing a shirt the colour of their house group. Students will also need to bring:
 two water bottles
 asthma puffer (if required) We will take all puffers from School
 spare socks (in case our feet get wet)
 additional snacks
 additional clothing jumpers/raincoats

Spotlight on Grade 3

In Grade 3 we have been undertaking a Literature Unit based on the novel ‘Charlotte’s Web’ by E.B White.

E.B White uses very vivid descriptions of what his settings look like. This gives the reader a clear picture in their heads of what it would be like to be there.

Using his description of the County Fair in Chapter 17, we drew what we visioned the Fair Grounds to look like.

The book’s description of the fair is as follows:

When they pulled into the Fair Grounds, they could hear music and see the Ferris wheel turning in the sky. They could smell the dust of the race track where the sprinkling cart had moistened it; and they could smell hamburgers frying and see balloons aloft. They could hear sheep blatting in their pens.

Circle of Life

In week 7, Monique Hall from Catholic Education will facilitate the Circle of Life Program at SBW. Students from Kinder to Grade 6 will complete sessions with Monique during this time. Monique will be available on Tuesday June 11 from 8:30 am to meet with any parents who would like to learn more about this program. Please see below for an information flyer that outlines key details about the Circle of Life program. 

Mother's Day Breakfast and Plant Stall

Thank you to the wonderful Mums, Nans, Grandmas and special women who attended the Mother's Day Breakfast on Friday.  It was great to see you all celebrate with your children and grandchildren.  We want to make a special mention to Mrs Michelle Wells, who always does a fantastic job catering for the event, along with the help of our Grade 6 leaders and Leadership Mums, Mrs Jaffray Morf, Mrs Smith and Mrs Robotham.

We would also like to warmly thank the Britza family and friends for extending their generosity to our school by initiating and donating not only their plants but also their time for the Mother's Day plant stall. Thank you to all families who also donated items to the stall.

A big congratulations to the raffle ticket winners-

1st Prize-Hadley King
2nd Prize-Bebilyn Prest
3rd Prize-T. Carter
4th Prize- Elyse Martin
5th Prize-Tilley Robotham
6th Prize-Stella Wells
7th Prize-Bridgette Jelfs 
8th Prize-Angela Mick
9th Prize-Charlotte Lewis 
10th Prize-Julian Cobanzo-Gomez

Thank you for helping make the day a success.

The Plant Stall raised $2432 for the school. These monies will go towards extra play equipment for our playground works project.

Playground Works Update

We have received the delivery of some of our playground equipment that will be installed on the back oval. The remediation of the old pump track area is progressing well and we are hopeful that our new playground will be installed by the conclusion of Term 3. There will be landscaping works that are part of this project. Some of the equipment being installed, include:

- Flying fox

- Swings

- Play structure

- Tic Tac Toe and Connect 4.

We shared this news with students at line up yesterday and they were very excited for the opportunities that new play equipment will provide. 

School Sports

Run club

The first 3 weeks of the St. Brigid’s Run Club have been successful and high spirited with up to 50 students from Gr 2-6 joining us on any given Thursday. Mr. Saltmarsh, Mrs. Bryan, and Miss Pegg have all taken part on occasion, which has meant the students have had an opportunity to run alongside and partake in activities with some of our legendary staff members.
We’ve been learning about pace and how to find a comfortable pace for long-distance running. We are working as a community to encourage healthy habits for our students and to instill a sense of belonging through Sports clubs.
The energy, atmosphere, and sense of community have been highly enjoyable, and I hope to continue to see new faces at the run club on Thursdays from 3:05-3:25 pm at the oval! We will be continuing all of Term 2 and students can come any time it suits their schedules.

Basketball Clinics

Basketball Clinics with the Wynyard Wild Cat’s Imports Marques and Imani
This term, we have been lucky enough to have two coaches, all the way from America, to help run Basketball clinics on Fridays during our Sports lessons. Students have enjoyed learning a range of skills and drills. We still have 2 Friday basketball sessions before we change our focus to football.

WHS Update

School Parking

Please be aware of the updated restricted parking at the front of our school. Our streets are monitored by council and local police so please ensure that all signs are obeyed. This ensures the safety of all within our community. 

We remind you to please keep moving in the front car park if your child is not there for pickup. 

We would like to thank all parents for their ongoing cooperation regarding pick up and drop off. 

Upcoming Events

Community Events