Last Thursday we were able to hold a Junior School Opening Mass. I would like to thank Ms Bridget Cusack and all of her helpers for making the Mass a lovely service and a wonderful way to induct our Junior School Leaders for 2022. Although many of our students may not attend Mass regularly, I was very impressed with their behaviour and the level of respect they demonstrated for the occasion.
Literacy Initiatives update – Yesterday teachers were involved in professional learning for two major literacy programs we are implanting/continuing to implement in Junior School. Year 4 and Year 5 teachers worked on increasing their knowledge and application of the Sound Waves spelling program. Sound Waves is new for Year 5 this year but those students in Year 4 would have experience using the program from 2021. Essentially, we are attempting to tweak the way we teach spelling and Sound Waves is a useful tool to assist our students. Teaching spelling in an explicit manner and informed by research on the best practices for teaching spelling, the program incorporates four key areas of teaching:
- Phonemic awareness: the ability to work with phonemes.
- Synthetic phonics: phonics instruction that involves teaching phoneme–grapheme relationships.
- Morphology: knowledge of the meaningful parts of words: prefixes, suffixes, and Greek and Latin roots.
- Etymology: understanding of word origins and history.
The implementation of the program is going well and we will incorporate Year 6 from 2023.
In Year 6, we have implemented an online component of our comprehension program, ‘Cars and Stars’. Due to the BYOD program in Year 6, we are looking to embed this program in an online mode and this is what the Year 6 teachers worked on yesterday. All of our literacy initiatives are designed to provide teachers with useful data to assist individual goal setting for our students.
Calling all swimmers! – Please note there will be no South/Weston carnival this year. There will be an ACT Championship for swimmers who have a verifiable time and meet the carnival qualifying times.
If your son is a swimmer and you would like him to compete in the ACT Carnival, please email his name, DOB, event/s and where the personal best time/s was/were achieved (ACT Swim Meet, National Database, Last Year’s South/Weston or ACT Swimming Carnival) to Mr Denzil Fox (dfox@stedmunds.act.edu.au)
The organisers will then verify times and successful swimmers will be notified through the school. Please note that making the qualifying time does not automatically guarantee participation as they usually limit participants in each event to 16-20 swimmers.
Further Information: 2022-SSACT-Swimming-Program-Delivery-and-Entry-Information.pdf (schoolsportact.org.au)
Program and Qualifying Times: ACT SCHOOL SPORT (schoolsportact.org.au)
ACT School Sports Trials
Over the coming weeks and months, there will be opportunities for students to trial for 12 Years and Under ACT Representative teams for a variety of sports. Anyone with a child interested in trialling for the various sports needs to log onto the School Sport ACT website and register for the sport that your child wishes to trial for. It is the responsibility of parents to monitor the website for any upcoming sporting events, if your child is interested in competing in the regional/national competitions.
Please also note: if your child is successful in being selected for an ACT team to participate in a national or regional tournament, you need to write a formal letter to the Principal to seek permission for absence from school during this period. Once the College has received such a request, it can then be formally approved for your son’s participation in this activity with School Sport ACT. Secondly, we will also be able to acknowledge his achievement.
Friday 11 March – Junior School Activity Day. Instead of having a swimming carnival, we will have a fun activity day at school. Your son may wear house colours and sports shoes on this day. If he doesn’t have house colours, he may wear his PE uniform. Please ensure your son has applied sunscreen in the morning and has a hat, normal recess and lunch, and a drink bottle for the day. We will also hold our sprint race finals on this day.
Year 4-6 after school Homework Club
Tuesday & Wednesday after school – beginning Week 2
3.30pm – 4.30pm
Junior School Library lab
Boys are to bring work with them that they may need assistance with. This could be homework, assignments, extension work or additional work set by their classroom teacher.
All students are welcome to attend, but this is not a drop-in session and parents must email Mr Kelly in advance requesting attendance for the week (one or both days) and what their son will be working on. dkelly@stedmunds.act.edu.au
Year 6 Camp – Please note that Year 6 camp has been postponed until November 7-9 due to restrictions around interstate excursions/camps for ACT schools in Term 1. Camp was due to occur this term.
PE Uniform – Just a reminder that your son is to wear his PE uniform to school each day his class is scheduled to have PE. He is also to wear PE uniform on Day 10 of the timetable as classes usually have Year group sport on this day.
Year 6 Runners Program – As a part of our Year 6 into High School transition program, we will be enlisting the assistance of Year 6 students to help as runners. As runners, the students will get to know the school layout very well ahead of Year 7. The students will work in pairs for a full day (learning remotely between jobs). The students will rotate through on a daily basis for semester 1 only.
Absences – If your son is away from school, parents/carers need to ring 6239 0694 or email studentservices@stedmunds.act.edu.au with a reason. If you forget to do this, you will receive a text message. If you receive a text message, reply 1 – sick, or 2 – family reasons to account for the absence.
David Kelly
Assistant Principal – Junior School