Week 6, Term 2 2024

Dear Parents/Caregivers,

Last week, we observed Reconciliation Week within our school community. This is an incredibly important week during the school year when students, among other things:

• learn about the history and cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, including the impacts of colonization, the Stolen Generations, and the ongoing efforts towards reconciliation
• gain insight into the rich traditions, languages, and practices of Indigenous communities, fostering appreciation and respect.
• increase their already considerable knowledge about the importance of diversity and inclusivity, in order to value and celebrate differences.

We also gathered for a whole school Mass in the church on Wednesday with the theme of reconciliation. This Mass was led wonderfully by the Year 5/6D class. Our parish priest, Fr Joseph, provided some very positive feedback about how respectfully and reverently our students participated in the celebration, which is always great to hear!

This Friday, on the Pupil free Day, our teachers are joining colleagues from Stella Maris School and St Raphael’s School for professional learning in the Religious Education curriculum.  Our teachers will learn from and with other teachers to help design quality learning programs for the benefit of all of our students.

Last fortnight we explained a few changes we have been trailing at school pick up time to ensure a smoother exit for all. You may have noticed we have also been using a megaphone to alert students that their carer/parents have arrived for pick up. This is proving quite successful and also providing some afternoon entertainment for staff, student and parents! If you are arriving on foot to pick up your students, please move out of the gate area as quickly as possible as it can get very congested. Thank you for your support at this busy time of day.

We have a number of sporting carnivals fast approaching over the next fortnight. Next Friday, June 14, we have the Catholic Primary Schools Basketball Carnival. We then have the Year 5/6 9-a-side Soccer Carnival on the following Monday, June 17. We wish all the students who are involved in these carnivals luck, and know that they will represent our school with pride.

Regards and blessings,
Michelle, Matthew and Ray

BRAIN SCIENCE
In 5/6B, as part of our Visible Wellbeing focus, we have been learning about our brains, and how certain parts of the brain function.  After developing understandings of the hippocampus, the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala, students ‘characterised’ a brain part of their choice and ‘brought it to life’ through including relevant character strengths.   Below are some of their creative ideas.

Kiana
I chose to replicate the hippocampus with a librarian as the hippocampus manages and organizes our ideas to make the right choice, just as a librarian organizes, manages and cares for her books so that we are able to pick the right book.  For my librarian’s character strengths, I chose:

• Perspective: to make the right choices, our hippocampus needs to recognize the opinions of others
• Perseverance: to manage and organize, we need to persist

Ryan B
As you can see, I characterised the amygdala as a bodyguard.  A bodyguard – like the amygdala – thinks fast.  The character strengths for my character are:

• Bravery: I think the amygdala is brave because it will tell us to run (flight), fight or freeze if we are in danger and it reacts quickly
• Self-regulation: A security guard needs to self-regulate to make calm choices

Ayanna
I chose a mother to symbolize the prefrontal cortex (PFC).  Like the PFC, throughout a mum’s life, she is determined to make smart and considered decisions for her children.  The PFCs main role is to help you make decisions, and one of the key roles of a mum is to help you make decisions with support and guidance.

The PFC aims to make the best decisions during tough situations, like a mother.  A mum encourages her children to make independent decisions and take responsibility for the outcomes.

Year 5/6D Character Strengths
A strength is defined as a positive quality/talent that is energising, we choose to use and we perform well at. Strengths help us match ourselves and other people to our environments, and allows us to better meet challenges by utilising those qualities where we can be our best selves. 

Our 5/6D class have been working very, very hard on character strengths over the past few months . We did a survey back in Term 1 to determine our strongest and weakest character strengths, ranging from 1st-24th.  We have learnt a lot from character strengths, and it is very important to understand. It is important because sometimes you need to check in with your mental health, and using character strengths is just the way you can do it. It boosts your morale.

A bit later after we finished with our character strengths, we started to do Bitmoji’s, where we have tried and succeeded  to create an accurate representation of a cartoon version of ourselves. Below is shown some of our beautiful creations that we have created earlier on in this Term.

-Aarav and Aaroha