Term 1, Week 3 & 4 2021

Prep and Kindergarten Information Sessions 2022

Mrs Michelle McDonnell - Principal

Our Prep and Kindergarten 2022 Information session will be held on Thursday, 4 March 2021. This is an integral part of our enrolment process and we look forward to connecting with families on this occasion.

For the first time, we are offering both onsite and online option. Invitations will be sent to all families who have submitted an application for Prep or Kindergarten in 2022. Families must then register their attendance option.

It is essential that we are aware of any siblings that you wish to attend St. Peter's. This can be done through the application process on our School Website:

https://www.stpeters.nsw.edu.au/admissions/how-to-apply/

We also encourage you to invite families who have children ready to begin Prep or Kindergarten in 2022, to register their interest in attending by visiting our website or by calling our School Office: 4627 2990.

The online link will only be sent to families who have registered.

Please note: Families with students currently enrolled in our 2021 Prep classes do not need to attend this session.

Harmony Day/International Day - Advanced Notice

Harmony Week is held each year in March. This year we will be celebrating our cultural diversity with International Day on Thursday, 18 March 2021.

Students are invited to wear National dress or orange clothing and accessories to school on this day.

Nut Allergy Alert

An important reminder for families, please do not send items of food containing nuts. This includes Peanut Butter, Nutella and other nut spreads as well as nut bars or other snacks containing nuts. We have students in our School Community with severe nut allergies who we want to care for.

Thank you for your support and understanding.

Active Play Day

While our older students are having a fantastic time taking part in our School Cross Country Carnival, our younger students will be having fun of their own!

On Friday, 5 March 2021 Prep, Kindergarten and Year One will participate in a range of play based activities designed to encourage movement.

Programme of Inquiry 2021

As a requirement of the PYP, our curriculum (especially for the learning areas of Geography, History, PDHPE and Science) is structured under 6 transdisciplinary themes:

Who we are (yellow)
Where we are in place and time (orange)
How we express ourselves (red)
How the world works (purple)
How we organise ourselves (blue)
Sharing the planet (green)

The Programme of Inquiry is now available on the School Website and shares with you the learning that takes place across each grade. Our classroom teachers will also upload further details to Seesaw when each new Unit of Inquiry commences. Please note that Prep are only required to participate in 4 themes per year.

You will note similarities across the grades, which is intentional in developing student understanding and enabling them to build upon previous learning. Through an inquiry approach, we are then able to move students from this prior knowledge, to a deeper understanding.

I encourage all families to read this document and use it as a resource to engage with your child/ren. Learning for our students is also in relationship with you. If you see any Unit of Inquiry where you could share your expertise, please email me via the School Office.

Home Learning

As per 2020, Home Learning will be 'opt in' with the exception of regular reading and/or specific tasks to compliment individual learning needs.

Opt-in homework will be designed in collaboration with the student's individual learning goals, where classroom teachers will suggest some activities for the student that will compliment their desired goal. Classroom teachers will check in with individual students, as an opportunity for self-reflection and self-assessment, as to the attainment of their goals. Families that wish to opt-in, are required to make contact with their child's classroom teacher in writing.

When reading, it is encouraged that students read aloud to parents or another household member, to give encouragement and feedback in regards to fluency, expression and accuracy. Families are also encouraged to engage in comprehension questions to ensure that the student has understood the meaning of what they have read. Please remember, that for families using a school provided Home Reader, these texts are sent home with the intention of being 'easy' for the student, so that reading with you is a successful accomplishment.

Families are also reminded that each student will have access to a variety of digital platforms that may also provide additional learning opportunities. Please see your child's diary for access information.

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Our Term 1 Conferences will take place during Week 7. This is a time allocation to meet your child's teacher more formally, and discuss matters of a pastoral nature, such as how they are settling in to the new school year.

We would like to trial these as either a virtual (Zoom) meeting or a physical meeting (onsite). Further information will be provided in the coming weeks.

Positions Vacant

We are currently advertising for Casual Classroom Teachers. We are also seeking a Music Specialist, PE Specialist/Sport Coordinator and a Bus Driver.

Please visit our School Website to apply:

https://www.stpeters.nsw.edu.au/discover/employment/

St. Peter's School Shop

Our School Shop is open by appointment only on the following mornings:

Monday: 8:30am - 11:00am
Wednesday: 8:30am - 11:00am
Thursday: 8:30am - 11:00am

Other times by appointment only.

Prayer Points

Give thanks for the hard work of our staff in their many roles supporting students at St. Peter's.
Give thanks for the many additional opportunities available to our students.
Pray for those families who will visit our School in the coming weeks as they make important decisions regarding schooling for their child in Prep and beyond.

School Calendar

Term 1

Monday, 29 January 2021 - Thursday, 1 April 2021

Week 5

Tuesday, 23 February 2021

9.00am: Chapel (Kindergarten - Year 2)

4.00pm: School Tour for new families

Wednesday, 24 February 2021

9.00am: Chapel (Years 3 - 6)

Thursday, 25 February 2021

Year 5 - Planetarium Incursion

Friday, 26 February 2021

9.00am: Primary Assembly

Week 6

Tuesday, 2 March 2021

9.00am: Chapel (Kindergarten - Year 2)

IPSHA Swimming & Diving Carnival

Wednesday, 3 March 2021

9.00am: Chapel (Years 3 - 6)

Thursday, 4 March 2021

Prep & Kindergarten 2022 Information Sessions

4.00pm - 6.00pm: Prep Parent Teacher Student Conference (Echidnas & Wombats)

Friday, 5 March 2021

Cross Country (Years 2-6)

Active Play Day (Prep, Kindergarten & Year 1)

Vacation Bible Camp - Monday 12 April 2021 to Friday, 16 April 2021

St. Peter's Student Rock!

It has been a great pleasure to work my way through spending time in each and every classroom these past few weeks, as we seek to ensure all students have the same understanding of what it means to ensure our students 'ROCK'.

Rock is a simple acronym for the culture we wish to ensure we have here at St. Peter's. We know by and large that our students are amazing, and this approach will assist them to be even more amazing, or to Rock!

R - Respectful

Our students will be respectful. They will use their 'Manner Muscles' which includes using the teachers full name and the basic courtesies that we expect. These are non negotiable.

Respect also means respecting the School they belong to. This means wearing the correct uniform consistently and appropriately, including when they are out and about, before and after school. The impression our students leave in the community is vital.

Respect most importantly is about ensuring we aren't doing anything to prevent others from learning. We are a learning community and we must respect that.

St. Peter's students will be Respectful.

O - Open Minded

Being open minded means being open to new ideas, opinions and perspectives. Acknowledging differences of opinions, being open to trying new things and each student's unique place on their learning journey.

St. Peter's students will be Open Minded.

C - Curious

As an IB PYP school, we want curiosity to be natural. Asking lots of questions to figure things out, discovering and wondering are part of our daily agenda.

Our new STEAM programme with Miss Oberle is encouraging natural curiosity as is our Prep programme and lots of what happens in our regular classrooms.

St. Peter's students will be Curious.

K - Kind

We are community and as such, we must be invested in 'others'. Being kind is about considering the needs of others. Giving others a go, including and caring for others. Not being the focus all of the time, but being interested in others also.

St. Peter's students will be Kind.

Our students Rock - Why not ask your children about how they've rocked, this week!

AFL Community Auskick

Week 6 will see the return of our afterschool Auskick Programme run by AFLNSW/ACT.

The programme will run for 4 weeks on a Wednesday afternoon from 3.15pm -4.15pm from the Wednesday, 3 March 2021 to the Wednesday, 24 March2021.

Students will participate in a ‘come and try’ session on Monday, 22 February 2021 during the day and will bring home an information note with details on how to sign up. Unfortunately, parents will not be able to spectate this year.

Pick up following the clinics will occur through the 'kiss and drop' area at the front of the school from 4.15pm. If your child attends OSHC on this day, they will be returned to OSHC after the clinic.

IPSSO Sport

Week 4, games against St. Greg’s

Junior Sport: Wednesday, 17 February, 2021

SPORT	RESULT	SPAPS	St Greg’s
Soccer	Loss	0	14
Oz Tag	Loss	1	26
Basketball	Win	6	2
Cricket	Loss	51	59

Senior Sport: Wednesday, 17 February, 2021

SPORT	RESULT	SPAPS	St Greg’s
Soccer	Win	2	0
Oz Tag	Loss	0	30
Basketball	Loss	10	42
Cricket	Loss	24	84

Players of the Match:

Junior Soccer: Eleanor P

Senior Soccer: Ella M

Junior Oz Tag: Alexander M

Senior Oz Tag: Ethan W

Junior Basketball: Matthew T

Senior Basketball: Bethany C

Junior Cricket: Robin A

Senior Cricket: Akhil K

Technology As A Tool

Mr Stuart Connell - Music Specialist

St. Peter’s is an incredibly well resourced school, and Technology remains an area of focus. In the past couple of years, we have invested in increasing numbers of iPads, Digital Media equipment, 3D printers and a range of robotics to just name a few! The ideal however, is that technology is not just a separate learning area, but that it is authentically integrated into all that we do in a meaningful way.

After teaching as the Dean of ICT and Technology Specialist for the past three years, I have the continued privilege to lead the exploration of the Digital Technologies Curriculum & Innovation at St. Peter’s in 2021. This means that while I now have my own class, I still have the opportunity to work closely with all teachers across our school, to unpack the Technology requirements to design, plan and implement innovative and creative learning opportunities for our students. As teachers, we strive to ensure we are designing learning experiences for our students that cover a range of topics and skills to support them for their future. I believe our role is to equip our students with the correct tools that they will need, and to simply move out of their way. This is what we love.

Through our Units of Inquiry, our teaching staff continue to integrate our innovative approach across the curriculum. Teachers design learning experiences that cover several learning areas at the same time. The Australian Curriculum states that the learning area of Technologies aims to develop the knowledge, understanding and skills to ensure that, individually and collaboratively, students:

investigate, design, plan, manage, create and evaluate solutions;
are creative, innovative and enterprising when using traditional, contemporary and emerging technologies, and understand how technologies have developed over time;
make informed and ethical decisions about the role, impact and use of technologies in the economy, environment and society for a sustainable future;
engage confidently with and responsibly select and manipulate appropriate technologies − materials, data, systems, components, tools and equipment − when designing and creating solutions;
critique, analyse and evaluate problems, needs or opportunities to identify and create solutions.

The Technologies learning area is then separated into two components; Design and Technologies and Digital Technologies.

Design and Technologies, in which students use design thinking and technologies to generate and produce designed solutions for authentic needs and opportunities.

Digital Technologies, in which students use computational thinking and information systems to define, design and implement digital solutions.

St. Peter’s is moving away from standalone Technology skills programmes in order to integrate a variety of digital technologies across all curriculums. My role is to support our teaching staff in designing engaging and meaningful learning experiences, using technology as a tool, focusing lesson ideas to develop students’ communication, critical thinking, creativity and collaborative skills. Our desire is that students may independently identify elements of technology as the tools they need to succeed in a particular learning experience.

I look forward to seeing what our students will achieve here at St. Peters, and beyond!