Staffing

At the end of last term, Mrs Kirra Calvert made the difficult decision to step down from her role as Religious Education Coordinator (REC) at St Therese for Term 2 due to family commitments. Kirra will remain in her position as teacher of Year 4 Blue. The REC position was advertised over the holidays with a number of staff being interviewed this week to temporarily fill this role.

As you are aware, Mrs Dominique Hogarth commenced Parental Leave at the end of last term. Her position as Middle Leader 1 - Sport (ML1) was also advertised during the holidays with interviews this week.

This term, I will be taking 5 weeks leave from Week 6 through to the end of term. During this time, Mrs Dimitra Vezinias will assume the role of Acting Principal. This then creates a flow on effect to fill an Acting Assistant Principal role and then possibly another Acting ML2 role during this time of my leave. Once again, interviews are scheduled this week to start the process of filling these leadership positions.

Uniform (transition period)

Once again we enter this time of year where the weather seems to fluctuate quite a bit. Therefore over the next few weeks, students can choose to wear either their Winter or Summer uniform. Sports days remain the same. The official changeover where all students are expected in their Winter uniform will be from Monday, 27 May (Week 5).

P & F POSITION VACANT

P & F Social Media Role

Last night the P & F met for their second meeting of the year. Discussed were staffing changes at St Therese, updates to the school environment and upcoming P & F events. Recently, P & F fundraising has purchased nearly $8000 in books, a portable PA system and re-mulched the Little Bank playground, A quote for nearly $12 000 has been accepted to install a new shade structure in the Little Bank play space - hopefully this will be installed during the next school holidays.

Currently, the P & F are looking for an interested parent who has some available time to take over their Social Media role. The only experience is an ability to access and update our FaceBook presence (this rules me out!). If you are interested, please contact Louise in the office or one of the P & F executive listed below:

President: Michelle Ristov

Vice President: Rachael Dimitrievski

Treasurer: Christina Anastasiadis

Secretary: Carly Leighton

FaceBook / Social Media:

Congratulations Dion T & Gabriel B

Dion and Gabriel were in Cairns last week for the FNQ Youth Cup representing “The Luke Wilkshire Football Academy” is based  in Unanderra. The boys played 3 days of fast and furious 7v7 format style games. Dion and Gabriel made the semi finals and went to penalty shoot out and unfortunately lost but what a great game and great experience for the boys.

Both boys are super excited to have been selected to showcase their soccer skills.

This experience goes beyond their technical skills, it is also providing them with opportunities to develop their social and emotional well being. It helped  them to build solid foundations on what it takes to be a good sportsman.

Not only are the boys excited to play soccer they were also super excited to stay on campus at St Augustine’s college and have their afternoons filled with great activities and bonding as a team.

Congratulations Dion and Gabriel and look forward to hearing about their amazing experience.

Tell Them From Me (TTFM) Survey

In the coming weeks we will be inviting students, teachers and parents to provide feedback on their experience of our school using an online survey. The surveys are an important part of our whole school evaluation and planning process.

We would like to invite you to complete the Tell Them From Me (TTFM) Partners in Learning survey. As we value the role of parents and carers within our school community, we would greatly appreciate your feedback. The information you provide will be used to maintain our commitment to working together in partnership to further improve student learning and wellbeing at St Therese Catholic School.

The survey is anonymous and will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. You are able to access the parent survey on your computer or mobile device by using the URL below:

www.tellthemfromme.com/sts24

Mathematics

This year the teachers are engaging in professional learning based on the new Years 3-6 Mathematics syllabus. In addition to this we have a whole school focus on the overarching Working Mathematically outcome within the syllabus.

Working Mathematically involves the development of the following interconnected processes:

• communicating
• understanding and fluency
• reasoning
• problem solving.

Teachers have engaged in numerous professional learning sessions and are embedding Working Mathematically processes throughout their mathematics lessons and learning experiences.  As part of this focus each class in the school has introduced a Mathematics problem solving toolbox to develop a range of strategies that students can use when problem solving and thinking mathematically.

The_Core_Work_of_Teaching_A3_2024.pdf

The_Core_Work_of_Teaching_A3_2024 _pdf 827.54 KB

Upcoming Teacher Professional Learning Development 

Throughout the year teachers have access to a variety of quality professional development opportunities. Casual teachers are employed to cover classes with the teacher ensuring the teaching program and routines are followed.

Week	Date	Staff Member/s	Purpose
1	29/4/24 & 30/4/24	All teachers with Mrs Runko & Mrs Vezinias	Case Collaboration Meetings
1	1/5/24 & 2/5/24	Ms Pellizzari	Walking together to Bridge the Gap Conference

“Those who dare to teach, never cease to learn”
John Cotton-Dana

Life Ed is looking forward to visiting the students of St Therese's Primary School West Wollongong.

Life Education Parent Session

Please join Life Education Educator, Zoe, in the van for an informal parent session on Friday 3 May at 1.30-2.30pm. Zoe will take parents through an overview of the module content students will take part in during the Life Education visit, highlight the unique learning features of the van, and answer any questions you may have. Non-school aged siblings welcome.

Life Education Program Outline

Below is a brief outline of the programs available to the children for participation. If you DON’T give permission for your child to participate please contact the office.

Harold's Friendship - Kindergarten - Year 1: Explores how to build friendships and care for others, feelings, and emotions, safe and unsafe situations and early warning signs, safe places and people to turn to for help.

Growing Good Friends - Year 2: Unsafe behaviours, situations, and environments, and healthy food choices.

Safety Rules - Stage 1 (Yrs 1-2) - Porblem solving, personal safety, seeking help, how to care for others and behaviours that maintain friendships.

Relate Respect Connect - Stage 3 (Yrs 5-6) - Teaches the knowledge, skills and attitudes that children need to develop and maintain safe and respectful relationships both on and offline. Including effective communication skills, development of empathy and conflict resolutions skills.

Friends and Feelings - Stage 2 (Yr 3-4) - Broadening and developing emotional literacy, identifying and practising assertive communication skills and emotional regulation skills.

Parent-School Partnership Framework

“We must take note of the changes that have affected both the family and the school, and renew the commitment to constructive collaboration – for the benefit of children and young people” — Pope Francis  

Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong (CEDoW) strives to create vibrant Catholic communities of faith and learning and believes this is best achieved when there is a genuine partnership between home and school.

The Lighting the Way Together Parent-School Partnership Framework has been developed to support the creation and maintenance of this partnership. It outlines for parents* and school the principles and expectations of the parent-school partnership so that together we can create:

• identifiably Catholic communities, inspired by the person and teaching of Jesus Christ, where all strive to act with hope, integrity, justice and compassion; and
• effective schools which enhance student learning and wellbeing.

The Parent-School Partnership Framework is available in six additional languages to help support you and your family.

The Framework is available in Vietnamese, Hindi, Nepali, Malayalam, Tagalog and Arabic. They are all available for download from the below link:

www.dow.catholic.edu.au/partnershipframework

TO VIEW OUR PARENT PARTNERSHIP PRINCIPLES ONLY, CLICK HERE