Issue 19 - 23rd November 2022

This week St Peter Chanel underwent Validation.  This process takes place every five years.  

Validation is an exercise which ensures schools within Catholic Education Tasmania satisfy all aspects of Church, system and government requirements within the context of school improvement processes.  A panel visits the school for a day to determine compliance and improvement in:

• Catholic Identity and Evangelisation
• Fostering Learning
• Leadership
• Support for Mission
• And a particular focus this year on Curriculum.

During the day, the panel had conversations with staff, students and parent representatives. I thank all staff and students, and those who participated in conversations for your willingness and openness.

A report will soon be provided detailing the great things we are already doing at St Peter Chanel and providing suggestions for ongoing school improvement.

Initial indications from the panel were very, very positive. Our amazing work in Literacy was acknowledged; our physical spaces and grounds were praised; the manners, interactions, faith and work ethic of our students were highlighted. Earlier this year, many of you responded to a survey about the various aspects of our school.  The feedback from the panel was that the surveys were overwhelmingly positive.

I am so proud of our school!  The genuine relationships and collaboration between staff, students and parents with the shared mission of having the children grow in faith, love and learning is inspirational.  Thank you!

Mrs Kerrie Flynn

Principal

Below is our Teacher and Teacher Assistant staffing for 2023.  As always, this is subject to change due to unforeseen circumstances that may arise prior to the commencement of the new school year.

We farewell Miss Tracey Fletcher. We thank her for her time at the school and wish her well in her future endeavours.

We also farewell Mr John van Keulen as he embarks on 6 months of well deserved long service leave. To maintain consistency in the classrooms, John will undertake a special project upon his return.  We wish John a time of rest and rejuvenation.

We excitedly welcome two new teachers to our staff in 2023, Miss Emma Malley and Miss Jessie Ollington.  Emma and Jessie will be wonderful additions to our school community.  And, we welcome a Deputy Principal, Mr Casey Moore.  Casey has already visited the school a few times to familiarise himself with the school and our students.

Principal: Mrs Kerrie Flynn

Deputy Principal: Mr Casey Moore

Literacy Leader/Curriculum Coach: Anna Hart

Student Support Coordinator: Brooke Lardner

Classroom Staff - Teacher 

                            (Teacher Assistant/s)

Kinder: Lauren Workman 

            (Jo Cartledge)

Prep: Georgia Mallinson

            (Tracey Somerville, Lisa Fraser - Mon-Thur, Lynda Ling - Fri)

Year 1: Georgia Thompson  

            (Deni Fraser, Sarah Schuuring) 

Year 2: Danae Ling

            (Emma Berechree)

Year 3: Rebecca Britton

            (Cassie Plaza, Angela Hall)

Year 4: Emma Malley

            (Lynda Ling)

Year 5: Jessie Ollington

            (Courtney Wright, Ella Bellinger) 

Year 6: Montana Bradley

            (Sarah Schuuring)

Specialist Teachers

Music: Nick Hart

Health/PE: Melissa Dodd

Japanese: Mina Howe

Learning Treasures: Lauren Workman and Jo Cartledge

Literacy Intervention: Anna Hart and Thalia Bishop

As part of the CET leaders’ pilgrimage in Italy we visited Assisi, a beautiful, picturesque, medieval village and the home of St Francis of Assisi. St Francis has long been one of my favourite saints, primarily because of his love for nature and animals. 

Who is St Francis?

Francis was born in Assisi, Italy in 1182. He grew up leading a privileged life as the son of a wealthy cloth merchant. 

At nineteen, Francis went to battle against the nearby town of Perugia. Francis was captured and taken prisoner. He was held prisoner in a dungeon for a year before his father paid the ransom and he was set free.

Over the next few years Francis began to see visions from God that changed his life. The visions told him to help the sick. 

As Francis lived a life of self-imposed poverty and preached to people about the life of Jesus Christ, people began to follow him. He had one basic rule which was "To follow the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ and to walk in his footsteps".

He and his followers traveled to Rome to get the approval from the Pope for their religious Order, The Franciscans.

Francis was known for his love of nature and animals. There are many stories of his interactions with animals.

He set up the first Nativity scene to celebrate Christmas in 1220.

Francis became ill and spent the last few years of his life mostly blind. He was declared a saint of the Catholic Church only two years after his death.

Feast day:  October 4

Patron Saint: Italy, Animals, Environment

ADVENT

This Sunday, 27th November is the first Sunday of Advent. Each Sunday we light a candle on our advent wreaths. Each candle has its own special significance: The first candle, which is purple, symbolises hope. It is sometimes called the “Prophecy Candle” in remembrance of the prophets, especially Isaiah, who foretold the birth of Christ. It represents the expectation felt in anticipation of the coming Messiah.

The second candle, also purple, represents faith. It is called the “Bethlehem Candle” as a reminder of Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem.

The third candle is pink and symbolises joy. It is called the “Shepard’s Candle,” and is pink because rose is a liturgical colour for joy. The third Sunday of Advent is Gaudete Sunday and is meant to remind us of the joy that the world experienced at the birth of Jesus, as well as the joy that the faithful have reached the midpoint of Advent.

On the fourth week of Advent, we light the final purple candle to mark the final week of prayer and penance as we wait for the birth of our Saviour. This final candle, the “Angel’s Candle,” symbolises peace. It reminds us of the message of the angels: “Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men.”

Fred’s Phonic Star Award is given to students for their consistent efforts in our Phonics Groups. This fortnight the recipient of this award is:

Kaley Saward

And our last fortnight’s winner is Oliver Wright! Congratulations Ollie!

Writing – Moving into Evidence Based Explicit Instruction in 2023

Recently our school has committed to implementing a new writing program called Seven Steps to Writing Success. This program will be implemented across all grade levels in 2023. It is an evidence-based approach, with sequenced curriculum that focuses on explicit teaching of writing. Our staff will undertake the relevant training early next year to gain relevant skills necessary to run this program, to its full capacity. I will continue to share information with you as we learn more about supporting our students’ learning of writing.

Mrs Anna Hart

Literacy Coordinator 

Congratulations to the following students who received Shooting STARRS awards at assembly last week. 

Kinder - Harry Gourley & Jaxon Gray

Prep - Audrey Dawes & Jordy Medwin

Grade 1 - Finn Magee & Hamda Usama 

Grade 2 - Kaley Saward & Ethan Braid 

Grade 3 - Jhett McAlister & Ella Berechree - on country 

Grade 4 - Naite Barker & Liam Bell 

Grade 5 - Phoenix Hall & Olivia Lockett

Grade 6 - Jewel Wynwood & Jhett Quarrell

Tomorrow, our Parents and Friends are holding their AGM at 3:00pm. If you would like to see the P&F continue, please come along and show your support. All welcome!

Congratulations to Isaac on your cake win last week!

We are taking donations of hamper items for our Christmas raffle which will be drawn at the school concert on Tuesday, 6th December. Thank you to those that have already donated.

We have recently had some families experience gastro. It is important to remember that gastro is very infectious, people with symptoms should not go to work or attend child care centres or schools until 48 hours after symptoms have stopped. Thank you for helping us limit the spread of this virus.

Congratulations to all of our SPC representatives who attended the North West carnival last week. It was fantastic to see everyone doing their best and showing great sportsmanship. Below we have listed our results for families. 

Track Events: 

800m

Gr6B: Logan Poke 4th

Gr6G: Jewel Wynwood 4th

400m

Gr6B H1 Logan 3rd, H2 Isaac 2nd

Gr6G H2 Charli 3rd

Gr5B H1 Aihden 3rd

Gr5G H1 Peppa 4th

Gr3G H2 Myla 4th

200m

Gr6B 

H2 Logan 3rd

H3 Saxon 3rd

H4 Maddon 2nd

Gr6G H2 Charli 3rd

Gr5G H2 Peppa 4th

Gr4B H1 Hendrix 2nd

Gr4G H2 Charlotte 3rd

Gr3G H4 Myla 4th

100m

Gr6B

H1 Isaac 3rd

H2 Calvin 4th

H3 Lewis 4th

H4 Saxon 3rd

Gr6G H1 Jewel 1st

70m

Gr4B H1 Hendrix 1st H2 Ajai 3rd

Gr4G H2 Jordana 3rd

Gr3B H2 Charlie 4th

Gr3G H1 Quinn 4th H4 Carly 4th

Field Events: 

Gr6B

Vortex: Jhett 2nd 35.4m Isaac 3rd 35.2m 

L/Jump: Isaac 2nd 4.23m (Maddon 3.80)

H/Jump: Lewis 120cm, Jhett 123cm

Gr6G

Vortex: Charli 4th 22.1m, Jewel 17.6m

L/Jump: Jewel 3rd 3.56m, Charli 3.19m

H/Jump: Charli 4th 110cm, Heidi F

Gr5B

Vortex: Tommy 28.5m, Aihden 27.6m

L/Jump: Ryan 2.98m, Lucas 2.07m

H/Jump: Ryan 100cm, Tommy 100cm

Gr5G

Vortex: Peppa 3rd 24.1m, Lara 13.8m

L/Jump: Tayla 2.45m, Peppa 2.89

H/Jump: Peppa 4th 113cm, Tayla 110cm 

Gr4B

Vortex: Hendrix 23.6m, Jaiden 23.3m

L/Jump: Hendrix 2.67m, Ajai 2.65m

H/Jump: Liam 95cm, Hendrix 1st 115cm 

Gr4G

Vortex: Charlotte 1st 26.1m, Jordana 17.0m

L/Jump: Charlotte 3.19m, Harper 2.45m

H/Jump: Arah 100cm, Jordana F

Gr3B

Vortex: Charlie 3rd 24.3m, Jhett 22.3m

L/Jump: Charlie 3.04m, Chayse F

H/Jump: Chayse 2nd 111cm, Charlie 93cm

Gr3G

Vortex: Georgie 1st 19.4m, Quinn 13.6m

L/Jump: Georgie 2.45m, Quinn 2.67m

H/Jump: Quinn 2nd 108cm, Nina 99cm

It has been a jam packed term so far and it continues to stay busy until the Christmas break. Please see below some upcoming key dates for the remainder of the year.

In Grade Six, we have been learning about business and economics as a part of our HASS unit. We have learned about cost and opportunity and how all of our decisions cost something, whether we win or not. We have learned about consumer decisions and that we have a choice in the different products we buy, including why we should avoid those with palm oil in them. We looked at goods and services and the difference between the two, and we learned the meanings of entrepreneur and enterprise. We looked at football as a business rather than a sport, and learned that there are a lot more jobs and businesses involved in our great game. We have been tasked to create our own businesses in the classroom, by creating our own logos, slogans and posters promoting a product. We also need to write a pitch to try and sell our product to the big investors (Mrs Flynn)! Our objective is to try and get her to invest in our product and, hopefully, we are then able to sell our items to the rest of the school. We are currently busy creating our businesses and pitches. Until we have been given approval by our investor, we are unable to promote our businesses… YET. So, here are our logo designs that we have created for our businesses.

Don't forget to purchase your child book pack online via https://www.booklists.com.au/phos/ and following the prompts on the booklists families received, if you have misplaced your book list they are available on compass. 

Please see below, term dates for 2023. 

Circle Of Security Program term 1

Speech Pathology Tasmania warmly invites all caregivers to join Rosie Martin for the Circle Of Security Program. The term 1 program will take place on Tuesday evenings from Feb 14 to Apr 4. The course involves meeting in a small group online via zoom once a week for 8 sessions, at times when children are likely to be asleep.

The Foster and Kinship Carers Association of Tasmania will sponsor Tasmanian grandparents raising grandchildren, informal kin, and Foster & Kinship Carers to participate.

This enriching non-judgmental program explores the development of connection, relationship and attachment – which are also the foundations for language and social skills development and good mental health for carers and children. The insights gained can benefit all relationships.

Numbers are limited to keep the group small. The zoom format is convenient for busy families. The video segments and handouts are helpful for visual learners.

For more info or to register please email programs@spt.com.au, visit www.spt.com.au, or phone 62345717.

Are you planning on studying education?

Do you want to work alongside teachers while you study?

St Thomas Aquinas Teaching Schools Cadet Teachers are paired with a mentor teacher from

the beginning of their studies.

Providing support to students studying Bachelor of Education or Master of Teaching degrees

across Primary or Secondary, the St Thomas Aquinas Teaching Schools delivers an

integrated, hands-on approach to developing Tasmania’s future teachers.

Cadet Teacher Positions are limited, and entrance into the program is by competitive

application.

Successful applicants receive:

• An annual $2,500 support payment.
• One to two days paid classroom cadet placement.
• The use of a MacBook to assist your studies.
• The offer of ongoing employment as a teacher at the successful completion of your

course.

• Weekly Insight Days to support your development.

Learn more about studying as a Cadet Teacher with St Thomas Aquinas Teaching Schools via

the website catholic.tas.edu.au

https://catholic.tas.edu.au/teaching-schools?

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