Week 2 Term 2 2023

Welcome to Term 2! It was lovely today to have so many mums and grandmothers join us today for breakfast out in the sunshine. Our children had the opportunity to purchase a Mother’s Day gift from the Parents & Friends stall, there were plenty of beautiful gifts for our children to select from. Thank you to the staff and our Parents and Friends for making Mother’s Day come alive at St John Bosco.

Our children had some lovely comments about their beautiful mums:

My mum always helps me do lots of stuff. Michael O

My mum always gives me yummy chocolate ice cream. I love it when she reads me a story. Isha

My mum loves me, I love watching movies with my mum. Chris

My mum is kind and respectful, she does a lot for me, like cooking my favourite dinner spaghetti with meat balls. Domenic

No matter what day it is my mum always tries to make fun for me and my brother. Luca

I love having hugs with my mum in her bed. Lily

My mummy always cares for me, she is a great cook, and her food is delicious. Zina

Sibling Enrolments

We have limited vacancies available in the coming years for Reception. Please ensure you complete an enrolment form for all younger siblings that intend to attend St John Bosco School. Enrolment Forms are available from our front office.

Staffing

We welcome Kate Williams to our community, as our specialist Science Teacher. Each class has a lesson a week with Ms Williams, over the past couple of weeks the children have been exploring class expectations and what qualities and features a Scientist possess.

Sara Hart our Assistant Principal Religious Identity and Mission (APRIM) has stepped down from her role in our community. We wish Sara well with her new endeavours. We are working closely with CESA to appoint a new APRIM.

Katerina Andrushenko our School Finance Manager has moved on to an exciting new opportunity. We wish Katerina well in her new role. We are currently advertising for a new School Finance Manager.

Second Hand Uniforms

Next week we are launching a Facebook St John Bosco School Uniform Buy, Sell or Swap Group. It will be a closed group, created for St John Bosco School families to buy, swap and sell pre-loved uniform items that are still in good condition. Hopefully this group will assist families in moving on uniform items to a new home.

Kate Turner

On Friday the 14th of April our school community concluded our Term 1 athletics unit with our annual Sports Day. It was amazing to see all the children participating in a range of athletic events and novelty games displaying their newly learned skills and further developed skills we have worked on over the first term of 2023. The teachers were particularly proud of how each child was cheering on their friends, supporting their teammates, and showing our school value of Loving Kindness throughout the day.

After the events and games of Sports day we ended with Saint Maria Mazzarello (Blue) winning overall followed closely by our other houses. Mazzarello also came away from the day winning the Spirit Award for showing sportsmanship, resilience, and teamwork.

We would like to give a special mention to our house captains; Eli and Giulia of Mazzarello, Ivy and Victoria of Saint Dominic Savio (Gold) and Mia and Harriet of Saint Francis de Sales (Green). These 6 senior students showed exceptional leadership qualities during both the lead up and on the day.

Lastly, Sports Day could not have been possible without the support of our amazing school staff, parents and caregivers, family and friends and the participation of our wonderful children.

Below are some reflections from the children when asked what their favourite part of Sports Day was:

The relay races and the 200m race- Alexa

The sprinting races and getting my first-place ribbon- Carter

The running races were my favourite – Amelia

Mace Van Wennen

On Monday, 8th May ten Year 6 students attended Fitness Leadership Day run by the South Australian Catholic Primary Schools Sports Association (SACPSSA). The purpose of the day was to develop students’ leadership qualities and how to develop fitness games. The students were actively engaged in games, collaborating in problem solving activities in group settings with students from other schools. Apart from learning about games and how to lead them, students discussed what qualities makes a good leader. The day was very productive and valuable in the development of our students’ lifelong learning.

Learnings from the day:

Changing games to get maximum participation. - Alexander

When games don’t go to plan you need to modify rules. - Eli                 

I learnt the key values of being a good leader. - Faith 

How to communicate effectively when explaining activities. - Elle 

How to simply tasks for instruction. - Lucy 

Need to be flexible when teaching students with different needs. - Harriet 

Using leadership qualities learnt how to demonstrate activities with clarity. - Nicola 

How to teach Junior Primary children. - Charlotte 

How manage groups of children and demonstrate activities with clarity. - Giulia 

How to change strategies of games for improved structure of activities. - Mia 

Dino Zandona

Easing back into the routine of school can present a range of emotions from feeling excited and eager to concern, fear and anxiety. Getting butterflies or worrying about going back to school is common.  Below are some simple steps you can follow to support your child’s transition back to school.

Set up a back-to-school routine - This may be in the form of a chart that list what needs to be done each day – getting up, eating breakfast, dressing etc. Be clear on the things your child can do independently and those you could do together.
Establish a consistent bedtime and wake up time – primary school children (age 5-13) need 9-11 hours’ sleep to function with the demands of school life. Ensure electronic devices are not in the bedroom at bedtime and that as a parent, you make time to wind down with your child by reading a story, listening to some calm music, or engaging in some mindfulness.
Talk about going back to school – validate how your child might be feeling and share their emotional response with them. Make sure your child knows their end of day routine, who will pick them up, their OSHC days and any after school activities that may occur.
Strengthen their sense of belonging to school – talk positively about school and the home learning that you will engage in with your child. A strong partnership between home and school will ensure both academic and emotional success. Seek additional support from your child’s classroom teacher if you notice a change in behaviour or their overall wellbeing.
Engage in daily conversations about your day and theirs – talk about how your day has been and ask open ended questions to avoid the ‘nothing’ or ‘I don’t know’ response. Some question could be:

What is something new you discovered today?

How did you show kindness today?

What was your favourite part of the day?

What did you feel proud of today?

What did you need help with today? Who helped you?

What story did the teacher/s read today?

What made you laugh/sad today?

“The more you tell your child about your day, the more they will understand how to talk about their day. Children don’t always know how to talk about their day, and we often forget that this is also a skill that needs to be taught”. (Elizabeth Manly - https://www.discoveryplaywithlittles.com)

Giovanna Burgess

Learning Community Leader R-2

Reading is a fundamental skill that is essential for academic and personal success. Humans are not naturally wired to read; therefore, we must be taught the skills needed to read.

At St John Bosco School we are committed to ensuring that each child learns to read successfully. Our approach to teaching reading embraces the 6 key components of reading instruction: oral language, phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. The InitiaLit program which is implemented across R-2 captures these fundamental skills during daily lessons and teachers regularly monitor children’s progress by administering assessments and content reviews.

Our decodable readers support the return and learn approach whereby the children are ‘reading’ using the sounds taught while decoding the words within the book. Martin Kozloff states “If a child memorises 10 words, the child can read only 10 words. But if a child learns 10 sounds, the child will be able to read 350 three sound words, 4320 four sound words and 21, 650 five sound words”.

How can I support my child at home?

With younger children:

Explain how books ‘work.’ Explain that all books have a title and an author, how to hold a book, that we turn the pages from the front to the back, and we read the words from left to right down the page. This seems obvious to us, but not to children!
Point out letters in words and talk about their sounds. Start with the first initials of the child’s names and their family’s names.
Include books with rhyme or alliteration to help development of phonemic awareness.
Include books with an interesting variety of words to develop vocabulary. Talk about the meaning of new or unfamiliar words and try to use those words in conversation over the next few days.
Include classic fables and fairy tales from a variety of cultures to develop children’s cultural literacy.
Read books in your home language.

With older children:

Choose books for shared reading that are more challenging than children are capable of reading on their own, which will expose them to words, ideas, themes, and concepts that will contribute to their vocabulary, and general knowledge.
Alternate books by contemporary authors with books by classic authors like Rudyard Kipling, CS Lewis, and Robert Louis Stevenson. This will open up new worlds to children and extend their literacy.
Encourage children to be more adventurous in their own book choices, especially at the library.
Do not insist on finishing a book if they are not enjoying it after the first few chapters. Put it aside and maybe come back to it another time.

If you require any additional support with reading, speak to your child’s classroom teacher who is always happy to help.

Giovanna Burgess