2024 Term 4 Week 2

From the Principal - Lisa Cavanagh

Newsletter Report – Week 2 Term 4

Dear Parents and carers,

Welcome back to the final term for 2024.  This term is shaping up to be a very busy one with many events.

Staffing News

At this time of the year, we begin to look at the staffing schedule for 2025.  I am pleased to be able to inform the school community of some staffing news.

Mrs Anna Vaessen will be joining the teaching staff of Holy Name from 2025.  Anna is relocating from St Stephen’s in Pittsworth, where she has taught for the past 18 years as both a classroom teacher and HPE teacher (shared with several TCS schools in the area).  Anna has taught a variety of year levels as a classroom teacher.  Some of Anna’s strengths include her ability to form positive relationships with students and families, and working with students with additional needs.  Anna’s relocation has been made possible with Miss Meghann Kimmorley accepting a continuing, part-time position at St Saviour’s Primary School.  We wish Meg all the best as she continues at St Saviour’s from 2025 and look forward to welcoming Anna to the Holy Name team.

Over the past week, the leadership team has been short-listing candidates for the positions we have open for our school. 

• The School Cleaner is a new position. Previously the school has used an external cleaning service and the contract finishes in early November.
• Classroom Teacher – 2 Days per week. This position will be job-sharing with Mrs Sarah McAllister who will continue to work part-time in 2025.
• School Officer Assisting Student Learning – This part-time School Officer Position is to support students with additional needs in the classroom and playground from 2025.

Exciting new ways to get involved at Holy Name Primary School, Toowoomba

The P&F and School Advisory Board have been exploring new possibilities for getting our community together, to socialise, to discuss important issues and to share in the education of our children. 

We are now coming to you, to share the options and get your views on what will work best for our community.

There are two options.

1. A refreshed Parents and Friends Association (P&F) and School Advisory Council (SAC) OR
2. A single Parent Engagement Network (PEN)

Both options have new or refreshed constitutions, and these are available for you to read on the school’s website.

MODELSchoolAdvisoryCouncilConstitution.docx (sharepoint.com)

MODELPFAssociationsConstitution.docx (sharepoint.com)

MODELParentEngagementNetworkConstitution.docx (sharepoint.com)

Over the coming weeks we want to collect your views on which approach you believe would engage you and others best at Holy Name. We invite you to read the constitutions, talk with the current P&F executive and school leadership and share your thoughts.

Please email holyname@twb.catholic.edu.au if you’d like to share your thoughts regarding a preferred option. These will be shared with the P&F executive, SAC and school leadership team and discussed at the meeting at school on Tuesday 22^nd of October at 5:00 PM in the school library. We invite you to attend this meeting.

The result of this consultation will be shared with all parents via email and in the school newsletter, along with the next steps in bringing the chosen option to life at Holy Name.

Holy Name Non-Negotiables

The Holy Name Teaching Staff worked last term on creating a Holy Name Non-Negotiables document as an agreed set of protocols for our school.  We used the School Vision and Mission Statements, Student Behaviour Support Plan, Learning Powers, Gospel Values in the Mercy Tradition and our Staff Handbook to create this set of non-negotiables.  We will be unpacking these with the students in the coming weeks and will share with the parents via the newsletter.

The non-negotiables include our expectations for student behaviour, routines and procedures in the playground and classrooms and our interactions with all members of our community.

Best wishes to all our Holy Name Community for the term ahead.  It is shaping up to be a very busy one.

God Bless

Lisa

APRE - Jodie Inskip

APMI News

This term, I am thrilled to support the Holy Name community as the Acting Assistant Principal Mission and Identity (APMI) while Kerri-Ann Manthey is taking her well-deserved long service leave. I am looking forward to a wonderful term of learning, and all the exciting events we have planned for the remainder of the 2024 academic year.  

New focus for the APRE

In our ever-changing world, it is essential for us to continually reflect on how we bring our Catholic identity and mission to life within our school community. This reflection has led all Toowoomba Catholic Schools to collaboratively review the vital role of religious leadership. As a result, the position of Assistant Principal Religious Education (APRE) has been revitalised with a new focus and title of Assistant Principal Mission and Identity (APMI).

At Holy Name Primary School, our APMI plays a pivotal role in guiding Catholic pedagogy, overseeing the religion curriculum, and nurturing the religious life of our school. This work is at the very heart of everything we do. The role of the APMI is essential in ensuring that our Catholic school remains a living witness to Christ’s message as expressed in the Gospels. From the beginning of Term 4, this position will now have the new role title of APMI.

In subsequent newsletters I will write more about this role, our aspirations and hopes for this role at our school, and how this will shape this next chapter of our continuing Catholic faith journey. In Term 1 2025, we will welcome back Mrs Manthey into this role.

Welcome Bishop Ken Howell

This Friday, we welcome Bishop Ken Howell to Holy Name. There will be a whole school Mass at Holy Name Catholic Church at 9am, led by Bishop Ken. We extend a warm welcome to all our families to attend. Following Mass, Bishop Ken will spend the day getting to know staff and students in our school.

Term 4 Mercy Value – Excellence

Excellence is the attainment of the highest possible standards

This term our focus on excellence invites students to elevate their efforts both academically and personally. Inspired by Catherine McAuley’s words, “We must strive to do ordinary things extraordinarily well,” we encourage our students to embrace this spirit in every task, big or small. Students will come to understand and demonstrate excellence through the use of I can statements:

• I can strive to achieve my best in learning
• I can work hard and never give up
• I can commit to my school’s expectations

Important October Celebrations:

Friday 11 October           Whole School Mass with Bishop Ken 9.00am

Friday 25 October          Grandparents Day Prayer Celebration 8.45am

Prayer

The month of October is dedicated to the Holy Rosary. This includes the Feast Day of the Lady of the Rosary, celebrated by the Church on October 7^th each year.

Hail Mary

Hail, Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death. 
Amen

Teaching and Learning News

This term our Learning Power focuses on being ‘Reflective’. Students are encouraged to monitor their own performance and take the time to think about their progress as they focus on their learning goals. Students will be guided to develop the skills of being a reflective learner through the following statements:

• I am an important contributor.
• I know we can find a solution together.
• I will acknowledge and accept others.
• I trust myself and others when sharing ideas and giving feedback.

Blessings,

Jodie Inskip

SCHOOL FEES

Term 4 School Fee Statements were emailed yesterday. If you did not receive a Statement, please contact the office.

Fees are due to be paid by 23 October 2024.

If you are experiencing difficulty paying your fees, please contact the office to arrange a meeting with Mrs Cavanagh.

Thank you.

Prep - Tennille Kauter

As we approach the final term of Prep, we’re excited about the busy weeks ahead! Here’s a quick overview of what’s in store for our students.

Religion: In Religion, we’ll learn about the birth of Jesus and create our own nativity scene, with the assistance from our Year 6 buddies.

English: We will continue reading decodable readers and learning sight words, while also introducing diagraphs and blends. The children will explore rhyming stories and practice writing their own rhyming sentences. We’ll introduce red and blue handwriting lines to help prepare them for Year One.

Maths: Students will build on their understanding of numbers, focussing on addition and subtraction, as well as location and position. We’ll integrate technology through fun activities with Bee Bots.

Science: We are thrilled to welcome the four prep students from Prep/1 Gold to our class once a week! Our investigations will centre on how things move and the forces needed for movement. We’ll look at toys that moves and enjoy a friendly class game of tug-of-war to test out teamwork!

HASS: We’ll explore celebrations and the various ways we celebrate special occasions.

To support our students transitioning to Year One, please send a pencil case for your child. We aim to move away from shared stationary. We have enough supplies at school, just a pencil case will be needed. If you need help with this, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Additionally, we are excited to announce that we will be presenting the Grandparents Day Prayer Celebration in Week 4. The students are also looking forward to swimming lessons, with more details to come later this term.

Mrs Thomas and I are looking forward to a joyful and fun term. Thank you for your continued support!

Mrs Kauter and Mrs Thomas

Prep/1 Gold - Hannah Patterson

Term 4, week 2 Newsletter

Welcome back and happy term 4! My name is Hannah Patterson, and I am lucky enough to be teaching Prep/One Gold this term. I am a graduate teacher and have spent part of this year relief teaching at numerous schools across the Toowoomba and Brisbane regions working with all different age groups from Prep to Six. The other half of my year was spent solo backpacking across Europe, returning just in time to join the Holy Name community for this term. With my genuine love for teaching and passion for supporting children’s holistic growth, I am beyond excited to join the Prep/One Gold family.

Let’s take a look at the learning for this term:

Religion:

In Religion this term we are learning about the life and importance of Mother Mary and her impact in our lives.

• Listen to and respond to various Scriptures in the Bible.
• Learning about the Visitation and Annunciation of Mary and making connections to our lives.
• The Haily Mary and ways and importance of praying to Mary, as well as continuing to explore various ways of praying including meditative prayer and praying with beads, specifically Rosary Beads.
• How and why we and others honour Mary and the importance to Jesus’ teachings.

English:

• Develop phonemic awareness skills
• Phonics, spelling and reading and comprehension skills
• Rhyme and sentence construction with rhyming words.
• Developing vocabulary and oral language skills
• Reading high frequency words.
• Writing CVC, CCVC, CVCC words

Mathematics:

• Number recognition and counting
• Place value and partitioning of numbers
• Addition and subtraction strategies
• Collection and representation of data
• Description of positions, location and direction.

Science:

• Conduct simple experiments and hands-on investigations, observations and discoveries to investigate light and sound including sources of light and sound and how they travel.

HaSS (humanities and Social Sciences):

• Learning, describing and celebrating events, festivals and celebrations in ours and others’ lives.
• Learning why and how people celebrate different events and comparing different people’s celebrations.

Visual Art

Visual art this term is linked to our HaSS unit of celebrations. Students will continue to explore how they can convey ideas and experiences through art using a variety of skills and techniques.

Technologies

This term we are engaging with digital and design technologies throughout our work and through the use of Bee Bots to further our learning and enhance understandings of position, location and direction, and data.

Homework:

Will continue to be sent home on a Wednesday and due back the following Tuesday. This term homework will include high frequency words, spelling activities, home reading and a maths revision activity. 

Term 3 Weekly specialist lessons 

Library (Mrs Tindall) & Health (Ms Inskip) - Tuesday (Don't forget your library bag and books!)

PE (Mrs Taylor) & Visual Arts (Ms Inskip) - Wednesday (sports uniform)

Important events for your calendar:

Week 2: Bishop Ken visiting the school and Parish. Whole school Mass with Bishop Ken Friday 12/10 9am.

Week 4: Friday World Teacher’s Day

Week 7: Swimming lessons begin this week. Monday 11/11 - Remembrance Day. Wednesday 13/11 visit from Father Darrell.

Week 8: Wednesday swimming carnival

Week 9: Thursday Christmas concert (5pm).

Week 10: Last school week of the year!

I am very excited for this term and all of the learning, growth and fun we will experience this term. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Wishing everyone a wonderful term!

Kindest regards,

Hannah Patterson

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Year 2 - Kirralee Bronkhurst

Hi Everyone,

Week 1 already done and dusted! I hope you are all well and had a lovely holiday!

Here are some upcoming events this Term. As always, we have a fun jammed packed Term.

Swimming- Swimming with be commencing at the beginning of Week 7 – A note will be going home in the upcoming weeks with things to remember to pack and the days the students swim etc.

Library- Students are reminded to bring their library bags to school each Tuesday to borrow library books. Students have also started to borrow readers again. It would be great to get back into reading these readers with your child. Any questions with these new library readers please let me know.

Homework- A reminder that Homework is due every Thursday and handed out on Friday’s.  

Show and Share- You will be able to find 2B’s Show and Share roster inside the homework books.  

Christmas Concert- The school Christmas Concert is always a great time of the year to get together and celebrate the end of year. Each year level will have their own performance to share which they will be practicing leading up the event. This event is scheduled in for the Thursday of Week 9 at 5pm.

‘The Holy Name Way’- which is to be respectful, responsible, safe and an active learner.

Please also keep an eye out on Sentral/ social media for any updates on events.

Looking forward to a great Term 4!! 😊

Thanks,

Kirralee

Year 2 - Stacy Mills

It is hard to believe that we are in Term 4! It has been so good to see all the students refreshed and ready for a busy term. I have been so proud of how well that they have settled back in the routine of school and the enthusiasm and commitment they are showing towards their learning.  The following is a brief overview of our learning this term:

Religion – In religion students will explore and describe a range of purposes and text types of a variety of prayers and rituals used in various contexts. We will also be making connections between Jesus’ teachings and actions and the way members of the Church community live today.  We will learn about nurturing our connection to God through the celebration of Christmas.

Math- Students will work through mini units on position and direction, durations of time, review of place value and addition and subtraction strategies.

English- This term out text focus is persuasive writing. This will allow students to express their opinions and ideas using persuasive devices and language to support their reasons and opinions. Students will learn to structure their writing to influence the thoughts and actions of their audience

Science-Through our chemical science unit, students will explore materials and their properties and investigate the result of combining substances. They will also explore how materials can be used, through identifying opportunities to reduce, reuse and recycle.

HaSS- In our unit this term we are focusing on place. We will investigate special and sacred spaces and learn about people’s connection to places. In particular we will focus on the interconnections of First Nations Australians to a local Country/Place.

Digital Technologies-In this subject we will be using Bee-Bots to develop foundation skills in computational thinking and to develop an awareness of personal experiences using digital technologies. Students will learn to follow and describe a series of steps to program a Bee-Bot. They will also plan a route to program a Bee-Bot to follow a path and write a sequence of steps (algorithm).

Please look out for a class newsletter, which will go home with homework on Friday. This will have more details and messages for this term.

Year 3 - Marissa Dixon, Tilly Hose and Sarah McAllister

It is with great excitement that we get to welcome you back for the final term of the school year! We hope that you had a restful break and are ready for an exciting and busy term ahead. This term is packed with various activities and learning opportunities, and we are thrilled to share an overview of what's to come. 

Learning: 
Here's a glimpse of what we will be covering in our learning this term: 

English: We will be diving into a novel study of The One and Only Ivan. This engaging text will serve as a foundation for our lessons on persuasive writing. Students will learn to craft compelling arguments and express their opinions effectively.

Maths: Our Maths lessons will cover a variety of topics to build a strong foundation. We will focus on:

• Multiplication
• Addition and Subtraction
• Fractions
• And much more!

HASS: In Geography, students will explore connections to place, understanding how people are linked to different locations. We will also delve into the states and territories of Australia, learning about their unique features and significance.

Science: In Science, students will investigate how a change of state between solid and liquid can be caused by adding or removing heat. This hands-on exploration will help them understand the properties of materials and the effects of temperature changes.

Religion: In Religion this term, students will locate and use information about the cultural contexts in which the Gospels were written and the text types used by the human authors of the New Testament to communicate their ideas including the Christian belief that Jesus is the Messiah. This will be explored within the context of Advent. 

Overview of Events: 

Week 2: 

• Monday - King's Birthday Holiday) 
• Friday - Whole school Mass with Bishop Ken (9am)

Week 3:

• Wednesday - Fr Darrell visit (Year 3 Blue) 

Week 4: 

• Tuesday - Year 3 Excursion to Downlands - AgForce Day (MooBaa Lunch) 
• Wednesday - Fr Darrell visit (Year 3 Gold)
• Thursday - Assembly (2:30pm) 
• Friday - Grandparent's Day Prayer Celebration (8:45am), World Teacher's Day 

Week 5: 

• Friday - Mass (Year 3 Gold) 

Week 6:

• Thursday - Assembly (2:30pm) 
• Friday - Mass (Year 3 Blue) 

Week 7: (Swimming Lessons begin this week - more information to follow)

• Monday - Remembrance Day Prayer Service (10:50am)
• Wednesday - Genius Hour presentation (9am - 10am) 

Week 8: (Swimming Lessons continue) 

• Wednesday - Swimming Carnival 
• Thursday - Assembly (2:30pm)

Week 9: Wellbeing Week 

• Thursday - Thankful Thursday, Final assembly (2pm), Christmas concert (5pm)
• Friday - Step Up morning (8:30 - 10:30) 

Week 10: 

• Monday - Assembly (Academic Awards - 1:45 - 3:00pm) 
• Wednesday - Final Mass (9am), Year 6 Graduation Ceremony (10:30)
• Thursday - End of Year Celebration morning (8:30 - 10:30) 

General Information: 

• Formal uniform - Monday, Tuesday & Thursday
• Sports uniform - Wednesday & Friday
• Healthy snack - Please provide your child an additional healthy snack daily (labelled, if possible) for morning 'brain break'
• Homework - Due back to school each Monday please; this gives you the weekend to complete it if your week's been a little hectic!
• Library (Mrs Tindall) & Health (Mrs Inskip) - Tuesday (Don't forget your library bag!)
• PE (Mrs Taylor) & Art (Mrs Inskip) - Wednesday (sports uniform)
• Assembly - Thursday at 2:30pm MEAC (weeks 2, 4, 6, 8, 10)
• Chinese - Friday
• Classroom expectations - Be Safe, Be a Learner, Be Respectful & Be Responsible

Homework: 

• Homework will commence in Week 3 and continue weekly through to Week 8 (Week 9: Wellbeing Week - No Homework)
• Homework will go home each Monday and needs to be returned the following Monday please.
• Homework consists of
• Reading - 15-20 mins daily
• Mathletics set tasks 
• Literacy Activity - eg. spelling and/or comprehension tasks

We are looking forward to a productive and enjoyable term. Thank you for your continued support and involvement in your child's education. If you have any questions or need further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Warm regards, 

The Year 3 Team 
Mrs Sarah McAllister, Ms Marissa Dixon & Miss Tilly Hose

Year 4/5 - Danni Canning

Welcome back to another action-packed term! It is hard to believe it is term 4 already! Even though this is a ten-week term I know it will fly by.

In English this term we will be working on poetry to start with and then move into persuasive writing. So far, we have learnt about haiku poems, shape poems, Onomatopoeia and limericks. Below are some photos of our onomatopoeia artwork.

In HaSS we are learning about the government. We will be looking at how a government is formed, what decisions they make, how they make them, and we will be learning how to debate a subject.

For the first part of the term in science we will be learning about forces. Particularly looking at how force in used to make an object move. We will then be moving onto light and refraction. We will discover how our eyes work and how shadows are created.

Important dates for this term:

Week 2: Friday-  Whole school Mass with Bishop Ken – 9am

Week 3: Friday- 4/5 attending mass- 9am

Week 7: swimming starts- timetable to come

Week 8: swimming carnival on Wednesday

Week 8: Thursday 4/5 on assembly

Week 9: wellbeing week

Week 10: Last week of school for the YEAR!

Year 5/6 - Brook Marquart

Newsletter 5/6 Gold Term 4 2024

5/6 Newsletter

Welcome to term 4 2024. With this term being the final one for the year, we are in for lots of fun with extra activities for our leaders as well as looking forward to graduation and report cards, but before that, we have an extensive curriculum to get through.

This term we will been learning how to write character review still using the main text of “Us Mob Walawurru” by David Spillman and Lisa Wilyuka. In HASS we are diving into Geography and Australia’s relationship with other countries around the world. In Mathematics, there will a focus on learning and memorising times tables as well as refining the work we have seen this year, and in science we have begun looking at space.

In the Arts the students will be preparing for the Christmas Concert (week 9) and swimming lessons will begin in week 7, with the carnival being Wednesday of week 8.  

As we enter the last term of the school year the year 6 students will be preparing for Graduation while the year 5 student prepare for their speeches and rallying for leadership next year. These positions will be announced at the end of the term.

Term 4 key dates.

September:

30^th Term 1 begins back today (Monday)

October:

7^th King’s Birthday Public Holiday

11^th Whole school Mass with Bishop Ken

21^st Prep 2025 Transition morning

24^th 5/6 Assembly Presentation

25^th Day for Daniel

25^th Grandparents Day Prayer Celebration

25^th World Teacher’s Day

November:

4^th Prep Transition morning

Week 7 and 8 Swimming lessons

11^th Remembrance Day

13^th Genius Hour

20^th Swimming carnival

28^th Thankful Thursday

28^th Christmas Concert

29^th Step Up Morning

December:

2^nd Final Assembly and Academic Awards

4^th Final Mass and Graduation

5^th Rewards Day

6^th Term concludes for term 4

Strap in for a very busy 10 week term to finish off the year.

Miss Marquart.

Brook.Marquart@twb.catholic.edu.au.

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Enrichment Program

Enrichment:

Students in the Holy Name Enrichment program will take part in Genius Hour in Term 4. Genius Hour is an opportunity for students to learn and create by selecting a topic they feel passionately about and to inform an audience. The Genius Hour presentations will occur in an expo style format in Week 7, Wednesday 13^th November in the MEAC. Students in Year 2 and 3 will present 9-10am and students in Year 4, 5 and 6 will present 1:45-2:45pm. All families and friends are invited to come and experience the Genius Hour presentations.

Social Skills:

This term our social skills groups will involve 5 lessons focusing on the following:

• Identify their strengths (identify positive traits and characteristics and to recognise their accomplishments)
• Distinguish inner and outer beauty (how uniqueness makes a person beautiful/relationship with food)
• Focus on good rather than bad (big problems/little problems, turning negative thoughts into positive thoughts)
• Understand what makes good friendships (what makes them good friends and what they should look for in a friend)
• Create a habit of positive realism (daily self-esteem journal to encourage students to feel optimistic and focus on the good things that happen instead of the bad.

In these sessions students will learn tools they can use to begin cultivating a healthy sense of self-esteem and increase their self-worth.

TCKC Outside School Hours Care

Happy Families Article

AEIOU Foundation

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