St Jerome's Newsletter
Week 3 - Term 1 (Thursday 25 February)
Dear Parents
This week I want to introduce you to ‘Town Halls’. Being engaged with your child’s school is a significant step in sharing in their learning journey. You can be involved in your child’s school from the car park, or a glance at the weekly newsletter, to knowing what learning opportunities they are experiencing, and why. I would suggest it’s the latter where ‘engagement’ matters. Trust me, your child wants you to engage in their school life, particularly during their primary years, and be prepared that when they are in secondary school your presence isn’t so cool.
A Town Hall is a brief 10 minute presentation on a topic of interest. It could be a curriculum topic, a child safety initiative, or a discussion on the celebration of the arts at St Jerome’s. We are planning for one ‘Town Hall’ per term, and they will rotate on a morning and then an afternoon session. Depending on numbers, we will meet in the staff room, and a tea and coffee will be provided. Our presenters will invite a brief Q&A after each Town Hall.
Our first Town Hall will be presented by Sarah Connolly and Jacob Tucker, and their topic: ‘A day in the life of an iPad at St Jerome’s". You must register your attendance, and I have attached a Google form for you to do that. The date and time being: Thursday 25 March at 2.30pm. My thanks to Sarah and Jacob for asking to present our first Town Hall.
On Tuesday evening I completed my cycle of ‘firsts’ with the meeting of St Jerome’s School Advisory Council. It was a delight to meet everyone, and listen to their interest in our school. The Council has a significant role in our school and each member brings a skill base which can only be of advantage to the community when advice is being requested and decisions are being made.
A topic we examined at length concerned homework. Our policy states; ‘The most important ‘out of school’ activity for any child is to enjoy his/her family life, exploring the world and building strong relationships. Homework should not be the cause of tension and disruption in a family’. The policy also makes it clear that reading and any practice skills should never take longer than 15 minutes. (St Jerome’s Homework Policy 2018).
It was good to hear the advice from council members, some who had tertiary and secondary education backgrounds, to know that St Jerome’s is well placed with its practice of homework. One take away point which was shared at the meeting, which should take the burden from parents worried that their children are sufficiently prepared for secondary education, is that secondary schools accept children from so many schools, and they do not expect a ‘homework standard’ to have been developed at primary school. It was shared that a typical secondary school will enrol students from 30+ schools, and in the first 5/6 weeks of Year 7 the college will begin to assist their students understand what is expected of them and how to manage the demands of their new learning environment. In short, St Jerome’s students adapt well to their new environment, and achieve just like their peers from other schools. And if this was not the case we would have heard.
I’m delighted to welcome back our music tutors for 2021, and in this newsletter we see the commencement of lessons for Priam Bacich. All our tutors must now sign a licence with Catholic Education of WA Limited, to tutor in CEWA schools. I thank all our tutors for their support while licensing agreements were signed, and the rooms were assigned before their lessons can commence. I look forward to hearing their presence in our school once again.
The Lord be with you.
Chris.
REMEMBER: TUESDAY 2ND MARCH IS A PUPIL FREE DAY
NB: The Uniform Shop will not be open on Tuesday 2nd March
Sacramental Program 2021
Families wishing to enrol their children in the Sacramental Program for 2021 should download and complete the relevant enrolment form from the St Jerome’s parish website.
Please then place all the required documents along with the payment for the parish into a sealed envelope. Please ensure that you have placed your child's name, their class and the sacrament they are receiving on the back of the envelope and on the front write:
'For the attention of Carol Hoare - Sacramental Program'
If you wish to pay by card at the front desk the Office ladies can assist with this. Please note that a receipt will be given to you at the time for Credit Card transactions over the counter or forwarded to you once I have processed your paperwork.
This all needs to happen before 26th February 2021 as no enrolments can be taken after this date. If you have any issues or concerns with any of this, please let me know as soon as possible so I have time to assist in any way I can. My email address is: carol.hoare@cewa.edu.au
The link to the parish is: (you may need to copy the link and paste into your browser)
http://www.stjeromesparish.org/sacramental-programme-guide-2021-school-based/
Please see the dates below for each Sacrament and note that the order of Sacraments has changed this year.
We are now into the second week of Lent and our Caritas Story today comes from the Solomon Islands. Project Compassion 2021 | Lenten Appeal | Weekly Stories |Caritas Australia. During this season of reflection and renewal, we are called upon to ask ourselves the question, ‘how can we be more?’ What does this mean for each of us? Watching and listening to the stories from these third world countries helps us to realise how blessed and fortunate we are to live in Australia. I encourage you to watch these stories with your children and discuss with them the differences between their lives and ours. We can support the efforts of Caritas to improve the plight of these people by raising awareness, by donating to Project Compassion and most importantly, with our prayers.
Servant Leadership
Our new Student Councillors for 2021 are displaying an act of Servant Leadership by cleaning the shoes of all the students in the school over the next two weeks. At the last Supper, Jesus washed the feet of his apostles displaying to all that he was prepared to do the lowliest of tasks for others. Our Student Councillors are following the example of Jesus and Making Jesus Real at St Jerome’s.
Free Dress Day tomorrow Friday 26 February – in support of the Bushfire Appeal
Children are encouraged to dress up as firemen or wear orange, red or yellow clothes to honour the amazing fire crews who worked so hard to support those affected by the terrible fires earlier this year. A gold coin donation per family is requested but is not compulsory. The St Jerome's community wishes to show their support for those families who lost so much and for the fire crews who displayed such bravery.
Carol Hoare
Assistant Principal
How a Growth Mindset can help Anxious Children
Some children have great difficulty in trying new things, such as a new sport or activity, or they avoid completing tasks at school for fear that they may not do well. Sometimes parents notice that their child may refuse to try something new like riding a bike without training wheels, or despite loving to dance, they clam up and refuse to try in a dance class. Does this sound familiar to you and your child?
Researcher, Carol Dweck, has found that there are two different mindsets – fixed and growth mindset. A child with a fixed mindset believes that they are either good or bad at something, and nothing will change that. In contrast, a child with a growth mindset believes that they can improve on a skill through practice. Dr Dweck suggested that children with a fixed mindset often had a focus on performance (the outcome), and as a result they tended to:
· avoid challenges and choose to do easier tasks that they feel confident they can succeed in;
· give up easily when they find a task challenging;
· ignore constructive criticism;
· and feel threatened by the success of others (often seen as comparing themselves to someone who was already able to perform the task successfully)
In contrast, a child with a Growth Mindset, is able to embrace challenges, learn from feedback, and persist when things are tough. All the important strategies for learning a new skill. In her research, Dr Dweck demonstrated that children who were taught about Growth Mindset improved their academic scores through effort and motivation in comparison to children who did not receive the training. At St Jerome’s our classes are investigating their own thinking to see how they can develop a GROWTH mindset to get the most out of their behaviour and learning.
Assistant Princpal
P&F News
News from our Community Health Nurse
Colour Blindness
Colour blindness means that a person cannot distinguish some colours or see the colours differently to other people. Very few people who are colour blind are ‘blind’ to all colours. Commonly, the colours seen differently are greens, yellows, oranges and reds.
An information leaflet on colour blindness will be distributed to all year Pre-primary students in term one. Please take the time to read the pamphlet.
For more information and see the Colour Blind Awareness and Support Group on http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/~doverton/
If you have any concerns, colour vision testing can be performed by some general practitioners, eye specialists or optometrists. You can also contact your local Community Health Nurse, Jordyn O’Dea, on 9314 0100 .
Contact Details
Email: admin@stjeromes.wa.edu.au
Website: www.stjeromes.wa.edu.au
Location: 38 Troode Street, Lake Coogee, WA, Australia
Phone: 08 9499 9500