Dear St Anne's Community,

As the term draws to a close, I would like to thank everyone for another positive and rewarding term.

This week we welcomed to St Anne's, the Ward family. Scarlett and Adeleine started in Year 2 and we are very blessed to have them join us. Please keep an eye out for their parents, Shontayne and Adam.

I wish you all a safe term break and look forward to welcoming students back on Tuesday 13th July. We will begin the first day back with a Naidoc Liturgy at 9am. 

Volunteers

Thank you to all the volunteers who have helped with school events including the athletics carnival, covering books, canteen and reading groups. Your help is vital for these events to go ahead. You set your children a great example that helping out is an important thing to do. You get to meet other families and make great friends as you travel through important events together with your children. So I encourage put your hand up to help out; it is really appreciated.

Everyday Maths

The New South Wales Education Standards Authority (NESA) has launched a new digital hub, Everyday Maths. The videos, games and interactive activities have been co-designed by NSW teachers and tested by parents and carers to offer practical tools that shine a light on maths in everyday life.

Parents and carers can choose activities to best suit their child by using the year group filter. The aim of the hub is to give parents and carers a trusted place to go to get started, to build their confidence with maths, to support them in connecting with their children through maths, and empower them to foster skills in their children to find problems, to solve problems, to notice and to wonder about mathematical ideas that surround us everyday.

You can visit the hub here: https://education.nsw.gov.au/campaigns/mathematics/everyday-maths

Australian vs NSW Curriculum - Are they different?

The recent release of the new draft Australian Curriculum has received considerable media coverage. We thought it may be beneficial for parents and carers to understand the relationship between the Australian and NSW Curriculum, the bodies that develop them and their respective reviews.   

Sometimes the words "syllabus" and "curriculum" are used to describe the same thing. A "syllabus" is what could be taught in each learning area while "curriculum" is the big picture describing everything that is taught in schools. In NSW, exams and assessments are based on the course syllabus rather than the curriculum.

A student attending school in NSW will be educated in accordance with the NSW Curriculum, which draws from and is informed by the Australian Curriculum. 

Both the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) and the New South Wales Education Standards Authority (NESA) are independent statutory authorities. Each has a specific remit in respect of the education of children and young people.

From 2010, NSW joined with the Australian Government and all other states and territories to develop an Australian Curriculum. ACARA has responsibility for developing the Australian Curriculum. Implementation of the Australian Curriculum is the responsibility of states and territories.

NESA has legislative responsibility, for setting, monitoring and implementing Kindergarten to Year 12 curriculum for all NSW Government, Catholic and Independent schools. In consultation with key stakeholders, NESA determines the timeline for syllabus development for each key learning area and the subsequent implementation of syllabuses in schools. Simply put, NESA ensures that the NSW Curriculum incorporates matter from the Australian Curriculum into the syllabus for each subject.

Kindergarten Enrolment 2022

If you are yet to complete an enrolment for your children's sibling for Kindergarten in 2022, please go to the school website and complete the online enrolment form. This will assist us greatly with planning for next year.

School Counsellor Service

This year school counselling is available all day on Mondays and Tuesdays. School counselling is offered to help students cope with stress, emotional and behavioural issues, mental health difficulties, and improve students' overall well-being. To engage with school counselling the online referral form can be filled out or request a paper copy from the office. If you have any queries or concerns, please don’t hesitate to make contact with Sam through the school's front office. 

Reports

Reports will go home with students on Monday 21st June. We know that reports are a great opportunity to discuss progress with your child or to celebrate an improvement or to use the report as a way of talking about the importance of education. 'The Conversation' released a great article a few years ago about ‘How to talk to your child about their school report’ and reminds parents that a ‘C’ means that your child is achieving ‘At Standard’.

https://theconversation.com/how-to-talk-to-your-child-about-their-school-report-99640

Survey

The "Tell Them From Me" survey is now closed. Thank you to all that participated in this. We look forward to reviewing your feedback.

Secondary Well Being Day

Thank you to Mrs Wallace and the Student Well Being team for their organisation of a great day for the students. The guest speakers and activities were well received. 

FeedMi

Thank you to Mrs Tame, Mrs Williams and the Food Tech students for organising another successful FeedMi meal. It was really nice food. 

Take care,

Grant Haigh