ST PETER’S CATHOLIC PARISH PRIMARY SCHOOL

Friday 9th August 2019 – Week 4 

To the St Peter’s community,

Yesterday was the feast day of St Mary MacKillop of the Cross. Mary is

especially celebrated in our Parish as she is the patron of our second Parish

primary school, Mary MacKillop is also Australia’s first saint. Mary demonstrated

the qualities of faithfulness, generosity, bravery, compassion, holiness, righteousness, and she was

also known to be strong willed and independent. All of these qualities helped Mary shape the person

she became and helped her overcome many obstacles to achieve great things.

Today we acknowledge International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples. Here in Australia, this of

course is about acknowledging and celebrating Australian Aboriginal people and culture. The United

Nations General Assembly has declared 2019 as the International Year of Indigenous Languages and

so we pause to think about the role of language in culture and the significance of this for Indigenous

Australians.

Language is more than just a means to communicate, it is an essential characteristic that makes

people and communities unique, and plays a central role in a sense of identity. Language also carries

meaning beyond the words themselves, and is an important platform from which much cultural

knowledge and heritage is passed on.

In the late 18th century, there were more than 250 distinct Aboriginal social groupings and a similar number of languages or

varieties. At the start of the 21st century, less than 150 Aboriginal languages remain in daily use, 13 of these are still being taught

to children. Sadly the rest are highly endangered, the surviving languages are located in the most isolated areas of Australia. Since

European settlement of Australia, Aboriginal language, culture and identity has been slowly eroded and lost; on this day let us be

mindful of this and become determined to help raise these people to fullness of dignity again.

Prayer for the Journey of Healing - National Council of Churches in Australia (NATSIEC)

Almighty and loving God,

you who created ALL people in your image, lead us to seek your compassion as we listen to the stories of our past.

You gave your only Son, Jesus, who died and rose again so that sins will be forgiven. We place before you the pain and anguish of

dispossession of land, language, lore, culture and family kinship that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have

experienced. We live in faith that all people will rise from the depths of despair and hopelessness. Aboriginal and Torres Strait

Islander families have endured the pain and loss of loved ones, through the separation of children from their families.

We are sorry and ask God’s forgiveness. Strengthen the hearts of the broken, homeless

and afflicted and heal their spirits.

In your mercy and compassion walk with us as we continue our journey of healing to create

a future that is just and equitable.

Lord, you are our hope. Amen.

Kerry Miller Principal 

ADMINISTRATION 

Notices:

DATES TO REMEMBER

● Thursday 15 August - The Assumption of Blessed Mary

● Wednesday 28th & Thursday 29th August 

School Production

 

● Friday 30th August -Tracky Dack day

 

 

 

   

Important Reminders 

 

Sacrament of Confirmation 2020 

Calling all families that have a student receiving the Sacrament of

Confirmation in 2020!

In order to arrange a date/s and time/s with the Bishop we MUST

have the number of students receiving their Sacrament of

Confirmation in 2020.

All 2019 Year 5 students are required to fill out this quick 2        

question survey whether you are receiving the Sacrament of 

Confirmation in 2020 or not.

 

Middle School Camp 

A reminder that the Middle School Camp dates are Tuesday September 17th to Wednesday 

September 18th.  

An information session will be held on Tuesday August 20th. Please indicate the session you

will be attending on the form that has been provided.

GOLD COAST HOLIDAY RAFFLE 

As you are aware, are running our own major Gold Coast Holiday Raffle fundraiser for this    

term. We hope as many parent’s support the fundraiser. All monies raised will assist in

upgrading our outdoor spaces. We will be sending home a raffle book with only 20 tickets per

family. Each ticket sells for $2.00.

The raffle prize is for five (5) nights at the world

famous 4 ½ star Sea World Resort & Water Park on

the Gold Coast for two (2) adults and two (2) children

including unlimited entry to Sea World, Warner Bros

Movie World, Wet ‘n’ Wild Gold Coast and Paradise

Country, also including a $200 Caltex Cash Card and

$100 credit for food and beverage at Sea World

Resort and Water Park. The winner will have 12

months to use the prize and it can be used over the

school holidays.

Thank you in advance for supporting our major

fundraiser for the year, and Happy Fundraising!

   

Coming Up at St Peter’s School

This Thursday is the Feast of the Assumption. The middle and senior school students will be attending Parish Mass at 9:15 in St

Peter’s Church. Parents we invite you to join us for this Holy Day of Obligation.

Middle School Mass 

Next week the Middle School students will be attending parish mass on Thursday August 15th along with the senior students to

celebrate the Feast of the Assumption. Parents are invited to join us for mass which begins at 9:15am.

Middle School Assembly. 

Thank you to the parents and other family members that were able to join us at our assembly this morning. Our next assembly will

be on Wednesday August 21st at 2:45pm in the Middle Learning Space. We hope to see you there. Tracky Dack Day 

Friday 30th August is Tracky Dack Day. 

This day is to fundraise for sick kids. We all know someone who has had a loved one who has been in hospital and this is our way

to give to a worthy cause. Tracky dack day is to act with solidarity with those children who are in hospital, who are encouraged to

wear their trackies to lift their mood and create a “normal” day to day routine.

On this day we have the Tracky Dack Day Coordinator coming in to talk to the children so this is a great opportunity for the children

to hear from someone who is very involved in this day.

So get your trackies and your gold coins ready for Friday 30th August.

The Week in Review 

Bookmaking in Juniors 

This week in Juniors we have been learning about compound words and how to use them in our writing. We learnt that compound

words are made up of two or more words that are put together to make a new word. We thought of lots of examples during our

Bookmaking sessions. Some of our favourites were:

● Cup + cake = cupcake

● Rain + bow = rainbow

● Hot + dog = hotdog

● Sun + flower = sunflower

● Play + ground = playground

The Juniors all worked hard to use their compound words in their Bookmaking books and loved sharing our compound words and

stories with our group.

We encourage our Junior parents to help us think of more compound words at home. 

       

Hot Food Day 

Yesterday, students enjoyed delicious pizzas for hot food day. Many thanks to those who helped out in the day.

Prep News! Last week we celebrated 100 days of school. The children had a great day. We combined 100 days with our camp experience. The

children came to school in their PJ’s and we had breakfast together. The children washed

up their own dishes and then got dressed. We had some

engaging workshop about 100. Then we went to Kids

Space and had a party and a play. When we returned to

school we watched Jungle Book and ate Popcorn (Thank

you to Vaness Herbert for the Popcorn Machine). The

children finished at 3:45 and were very tired by the end of

the day.

 

 

Staff Prayer Experiences 

When we gather as a staff we will always engage in a prayer experience together. This term we have been engaging

in learning around prayer, why we do it, what it is, what it looks like, feels like, sounds like, how we can offer prayer

experiences to our students and families.

Experience is the key word, prayer isn’t something we do to tick it off the list, it’s something that we engage in to be with God.

Yesterday we focused on and engaged in Christian Meditation. The benefits to christian meditation is extensive; connecting with

God, gratefulness, empathy, reflective, healing to name a few. The Coming Home website is a great resource with a plethora of

information from the benefits to how to meditate, the origins of Christian Meditation and more.

Dispositional Learning and House Spirit 

Our jars are filling at a very similar rate. We have 1 more week until we have one house coming out winners and receiving a prize,

so look and listen for what disposition you will need to be displaying to receive extra house points. There is no clear winner yet so

keep up the good work.

 

Staff Professional Learning  

At this week’s staff professional learning meeting all teachers

were involved in further developing our whole school focus on

inquiry based learning using the LAUNCH cycle (an approach to

design thinking). We shared best professional practice and

research from John Spencer the author of ‘The LAUNCH

CYCLE- Bring Out the Maker in Every Student’.

This design thinking framework provides students and teachers

with the scaffold to tap into student curiosity, allowing them to create, test and re-create until they eventually present what they

made to a real audience. Design thinking isn’t a subject or a topic. It’s a way of solving problems that encourages risk-taking,

collaboration and creativity. Teachers documented our whole school approach to LAUNCH to ensure all students are supported

with shared language and understanding of the process.

 

Friendship Day 

The Preps engaged in learning about Friendship Day last week. The students engaged in discussion

about the posters that detail the qualities of being a good friend. Following this, the students listened

to a story called “Old Friend, New Friend”. This highlighted the importance of making and obtaining

friendships through every part of your life. Furthermore, the students then interacted in a game where

they had to find different similarities with their peers that they had not noted before.  

 

 

Resilience and Creativity in STEAM 

This week in STEAM the Prep and Junior students explored how creative they could be with paper folding and playdough. They did

this through origami and a game of Pictionary with a partner. The students enjoyed creating models of words for their partner to

guess.

During Maker’s Time the students were asked to think about something that would make their lives better on a daily basis as a St

Peter’s student. They used a design planner to draw and/or describe their idea. They worked collaboratively in groups of three or

four to create their prototype. An opportunity was given at the end of the session to seek or be given feedback.

STEAM for Middles and Senior students followed the stages of the LAUNCH design process to question, investigate, create, and

assess their own learning whilst continuing on with their big Picture, mini LAUNCH and business projects.

This week in Senior STEAM, students also participated in a Full STEAM Ahead incursion which saw them undertake a variety of

design challenges to develop solutions to real world problems.

We are still currently seeking the following donations in STEAM please: Tins, Mugs, Keychains, Plants, Broken PS4 remotes,

Candles, Essential oils, Pens, Phones covers, Old shirts, Cooking trays, Old computer keyboards

Teacher Feature  Hi everyone,

I’m Chloe Miller and this is my second year working as a Learning Support Officer (LSO) at St Peter’s.

Before I began working at St Peter’s, I completed three years of Acting school and graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts (Acting). The performing arts are something I value very highly so I am thrilled to be

helping run and direct The Jungle Kids this term. I believe that allowing

kids to be creative is so important and is one of the reasons that I love

working at St Peter’s so much. Our school is a place where students and

staff feel safe and encouraged to explore creativity - whether that’s

performing arts, visual arts, making or engineering. Outside of my work at

St Peter’s, I continue to work as an actor and am currently completing part

time study with The National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA). I also spend

my time volunteering for The Saint Vincent De Paul Society. Travelling is a

big part of my life outside work and is something I hope to continue doing

throughout my life. I've been fortunate enough to explore places all over

Australia, Europe, Asia, Africa and America. However, out of all the wonderful and crazy places I’ve

visited, St Peter’s is one that is guaranteed to put a smile on my face every single day. I make it my goal

to help every student I work with feel successful through a relaxed and fun approach to learning. I try to

smile at everyone I walk past because I truly believe that every day is a good day to have a good day!

 

School Production Update 

PRODUCTION NEWS - week 4 At the week 4 rehearsals on Thursday each of the A-K and L-Z groups rehearsed from

where they left off in week 3. During these two rehearsals the levels and the senior cast were

given more details of where to be and how to share the feelings of the characters and got a

chance to perform it a few times over. All the students in the jungle were trying hard to react

and show their feelings too. The jungle had fun moving with the beat during the music and showing how much all the animals and

the jungle care for Mowgli.

All students needed to think of the dispositions being demonstrated during the rehearsal and share “I can” statements. Here are

some of the statements:

Callun(Junior): “I can mime”. Shanessa(Senior): “I can remember lyrics”.

Euan(Prep): “I can sing”. Luca(Senior): “I can sing, dance and take a risk”.

Chris(Senior): “I can react”. Georgia(Middle):”I can sing my lyrics without looking at the screen”.

Orlina(Junior):”I can listen to the songs and concentrate for a long time”.

All families have received a form to indicate that their child will be attending the production. Please remember that the

production is part of the children's learning.

Please return this form ASAP

From the Student Publicity Team Hayley, Shanessa, Emma and Mabel