Dear Parents and Carers,

This week I went to the funeral of an amazing human being (a teacher younger than me) who impacted the lives of a huge number of people through several careers. It prompts me to ask each person in our community to contact one person who has made a positive influence on your life and thank them. If there is a friend, you haven’t spoken with for a while make time to be in touch. We do not know what it is around the corner.

The OLYMPICS

In this time of uncertainty, we need to acknowledge the positive impact of the Olympic Games for our children. We are seeing this whole world focus impact positively on all aspects of school life. Leading up to the event I questioned the wisdom of holding it during COVID but I now realise that everyone needed to hear a world story of hope and celebration. We are hearing about goal setting and personal and team achievement.

The celebration of Grandparents and the Elderly

The messages created by your children for grandparents and the elderly in the wider community were well received and much appreciated. An example of small things making a big difference. Many thanks to Mrs Imbriano for organising this act of love and kindness.

Take care and God bless,

Parenting Ideas Insights - The perks and pitfalls of being born first

‘Parents expect a great deal from first-borns, so to avoid disappointing them many first-borns become low risk-takers. ‘An interesting short read from Michael Grose. insights the perks and pitfalls of being born first

Home Learning

In setting home learning activities, teachers ask that families have the following equipment available at home.

• Paper and writing materials
• Dice and a deck of cards
• Access to the internet for our online platforms and a way to store important login names and passwords
• Other useful items include whiteboard markers, scissors, glue and for the older students access to a calculator and dictionary
• A bible
• A great place to read and a routine for swapping books

Reading Every Day

Reading each night is absolutely essential for developing reading skills. Having a range of reading materials and genres available makes reading more engaging.

We encourage you to help your child to read in different ways and for different purposes: - read with others; be read to; read for pleasure on a topic of passion; read for a purpose to cook, build, grow and inform; exchange written communication with family and friends via letter, notes or emails.

Children in K-2 take home books from our Home Reader library. It is important that these books are swapped weekly so the children have regular access to books they can read on their own. Do you know which day your child’s class asks for readers to be changed? Can you offer to help your child’s teacher with this?

Our library is amazing! We claim to have one of the best school libraries in Canberra. Mrs Borgia encourages children to borrow regularly. Children can borrow books during lunchtime and library lessons. We also have the Reading Café on Tuesday and Thursday before school 8.30-9.00am for parents to come in with their child to share a great book.

The ACT government has a fantastic library service, including access to online books. Mrs Borgia advises students how to access online libraries on their iPads (It is great for adult readers too!)

Yours faithfully,

100 days of School

Kindergarten will celebrate this milestone next Friday morning. The children will dress up to look 100 years old. Parents of Kindergarten children have been invited to attend an assembly following the morning line-up on Friday next week. To assist families, we will be giving out awards after Kinder's presentation. We expect that the assembly will begin at about 9.00am.

We appreciate your support in keeping the current COVID -19 protocols

• check-in on entering the school
• follow the 1.5 social distancing requirements
• sit in household groups (seats will be set up in twos)

Website Assistance Required

Do you hate it when links on websites don’t work or a typo gets published? So do we! Can you help us get it right?

Kerry Wode and Lisa Davis have been slowly checking the information and weblinks on our school webpage to ensure they are correct.

We are hoping that someone in our community can help us with our checking. If you have a spare hour or two to help us, from the comfort of your own home, please email us.

Tournament of the Minds Volunteers Needed

Sacred Heart has a rich history of being involved in TOMs. The ACT Tournament of the Minds Committee is made up of volunteers. They are asking for help with judging on the competition days.

If you, or maybe a senior highschool or uni student, who is familiar with TOMs would like to be involved this year, please contact Kerry Wode. She will pass your details on to the committee.

There will be other requests for volunteers such as room hosts or bbq support closer to competition days.

Our team has chosen the literature challenge this year and are busy meeting to complete the challenge. Our competition day is Sunday 29^th August. We wish them well.

ICAS Assessments

A number of students have elected to undertake the ICAS Assessment this year. Online enrolment has now closed. We ask parents to send back the permission note, so Mrs Wode can finalise the list of students involved. The first test, digital technologies, is on Monday 9^th August. Other dates were on the note and are listed on the school calendar during August.

On testing days, the students will be called from class and supervised to complete the tests in another room. There is no possibility for catch-up sessions. Mrs Wode will meet with all the students involved later next week to help them be prepared.

ICAS Assessments are completed online. This allows greater accessibility for students and faster delivery of results. Students completing the tests will require headphones and their iPads. Please speak to Mrs Wode next week if your child requires assistance with this.

Most assessments are browser based but writing and spelling require the Janison player to be installed. Use the link below to complete a technical readiness test to ensure you have installed this locked-down browser correctly onto your child’s device if you have signed on for the writing or spelling tests. https://www.icasassessments.com/support-technical-requirements/

Sports Uniform days for Term 3

• Kinder - Tuesday and Thursday
• Year 1 and 2 - Wednesday and Friday
• Year 3,4,5 and 6 -Tuesday and Thursday

• The next MHOC Youth Group meeting will be held on Sat 31 July. Children in Years 5 to 8 please come along from 4.30 to 6pm, and Years 9-12 from 7-9pm. Feel free to bring a friend for some games, food and good conversation. This Youth Group will meet on a fortnightly basis unless otherwise noted. Please contact Nick Weir by email or on 0452 208 151 with any questions.

Those parents who are wanting their child/children to have piano lessons, can contact the teachers directly on the following contact numbers;

• Mrs Hildegarde Mendoza Phone: 0417 580 975
• Mrs Pam Cox Phone: 0418 442 203
• Mr Craig Mewett Phone: 0409 151 887 / 6278 7382

Reading Café 

Reading for fun. Sharing a hot chocolate. Catching up with other families. Three ticks for this morning as our library was buzzing. Such a great initiative. Thanks to all the families who came along and to the staff who are volunteering their time. Our Reading Café will continue Tuesdays and Thursdays for students with an accompanying adult.

Cooking 

5/6 Red had a wonderful time cooking Pizza Scrolls with Mrs Kane this week.

4 Navy Dance

Year 4 have been doing dance this week with Mrs Simpson. They learnt an Australian bush dance called 'Click Go The Sheers'.

Happy Birthday Miss E.

Today Miss Egan-Richards celebrated her birthday. The students had a beautiful surprise for her when she entered the classroom.

Congratulations to the following students celebrating their birthday this week 

Charlotte RB, Aleeia V.

Woden Valley Youth Choir

The WVYC has been engaging the voices and stirring the hearts of children and youth in Canberra for over 50 years.

We are currently inviting everyone to our Annual Concert, all 8-18 year olds to come and sing with us at the Open Rehearsal, and then try out during an audition.

WVYC Annual Concert–Saturday 7/Sunday 8 August

A full and varied program featuring all our choirs: Nova (Lower Primary); Borealis (Upper Primary/Lower Secondary); Australis (Secondary/Tertiary); Centauri (choir for young men with changing voices).

6pm Saturday 7 August Wesley Uniting Church

3pm Sunday 8 August Wesley Uniting Church 

Bookings

Open Day (Rehearsal)–Tuesday August 17

For ages 8-18. Come and have fun as you sing with one of our age appropriate choirs. No previous experience necessary. 

RSVP

Auditions–Saturday 21 August

For ages 8-18. Take the next step as you join us. Prepare a simple song you sing well. Our director, Olivia, will guide you through the rest.

Bookings

For more information, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me by reply email. Or visit our website at wvyc.org.au.