Dear Parents and Carers

Maths Reflections

Both Sean Rutledge and I are currently reading Limitless Mind: Learn, Lead and Live without Barriers, by Jo Boaler, author of the superb Mathematical Mindsets. https://www.youcubed.org/

Jo Boaler writes primarily about Maths but she also writes persuasively about the power of making and learning from mistakes and brain neuroplasticity. Regarding anxiety to do with Maths, Boaler writes that “Researchers now know that when people with Maths anxiety encounter numbers, a fear centre in the brain is activated – the same fear that lights up when people see snakes or spiders.” I think that the way Maths was taught for many of us encouraged unwittingly an anxiety around numbers. Part of this is because Maths was linked unconsciously to performance, as opposed to learning (for example, the emphasis on speed that often accompanies our definition of people who demonstrate Maths ability). Boaler’s book challenges many notions and encourages schools to adopt a different pedagogy and mindset when teaching Maths. The reflections in the book are as relevant for home as they are for school.

Magician Incursion

COVID-19 has limited our ability to have excursions, so we are trying to find ways to have ‘incursions’. As a mid-term fun day, today the school hosted a magician for the children. Set numbers of classes visited and enjoyed the performance of Michael Webb. The children thoroughly enjoyed the performance.  

ACT Election-Saturday 17 October

There are 8 weeks until the ACT Election and I am sure you are seeing candidates from all parties at shopping centres (or even receiving phone calls from them). I encourage you to approach candidates at the shopping centres and mention or discuss the value of ACT Catholic Schools and ask them about their party’s support for ACT Catholic Schools. 

In the ACT, there are 29 systemic Catholic Schools who educate 15,000 students. In Canberra, Catholic schools are very similar to public schools, with our schools having almost exactly the same average ICSEA score (1077-1076). Our schools are inclusive, support families from all backgrounds, and operate on a modest budget.

When you compare the total funding that Catholic schools in each state/territory receive, the ACT are the second lowest funded Catholic schools in the country. This is particularly impacted by the ACT Government’s low funding of Catholic schools.

Have a talk to the candidates and mention that you are a parent in an ACT Catholic School and funding of Catholic Schools is an important issue for you.

Touch Football

Next Monday we have two teams of children attending the Touch Football gala day. My thanks to Mary de Smet for organising the day and to Luke Gubler and Sarah Walsh for attending and looking after the children. It will provide an invaluable opportunity for children to participate in an organised sport day outside of school.

Have a wonderful week with your families.

Best wishes

Cameron Johns

Principal

Sunday Gospel: Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, Matthew 16:13-18

In this week’s gospel, Jesus asks the disciples who people say He is. They report that people say Jesus is like one of the great prophets of Jewish tradition. By people identifying Jesus with other great prophets they were projecting Jesus into the same mould as that prophet. What they were saying was that Jesus will be a great leader in the style of John the Baptist, or Elijah or even Jeremiah. The expectation of a messiah was running very high at the time of Jesus and everyone had their own idea about what that messiah would be like – usually aligned with some previous leader. They didn’t seem to understand that Jesus was breaking the mould and was not going to fit in with any of those expectations. To see Him as one of the great prophets come again is always going to be an inadequate understanding of Jesus as messiah.

When Jesus pushes the disciples for their own ideas, it is Simon Peter who speaks up and identifies Jesus as being the Son of the living God. Making a play on Peter’s name (in Greek, Petros = Peter and Petra = rock), Jesus states that hereafter, Simon Peter will be known as Peter and upon the rock of his profession of faith the church will be built. Interestingly, this week’s Gospel is the one chosen by our two parish schools to be the theme for the 2020 school year. ‘On this Rock, I will build my Church’.

(Adapted from a Gospel Reflection by Greg Sunter)

Sacrament of Confirmation

Many of our Year 6 students and their families have begun the journey towards Confirmation. We all join in praying for them as they prepare for the Sacrament to be held at the end of this term. All parents of candidates should have been emailed a link to a Google Doc (included again below) that will allow them to book a spot for their families at one of the Confirmation Masses. Please contact me if you are having any issues with this link. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rB1sASzwzASD6d6-xwo_I_M-oYDPXe2VnuLuKg7WVUY/edit#gid=0

Children’s Liturgy at Transfiguration Parish this weekend!

Children’s liturgy will be run this Sunday during the 9:30am Mass at Holy Trinity, all are welcome to attend. A reminder that during this time of COVID-19 restrictions, all Mass times will remain the same, but due to social distancing measures, all Masses will be celebrated at Holy Trinity, Curtin for the time being. There is a limit of 100 people that can attend each Mass, and the Parish will accept booking online (Trybooking.com, search Transfiguration Parish), or click here or via a phone call to the office.

Youth Ministry at Sts Peter and Paul

Our Youth Ministry Team will have a new look starting this week! Our Youth Minister, Maddie has created, for the team, these T-shirts that they will wear whenever they are running or participating in a Ministry experience. We are blessed to have such a dedicated Youth Minister who would put so much time and effort into something like this for our students. We appreciate you, Maddie!

 God bless,

Stephanie Burns

Religious Education Coordinator

The awards will be handed out by Mr Johns and Mr Rutledge at the end of Week 6.

Principal's Awards: Joshua V, 1M; Abigail H, 3/4M

Learning Support Award: Eli L

Cool Kids Anxiety Program

In the coming weeks ‘The Cool Kids Anxiety Program’ will be implemented at Sts Peter and Paul. It is a structured 10 session program run over 8 - 10 weeks that teaches children (ages 7-17 years) and their parents how to better manage a child’s anxiety.

The Cool Kids Anxiety Program is based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), with a focus on teaching practical skills. The program has undergone continual scientific evaluation and development to include the latest understanding of anxiety and its treatment. Current results indicate that most young people who complete our programs show significant improvement. Following treatment, there are marked increases in school attendance, academic achievement, confidence, number of friends and involvement in extra-curricular activities and decreases in worry, shyness, fear and family distress.

Topics covered within the Cool Kids Anxiety Program include:

• Learning about feelings and anxiety
• Learning to think more realistically
• Parenting an anxious child
• Fighting fear by facing fear (stepladders)
• Learning other coping skills such as building social confidence or learning to solve problems

What is Anxiety?

Anxiety is a basic emotion – common

Core feature – expectation of threat (social or physical)

Normal – purpose is to protect

Anxiety as a disorder

Chronic

Generalised

Severe

Interferes with life

Common Symptoms

Repetitive worries

Reassurance seeking

Avoidance as primary coping strategy

Overly well behaved in public

Distress from routine changes & new situations

Perfectionistic

High need for control

Easily overwhelmed

Difficulty sleeping

Limited friendships

Poor participation

Physical symptoms

If you believe that your child would benefit from participating in this program, please do not hesitate to contact me on Melissa.neit@cg.catholic.edu.au

Melissa Neit

School Chaplain

Dear Parents,

Sts Peter and Paul will be celebrating Literacy Day on the 8th of September. The theme of the day will be the 2020 Book Week theme ‘Curious Creatures, Wild Minds’. 

Curious Creatures feature prominently in children’s books and bring a wonderful sense of fantasy and imagination to children’s stories. 

As we are unable to invite special guests or parent visitors to our school at this time, I thought it would be great if some of the parent community would volunteer to record themselves reading aloud a story to their child/children and then share it with me, so I can share it with your child’s class.

Children love to listen to stories. Sharing this joyful experience with the students is a valuable way to get them on the path to loving books. Listening to others read develops an appreciation for story-telling, how a story is written and familiarity with book conventions.

Please email me if you would like to be involved in our read aloud sharing for Literacy Day.

Kind regards

Maryanne Armstrong

It is a group of very enthusiastic readers!

We enjoy the time sharing our favourite books and spending some precious time reading in a quiet spot.

Mrs Armstrong is looking forward to meeting the Book Club again next week. Everyone is welcome to join, so come along and share your love of reading.

Thanks

Mrs Armstrong

Soccer Clinics

On Monday we had our last soccer clinic with Ivan Diaz from Capital Football. All students in Kindergarten and Years 3-6 have thoroughly enjoyed learning new skills through these sessions.

Hockey Clinics

All students at Sts Peter and Paul will be participating in Hockey Clinics on Mondays from Weeks 7-10 this term. We are thankful that we have been able to book these clinics with Sporting Schools funding and look forward to being able to develop our understanding of hockey with Hockey ACT.

NRL Touch Football ACT Years 3/4 Gala Day CHANGE OF DATE

The NRL Touch Football ACT Years 3/4 Gala Day is now being held next Monday 24^th August at the Deakin Playing Fields, Makin Place. A big thank you to the families of children participating in this event for filling in a second permission slip with the amended date. If you still have this new form at home, please fill in the appropriate information and send it back to school at your earliest convenience. Unfortunately we were unable to take all the students who wanted to attend, due to COVID19 restrictions. I am grateful for their understanding and am hopeful that there will be other opportunities for them to attend many other sporting events in the future.

Miss Walsh and Mr Gubler will be coaching the 2 teams and they look forward to seeing you there at around 9am next Monday.

Saints Peter and Paul Cross Country Carnival save the date

Even though our original Cross Country Carnival had to be cancelled we are hoping to be able to run this event for our students on Friday 25^th September. Please watch this space for more information about this day in the coming weeks. Unfortunately at this stage we are unable to predict whether or not we will be able to have volunteers at this event, or even if we will all be able to head over to Eddison Park as a whole school. But we are going to cross all our fingers and toes and whatever happens we’ll do our best to make the day an enjoyable one for our school community.

SCIENCE DAY – Friday 18^th September, 2020

 Sts Peter & Paul will be celebrating our ‘Annual Science Day’ on Friday 18^th September. In class groups, students will participate in a variety of engaging science activities. Keeping with tradition, the Year 6 students will lead the experiments with teacher support and supervision.

The theme for this year is ‘The Deep Blue’. Students are invited to dress as scientists/inventors for the day.

Activities include:

• Glove Bagpipes
• Rain Cloud in a Jar
• Shrinky Shapes
• Air Cannons
• Plastic Bag Parachutes
• Slime
• Make a Bouncy Ball

IMPORTANT: In preparation for Science Day, we need your help to send in recycled materials for the activities we will be conducting. If you have any of these materials that you were going to throw out anyway, could you please send them to school with your child.

Here is a list of materials that we will need to make our annual Science Day a success: plastic shopping bags; clean small soft drink bottles without labels (coke, fanta, lemonade, etc); jars without labels and cardboard cylinders/rolls.

Students are also invited to enter our Science Fair. The Science Fair is a new addition to our Science Day Activities. Each student will be able (if they want to) to complete a science experiment and create a poster for the Science Fair. Entries will be displayed around the school. There will be prizes for each Stage within the school. Please refer to the Science Fair Information Sheets for details.

For ideas and activities to try at home, please see Questacon’s activity page

https://www.questacon.edu.au/outreach/programs/science-circus/activities 

We look forward to an exciting day of science! Keep an eye on our Facebook page and newsletter for photos and student reflections.

Science Week Coordinator

Paul Jenkins

STS PETER & PAUL SCHOOL 2020 SCIENCE FAIR

We are very excited to announce the second Annual Sts Peter and Paul Primary School Science Fair! The Science Fair is a new addition to our Science Day Activities. Each child will be able (if they want to) to complete a science experiment for the Science Fair and present it to the school. There will be prizes for each Stage within the school.

Parents are welcome to support their child with help, but the student should do as much of the work on the project as he/she is able to.

All projects are due by Week 8.

Projects will be displayed in the School Science Fair in Week 9.

PHILOSOPHY

The aim of the Sts Peter and Paul School Science Fair is to motivate students to discover how their world works, and is an opportunity to demonstrate mastery of the Science Investigation and Reasoning skills. Students develop science literacy and critical thinking as they answer questions, solve relevant problems, and use evidence to defend their thinking. This type of systematic problem solving is essential for success in the 21st century world.

PURPOSE

The purpose of the Sts Peter and Paul Primary School Science Fair is to support the learning goals outlined in the National Australian Science Curriculum.

Students are expected to:

• Ask their own questions
• Plan and implement investigations to answer those questions
• Consider safe practices and use of appropriate tools to support investigations
• Collect data through observation and/or testing
• Use critical thinking to organize, analyse, and evaluate their data
• Communicate their learning

Project Requirements

All projects should be completed on cardboard, any colour board is permitted. Make sure you can read the information clearly on the board.

Projects should be neat and organised. Projects can be typed or handwritten.

Projects should have correct spelling, grammar and punctuation.

Make sure you write your name clearly on your project.

No live animals, dangerous items or chemicals are allowed.

Science Fair Procedures and Guidelines

Step 1 Find an area of science that you are interested in learning more about.

Step 2 Do some research in that area. Use books, the internet, or interview an expert.

Step 3 State Your Question.

Step 4 Form a Hypothesis (a scientific question you want to answer).

Step 5 Develop and perform an experiment that can find an answer to your question.

Step 6 Record data, take photographs, make drawings, and keep careful records of the results of your experiment.

Step 7 Draw your conclusion after looking at the results of your experiment.

Step 8 Make an attractive and neat display board to show the steps of the scientific method in your experiment.

Step 9 Present your experiment.

Remember: The science fair is for experiments only. No models or collections are allowed.

For example: A model of a volcano, the solar system, or a tornado in a bottle is not permitted. A collection of birdsʼ eggs, rocks, or seashells is not permitted.

Your display needs to be freestanding so that it will stand on a table or be displayed on the wall. Your display can be a cardboard poster showing your science experiment. Your display should be brought to school at the beginning of Week 9. Your project will be displayed in the 3-6 corridor.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact or speak to Mr Jenkins as soon as possible.

Paul Jenkins
Science Coordinator

CANTEEN IS CASHLESS

Families can make contactless payment via Qkr!

Purchase over-the-counter sale items (snacks & treats) for your child/children in a lunch order via Qkr!

or

you can purchase a “daily counter sales voucher” for your child/children to go to the canteen to collect something at lunchtime.

Do you want to win a $2 voucher to spend in the canteen? Simply purchase fresh or frozen fruit from the canteen and be in the weekly draw to WIN!!!

Fruit incentive ticket WINNER for last week was Matthew S, KM.  Congratulations Matthew, you have won a $2.00 voucher, to spend at the canteen. Please see Mrs R at the canteen to collect your voucher.

Canteen roster - Week 6, Term 3

Time	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
9-11 am	Nick I	Dina S	Lulu K

Lauretta Raccosta,

Canteen

Lauretta.Raccosta@cg.catholic.edu.au

Healthy Kids, Healthy Bodies, Healthy Canteens

OPEN TUESDAY MORNINGS

8.30 – 9.30AM

 The Uniform Shop is a service for the parents and children.  We sell New & Quality Second-hand school clothing, and all money raised goes back to the school to provide resources for the children.

 You can place an order via Qkr! Order on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday and the item/s will be delivered to your child’s classroom. Orders need to be placed before 8.45am.

Please see SZapp for the Winter Uniform price list.

It is usual practice for most schools to offer second-hand clothing at the uniform shop to families at a discounted price. Quality second-hand clothing can only be purchased during uniform hours.  We do understand that this may not be convenient for some families so please feel free to send me an email if you are unable to get to the uniform shop during its’ hours and I will do my best to attend your needs.

 The uniform shop is limited with space, so as a guide, clothes should only be donated if washed and in perfect resalable order. The uniform shop is asking for NO MORE donations of white sports tops please.

Please give any used second-hand uniform to Mrs R in the canteen, Thank you.

Lauretta Raccosta

Uniform Shop

Lauretta.raccosta@cg.catholic.edu.au

BEST EVER MAC & CHEESE

Ingredients

400g macaroni pasta

1 1/2c cream

3/4c milk

1 1/4c grated tasty cheese

1/2c grated parmesan cheese

Pinch salt and ground black pepper

1/3c dried breadcrumbs

1/2c grated tasty cheese (extra)

Pinch ground paprika, to serve

Method

Preheat oven to 200 degrees on the grill setting and grease a large oven proof casserole dish then set aside.

Boil macaroni pasta in a large saucepan of salted water for approximately 10-15 minutes until al dente (just soft). Drain and keep warm.

Heat cream and milk in saucepan over medium heat. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and stir in the grated cheeses, salt and pepper. Continue to stir until cheese has melted, add the pasta.

Toss to coat the pasta in the sauce, then transfer to the prepared dish and sprinkle with breadcrumbs, extra grated cheese and paprika.

Grill macaroni and cheese for 2 minutes, or until topping is golden and crispy.

This classic recipe is on page 43 of our Anniversary Cookbook and was donated to the book by the Sebastian Tomy family. 

The cookbook can be purchased for $20 via Qkr! or eftpos (No cash please). Books can be collected from the front office. 

Why not make up a fun treasure hunt for your kiddies. Some clue suggestions are below or you could easily make up your own or cater the clues to a particular interest. The hunt can be long or short, inside and/or outside. Don't forget to have some treasure at the end!