Dear Parents,

I took a stroll through our classrooms over the last two weeks and was really impressed with the routines or 'predicatble classrooms' our teachers are developing and facilitating for our children. It’s important that we all support kids with their transition into mainstream schooling. Getting kids into routines is a great way to lay a solid foundation to build learning.

One of the key ways of supporting this transition for our students is via communication. If any parent has concern relating to your child your first point of call is always the classroom teacher. Your teacher will always listen and there is no question that can’t be asked.

It’s great to see all teachers using our WSAPB (Whole School Approach to Positive Behaviours) across our school to support classroom learning. The WSAPB values are a great way of reminding all in the Columba Learning Community that we are about building positive relationships with each other, and are designed to support students, parents and teachers. I touched on these values last week, but again want to make the link for families on how we connect this to supporting student behaviour and expectations.

The core values of our Columba WSAPB, Respect,  Perseverance, Inspiration, Generosity, Fairness are crucial components in each of our student's individual development. Each fortnight all classes across our school will have a specific learning focus based on one of the core values listed below. We all work with the students to connect these values and the behaviours that come from these values.

Perhaps you are a community member, uncle, older brother, grandfather, grandmother or anyone else who can help us!!!

We are committed to ensuring all students have the ability to learn in a way that suits their needs, some students learn best with hands on learning and we need some help!

Our current project is underway and we are building a book shelf in the senior building, however we have many more ideas and are open to suggestions also, it might be creating gardens, cooking, sewing / knitting, building around our chook pen area etc…

If you think you could help us out please contact me

Can I remind parents of a wonderful resource all Catholic Schools in our area have access to. SCHOOL TV.

What is usually an expensive site to subscribe to, we are lucky to have this resource that the school pays for and you can use. Every so often I will add School TV information to our newsletter if I feel it is relevant to our community and more importantly, the well-being and development of our students and your children. You may access this site in your own time any time and encourage all families to use it as a way of developing your parenting tool kit which we all need to keep adding to and accessing for many different scenarios almost every day.

This week I am adding some School Transition links and information which may be useful for families, especially those that have children in Prep, Grade 3, Grade 5 and maybe Year 7? It has been taken from the Surviving School publication within School TV.

Whether it is starting school for the first time, moving up to a higher grade or embarking on a journey through secondary school, there is no doubt that any school transition is a very exciting time for children and parents. It means that the children are growing up!

However, for many it may also be a very anxious and stressful time for both parents and children. Parents need to be aware of their child’s feelings during any school transition and minimise anxiety so the process is an enjoyable experience for all. It is important for children to attend transition or orientation programs offered by schools. Familiarisation is often key to reducing stress levels. It is also important for parents to talk to their children about their expectations and being more responsible for their own needs.

Take Care

Andrew Greco

Principal