Week 1 Term 2 2023

Dear Parents and Friends,

Welcome back! I hope you have enjoyed the break from routines and the chance to share some relaxed times with your children.  It is great to be back and see all the children ready to learn and the excitement for the term ahead.

Important Change

There is an important change that has occurred this term.   IHM will no longer be sending home paper permission notes regarding excursions or upcoming events. This takes place as of Week 1, Term 2.  We have moved all our correspondence online to School Stream.  This is not an easy initiative to undertake, and we appreciate your support as we are very mindful of the environmental impact of sending home paper notes, booklets of information and other documents. 

This is something the staff, students and parents have been requesting for some time and featured as a heavy topic of conversation at our AGM/Wine and Cheese Parent Forum in March.    Below are some instructions on how to set up a School Stream account so that you don’t miss out on important information.  Please see one of our helpful teachers, Leadership or Julie in the front office for more support setting this up. 

If you would still like a paper permission note as you do not access services online, please contact Julie in the front office to organise this.

Due to new privacy standards and to assist the school in accurately communicating with individuals and groups, School Stream will soon require all app users to create an account. The process is simple and only requires a mobile number or email address.

Some parents have already created an account, you can check this by opening the Account menu item in the top left menu of School Stream. Our school will be requiring all users to have an account and if you have not created an account, you will no longer receive notifications from the school. It is extremely important that you register.   Please see details below about how to create a School Stream Account if you haven’t already done so. 

School Stream Account Set Up Instructions

1. Open School Stream on your mobile device
2. Tap the menu (top left)
3. Tap Account in the menu
4. Follow the prompts to create an account using your mobile or email
   • Once you enter your details School Stream will either email or SMS you a 5-digit code
5. Enter the code into School Stream once it is received and add your First and Last Name to the fields

Creating an account will assist our school to efficiently communicate with you directly and as part of a group within School Stream.

IHM Reports Semester 1 – General Capabilities

As mentioned in previous newsletters, our IHM formal School Reports will be changing this year because Catholic Education SA has adopted SEQTA as a Learning Management System.   In this first year, CESA is rolling out the “School Report” module.   This means that the report format IHM has used in previous years and the amount of detail provided will now look different due to the reporting system used within SEQTA.

Previously in our school reports, we have provided some indication on how your child is performing in reference to the seven General Capabilities.  The Australian Curriculum explains that the General Capabilities encompass the knowledge, skills, behaviours and dispositions that, together with curriculum content in each learning area and the cross-curriculum priorities, assist learners to live and work successfully in the twenty-first century.   Families will still receive information about student performance against your child and the General Capabilities in the new report format however, the amount of detail provided will look different. 

As of this term, we will provide families with information about one General Capability per newsletter.  This week’s focus is Intercultural Understanding. Intercultural understanding combines personal, interpersonal and social knowledge and skills.  It involves students in learning to value and view critically their own cultural perspectives and practices and those of others through their interactions with people, texts and contexts across the curriculum. 

What students at IHM will be observed to demonstrate:

• Being respectful of cultural diversity and the rights of others
• Considering and developing different perspectives
• Empathising with others
• Demonstrating and valuing equity and justice for others.

Please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s teacher if you wish to discuss your child and the General Capabilities further.

Class Newsletters / Overviews of Learning

This week parents will receive from classroom teachers a class newsletter/overview outlining teaching and learning for this term.  We hope this not only informs you of what curriculum is being covered but also allows you to have discussions with your child about their learning so that you can support them. Please don’t hesitate to speak to your child’s teacher if you ever have any question or concern about the learning program and your child. 

Mother’s Day Celebration

‘God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers’ - Jewish Proverb

Next Sunday we celebrate Mothers’ Day.  Mother’s Day is a chance to celebrate and give thanks for mothers all over the world, and for those who are no longer with us but live forever in our memory, and nourish us with their love.   To all our dear mums, grandmothers, step mums, aunties and those who are like mums - thank you for all you do. I hope you know how very special and important you are and the nurturing, care and constant love that you give is treasured and irreplaceable. I wish you all a very Happy Mother’s Day!

We will be having a special Mother’s Day Breakfast and Liturgy on Friday 12th May.  The breakfast will be at 8.30am in the Hall and our Liturgy will begin at 9.00am. All mums, grandmothers and special women are welcome to attend. 

Annette Diassinas
PRINCIPAL

Welcome Back for Term 2

I extend a warm welcome back for the start of Term 2. I hope you all managed some time relaxing and enjoying time with family and friends during the school holiday break.

Project Compassion Boxes - Please Return

If your family forgot to return your Project Compassion box last term, we please ask that it is returned to the front office by this Friday 5^th of May (End of Week 1, Term 2) so we can send all money raised to Caritas Australia. Thank you for your generous support of Caritas Australia.

Year 1/2 HW Class Mass Wednesday 10^th May – 9am

Family and friends of the 1/2 HW class are warmly invited to join the children for their class Mass on Wednesday 10^th of May, in the school Hall at 9.00am. The theme of their Mass is Mary Mother of the Church.

Southern Cross

The current edition of the Catholic newspaper put out by the Archdiocese called, ‘The Southern Cross,’ is available at; www.thesoutherncross.org.au

Thought For The Week:

“How might I include those who are on the margins in society during this week?”

Paula Clark
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL – RELIGIOUS IDENTITY AND MISSION

If your child or anyone you know has a child that turns 5 before 31st October they are eligible to commence school in Term 3 this year on 25^th July.  If so, great news - fees for Terms 3 and 4 will be waived. For an Enrolment Form or more information please contact Julie.

We would like to invite all Parents and Carers to a Cyber Safety information session which will be held on Tuesday 16^th May 2023 at 6.30pm in our school hall.  The session will be run by Cybersafe Families, a provider endorsed by the eSafety Commissioner, to share the latest research and best practice approaches to online safety education for families.

The evening session will provide parents and carers with strategies to help make home environments cyber safe. All Cybersafe Families presentations are delivered by professionals in the field, who have an understanding that all children are at different stages in their online journey.

The parent information session will include:

• Introduction to the most popular and current social media platforms
• Tools to recognise and manage cyber bullying
• Information about online grooming and other risks
• Communication strategies – how to start difficult conversations
• Strategies for supporting positive online behaviour, including tips on managing screen time.

Information for registering for the event will be sent out this week. We are extremely grateful to the P & F who are sponsoring the event for our parent community. 

On Friday 19^th May 2023 we encourage you to walk part or all the way to school with your family to help promote regular exercise for your child/children.

• It is a great opportunity to teach your child safe ways to behave around roads and traffic too.  
• It reduces car dependency and traffic congestion, especially around schools.
• Regular exercise like walking with your child not only helps them (and you!) 

Our House Leaders will greet all children walking to school at our school gates in the morning.  

In Term 1 IHM competed in the Girls Crows Cup (AFLW) and SACPSSA Swimming Carnival.  

The Crows Cup saw 12 Year 5/6 students compete in a round robin tournament against a range of schools in AFLW. The girls started off wary of the game and skills involved but soon grew a love for the competition and worked really hard to improve and have a bit of fun. Although we did not come away with many scores on the board, the team developed some incredible football skills, worked hard as a unit and were able to string together some extremely good set plays. They tackled hard, ran with the ball and even learnt to bounce on the run. Overall it was a successful event in which some selected AFLW Crows players ran and our students left with huge smiles on their faces.  

The swimming carnival was one to remember with IHM finishing in second place overall. We had some incredible results across the day in a range of events both single and team based. It was great to see all students involved jumping at the opportunity to even try strokes they may not have been used to swimming, as well as getting involved in some medley and team freestyle relays.

A big congratulations to Alice Hynes who won her age group medal. The students all competed hard, worked together and showed promising signs for many swimming carnivals to come.  

Miss A Powell
P E TEACHER