Divisional Athletics:

CatholicCare Workshops:

Community News:

Dates:

Wellbeing:

From the Acting Principal's Office:

Thank you for welcoming me back to St Augustine’s, I’ve enjoyed my four weeks here. As I’m not available next week, and Michael does not return until the start of Term 4, Acting Principal arrangements will be as follows:

Monday - Tuesday:  Celly Csorba

Wednesday - Friday:  Jess Reynolds 

Jess Reynolds, Chris Schepis and Louise Morris will all be out at Professional learning days on Monday and Tuesday.

Maria Grawich will begin 5 weeks of long service leave next Thursday. Julie Molloy will replace Maria next Thursday and Friday and Liz Zelenich will take the class in Term 4 until Maria returns.

Angelique Greene will also be on long service leave for the first 2 weeks of Term 4. Julie Molloy will take Year 4 for this period.

St Augustine’s Feast Day

Thank you to everyone who was able to join us for the mass and shared lunch for St Augustine’s Feast Day. It was great to see our community coming together to celebrate our patron saint.

Father’s Day Breakfast

What a wonderful morning our Father’s and Special Men enjoyed last Friday. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend.  Special thanks to Mark Clohesy for his very early start to bring the BBQ in, the Newlyn Football Netball Club for allowing us the use of their BBQ, to Paul Righetti from ‘Honest Eggs’ for the very generous donation of eggs, to Ben and Jo Fawcett who organised this with Paul and picked up and delivered the eggs to the school, and to the St Augustine’s staff for cooking and serving the breakfast and cleaning up and supervising children afterwards. 

School Review and Validation

Every 5 years, schools are required to conduct an External Review and Validation to determine how effectively they have achieved their strategic plan over the last five years and to identify the strategic priorities for school improvement for the next five years.  On Thursday 5th October and Friday 6th October,  we will host a review panel who will interview staff, students and parents/carers about all aspects of the school. We invite any interested parents/carers to meet with the panel and be part of this discussion on Thursday October 5th between 2.15pm -3.15pm. Please contact Jess Reynolds by email if you would like to participate (jreynolds@sacreswick.catholic.edu.au).

Winter Sports

Next Tuesday a number of our Yr 3-6 children will be taking part in the Winter Sports competition at St Michael’s Daylesford. Thank you to the parents who have offered to coach. Families are very welcome to go along and watch.

Division Athletics

Congratulations to the students who competed in the District Athletics last Tuesday. A number of students have now progressed to the next level of competition.

Footy Colours Day

To celebrate the end of term and the football finals, we will be having a Footy Colours day on the last day of term, Friday September 15th. All students are invited to wear their favourite footy team outfits, jumpers, scarves, beanies etc.

Soccer Balls and Footballs from Home

Given the large number of personal soccer balls and footballs that have been lost or damaged recently at school, we have asked students to leave their own balls at home and use school supplied balls at break times. There are plenty of school balls available for students to use.

End of Term 

Term 3 finishes next Friday, September 15th at the usual time of 3.14pm.

Term 4 begins on Monday October 2nd.

Little Angler Kits

The Victorian Government is investing $1.5 million from the Recreational Fishing Licence Trust Fund to provide up to 95,000 Little Angler Kits to primary school aged children in Victoria.

Grade 5 students at all Victorian schools will be offered the opportunity to receive a FREE Little Angler Kit. Grade 5 students have been selected based on the Victorian Curriculum focus, movement and motor development, and safety considerations.

Parents of Grade 5 students can advise the school if they do not wish their child(ren) to participate for any reason whatsoever. We support parents in making decisions that align with their family values and beliefs.

The roll out of kits will occur through the second half of 2023 (16 October - 4 December) so that all participating children will have a kit in time for the summer school holidays.

The kits include a rod, reel with line, tackle tray, some tackle and information on how to use them to catch a fish. Please note that the tackle tray includes fishing hooks. The tackle tray will be wrapped in cardboard and placed inside a pocket inside the fishing kit bag, which will be sealed with a cable tie to discourage students from opening their kits until they are with a parent or carer.

The Victorian Fisheries Authority will create a Little Angler hub on their website, which will be live when the kits start being distributed. It will have useful information, instructional videos and online resources about where and how to fish linking to existing resources from Fishcare and new resources to be produced just for the Little Angler Kits program.

Kind regards,

Sue. 

Community:

Dates to Remember:

Sports News:

Divisional Basketball

Yesterday we sent two mixed  teams, including 3 students from St Michael’s Daylesford to the Divisional Basketball Competition held at Selkirk Stadium.

All players did an amazing job, coming up against some really tough teams. We didn’t manage to come away with a win but fun was had by all.

Special thank you to Scott Winduss, Kristina Clohesy and Carlie Daley for making the day a success. 

From the Acting Principal's Desk:

It’s been a pleasure to return to the St Augustine’s school community and to see the positive changes that Michael has begun to put in place. Thank you to everyone who has welcomed me back so warmly. 

I’ll be at St Augustine’s from Monday - Thursday for the next two weeks.

Book Week

We’ve had a busy week this week with a number of Book Week activities and it’s been terrific to see the children so engaged with books and reading. Thanks to all the families who were able to come along and watch the fantastic Book Week parade this morning. There are certainly some creative families in our community!

St Augustine’s Feast Day

Next Monday 28th August, is the feast of St Augustine.  We will celebrate this day with a mass in the church at 10:30am, followed by sharing a special lunch on the lawns (or the hall, depending on the weather). Students are not required to bring their own lunch.

Father’s Day Breakfast

We are looking forward to hosting a Father's Day breakfast to celebrate the Dads and special men in our school community next Friday.  Dads and special men are invited to come along to the school anytime between 7:00am and 8.30am with their child/children to enjoy a bacon and egg roll (and a warm drink) before they head off to their daily commitments. Children will be supervised at school once their parents leave. There is no cost but please place your order via CDF Pay by Monday to assist with catering.

New timetable

Just as a follow-up regarding Michael’s previous information on the new timetable now in place, our school day now starts at 8.50am. Morning supervision begins at 8.35am.

Session times are as follows:

8.50am - Children move to classes, prayer, roll etc.

9.00am - 9.48am Teaching and Learning session 1

9.48am - 9.54am Burst Fruit break

9.54am - 10.42am Teaching and Learning session 2

10.42am - 11.30am Teaching and Learning session 3

11.30am - 12.10pm First break

12.10pm - 12.20pm Eating lunch in classrooms

12.20pm - 1.08pm Teaching and Learning session 4

1.08pm - 1.56pm Teaching and Learning session 5

1.56pm - 2.16pm Second break

2.16pm - 2.26pm Eating snack in classrooms

2.26pm - 3.14pm Teaching and Learning session 6

3.14pm school finishes

Dates for Term 4

Pupil Free days:

There will be two pupil free days in term 4:

Friday, November 3rd

Monday, November 6th

These dates were chosen to provide the least disruption to class learning and to coincide with the Melbourne Cup day holiday on Tuesday November 7th. Hopefully this will perhaps allow families to enjoy a long weekend.

Staff will be developing their knowledge on the Science of Learning on these days.

End of year dates:

The last day of school for students in 2023 will be Friday December 15th.

Staff will finish on Monday December 18th.

Sports:

Basketball

Winter sports

Athletics

Kind Regards,

Sue.

Dates:

Shire of Hepburn:

Community News:

Wellbeing:

From the Principal's Desk:

Science of Reading at St Augustine’s

At St. Augustine's we recognise the significance of equipping our students with strong reading skills, as literacy forms the foundation for academic success. In the pursuit of enabling every child to become a proficient reader, we are currently learning how we to embrace the science of reading, which emphasises the combination of explicit instruction and phonics.

Our staff, over the next few months will embark on the theory and understanding of explicit instructional techniques and how they serve as the backbone of effective reading instruction. We know, through a clear and systematic approach, explicit instruction will ensure that students understand the underlying structure and mechanics of language. By explicitly teaching skills like decoding, word recognition, phonological awareness, and phonemic awareness, we will lay the groundwork for our students to become proficient readers. It is through the consistent application of explicit instruction, students grasp the rules and patterns of language. Hi

Phonics is a critical component of the science of reading, and serves as a bridge between letters and sounds, enabling students to read and decode words with accuracy and fluency. Our teachers will teach the relationship between sounds and spellings systematically, phonics instruction empowers students to navigate unfamiliar words, develop vocabulary, and enhance overall reading comprehension. Phonics instruction at St. Augustine's Primary School will focus on explicit and sequential teaching. This targeted approach ensures that our students have a robust phonics foundation, allowing them to tackle a broad range of reading materials confidently.

We know that explicit instruction and phonics do not operate in isolation. Once students have acquired the necessary decoding skills, explicit comprehension instruction comes into play. At St. Augustine's, our teachers will employ research-based strategies, such as questioning techniques and text structure analysis to explicitly teach comprehension. These strategies enable students to infer meaning, draw connections between texts, and engage in critical thinking, thereby deepening their understanding of written

The science of reading practices which will be implemented at St. Augustine's Primary School will have a broader aim: fostering a love for reading. By building fluent readers who find joy and meaning in written words, we will encourage a habit of lifelong reading. Through explicit instruction and phonics, our students gain confidence and independence as readers, which sets them on a path to explore and enjoy a wide array of literature.

Through focused and systematic instruction, the science of reading will provide our students with the skills they need in today’s society. By emphasizing explicit instruction techniques and phonics instruction, we will foster engaged readers who can navigate texts with confidence, solidify their reading foundations, and nurture a lifelong love for reading.

School News:

Grandparents and Special Friends Day -

Today we welcomed our grandparents and special friends into our classrooms. They were then spoiled with a delicious morning tea in the school hall. We concluded our time together with a reflective service in the church recognising the important role grandparents and our special friends play in our lives. Many thanks to those who were able to attend and spend time with us today, we loved having you here!

100 Days of School Celebration -

On Monday 24th July, the Prep students reached a once in a lifetime milestone – 100 days of school for the very first time!  On this very special day the students came to school dressed in their pyjamas. They participated in many different learning activities that related to the number 100, such as responding to some very thought provoking questions like 'What is something I could eat 100 of?' and 'What is something my teacher has said 100 times?'. 

Prep (Foundation) 2024 School visits -

Miss Jess has commenced visiting most of the enrolled students at kinder this week and the first school visit is in 2 weeks' time. We are excited to provide additional school visits for our enrolled 2024 Prep (Foundation) students. These visits will be held in the current classroom space on the below dates and times.  

Term 3

Week 5- Friday 11th August, 9:15am-10:30am

Week 6- Friday 18th August, 9:15am-10:30am

Week 9- Friday 8th September, 9:15am-10:30am

Term 4

Week 4- Friday 27th October, 9am-11am

Week 6- Friday 10th November, 9am-11am

Week 8- Friday 24th November, 9am-1:45pm

Week 9-  Friday 1st December, 9am-1:45pm

Week 10- Friday 8th December, 9am-1:45pm

Week 11- Tuesday 12th December, 9am-3:15pm

Dates:

Community:

Wellbeing: