Dear St Clare's Community,

This week is Wellbeing Week. At St. Clare’s we take time to stop and take a breath and reflect on all that is good in our lives. Students (and parents) have the week off from written homework. It is encouraged that students still read daily during the week. Wellbeing of all students is a central focus of our Catholic Schools. What is your family going to do together instead of homework? Play a boardgame? Go for a bike ride? Try a new recipe?

It was wonderful to see the sea of maroon last week to kick off game one in the State of Origin.

Today is Queensland Day and staff and students were invited to wear a Tropical Shirt  to celebrate and acknowledge this great state we are all lucky to live in - even with the rain. We have some students traveling up to Cairns to participate in the Reader’s Cup. Thank you Mrs Lang who has been preparing the students, Mrs Tammy Condon for transporting them up, and Mrs Irvine for her supervision and support of these students on the day. Good Luck to Jace, Sophie, Chase & William - we hope you all have a great day!

You may have already heard that a letter went out to Year 3 parents last week informing them that Mr Adam Stubbings is unable to return to work due to personal circumstances for the remainder of the school year. Mr Stubbings is extremely disappointed to be unable to complete the year with his students. We are very mindful of the need for continuity of learning for the children in Year 3 and the following arrangements have been put into place.
For the remaining weeks of Term 2, Jess Lang and Amanda Baston will be working in Year 3. Chris Edwards & Helen Andrews have completed all planning and preparation for these weeks to ensure consistency for these students. I sincerely thank all staff involved for coming together to ensure there is as little disruption for Year 3 students as possible.

We are currently working on a plan to ensure stability in Term 3 & 4.
 

Attendance data to date - 82.4% of students have attended 90% (or more). This is an increase. Our goal is 90% of students attending 90% of the time. 16.7% of student absences are unexplained. The number of unexplained absences is decreasing. Our goal is 0 unexplained absences. If your child is away - please continue to notify the office.

Take care and blessings for the weeks ahead.

Karran Burzacott
Principal

Faith Knowledge Community Respect

 

This week sees the completion of the Sacramental journey for 15 of our local Year 4 children. On Friday, these children will complete their First Reconciliation, in preparation to receive their First Eucharist and Confirmation. This celebration coincides with the liturgical celebration of Corpus Christi, the notion of the bread and wine we receive at

mass transubstantiating into Jesus’ body and blood. We thank these children for their enthusiasm and participation in our preparation sessions, and their parents who have also supported them through activities at home. All members of the St Clare’s community are invited to join us at this Sunday’s mass at 9am to witness this celebration.

With Blessings
Sharon Chappel

The Australian Government has significantly changed the primary school curriculum to raise Australian learning outcomes to meet higher international standards. Last year we were using version 8.4 of the Australian curriculum. We have now been issued version 9, and the changes will be steadily rolled out between 2023-2026.

To begin our efforts in adopting the changes, we are following the recommendations of QCAA (Queensland Curriculum & Assessment Authority) and Cairns Catholic Education.  This year, we have begun the roll out of Mathematics, followed by English in 2024. The remaining learning areas will be rolled out over the next 3 years.

During term one, the teaching staff had the enormous task of learning the new curriculum and understanding how to implement the new changes. This included developing new units of work and pre-testing students in Mathematics. They have been working tirelessly to do this despite how such changes have increased their workload.

The impact for families is that student attainment has not changed, but the curriculum targets have, and your child’s overall mathematics achievement level in 2023 may be lower than in 2022.

Such change can be challenging for families and staff. As we adjust, we invite you to work proactively with your child’s teacher to explore your child's achievement levels. 

Please be assured that the staff at St. Clare’s are working hard to ensure the most effective rollout possible, with student needs at the forefront of our plans.

Tuckshop will be running on Thursday 15^th June for the Athletics Carnival. Orders are to be placed via the Flexischools app, once you select your child’s name, you will see “Special Canteen Day” and you will be able to order.  Orders are due by Wednesday 14^th 10am.

Parents are more than welcome to order, you can set up your own account that way your order will be packed and left at the Tuckshop tent to be collected at lunch time that day. You can order on your child’s account but please be aware that your order will go into your child’s class bag for you to collect. We encourage you to set up your account and place your own order.

To help with catering we will have NO over the counter sales this year of hot food. You can purchase drinks, icy poles and cupcakes over the counter if you wish on the day.

There will also be NO Tuckshop on Friday the 16^th June.

Any questions please let me know on 0418 158 872

Marie

Fete Update No 3.

We are still looking for helpers in the Kitchen, Chocolate Stall, Kiddies Corner and the Goods Wheel for the night of the Fete. If you can help for an hour can you let me know. We don’t expect both parents to help out on the night, as we understand everyone has little children, but if one parent can help for one hour this would be awesome. We would love to see the roster full before the end of this term.
If you can help please let Marie know on 0418 158 872.