COVID Update
In recent weeks all Catholic Schools had been advised to prepare for closures and a move to online learning. This was in line with SA Health and government advice. Lately these recommendations have eased. So whilst we are aware that if the number of infections in SA increases and the situation deteriorates, this may occur, however the situation at the moment appears stable. 

Across the school we continue to encourage hygiene and have maintained additional cleaning. We have also noted that a large number of families have decided to do pick ups and drop offs without entering the school grounds.  This has meant less adults on the school grounds. Those that do come onto the grounds are reminded to keep socially distanced, as these are the strong recommendations that ensure the spread of COVID does not increase.

Assembly
Some families have been notified of their child’s assembly date for this term. We have asked that only two family members attend, and they will be asked to sign in. Assemblies will look different as only the year level cohort and their buddy classes will be able to attend in order to allow us to invite families.

Assembly dates are:   

• Year 5 - Friday, 21 August 2020
• Reception – Friday, 28 August 2020
• Year 4 - Friday, 4 September 2020
• Year 1 - Friday, 18 September 2020

Sports Day
We have nominated Friday, 25th September, the last day of term as our 2020 Sports Day.  It is likely this will only involve the school children.  Whilst disappointing, we know how eager families are to support this event but we are concerned about the large number of adults gathered in an unstructured undefined area. Our Sports Day can typically involve more than 1000 people with our 500 children. These arrangements may change, as we get closer to the date, depending on advice from CESA and SA Health. However, we want the children to have their Sports Day as a priority.

We are very grateful that we have not had the same situation to deal with as the Victorian community. We hope this continues to be the case. However, for that to be the case, we need to cautious and careful, heeding health advice. Thank you to all the families who are keeping children home when they are sick.

Wishing you all the best,
Liz Keogh & Staff

• bounce back from setbacks (with optimism after a while)
• interpret life’s disappointments as challenges, rather than awful stresses or fails
• ‘switch on’ your confidence/determination when needed
• find constructive ways forward
• set goals and stick with them
• be self-aware; knows where your strengths and challenges lie
• laugh with others and can laugh at yourself
• ask for help
• build relationships and connects with others
• are helpful and reassuring to others

This week is Catholic Education Open Week, with the focus being on Ecological Conversion. Here is a snap shot of how 6 Hart and the Year 6 children and teachers have been practising ways to be ecologically aware. 

The Year 6 children have focused their learning on two main areas of Ecological Conversion.

Firstly, we have aimed to capture the theme of 'ecological conversion' through photographs. The Year 6 children have been a part of a friendly photographic competition where families, staff and children at All Saints are asked to vote for the picture and caption they like the best. 

Secondly, we explored ways to convert to a more ecological approach to living. We have concentrated on nude food lunchboxes.  In cooking, our classes are preparing nude food lunchbox examples to share with our community. We have made beeswax wraps as an alternative to using cling wrap. Our plan is to photograph the lunchboxes for display.  All the recipes will be familiar to the children through cooking with Mr Goldfinch.

The Year 6 cohort also collected waste data for a day and sorted through the wrappers and plastic from recess and lunches.  They will feed back information to the classes on their waste and suggest ways to reduce it.

God asks us to be caretakers of our natural environment and to truly make lasting changes. Ecological Conversion must be a change of heart and a change of mind.

At All Saints we believe in recognising positive behaviour.  Regularly Ms Keogh invites learners who have continually gone over and above, to share a drink and a chat together.

The Little Saints Playgroup is back.  We invite you to come along and meet our new Playgroup Coordinator, Lindy Burford.  Playgroup is held on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays in the transportable unit adjacent to the hall from 9:00-10:45am.

Please bring along a hat, drink and healthy snack for your child.

Research has found that sleep problems affect up to 40% of Australian children during the primary school years. Sleep problems during the school years have been associated with negative outcomes in many domains, including poorer school performance, difficulties with attention, impulse control, behaviour regulation, cognitive functioning, and emotional difficulties. The Child & Adolescent Sleep Clinic at Flinders University provides assessment and treatment for common sleep problems in childhood and adolescence (including infants from 6 months of age).

We have all of our events and important dates detailed on our calendar. 

Saint Mary MacKillop’s Feast day is August 8^th which fell on a Saturday this year. But this didn’t stop us from celebrating this amazing woman who has made a massive impact on education in Australia. She was invited to provide an education to those living in isolated areas, opening up a number of schools. She was known to be very caring and to go out of her way to help others.

This week as a whole school we celebrated who she was and the legacy she has left behind for us, through a Liturgy. The children sang ‘A Cross of Stars’, a song written for Saint Mary MacKillop of the Cross, with gusto.

One of Saint Mary MacKillop’s most well-known quotes is, “Never see a need without doing something about it.” We used this to inspire our day and to help kick off Catholic Schools Open Week.

The need we saw was for those living homeless in Adelaide.

What we did about it is raise money for the Hutt Street Centre who work to help those experiencing homelessness with a number of services.

Through our ‘Walk A Mile’ event our community raised $648! Thank you to all those families who contributed. Our fundraising page will remain open until the end of this month if you would like to add to this cause. The Hutt Street Centre is very grateful for our efforts in helping carry out their work.

And I will sign off using another quote from Saint Mary MacKillop:

“Be a gift of love and compassion for one another.”

God bless,
Tamara Smith

In the last newsletter, Ms Keogh spoke about the importance of reading. Reading along with Mathematics are key skills children develop at school and at home.  When we talk about Mathematics we sometimes find that some children have a negative mindset about it. As parents and teachers, we can work together to help change this mindset to help the children think more positively about Mathematics. Therefore, the key is to be positive about Mathematics. By making Maths fun, hands on and practising aspects like basic skills enables children to improve their understanding and enjoyment of the subject. 

• Let your child know that everyone can learn Mathematics
• Let your child know that you think Mathematics is important and fun
• Point out the ways in which different family members use Mathematics in their jobs and at home and play
• Think of all the ways your children use Mathematics in their daily life, e.g. knowing when to get up/go to bed (time), measuring out the right amount of milk for cereal (capacity), knowing which roads to take to get to school (direction) 
• Be positive about your own Mathematics abilities. Try to avoid saying, “I was never good at Mathematics” or “I never liked Mathematics”.
• Encourage your child to be persistent if a Mathematical situation seems difficult to resolve 
• Encourage your child when he or she makes an effort and share in the excitement when he or she solves a situation or understands something for the first time. 

• When your child is trying to solve a situation, ask what he or she is thinking. If your child seems puzzled, ask him or her to tell you what doesn’t make sense (talking about their ideas and how they reach solutions helps children to reason Mathematically)
• Suggest that your child act out a situation to solve it. Have your child show how he or she reached a conclusion by drawing pictures and moving objects as well as using words
• Treat errors as opportunities to help your child learn something new.

• Talk about time. For example, get them to work out what time you need to leave the house to get to school on time.
• Cooking. Measure ingredients and set the timer together. Get them to work out how much more food will you need if extra people are coming for dinner.
• Talk about the shape and size of objects. Look online for interesting facts, like tallest and shortest people, or biggest and smallest buildings etc.
• When you are sharing food like pizza or cake, ask your child to help you share it equally between the number of people eating.
• Solve Maths problems at home. For example, ask them how many apples to buy at the shop and why, or how long will it take you to get to Gran's house if you go to the library on the way.
• Collect information and create a tally chart, for example to find out the family’s favourite animal or fruit etc.
• Make patterns with objects, colouring pencils, paint or Play-Doh, and build structures with Lego or boxes.

We remind you that Monday, 31 August 2020 is a School Closure Day for both All Saints Catholic Primary School and Little Saints Playgroup.  

If you have a child born in 2015 or 2016 you may be able to enrol now for Term 1 or Term 3, 2021?  Children born between 1/5/16 - 31/10/16 are eligible for Term 3 enrolments.  For further information, please call Leisa Macey 8327 0020 or info@allsaints.catholic.edu.au

Over the past two terms there has been an excessive amount of lost property at school that has remained unclaimed and unnamed.

Please can you ensure that all your children's clothing, hats, bags, lunch boxes and drink bottles are clearly named. This enables us to return your child's misplaced items promptly.

Any items that are not named and remain unclaimed at the end of term will be donated to the SEM Op Shop.

We remind you to pack the All Saints hat, as in Term 3 the "Sun Smart" Policy and "no hat, no play" rule is followed.  Hats, along with all other uniform items,are available for purchase from Lowes, Colonnades, Noarlunga Centre or can be purchased online.