Today we announced our student leaders for the 2024 school year. They are:

School Captains: Kynan Burgess and Layla Wright

Vice captains: Oscar Wright and Jayda Holt

I congratulate these students and also the other students who were shortlisted and delivered a speech to outline why they would be a good school leader. The speeches were of a very high quality as were the candidates.

Next week we begin the process of electing House Captains.

CLASS PLACEMENTS

Staff have begun the process of allocating students to classes for the 2024 school year. I know this can be a time of high anxiety for both students and staff. A colleague forwarded this article to me and I thought it was worth sharing. It comes from the website Positive Minds Australia

As the school year draws to a close, a sense of uncertainty is in the air and families are turning their attention to leaving the knowns of 2023 behind as they head towards the unknowns of 2024.

Humans crave certainty. Change often feels unnerving - especially when change and uncertainty relates to your child.  If you’re worried about your child’s class placement in 2024, you’re not alone.

It’s perfectly natural to have a preference for a particular teacher and peer group and normal to feel worried or disappointed if they don’t get them.

A child’s emotional adjustment to leaving this year’s teacher and classmates, while preparing for next year’s teacher and classmates can be heavily impacted by your feelings about it.

As parents, we have the power to set the tone. Our optimism or pessimism is contagious.

Here are some ways you can help make the transition smoother for your child if you or they didn’t get the news you were hoping for.

1. Listen calmly. Hear out your child’s feelings. Let them get it all out and listen quietly. Avoid trying to ‘fix’ their feelings by adding your own feelings, judgements and solutions. Feelings need to be expressed, processed and moved through constructively.

Children don’t have to be immediately excited about their teacher, to learn from that teacher in the long run. The same goes for classmates. They don’t have to have existing bonds or common interests to build them in the future. In fact, the more children they get to know with a broad range of personalities, the better for their growing social intelligence.

The feelings you see in that initial moment aren’t necessarily reflective of how they will feel long term - especially if you don’t react with them.

Humans need time to process change. When news is fresh, we can go through many feelings of resistance and uncertainty. That doesn’t mean that what’s coming is necessarily bad. You can warmly and gently say something like, ‘you really hoped for XYZ and you’re disappointed. I understand.’ Allow time for them to process your words of support. Don’t rush them. Try to avoid talking while their logical brain is still compromised because emotions are still high. Listening calmly and quietly is golden.

2 Support your child to build a connection with their new teacher. A mutually respectful connection with their teacher matters. Notice positive qualities in their teachers and see what your child might have in common with them.

3. Avoid looking uncertain about the placement in front of your child. If they are unsure, they will naturally look to you to help them feel confident and calm. This doesn’t mean you have to ‘fake’ being excited if you’re not (they’ll see through that) but it does mean you do your best to be cool calm and collected. If you can’t be hopeful (yet), try and be neutral. Children tend to use parents as an emotional compass when they experience uncomfortable feelings. If you’re struggling, express your feelings with another adult to get things off your chest. Work out what you’re worried about. Try and notice as many things that are good about what’s ahead.
4. Before you greet them on the day they receive their placement, remind yourself to try and trust the process. There are multiple layers to how class placements are allocated that couldn’t possibly be explained completely. School leaders and staff put in huge amounts of thought into student personalities, learning styles, teaching styles, class size, who asked to have who in their class and much more that is happening behind the scenes we’re not aware of.

Schools genuinely do their best with this decision. If you’re upset, it’s possible they are too, but when weighing everything up, had no other direction to turn. Supporting your child’s teachers and school is a crucial part of your child’s psychological and academic success there.

5. Your reaction to next year’s teacher news is hugely important to your child. Your confidence, hopefulness and regulated emotion is crucial. If you’re not happy, try and keep these feelings in the back ground and discuss them privately with another adult. Children are too young to take on their parent’s worries.

If there is a genuine problem, take logical action, without involving your child in the stress associated with it.

Your child’s emotional connection to and respect for their teacher and school is deeply connected with your connection to and respect for their teacher and school.

More things to keep in mind:

Children learn, grow and strengthen in resilience by being with a broad range of personalities and communication styles. When things are unrealistically perfect and easy, they can get stuck in their comfort zone.

To build confidence for later on in life, you need to experience a broad range of peers and situations and discover that through talking about feelings, asking for help, establishing boundaries and building your social emotional skills, you can handle a lot of what life has in store. Be there to hear their thoughts and feelings out, but above all show you have confidence in your child to get through.

If situations are dangerous, toxic or damaging your child’s learning and psychological health, always talk to school staff and if necessary, other experts to ask for, and seek help. Seek out the support of a health professional too if necessary.

On the surface, do your best as your child’s most important adult and leader, to show your confidence that your child will be safe and cared for, always.

Do something heartwarming and compassionate for yourself. If you’re upset and stressed it’s not because you’re weak or incapable. It’s because our children hold our hearts and when they hurt, we hurt. You need to look after yourself first and foremost.

The advice above is general and based on general child development, resilience and confidence research. It is written with the very best intention, to help you. Without knowing your individual circumstances it’s not intended to replace your expertise as a parent or the expertise of educators and health professionals. Always seek tailored expert advice if you feel your child’s physical or psychological health is at risk in any way.

Wishing you all the very best with class placement news.

Love, Madhavi Nawana Parker ♥️

Multi-age Classes Parent Evening

Thank you to the parents who attended the information session on Wednesday evening. I hope we were able to answer your questions and allay some of your fears. As I said on the night I am very confident that all of the multi-age classes will be successful seeing good academic growth and happy students. I also said the proof will be in the pudding - in other words their success will indeed be judged by how successful they are.

How does mathematics get taught in a multi-age class?

The NSW syllabus is structured in stages. In the primary school setting these are:

Early stage one: Kindergarten

Stage One: Years One and Two

Stage Two: Years Three and Four

Stage Three: Years Five and Six

In mathematics, concepts are built upon throughout primary school. In the early years, in regards to all number work, the basics such as counting forward and backwards, recognising numbers, and recognising simple number patterns. This sets the foundation for all concepts that are developed through their school life.

As our multi-age classes fall within one stage it makes the task of setting learning tasks a little easier. In stage 2 (Years 3 & 4) for example the concept of ‘whole number’ has two sections, A and B. While many link A to Year 3 and B to Year 4 this is not the way it is delivered. If you look at two outcomes from below you will see the progression in complexity moving from A to B.

Whole numbers A: Apply place value to partition and regroup numbers up to 4 digits

•  Record numbers using standard place value form
•  Partition numbers of up to 4 digits in non-standard forms (Reasons about quantity)

Whole Numbers B; Orders numbers in the thousands.

• Arrange numbers in the thousands in ascending and descending order
• Recognise and describe how rearranging digits changes the size of a number (Reasons about relations)
• Identify the nearest thousand, 10 thousand or 100 thousand to numbers

In a Year Three/Four multi-age class you have, like all classes, children working at different levels. You may have students in Year Three easily manipulating large numbers while some Year Four students will work on smaller numbers. Teachers design lessons that are ‘ramped’. These allow for all students to engage in the activity but challenge those that need to be extended. Often we find children working on outcomes from a higher stage. The tasks set by the teacher are for all students in the class, not two separate activities.

'Then the kingdom of Heaven will be like this: Ten wedding attendants took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were sensible: the foolish ones, though they took their lamps, took no oil with them, whereas the sensible ones took flasks of oil as well as their lamps. The bridegroom was late, and they all grew drowsy and fell asleep. But at midnight there was a cry, "Look! The bridegroom! Go out and meet him." Then all those wedding attendants woke up and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish ones said to the sensible ones, "Give us some of your oil: our lamps are going out." But they replied, "There may not be enough for us and for you; you had better go to those who sell it and buy some for yourselves." They had gone off to buy it when the bridegroom arrived. Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding hall and the door was closed. The other attendants arrived later. "Lord, Lord," they said, "open the door for us." But he replied, "In truth I tell you, I do not know you." So stay awake, because you do not know either the day or the hour.

REFLECTION

In the Gospel reading today, Jesus tells his disciples the parable of the Ten Virgins. This is a familiar parable to most of us. The ten virgins took their lamps and went out to await the coming of the bridegroom. Jesus tells us that five of these virgins were foolish and the other five virgins were wise.

The custom in the time of Jesus was that the bridegroom typically took off to party with his friends after the wedding. Then late in the night, the groom would collect his bride and take her to his house. When the bridegroom finally appeared, the custom was for the bridesmaids to light the way to his house with lamps.

Jesus’ version is a bit different. At midnight, the virgins were awakened when the sentinel cried out: “Behold, the bridegroom! Come out and welcome him!” Immediately, all ten of the virgins went out to meet the bridegroom. However, five of the virgins had not anticipated that the bridegroom would dally (party) so long. Foolishly, the virgins had not brought any extra oil for their lamps. Thus, when the bridegroom finally arrived, their lamps no longer had any oil in them. They were dark! The other five virgins were wise and prudent women. They had planned well and brought along some extra lamp oil, just in case it was needed.

Today’s Gospel invites us to ask ourselves: Am I a wise or a foolish virgin? Or am I a bit of both depending on the circumstances? Within us, (male or female), all of us have a wise virgin (person) and also within us, we have a foolish virgin (person). Gender makes no difference. We also are waiting for the bridegroom to come to us. Do we have our lamps lit? Are we anxious and alert? Or has our oil been used up and our lamp is dark? Or have we fallen asleep?

Today Jesus will come to us, though we do not know when or how He will arrive! Are we prepared for His coming? Are we awake and alert? Or have we fallen asleep? (Sr Kristine Anne Harpenau)

PRAYER SERVICE

Thanks to Years 1 and 2 for their lovely prayer service celebrating World Kindness Day last Monday. Next Monday, Year 3 will be celebrating The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary at a prayer service in the Hall at 8:50am. We extend a warm welcome to all members of the school community to join us.

PRESENTATION MASS

Next Tuesday, 21st November, all students will be attending our Presentation Mass at St Mary’s Church at 9am with Hennessy Catholic College. We ask that all students be dropped off at the church no later than 8:50am. Students who usually catch the bus are to exit at Hennessy. Teacher supervision will be provided from 8:30am outside the Parish Centre. All students will walk back to school following the mass to commence their regular school day. We again welcome all members of our community to join us for this special mass celebrating the Presentation Sisters who have a long history with both Hennessy Catholic College and our school.

VINNIES CHRISTMAS APPEAL

Today, we launched our 2023 Vinnies Christmas Appeal. 

For many families in Young, the festive season will be a time of uncertainty and anxiety. Because this year, Christmas is something they simply can’t afford, especially given they  can’t even afford to put food on the table each day. 

We can help!

Each classroom has been given a basket to collect non-perishable food donations. If you are able to add an extra item of food to your shopping cart each week, it could make a huge difference for our local community. Please ensure that the food items have an expiry date into 2024 and are non-perishable. That means things like canned food, jars of food, pasta, long-life milk are all welcome. And let’s not forget our furry friends either if you have some spare pet food. Vinnies have requested that we don’t donate toys.

We will take all donations to Vinnies on Friday December 1st so please join us in making this a memorable Christmas for our Young community!

God Bless,

Warren Ziebowski

(Religious Education Coordinator)

Archdiocesan Touch Trials 2024

We wish the following students the best of luck for next Friday as they compete for selection in the 2024 Touch Football Team in Canberra: Chloe Buck, Kynan Burgess, Jesse Gault & Nixon Gault. We hope you have a fantastic day!!

Archdiocesan Sport for 2024  

Please note that some Archdiocesan Sporting trials for 2024 will occur this year in Term 4. These trials will be open for students who will be in Year 5 & 6 in 2024. Registrations will be via the Canberra-Goulburn Sports Webpage.

2024 Touch Football - to be held in Lyneham on Friday 24th November 2023. Registrations are open now and will close TODAY.

2024 Tennis - to be held in Belconnen on Thursday 30th November, 2023. Registrations are open now and will close on Friday 24th November, 2023

2024 Basketball - to be held in Macquarie on Friday 1st December 2023. Registrations are open now and will close on Friday 24th November, 2023

2024 AFL (Boys) - to be held in Wollongong on Tuesday 20th February, 2024. Registrations are open now and will close on Thursday 30th November, 2023.

Links for the Canberra-Goulburn Sports Webpage:

https://www.sport.cg.catholic.edu.au/nominations

https://csnsw.sport/help/help-guide-for-parents

This week we sent out communication regarding the 2024 School Fees. It is anticipated that we will be moving to annual billing next year with a range of payment schedules and methods available.

Communication will be sent out when invoicing is complete which will explain the move to annual billing and include a selection form for you to select a payment schedule for the year. Parents will be able to select payment frequencies of:

• Weekly,
• Fortnightly, or
• Quarterly

We are hoping that CE will be able to re-instate direct debits, so we can offer this service again to assist families with paying their school fees. Until than the preferred method is still BPAY or cash/Eft at the front office.