Hi everyone,

In last weeks newsletter I answered some of the consultation questions you and parents have been doing. I thought you may wish to hear my thoughts….

Catholic Identity

What is it about being a Catholic School that drew you to St Thomas?

There are many things I love about St Thomas and what I see as unique to who we are as a Catholic School. There is something very special about the way our school feels and in how we approach people and treat each other. This is often reported to me by visitors.

I feel proud of our renewed focus on our Mercy Values of Compassion, Challenge, Justice, Respect and Integrity. I feel we can and will do more to promote these across the school and community in our day to day interactions and more formally too.

I love the focus we have on Social Justice and Outreach. Raising funds or collecting donations for others and performing acts of service such as soup making and visiting the elderly are tangible ways of connecting children with the messages of the Gospel and the life of Jesus.

What opportunities do you see for us to make our Catholic Identity more visible?

I think we can get better by connecting the great work we do specifically with our Catholic Tradition. By this I mean making connections for and with children about why we do things and what messages from the gospel we can connect to.

I see a focus on Ecology as fundamental in a catholic community. Pope Francis calls us to Ecological Conversion and challenges us to see the Earth as our common home. We can begin to show at a local level that we are a part of the global community who care about Gods creation through our words and actions.

As a staff we are focusing on the word of God and what it means to us. We listen to scripture and discuss our shared and individual meanings and interpretations. Through prayer I feel we need to offer children the opportunity to do the same.

School Vision and Purpose

What are your priorities for your children here at St Thomas?

My priority for all children at St Thomas is that they feel like they belong. They are part of a school and parish community that is centered in the Love God has for us all.

Also, this is their school, not mine. I try to demonstrate this by listening to them and always being attentive and engaged. Through belonging, children can develop their own sense of who they are in the world and can develop confidence and positive self-image. When children feel good about themselves, they are more willing to take risks and challenge themselves. Learning is all about having a Growth Mindset.

What skills, dispositions and knowledge do you feel are important for children to flourish? 

Learning is a messy and complicated process. We are all learners in our community and as our world continues to change rapidly, we need to be adaptable and open. Being literate and numerate used to be enough but now we need many more skills as well. People who can work well in different situations will be in high demand. Having the skill to work alone and self manage, be part of a team, fit within abroad system or work outside of one are all attributes of successful learners and also employees.

Being able to think divergently and beyond usual solutions and parameters will enable children to come up with new solutions and solve problems in an increasingly complex world. Being critical and reflective are also important skills we all need. Knowing how to digest and synthesize large amounts of information and draw conclusions or see patterns is also critical. Above all though, I think having the skill to clearly articulate your beliefs and values is what will guide children as they journey in their learning and into employment.

How do you want your child to feel as they reflect on their time here?

When children look back on their time at St Thomas I also want them to look forward. My hope is that they feel well equipped and confident to make a positive difference in the world. I want them to feel part of many communities: their local community, the parish community and also the global community. Interconnectedness is what can drive us to do more, to make positive choices and to help others in the world. Most of I all hope children look back on their time here and feel they know who they are and are proud of that. Having a positive self image and deeply knowing oneself are critical for happiness and contentment.

 

If you would like to answer any of these questions yourself they are available here.

Send me your thoughts to dcowan@stg.catholic.edu.au

Thanks,

Dan

 

Driving to school this morning I heard a news story that fits perfectly with our presentation late last term. The focus is on how our workforce is changing and how schools can embrace change and empower children to be successful in a changing world.

Here is one story related to the report.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/urgent-rethinking-of-education-needed-for-jobs-in-2030-20170726-gxivt0.html

I will post more as I find it.

An excerpt from this weeks newsletter:

Faith:
Community Prayer
This term we instigated Community Prayer on alternate Fridays. It has been wonderful to access the Holy Cross Church each fortnight for this purpose. Our students have run prayer beautifully and I encourage families to continue to come over and join us.

Support of St Vincent De Paul
We were involved in a Vinnie’s Can Drive across the Emmaus Cluster. Some student leaders then helped deliver and sort the cans at Noarlunga St Vincent De Paul. Our efforts will be greatly received by many families across southern Adelaide.
We also raised funds for our local Vinnies based here at the Holy Cross Church in Goodwood.

Cancer Council Fun Run
Beginning with an idea from some 6/7 Students, this term we held our first Fun Run at Orphanage Park. Funds were raised for the Cancer Council in conjunction with Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea.

Staff Retreat
Our staff formation and retreat day was held at the Sanctuary Function Centre at the Adelaide Zoo. As a group we were focused on Laudato Si – Pope Francis call to ecological conversion. We examined our own relationships with the environment and place and began to explore what we can do in our own lives and communities to care for the Earth, our common home.

Soup Making
Our students continue to make soup each week to support the Moore St Shelter. Actions such as these link us with our call to care for others.

Family:
Making Learning Visible
All classes began to use the Seesaw App to make learning visible to parents. This has become a real feature of our school and a means for instigating dialogue between parents and teachers and also parents and children. As a parent, when you have seen some of the exciting learning that has happened during the day – you know when your child says they did “nothing” that this is not the case!

Parent Information Sessions
We ran a parent ICT information night that was very well attended. Our subsequent coffee morning was well used too.We have more planned for term 3 with topics such as Ecology, Positive Education and a parent consultation for our Master Plan.

Playgroup
Our Friday Playgroup continues to be popular. Having recently conducted many enrolment interviews for preschool and reception, many of the children starting preschool already know the environment through Playgroup.

Future:
We continue to focus our learning on being contemporary and reflective of our changing world.

Staff Learning
Teachers are all committed to their own learning that has a particular focus for their classroom. Each teacher has a personal learning plan and have goals they are working towards. Our staff groups have fallen into three main categories: Integration of technology, Wellbeing and Mindfulness and Inquiry Learning.

Oliphant Science Awards
It has been a pleasure to again witness the deep learning that has culminated in students entering the Oliphant Science Awards. Our school wide focus on Science and the personal engagement that I see from each student is a feature of St Thomas. It has been exciting to note the broad scope of works submitted this year.

New technologies
We have purchased some new devices this term that have encouraged children to learn to code and programme. The Spheros have been a hit with many of our classes and tech club. The Blu-Bots have been used for programming from our preschool all the way up to year 3. We have also trialled a product called Fly-Brix. Fly-Brix is a lego type product that has allowed our upper primary students to design and build mini drones. This has been a very challenging STEM focus for them!

There are of course many more events and successes that have been celebrated by individual classes and students this term. I hope you have had many opportunities to hear about these through class communications and your own child’s experiences.

Click here to download flyer

I had the best day today. I spent much of the day in classes talking to our children about our school. With the help our some student leaders, I ask each child to record some answers to the following:

What do you love about our school?

Where do you play at recess and lunch?

How could we make playtime better?

Anything else you’d like to tell me?

It was so much fun to hear the ideas from our students. Many of their suggestions are really helpful. Some examples of changes for our yard include:

A Peace Garden

Vegetable Gardens

A Tree House

Repainting the play equipment

A running track

More use of the library

Don’t worry parents, you’ll get your turn next term!

 

Last week I had the pleasure of being invited to speak with our Yr 6/7s about leadership. We began by sharing ideas of what we think leadership is about. I talked about my role in the school and how I see it. I spoke about our school values, our Christian values and about having integrity in living them out.

Children are often overlooked as leaders and as having a voice. I shared with our students that it hasn’t always been the case in schools that children are listened to, or involved as fully as they could be.

All students and members of the school have the potential to be leaders. As Mr O’Dwyer said in the movie at assembly, it is not always about your title, it is about seeing an opportunity and taking action.

With Mrs Donnellan the students and I discussed some options for student led action this year. They have many wonderful ideas to make our school a better place. Some themes were: Ecology, Hospitality, Social Justice, Playtime and Student Mentoring.

Stay tuned for some exciting action!

What a gorgeous day here at St Thomas. I am sitting in my new office enjoying the view into the yard. Having my door open and being so accessible to our children is something I have been looking forward to for a long time now. Here’s a photo of my view!!

 

As we begin to look towards what 2017 and beyond may hold for St Thomas, I wanted to share how I start to put my thoughts together. I tend to use a visual approach such as mind mapping. There are many free tools available to do this.

The challenge I have found is not putting in every single thing I am thinking about! I have also been listening to staff through Annual Professional Reviews and consultation during staff meetings.

I would like to run some workshops early next year to seek some community feedback about this vision also.

This is a working document and will no doubt morph a little as we go!

This will then form the basis of our longer term strategic plan and our annual school improvement plan.

I had to share this!

Yesterday afternoon one of our amazing artists in yr 2 gave me this portrait he drew of me. I love it. I am so grateful for these daily interactions. Children are creative, thoughtful and see themselves as limitless. What a treat!

PS I think I look better here than in real life!