Well, I can’t quite believe we are in the second semester of the year! Term 3 is always filled with the excitement of activities like TCN Athletics, Futsal and Netball tournaments, Camps and our Feast Day to name a few, coupled with beautiful weather, it is definitely a great time of the year!

Term 3 also sees us come together at Student Led Conferences. This is a time to celebrate the success of goals met and to share new goals to further learning. The sharing of these goals is a commitment of focus on the student’s behalf, and a shared commitment between school and home to support students to achieve the goals they have set for themselves. 

The purpose of the conference is to:

• Celebrate growth in your child’s learning and achievements
• An opportunity for your child to articulate their learning and learning goals
• A chance for parents to engage in their child’s learning
• Accountability for students, teachers and parents

The structure of the conference is as follows:

• The conference will run for 15 minutes.
• The student, parent/s and teacher will be present at the conference.
• Students with guidance from their classroom teacher will discuss their progress towards achieving their Literacy and Numeracy learning goals, show evidence of achievement and share future learning goals.
• Parents will be encouraged to provide feedback to their child on their progress.

Busting the Myth: Student Led Conferences are vital to your child’s learning journey and their continued success, but they are not the only time you can meet with your child’s teacher. As ‘Parent Engagement’ is a vital contributor to a child’s learning success, interviews can be requested either by yourself or teachers at any time.

As the second semester is upon us, I also thought it was a great time to renew our focus on Home Learning and the shared partnership between home and school…

 …to develop literate students

This shared partnership is crucial for the development of our students' reading success. Reading is complex, it requires not only the skills to decode, or lift the words off the page, but to make meaning of the written words in front of us. In the early years of Primary School, the focus of reading at home is learning to read, practicing the skills of phonics to decode. As this skill develops the focus moves to reading to learn, making meaning of what we have read. Making meaning can be a challenging task for many students and it is with the sharing of reading that we help students delve into the layers of meaning within the texts they read so they move from obvious to hidden meaning or as we teach students literal to inferential meaning.

It is with inferential reading that many students come unstuck which is why your partnership of reading at home right through to Year 6 is imperative. Students who are involved in discussions about what they have read, about the how and why the author has written the way they have or included illustrations are at a greater advantage to becoming literate. So, as the year progresses we ask you to ensure that you set aside the time to make a space for shared reading, the only compulsory learning we ask of students and parents at home. We also encourage you to engage with reading not only through various books that are brought home but the incidental reading opportunities in the world around us; signs, timetables, catalogues, news articles, the options are endless and waiting to be explored.

HOME LEARNING

Home Learning at Holy Cross has 3 components: Compulsory, Optional and Encouraged activities.

COMPULSORY

Home Learning reflects the importance we place on reading which is why the only compulsory home learning required from every student is reading.

Each week it is an expectation students borrow from the library to facilitate this compulsory requirement. In the junior years this will be in the form of both “Read with Me,” and library books of interest and in the senior years students will be asked to choose books of interest from both fiction and non-fiction. It is important to note, particularly with “Read with Me” books, whilst a student may be able to read some of their books independently, they still require you to assist them with language comprehension or the decoding of unfamiliar words. For a child to become a competent reader they need to practise the skills they learn at school to both decode and comprehend texts. This is why the partnership of you, your child’s first educator, for the acquisition of reading comprehension is essential.

OPTIONAL

Optional activities are listed for families who would like to engage with activities to reinforce focus concepts or general year level skills e.g multiplication facts.

ENCOURAGED

Encouraged activities are a matrix of choices that align with our school Charism. You will find activities to choose from under the banners of Relationships, Community, Service and Stewardship. As a family it is entirely your choice to engage with these activities in whatever capacity you are able.

Look out on the MyCE Mobile App - My School Tab for your current Home Learning Document.

Reach out to your class teacher for further tips on supporting your child with reading at home.

Deb Scarborough
Leader of Teaching