Mary Immaculate Primary Newsletter

Catholic Schools Week is a huge week for MIPS! This year we celebrate 200 years of Catholic Education in Australia. We will be involved with other schools and dioceses across the country.

A list of events are in this newsletter and all are welcome to attend.

On Wednesday we are hosting a "Come as a Firey or a Farmer Day" to remember and support the work of our amazing volunteers.

On Thursday we are holding our Open Day for prospective families. Lots of parents are spreading the word and that will be very helpful to new families.

Our newsletter contains a lot of important reading so I will let you get to it!

Enjoy Catholic Schools Week!

Principal 

Teaching has evolved over the years, it's not just about teaching students content it's about using a variety of strategies to assist students in learning information they need for the future. This includes teaching the students how to ask questions resulting in the children being self directed learners.

Teachers do not dominate the talk in classrooms. It is very much an environment where students ask questions that enable their learning to reach greater heights.

This year we continue our work on Surface, Deep and Transfer Knowledge, enabling our learners to access the curriculum at their level and to extend their understanding through various activities. 

John Hattie (Visible Learning) explains the three levels as -

Surface Knowledge - surface learning is a time when students initially are exposed to concepts, skills, and strategies. It is critical because it provides a foundation on which to build as students are asked to think more deeply.

Deep Knowledge - when students consolidate their understanding and apply and extend some surface learning knowledge to support deeper conceptual understanding.

Transfer Knowledge - the point at which students take their consolidated knowledge and skills and apply what they know to new scenarios and different contexts. It is also a time when students are able to think metacognitively, reflecting on their own learning and understanding.

I encourage you to ask your children about their learning and the exciting activities taking place in the learning spaces.

Mrs Sharon Mizzi

Assistant Principal

There will be NO school assembly this coming Friday due to School Mass at 9:15am to celebrate Catholic Schools Week.

Over the past few weeks we have had a number of Stage 3 students who have trialled for the Parramatta Sports Teams in Soccer and  AFL. Congratulations to all of the students who trialled.

A special congratulations to Lucas W and Spencer W who have both been selected as part of the Parramatta AFL Team to play at the Mackillop AFL trials in Wagga Wagga in April.

Mrs Angela Cooper

On Monday 2nd March, Halogen Australia hosted the National Young Leaders conference at the International Convention Centre in Darling Harbour. The National Young Leaders Day is a unique opportunity to expose young people to real life stories of leaders in a variety of fields. 

We were fortunate to take our entire MIPS Leadership Team to this event. During each session, our students listened to inspirational speakers, had an opportunity to ask questions, participated in a range of learning exercises and interacted with other leaders from Sydney schools. 

Leadership in Action: A Fiver for a Farmer- Jack Berne

Jack spoke about seeing a need and doing something about it. He reflected on the experience and what a great impact this initiative had on our community.

Erin Molan- News Reporter, Channel 9

Erin reflected on her journey as a young leader. She inspired the audience by encouraging everyone to follow their dreams and highlighted the importance of resilience when in a position of leadership. 

Rove McManus - TV Presenter, author

Rove spoke about how he enjoyed writing and creating in class when he was young. It was what inspired him to become the person he is today. He reinforced the message of pursuing your dreams and overcoming obstacles along the way.

Some student reflections:

“Encourage others, no matter what others think about them (or you)” - Sienna

“If you’re passionate about something, do something about it” - Alaysha

“If you put great amounts of courage in what you do, you are valuable in many ways” - Olivia

This was an amazing experience for our leaders. All 20 students are excited to share their new learnings with their peers!

Mrs Kylie Behrens and Mrs Bernadette Fenech-Soler

Early Years Testing begins for Kindergarten and Year 1! It is once again time for Kindergarten and Year One teachers to complete Early Years Testing with the students. During this time, your child’s reading and writing will be assessed. The Literacy and Numeracy assessment tools offer an opportunity for teachers to understand a child’s beliefs, attitudes, strengths, thinking process and skills. Teachers will use standardised testing to individually interview students, and learn about how students think, and what they know.

Over the next two weeks (Weeks 6 and 7) time will be dedicated to this testing and your child’s teacher will be conducting the assessments. All efforts have been made to provide consistency for the students with the teachers that shall be covering their classes.

Thank you once again for your understanding with assessment times such as these and for your continued support with your child’s learning at Mary Immaculate Primary School.