From the Principal's Desk
Dear Parents and Carers of Good Samaritan,
What a fabulous start we have had to the school year! The children have been so enthusiastic as they settle into their new classes. Each day there has been an excited buzz across the playground.
This year we have developed a School Improvement Plan that focuses on the improvement statement:
Through our Catholicity we will inspire excellence in learning and teaching so that the school's culture will allow all to flourish within our school community.
From this statement we will be focusing on the 3 key priorities of Catholicity, Collaboration and Wellbeing.
Good Samaritan undertook the program Educating with a Mission Lens in 2017. This program consists of a series of modules that staff have worked through to identify our mission as Catholic educators. A part of this has been to recognise what is the essence of our school - the heartbeat - the day to day activities we undertake and how these impact the life of our community.
An important aspect of this was to re-examine our school history and the formation of Good Samaritan Primary School. Our school is the result of an amalgamation of 2 schools, St Francis Xavier and St John Vianney. Both of these schools were established by the Sisters of the Good Samaritan. The Sisters of the Good Samaritan strongly identify with St Benedict and the Benedictan way of life.
Benedict’s approach to life and to seeking God was both sensible and humane. It rests on being faithful to finding God in the ordinary circumstances of daily life within a community. Work was important, as was communal prayer, as was leisure. Benedict envisioned a balanced life of prayer and work as the ideal.
Community life was foundational to Benedict’s teaching and his Rule. Benedict’s gift was to understand that each person’s weaknesses are best confronted by living side by side with other human beings. St Benedict taught that growth comes from accepting people as they are, not as we would like them to be.
Central to what Benedict taught was a Love of Learning. Our children already know what it means to be Ready to Learn - now we want to instil in each of them a love of learning and to recognise that learning happens all the time. We can learn in our classrooms, on the playground, when we make mistakes, when we interact with other people and the list goes on.
Our work with Educating with a Mission Lens has led us to being able to clearly identify with the 5 Mission Behaviours. The Mission Behaviours help us to recognise the actions of others, and ourselves, when we are together in community. The students are also coming to know these behaviours and what are being taught the actions that can identify the behaviours.
Understanding the Mission Behaviours also provides an opportunity for us to love learning. This led to reviewing our PB4L values and aligning them with the Mission Behaviours. In the coming newsletter’s PB4L sections you will find each Mission Behaviours and some of the actions that can identify the behaviour.
The students are already being able to name the behaviours. This is very exciting as our students demonstrate how they want to be with each other, in community, each day at Good Samaritan.
I look forward to sharing more with you about Benedict and Educating with a Mission Lens as the year progresses
As we journey, together with Jesus,
Toni Sillis
Principal
Welcome to Kindergarten!
We are very excited to be able to officially welcome our Kindergarten students for 2021 tomorrow. Over the last week Kinder children have been coming to school for their Best Start appointment.
Beginning school is such an exciting time. There will be nerves, excitement and lots of expressions of wonder - and it won’t take too long for them to feel that school is a wonderful place to be!
Did you know? Only 46% of Australian parents feel confident about dealing with the online risks their children face and 95% want more information about online safety. (Source: eSafety Commissioner)
Next week the students will focus on safe online behaviours with a variety of activities across the week. Tuesday 9 February is Safer Internet Day across Australia. The eSafety Commissioner has invited parents to join one of their webinars at no cost. Click here to join a webinar.
There is an enormous range of resources available for parents on the eSafety Commissioner website. Take some time to browse the site. Even if your child doesn’t spend much time on devices it is important for us all to be able to ‘Start the Chat’ with our children.
Students will also be able to participate in a Design a Poster competition and a colouring competition. Winners will be announced at Friday (12/02/2021) afternoon’s assembly