News
Music News
Famous Musicians
All Music students from Year 3-7 have been working on music notation and writing notes of different time values in different positions on the staff. As an Extension Task, all have been given a Word Search of famous musicians, that appeared in a recent Advertiser edition. This activity is to be done whenever the student finds all class work is completed and there is no other work to be taken care of. The purpose is to bring to each child’s attention, the names of musicians who are considered at the top of their profession. I recently explained about one, BACH, who was born in 1685. I played his Toccata and Fugue in D minor for them to hear. Now, you might expect that very few, if any, would have ever heard it, let alone recognise this music. But try it yourself, and type in Bach, Toccata and Fugue in D minor and I guarantee, like ALL of the children you will know that it is used in video games/ memes/ Dracula movies/ horror movies/ cartoons and the list goes on.
The follow week, the students were introduced to Vivaldi, The Four Season and in particular SPRING. Try this yourself, because even more students could tell me in what circumstances, eg a Wedding on TV/ a video game where an elderly man ages/and so on, where they had been exposed to this lovely music. The students are seeing that serious music is the background to their lives.
Regards,
Mandy Thompson
Senior Primary News
In art this term the 6/7 students are learning how to draw realistic facial features, with only lead pencil and shading techniques. Our last lessons focus was on drawing a realistic nose. Students learnt that the nose can be drawn using three circles as the base. These three circles made up the nostrils and the tip of the nose. To make their nose look realistic they learnt that the tip of the nose, the top of the nostrils and the bridge of the nose needed to be slightly lighter. Already all students are showing improved drawing and shading skills.
Following our art lesson, we completed a literacy lesson linked to the ‘nose’ theme. Students analysed a book titled ‘The Nose That knows’. Students explored the different techniques the author used to engage the audience, and were able to see that the way the text was written was very similar to poems that rhyme. Following the analysis of the text, students created their own poems with the same title.
Senior Primary News
Cooking Around the World
For the first six weeks of this term, our year 6/7 class will be working with Jo Minks to explore the differences between cultures and their food. They will be looking into the different ingredients used in dishes and the reasons why certain ingredients are predominantly used in some cultures (location, climate etc.) Students will have the opportunity to taste and compare foods, some being dishes they may never have tried before. This unit of work not only is fun and hands on, but it is also teaching our students life skills, whilst creating a deeper awareness of other cultures. We look forward to sharing with you some of the dishes we make.
Spanish News - Middle, Upper and Senior Primary
The Year 3-7s made a Family Tree, adding some favourite members. Some of the words are very similar to English – eg Madre or mama, Padre or papa, bebe.
Library News
The Book Fair is now on in the Library until Tuesday 16th of May. There are lots of great books and novelty items to purchase.
Could all issue 3 book Club orders be in by the end of this week.
Thank you
Julie Anderson
Middle Primary News
In H.A.S.S. (History and Social Sciences) this term, we are discovering our History!
Our learning focus includes the early explorers, navigators, traders and migrants of South Australia.
It has also been fun learning about Captain Cook and the First Fleet. By using timelines and dates, it has been easier to identify the important events, places and people in Australia’s formation and History!
We can’t wait to learn more and present our findings to you all!
Principal's Report
Hi all,
As I write today, I hope you indulge me as I take you through a short reflection before I announce an exciting new partnership for our school.
When I moved to Yorketown four and half years ago to begin the Principalship at SCMS, I was excited. Truth be told it was only 3 months earlier that I had made my first ever visit to Yorketown. The purpose of this visit was a sneaky tour of the school, under the guise of an enrolment tour (pretty sure the staff were suspicious of this). On this trip I was told SCMS was considered a 'remote school' as opposed to a regional school. This was important as it impacted the funding of the school.
I must admit that having Yorketown considered remote originally didn't make sense to me. It was 2 and a half hours from the Capital city of a state! After our relocation however, it didn't take long to realise that the remote aspect was more about access to certain services, especially in an education sense, as opposed to geographical location. This is not to downplay the wonderful services we do have available to us in the SYP, it was simply an acknowledgement of a recognised challenge.
As we are aware, it is harder for our families to get paediatric appointments for their children, and if we are able to secure an appointment, it often involves travel or a long waiting list. To access educational assessments that families sometimes want or are advised by the school to pursue, it's often an 18-month waiting list, and a significant financial imposition.
Over the past 2 years myself and other remote and regional leaders in our system have advocated strongly for our families to have better access to these assessments.
Excitingly through the support of Catholic Education SA we now have an ongoing partnership with an organisation called "SOLASTA". They are a not-for-profit organisation who provide psychologists and other educational professionals to conduct assessments and support communities. An educational assessment can provide the school with more information in order to make sure we are giving the best possible educational opportunities to a child.
I am delighted to announce that clinical psychologist, Lisa Chisholm, will provide educational assessments 2 days per term for students at our school until the end of the year. These assessments can cost thousands of dollars privately, so it is a substantial commitment by the system and the school to provide this service.
I have worked with some families in preparation for this term's visit and will continue to reach out to families moving forward about this opportunity to access assessments in Terms 3 and 4.
Out of all the things I'm proudest of over the last few years, this new partnership is top 3.
Build Progress
It has been a great start to the term as we can see real development across the site, with our Junior Primary classrooms nearing completion and the new nature area also well underway.
The children have dealt with some increased noise but have been transfixed at times by the build process. The team from Pascale have been wonderful in ensuring safety on the site and engaging in some respectful dialogue with the children about the work (and throwing a heap of balls back into games).
There has been a hold up through SA Power Networks in upgrading our power supply, which is the main barrier for us taking ownership of the classrooms. The latest date we have for the installation of this power is June the 3rd. Once the new classrooms are completed the following will occur:
- The Reception and Year 1/2 classes move into the new classrooms. All classrooms in the school will have new lightweight, flexible furniture to help aid learning
- The Year 3/4 class and the Year 6/7 class will move into the transportables.
- The Year 5 class will move into the staffroom area. This area was formerly a classroom and has a display screen as well as whiteboards. It's also slightly larger then their current classroom.
These decisions have been made in order to minimise disruption to student learning. It does mean the staff will be using an area of the hall as a Break room, but this will be manageable in the short term and I thank staff for their understanding. We expect this to be an 8-week period whilst the remaining classrooms are upgraded.
SAPSASA
Over the course of the first three weeks of term, SCMS has made a tentative plunge into the Well of Secondary Sport, with our students engaging in SAPSASA 7/8 basketball carnivals, as well as 9-a-side football next week. It has taken strong advocacy from myself and Suzie Harvey in this space to ensure our students have full participation in these events. Max, Sam, Angus and Jada all competed strongly at the carnival, but more importantly demonstrated the school values. I am proud of the commitment and dedication that our senior students have displayed.
God Bless,
Scott March
RE News
Hello!
What an excellent start to term two we have had. Last week I was able to spend an hour with the Year 3/4 class answering some amazing philosophical questions. Gee whiz, are these kids deep thinkers. I was so astounded as to what wonderings they had, what ideas or questions. As one question was answered (or attempted to be answered J) another one was ready to be asked. Next time you’re sitting around your family dining table, or sitting on the couch with your kids or around a campfire, I encourage you to let your kids have the chance to tell you what questions or thoughts they have on life. Too often we dismiss and patronise our young ones, but really they are doing some amazing thinking and pondering on the world around them. I hope to do more question/wondering sessions with them, more often, and with more classes.
Yesterday, Amy McPhail and myself attended a brilliant workshop to learn more about Assessment in the Crossways curriculum. It was an engaging, informative and very helpful professional development course looking at how and what we assess. Religious Education is at the core of who we are and our mission here at St Columba’s and courses like this help us to make sure we are doing it right. We are looking forward to sharing what we have learnt with the staff over the coming weeks.
This term we are hoping to fit in some whole school masses. At present, Fr John is still in Kenya, but we are hoping that he will be back within the next month or two. We have asked Fr Anthoni to come back and say mass for us for St Columba’s Day (June 9) and will let you know as soon as we know.
Here's to term two!
God Bless,
Miriam Honner
APRIM
Upper Primary News
The Year 5’s enjoyed giving pottery a go! Students tried multiple techniques to achieve the shape they had planned. Students have been patiently waiting for their designs to dry, where they will now work on painting them!
Basketball Carnival
Tuesday 9th May, four year 7 students made the bus trip to Minlaton to participate in the year 7/8 Zone Basketball Carnival. Our boys' team, combined with Minlaton, started the morning with a super close match up, resulting in a draw. As the day went on, the improvement seen throughout each of the players was outstanding. The boys finished the day with 1 draw, 1 win and 4 losses.
Jada represented us in an Ardrossan / Central Yorke / SCMS combined girls team and had a super successful day with 2 losses, 2 wins and 1 draw. We congratulate Jada on her efforts throughout the day and her ability to play within a team of girls she had never met before!
Each student displayed great sportsmanship throughout the day to not only their teammates and other teams, but the umpires, scorers and other officals also. Congratulations to Sam, Angus, Max and Jada for representing the school with your best efforts and doing us all proud!
