Crossing at the School Crossing

Pedestrians are urged to use the School crossing upon entry and exit to and from St Catherine’s School, particularly before School and at dismissal time. We ask all adults to join us in reminding students of the importance to cross the road using the School crossing.

 

Length of summer dresses

Parents are respectfully asked to examine the length of current summer uniforms. The girls have certainly grown since last season, however, their uniforms definitely have not! Rule of thumb for length? A length suitable to accommodate comfort, activity, sitting and standing all with dignity.

Mrs Alana Moor, Head of ELC and Barbreck
RSPCA visits Prep E

Last term whilst studying our unit, ‘Staying alive’, Prep E were fortunate to experience an excursion to the RSPCA. While we were there, we learnt a lot of valuable information regarding how to look after animals and what they require to survive. We also were given the opportunity to feed chickens, cows, ponies and enjoy patting rabbits and guinea pigs.

Emily, from the RSPCA, was particularly pleased with the behaviour and interest shown by Prep E and asked each student to take part in a follow-up activity. So, a few weeks after our excursion, each student completed a follow-up reflection. The RSPCA were interested to know how much we had learnt and remembered from our visit.

The girls’ attention to detail was outstanding and the RSPCA were impressed with their well thought out reflections. Emily, along with her dog Coco, came to thank the girls with a little gift pack and facilitated group activities and games related to the needs of animals. The Prep E girls loved meeting Coco and taking part in the activities. It truly highlighted just how effective the message from the RSPCA is. It also helped demonstrate to the Prep students, just how responsible someone needs to be, in order to take good care of a pet.

Miss Annie Taylor, Prep Teacher
Club Français de Barbreck/ Les Lucioles

The Barbreck Junior and Senior French clubs (Club Français) continue to engage students and provide an opportunity for great French conversation, games and cooking!

Les Lucioles (translating to ‘The Fireflies’) consists of 11 very enthusiastic Year 2 and 3 students who love speaking French and enjoy learning about French culture and conversation. We commence each meeting with a French greeting, followed by a French language activity where students must recite, interact and ask questions using newly learned French vocabulary. Les Lucioles are very enthusiastically practising a French play, La Poule Maboule, in preparation for an assembly presentation. Combining French dialogue, actions and plenty of acting, Les Lucioles are very excited to perform in French!

Club Français de Barbreck includes 14 Years 4, 5 and 6 students. Club Français has continued to be an opportunity for these students to practise more advanced dialogue in a motivated environment. Discussion topics include current events and internet mêmes and encourage interesting conversation techniques and vocabulary. Other activities include an advanced French play, Ou est mon chien?, to be presented entirely in French during Term 4. The students have told me many times that they cannot wait to make crêpes again. This is also scheduled for Week 7 of this term!

Mr Andrew Gold, Barbreck French Teacher
The importance of teaching research skills: telling fact from fiction

In a recent article on ABC Splash, highlighted to us by Mrs Victoria Baldacchino, was an interesting article on the importance of teaching our children how to research, make sound judgements about the sources they are using, and critically evaluate what they are reading. Our students are exposed to an enormous amount of information every day from a myriad of sources, and they need to learn from a young age how to sort through it all.

The article highlights that students need to:

  1. Build deep, discipline-specific content knowledge.
  2. Relate new ideas to their existing knowledge.
  3. Question their existing knowledge and test themselves to determine the limits of their understanding.
  4. Engage in activities that require “difficult decision-making” by analysing, evaluating, debating and innovating.
  5. Build information management skills.
  6. Be able to critically evaluate the validity of information from a range of sources.

Click here to read article.

Ms Catherine Samuel, Deputy Head of Junior School

Mrs Alana Moor, Head of ELC and Barbreck