Assistant Principal’s Corner

Harmony Day 2023

In Australia, Harmony Day is celebrated on 21 March 2023 during Harmony Week. To celebrate this special @me in our school, Australia and the world children are invited to wear something orange on this day.

Tradi@onally, orange signifies social communica@on and meaningful conversa@ons. It is also related to the freedom of ideas and encouragement of mutual respect. Harmony Week is a @me to celebrate Australian mul@culturalism, and the successful integra@on of migrants into our community. Australia is one of the most successful mul@cultural countries in the world and we should celebrate this and work to maintain it. The message of Harmony Week is Everyone Belongs. It is about inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians, regardless of cultural or linguis@c background, united by a set of core Australian values.

Conversa@ons at home are crucial for understanding and suppor@ng inclusivity. By having honest and open family discussions about racism, diversity and inclusivity builds trust with your children. It encourages them to come to you with ques@ons and worries. If they see you as a trusted source of advice, they are likely to engage with you on this topic more.

Teach your child that it is wrong to ridicule differences like race, religion, appearance, special needs, gender or economic status. Try to ins@l a sense of empathy for those who are different. Consider gekng involved together in a community group where your child can interact with kids who are different. Make sure your kids understand that you will not tolerate bullying at home or anywhere else. Set rules about bullying and s@ck to them. If you take away privileges, be sure it's meaningful. For example, if your child bullies other kids via email, text messages, or a social networking site, stop phone or computer privileges for a period of @me. If your child acts aggressively at home, with siblings or others, put a stop to it. Teach more appropriate (and kinder) ways to react, like walking away.

Did you know?

· Nearly half (49 per cent) of Australians were born overseas or have at least one parent who was. Since 1945, more than 7.5 million people have migrated to Australia. 85 per cent of Australians agree mul@culturalism has been good for Australia.

· Apart from English, the most common languages spoken in Australia are Mandarin, Arabic, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Italian, Greek, Tagalog/Filipino, Hindi, Spanish and Punjabi. More than 70 Indigenous languages are spoken in Australia.

These facts are taken from ABS 2016 Census Data. Check out the Australian Bureau of Sta@s@cs website.

Parent Teacher MeeVngs

During Week 8 of this term, parents will have the opportunity to meet with their child/ren’s teachers to discuss their progress so far this year.

This year we will con@nue to use Parent Teacher Online (PTO), a web-based and app based online booking system for Parent Teacher mee@ngs. We know that it will save parents @me and is quite easy to use. Using this system, you will be able to book the interview @mes that suit you best from any internetconnected computer.

PTO became ac V ve for parents to book appointments from Tuesday 7 March at 2:00pm. hTps://www.infantjesus.wa.edu.au/pto/

Soundwaves

Throughout this year we will be working in partnership to assist children in further developing their spelling skills and knowledge using the Soundwaves Spelling resource across the school. The focus for Year 1 to Year 6 for next week and Week 8 are:

Week 7 –

‘D’ is most frequently represented by the grapheme ‘d’ (e.g. dog, garden, head)

The grapheme ‘dd’ for is seen in the middle of words, a_er short vowel sound (e.g. paddle, ladder)

The suffix ed can represent (e.g. called, helped or wanted)

Week 8 –

‘I’ is used at the start and in the middle of words, but never at the end of words (e.g. it, quick)

The grapheme ‘y’ can represent (e.g. syrup, myth). Words containing ‘y’ and ‘I’ usually originate from Greek.

The grapheme ‘o’ in the word women is an unusual way to represent ‘I’

The grapheme ‘’ is an unusual way to represent ‘I’ (e.g. pre[y, English)

Remember – All students from Year 1 to Year 6 are able to log into Soundwaves with their class code. Class codes are available from classroom teachers.