Dear Parents/Caregivers

Welcome back from the holidays! We hope you and your family had a safe and restful holiday.  We would like to extend a special welcome to any new families and students.

This year the three Year Six classes will be taught by Ms Jacqui Hunter (Six Navy), Mrs Brooke Stiller and Ms Gaby Fogarty (Six Green) and Mrs Mandy Dencher (Six Maroon).  The four teachers are committed to working together to develop a consistent approach across all three classes.  This consistency will include homework, term work and overall expectations for Year Six students.

Homework
All Year Six students will be given the same homework.  It has been designed in a way that students should be able to complete tasks independently.  The tasks selected are based on basic skills and knowledge that the teachers feel are the most important.  The homework will include a variety of spelling words, times tables and mathematics problems.  Therefore this style of homework will consolidate the work from the classroom whilst developing time management skills and responsibility. 

Learning for Term One
This term students will be participating in three major units of work.  Firstly, there will be an integrated English and History unit.  The students will be investigating key figures who contributed to Australian Federation.  The students will choose one key figure to research and write an information report about.  The second unit is a Religion and Geography unit where students will explore community contributions, with a large focus on the Caritas appeal.  The students will investigate how global population, wealth and health are unevenly distributed. In Science the students will be looking at different types of energy sources that generate electricity and how they affect our environment.  Students will explore the advantages and disadvantages of renewable and non-renewable energy sources and investigate whether they are contributing to global warming.  This unit will be concluded with an exam.   

Year Six Camp

This term Year Six students will participate in St Bernardine’s School camp at Ewen Maddock Dam Environment and Recreation Centre. The camp will be held from Monday 24/03/14 to Wednesday 26/03/14. The program has been developed to provide worthwhile educational outcomes, in conjunction with confidence building. 

Uniform
Students in Year Six are expected to wear their sports uniform on Mondays and Fridays.  On Tuesday, Thursday and Wednesday students are expected to wear their day uniform.  As the students in Year Six are leaders of the school, we expect students to be in correct school uniform as outlined in the student handbook.  If a student is not able to wear the correct uniform they are expected to have a note of explanation from home.

Showcase Night

Term One will conclude with a showcase night, to be held on the 2^nd April. This will be a wonderful opportunity for you to witness what your child has been learning throughout the term.  If you have any questions or concerns about your child throughout the term please contact your child’s teacher to make an appointment to discuss your concerns. 

We are committed to developing strong working partnerships with you, the parents and families of our students, and therefore encourage open communication between school and home.  We can be contacted via email or by telephoning or visiting the school.  Our email addresses are:

Mandy Dencher (Six Maroon)            mandy.bland@bne.catholic.edu.au

Gaby Fogarty (Six Green)                  gfogarty@bne.catholic.edu.au
Brooke Stiller (Six Green                    bsteel@bne.catholic.edu.au

Jacqui Hunter (Six Navy)                   jacqueline.hunter@bne.catholic.edu.au

We want to be readily available and try to check our email regularly, but sometimes schools are very busy.  Therefore if you have an urgent issue, message or concern that you wish to discuss, it is best to make an appointment with us first via telephone.  

We are extremely excited about this year and we have already discovered that this group of students are a bright and warm group of students.  We look forward to working with you this year and helping your child have a successful year. 

Yours sincerely,

Brooke Stiller / Gaby Fogarty                   Mandy Dencher                            Jacqui Hunter
            Six Green                                          Six Maroon                                   Six Navy