Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back to school for Term 3. I hope you have enjoyed the rest from the school routine. Hasn’t the time just flown by? We have an exciting second half of the year ahead and we’re going to hit the ground running.

We are looking forward to an exciting term ahead with a variety of events planned.  These include our Whole School Performance, Grandparents and Grand Friends day, Confirmation for our Year 5 and Year 6 students, Science week, Book week, Fathers’ Day, Indigenous Literacy day and Mindfulness Day.

Why is reading so important?

Studies show that reading for pleasure makes a big difference to children’s educational performance. Evidence suggests that children who read for enjoyment every day not only perform better in reading tests than those who don’t, but also develop a broader vocabulary, increased general knowledge and a better understanding of other cultures. In fact, reading for pleasure is more likely to determine whether a child does well at school than their social or economic background.

You can make a huge difference! Parents are the most important educators in a child’s life – even more important than their teachers – and it’s never too late to start reading together.

Learning to read is about listening and understanding as well as working out what’s printed on the page. Through hearing stories, children are exposed to a wide range of words. This helps them build their own vocabulary and improve their understanding when they listen, which is vital as they start to read. It’s important for them to understand how stories work too. Even if your child doesn’t understand every word, they’ll hear new sounds, words and phrases which they can then try out, copying what they have heard.

As parents you play an important role in helping to keep your child interested in books. Find out what interests them, help them to find books that will be engaging and fun, and spend time reading the books they bring home from school together. It is vital that no matter what your child’s age that you are talking to them about reading, about books and hearing them read. This is not something that stops as they move from levelled readers to chapter books. All of our students should be reading every night!

Thank you for your ongoing care and partnership in your child’s learning.

God bless.

Rachel Smith
Principal