Parent Information Night: Script

Good Evening Parents, and welcome back to Term 3. I hope you and your family have a lovely and restful
holiday and are ready to begin our second semester. I am holding Parent-Teacher Conferences in Week two
and three so if you would like to book in a time to see please let me know after this.

Firstly, I would like to begin tonight with a prayer, if you would like to join in with me, it is on your
handout.

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,

Loving God,
You are the giver of all we possess, the source of all of our blessings.
We thank and praise you.
Thank you for the gift of our children.
Help us to set boundaries for them, and yet encourage them to explore.
Give us the strength and courage to treat each day as a fresh start.
May our children come to know you, the one true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
May your Holy Spirit help them to grow in faith, hope, and love, so they may know peace, truth, and
goodness.
May their ears hear your voice.
May their eyes see your presence in all things.
May their lips proclaim your word.
May their hearts be your dwelling place.
May their hands do works of charity.
May their feet walk in the way of Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord.
Amen

Placing Religious Education at the core of our curriculum in our schools helps the school to fulfil its mission
to educate the whole person in discerning the meaning of their existence. Religious Education is concerned
not only with intellectual knowledge but also includes emotional and affective learning. Without religious
education, students would be deprived of an essential element of their formation and personal development,
which helps them attain a vital harmony between faith and culture. We include Religious Education daily as
it, helps parents, priests and teachers to hand on the Deposit of Faith in its fullness to a new generation of
young people so that they may come to understand the richness of the Catholic faith, and therefore be drawn
into a deeper communion with Christ in his Church.

This term in Religious Education we are focusing on a unit of work called “We Make Choices”. This unit of
work enables students the opportunity to develop their ability to make choices. It aims to develop their
understanding of wondering at the human experience of making choices. As the students think about the vast
range of choices they can make and how decisions can change as people grow. Students will begin to
wonder at God who created people with the ability to choose. This ability to wonder will enable the students
to reveal the God Loves us. This unit focuses on Jesus because he too made choices and we are enabling
students to understand that Jesus wants people to make loving choices such as friendship with another
person. The unit also contributes to the development of understanding that some people make choices that
deliberately or unnecessarily hurt others. Times like these, it is vital that people say “sorry”. Religious
Education helps students discover that Jesus wants his followers to use the ability to choose to show love
and kindness to others. This unit of work is especially essential for the development of the whole child as it
lays the foundations for the religious capabilities, of faith and hope while also their spiritual capabilities
such as prudence, justice and fortitude needed for growth in their sacred journey.

We as a school wide religious Education Approach will still continue to do 15 minutes daily of Religious
Education minimum. We value Religious Education just as much as we do English and Mathematics.
Religion and learning in general this term will be very centred on the student’s strengths, weaknesses and
their interests. I have organised activities that will engage them and cater to them academically. Some of the
activities your children will be participating in is The Arts, which is very exciting, this unit of work has
allowed me to get creative to there is lots of painting, drawing and making crafts together. On the Friday of
week five, we are holding a Year One Mass, that you are all invited too. I will send out a letter closer to date
letting you know the times and where it is.

For our little year ones, an essential element of human wellbeing is the experience of belonging, of being
connected to others in a community, being accepted and values and being positively involved and engaged
within their community. This religious unit of work, I have planned for lots of activities that encourage
students to become friends with other students, to make loving choices and to make everyone feel like they
belong.

At these stage, you might be asking what can I do at home during this unit? Well there is a few things you
can assist your child in developing and understanding what they are learning in the classroom at home.
Some of the things you can do is discuss with your children why particular choices are made when
shopping, why one product may be chosen in preference to another. Sharing ways in which the choices
people make change as they grow older, sharing with them stories of Jesus making choices, for example
Jesus choosing the first four disciples from Mark 1:16-20. Also, sitting with your children when events
happen for which they or other family member need to say sorry and then discussing with them why this is
so. Lastly, praying with them for God’s help to make loving choices.

Our whole school virtue is compassion for term three. We will be completing activities within the classroom
and as a whole school to develop and nurture the virtue of compassion. This week I will be sending home
Project Compassion Boxes, they will be due back in Week 9 of this term so that we can had over the
donation at the assembly in Week 10. There is no pressure to fill up the boxes but if you have anything, it
does help. There is a prize for the year level that raises the most money, but I have some exciting events in
the mixes with the other year one teachers such as Crazy Sock Day and possibly a Movie Afternoon which
will help us raise some money.

I want to continue to give you consistent updates with See Saw. I really enjoyed how much I used this last
term and I want to continue using it. It enables me to communicate directly with you and you are able to see
what we get up to during the day. I feel as though parent teacher communication is vital in order for our
classroom to run smoothly.

I wanted to give you all a quick reminder about my teaching philosophy. I am still passionately dedicated to
the education of all my students in which I do this by stablishing a positive and productive learning
environment that fosters the social wellbeing of all children. Why do I teach? Through teaching, I am able to
demonstrate my passion and enthusiasm for education while promoting lifelong learning to students. How I
teach? As a facilitator in the middle of the learning process, I actively engage in my students in every aspect
of a lesson catering for the children’s needs through the incorporation of technology and real world
applications.

Thank you for joining me tonight, I have appreciated your help and support over the first two terms and I am
looking forward to this term, as I hope you are too. If you have any questions or quires you are more than
welcome to stay back and have a chat.

Thank you again.