Dear Parents and Carers,

Launching into Rocket Math at St Mary’s!
At St Mary’s, we are always looking for ways to strengthen our teaching and learning programs and ensure every student is supported to achieve their best. Based on advice from Catholic Education Canberra Goulburn and current educational research, we are excited to introduce in Term 4 — Rocket Math.

Rocket Math is a fun, structured, and evidence-based program designed to build students’ fluency with basic maths facts. It is a ten-minutes-a-day, supplemental maths facts practice program that helps students achieve automaticity — the ability to recall maths facts instantly and without hesitation.

Here’s how it works:

• Each student progresses through the program at their own pace, mastering two maths facts (and their reversals) at a time.
• Students practice orally with a partner each day, reinforcing both accuracy and speed.
• One-minute timing checks help determine when a student is ready to move on to the next set of facts.

This short daily practice complements our existing Mathematics Curriculum by providing focused opportunities to develop fluency in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Just as reading fluency helps students recognise words instantly, maths fluency helps them recall facts automatically — freeing up mental space for problem-solving and deeper mathematical thinking.

We’re excited to see our students blast off into Rocket Math and strengthen their confidence and speed with number facts!

Healthy Harold Visits in Week 4!
We are excited to welcome Healthy Harold and the Life Education team back to our school during Week 4 this term! (Monday 3 to Wednesday 5 November) Thanks to generous funding from Bay Soldiers Club there will be no cost to families.

Life Education is a non-government health promotion charity that has been supporting the health and wellbeing of young Australians for more than 40 years. Many parents will fondly remember their own visits from Healthy Harold the giraffe — and the program continues to evolve to meet the needs of today’s children.

The Life Education program is all about prevention through education. It helps students build the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to make safe and healthy choices as they grow. Lessons are designed to be interactive, engaging and age-appropriate, with sessions tailored for each year level.

Students from Kindergarten to Year 2 will enjoy a 1-hour session, while Years 3 to 6 will take part in a 1.5 hour session. Each session takes place inside the Life Education mobile classroom, led by a specialist educator and, of course, joined by everyone’s favourite giraffe, Healthy Harold!

This year, the program for students when they work with Healthy Harold and friends in a scenario story, and the educator about a situation, is as follows:

Classroom teachers will also use Life Education resources to plan follow-up activities in Health and Physical Education lessons, reinforcing the important messages covered during the sessions.

School isn’t just about learning to read and write — it’s also about helping students understand themselves, their health, and how to make positive choices. We’re thrilled to continue this partnership with Life Education to empower our students to live safe, healthy, and happy lives.

For more information about the Life Education program you can also visit the Life Education website or speak with your child’s classroom teacher.

Sue Heffernan
Assistant Principal