Teaching and Curriculum Update
Celebrating Our Writing Success at St Benedict’s
This year, we’ve made some exciting changes to how we teach and assess writing at St Benedict’s and we’re already seeing fantastic improvements in our students’ work!
Recently, our leadership team and a group of enthusiastic teachers had the opportunity to present to 12 other schools in our Diocese. They shared the wonderful things happening in our classrooms and explained how we’re helping students become confident and capable writers. It was a proud moment for our school, and our staff did an amazing job representing the great learning happening here.
One of the biggest benefits of our new approach is how it helps us understand each child’s progress more clearly. By collecting writing samples and using consistent assessment tools, we can give students timely and positive feedback, track their growth, and help them set personal writing goals. This means every child gets the support they need to keep improving.
We’re so proud of our teachers for their hard work and passion, and for sharing their knowledge with other schools. It’s wonderful to see their efforts making a real difference for our students and being recognised beyond our school community.
Stage 3 students are busy bringing their STEMQuest 2025 projects to life! They have been brainstorming, planning, and designing creative solutions to real-world challenges, and will proudly present their prototypes at the STEM Fair on Wednesday of Week 10.
To help students bring their projects to life, we are inviting parent volunteers to share their knowledge, skills, and experiences. Your involvement could be as simple as answering questions, providing guidance, or helping with practical aspects of prototypes. We are especially seeking parents with expertise or interest in areas such as:
- Early childhood and education
- Construction and engineering
- Nutrition and health
- Animal welfare
- Fire safety and environmental protection
- Roads and traffic management
- Sports science
- Mental health and wellbeing
- Environmental science and sustainability
Mrs Amanda Lewis - Year 5 teacher
Important Security Update for student BYOD Devices
Action is required for students with BYOD Windows 10 devices as Windows 10 will soon no longer be supported by Microsoft.
To ensure your student device security you should upgrade to Windows 11 as soon as possible.
Microsoft has announced that support for Windows 10 will end on 14 October 2025, meaning it will no longer receive critical security updates.
To stay protected and ensure optimal performance, it is strongly recommended that all students with BYOD Windows 10 devices follow Microsoft’s instructions and upgrade to Windows 11 as soon as possible. There is no charge for this upgrade.
Why this matters:
- Windows 10 will no longer receive Microsoft updates after 14 October 2025, leaving devices exposed to threats.
- Upgrading to Windows 11 helps reduce security risks.
- Student Work Protection: Staying current helps safeguard assignments, projects, and personal data.
Ways to install Windows 11 - Microsoft Support
Upgrade to Windows 11: FAQ - Microsoft Support
How do I check what version of Windows am I running?
Select Start > Settings > System, then select About. You then see Edition, Version, and OS Build information.
We encourage all families with Student Windows 10 computers to begin the upgrade process now to avoid last-minute disruptions. If you need assistance or have questions about upgrading, please reach out to the IT support team in our school.