Dear Parents and Carers

Welcome back to Term 3. It has been wonderful to see your children return enthusiastically and settled ready for a new term. Last Sunday, as children from Year 6 celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation, it was also the 2nd World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly. I noticed on Sunday many grandparents sitting with our Confirmation students and reflected on how my grandparents would always make the 4 hour trip from Harden to Bemboka to share each sacrament with me and my siblings. Grandparents share a special place in our lives and so I would like to share with you a beautiful Prayer for Grandparents from Pope Benedict XVI that you may like to share with your family.

Staff Professional Learning
On Monday 18 July, the St Mary’s teaching staff attended a Catalyst professional learning day in Canberra with several Catholic schools from our diocese. The focus of the day was Reading and Spelling Daily Review to improve student outcomes and was conducted by Associate Professor Lorraine Hammond AM, PhD, CF from Edith Cowan University, WA. Staff came away with a clearer understanding of Why do we use Daily Review? and What to put in a Daily Review. This was a wonderful opportunity for the staff to engage in high-quality professional learning to further develop the quality of learning offered to our students. 

On Thursday last week,  Associate Professor Lorraine Hammond observed and provided high quality feedback to our teaching staff in Years K-2. Staff then had the opportunity to work alongside Lorraine planning and reviewing Daily Review lessons. 

On Monday this week, Jordan O’Sullivan from Shaping Minds returned to St Mary’s and worked in our Year 3-6 classrooms, observing and providing high quality feedback to staff who demonstrated their own Daily Review lesson. This strategy will become an important part of our daily routine to address reducing cognitive load and supporting the retention of knowledge.

ICAS Assessments 2022
A reminder the ICAS assessments competition is now open to register your child. Registrations close Monday 1 August 2022. ICAS is an online academic competition that is designed to assess students’ higher order thinking and problem-solving skills in English, Mathematics, Science, Writing, Spelling Bee and Digital Technologies.

How to participate in ICAS 

If you wish for your child to participate in ICAS this year, please: 

1.   read about ICAS subjects and prices here: (https://www.icasassessments.com/products-icas) 
2.   read the terms and conditions here: (https://www.icasassessments.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Finalised-Parents-Ts-and-Cs-2022v03-1.pdf)
3.   go to Parent Portal here: (https://shop.icasassessments.com/pages/pps) 
4.   enter our school’s access code – NVY122
5.   enter your child’s details, select the tests you would like to purchase, then proceed to payment.

If you have any other queries, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Book Week
Book Week celebrations will take place on Wednesday 10 August Week 4. Children are encouraged to come to school dressed as their favourite book character. This year's theme is ‘Dreaming with Eyes Open’. This is always a fun celebration for the students and teachers alike! Behind the scenes, teachers are also preparing for the Book Quiz, a fun way for all the students to come together to celebrate their love of books and reading.

This year as part of our book week celebrations, St Mary's will be hosting a book swap.This is a great opportunity to clean out those bookshelves and send in any preloved and unwanted books. Students will have the opportunity to choose some new (recycled) books to continue their love of reading. Please send in any books to your child's classroom teacher.

Justin Bateman
Assistant Principal (Acting)