Dear Parents and Carers,

It’s hard to believe that we have already finished the first half of the school year. Despite  significant illness across the school community, we have managed to fit in a huge amount of learning and fun from Kinder to Year 6.

Parent Teacher Interviews
Thank you to all the parents who were able to come into school and meet with their child’s teacher this week. These meetings provide a wonderful opportunity for parents, students and teachers to discuss and celebrate effort and progress in learning as well as goal-setting for next semester. It has been incredibly powerful to receive so many affirmations from our families about our teachers who provide engaging learning programs and opportunities. The staff are very appreciative of the support you give to them and the partnership that they have in working with you to build the wonderful community of St Mary’s. 

Beanie Day 
Yesterday's Beanie and Mufti Day was a great way to celebrate the end of Term 2.  Most of us were keen to keep our beanies on during our afternoon assembly under the COLA. Thank you for supporting us with gold coin donations. We raised over $500 for Brain Cancer Research. What an amazing effort!

Carroll College Variety Night
Last week, our School Choir shared their talents at the Carroll College Variety Night.  Thank you to parents for bringing your children out on such a cold night. Our School Choir of 56 students from Kinder to Year 6 sang two songs beautifully and gave us some insight into the music of our upcoming musical Peter Pan. Congratulations children. 

Staffing
Mrs Sue Heffernan will be taking leave for the first 6 weeks of Term 3. Mr Justin Bateman has been appointed Acting Assistant Principal and Mrs Jessie White as Acting Coordinator for that period. Both Justin and Jessie will continue teaching  their current classes so there will be little disruption to learning. 

Additional Pupil Free Days In Term 3
The Director Mr Ross Fox has recently approved two additional Pupil Free days in Term 3. Staff absences during Term Two and projected absences in Term 3 means there has been considerable loss of planning time and Professional Learning.  Monday August 22 and Friday September 23 (Last day of Term 3) are the dates selected as Pupil Free by St Mary’s, St Bernard’s and Carroll College. 

Term 3
Term 3 is undoubtedly going to be very busy at St Mary’s. NAIDOC Week, Book Week, Yuin Banaan, Southern Region and Archdiocesan Athletics, Fathers Day, Peter Pan Musical and the Sacrament of First Eucharist, will require a lot of extra work from the staff and cooperation of the students. These days are always very special for the St Mary’s community.

A reminder that students  return to school on Tuesday July 19. On Monday July 18, staff will be in Canberra participating in Professional Learning with Dr Lorraine Hammond, as part of our High Impact Teaching Practices (HITP) program. Later that week Dr Lorraine Hammond will be at St Mary’s working alongside teachers to further improve pedagogical practices across Literacy and Numeracy.

I hope your children have a happy and restful break from school. They are very tired. Hopefully by the time school re-opens, the amount of illness in the community has subsided and the sun has returned.

Wishing you God's blessings on your families.

Noeleen O'Neill
Principal

Dear Parents, Carers, Boys and Girls,

The acronym NAIDOC stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee. NAIDOC week celebrates Aboriginal people’s history, culture and achievements and is a great opportunity to learn about their rich culture. It is a time of celebration and connection between all peoples. We are passionate about developing all staff and students’ understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures, languages and knowledge systems.

Get up! Stand up! Show up! - is the National NAIDOC Theme for 2022. Schools and local communities, in partnership with local Aboriginal Elders and Aboriginal community members, will celebrate people in our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities who have championed change, equal rights, and fundamental human rights throughout generations.

Each year we celebrate NAIDOC week at St Mary's to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. We will begin our celebration with the Regional NAIDOC Mass being held in our Church and all classes will complete a variety of activities related to the theme Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up! Our Year 3 class have already begun having conversations about what this theme means with their student teacher Miss Mihalyka.

We are very fortunate to have Mr Kirby Hodgson, our Aboriginal Education Worker, as part of our St Mary’s community to help support all our Aboriginal students and families.

NAIDOC Mass 
On Friday 22 July (Week 1) St Mary’s will be hosting the South Coast Schools Regional NAIDOC Mass which will be celebrated in our Parish church. All Aboriginal students from Kindergarten to Year 6, along with their families, our school leaders and some staff will be attending this special Mass. Students and teachers from our partner schools, St Bernards Batemans Bay and Carroll College Broulee, will also be joining us. Following the Mass we will have a BBQ lunch on the oval. We are looking forward to gathering together to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in our community.

Sue Heffernan
Assistant Principal  

Dear Parents and Carers,

It is hard to believe we have reached the end of another very busy term and have now made it halfway through the year, and this term has had it all!

Father Eden’s Ordination
On Friday evening I attended Father Eden’s Ordination Mass at St Christopher’s Cathedral in Manuka with some of the Leadership Team members from St Bernards and Carroll College. It was a lovely ceremony welcoming Eden into the priesthood. We send our warmest congratulations and blessings to Father Eden as he begins his vocation and we very much look forward to welcoming Father Eden as our Parish Priest here in Moruya. 

Confirmation Congratulations
Last weekend, two of our Year 6 students received the Sacrament of Confirmation at St Bernard’s Church in Batehaven. A very big congratulations to Marguerite J and Scarlett P. 

Beanie Fundraiser in Memory of Catherine
Today, we held a Beanie Day at St Mary’s in honour of much loved Catherine Hulse. Cath was a much loved mother, daughter, sister, aunty, partner and friend of our school community who sadly lost her battle with brain cancer last year. Students came to school wearing a beanie and donated a gold coin. We raised $500, a great effort, which will be donated to brain cancer research in memory of Cath.

Farewell
Sadly, today we say farewell to Sailor F from Year 1. Sailor is moving to Braidwood with her family where they will await the birth of her new sibling. Sailor will be missed by Year 1 and by all here at St Mary’s and we wish her and her Mum Casey all the very best on their new adventure. Captured here in this very special image are four generations of Sailor’s family, who all attended St Mary’s as students, along with Mrs Croese who also taught Sailor’s Grandmother Debbie.

Wishing you all a safe and blessed holiday break together with your families.

Mrs Jess Afflick
Religious Education Coordinator

Stage 3 Camp!
Camp is definitely a highlight on the Year 6 calendar and our recent trip to Berry Sport and Recreation Centre certainly didn’t disappoint! After an early start to the day, the bus finally headed off filled with many eager children (and some nerves) about what the next three days would be like. A quick stop in Ulladulla and we arrived mid morning at the camp to be greeted with the familiar faces of Georgina and Rachel plus the new instructors, Liam, Tom and Chris. A quick play, introduction for our Year 5 friends and a bite to eat before we headed off into our first activities for the afternoon. The children were grouped into 3 activity groups, the Crows, the Echidnas and the Water Dragons and each group rotated through 3 different activities of Raft Building, Cookout and Mountain Biking. Take a read of some of the exciting highlights of our trip to Berry.

Imagine crying over riding a bike… unfortunately that was me. On camp the first activity our group participated in was mountain bike riding. I've never ridden before and I've never wanted to, so you can imagine how I was feeling! Mr. Bateman said he would help me balance and make sure that I wouldn't fall. So I put on the helmet and attempted a smile. At first I was terrified and nervous, but soon I got the hang of balancing. When it was time to go on the ride I was behind everyone, we rode down to the mini track and whilst everyone was going around the loops and jumping the obstacles, I was focusing on trying to pedal. It was time to head back to camp, I didn't end up being able to pedal a long distance, but at least I had a go and had a fun experience. By Charlotte El

Whoosh! I zoomed past Liam the camp instructor. As I hit the jump I felt like I was flying. Dusty was right behind me. I tried to lose him, my legs got really tired so I slowed down. At the end Mr Campbell said whoever beats him back gets a bag of lollies, he started before us so of course he won. It was such a blast being able to race your teacher, maybe I will beat him next time, only if we start together and it's a fair race! Lots of laughs were had at mountain biking! By Kordel

On the second day of camp, our first activity was raft building. We ate our breakfast and set out on the very long walk down what felt like mount Kosciuszkco but it was just the track to the river. We were told the safety rules and how much equipment we were allowed to use, then we were set to work. I picked out my group and all the people in the group were really fun. We were only allowed twelve pieces of equipment and my group used two three seater kayaks, some rope, three poles and six barrels. We launched our raft into the river and hoped for the best! Ours floated which was a huge success with all members of our group staying dry. After a while we had to switch rafts out on the water, which took a lot of teamwork, not to fall in! The raft we got onto almost broke and the boys also started splashing us with water! It was a cold but fun way to end our activity by the river. By Morgan B

“Hurry up girls, we need to be the first group in the water!” It was the second day of camp and it was the water dragons (my activity group) turn to build rafts. In my design and construction group were Rita, Ruby, Scarlett and Emily-Kate. It took a little while to plan our raft but in the end we settled on an idea which was to hold two canoes together using pipes that were put on the front and back of the canoes and attached using ropes. We used five ropes, two pipes and two canoes. Our raft was amazing, we were convinced no one would fall in and it definitely would not sink. Little did we know that we would have to swap rafts with the boys whilst out on the water. They knew this however and didn’t bother to make theirs very strong as they would be swapping it anyway. Our group was the last group in the water but our raft was showing great promise. Half way down the river the instructor Rachel told us that we had to swap rafts in the water! We almost fell in and so did the boys. The boy's raft was really dodgy and very unstable. It started to sink but we were almost there and we would not give up! To make things worse the boy's raft was full of water so we all got really really wet. We still came dead last in the water race, trying to navigate the boy’s creation. Word of advice: don't ever get in a raft the boys made, as it will end up sinking and you will get wet, but you will have so much fun in the process! By Morgan D

“Everyone get out your best dance moves and go!” announced Liam, the camp coordinator to the wonderful models wearing clothes made of newspaper, designed by their group members. Our group designed a beautiful dress for Jonah with a bow on the front and a bow for his hair, newspaper fashion at its best! I think Sonny should have won with those cracking dance moves and his outstanding newspaper outfit. The next activity of the night games was to draw the best self portrait of Liam. We made him have a 12 pack, luscious hair and big muscles, based on his personal description. Our group's biggest success was in the vegemite challenge. One person from each group was chosen to eat a whole sachet of vegemite and Jemma snatched us the win! Then it was time to pack up and go to sleep after an awesome evening of laughs and entertainment! By Scarlett P

I’ll miss you Dad, the only thought going through my completely calm mind on the cold and cloudy trip to camp. Camp was vibrant, warm, cheery, lively and full of happy, active people. The activities were spread out around like the vast area of Berry like wildfires. The highlight in my opinion was the cookout walk with the instructor, who was a rather cheery guy, who encouraged us to continue to climb the mountain as delicious damper awaited us on the other side. In true camp style however, to eat the food, some work must be completed first. There were three important steps to be completed…

• Firstly firewood had to be collected and stacked in neat piles ready to burn.
• Secondly you had to sing a campfire song to be given the flint and steel as well as a cotton ball to light your fire.
• Lastly, you must find the perfect damper stick, and remember to cook it slowly, nobody likes burnt damper!  

I learnt so many new skills at the cookout activity. Note to self, damper is very filling; I felt as full as Hansel and Gretel! Three days that felt like three hours, the activities never stopped, it was jam packed the whole time. With laughter and friendship we all came home with memories that will last a lifetime. By Alec P

English
This term in English the children in Year 6 have been participating in a series of activities based on the Writing Revolution, which involve explicit strategies for teaching expository writing. This method of teaching writing builds from sentences to compositions. The children have been focusing on writing quality sentences, incorporating subordinate conjunctions and appositives. During our Daily Review, the students are exposed to complex unknown vocabulary which they are using in their quality written responses and spoken language.  

Science
Our Science unit this term was 'It's Electric!' The students have explored the different sources of energy that may generate electricity, and especially enjoyed creating static electricity with a balloon demonstration. Year 6 have learnt how to construct and represent simple electrical circuits, and how changing the components of a circuit can affect how it works. The students also explored the role of switches, by creating paperclip and pressure switches to control the flow of electrical energy around a circuit.

Kinder buddy fun
We recently spent the afternoon with our Kindergarten buddies, enjoying games on the oval in the sunshine. We started on the Kinder verandah where the students shared stories and read books to their buddy. The Year 6 children were blown away with the impressive reading skills of the Kinder students. Next, we moved out onto the oval where all the children enjoyed playing games like Duck Duck Goose, Brumby Jack, come back and TeePees and Indians. A highlight was watching the children join in the ‘Run and Shout’ game which we learnt at camp, where each child starts running and screaming to see how far they can run. The children started well, then would collapse in a fit of giggles! If you haven’t heard about this game, get your children to teach you! It’s a great stress reliever and will have you in stitches. 

Kandinsky Art
In Art this term the students have been enjoying creating art pieces based on abstract artist, Wassily Kandisnky. Kandisnky’s abstract paintings were believed to express the inner life of the artist through geometric forms, lines, and colours. Take a look at the ‘inner life’ and expressions from our Year 6 artists.

Religion: Confirmation preparation
Over the last term students in Year 6 have been busily preparing to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. We have been learning about the Holy Spirit, the Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit and the Rite of Confirmation. We have been lucky enough to have Father Rex and Father Eden come into visit to share their knowledge and experience of celebrating the special sacrament. The students will be receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation on Sunday 24 July at the 10am Mass which will be celebrated by the newly ordained Father Eden. We welcome any of our St Mary’s family to come and join us for this special occasion. These are just a few of the Saints projects that the students have been working on recently.

Megan Grant, Jessie White
Year 6 Teachers

St Mary’s Choir
A big thank you to the Choir students who were able to perform at the Carroll College Variety Night last Wednesday. Unfortunately some of the students were unwell and unable to attend the night and we thank them for their commitment to each practice beforehand at school.
Children from Kinder to Year 6 were involved in the Choir and sang with enthusiasm and perfect pitch on the night. The students looked exceptional in their winter uniform and were a credit to St Mary’s. Their wonderful rendition of the Peter Pan songs, ‘Don’t Look Down’ and ‘I Don’t Want To Grow Up’ received much applause from the audience.
Thank you also to the fantastic parents who attended the concert on a cold winter’s night in support of their child/ren.

Have an enjoyable and restful break.

Marg Croese
Pastoral Teacher

Message from the office
Thank you to the families who have paid their term 2 fees. As we approach the final week of term 2 please ensure school fees have been paid in full. If you are paying by a direct debit arrangement continue to do so. If you are experiencing difficulty with your payments please contact the office for assistance.