Dear Parents and Carers,

This last week has been emotional for the staff and students at St Mary's. As you know, Mrs Jessie White’s children Matilda (Year 3) and Hattie (Year 1) and her mother in law were injured in a car accident on Monday afternoon. Both girls were taken to the Children's Hospital at Randwick. We have heard today that Hattie is now out of ICU and that Matilda has been discharged from hospital. We continue to pray for God’s blessings on the White family and send them our love and best wishes.  

Unsurprisingly, the wonderful staff at St Mary’s have picked up the load for Mrs White. A special thank you to Mrs Megan Grant for keeping the Year 6 students on their excellent ‘path to high school’ while Mrs White is away. We are very proud of this incredible group of mature and caring students. Transition meetings with Carroll College will occur next week, with Mrs Grant and Mrs Matthews involved when necessary. 

Fathers Day
Last Friday, we welcomed many of our fathers and grandfathers to our coffee and donut breakfast on the front lawn. Unlike the last few years, when we weren’t allowed to have parents on site, this year the dads could relax and chat. I am not sure how many dads actually got to eat their donuts though, as there seemed to be a lot of children eating them too!

I do hope the dads enjoyed eating the surprise goodies made by the students on Wonderful Wednesday. I thank the staff for their incredible energy and patience during the cooking sessions.

NAPLAN
Recently, we received our school’s NAPLAN results for our Year 3 and 5 students. We are thrilled with the improvements made over the past few years. Despite COVID and its disruptions, we have met our Annual Improvement goals of having increased percentages of students in the top two bands in reading and writing. Thank you to Mrs Sue Heffernan our Assistant Principal for her commitment to leading the Teaching and Learning at St Mary’s and to our incredibly talented teaching staff for their hard work and dedication to improving student outcomes.    

Little Investigators

We will be hosting another Little Investigators morning next Wednesday September 14,  from 9:30 -10:30 am. All 3-5 year olds in the community and their parents are invited to come along and join in on the fun. The children do not need to be coming to St Mary’s in 2023. Please share this opportunity with anyone in the community who may be interested.

Social Media/ Cyber Bullying
Unfortunately bullying via social media is becoming increasingly common, even in Primary school aged students. In recent weeks, I have spoken with a few of our students who are either experiencing cyberbullying or being involved in it themselves. At school, we use resources from Kids Helpline and E-Safety to support us in teaching the students about cyber bullying and its impact. 

In partnership with the eSafety Commissioner, the Council of Catholic School Parents NSW/ACT will run a free webinar on Tuesday September 20 from 7:30-8:30pm for parents and carers of students aged 10 -18 years. I highly recommend parents participate in this important session. It will cover:  

-starting conversations with your child about their online friendships and positive ways to deal with changing relationships

-understanding the rights, laws and community expectations that govern social media use

-where to seek help if your child is involved in a cyberbullying incident.

2023 Classes
We are presently finalising the class structure for 2023. We are excited to be able to offer an average class size of 18.5 next year. If you know of any families considering enrolling their children at St Mary’s next year, can you please urge them to contact Annette Hazell or Cathy Smith at the school office as soon as possible. Some parents may be having difficulty with the online enrolment form, so please let us know and we can help in that area. Similarly, if you think you may be moving out of the local area at the end of the school year, we would appreciate being informed at your earliest convenience. The final class structure is dependent on knowing exactly how many children we have enrolled in any one age group. Thank you for your support with this. 

With only two weeks to go, we are asking that the students remain focused on finishing the term well. It has been a very busy one with lots of great things happening across the school. Behaviour is excellent and the efforts put into learning are commendable. 

Students finish school on Thursday September 22 and return to school on Tuesday October 11, as Friday September 23. is a designated Pupil Free Day. The staff will be at St Bede’s Primary School in Braidwood on Monday October 10, continuing with their High Impact Teaching Practices professional learning. 

I did not realise until this week that Pope Francis has a Twitter account. He posted today.

"God works through unplanned events, as well as through setbacks. Let us ask the Lord to send us His Spirit so that He might help us to discern and to recognize His presence even in the unforeseen and painful situations in our lives."

God’s blessings on your families.

Noeleen O'Neill
Principal

Dear Parents, Carers, Boys and Girls,

NAPLAN 2022
The results of the 2022 NAPLAN tests have been sent home to the parents of students in Year 3 and Year 5. These tests were conducted back in May this year, when students in those years successfully completed the testing in an online environment.

We had great reason to be optimistic, due to our local data reflecting significant improvement in the achievement and growth of student Reading, Writing and Numeracy outcomes. While optimistic, there is always a level of anxiety. Would an external platform like NAPLAN match the school’s data and reflect the rigour and sophistication of our approach to learning and teaching? Would NAPLAN data reflect the professional development, hardwork and dedication of our staff? 

We are proud to say that as a school our NAPLAN 2022 results are excellent and show that we have built on last year's great results, with further improvements this year! One of our goals this year was to increase the number of students in the top two bands. Our Year 3 students were above the state average in writing with 60% of our Year 3 students scoring in the top two bands. Year 3 were also above SSSG (similar schools) in reading, grammar & punctuation and numeracy. Year 5 were above the state average in reading, and above SSSG (similar schools) in writing, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy, also increasing the number of our students in the top two bands. This is a great result from our school and we are all very proud of the effort everyone has been putting in over the years. It proves that our programs are working and the holistic approach which we embrace, is having a positive impact on every child in the school.

If we want to improve the learning outcomes for students, we need to continually improve the way our teachers teach and lead the learning of our students. At St Mary’s we are so very fortunate to have teachers of high capacity who understand the importance of a commitment to improving their practice. NAPLAN 2022 data for St Mary’s is testimony to a staff who have committed to improving their practice everyday. All our staff will be analysing the results and aligning them with our programs for Term 4 and into 2023.

Year 1 Phonics Screening Check
What is phonics?
Phonics is the relationship between letters and sounds and is vital in learning to read. Some children struggle with learning to read so it is important that these children are identified quickly so teachers can plan for any specific support they may need. 

What is the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check?
The Year 1 Phonics Screening Check is a short, quick assessment that tells teachers how your child is progressing in phonics. Your child sits with their class teacher and is asked to read 40 words aloud. These words include 20 real words and 20 nonsense words. The test normally takes a few minutes. If your child is struggling the teacher will stop the check. The check is carefully designed not to be stressful for your child.

Why use nonsense words?
The assessment includes pseudo or nonsense words to see if the student is able to use their knowledge of blending to read a word rather than their memory of having seen that word before.

More information
Information about the check can be found in the link below. If you have any further questions, please talk to your child’s class teacher.

Gurumbangamba Mentoring Program
Next week our Stage 3 Aboriginal students will attend the third day of the Gurumbangamba mentoring program. The theme of the day is ‘Respecting yourself and others’ and their Carroll College mentors have prepared a range of activities with this theme in mind.

God bless and take care.

Sue Heffernan
Assistant Principal

Eucharist Retreat
This week, Year 4 and a few additional students came together to enjoy a special Retreat Day in preparation for the sacrament of First Eucharist. This was a time for the students to pray, learn and practice in preparation to receive the Eucharist for the first time next weekend. Students came to school in mufti clothing and enjoyed a day of prayer and activities in the hall, including role plays and artworks. The boys and girls enjoyed a BBQ lunch including a popper and ice block. The children were all smiles throughout the day as they identified the ways they can show God’s love to others and use their gifts to serve others within their own community.

Kinder Visit with Fr Eden
The students in Kindergarten very much enjoyed their visit from Fr. Eden last week and the opportunity to attend Class Mass. They had plenty of questions for him and were particularly interested in the history of St Mary’s. They discovered that Father Cassidy was the very first Parish Priest here at Moruya, Mother Eyre was the first Principal and Sister Mary Howard was the very last of the Good Samaritan nuns who taught here at St Mary’s back in the 1990’s. This is of course where the names of our Sports House colours came from.

Sacrament of First Eucharist
We look forward to celebrating the sacrament of First Eucharist with students and their families next weekend on Sunday 18 September at 10am Mass. We warmly invite all in our school community to join us for this special celebration and I know you will join with me in sending your prayers to these students in their final days of preparation for this very special and significant sacrament. 

Wishing you blessings for a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Jess Afflick
Religious Education Coordinator

Southern Region Public Speaking
I had the pleasure this week of assisting students competing in the Southern Region Public Speaking competition. Held virtually again this year, the level of competition was particularly high and our St Mary’s students did an excellent job when presenting. Feedback from judges was very positive for all students. A special mention to Betty D (Year 5) who received a Highly Commended from the judges. Thank you to all who were involved in the students' preparation. It was evident that the support they received was invaluable on the day. 

Our representatives were:
Year 3 - Tessa H and Ollie A
Year 4 - Sophie A and Lila W
Year 5 - Betty D B and Grace R
Year 6 - Morgan D and Samira R

Congratulations to Tessa H (Year 3) and Lila W (Year 4) who were both runners up in their age divisions. Congratulations to Grace R (Year 5) who was the winner of her age group. These girls will go on now to compete in the Archdiocesan Public Speaking Finals in October.

Mr Justin Bateman
Coordinator

English 
In English, students continue to engage in Daily Review each morning. This routine allows our students to practise, consolidate and build automaticity of knowledge, skills and strategies from their short term to their long term memory banks. We have been focusing on building our writing skills to enhance our information report writing. We have learnt how to use fascinating facts to craft engaging introductions for our reports. Students are finishing off the term by researching and completing two different types of reports. The first one began this week with students choosing an insect of interest and next week they will have the opportunity to choose a famous person to write a report on. We can’t wait to share these fabulous writing pieces with you. 

Maths
Each day, students begin their Mathematics lessons with a Daily Review where students use their own whiteboards to share their mathematical thinking around topics that have previously been taught. This term we have completed a range of activities on number and place value, addition and subtraction, mass, data, chance and probability, fractions and decimals, multiplication and length. The review of previous learning helps students recall words, concepts and procedures effortlessly and automatically when they are needed to solve problems or to understand new material. 

Religion 
In preparation for our students that will celebrate their Eucharist next week, Year 4 have been busy reflecting on The Eucharist being a celebration of Jesus' love for us in three dimensions: as a meal, a sacrifice and a memorial. We have shared how we are able to grow closer to Jesus through Eucharist, and delved into the rituals of the Mass that are arranged into four parts. Students have responded to situations in the classroom context in a variety of ways by their artwork, prayers, stories, reflections and dramas, when listening to the Bible.

History
Students have learnt about what life was like for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples before their contact with European explorers. We have looked closely at the diversity of language groups and discussed their long connection to Country. We have begun learning about the reasons behind the great journeys of exploration and in the coming weeks students will closely examine the journey of one explorer, trader or navigator. Through this learning students will develop skills of historical inquiry, pose research questions, locate information, communicate their findings to others, and reflect upon and evaluate what they have learned this term. 

Science
This term, we have been busy questioning, exploring and experimenting all about forces and the main idea that objects move as a result of a push or pull force. We investigated how forces can be exerted by one object on another through direct contact or from a distance by creating our own moving car. We have researched and looked at different types of forces, including gravitational force and magnetism. 

Students have been scientifically investigating how forces and the properties of materials affect the behaviour of systems and products.

Visual Art “On the Shores of Australia”
Our art lessons this term are linked closely to our History Unit. Students are demonstrating their understanding and skills through a variety of mediums. They have discussed their plans with peers and how these affect their selection of materials, tools and techniques they have used for each art piece. Below is a small selection of different art we have completed this term.

Mrs Hampson and Mrs Veneris

Canberra Goulburn Archdiocesan Cricket
Last week, Darcy F travelled to Wagga as part of the Canberra Goulburn Archdiocesan Cricket team. The team played over a 2 day period all vying for a place in the MacKillop squad. From all reports, there were some fantastic skills on display, impressing the selectors and making their job very difficult. We congratulate Darcy on his selection into the MacKillop team! Darcy will be travelling to Dubbo for the next level of competition in October. All the very best of luck Darcy and we look forward to hearing of your successes on your return.

Darcy F: ‘The best part of the cricket trials was that we could finally have the trials. I had to play out in the middle which is where I like to play. I think it’s pretty cool to be in the MacKillop Cricket team. I am excited for the next competition.’

Australian Interschools Snow Sports
Congratulations to Xavier H on showcasing his exceptional snowboarding skills at Perisher earlier this week at the Australian Snowsport Titles. 

Xavier H: ‘The best thing about the Aussie titles was getting the buzz feeling from racing against others and being with all of my snowboarding friends.’

Age Champions: Canberra Goulburn Archdiocesan Athletics
Following the CG athletics a few weeks ago, we have been informed that we have TWO CG Athletics Age Champions from St Mary’s. What an achievement!

Congratulations to: 

11 Years Boys CG Age Champion	Asher B
Senior Boy Age CG Champion	Archer S

The medals were presented to the boys at today’s assembly awards. We are very proud of you both!

NSWCPS Athletics
We have many students moving to the NSWCPS MacKillop Championships Athletics in Sydney on Wednesday 21 September at Sydney Olympic Park. Congratulations to all our athletes and we wish these competitors all the very best at the next level of competition.

NSWCPS Mackillop Team		Darcy F	Xavier H
Mackenzie H	Anikah H	Harper L	Kobi P
Archer S	Mitchell W	Asher B	Ava B

FOR THE CALENDAR

2023 CRICKET, BASKETBALL, TENNIS and TOUCH FOOTBALL TRIALS

CRICKET

• The Canberra Goulburn Cricket Trials for the 2023 teams will be held on Friday 4th November 2022 with a closing date of the 28th of October  – Open to boys and girls from Year 3 to Year 5 in 2022
• The MacKillop Cricket trials for 2023 will also be held in 2022 – Boys November 30th and December 1st and Girls November 30th

TOUCH FOOTBALL

• Canberra Goulburn trials Friday 9th December – Open to boys and girls from Year 3 – Year 5 in 2022

TENNIS AND BASKETBALL

• 2023 Canberra Goulburn Tennis and Basketball trials will be held on Friday 2nd December 2022. This is open to students from Year 2 to Year 5 for TENNIS and Years 3 to 5 for Basketball. 

Please be in touch if you require any further information regarding these trial events - please be aware that these trials are being held this year for the 2023 sporting year and competition pathways. All other trial events will be as normal for the 2023 year.

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead.

Megan Grant
Sports Coordinator

St Mary's Superstar Staff

Classroom Support Assistant
We love Mrs. Connaughton because she is nice, fun, kind, caring, happy, beautiful, teaches us, looks after us, makes learning fun and plays learning games with us.

I love teaching at St. Mary’s because the staff are supportive, they provide encouragement and are amazing educators. The children’s kindness, respect and the way they look out for each other, is a direct reflection of how the staff at St. Mary’s treat each other and the children. It’s such a beautiful school community because of this! 

Mrs Kenny -  Year 5
We love Mrs. Kenny as our teacher because she is great, cool, funny, fair, fun, helpful, kind, caring, fabulous, positive, nice, smart, pretty, amazing, safe, respectful and great at reading. She puts us before herself, helps us learn, greets us with a smile, works so hard, helps us understand new things, always challenges us and always listens to us.

I love teaching at St. Mary’s because all of our students, staff and school community are valued and respected. It is a privilege to work with amazing students and supportive staff in a warm and friendly environment. Teaching is such a rewarding job and I have absolutely loved each year at St. Mary’s since I started in 2013.

Miss MacNamara - Learning Support
We love Miss. Mac because she is helpful, the best, nice, really funny, kind, fun, respectful, awesome and plays footy with us. I love teaching at St. Mary’s because the staff are wonderful and the classroom environment is engaging and inclusive.

Mrs Devonald - Year 1/2
We love Mrs. Devonald because she is nice, generous, amazing, funny, caring, respectful, fun, kind, helpful and a great reader. She is good at teaching, plays fun games with us, always sticks up for us, takes care of us, gives us stickers, is a great singer and plays the guitar with us!

I love teaching at St. Mary’s because each day is different and exciting! The children are kind and supportive of each other and always try their best. There is lots of laughter, fun and of course great learning. The teachers are a brilliant team and inspire me to be the best person I can be.