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Dear Parents, Carers, Boys and Girls,
It is getting near the end of the school year and there are many events happening around the school. We are looking forward to seeing everyone at our K-5 Awards Night and Year 6 Graduation Mass next week. There is more information about this later in the newsletter. It has been over 2 years since we have been able to celebrate these events as a whole school, so we can’t wait to see lots of families.
On Sunday 27 November we marked the First Sunday of Advent, which is a time of preparation for the coming of Christ and the beginning of the liturgical year in the Catholic Church. The beginning of another year in the life of the Christian community is a grace-filled occasion to reflect on the direction of our lives and to renew our commitment to Jesus and to the life of the Spirit which he inspires in us.
There is much to be proud of in our school community and with the reflection that comes with the end of the year this is a special time to celebrate and honour our achievements large and small.
Student Leadership
This week we had the pleasure of hearing our Year 5 students present their leadership speeches to their peers. The standard was incredibly high and all students who spoke were worthy of being selected. Following the speeches, the students going into Years 3-6 next year voted for the positions of two School Leaders, and two House Leaders of their respective Houses: Howard, Cassidy and Eyre. The 2023 Leadership team will be announced at the K-5 Awards Night in Week 9, Tuesday 6 December. We are very proud of all of our Year 5 students, we are confident that they will all be excellent leaders and role models. We look forward to a great year with them in 2023.
Celebrate International Day of People with Disability
International Day of People with Disability is a United Nations observed day celebrated on 3 December each year to increase public awareness, understanding and acceptance of people with disability. This year’s theme ‘Transformative solutions for inclusive development: the role of innovation in fuelling an accessible and equitable world’. By listening to the experiences of people with disability, and recognising their unique talents, skills and interests, we can challenge our own perceptions about disability and make positive changes in the community.
We encourage all students, their families and carers to join the conversation about disability, to challenge perceptions, break down barriers and encourage a more inclusive and respectful society. We all have a role to play in ensuring people with disability have the opportunity to reach their full potential and participate in all aspects of community life.
Our 2023 Kindergarten
Starting school is an exciting and important milestone in any child and family’s life. We would like all our newest students and families to feel welcome at St Mary’s and feel a sense of familiarity and ease with their learning environment and their new teachers and peers, as they step into their classroom on Day 1 of Kindergarten.
Parents are their child’s first and most important teacher. Your child comes to school with knowledge, skills and strengths which they have developed with your guidance. As they take this next step into school, you will continue to nurture their growth and love of learning.
It has been wonderful to meet all the 2023 Kindergarten students during their two orientations mornings held over the past couple of weeks. We look forward to welcoming these children to St Mary’s next year and pray that their time with us is a rich and rewarding experience.
Kinder Information Evening
On Monday 5 December at 6pm there will be an information session for parents of children starting Kindergarten in 2023. On this night we will provide families with some general information regarding starting school. The presentation will provide valuable information about our facilities and programs at our school, and is an opportunity to meet some key staff who will be working with your child.
In addition, parents will have the opportunity to develop a comprehensive understanding of what learning at St Mary’s, as well as start dates, and what the first weeks of school will look like. The evening will be held in the Kindergarten/Year 1 building.
High School Transition
The move from Primary school to Secondary school is also a big milestone in the life of students. While this can be an exciting time for young people and their parents, it can also be a bit daunting. The more informed and involved you are in your child’s preparation, the more likely the transition will be positive.
With the help of family and school staff, students usually adapt quickly to their new environment. Our K-12 Pathway with Carroll College and the opportunities we have to work together regularly helps make this transition easier.
Last week our Year 6 students attended their Year 7 orientation day at Carroll College. They have come back to school this week and spoken with excitement about meeting their new teachers and peers, learning their way around the College, the facilities at Carroll and of their experiences of some of the subjects they will get to do next year.
K-5 Awards Night
Next Tuesday evening 6 December we will be holding our K-5 Awards Night at 6pm in the PAC. All children are encouraged to attend with their families. Awards will be presented to students K-5. Our Kinder students will lead us in a Nativity prayer, the student leaders for 2023 will be announced, the Community Council Christmas Raffle will be drawn and a presentation to St Vincent de Paul of our Christmas hampers will be made.
All children are to wear their school uniform and arrive at the PAC by 5.50pm. Children will sit in their classes as they would for a school assembly. We would love to see as many families and community members come along and help us celebrate a wonderful year of learning at St Mary’s.
Year 6 Graduation Mass and Award Presentations
The Year 6 Graduation Mass will be in the Sacred Heart Church at 12pm on Thursday 8 December, to which all families are most welcome to attend. At this mass we will acknowledge our Year 6 graduating students while sharing a final celebration as a school community for 2022. At the conclusion of Mass there will be a presentation of the Year 6 Special Awards and Year 6 Graduation Certificates.
Graduation Dinner/Disco and Big Day Out
The Year 6 Graduation Dinner will be held on Thursday evening 8 December at Moruya Golf Club. Parents and families are invited to join us in the Rose Garden from 5:30pm for photos before dinner commences at 6pm for students and staff. After dinner there will be a disco where students will have the opportunity to demonstrate their best dance moves!
On Friday 9 December, students will enjoy a fun day on the water, surfing and stand up paddle boarding with ‘Surf the Bay’. This is always an enjoyable day for our Year 6 students as they celebrate the end of their primary school years.
Thank you to Mrs Grant, Mrs White, Mrs Afflick and Mrs Butler for organising these events, whilst also teaching, assessing and reporting on their students' learning.
Traditionally at St Mary’s, the Year 6 students are given a very loud send off from their peers and teachers. On Wednesday afternoon 14 December at 2:45pm the school will assemble for a final farewell to our Year 6 students. Parents are welcome to come and watch the activities.
Semester 2 Reports
Semester 2 reports are currently being finalised. Reports will be available via Compass on Friday 9 December. This learning report is designed to provide information about your child’s progress in learning. The report evaluates your child’s progress as an individual, who is developing spiritually, intellectually, physically and socially. It is very important to recognise your child’s success and progress in all areas of development. We congratulate students on their hard work!
If you would like a Parent Teacher meeting following the report, please contact your child’s teacher for a time in the last week. We can arrange to cover classes if meetings are held during the day.
Muladha Gamara Cultural Program
On Tuesday 13 December we will welcome Muladha Gamara to St Mary’s. They are a local indigenous group who run cultural youth programs, cultural tours and traditional dance and ceremony. Students will participate in a traditional dance workshop where the children will hear the story behind the dance and then the students get to dance the story together. Thank you to Marymead, a family services organisation based in Moruya who secured the funding to run this cultural program.
Class Placements for 2023
The teachers and staff will be spending time over the coming weeks preparing the children to transition to their new learning spaces for 2023. This may involve visits to the new space, meeting new teachers and finding out about the year ahead. We know that this is an exciting time!
We will be holding our ‘Meet the Teacher Afternoon’ on Tuesday 13 December.
Competition Winners
Congratulations to Elka H who received an award from Eurobodalla Shire Council in recognition of her efforts to design a poster on the theme ’threatened species survival’ for the 2023 Environment Calendar. Year 4 students across all the schools in the Eurobodalla Shire entered the competition and 14 winners were chosen from 560 entries. Thank you to Mrs Hampson and Mrs Veneris for supporting our Year 4 students as they prepared their artworks for this annual competition. Elka’s winning entry is the feature piece for March. Well done Elka!
Congratulations to Reign C who was the K-2, 2022 Age Group Winner in the Faber-Castell Australia Creative Competition. In Library lessons Mrs Croese taught our K-2 students about sustainability and how we need to look after our earth. The children drew their ideas for a playground they would like at school. Artworks from K-2 were submitted, and from all the Australia wide entries, Reign was the winner in her age group. Reign and the school received a prize package from the competition. Well done Reign and thank you Mrs Croese!
Farewells
We’d like to say thank you to the wonderful staff members who will be leaving us at the end of the year. We have been blessed to have had their expertise and support over the past years:
Lorraine Wilkie, who has been a regular casual teacher at St Mary’s for many years will be retiring at the end of this year. We are grateful to Lorraine for sharing her many talents over the years and the children will really miss Sensei Wilkie!
Kirby Hodgson, our AEW, will be returning to Dubbo. Kirby has been a wonderful mentor and support for our Aboriginal students and their families.
Cathy Moffitt, one of our wonderful office staff who is always ready to help with a smile, will be finishing at the end of this year. Cathy has been a great asset to our admin staff and has worked extremely hard mastering our school newsletter in the electronic format we now use and keeping our school website updated.
As communicated recently, we also farewell Mrs Jacqueline Stephen, Mrs Marg Croese and Mrs Jessica Afflick.
We wish them all the very best for their new adventures.
God bless and take care,
Sue Heffernan
Assistant Principal
Dear Families,
Feast of Christ the King
On Sunday 20th November, we celebrated the Feast of Christ the King. Students processed into the Church with Fr Eden wearing crowns and red sashes. They also took part in readings, Prayers of the Faithful, Offertory and music. Thank you to those children and families who attended Mass for this special feast day where we recognise and honour Jesus as our King.
Religious Education Leaders’ Day
Last Tuesday, Mrs Gen Schofield and myself attended the RE Leaders’ Day in Canberra. The day began with an address from Director, Ross Fox in which he spoke to us about the commitment for our schools to become the leading Catholic schools in the country and how we are going about leading pedagogical improvement in order to achieve that. We listened to a number of colleagues from other schools present on how they are implementing High Impact Teaching Practices and low-variation curriculum in their RE classes. It was an inspiring day and always provides a great opportunity to collaborate and network with our fellow colleagues to continue to improve our practice and provide the best possible learning environment for our students.
Advent
Last Sunday marked the beginning of the Advent season, which is also the first Sunday of a new liturgical year for the Church. Advent is the period of preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ at Christmas. The four Sundays preceding Christmas are recognised for four virtues. The candles on the Advent wreath symbolise hope, love, joy and peace. The candles are lit, one each week, in that order.
On Tuesday 6th December at 6pm, Kindergarten will present The Nativity play as part of our K-5 Awards Night. We warmly invite families to join us for this special evening of celebration. Following The Nativity and Special Awards, the Christmas Giving Baskets will be presented. Children in their classes are currently collecting donations of non-perishable items which will go to St Vincent de Paul for those who are in need during this Christmas season.
Christmas Eve Mass
A special family Mass will be celebrated on Christmas Eve at 6.00pm in the Church. Children will dress up in Biblical costumes to create the Nativity scene and will be involved in the various parts of the Mass, including readings, Prayers of the Faithful, Offertory and music. If you have not already, please let me know if you and your child/ren will be attending Mass.
WIshing you all a blessed and happy weekend.
Mrs Jess Afflick
Religious Education Coordinator
ICAS 2022
Congratulations to the following students who have received certificates and awards in the following categories for ICAS 2022. ICAS’ competition questions are set in modern, real-world scenarios where school students are assessed on their ability to apply classroom learning to new contexts, using higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills.
|
SCIENCE |
ENGLISH |
SPELLING BEE |
|||
|
Samira R |
Participation |
Samira R |
Participation |
Samira R |
Merit |
|
Grace R |
Participation |
Betty D-B |
Participation |
Betty D-B |
Merit |
|
Darcy F |
Participation |
Grace R |
Participation |
Grace R |
Participation |
|
Lila W |
Participation |
Darcy F |
Participation |
Darcy F |
Participation |
|
Thomas D |
Merit |
Lila W |
Participation |
Felicity P |
Participation |
|
MATHEMATICS |
WRITING |
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES |
|||
|
Samira R |
Participation |
Samira R |
Credit |
Samira R |
Participation |
|
Archer S |
Participation |
Betty D-B |
Merit |
Grace R |
Credit |
|
Betty D-B |
Participation |
Grace R |
Credit |
Darcy F |
Credit |
|
Grace R |
Participation |
Darcy F |
Participation |
Felicity P |
Participation |
|
Darcy F |
Participation |
Indiana T |
Participation |
Thomas D |
Credit |
|
Lila W |
Participation |
Lila W |
Credit |
||
|
Cooper C |
Participation |
Felicity P |
Participation |
||
|
Felicity P |
Participation |
||||
|
Tessa H |
Participation |
||||
|
Chael S |
Participation |
||||
|
Thomas D |
Merit |
||||
Staff Car Park
Over the recent weeks work has been carried out on maintaining the staff car park. Thank you to John Cornall from Surfacing Solutions for organising and overseeing this major project. On behalf of our school I would like to acknowledge and thank Tim Weyman and son Patrick, for their generosity last Saturday 26 November, when they kindly donated their time to re-line the staff car park after it was re-sealed. The end result looks fantastic!
Justin Bateman
Coordinator
This award is an acknowledgement that students have been
outstanding and have gone above and beyond in the
classroom and on the playground!
| Kinder Blue | Amelia G | Consistent and focused work |
| 1 Blue | Thomas E | Marvellous ‘magic wand’ woven stick artwork |
| 1/2 Maroon | Lewis M | Fabulous enthusiasm and engagement in our AFL skills sessions |
| Natasha S | Entertaining us with funny jokes during our morning investigations | |
| 2 Blue | Willow H | Excellent eye for detail in creating your dragon artwork |
| Indie C | Continuing to persevere in maths tasks when they are tricky to start until you achieve success! | |
| 3 Blue | Charnaya T | Demonstrating improved spelling and decoding skills |
| Liam G | Detailed written responses about the meaning and importance of Advent | |
| Brielle B | Outstanding growth in spelling skills | |
| 4 Blue | Poppi E | Persevering with challenging division problems with remainders and being able to explain your mathematical thinking |
| 4 Maroon | Spencer S | For your insightful contributions and engagement during our History lessons when discussing what life was like in the new colony |
| 5 Blue | Xavier H | Showing creativity and flare when engaging in complex sentence writing during daily review |
| 5 Maroon | Evie G | For showing dedication and perseverance when completing a Maths Pathway module on translating two dimensional shapes leading to successfully mastering it. Fantastic work, Evie! |
| 6 Blue | Ruby M | Excellent efforts in creating your Biome Diorama on a Temperate Forest |
| 6 Maroon | Ashleigh H | Outstanding growth in your creative writing, demonstrating your vivid imagination! Fantastic work, Ashleigh! |
| Pastoral | Bella S | For your good manners and showing respect towards others |
| Kinder Blue | Christopher T | Fantastic mental calculations for Maths |
| 1 Blue | Theodore J | Consistently staying focussed and trying his best during English mat time |
| 1/2 Maroon | Oliver B | Thoughtful responses about Advent in our Mass with Fr Eden this week |
| Maisie B | Taking your time to create outstanding artworks and sculptures for the Art Show this week | |
| 2 Blue | Tane M | Taking on board feedback to improve your writing to include adjectives and verbs to make your writing interesting |
| Nicholas A | For your continued drive and application to improve across all areas. A year 2 superstar every single day! | |
| 3 Blue | Ollie A | Persistence and concentration when working on number pattern problems |
| Anthony M | Demonstrating improved listening and focus in class | |
| Dakota S | Consistently applying yourself and doing your best work in all subjects | |
| 4 Blue | Nathan B | For discussing and describing in detail, the properties of different materials, as well as recognising the role that people and technology play in the mass production of toys |
| 4 Maroon | Makaya T | Taking on feedback and working hard to improve your sentence structure to include conjunctions to enhance the quality of her writing. Well Done! |
| 5 Blue | Alex H | Working hard to finish all classroom tasks promptly and implementing feedback when necessary |
| 5 Maroon | Lilly M | Confidence to stand up and deliver a wonderful and engaging House Leader speech. We are extremely proud Lilly! |
| 6 Blue | Lucinda L | Increased confidence and showing you are high school ready - Lucinda worked very hard in Year 6! |
| 6 Maroon | Lily VW | Outstanding growth in your reading, demonstrating fluency and expression when reading complex texts! Congratulations Lily! |
| Pastoral | Liam C | For your respect and kindness towards others |
Mrs. Veneris - Year 4
We love Mrs Veneris because she always makes a joke out of something and laughs a lot. She is kind, loving and encourages us to always do our best. She is funny and caring and she pushes us even when we don’t want to because she believes in us. She makes learning fun, is super helpful (especially with our maths work), she understands us and loves us. She is a teacher that will always be there for us.
I love teaching at St. Mary’s because the staff are so welcoming and supportive. The quality of teaching at the school is inspiring and the students are all polite and respectful. The staff all go above and beyond for the students to make learning interesting and engaging and the parent community is fantastic to work with.
Reflecting on our Primary School Years
Last week, the students were asked to think back and reflect on their St Mary’s experience. As a year group, the children reflected on the teachers who have taught them, the excursions that they have attended, the sports carnivals, the musicals, the Sacraments, and of course the life lessons they have learnt along the way. It was throughout these conversations that we found out the students had been keeping a few sneaky secrets over the past few years! Below are some of their written reflections of their wonderful memories.
Lucinda: One of my favourite primary school memories was being part of the Peter Pan Musical. I liked being part of the backstage team - because without the backstage crew, the musical wouldn’t have gone so smoothly. I loved being involved as part of an important team, at such a special school event.
Ashton: Back in the day, Sonny and I got told to show our work to Year 6, it was at this point that we decided we would go one better and took ourselves straight to the Principal's office to show Mr Lowe because he was a legend, and liked giving out awards! He checked it and then he gave us a Principal's award. So we went back to class and Sonny had the award in his hand and proceeded to show everyone.
Kobi: What I will remember for my whole life, is when I got House Leader at the end of Year 5. It made me feel accepted and valued. I was so excited when I found out because I got to put a smile on peoples face and got to cheer on my fellow housemates. GO HOWARD!!
Jack: My primary school highlight was our first school camp. We had never been on a school camp before but we were pumped. It was very exciting, the pancakes were the best and it was only us there. I will be very sad to leave St Mary's but I am very excited to see what the next chapter holds!
Kaleb: The highlight of primary school was working with Mrs Wiggins. Personally I don't know how she does it - working with kids all day. She is amazing! She is kind and funny. I have missed her because she was the best teacher and helped me to read. For me, Mrs Wiggins is the highlight from all my primary school years.
Charlotte Ellis: When reflecting back on all of my primary school memories one of my favourite is when we had our year 5 fun day. For our fun day we got the chance to have a tarp acting as a slip ‘n’ slide, laid on the hill of the oval starting from the bell tower going down to the bottom of the oval. IN THE RAIN!! At first I didn’t think it would be that fun, Although after all the bubbles and water guns I ended up being one of the last people to get off the waterslide. After all of the fun was over we found a comfortable spot in the classroom and settled down while we munched on popcorn and watched a movie.
Emily Kate: Yr 6! My last year at St Mary's Primary School Moruya. I can still remember all those hilarious and funny memories I shared with that group ever since kindergarten. Like that one time when Mrs White asked Kai to move the screen up but instead of rolling the screen up with the mouse he lifted the actual computer up. Everyone was cracking up laughing at Kai. It was hilarious.
Jonah: One beautiful evening…. BANG! I was just going to brush my teethy pegs, when Jack opened the door on me. OWWW! Alec laughed so hard until I pulled the sock off and the room went silent. OMG! There's so much blood. Mr Bateman looked at my toe - next minute, Mr Bateman was nearly fainting on my bed. My teacher, Mrs Grant zoom zoomed us to the hospital where I saw my beautiful friend Rita. Year 6 camp was eventful to say the least!
Samira: Sugar can really send you to sleep. When I was in Yr 5 camp, I was in a cabin with Ruby, Charlotte and Ashleigh and someone (no names) bought lollies… We were all given lollies, even though it was against the rules, and obviously we ate it… But then I fell asleep while eating Sour Patch Kids and no one knew it…Suddenly, Mrs White came and told us to go to sleep and everyone layed down apart from me, after Mrs White told me to go to sleep another two times I finally flopped down and slept peacefully for the rest of the night, until the next morning of course….The best thing about the experience was Mrs White never caught me breaking the rules…Until today, one year later, I dobbed myself in without even knowing! Whoops!
Taylah: My whole primary school journey was filled with amazement, joy and cheerfulness. It is a time in my life that I will never forget. One key and memorable moment was finding out that Lincon and I were going to be the 2022 school leaders. I really appreciated that my peers believed in me and I was super excited about becoming a Year 6 leader in 2022. Primary school will be a highlight when I look back on my childhood. I’m so upset to leave but excited to start a new chapter!
Brooke: Mrs Matthews helped me alot, she helped me with reading and maths. I remember at camp that I was grumpy with Mr Harpley for waking me up.
Sonny: When I cried in Year 2 because I wasn't in Mrs Durnan’s class. Then I was staring at the window saying to Mrs Durnan ‘please can I come back to your class?’- because she was the best teacher and she always gave me Dojo points for being best dancer and best singer.
Kai: ‘One of the things enjoyed the most at St Mary's is camp. On Year 6 camp in the hall at Berry, we had a challenge to make clothes out of newspaper. My group made a t- shirt and shorts, but Sonny's group made a bra and undies. The second part of the challenge was one person from every group had to put paper clothes on and dance. When Sonny put his on,his dance was so funny. Every boy was crying because they laughed so much.’
Ruby: On year 5 camp, I was in a cabin with Ashleigh, Charlotte and Samira. This little accident happened on night two of camp. Samira had just opened a pack of sour patch kids and put them under her pillow, but she was tired so she went to bed and us other girls kept talking. At midnight, Samira sat up and started chomping down the lollies but suddenly the door creaked open and Mrs White walked in and we all flopped into our beds ….except Samira! “Girls, stop talking, its time to sleep … Samira lay down, it's time for bed’ said Mrs White, but Samira did not because she was asleep but she was still eating. ‘Samira lay down’. This time she did but she flopped on the bed so hard that the sour patch kids went flying and as the door shut the packet hit the ground and we all laughed.
Lincon: When I was reflecting on primary years, the best was being able to be school captain. I was so excited I congratulated my fellow classmates on being house or school captain. I will miss this school and staff. I had a great time at St Mary’s.
Ava: One of my favourite primary school memories happened this year in 2022. It was when I got my haircut and donated it to the Variety Children’s Organisation. One lucky person will get my hair made into a wig just for them. I did it because of a little family friend Eli. He is only one and has been diagnosed with cancer. For him and his family, we have raised over $3,000. Thank you to everyone who donated and I am very happy with my new haircut and Eli's family are very grateful.
Zac: My highlight of primary school years would have to be my first day of school when I made great friends and met my first ever teacher Mr Ward. After Kindergarten I have had great teachers and awesome years at primary school.
Ashleigh: I felt the soft sand between my toes while listening to the little waves crawling up the seashore. This is one of my favourite primary school memories. It was the year 2020 when we decided to go stand up paddle boarding for a class excursion. When we got to the beach, I saw crystal blue water and soft rocky sand. I dipped my feet into the cold salty water and started to get on the board… then paddle. I surprisingly went well and I glided through the water. It was so much fun and I let out a lot of giggles. This is one of my favourite memories because when I am in the water, I feel calm and have so much fun.
Charlotte Ekin: Hip Hip Hooray Hip Hip Hooray!!! That was our last time ever saying that as the cast took a bow in our final performance of Peter Pan the Musical! Being Wendy in our school production is something I will remember forever. It was an incredible journey and I had so much fun, making new friends and learning various acting skills! All the hard work had paid off. The whole cast did such a great job! Thank you to everyone who was involved! What a memorable experience for the St Mary’s school community!
Heidi: 2016 my first year at primary school at St Mary’s, I can still remember all the emotions I was feeling scared, worried, excited, nervous all at the same time. I was especially nervous about not having my friends from preschool, however I stepped into the classroom, holding Mum's hand (tight) and I saw all the kids laughing and having fun and I knew that I would be just fine. Looking around I saw a girl, whose name was Taylah Cassidy and I knew that we would become lifelong friends. I am sad to leave this place and all its memories but excited to start a new chapter in my life.
Kyle: One of the funniest experiences of camp was on the first day when we had showers and Kaleb was the first one in the showers and the last one out. He had a 40 minute shower while everyone else had like a 5 minute shower. Kaleb said that’s a short shower for him.
English
At St Mary’s primary school the staff and students have been on a very positive learning journey over the past few terms, changing and adapting the way that we teach and learn within the strand of English. In Year 6 we participate in daily, Explicit Direct Instruction lessons (EDI), whereby the children are highly engaged and complete a series of scaffolded activities with a variety of focuses. Recently we had identified that the children needed some support when writing direct and indirect speech in their individual writing passages. Therefore the series of EDI lessons focused on the different ways direct speech can be written, including the correct punctuation.
Art
Year 6 have been very excited to create their own personal keepsakes of Primary School. The students have enjoyed designing and painting cushion covers, with some very creative results!
Lily and Rita: The experience of making the pillow cases was really fun, as we had to go through different stages like designing to stuffing the pillows. The pillows are a way to remember our years at primary school. We thank Mrs Wilkie for this amazing learning experience!
Year 7 Orientation Day
It was wonderful to see the excitement on the students' faces after the Year 7 Orientation Day at Carroll College on Friday 25 November. The students were mentored by the current Year 10 students who very capably led them around the school, visiting various important places like the Music and Art Rooms, Science labs and Agriculture hub. Then, students were able to take part in various taster classes - similar to those they will engage in next year. Students made a mobile phone holder out of perspex in TAS, engaged in various hands-on experiments in Science, PE sessions and cooking classes.
The best thing at the orientation day was:
Jack and Ashton: ‘Carroll College was magnificent, the whole day was full of fun filled activities! In Science we had to fill up a little jar with food colouring and try to not mix them, which was our favourite activity. We also had to look into a microscope to see what the differences were between a variety of objects like a dog tick, crystals and a plant stem.’
Archer and Kordel: ‘At our Year 7 orientation on the 25th of November we participated in a sports session with Mr Brady. We did a mini game of indoor soccer with two teams of eight versus each other for three minutes. We did the same thing with basketball and at the end we participated in a warm down session of stretches. We really enjoyed our sports sessions and look forward to PE at Carroll College next year.’
Morgan D, Chloe and Bella: ‘At our Year 7 Carroll College orientation day we had lots of fun doing all the activities. We really enjoyed making the phone holders with Mrs Mullins. We had to pick a colour of soft setting plastic, and Mrs Mullins melted it on a little machine with a hot string, then we bent it into shape. After it had set we had a phone holder! We really enjoyed the hands-on experience and we think that TAS will be our favourite subject next year!’
Ashleigh and Alec: “The food is nearly ready” the Year 10 leaders informed us as we were eagerly waiting for our pastries. It was Friday the 25th of November 2022 the day that all of the Year 6 Carroll College students went for their orientation day. We did science, sport, wood work and art but food tech was the best out of them all. When we did foodtech we had to cook a delicious puff pastry dish. It had cream cheese with a big strawberry on top. And we had to do it with partners so it made it even more fun!
Emily F and Morgan B: The thing we loved about Year 7 orientation is that we were able to try out each subject and experienced everything high school had to offer. We loved how we were able to interact with others and tried to make new friends so we felt comfortable with others if they end up being in our classes. Our favourite subjects were science, sport and art.
Scarlett, Allira and Jemma: On the Carroll College orientation day we loved how we had a chance to interact and talk to students and teachers at the COllege. We also loved the variety of activities we got to participate in during the day. Some of our favourite activities were science, cooking and art.
Geography Biomes
Year 6 have been learning about the world's Biomes in Geography this semester. Due to the musical, it has taken a little while longer but this week, we were able to share our learning with each other and grade 4. It was wonderful to see their final products. The students could choose any Biome in the world - Polar, Desert, Forest - Rainforest or Temperate, Marine/Aquatic, Wetlands, or Grasslands to research and many different learning experiences were available to choose from, including sustainability, fauna, flora and threats There were some very interesting i-Movies made and presented also. It definitely inspired the Year 4 students and they enjoyed looking through all the research and dioramas.
It has been a wonderful journey with this amazing group of students and it is hard to believe that we will be sending you off onto greater adventures. We wish the students of Year 6 all the very best as they move into high school next year. Your friends and teachers will miss you very much.
Mrs Grant & Mrs White
Year 6 Teachers
MacKillop Cricket Trials
Congratulations to Darcy F and Jaxon E who travelled to Wagga on Wednesday and Thursday to compete at the MacKillop Cricket Trials. As at time of publishing, I haven’t yet received details of how the boys went but I have no doubt they both had a wonderful time and enjoyed the experience.
Tennis Trials
We wish the very best of luck to Declan T, Darcy F and Xavier H who are competing at the Canberra Goulburn Tennis Trials at Belconnen today. It will be a wonderful experience for the students and they will be showcasing their skills and talents against students from across the Canberra Goulburn Archdiocese.
Megan Grant
Sports Coordinator
CHRISTMAS RAFFLE
The Community Council are selling raffle tickets for this years Christmas Raffle. The raffle features excellent prizes from many very generous local businesses including Surf the Bay, Moruya Pharmacy, Moruya Golf Club, the Health Café, Sports First, Church St Pizza, Resting Ridge Leather Co and the Broulee Brewhouse. Tickets are $2 each, or 10 for $10 and can be purchased via QKR!
The raffle will be drawn at the K-5 Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, 6 December.
Thank you to the families who have already finalised their fees for 2022.As we approach the final weeks of the school year, a reminder that all fees are to be finalised. For our parents who are paying with direct debit arrangements please continue as normal. Thank you.
