Filter Content
Yuin Banaan
Last Friday 4 August our South Coast K-12 Pathway schools held a Yuin Banaan Cultural Day at Captain Oldrey Park, Broulee for all Aboriginal students from Kindergarten to Year 12 and some of their friends.This was the first time since 2019 that we were able to hold this event for our students and families.
Melissa Ellis gave the Welcome to Country and spoke to the boys and girls about the 2023 NAIDOC theme ‘For Our Elders’ and the important role our elders play in guiding, leading and keeping our communities together. She explained to the children that our Elders are the ones who pass down information on how to care for country, to listen, connect, respond, and help us understand our responsibilities and role as current and future custodians of the land.
Local Elder and Knowledge holder Trish Ellis led students on a walk through bushland and explained the many uses of a variety of plants. Aunty Iris White made damper, something all the students enjoyed sampling. A range of activities were facilitated by Year 10 students from Carroll College and members of the community, this included traditional dancing with Muladha Gamara, ochre face painting, art and craft activities and soccer.
The following organisations generously facilitated stalls, provided give-aways and organised activities which students thoroughly enjoyed participating in throughout the day: NSW DPI Fisheries, Grand Pacific Health, Woolyungah Indigenous Centre UOW, PCYC Far South Coast, Marymead, TAFE NSW-Moruya, Campbell Page, The Family Place, My Voice My Journey - Leadership and Resilience, South Coast Medical Service Aboriginal Corporation, and Forestry Corporation Cultural Heritage.
We would also like to thank the National Indigenous Australians Agency who gave us a grant to cover some of the costs for the event, Woolworths Moruya and Batemans Bay who donated fruit and Elk_espresso.
It was a superb day of building community, deepening our cultural knowledge and creating strong connections across our K-12 Pathway schools.
Bridge Program
This week at St Mary’s we have welcomed Ibu Yuni and Ibu Lina, two teachers from Indonesia. The visit is part of the Australian government's BRIDGE program to build cultural understanding and genuine relationships between schools in Asia and Australia. Five hundred schools in Indonesia applied to part of the 2022 program but only ten were successful. Only twenty of the 2000 Indonesian teachers who applied to be part of the program were selected to come to Australia.
It has been very exciting to have Ibu Yuni and Ibu Lina visit our classrooms as they learn about Australia and our school system. It has been a privilege having them at our school and it has been such a rich learning experience for our students. We have learnt so much from having them be part of our school community. The boys and girls have learnt about the country of Indonesia as the teachers have shared their culture and religion, their language and given us insights into the daily lives of Indonesian people and of the children from their school.
Ibu Yuni and Ibu Lina have had a wonderful time in Moruya as well, exploring our beaches, some oyster leases, seing some kangaroos and local farm animals. We look forward to continuing this partnership and sharing our knowledge of schools with our new friends.
Southern Region Public Speaking
This week Mr Bateman has assisted and supported our 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 speaking. Feedback from the judges was very positive for all students. The judges commented on how they were engaged by the speakers and they felt the students were extremely well organised. The students were passionate, convincing, used personal stories and strong vocabulary to persuade their audience. 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 - Thomas D and Emerson D
Year 4 - Billie B and Matilda W
Year 5 - Sophie A and Lila W
Year 6 - Indiana T and Grace R
Congratulations to Thomas D (Year 3) and Matilda W (Year 4) who won their respective age groups and will now represent the Southern Region at the Archdiocesan Speaking Competition in September.
Student Leadership
Congratulations to Grace R who joins the Year 6 student leadership team. Grace was presented with her leadership badge by Mrs O’Neill and her parents at this week's school assembly. Grace is an excellent role model for her peers and our younger students. 
Southern Region Principals Meeting
On Thursday and Friday this week Mrs O'Neill joined her colleagues at the Southern Region Schools Principals meeting in Pambula. These meetings are an important part of school improvement as the school Principals meet with CE staff to discuss system and school priorities and plan upcoming events.
Science Week
National Science Week is Australia’s annual celebration of science and technology. Running each year in August, this is an opportunity for everyone to talk science, see science and do science. In Term 3 our students are currently learning about Earth and Space. This includes learning about Earth’s dynamic structure and its place in the universe, changes on earth such as night and day, the seasons and how they relate to Earth’s rotation and its orbit of the Sun. Next week via Facebook our classes will share some of what they are learning on the topic of Earth and Space.
Book Week
A reminder that on Wednesday, 23 August we will be holding our Book Parade. Students are invited to let their imaginations run wild and celebrate their favourite literary characters in costume. This is always a fun event for the kids and costumes in previous years have been quite amazing. So put your thinking caps on and start preparing now.
The Book Parade will take place at 10am in the PAC.
We will also be running a book swap again this year and later in the day, the children will compete in a Book Quiz. The teachers are currently busy preparing questions about popular children’s books.
St Mary’s is excited to be able to run our Little Investigators Playgroup this year, a free activity morning for families with children aged 0-5. Playgroup takes place on Tuesday mornings in the PAC at 9.00am, during school terms. If you have a child aged 0-5 years, we would love you to come along and join us.
Family Event with Andrew Fuller
Catholic School Parents Canberra and Goulburn are offering a free Family Event with Andrew Fuller, being hosted at St John Paul II College, Nicholls (ACT) on Tuesday 5 September at 6pm. The event aims to bring families from across the Archdiocese together and give them practical ways they can support their child in their learning.
There is an option for live streaming for parents and carers that are unable to attend in-person.
Please Label Student Clothes
There is a growing collection of student jumpers and jackets being left around the school. We urge you to please put a label on all your children’s clothes so that the items can be returned to their owner.
Weekly Class Memo
Please check your emails each week for the Weekly Class Memo that your child's teacher sends out. These memos outline what the students have learned in the past week and what they will be learning in the coming week. They also contain important reminders about events happening for your child's class. The teachers are emailing these via Compass so they may come through as a Compass notification. Please follow the link in the notification to access the memo.
God bless and take care,
Leadership Team
Dear Families,
Each Friday at 9:15 am, classes take turns attending the parish mass at Sacred Heart. Our families are warmly invited to attend these masses with us and join us for a picnic afterwards (dates can be found in class memos). Recently, the Year 5 class mass and picnic was very well attended by families. Thank you so much for joining us!
First Holy Communion
Last week, children intending to make the Sacrament of First Eucharist attended an enrolment meeting and commitment mass with their families. We thank Fr. George for an informative meeting and for supporting the children during this very special time.
We pray for the children preparing for the Sacrament of First Eucharist:
Abbie H, Anthony M, Lily M, Mackenzie H, Madelyn M, Matilda W, Oliver A, Samuel H, Samuel W, Tessa H, Eden C, Hayden P
The Feast of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop
On Tuesday we held a liturgy to celebrate The Feast of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. St. Mary MacKillop was an Australian nun declared a saint by the Catholic Church. She was born in Melbourne, on January 15, 1842. Mary’s vision was to provide education for underprivileged children as well as serving the poor; going to where the need was and living amongst those in need. Below are some ‘behind the scenes’ photos of our Kindergarten ‘stars of the Southern Cross’. Congratulations to the students in Year 6 and Kindergarten who did a wonderful job bringing this liturgy to life.
Whole School Mass, please join us!
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
On Tuesday we will celebrate the Feast Day of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Assumption signals the end of Mary’s earthly life and marks her return to heaven to be reunited with Jesus. Everyone is most welcome to join us at this very special mass.
9:15 am, Tuesday 15 August, Sacred Heart Moruya
Genevieve SchofieldReligious Education Coordinator (Acting)
English
We are certainly busy little bees in English! We begin our morning each day with Spelling Mastery where we are explicitly taught the phonemic, morphemic and whole word approach to spell words through direct instruction. We are thoroughly enjoying our class novel ‘Storm Boy’. Students unpack new vocabulary each day from the novel and relate these words to real life context. In writing, students recently showed a creative flare for poetry when they wrote a sensory poem during NAIDOC week. Enjoy reading some of the amazing poems below!
In English this term, we have been practising cursive handwriting. We have learnt how to do double letters - Liam M
This term we have been preparing and presenting speeches on the topic ‘Sports Brings us Together’. I did not make it on but I tried my best - Abbie H
In English we have been writing speeches for public speaking. First we had to speak in front of the class and Mr Bateman and Mrs Kenny. There were 4 people in the speak off and then the top 2 move on to the Southern Region Finals. Guess what, I’m in the top 2 - Matilda W
We have been learning about public speaking. I enjoyed writing my speech, but I didn’t enjoy presenting it - Dion P
Maths
Year 4 has adapted exceptionally well to the new ‘Connecting Maths Concepts’ program and it is very encouraging to see so much excitement around the delivery and structure of our maths lessons. Through direct instruction and fast paced lessons, the boys and girls are revising and consolidating their learning of number families, place value and speed addition and subtraction algorithms daily. Students are highly engaged during their independent work, showing pleasing results after only beginning this program three weeks ago. We look forward to sharing more success throughout the term.
In maths this term, I have been learning about number families and how to figure out the letters and times tables in CMC - Benji R
I love when we do number lines in maths because it’s so easy to do. This term we have been doing CMC and it’s so fun doing this for maths - Sam H
I’ve enjoyed CMC. My favourite part is the independent work. There’s all types of maths in CMC - Mackenzie H
Science
This term in Science we have been learning about Earth and Space. The students have been fascinated with this topic as we spend lots of time exploring their inquisitive and enquiring minds. Our ‘Big Idea’ is how the compositions of the Earth and its atmosphere and the processes occurring within them shape the Earth’s surface and its climate. Students have been fascinated by how the Earth was formed, learning about the four main layers of the Earth and what tectonic plates are and what happens where tectonic plates meet. Below are some photos of the plasticine models Year 4 students made of the layers of the Earth. Do you know what each layer is?
This term we have been learning about Earth and space. I already knew all the planets in space which are - Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. We made a class plasticine Earth model - Dakota S
This term we have been learning about Earth and space. My favourite part is the tests - Leroy L
This term we have learnt about planets and Earth and how Earth has 4 layers called the crust, mantle, outer core and inner core - Brielle B
Religion
We have been very excited in Year 4 to be part of the preparation for the Sacrament of the First Eucharist. Students have been learning that a sacrament is a sign of Jesus' love, given to us through the Church and that the Church describes the Eucharist as the source and summit of the Christian life. As we prepare, students will continue learning how the Eucharist is a celebration of Jesus' love for us and it has three dimensions which are ‘It is a meal, It is a sacrifice, It is a memorial’. We look forward to welcoming Fr George into the classroom over the coming weeks as he helps the students prepare for their First Eucharist. Our prayers and thoughts are with the following students as they prepare for the Sacrament of the First Eucharist: Oliver A, Abbie H, Samuel H, Tessa H, Mackenzie H, Anthony M, Madelyn M, Lily M, Samuel W, Matilda W.
In religion we are learning about the Eucharist. The Eucharist is where we receive the body of Jesus. I have enjoyed doing the activities online as we prepare for our First Eucharist - Ollie A
This term we have been learning about the Eucharist. My favourite part so far has been watching the story about Zacchaeus and learning that Jesus wanted to share a meal with Zacchaeus as a sign of his love - Sam W
In religion I love learning about the poor and helping people - Anthony M
History
It has been an interesting and fascinating start to the term learning about Australia’s first people. We have learnt that Aboriginal people have been here for thousands of years as archeologists have discovered many sites with evidence to support this. We learnt these sites have large paintings as well as symbols to represent different things, depending on the Dreamtime story. We have really enjoyed learning new information about Aboriginal Australians’ and eastern Torres Strait Islanders’ cultural and spiritual belief systems.
In history I have been learning about Australia’s first people and that the rock art near Uluru is over 10 000 years old - Alex S
In history we have been learning about Australia’s first people and there are many ancient sites and artefacts that tell us about how people lived many years ago - Charnaya T
In history we have been learning about Australia’s first people and how there are archeological sites that have allowed us to discover many things about Australia’s first people - Declan T
Creative Arts
Year 4 have created NAIDOC inspired artworks in Visual Art this term. We placed our handprints onto black paper, and then completed our artwork using traditional dot painting techniques around the placement of our hands. Following on from this, students will begin a new piece of art based around our learning of the Eucharist in Religion.
This term in art we have been creating NAIDOC hands. I have really enjoyed doing the dot painting around the hands using the colours purple, orange, yellow, blue and green - Anikah H
During our learning in NAIDOC Week, we did an art piece where we painted our hands white and we put bright dots around our hands - Liam G
I have enjoyed art because we got to do NAIDOC art. We painted our hands white, made prints then dot painted around it. I really enjoy dot painting - Bella S
In Dance we have been learning about the elements of dance, discussing the meaning and purpose of dance and the roles of the creator and performer. We are learning to perform dances demonstrating a range of performance movement skills. We have currently spent two weeks learning the art to ‘hip hop’ routines. Later in the term we will learn other genres of dance including; salsa, bollywood, tap and the jive!
In dance we have been learning hip hop moves. So far we have learnt chest pops and a really fun hip hop dance which was 100% my favourite thing we have done - Ellie R
In dance we have been doing hip hop. We have done chest pops and a dance routine. I've enjoyed doing the routine. Next week we’re learning salsa dancing. I rate dance 5 stars - Tessa H
We have been learning about dance and we have been doing hip hop. I love dancing with Mrs Kenny. I am the best dance person in the class - Gracie P
I have enjoyed learning hip hop movements such as chest pops. I practised this hard movement at home as well as a fun dance to follow along to - Billie B
PDHPE
This term we have been doing PE with Mr Hill. I have enjoyed it alot. My favourite game is capture the flag. PE is a great way to make your body more healthy. It’s a great physical subject - Madelyn M
In PE we have been doing soccer with Mr Hill and other sports with Mr Bateman. It has been a fun time playing all these different sports. I hope it gets better - Lily M
Year 4 has been playing soccer with Mr Hill. We have also played 4 way capture the flag which is really fun - Andre L
Mrs Sophie Kenny & Mr Justin Bateman
4 Blue Teachers
This award is an acknowledgment that students have been
outstanding and have gone above and beyond in the
classroom and on the playground!
|
Kinder B |
For his thoughtful contributions to whole class discussions. |
|
1 Blue |
For her outstanding work effort and application during CMC lessons learning to count off the decade by 10’s. |
|
2 Blue |
Writing creative and original poetry using similes of ‘like’ or ‘as’. |
|
2 Maroon |
Working so hard in our CMC Maths groups, showing determination to master place value and number families. Fantastic effort! |
|
3 Blue |
Outstanding achievement representing St Mary’s with your ‘My Backyard’ entertaining speech at the Southern Region Public Speaking Competition. |
|
4 Blue |
For your wonderful ‘Nature Poem’, using descriptive language to paint a picture in our mind. |
|
5 Blue |
For his effort and determination to present an interesting and informative speech about the Black Summer Bushfires. Great job Jimmy! |
|
5/6 Maroon |
Working diligently and using time appropriately to complete and deliver a wonderful speech about Change |
|
6 Blue |
A fantastic effort representing St Marys at the Southern Region Public Speaking Competition. |
|
Kinder B |
For making a happy and confident start at his new school. Welcome to St Mary’s Bastion! |
|
1 Blue |
For his outstanding improvement in his handwriting, forming his letters correctly during Spelling Mastery. |
|
2 Blue |
For his maturity and growth mindset; to try his best across all areas producing work to a high standard. |
|
2 Maroon |
Writing creative and original descriptions of people and animals using ‘like’ or ‘as’ for his simile poems. |
|
3 Blue |
Outstanding efforts representing St Mary’s with your ‘My Backyard’ creative speech at the Southern Region Public Speaking Competition. |
|
4 Blue |
For your wonderful ‘Nature Poem’, using descriptive language to paint a picture in our mind. |
|
5 Blue |
For working hard during writing to combine sentences using pronouns and conjunctions, creating interesting and complex sentences. |
|
5/6 Maroon |
Working consistently throughout the week to put together and deliver a fantastic speech on Difficult Journeys |
|
6 Blue |
A fantastic effort representing St Marys at the Southern Region Public Speaking Competition. |
Southern Region Athletics
Last Wednesday our team of 48 students travelled to Bega to attend the Southern Region Athletics Carnival. Clear blue skies welcomed us to the sports grounds and our students were all very keen to begin their events. It was wonderful to watch the children all trying their best in each event and cheering on their mates as well as congratulating the other schools along the way. As always, a highlight was the 8 year old 100m races - all who are super keen to make it to the finish line in their first events at this next level. Another highlight and often highly competitive event is the relay event. With some very close finishes, we have both our junior and senior girls relay teams going through to the next level, the Archdiocesan Athletics carnival, being held at the AIS in Canberra on Tuesday 22 August. We wish the following competitors all the very best of luck in Canberra - hopefully the weather up there will be much kinder than last year.
St Mary’s Archdiocesan Athletics Team
Harper L, Bernadette S, Ava B, Mackenzie H, Anikah H, Maya C, Bella S, Lila W, Abbie H, Evie G, Tane M, Xavier H, Xavier E, Asher B, Kobi P, Jaxon E, Darcy F, Lewis M
Age Champions
On Tuesday at our school special assembly, I was finally able to present medals to our school age champions. Congratulations to the following students.
2023 Age Champions St Mary’s Athletics Carnival
|
Junior Boys: Runner Up: Xavier E Age Champion: Declan T |
Junior Girls: Runner up: Bella S Age Champion: Mackenzie H |
|
11 years Boy: Runner Up: Mitchell W Age Champion: Kobi P |
11 years Girl: Runner Up: Harper L Age Champion: Evie G |
|
Senior Boy: Runner Up: Jaxon E Age Champion: Asher B |
Senior Girl: Runner Up: Lilly M Age Champion: Jakayda TeK |
The winning house this year goes to CASSIDY, followed closely by Howard! Congratulations to all the students for an amazing effort!
League Stars Program
Last Friday, Josh Norris came to visit for a day full of rugby league skills and drills for the students across K-6.
Josh is the NRL development officer for our area and used this opportunity at our school to promote the 6 week league stars program which will be held on the oval beginning next Monday. A flyer was sent home with the students with the registration details and further information. All communication is to be direct with Josh Norris for this program and I am sure the students will have a great time practising their footy skills. A flyer is attached at the end of the newsletter.
Megan Grant
Sports Coordinator
