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Dear Parents,
What a joyful week we have had at St Mary’s! Earlier in the week, students and staff enjoyed a visit by Andrew Chinn, possibly the most talented musical entertainer of children in Australia. Today at our Mission Week Mass, the students sang two of his songs and are currently learning some more for upcoming Masses and liturgical celebrations.
Today's Mission Mass was a special occasion for the whole school community. Father George spoke of the importance of being missionary; sharing the Good news of Jesus with everyone we meet and doing things to help those who are less fortunate than ourselves.
Our teachers and students organised some wonderful stalls to sell items and raise money for the people of Timor-Leste. A very big thank you to our wonderful parents who stayed up late at night, cooking cupcakes and treats for the class stalls. Many children have gone home with a new toy from the White Elephant Stall. It was also lovely to see so many parents, grandparents and parishioners join us to celebrate.
Term 4
Term 4 is always a very busy one in schools. The students have returned from the holidays happy and ready for another great term of learning. With so much on in the next couple of months, as well as planning for 2024, it is important that we keep calm, happy and focused on finishing the year well. It is a very special time of the year, especially for our wonderful Year 6 students as they experience their final term of Primary School. The Stage 2 and 3 students are eagerly awaiting their upcoming excursion and camp.
Please keep the following Term 4 dates in your diaries.
Marg Croese’s celebration
Please join us on Friday November 17 at midday in the PAC, to celebrate Mrs Croese’s extraordinary contribution to the life of St Mary’s. Mrs Croese has been on the staff at St Marys for over 40 years and has taught nearly every child and many of their parents during that time.
We will commence with a special Liturgy and presentation and follow up with a family picnic lunch in our new playground area. Parents are asked to bring a picnic for their children and a plate to share with the community. I suggest bringing a picnic rug too, as we will not all fit on the seats. Those children, whose parents are unable to be here, should bring their lunch as normal and sit with their class teachers.
We look forward to this very special occasion. Please feel free to invite grandparents and others who you think would like to be here to celebrate with Marg.
School Counsellor
Our school counsellor, Faith Costigan has now returned from leave. She works every Friday and alternate Thursdays at St Mary’s. Faith works with students who have been referred to her by their parents and teachers, who are needing additional support with managing their relationships, emotions, behaviour and anxiety at home or at school.
If you or your child is experiencing stress and you think counselling would help your child, please don't hesitate to ask for help. Please contact the office for assistance.
Swimming Program
As the weather warms up, the students are very excited about our upcoming swimming program. We are very pleased to be able to provide swimming instruction for all of our students from Kinder to Year 6 at no cost to parents. Our School Community Council covered the cost of the Swimming Instruction Training earlier in the year and is contributing to the cost of relief staff to cover the four teachers at the pool each Wednesday.
The cost of pool entry for the Swimming Assessment day and 4 days of the program is $23.50. If your family holds a season pass or fitness passport card, then this may be used to cover pool entry.
If you haven't already, please complete the Google form from Mrs Megan Grant, so a COMPASS note can be created. Students without permission will need to remain at school.
2024 Term Dates
Term 1
| January | Tuesday 30 | Staff Professional Learning (Front office not open) |
| Wednesday 31 | Staff Professional Learning (Front office not open) | |
| February | Thursday 1 | All students (Kinder to Year 6) return to school |
| March | Friday 29 | Good Friday |
| Saturday 30 | Easter Saturday | |
| Sunday 31 | Easter Sunday | |
| April | Monday 1 | Easter Monday |
| Friday 12 | Last day for students | |
| Thursday 25 | Anzac Day |
Term 2
| April | Monday 29 | Staff Professional Learning Day (Front office not open) |
| Tuesday 30 | Students return to school | |
| May | Friday 10 | Mothers Day celebrations |
| June | Monday 10 | Sovereign's Public Holiday |
| July | Thursday 4 | Last day for students |
| Friday 5 | Staff Professional Learning Day (Front office not open) |
Term 3
| July | Monday 22 | Staff Professional Learning Day (Front office not open) |
| Tuesday 23 | Students return to school | |
| September | Friday 6 | Fathers Day celebrations |
| Thursday 26 | Last day for students | |
| Friday 27 | Staff Professional Learning Day (Front office not open) |
Term 4
| October | Monday 14 | Staff Professional Learning Day (Front office not open) |
| Tuesday 15 | Students return to school | |
| December | Wednesday 18 | Students last day of school |
| Thursday 19 | Staff Professional Learning Day (Front office not open) | |
| Friday 20 | Staff Professional Learning Day (Front office not open) |
Noeleen O'Neill
Principal
Staff Professional Learning
Each week our staff participate in Professional Learning activities to continuously update their knowledge and skill set for teaching our students.
On the first day of Term 1, our staff participated in a Spirituality Formation Day on the theme of the Holy Spirit, led by Luke Maher from the Catholic Identity Team at CE. Luke led the staff through an exploration of the presence of the Holy Spirit throughout the Old and New Testament. This was a great opportunity for staff to reflect and develop their understanding of ‘The Year of the Holy Spirit’ as we move into 2024 ready to create a spirit of growth in our community.
This week all our staff completed their annual CPR training and a number of staff also renewed their First Aid certificates.
On Monday, we will welcome back Jordan O’Sullivan from Shaping Minds who will be working with our staff on increasing their knowledge of high impact teaching practices with a focus on strategies teachers use to deliver direct instruction programs. Our staff enjoy working with Jordan and benefit from the positive and constructive feedback he gives us on the delivery of explicit lessons in English and Maths and our implementation of programs such as Spelling Mastery.
Next week we will also begin our Classroom Mastery training with leading classroom management expert Dr Tim McDonald. We are looking forward to working with the staff from our K-12 Pathway as together we develop a common approach to classroom management and student wellbeing.
God bless and take care
Sue Heffernan
Assistant Principal
Dear Families,
Andrew Chinn
On Wednesday this week a joyful day was had by all as we welcomed religious singer-songwriter Andrew Chinn to St Mary’s. The students had the most fantastic time, workshopping with Andrew throughout the day before joining together for a whole school concert in the afternoon. Thank you to the families who were able to join us for the concert. Several people remarked fondly about seeing Andrew perform when they were a child at St Mary’s. Andrew has been creating wonderful music for many years now - his energy is contagious!
Catholic Mission Week
Inspired by the Pope's message for World Mission Sunday, this year Catholic Mission is raising awareness of the life-giving work of lay and religious missionaries around the world with the theme "Hearts on Fire, Feet on the Move". At St Mary’s we acknowledged Catholic Mission Week today by celebrating mass as a whole school in the morning and holding our annual Mission Market Day to raise money for Catholic Mission in Timor-Leste.
Our market stalls included jelly cups, cup cakes, lolly bags, Socktober Shootout, a disco and much, much more! Thank you to our wonderful families for your support. Please keep an eye on Facebook for more photos and our fundraising total.
A Prayer for Missionaries
We adore you, Jesus our Shepherd and Saviour
And we praise and thank you for your living among us.
We ask you to walk beside your missionaries as they seek to proclaim your Gospel. Cherish, guide, and strengthen them.
Help them to be patient when they meet frustrations, and encourage them
when they are disappointed.
Lead them, we beseech you, along the path you desire for them
For you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever. Amen.
Genevieve Schofield
Religious Education Coordinator (Acting)
Year 2 has returned to school this term happy, focused and ready to learn. We have managed to fit in a range of learning and fun over the last two weeks.
Religion
This term, we have begun our Religion unit all about the sacredness of creation and our world. We revised the Creation Story to identify our role of stewardship of God’s creation. In preparation for Mission Market Day we have also been looking at the place where our fundraising efforts will support - Timor-Leste - while listening to stories and watching school days using mission 360 videos. The children completed a see, think, wonder response to what they viewed.
English
In English we begin the day with our Spelling Mastery. The children have settled well back into their groups and love the routine, structure and challenges that this program provides. We have been examining persuasive texts and watched the video called ‘Hey Little Ant’. Should we squish ants? The children came up with very persuasive arguments for both sides.
Maths
Our Connecting Maths Concepts daily maths sessions are tailored exactly at the right level for our students. The children have been learning their tables and are competing to better their time each week in maths mentals. We are even tackling fractions and algebra! We have also been looking at the concept of area where the children selected materials to measure the area of a classroom object and recorded their results.
Library
Every Monday, we attend the Library and listen to a story then do our own reading / borrowing. It is a special time where we can foster a love of reading and the children can explore the excellent range of books available.
Music
We have been singing Andrew Chinn songs in morning meditation in preparation for his concert on Wednesday this week. We have been moving to music and creating actions using beat and rhythm. We have also explored the dynamics (loud and soft) in our song ‘These hands’.
Investigations
Definitely a highlight of the week is investigation time in Year 2. Over the term, the children take turns to be a focus student or a reporter. Tasks are set to challenge and extend the students' knowledge and curiosity, often in an area of interest.
Some of our investigations this term are: construction, lego, Religion, maths games, olden days history table, living things for Science and a choose your own adventure using sports equipment.
We are so excited to be hatching chickens using an incubator in our classroom. This has created so many interesting discussions and we just can’t wait for hatching time!
Mrs Carla Durnan & Mrs Frances Devonald
Year 2 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 applying knowledge of digraphs in her writing. |
|
1 Blue |
For outstanding growth and achievement in Connecting Maths Concepts, demonstrating confidence with number patterns. |
|
2 Blue |
For an outstanding improvement on his maths mentals personal best beating his time by over one minute! |
|
2 Maroon |
His positive attitude to learning and thoughtful responses in our Religion lesson about Timor-Leste and the Missions. |
|
3 Blue |
His positive attitude and the consistent effort that he has put into all classroom activities. Keep up the excellent effort! |
|
4 Blue |
For your detailed and realistic observational drawing of native leaves. |
|
5 Blue |
For her thoughtful prayers offered each morning during class Prayer and meditation, always considering the needs of others in the community. |
|
5/6 Maroon |
For outstanding persistence during cursive writing and typing skills development exercises. |
|
6 Blue |
His consistent efforts to improve his spelling skills. |
|
Kinder B |
For her outstanding participation and achievement during Connecting Maths Concepts lessons. |
|
1 Blue |
For consistently working hard to question the meaning of words, extending his vocabulary. Well Done Jason! |
|
2 Blue |
For continued application to improve across all areas to achieve his best. Well done Charlie |
|
2 Maroon |
For her fantastic enthusiasm and energy at our Andrew Chinn Concert. Fabulous moves! |
|
3 Blue |
Exhibiting a consistently responsible approach to all learning tasks. Keep up the great effort. |
|
4 Blue |
For your enthusiastic and entertaining performance in the Andrew Chinn workshop and concert. |
|
4 Blue |
For your persistence and resilience to draw a realistic observational drawing of native leaves. |
|
5 Blue |
For her thoughtful observations during learning discussions, often sharing a different perspective and thought provoking ideas. What a wonderful skill to have Madi, well done! |
|
5/6 Maroon |
For thoughtful contributions during science, demonstrating intellectual maturity and higher order thinking. |
|
6 Blue |
Consistently achieving excellent results in mathematics tasks. |
Welcome to Term 4! How quickly the year is flying by! Although a bit slower in pace, we still have a few sports events in the planning for term 4, including the swimming program, 2024 representative trials for tennis, basketball and touch football. This week, I joined with many sports coordinators from the Archdiocese in Canberra to plan and prepare for the 2024 Sports season. It was a great day facilitated by Sherree Bush and we have some wonderful events planned for next year.
Swimming Program
Thanks to a generous donation from the St Mary’s Community Council, we are pleased to be offering our school swimming program again next term. This is always a highlight for the students at the end of a busy year. We will begin the program with a swimming assessment session on Tuesday 24 October and then swimming sessions for all students K-6 will begin on Wednesday of Week 5. More details and consent will be communicated with families via the COMPASS later this week. All students will need to have parent permission to participate and parents will be required to indicate their child's swimming ability.
Swimming Dates: (All times to be advised)
Week 3: Swim assessment session
Week 5: Wednesday 8 November
Week 6: Wednesday 15 November
Week 7: Wednesday 22 November
Week 8: Wednesday 29 November
Week 9: Wednesday 6 December (back up)
Just a reminder to click on the link below to access a google form - to indicate your child's swimming ability in preparation for the swimming assessment day on Tuesday and swimming program beginning in week 5. Please complete the google form by Friday to assist in our planning. If you have already submitted your form, thank you and there is no need to resubmit.
Thank you in advance.
Please click on this link to access the google form.
LINK: https://forms.gle/F4cva85nXZ68xEx96
2024 Canberra Goulburn Individual Sports Trials
Interest and registrations for the Canberra Goulburn Cricket, Touch Football, Basketball and Tennis trials are scheduled for this term in readiness for the 2024 sporting year. Students in Years 4 and 5 (this year) are eligible to register. For further information, please be in contact with me via email megan.grant@cg.catholic.edu.au or alternatively, jump onto the CSNSW website. It is recommended that the students trialling have some level of skill and experience in these sports already.
The dates are as follows:
Cricket: Friday 3 November - Queanbeyan
Touch Football: Friday 24 November - Southwell Park, Lyneham
Tennis: Thursday 30 November - Belconnen
Basketball: Friday 1 December, Belconnen
Archdiocesan Athletics Age Champion
After many weeks, I was finally able to present Asher B with his Age Champion medallion for his amazing efforts at the Canberra Goulburn Archdiocese Athletics carnival last term. Congratulations Asher on an outstanding performance at the AIS in Canberra.
Have a wonderful week ahead.
Mrs Megan Grant
Sports Coordinator
End of Year Thank You
To thank the school community for their ongoing support this year we would love for you to join us for a twilight pizza dinner in the beautiful new landscaped area at School. The Community Council will be providing, at a reduced cost to family’s pizzas, and drinks from 5:30 on Thursday 30 November.
Closer to the date we will provide a link via QKR! For families to RSVP and order pizzas. We look forward to seeing families to say thank you for your continued support.
Xmas Cards
The Community Council will again be running its annual Christmas card fundraiser. For $20, families will receive 8 x professionally printed cards featuring a design done by your child (or children). Templates will be sent home to families in Week 3, with completed templates to be returned to the office by Monday 6 November.
Community Council Members
As we finish off yet another big year, we are sad to see long term members Maree Turnbull, Judy Toman and Fiona Hall step down from the Community Council as their families move onto High Schools. As such, we are seeking interest from Parents or Carers that are interested in joining the Community Council. The commitment is a few hours a term, attending two meetings each term (held on Tuesdays of Week 2 and 8 at the school or online if people need) and then ad-hoc volunteering support when the Community Council runs its various fundraising activities. This could be making cakes, selling raffle tickets, cooking sausages, or helping with fundraising suggestions. Nothing too complex or time consuming! If you’re interested in volunteering, or even just to find out more information, please contact the School Office or Mary Dullard on marywhyte@gmail.com
Mary Dullard
Community Council Chair