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Dear Parents,
The last two weeks have been a little bit quieter at St Mary’s. With a third of the students away at either the Canberra Excursion or the Jindabyne camp, those left behind have had plenty of space to spread out and run around.
I have heard some fabulous stories about the overnight excursions; the bus trips, the food, the cabins and of course the fun and exciting activities. It was also good to hear that our students were considerate, cooperative and well behaved. We regularly get this feedback when out and about. Well done children and parents!
A very special thank you to our wonderful teachers who left their own families and gave up their time (and undoubtedly sleep) to take the students away. We are blessed to have such committed teachers at St Mary’s.
Marg Croese’s Farewell
As mentioned in the last newsletter, we are presently organising a special Liturgy and Presentation to celebrate Mrs Croese’s many years at St Mary’s and her dedication to Catholic education. Please come along and join us for this very important celebration on Friday November 17 at 12 pm in the PAC. Parents are asked to bring along a picnic lunch and a small plate of food to share with the school community.
Kindergarten 2024
As predicted, our Kindergarten enrolments are strong for 2024. We now have a greater number of students coming into Kinder and other grades, than those leaving from Year 6 for high school.
Our Kindergarten Orientation Day sessions are scheduled for Thursday November 9 and 23. Please note the change of day from Wednesday to Thursday due to our swimming program. Only children enrolled at St Mary’s for 2024 are able to attend the Orientation sessions, so please let any other prospective parents know to contact the office as soon as possible if they are considering joining us next year.
K-6 Swimming Program
Our whole school swimming program will commence officially next week. All students from Kinder to Year 6 have had an assessment and placed in correct swimming ability groups. Please remember to send your child’s swimming gear to school each Wednesday and make sure everything is labelled. If you have any questions please contact your child's teacher.
Community Council PIzza Night
Please mark in your diaries Thursday November 30 5:30 pm for the School Community Council’s End of School Year Family Celebration. This wonderful team of parents are currently organising a Pizza Night to celebrate 2023 and to farewell our Year 6 students and their families.
It should be a great night for all in our new playground and eating area. More information will be coming home shortly.
Staffing Announcements
Unfortunately for us, Mrs Sophie Kenny will be transferring to St Bernard’s Primary school in Batemans Bay from next year. After many years teaching at St Mary’s, Sophie has decided that it's now best for her family, if she works closer to her home and family. We will all miss Sophie but we are also very excited for her, as she enters the next stage of her teaching career.
Following a system ‘temporary to permanent’ recruitment process, I am able to announce that Mr James Cambell has become a permanent employee at St Mary’s. James has applied for a Flexible Workplace Agreement for 2024 and will be working four days a week next year. Congratulations James, we are fortunate to have you with us.
It is also exciting to announce that Mrs Allsion Lock has been appointed permanent to St Mary’s, following a successful transfer from Canberra this year. Allison brings a wealth of experience and has adjusted well to teaching with us. We are very pleased that Allson has decided to stay on.
It will be wonderful to welcome Mrs Jess Afflick back to St Mary’s in 2024. Following Jed’s birth, Jess has been on Parental Leave this year. Jess has decided to teach in a part time capacity, with a view to return to her REC and School Leadership role later in the year. Mrs Gen Schofield will continue in the REC role until that time.
Mrs Alicia Hampson has also requested a Flexible Workplace Arrangement for 2024 and will be teaching Monday to Thursday. Such arrangements are made, if it is deemed to be in the best interest of staff and the school. Supporting family/work life balance is paramount for keeping the best educators in our schools.
Mrs Fran Devonald has decided to work full time again in 2024, having had a slightly reduced load this year.
I am also pleased to announce that Mr Paul Hill has accepted a four day contract for 2024. Paul has had a successful year teaching PDHPE across the school this year. We are presently working out his role for next year.
Mrs Jo Matthews is currently on leave and is expected to return to work later this term.
And finally, Mr Jeff Prow has at least agreed to do some casual work this term! He has had a wonderful first year of retirement but we desperately need him back. The students (and staff) love having Mr Prow back at St Mary’s.
School Canteen
Unfortunately, Mrs Hayley Van Weerdenberg has needed to resign from her role as Canteen Manager. We thank Hayley for her energy and enthusiasm in running the canteen. Today is Hayley’s last day so the canteen will be closed for next two weeks November 10 and November 17 which is the Picnic Lunch day for Mrs Croese’s Farewell.
We are currently organising to run a basic canteen selling off current stock for the rest of the term. If any parent or grandparent is able to help the staff out for a couple of hours on a Friday this term, please contact the Front Office. We would be very grateful for your help.
2024 Student Leadership
At St Mary’s, we consider all of our Year 6 students to be school leaders. The Year 6 Buddy program with the new Kinder students is one of our most important leadership programs.
We also have an elected Student Leadership Team, made up of two School Leaders and six House Leaders. In the coming weeks, our Year 5 students will be invited to nominate themselves to be on the Student Leadership Team for 2024. Following informal interviews with Mrs Heffernan and me, the students will deliver a short speech to their peers and staff on Tuesday November 28, Time TBC. Parents are welcome to attend. Students in Years 2-5 will then vote for the students that they believe will make the best School and House Leaders for St Mary’s. House Leadership is more than sport, so please encourage your child, if they think they would like to be involved in a broad range of leadership opportunities; Social Justice, fundraising, Liturgy, hospitality, IT and Media, Sport, Public Speaking, Performing Arts, Environment and Indigenous Culture. The Year 5 teachers will support the students with the process.
The 2024 Student Leadership Team will be announced at our End of Year K-6 Awards Night on Tuesday December 5.
World Day of Prayer and Fasting
Pope Francis called for a day of Fasting and Prayer on Friday October 27 for the people of Palestine and Israel. As part of our morning school schedule, our students and staff joined with people around the world to pray for an end to the hatred and suffering of so many innocent people, mostly children in the Middle East.
‘Brothers and sisters, war does not solve any problem: It sows only death and destruction, foments hate, proliferates revenge. War cancels out the future. I urge believers to take just one side in this conflict: that of peace. But not with words - with prayer, with total dedication’
Pope Francis
God’s blessing on you and your families
Noeleen O'Neill
Principal
Katungul Ear Health Screening
On Monday 6 November and Tuesday 7 November, Katungul will be visiting St Mary's to conduct 'Ear Health' screenings for Aboriginal students. Permission forms have been sent home with children. Please return these forms to school by Monday 6 November. Please note: that each child must have their own individual form.
Sue Heffernan
Assistant Principal
Dear Families,
Mission Day Fundraising
On Friday in Week 3 we held our annual Mission Market as part of Catholic Mission Week. I am absolutely delighted to let you know that we raised an incredible total of $976.85! Thank you to all families for your generous donations! Mission Day is always such a highlight for the children and most importantly, the money will support the work of Catholic Mission with children in Timor-Leste.
Liturgy & Picnic for Mrs Marg Croese
Please join us at noon on Friday 17 November 2023 to celebrate Mrs Croese and her incredible career in Catholic Education. We will begin with a liturgy in the Performing Arts Centre, before enjoying a picnic on the lawn. Please bring a picnic, blanket and a small plate to share.
Sacred Heart Parish Spring BBQ
Sacred Heart Parish warmly invites the parish community to a spring BBQ in the Church gardens after 5:00 pm Vigil Mass on Saturday 4 November. To RSVP, please email the Parish Office moruya@cg.org.au or leave your name on the sheet in the Church foyer.
All Saints Day & All Souls Day
November is known as ‘The Month of Holy Souls’ and is a special time to pray for those who have died. In particular, All Saints’ Day is celebrated on November 1st to remember all saints and martyrs during Christian history. This is followed by All Souls’ Day on November 2nd to commemorate those who have passed within the faith.
Image Credit: The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs by Fra Angelico
All Saints Day Prayer
Dear God,
Today we rejoice in the holy men and women of every time and place.
May their prayers bring us your forgiveness and love.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Genevieve Schofield
Religious Education Coordinator (Acting)
This award is an acknowledgment that students have been
outstanding and have gone above and beyond in the
classroom and on the playground!
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Kinder B |
For the enormous effort she has put into improving her handwriting and sentence writing. |
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1 Blue |
For her thorough and thoughtful RE creation response to caring for creation. |
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2 Blue |
For her excellent descriptive language to describe Kookaburras in our research projects. |
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2 Maroon |
For her outstanding research during investigations when searching for powerful words to use in persuasive texts. |
|
3 Blue |
For your perseverance and engagement demonstrated towards all activities during our recent Stage 2 camp to Canberra. |
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4 Blue |
For your enthusiastic participation at the AIS and Deep Space Complex in Canberra. |
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5 Blue |
For your engagement and participation in Maths CMC lessons - showing great questioning and thinking skills. Well done Levi! |
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5/6 Maroon |
For adapting skillfully to the challenges presented when moving up a group in Spelling Mastery and taking on Connecting Maths Concepts. |
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6 Blue |
Being a highly organised and helpful member of the Ramshead cabin, consistently displaying excellent leadership skills. |
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Kinder B |
For doing his best in all areas, at all times. Amazing effort William! |
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1 Blue |
For her valuable contributions during our physics lessons learning about light photons. |
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2 Blue |
For her eagerness to learn and extend herself across all learning areas. |
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2 Maroon |
Working hard to complete all set tasks and making excellent choices to follow our school expectation ‘I am doing my best’. |
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3 Blue |
For making outstanding connections during our Novel Study “The One and Only Ivan.” |
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4 Blue |
For your positive role modelling and contributions to group work activities. |
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4 Blue |
For reading more challenging texts fluently, with intonation and expression. |
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5 Blue |
For being highly organised and helpful on Camp - the first person packed up and ready each morning. |
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5 Blue |
His positivity, engagement and mature nature on the Stage 3 Camp. Great job Nath! |
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5/6 Maroon |
For spreading positivity everywhere she goes and showing great leadership qualities on our Stage 3 Camp. |
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6 Blue |
His persistence and determination to hit a new balancing record during circus activities at camp. |
Religion
We have had some brilliant units in Religion that really speak to the heart of the Christian values we follow and promote here at St Mary’s. Last term we looked at the liturgical seasons of the church and specific religious holidays. We also recreated the last supper, adapting the bible passage into a script and filming using props. This term we are competing a unit on “Faith in Action”. During mission week we discovered that the motto for this year is “Hearts on Fire, Feet on the Move” which is a perfect translation of the concept of Faith in Action - so we decided to adopt that instead. We took part in mission day celebrations, completed a focused research project on Timor-Leste and made beautiful heart collages, whose internal colours represent the island nation of Timor-Leste, and who’s external colours represent the fire, passion and drive to help those in need.
It has been an absolute pleasure to watch this beautiful group grow together, demonstrating the values we strive to promote here at St Mary’s. This has been particularly evident in the fantastic co-operation and support they have given each other during group activities, no matter what groups they are in.
English
Spelling mastery continues to be a huge success at St Mary’s and provides a wonderfully structured, high impact start to the day. Expectations and routines were established very early on and we are now seeing the benefit of the high impact explicit instruction right across the stage.
Year 5/6 have been lucky enough to have some brilliant novels as the focus of our Novel studies over the last two terms. Last term we finished reading Catch A Falling Star by Meg McKinlay which focused on some really important themes like friendship, responsibility, death, spirituality and scepticism. This term we are reading Can You See Me by Rebecca Westcott and Libby Scott. This fantastic novel is partially written by Libby who is an eleven year old autistic girl. It deals with the themes of fear, acceptance, disability, understanding and friendship.
We have maintained a strong focus on sentence level writing, incorporating vocabulary from our class novels and using similes to find the best fit word for our sentences. We have also spent time practising our cursive writing as students in Year 6 prepare high school and students in Year 5 assume their roles as school leaders.
Maths
Connecting Maths Concepts was introduced last term and continues to build momentum as students reach mastery level of key concepts. We are nearly thirty lessons down and already we are seeing the concept of “connecting” basic concepts together to tackle more complex mathematical problems.
Maths Pathways continues to be an excellent way for students to continue learning in key focused areas that are specific to their level of understanding. The online connectivity has all proved to be a brilliant way for students to supplement their learning from home.
Science
Since our last newsletter update there has been a lot going on in science across stage 3. Last term Year 5 completed a unit on Earth and Space Science focusing specifically on the Earth’s place in the solar system. This term, Year 5 are well and truly underway in our unit on Physics and examining the properties of light, understanding that light can come from sources very close to us and very, very far away. Year 6 completed an Earth and Space unit focusing on how the Earth’s surface and weather are affected by geological factors. The conducted an independent research project on volcanoes as well as examined the flow rate of different viscosities of the same materials.
Art
Last term we participated in a fantastic unit focusing on dance with Ms Bridget Teggart. The students learned about the six fundamental concepts of dance as well as learning specific moves from Hip Hop and Salsa. Students put their hard work into action, splitting up into groups to choose an appropriate piece of music, construct a narrative, choreograph a ninety second dance routine and perform it live in the hall to their peers.
Stage 3 Camp
This year Stage 3 students travelled to the Jindabyne Sport and Recreation Centre for a taste of fresh mountain air. The Jindabyne SRC is an amazing facility and the students were very impressed as we drove in around 12pm on Monday after an early start and a long bus ride. Over the course of three days , students took part in a broad range of fantastic activities, giving each and every student the chance to shine. These included circus activities, archery, initiatives (team problem solving), drift bikes, camp fire survival skills, damper cooking, shelter construction, rogaining (mao based orienteering) and maze running. Students had an absolutely amazing time and will no doubt remember this camp for many years to come.All students in Year 5/6 are to be highly commended on their behaviour, attitudes and manners over the three days.
Mr James Campbell
Year 5/6 Maroon
Best you can Be St George Dragons visit
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
Have a wonderful week ahead.
Mrs Megan Grant
Sports Coordinator
Christmas 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). Please return completed templates to the office by Monday 6 November. If you would like another template sent home please call the office.
Mary Dullard