It is hard to believe that we are at the end of Week 6 and over the halfway point of the term. We have been blessed with some late warm summer weather, which the children have enjoyed. Our Kinder’s have also made it through their first full week of school! Well done Kinder!

May this Lenten journey be a time of grace and
blessings for each one of you, as we prepare
to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord
Jesus Christ and embrace the opportunities
and potential that lie ahead.

DAILY SCHEDULE AND EATING TIME
With the introduction of our DI (Direct Instruction) programs, we have made a slight change to the arrangements for eating times during the school day. In the pursuit of better learning, our Maths and English programs all occur in the first half of the day between 9:00am-12:00pm 

When the bell goes at 11:00am for the first break, all students from K-6 are seated and eating in their designated areas. The first 10 minutes are for eating before the students are invited to either continue eating their lunch or choose to go and play. Staff are also encouraging students to eat at the second break between 1:30-2:00pm. All classes also schedule a short fruit break in the morning.

If you have any further queries or concerns please contact your child’s classroom teacher. 

Our School Day
8:50-9:00am Class Prayer and Admin
9:00-10:00am Maths - CMC Groups
10:00-11:00am English - InitiaLit or Reading Mastery Groups

11:00-11:30am First Break (10 minutes supervised eating time)

11:30-12:00pm English - Spelling Mastery Groups
12:00-1:30pm Class/Stage - Key Learning Area Programs

1:30-2:00pm Second Break 

2:00-3:05pm Class/Stage - Key Learning Area Programs

GOOD TO GREAT SCHOOLS (GGSA)
Good to Great Schools Australia is a not-for-profit organisation with the mission of developing and supporting the delivery of effective teaching in Australian schools. The GGSA education model features internationally acknowledged best practices in instruction to meet the needs of all students. GGSA supports schools on their improvement journey to successfully deliver 21st century programs. These programs focus on three important practices commonly found in high performing school systems: Great Teachers, Effective Instruction and Every Child.

In 2023, St Mary’s Moruya partnered with Good to Great Schools, and in 2024 with the support of GGSA, we are using the following Direct Instruction programs:

• Spelling Mastery
• Reading Mastery Signature Edition
• Reading Mastery Transformations
• Connecting Maths Concepts K-6
• Oz-e Science: Biology, Chemistry, Earth & Space & Physics

Direct Instruction is an instructional method designed to accelerate learning by maximising efficiency in the design and delivery of instruction. The carefully articulated lessons ensure the consistency needed to produce high levels of achievement in every classroom.

Students undertake a placement test to accurately place them on the learning staircase, so they receive lessons at their skill level. Students are grouped and taught at their learning level so they master the content of each lesson and progress at their mastery rate.

Students are taught carefully sequenced and highly structured lessons. All students are required to participate actively and lessons are delivered at a fast pace. Lessons present the sequence of skills so students master all skills before moving on to more complex tasks. Only 10 percent of the material in a lesson is new, with 90 per cent being revision. Students are required to ‘master’ each lesson before advancing onto the next. Where students score less than 90 per cent, the teacher will reteach lessons to ensure mastery. The teacher administers a mastery test every five to ten lessons to monitor student progress and assess student mastery of the content covered.

One of the key strengths of Direct Instruction lies in its step-by-step teaching approach. By presenting information in a structured manner, teachers help students build a solid foundation of knowledge and gradually advance to more complex ideas. This ensures that no gaps are left in their understanding, enabling students to tackle higher-level concepts with confidence.

If you would like to know more about a particular program, please contact your child’s class teacher or Mrs Heffernan.

ATTENDANCE Matters!

Did you know that if a student misses as little as eight days in a school term, by the end of primary school they will have missed over a year of education? 

Education for your child is important and regular attendance at school is essential for your child to achieve their educational best and increase their career and life options. Our goal is to improve attendance rates in 2024 and reduce unexplained absences. Education in NSW is compulsory for all children between the ages of six years and below the minimum school leaving age.

The Importance of Arriving On Time
Arriving at school and class on time:

• Ensures that students do not miss out on important learning activities scheduled early in the day
• Helps students learn the importance of punctuality and routine
• Gives students time to greet their friends before class 
• Reduces classroom disruption.

Student learning is more successful when students are present consistently for the whole school day. Students who arrive “just a few minutes late...” miss out on vital information on the day ahead.

What if my child has to be away from school?
On occasion, your child may need to be absent from school. Justified reasons for student absences may include:

• Being sick, or having an infectious disease
• Having an unavoidable dental or medical appointment
• Being required to attend a recognised religious festival or ceremonial occasion.
• Exceptional or urgent family circumstance (e.g. attending a funeral, bereavement leave and Sorry Business).

In the case of an absence from school, parents must notify the school to advise them of the absence. This can be done via the Compass portal.

Please ensure you complete the Compass absentee form for any whole day absences in a timely manner. It is a legal requirement that any absence from school has a satisfactory explanation. Please only submit whole day absences via Compass (i.e. do not change the time in the absentee form). 

If you are dropping off late or picking up early you do not need to complete the absentee as you are required to sign your child in/out using the Compass Kiosk in the front office.

Extended Leave 
We recognise there are circumstances where students may need extended leave from school. Parents must seek permission from the Principal for their child or children to travel during school term for periods of time. Travel is considered to be domestic or international travel for the purpose of a family holiday, family business, bereavement or other reasons. Please send a note addressed to the Principal requesting the period of leave.

Legislation requires approval from the Principal and/or CECG if parents or carers wish to take their child out of school for longer periods of time of over 25 days or more. A form (available from the school front office) must be completed and returned for Principal approval prior to leave.

NAPLAN
Next Wednesday NAPLAN assessments begin for Year 3 and Year 5 students. A reminder that these assessments are a snapshot of what your child can do across various domains of literacy and numeracy. These assessments will be held in the mornings so please make sure your child arrives at school on time prior to the bell.

Below is the NAPLAN timetable. If your child is unable to attend one of the tests, then they will have time to complete a catch-up test. For online tests (Reading, Conventions of Language, Numeracy, Writing Yr 5) students have until the end of the test window (25 March) to complete catch-up tests. The last day for Year 3 Writing catch-up is Monday 18 March.

​​Students who are absent on the above dates will sit the tests from Tuesday 19/03/2024 to Monday 25/03/2024. In the event of technological issues, we also have these dates as back-up for the whole grade/s. If you have any questions, please contact Mrs Heffernan or Mr Bateman.

Mrs Matthews has contacted families regarding required adjustments for individual students participating in NAPLAN. Please contact Mrs Matthews if you have any further questions about your child’s participation in these assessments.

Please see the flyer below and follow the link https://www.nap.edu.au/naplan/for-parents-carers for more information about NAPLAN 2024.

EMERGING LEADERS PROGRAM
We are delighted that Jessie White applied and was accepted into the Catholic Education’s 2024 Emerging Leaders program. The course is an opportunity to acknowledge, affirm and develop the leadership capacity of our staff. Jessie was one of only twenty teachers from across the archdiocese to gain a place in this exciting new program. Most of the professional learning for this course occurs during the school holiday periods.

Throughout the course Jessie will examine her own and various styles of leadership, address the theological and biblical foundations of leadership in a Catholic school, explore ways to improve student outcomes through a range of capabilities and mentor colleagues through a specific project, implementing Classroom Mastery at St Mary's. 

Jessie is an exceptional educator and is very dedicated to supporting and improving student learning outcomes. She is an effective communicator, she is enthusiastic, she motivates others to learn and is a positive role model. We are fortunate to have such a passionate educator working with us. We congratulate Jessie on her inclusion in this program!

CLASSROOM MASTERY COACHING
Last Friday, Sara Wiggins, one of Classroom Mastery trainers and coaches, visited our school to provide some instructional coaching on the routines we have established for classroom management. Sara, Jessie White and members of the leadership team observed the teachers and the students in the classroom and provided teachers with feedback on how they were going with the implementation of our entry and exit routines and cue to start. 

Sara later met with a group of students to get their feedback about what they had noticed since we had implemented these new strategies. Students commented that St Mary’s felt calm, safe and a place focused on learning. 

The professional learning for staff and the supportive coaching has been very beneficial in keeping the Classroom Mastery standard of practice high across the school. We look forward to continuing to work with Sara and Dr Tim McDonald throughout the year.

Around the school grounds, new drainage is being added to the natural playspace to help with the flow of water and limit any runoff across the area. CECG are currently in the process of erecting some new fencing and gates. Therefore, if you need to pick up your child during school hours, please enter via the front gates on Church St and come to the office through that entry. Bus services and afternoon pick up arrangements will remain the same as they currently are, with pick-up at the Mary Statue and the end of the oval near the Church car park.

FREE eSAFETY PARENT WEBINAR
Parents and carers of primary school students are invited to participate in a free 30-minute webinar to help them understand eSafety and parental controls. The webinar will be hosted by the Council of Catholic School Parents (CCSP) in collaboration with the eSafety Commissioner.

This webinar provides an overview of different types of parental controls and how to set them on smart devices and computers, in apps and on gaming platforms for your child’s safety.

It's suitable for parents and carers of children and young people in primary school.
Date: Tuesday 26 March, 2024
Time: 7:30pm-8pm
Register here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/3100911298333648471

The Leadership Team

Personalised Plans (PPs)
At St Mary’s our commitment is to respecting and honouring the diversity of each individual as a fundamental principle of learning and teaching. Each child is unique and learns in a variety of ways and at different rates. Our teachers provide an accessible and inclusive curriculum by planning for teaching, learning and assessment that meets the needs of all students, including those who require reasonable adjustments.

A key part of our education program is to establish a Personalised Plan for students with disability, who require ongoing adjustments to learning. Throughout the year, teachers use evidence of learning and other relevant school data to inform decisions about reasonable adjustments. Personalised plans are reviewed annually and throughout the year as necessary, through collaborative planning meetings.

Consultation and collaboration between teachers, students, parents/carers and other professionals is a critical and ongoing part of this process. During such an exchange (face to face meeting, email or phone call), the student, their parent/carer, teacher and other professionals discuss the impact of the disability, how this affects access to the curriculum and what reasonable adjustments, if any, may be required. We work together as a team to plan the goals that the student will work towards achieving as well as the strategies that will be used to support them.

From the plan, teachers make adjustments to their classroom programs to address the identified student outcomes. Regular review of the Personalised Plans is important to determine if the goals or outcomes are being achieved and to alter the goals or strategies as needed. It is important to remember that this is only a plan and therefore it does not necessarily mean interventions or modifications are happening on a daily or weekly basis.

This year, if your child has a Personalised Plan, your child’s class teacher will be emailing you a Google Form in Week 8. The Google Form will ask you to complete some questions about your child and review the learning goals set by your child’s teacher. You will be able to add information and this will help inform your child’s Personalised Plan. 

If you would prefer a face to face meeting, or you would like some support filling in the Google form, you can contact your child’s class teacher or Mrs Jessie White (K-2) and Mrs Matthews (Yr 3-6)

We look forward to collaborating with you further throughout the year.

Mrs Jo Matthews and Mrs Jessie White
Classroom Support Teachers

Year 4 have hit the ground running this term with their learning both in the classroom and outside of the classroom. As a class we have a yearning for learning and are loving every opportunity to delve into learning. 

In Maths we are enjoying working in our Connecting Maths Concepts groups Monday- Thursday. These groups are helping to consolidate learning of key concepts with the four operations, in particular multiplication and division. We are using these skills to improve our mental maths facts for speed and accuracy. On Friday we love our hands on approach to learning. We have been exploring measurement and have learnt how to convert measurements between mm, cm, and metres. We have been exploring how to use a trundle wheel successfully, and how it can help us measure in metres. Lots of deep discussion was had as to the length and breadth of the oval, and we are now in the process of working out its perimeter and area. 

In English we have been working in both our Spelling Mastery and Reading Mastery groups to hone our skills to improve our reading and writing skills. In class we been reading the novel ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’ by Michael Morpurgo as our class novel. We have been using this as a springboard four our writing and research. The novel is about a boy that gets washed up on a deserted island, after he was swept overboard on his family’s yacht as they travel the world. As a class we have been researching whether sailing around the world would be a wonderful adventure… or a complete nightmare! We have been writing persuasive letters to our families to put some of these ideas to them as to why or why not such an adventure would be a good idea as a family! We have also been writing letters to Mrs O’Neill to try to persuade her with some ideas to improve the school further. 

In History we have been learning about explorers of the world through the middle ages up to British settlement in 1778 in Australia. We have learnt about many explorers from different countries such as the French, Dutch and Chinese that came to Australia before the British. We also have been learning about some of the trade routes with Indonesian and PNG peoples with Indigenous Australians in the north of Australia that have been happening for thousands of years. We have explored the difficulties that explorers had to go through with boats that relied solely on wind power. We also learnt about the ingenious ideas of the Chinese explorers to grow their own food on their sail boats to eliminate diseases such as scurvy! We built our own replica Chinese boats using paper and straws to see the size and magnitude of the boat compared to the sails. 

In Art we have been exploring the use of oil pastels and blending with a variety of different projects. We have created a cross for the start of our Lenten season, as a reminder of the time of waiting for Easter. We have used both cool and warm colours to show the contrast between the shapes in a way to replicate stained glass windows. We have also created our own beach landscape with blending skills to emulate the water colours and waters edge as a final reminder of summer as we enter the cooler months of Autumn. 

In PDHPE we have been learning a variety of team sport skills in readiness for our AFL Gala day we had on Wednesday. We really enjoyed the opportunity to work as a team, and were able to put our skills into practice. Although not many of us had played AFL properly before, we relished the opportunity to get onto the field and have a go at learning a new skill! We had such wonderful feedback about our great sportsmanship from both John and Lachlan from AFL South Coast as well. 

In Religion we have been learning about the heroes of the Church as part of our unit on ‘Jesus is our guide’. We have learnt about the qualities of Jesus and how we use these to model ourselves and we see role models in our community. We have read scriptural passages from Matthew explaining Jesus’ ministry and compared them to people in our Moruya community who also help others. We created our own paper bag puppets of role models in our community like our parents, grandparents, Father George and other important people in our lives.

Mrs Carla Durnan
4 Blue Teacher

Archdiocesan Swimming
On Monday, many of our students travelled all the way to Boorowa to participate at the Archdiocesan Swimming Carnival. It was an early start for our swimmers and while the day was warm, the water was cold! Congratulations to the following students on reaching this level of competition. Felicity P, Madison C, Matilda P, Lila W, Ashley H, Xavier E, Matilda W, Harriet W, Leo S, Spencer S, Cooper C, Elise L, and Ky N.

Congratulations to the swimmers continuing on to the MacKillop Swimming Championships in Sydney in April. Cooper C, Leo S, Spencer S and Ky N.

A special mention to the two students named Runner Up age Champions in their respective age groups.

Congratulations to:

Ky N: Runner Up Senior Boy Age Champion
Spencer S: Runner up 11 Years boys Champion

Rugby League Trials
Next Tuesday, 12 March, we have 10 students attending the Archdiocesan Rugby League Trials in Canberra. Good luck boys - we know you will do your very best. We look forward to sharing your results and efforts in the coming weeks.

Nathan W	Roarke C	Jimmy H	Cooper C	Billy I
Mitchell W	Leo S	Spencer S	Sam W	Oliver A

Stage 2 AFL Gala Day
On Wednesday, our Stage 2 students walked to Gundary oval to join in the fun at the AFL Super Kick Program. Even in the heat, the children had a very fun morning, practising skills in passing and kicking. Their skills improved dramatically throughout the day and we were so proud of all the children showing exceptional sportsmanship and manners. 

Eurobodalla Netball Cup
On Thursday, two teams of boys and girls participated in the Eurobodalla Netball Cup at Captain Oldrey Park, Broulee. We had such a wonderful day playing social netball against many of our surrounding schools, for some, their first experience at playing community netball. We are so lucky to have students with such lovely manners and sportsmanship, who joined in the fun of the day and played for the fun of the game.

Congratulations to all the students on their participation and engagement throughout the day. Thank you to Mrs Brooke Connaughton for her coaching expertise and to the Carroll College Sports Coaching students, Riley and Will for their help with the teams throughout the day, providing lots of laughs and motivation. A special thank you to Mia from Carroll College also for stepping in to assist us with umpiring. 

Running Club with Mr Hill
Beginning next Monday and Wednesday, Mr Paul Hill will be starting up the running club each week in preparation for the Cross Country at the end of the term. Any student is welcome to join in and is asked to being their runners on any of the days. This was a big help to our students last year as they prepared for the long distance running events.

Mrs Megan Grant
Sports Coordinator