8 March 2019

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

PEOPLE FIRST

“Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” Philippians 2:4

People first is a relatively simple message… or is it? As parents, we want our children to grow to be considerate of the needs of other people, we want them to place the interests of others ahead of themselves. It is true that there is great value and reward in doing so.

As parents, we place the needs of others ahead of ourselves, particularly when it comes to our children. We do everything we can to ensure that our children have every need taken care of. From sporting opportunities and dancing, to music and the arts, from reading and additional learning tasks, we provide because we love our children and are placing their needs ahead of others.

St Mary’s Primary School is proud to be a school that places People First. Our school aims to be student centred in all that it does. Students are provided with rich educational opportunities to develop each individual student in a unique way. The individual learning journey, while sharing some commonalities, is unique. Our teachers and support staff are skilled at catering for the individual needs of each student.

Over the course of the school year, our school will join together to place the interests of others ahead of our collective interest by fundraising and supporting various causes. Raising money and raising awareness for a particular cause not only makes a significant impact to the lives of others, it makes a significant impact to our own lives. People feel good when they place people first.

At St Mary’s there are ample opportunities for our students to benefit whilst being considerate of others. It may be working with someone collaboratively within the classroom, assisting someone with a task or encouraging someone to join in a game. Whatever the situation, both parties benefit as a result of one person being considerate.

The St Mary’s motto, “To Love is to Serve” is another illustration of People First. In loving each other, we aim to serve each other. Our Year 6 students are serving our school community very well and have made a strong start to the year. The Kindergarten Buddy Program and the Year 6 Parliamentary Working Groups are further examples of opportunities that benefit the school community. We are particularly proud of our Year 6 students and the varied community services they are providing, both in and outside of the school as part of this enriching program.

Of course, our school history is a beautiful example of People First. The charism of the Presentation Sisters that we deeply value is the result of a group of women coming together and placing the needs of the community of Young ahead of the need of themselves. This Presentation charism is alive at St Mary’s and as a school we will aim to further embed this charism throughout 2019 and beyond as it is an important part of the St Mary’s story.

We a grateful to those who faithfully serve the St Mary’s community. Thank you for your contribution.

Andrew

AP NEWS

We are looking forward to the Primary Swimming lessons over the next three weeks. All our Year 3 - 6 classes will participate in the three lessons and will enjoy the lessons from Mrs Williams, Mr Ward and Mrs MacIver. The lesson costs for pool entry, bus transport and the lessons have been largely covered with our successful Sporting Schools Grant for Term 1, with a small school contribution to cover any small costs over the Grant funding. It has been great to offer students these lessons free of cost thanks to the Sporting School Grant.

Online Activities

Over the last few weeks teachers have reported a few negative online activities from our students. These few activities mainly centre around the use of Google Hangouts. Google Hangouts is part of the Google suite of online tools that include Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Forms etc, many of these we use as part of our iPad program with Google Classroom.

Hangouts is the messaging/video conferencing app in this bundle of tools. Using Hangouts you can message in much the same way as you can text or use Apple Messenger or you can video conference or call much like Skype or Facetime.

We have had a very small number of messages between students that have not been nice or respectful using Google Hangouts. We are highlighting this use of Hangouts to all parents so we are all aware of its use by our students. Again, these are a very few messages from a few students and parents have been notified of this inappropriate use of the app by their children. The school has banned the use of Hangouts and asked students to delete the app form their iPads. Could parents please remind students that any inappropriate use of their school email to set up accounts or use accounts using school emails or logins will result in the confiscation of their iPads for a certain amount of time. This is part of the IPad User Agreement they signed when they brought their ipads to school.

I encourage all parents to talk with their children about the use of any messaging and video calling apps and keep an eye on their online activity. Teaching our students, both here at school and at home, about the appropriate use of online apps is the key to them developing safe online habits. Some recommendations for parents from the eSafety Commissioner are:

Staying involved

Establish your own account on the sites they use and learn about the privacy settings. Don't be intimidated by new technologies – understanding how these sites work may help you feel more comfortable with your kids exploring these spaces.

Being aware of age guidelines

It is useful to consider whether you are comfortable with the content and the potential for contact with others including teens and adults on each site. Consider whether your child is socially ready to manage contacts and look out for the age ratings set by app stores to help identify age suitable content.

Setting Rules

Make sure your child knows what information they can share or post and encourage them to tell you before they join new networks and before they post any personal information, including their full name, address or school.

Encouraging thinking first

Encourage your kids to think before they put anything online, even among trusted friends and remind them that once shared, information and photos can be difficult or impossible to remove and may have a long-term impact on their digital reputation.

Promoting respectful communication

Advise your child to stay respectful and be nice online and to avoid responding to any negative messages and report any they receive to you or another trusted adult.

More information for parents can be found on the Office of the eSafety Commissioner at:

Mark Birks

Dates to Remember

Happy Birthday

Sports

Swimming

Well done to the 17 athletes who competed at the Archdiocesan Swimming Carnival in Narooma on Monday. Out of the 17 athletes 12 have qualified to represent Canberra Goulburn at the Mackillop trials in Sydney. In particular, congratulations to the senior girls relay team that qualified to compete in Sydney breaking the Archdiocesan record in the process. Well done girls. A special mention to Hugo Davidson who was named the first ever Archdiocese junior boy age champion!

Come and Try Rugby League

A reminder that Friday the 8th of March is the final date you can register your child’s interest in the Come and Try Rugby League day on the 28th of this month.

RE News

We were fortunate to be able to gather as a school again this week to celebrate Ash Wednesday. This begins our Lenten journey to Easter. The children have been working in their classes, discussing the Lenten promises we make to each other and ourselves. The children are to be commended on their reverence during our Liturgy.

In the coming weeks, our Year 6 students will be assisting our Parish in making palm crosses for Palm Sunday. This tradition is a wonderful opportunity for our Year 6 leaders to assist in the wider community. These crosses are sold to other Parishes in our Archdiocese as a fundraiser for the St Mary’s Parish. Thank you to our Year 6 leaders and our Parishioners.

Emma Taylor and Sarah Sullivan

Parish News

Parents of Sacramental Children

Please ensure you are working through the Sacrament books you received. Your children will have a written quiz to o on the sacrament they are receiving, based on the booklets. If they don’t pass they will be deferred till next year.

Fr Tom

School Administration

Enrolments 2020

Kindergarten enrolments at St Mary’s Primary School for 2020 are now open. Our Kindergarten teachers for 2020 are Mrs Vicki Eastwood and Miss Kate Manwaring. Both Vicki and Kate will be running the transition program throughout 2019. Please note that there have been some changes to the transition process. Therefore you are asked to attend the first Parent Information Session and School Tour on Thursday 4 April at 10.30am. This session will provide an overview of the transition and enrolment process for 2019. This session targets at both current St Mary’s families and new families. Morning tea will follow the information session.

Enrolments for new children entering Years 1-6 for 2020 are also now open. Please contact the office for an enrolment form.

Thank You

Late last year Andree Rowntree braved a very wet and stormy afternoon to make a special delivery from Windridge Farms. Each year Windridge farms donate 2 hams which are distributed to our needy families within our school community. We are truly grateful for the support this offers these families who often find Christmas unaffordable. Thank you Windridge Farms

Assembly Awards

St Mary’s Primary School acknowledges student achievement in a variety of ways. One such way is at the K-6 School Assembly each fortnight. Achievements recognized may include class awards, sporting achievements or competition results.

We invite parents to attend our school assemblies to join in the celebration of student achievement. In assisting parents to make arrangements to attend assemblies, the School will now communicate directly with the parents of children who are to receive awards at each assembly via email on Wednesday mornings.

School Fees

Just a reminder that Term 1 School Fees are now due. If you have any questions regarding your fees please contact the front office.

Primary Choir and School Band

Engaging in music and the opportunity to access quality music programs have many benefits on students and their learning. Music can help students’ self-confidence, self-discipline and team work. Music helps students progress in other important learning areas such as Maths and English.

As such, students are encouraged to join the Infants or Primary Choir and/or join the St Mary’s Primary School Band. These opportunities are delivered by Mrs Jade Presser and Miss Emily Calvert. As of Term 1, 2019 there will no longer be a cost passed on to the families of students who are members of the Primary Choir or School Band. Music is valued at St Mary’s, therefore the school will cover these costs.

Parents who have already made a contribution to the Primary Choir or the School Band will have these costs refunded. Refunds will be organised by the front office.

Library News

Premier’s Reading Challenge

It’s that time of year again! Are you ready to take up the challenge? The Premier’s Reading Challenge has commenced and students from Kinder to Year 6 are invited to participate.

The Challenge aims to encourage a love of reading for leisure and pleasure in students, and to enable students to experience quality literature. It is not a competition but a challenge to each student to read, to read more and to read more widely.

You must complete reading a certain number of books to complete the Challenge. These books are recorded on the student’s personal online reading log.

We have quite an extensive range of books that are on the PRC booklist in our library at St Mary’s. Children also have the option of reading five personal choice books.

Reading and student reading logs must be completed by 30th August 2019. Certificates will be awarded to students who have successfully completed the Challenge later in the year.

The PRC is a very worthwhile activity for students to complete as it encourages them to read widely, providing them with an opportunity to read books that they would not usually choose.

Please email if you would like your child/children to participate this year.
joanne.murphy@cg.catholic.edu.au

A BIG thank you to all of the parents and grandparents that generously gave their time on Friday to cover books in the library. We now have lots of beautiful new books available for students to borrow and read.

Thank you!!

Joanne Murphy

Class News

Year 6

In 6CS we’ve been very busy this term with our Kindy buddies, learning about Federation in History and about fractions in Maths. We’ve been writing and publishing up a storm in our Literacy Block and Ohhh the magnificent artworks that now hang in our ‘gallery’.

All of this we do using Flexible seating. Providing flexible seating options in the classroom is all about acknowledging the impact our physical environment and learning space can have on students and their ability to learn. Flexible seating allows students to form their own micro-climate where they can exercise some control over the physical and mental ‘conditions’ in which they work best.

We use wobble chairs, yoga balls, cushions, a couch, beanbags and adjustable lift chairs to sit at the conference table, coffee table, teacher's desk or we can stand up and even lie on the floor, depending on the kind of work we're doing.

There are some rules to follow to do with respect, privilege and responsibility, and at the end of the term, we'll make any adjustments after a discussion about what we liked or didn't like.

Check out the gallery of photos to see us using our different options.

6C have been working hard learning about green screen technology, google applications and more. We've even had fun learning through the online game Kahoot it!!

Canteen Roster

Awards