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Last Sunday’s Gospel…
“I am the way, the truth and the light,” said Jesus. These are three small words Jesus uses to describe Himself but they hold a very powerful and helpful message for us. As we journey through our lives Jesus shows us the way by His own example and that of those around us who continue His work. The words He spoke are truth as are all the things he taught us so we need only to look for them when we are making a decision. Finally, He lights our path by His presence with us and through the gifts He gave us to do what we need to do. He really makes it sound very easy when He says to just “Follow Me”.
From the Principal...
Our goals for the year are humming along very well. By goals I mean the School Improvement Goals we set ourselves each year. Put simply, these are the areas, according to our data, we need to ‘get better’ at. You have read about or heard me speaking about them before and I thought I’d give you an update.
Firstly, we are getting to know who Jesus is. We are learning about the historical figure and significant events in his life. A picture timeline in every classroom is helping with this because whenever the teachers study a story with the students they are showing them where it fits into Jesus’ life. The new bibles and text books (thanks P&F!) are all just about ready to go and help with this too. Studying Christmas at the moment in Stage 3 with the Christmas Art competition has shown us we can’t take for granted that students know who visited Jesus when he was born, or that he also lived in Egypt or that John the Baptist was his cousin. It is this factual knowledge we are working on – the students are very good at the application of stories to carry out missionary work. Secondly we are looking at how we assess students to measure their learning growth but also to measure teacher impact on learning. The Localised Numeracy Assessment is a standard based assessment the students complete each term that helps with this. Teachers meet about the results because by it we can see individual, class and grade trends and adjust plans accordingly to cater for these needs. By comparing one class’ results to another, teachers also discuss teaching techniques so they can increase their impact by learning from each other. Mrs Smith and I coordinate these discussions fortnightly on various data including reading, EALD, writing and religion, as well as anything else the teachers ask for, and we get a very good overall picture of how we are going as a school. EALD has also been a focus with around 70% of our population coming from Non-English Speaking Backgrounds and 38% with English as an Additional Language or Dialect. Explicit teaching of vocabulary and field knowledge has been central to this journey too and just as essential for native speakers because we don’t all go to the beach, or a park, museums, on a picnic or even travel on public transport. We are seeing the benefits of this work in increased comprehension of reading texts and richer writing. Our Years 3-5 teachers have also been working with our Instructional Coach on maintaining our excellent Year 3 English NAPLAN results in writing through to Year 5. Data shows we drop down a lot so we have been working on that too. A study of results next year will show us how much difference we are making – there may be some this year already.
As you have been reading, we have done a great deal of work preparing for Book Week and Grandparent’s Day. We are looking forward to having so many people at school again. Planning has been in conjunction with Covid safe measures around having a large number of guests in place. I look forward to seeing you all!
God Bless,
Mrs Michelle Rolfe
Principal
Over the last few weeks students have been looking at ways they can be kind to one another. Teachers have spent time with students each afternoon discussing acts of kindness. Students have been trying to look at different ways they can express kindness, for example
-Smiling at someone
-Holding the door for someone
-Helping parents with chores around the house
-Saying “Please” and “Thank you”.
Teachers have reported that they have seen a change in behaviour in their students which has been great to hear. We encourage you to continue having these conversations with your children at home.
Just a reminder:
- School sport shoes are to be predominately white with white shoelaces.
This week teachers awarded stickers to students who were wearing the correct uniform including school bags, raincoats and hair cuts.
I would like to thank you for all your support with ensuring your child is wearing the correct school uniform.
If you have any questions regarding your child’s school uniform please speak to your child’s classroom teacher.
Regards,
Miss Alana Stroligo
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION REPORT with Mrs Deanna David
Greetings and many blessings to you all. Here are some updates and resources that I feel will be of benefit to you.
Month of Creation
In 2015, Pope Francis established 1st September as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, encouraging the community around the world to pray for our common home. The day is inspired by Pope Francis’ landmark encyclical Laudato Si which calls on every person living on this planet to care for our shared Earth. The Season of Creation begins on September 1st and the theme this year is Listen to the Voice of Creation. The students will have opportunities to give thanks for the marvelous works that have been entrusted in our care and will be able to ask for God’s help in taking action to protect our planet.
We pray…
Loving God, who hears every voice, knows each cry of injustice, teach us wisdom. Bring healing to our lives, that we may protect the world, that we may listen to the world you have created and not close ourselves from it. Reveal to us the ways in which we have failed to hear your voice in how we treat the earth. Help us to listen as you do. Amen.
Storytelling Kits
A key goal in the school Strategic Plan is around getting to know Jesus. A Key strategy or way of learning to know about Jesus is storytelling. It simply involves telling stories using a script and basic resources such as peg people. In the holidays Mrs David and some staff created new storytelling boxes. We will continue to make up these resources.
Sacrament Update:
Recently we celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation with Bishop Brian and Fr Henry. The candidates were extremely well-behaved and the service was beautiful. Please see photos below:
The Sacrament of First Holy Communion will take place on Sunday 20th November.
Podcast: Ripples Ripples is a PODCAST developed for staff and parents on-going spiritual formation. It seeks to offer a space where people can draw on the wisdom of a series of guest speakers and can experience some treasured stillness through meditation. See the link - you can either download the files as podcasts or listen to them directly from the website.
Weekly Mass Online:
Many parishes are providing a live streaming of Sunday Mass so that we may all participate in the celebration of the Eucharist.
Bishop Brian and other clergy are live streaming Mass every Sunday. If you are interested, go to their Facebook page:
Catholic Diocese of Wollongong - Hom
Have you listened to one of the CEO Ripples Podcasts?
Scan here to access the podcasts and download onto your phone.
You can download straight onto iTunes or PodBean.
Sustainability Focus For Families
Some ideas for families that don’t involve going too far… the children will find out soon about a Waste Free day at school.
Do you pack your child’s food in containers or Bento-Style Boxes?
Perhaps consider moving away from Cling Wrap for sandwiches.
Over the last few weeks you may have heard your students practising their choral speaking performance for our Book Week and G’Day celebrations. This year we will be celebrating this special event on Friday 2nd September 2022. You are welcome to attend the entire day or just come for one of the below celebrations.
The day is as follows:
|
9-9.30am |
Grandparents Day Liturgy Undercover area outside the canteen |
|
9:45-10:30am |
Open Classrooms |
|
10:30-11:15 |
Grandparents Morning Tea and Book Fair in the hall |
|
10.45-11.15 |
Student Morning Tea on playgrounds |
|
11:30-1:00 approximately. |
Book Parade Choral Speaking Performance Choir Undercover area outside the canteen |
At the completion of the day students are able to be signed out if parents wish. If your child/ren is going home with a grandparent and they are not on the regular dismissal list please ensure you write a letter to your child/rens classroom teacher informing them that you give permission for your child/ren to go home with their grandparent and please state their name.
Please keep in mind these events may be subject to change depending on weather and COVID-19 cases.
This year the theme for Book Week is ‘Dreaming with eyes open…’. On Friday 2nd September students are encouraged to come to school dressed as their favourite character from a book. We do not expect parents to go out and purchase an expensive costume for this event.
We are asking families to provide a plate of food for the G’Day morning tea. This could be a plate of sandwiches, cupcakes, scones, please be as creative as you would like. Students can bring the plate of food to school on Friday 2nd September for the Morning Tea. As per school policy, nuts and nut-based foods are not to be brought.
On June 25th Ethan from Year 5, was graded to black belt. He started Taekwondo at the age of 4 and he has been training and competing since the age of 4.5 years old.
On Sunday 7th of August he competed at the NSW State Championships and the State National Selections at Sydney Olympic Park. He competed in the blackbelt division and it was a tough division. He fought extremely well and won his division and got gold. He holds the NSW state champion title. This is the 3rd time he will hold the State Champion title and he has also held National Champion. He will be competing at the Australian Taekwondo National Championships at Bendigo on Dec 3-4 2022.
Early next year- 2023, Ethan will be competing at the Australian Taekwondo National selections for a spot to represent Australia at the World Championships which will be held around August 2023. Ethan and his coaches have been training him to be able to achieve his dream.
On August 7, Chloe Zabat competed at the NSW Taekwondo Championships winning Gold in her division and qualifying for the Nationals at the end of the year.
In May she competed at the Moondance Competition, one of the largest dance elimination competitions in NSW held in Wollongong. The top 5 competitors receive a place. Chloe did so well, placing 4th in the solo elimination competition out or 72 competitors and placing 2nd with her partner in the duo eliminations out of 32 groups.
2022
| Wednesday 24th August | ICAS Spelling |
| Friday 26th August | Yr 4 Science Space Wollongong excursion |
| Week commencing 29th August | Book Week |
| Tuesday 30th August | ICAS Maths |
| Years 1 and 4 to Mass, 9.00am | |
| Thursday 1st September | Father's Day Stall |
| Friday 2nd September | "G" Day, Book Week celebrations, Open Classrooms |
| Tuesday 6th September | Kinder and Year 3 to Mass, 9.00amj |
| Tuesday 13th September | Kinder excursion to Golden Ridge Animal Farm |
| Years 5 and 6 to Mass, 9.00am | |
| Friday 16th September | Musica Viva! |
| Tuesday 20th September | Kinder, Years 1, 2 and 5 to Mass, 9.00am |
| Thursday 22nd September |
Last day of school for Term 3 |
| Friday 23rd September | Pupil Free Day |
| Monday 10 October, 2022 | First Day for Term 4 |
| Monday 5th - Wednesday 7th December |
Year 5 Camp - Wedderburn |