Remote Learning Week 9

Once again the students at St Mary's have participated in another successful week of learning remotely. I have been continually impressed with the work and engagement I have seen from our students. You can be very proud of the guidance and support you have been providing your child during this very challenging time. 

As you may have already heard, the NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and deputy John Barilaro have announced today that some regional areas will have some of their restrictions eased as they are currently deemed low risk and have seen zero COVID cases for at least 14 days.  Upper Lachlan Shire has been included in this and will emerge from stay-at-home orders at 12:01am Saturday 11 September, but will continue to operate under restrictions to ensure the safety of regional communities.

I have been advised that from Monday schools are to move to Stage 3 restrictions. This means that our students are to return to face-to-face learning with limitations. I am currently waiting further advice from the Catholic Education Office, who are in consultation with NSW Health, regarding how this will be enacted. 

We are really looking forward to welcoming all of our students back onsite and we will endeavour to do this in a safe manner, ensuring the best interests of our staff and students. 

Please note the following end of term dates and return to school dates.

St Mary's Feast Day

Yesterday we celebrated the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the birthday of the mother of Jesus. Mary is the patroness of our school, so her birthday is also our St Mary’s School Feast Day.

We hope you enjoyed partaking in some 'Mary' themed activities as a part of Wellbeing Wednesday this week. 

Switched on Reader Award

Congratulations to Elsie McIntosh on being chosen as the recipient of the Crookwell Evening VIEW Club book voucher award for 2021 as part of the 'Learning for Life' program. Elsie was chosen for this Book Week prize because she has shown that she has become a 'Switched on Reader.' The Crookwell Evening VIEW Club hope this award encourages Elsie to continue her love of reading and learning.

Term 3 School Fees are now due

A friendly reminder that the Term 3 fees are now overdue. If you haven't paid yours and do not have a direct debit arrangement in place, please pay them as soon as possible via direct deposit, BPAY or Qkr. Thank you in advance for your assistance with this. If you are experiencing hardship due the COVID-19 pandemic please see below.

Information regarding payment of Term 3 fees

Catholic Education will again support families who have been financially impacted as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Term 3. The position of Catholic Education is that no child will be denied a Catholic education because of financial circumstances.

Where your family is experiencing financial stress due to job loss, being stood down, reduction in work hours, business downturn or closure resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, full or partial fee relief is available for Term 3. To apply for fee relief, you are asked to indicate the level of assistance you feel you need at this time by completing a one-page COVID-19 Fee Assistance Request Form. Your level of fee support will be confirmed as soon as possible.

Families whose employment situation has not been affected by COVID-19 can support the school by continuing to pay school fees as they fall due. This will support our school to continue providing quality learning in a connected community that nurtures and cares for each other.

Your family is an important part of our school community. Your financial circumstances will not compromise the place of your children at our school. If you are experiencing any difficulties please do not hesitate to contact me and I will ensure the matter will be dealt with in a confidential manner.

NAPLAN Reports

Our Year 3 and 5 NAPLAN reports have arrived and will be distributed over the next few days. Please keep an eye out for your child's report. 

Generally, we are very pleased with the results. We have achieved above to well above the National average in all areas (Numeracy, Reading, Writing, Spelling and Grammar and Punctuation) for both grades, except for Year 5 Writing. This was a computer-based test that proved challenging for our students. We commented at the time that our Year 5 students found it hard to type the required amount of text in the thirty-minute time frame and they spent a lot of their time changing font size, deleting and re-typing work. This is obviously an area that we need to practise more before future tests.

I would like to commend the Year 3 and 5 students and their teachers, Mrs Croker and Mrs Walsh, on their fantastic effort and sound results. 

NAPLAN testing allows us to plan for future school improvement - it, along with our other school-based assessments, highlights general areas of need for the whole school and for individual students and it allows us to put the required support mechanisms in place to ensure that all children are achieving their very best.