Welcome 

This week we welcomed Caitlin Summerfield into Year Four. Caitlin and her family, Regan, Sylvia and Sophie, have moved to Crookwell from New Zealand. We hope they feel welcomed to our wonderful school community.

Athletics Carnival

Our Sport coordinators have results and a wrap-up of the Athletics Carnival in the Sport Section of this Newsletter. I would like to acknowledge their efforts here and those of all the staff who worked tirelessly all day to ensure the Carnival ran smoothly and professionally. I am extremely grateful for their efforts and dedication to their students. I would also like to thank the parents and CHS students who volunteered their time to assist with timekeeping and field events. Finally, to Tennille and her Year 3 Canteen team, who provided delicious food and snacks all day, thank you.

Please join us on Monday morning for the Age Champion Presentation Assembly at 9:05am.

Kinder wood Raffle

Have you purchased raffle tickets for our Kinder Wood Raffle? Three prizes of wood loads are available. Don't forget to share them with family and friends. Extra books of tickets will be sent home to families today.

Sold tickets and money are to be returned by June 13, please.

Mackillop U11 Rugby League

Congratulations to Year Five student, Jesse Costello, who has become a member of the U11 Mackillop Rugby League Team. He will compete at the PSSA Championships in Blacktown in June. Jesse may well be our first St Mary's student to achieve this success, and hopefully not the last!

ATTENDANCE

When not unwell, we know that every day of attendance at school adds to your child's chances of success and achievement from kindergarten to high school. You play a key role in making sure your child attends school every day, and you do this because you understand that attendance leads to success, not just at school, but later in life. Every day at school counts towards your child’s learning.

As mentioned above, we realise some absences are unavoidable due to health issues or other circumstances. However, we also know that when students miss too much school, no matter the reason, it can cause them to fall behind academically. The more absences your child has, the harder it is for them to catch up on missed work and stay connected to their school community. Absences add up quickly. If your child is absent just one day every two weeks over a school year, this will add up to 20 days of lost learning. This is almost half a school term.

The following table indicates the levels of attendance.

Did you know you can check your child's attendance on Compass?

Go to your child's profile, then choose Attendance from the tab. Towards the bottom of that page can then see your child's collated absences and percentage rate.

Part of my job is to respond to all emerging absenteeism (<90% attendance) with support to improve attendance. This may involve an initial phone call, followed by letters and the creation of a Student Attendance Plan.

We want your child to succeed at school and we know that you do as well. Please let us know if you require support in ensuring your child attends school on time each day. Feel free to contact me to discuss this or any other concerns.

Congratulations and best of luck

Tomorrow we have ten St Mary's students running as members of the Northern Region Cross Country Team at Mt Stromlo. We wish them all the best of luck and are very proud of this team's accomplishment.

Run like the wind, Sophie C, Imogen, Tommy P, Harper, Cooper, Lizzie, Macie-Lee, Bridie, Elaine, Tommy C.

THREE-WAY LEARNING DISCUSSIONS - save the date!

This Term, we would like to invite parents/carers and students to our Learning Discussions on Friday, 4 July. This is the final day of Term Two and is a Pupil Free day. Your child's Semester Report will have been delivered to you on Monday, 30 June. Appointment times will open around Week FIVE for you to arrange a time that suits. If the opportunity to meet in person is difficult, we are also opening up phone appointments for the day. 

'NUT AWARE SCHOOL'

We have an increasing number of children attending St Mary’s who suffer from a severe anaphylactic reaction to peanuts/tree nuts and sesame seeds. These reactions can be serious and even life-threatening. These children need to have an EPIPEN (automatic injector device to administer adrenaline) on hand in case of an emergency at school.

As caregivers, we need to take all precautions necessary to minimise the risk of a life-threatening anaphylaxis.

As a community, we can work together to minimise the risk associated with being exposed to these foods that act as a trigger to such attacks.

The school acknowledges that due to food processing practices, it is impractical to eliminate nuts or nut products entirely from an environment where there is food, hence the reference to ‘Nut Aware’ School.

Management at School

• Parents/caregivers are encouraged not to send food that contains nuts to school with their children. This includes peanut paste, Nutella, Muesli Bars, all nuts and cooking oil containing peanut oil, as well as foods containing nuts (but does not extend to ‘foods that may contain traces of nuts’)
• Staff supervising students whilst they eat their lunch.
• The Tuckshop will not have ‘for sale’ food items that contain nuts, but this does not apply to food labelled ‘may contain traces of nuts’.
• No food sharing between children.
• Staff participate in annual First Aid training to assist with understanding and dealing with anaphylaxis (severe allergic reaction).

For Parents

• Parents are asked not to send peanut butter or nutella on sandwiches, biscuits etc. (to minimise the risk from person-to-person contact).
• Emphasise the importance of hygiene when eating food at home and at school – washing hands.

While we can never entirely enforce or regulate what comes from home in each child’s lunch box, not where foods contain traces of nut oil, we hope people will assist in working towards minimising the risks and look at alternatives away from nut products.