St Mary's Primary School Crookwell eNewsletter

Upcoming Events

Term 2
Friday 25 June	Stage 2 (Yrs 3 & 4) Showcase of Learning- 12.30pm End of term
Monday 12 July	Northern Region Combined Staff Spirituality Day in Goulburn with Fr Richard Leonard. Office closed.
Tuesday 13 July	Term 3 commences for students
Tuesday 27 July	School Photo Day
Wednesday 28 July	School Dental Assessment

End of Term 2

This is our last newsletter for the term. Congratulations to all of our dedicated and hardworking students who have put in another huge effort this term to develop their skills across many Key Learning Areas. Thank you to our wonderfully supportive parent body and to the teachers for their hard work and dedication.

We farewell Mrs. Ashlee Picker, who is taking twelve months maternity leave. We wish Ashlee, Ben and Claire the very best of luck for the safe arrival of baby number two. We thank Ashlee for her dedication to her role as Performing Arts Teacher.

Next term, we welcome Mrs. Claire McCormack to the St Mary's Staff. Claire will be filling Ashlee's position.

On Monday 12 July, all staff will participate in a combined Northern Region Staff Spirituality Day in Goulburn with Fr Richard Leonard. Fr Richard is a Jesuit priest with expertise in media. The day will focus on the theme of Catholic Identity: Jesus, Choosing and Mission. Please note that the School Office will be closed on this day.

I hope you have a happy and safe holiday break and I look forward to seeing the students back on Tuesday 13 July.

Term 3 Dates

We had Friday 30 July scheduled for our 2021 Grandparents and Special Friends Day. With the current COVID situation rising again in NSW and the Sydney Red Zones in place, we have decided to push this event back to later in the term. Our top priorities are to keep our families safe and to be able to welcome our special visitors to St Mary's. Early next term another date will be released. We are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused.

On Monday 2 August at 3.30pm, we will be holding a parent workshop with our school Catholic Care Counsellor, Sharyn Lynch, on Emotional Regulation. All parents are welcome to attend. Care will be provided for your children for the duration of the session. More details about this session will be provided next term.

School Assemblies

In a constant endeavour to gain the most amount of quality learning time out of our week, we have decided to hold our weekly whole School Assembly each Friday morning at 9.05, rather than on a Monday morning.

'Student of the Week' Teacher Awards will be presented at this assembly and these, along with our other awards, will be published the day before in our Newsletter. Parents and friends are welcome to attend if they wish.

This change will allow our students to get straight into learning on a Monday morning and will enable a 120-minute literacy block four days per week.

Spelling Mastery

Next term students in Year 3 to Year 6 will commence Spelling Mastery as our whole school Spelling Program.

Spelling Masteryis a six-level Direct Instruction series that teaches students dependable spelling skills by blending three approaches: the phonemic approach, the whole word approach and the morphemic approach.

The whole word approach focuses on memorisation.Spelling Masterydoes not use memorisation for words that contain predictable phonemic elements, but reserves memorisation for words that have irregular letter-sound relationships (i.e feud, break, gone). Prompts are used to make the initial learning easier and systematic practice is provided to facilitate retention.

The phonemic approach is used for letter-sound correspondences that are predictable. For example, the sound /ar/ is highly consistent. In about 95 percent of the words in which the sound /ar/ is said, the sound is spelt with the letters a-r. A careful analysis of phoneme-grapheme relationships was made by the authors and the generalised relationships are systematically introduced and practised.

The morphemic approach is used for combing the roots, bases, prefixes and suffixes into words. The morphemic approach used is highly similar to that used inSpelling Though Morphographs. Students combine morphographs to write words and do exercises in which they indicate the morphographs in words. The use of morphographs to figure out the meaning of words gradually increases as students progress through the levels.

We have been using Spelling Mastery as an intervention program at St Mary's for a few years and have seen great improvement as a result of this program. The program also aligns with the approach used in InitaLit and Connected Math Concepts.

The Catholic Education Office has supported our move to the Spelling Mastery program and has contributed funds for us to purchase the teacher resources required. The school will purchase the student materials.

So what will be different? Your child will participate in a direct instruction spelling group four times a week. Each child, in Years 3-6, has been given a placement test and will be put in one of six small multi-age groups. The placement test indicates which level your child requires to further develop their spelling skills. Each day at 11.00am your child will go to their group to participate in the lesson. They will have a Spelling Mastery student journal to work in. The lesson involves a lot of teacher and student input, recitation and repetition. Your child will not take home a weekly core list of words and will not do a weekly pre- and post-test. They may, however, still have some individual words to learn from their writing or relating to class texts.

Enrolling Now

Enrolments in Catholic Schools in Canberra have now closed. In NSW enrolments continually remain open however we would appreciate it if they could be completed as soon as possible, as our 2022 staffing is allocated at the end of this term.

If you have a child starting school at St Mary's next year we would appreciate it if you could please enrol your child now online or call Belinda for an enrolment pack. https://enrolments.stmarysc.nsw.edu.au/nsw-enrol/start

School Fees Due

If you haven't paid your Term 2 school fees please ensure that, unless you have a direct debit in place, you organise payment as soon as possible.

If you do have a direct debit in place, please check that it covers the minimum amount required per week- $42.77 for 1 child, $47.54 for 2 children, $52.31 for 3 or more children.

If you would like to have a discussion regarding your fees, please do not hesitate to speak to me or Belinda as there are a number of options available.

Lost Property and Naming of Clothes

Please make sure that all pieces of clothing, lunch boxes, drink bottles and other items sent to school are well named so we can return pieces to their owners quickly before the end of term.

School Photos

School Dental Assessment Program

On Wednesday 28 July, the Southern NSW Local Health Dental team will be coming to St Mary's to complete dental assessments on each student. Consent forms will be sent home. These need to be completed and returned to school, please.

Commonwealth School Data Collection Notice

It is that time of the year again when the Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment collect certain information about our school, staff, and student body. Please find an information sheet below regarding this census and how the information is used.

Commonwealth School Data Collection - Parent Privacy Notice

Term 2 Value – Striving for Excellence

Winter is certainly here! It’s part of the cycle of life. The dying of the old in preparation for the new (in Spring). A time for rest and renewal. A time of contemplation.

During the winter school break, take time to reflect on how you are striving to live an excellent life for God.

Scriptures tell us that every Christian should strive for excellence in all that he/she does.

“And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgement; That you may approve things that are excellent;” Philippians 1:9-11

For many today, living the Christian life is summed up in the words: “God is still working on me.” This is true. But God wants us to keep striving for excellence in our everyday living and conduct so we might reflect His own goodness in our daily living

Excellent living is the kind of living that seeks to represent God’s character of holiness, love, mercy, forgiveness and righteousness in daily lives.

We need to continually strive to live the excellent lifestyle that is pleasing to God, and the only way we can do this is to practice a love, which comes from God and is therefore rooted in truth. If we are going to love people with an overflowing agape love (“your love may abound”), then we need to first open our hearts to Jesus’ love for us.

"I love Thee, I love Thee

And that Thou doest know;

But how much I love Thee,

My actions will show."

Lord,

From the rising of the winter sun to its setting, on these short winter days…

Make me short on mindless activity, long on reflecting on your love for me.

Make me short on being driven, long on paying attention.

Make me short on rushing and tiring, long on walking and wondering.

Make me short on focusing only on myself, long on looking beyond.

Make me short on mean thoughts, long on offers of words of comfort.

Make me short of obsessive lists, long on spontaneous acts of kindness,

Make me short on tradition as a habit, long on rediscovery and re-owning.

Make me short on false jollity, long on stilling and rooted joy.

Make me short on guilt, long on being merciful to myself.

Make me short on being overwhelmed, long on peacefulness

AMEN

St Mary’s Mini Vinnies Team

Please remember to support our St Mary’s Mini Vinnies team in their efforts to keep the poor and homeless warm this winter. Many thanks to those who have already donated the following winter warmers:

New thick socks
New gloves/mittens/beanies
Warm Coats, jumpers and scarves
Sleeping bags

(please make sure any used items are in reasonable condition)

Donations may be delivered to St Mary’s Primary School office.

Tennis- 2021 Todd Woodbridge Cup- Hume Tennis, Yass

“The Todd Woodbridge Cup is a primary school competition for stage 2 (years 3 and 4) students that uses modified equipment, numeric scoring and mixed gender teams.

The competition commences with school zone events followed by regional playoffs (term 3) and finally a state final that is held at Sydney Olympic Park each year (term 4).

The Todd Woodbridge Cup is not just about selecting the best students, but encouraging participation, providing a positive experience playing tennis, growing friendships and giving students the opportunity to represent their school in a team environment. For the majority of students, this may be their first experience representing their school.”

We are asking all interested Year 3 and Year 4 students who would like to take part in this event, to email me at rachael.croker@cg.catholic.edu.au, by Monday July 12.

Please note that we must have at LEAST 4 students to enter a school team.

Upcoming Events:

Crookwell Cricket Cup- Years 3-6, Wednesday August 4
Footy Colours Mufti Day- Years K-6, Friday September 3
Boorowa Touch Football Carnival- Years 2-6, Friday October 15

Book Returns

Please return all Library books tomorrow.

An extension on books already borrowed is permitted, by request.

Quality Time with our Children

Spending quality time with our children helps build positive relationships, improves self-esteem, and is essential to optimal development.

Our lives can get so busy that quality time with our children can fall off the radar but it is important to find a few minutes here and there.

Ways to spend quality time with your children:

Plan regular scheduled dates. Planning and scheduling quality time means our kids look forward to quality time.
Take pictures together. Photos create memories that stretch quality time beyond the time you physically spent together.
Cook together. Your child gets to spend time with you and learn some helpful life skills as well!
Eat dinner together as a family a few times a week.
Exercise together. It’s good for both of you.
Play together. Build an indoor cubby house with an old sheet, build a fort out of boxes, play doctor, or have a family games night.
Build quality time into your morning and bedtime routines. Set aside time to really talk together, read together, relax together – whatever suits your family.
Remember, it is quality not quantity – just 5-7 minutes a day of one on one time is enough.

Resource: A book about the different ways people express love.

Year 5 Science Space Projects

This term Year Five has been learning about the Solar System in Science. We were asked to do a project. We had to create something with all the planets including the Sun, Earth's moon and the asteroid belt (choice). We had four weeks to create a cool and creative space project.

I made mine out of a light and easy box (which I painted black) foam balls for all the planets, glitter as stars, I also used fairy lights for stars, and some wire to hold my planets in place.

It was fun and I loved that everyone had different ideas. Like someone used a clothes hanger and hung their planets on that, another used a glowing ball for Venus!

It was amazingly fun, and I loved all the different solar systems that my classmates worked really hard on. By Sophia Galland

_____________________________________________

This term Year Five has been learning about space. We were given an assignment to do on the solar system. We all had four weeks to complete it and they all turned out to be amazing and different.

What we had to do

We had to have eight planets and the sun, and they all had to be in the correct order, and you had to have the Earth’s moon. If you had all the information on the Rubric you would get a good score.

What I did

I went to officeworks to get my materials for my project. The materials that I got were a bucket of playdough, a packet of kebab sticks and a cork board.

What others did

Everyone's project was amazing and different. I really liked looking at different ones. Good job to everyone! By Finn McCormack

Congratulations to the students who performed in front of the school at their Kids on Keyboard concert on Monday.

We were thoroughly entertained by them and Mr Binns!

P&F Fundraising

Thank you to the coordinators and volunteers of our Term 2 events. This term we have had a very successful Clearing Sale, NR Cross Country Carnival, Woodraffle and Street Stall.

The funds from each of our fundraising events, along with the proceeds from the school canteen and cattle fund, go towards providing resources for each class at St Mary's. $3000 per term is provided to the school for key learning area resources such as books, learning aids, teacher resources, hands-on materials etc.

Along with that, a large amount is provided each year for nominated bigger items such as technology, school and playground improvements. This year the P&F have already contributed $12,500 for reverse-cycle systems in our Kinder, Year 6, ICT Room and Library. Each year, at our first meeting, the fundraising goals are set, however, these can evolve as the year progresses. All parents are invited to attend our termly meetings, which are held in Week 4. Ou next meeting date is Tuesday 3 August at 7.00pm.

The purpose of the class fundraising events is to get more helpers on board. We previously found, prior to class fundraising events, that more often than not, it was only our committee members organising and assisting at events. The class fundraising events have enabled and encouraged more people to get on board, and it's a great way for families to meet.

I would like to thank everyone who has been involved with fundraising and assisting at the school tuckshop this term.

Daniel Walsh

P&F President

Tuckshop News

We would like to invite any new or existing families to join us for a shift volunteering in our school tuckshop this year.

If you are able to assist please fill out the eform here: Tuckshop Helpers

PLEASE NOTE THERE ARE NO OVER THE COUNTER CASH SALES FOR HOT FOOD OFF THE MAIN MENU, THESE MUST BE ORDERED.

Over the counter cash sales of cold packaged items like chips, yoghurt frogs, frozen yoghurts, etc, are available.

Term Three Roster

The Term Three roster is below. If you are unable to do your allocated date or there is a day which you are able to help, please let Daria know.

Parish Office

For Parish and Sacramental matters please forward your enquiries to Goulburn Parish Secretary, Sharon Cashman, via email or call into the Parish Office at the Old Convent Building on Thursdays only.

Email: Crookwell@cg.org.au

Website: http://cg.org.au/crookwell/Home.aspx

Phone: 48321 633

Address: 55 Wade Street (the Old Convent Building)