Term Two Dates

Social Development and Resilience Building

The social development of students in primary school is as important as their academic learning.

The reality is, children are going to fight or argue sometimes, this is normal in any environment, you may notice it between siblings at home and it is certainly going to happen within a large group of students at any school. Learning how to resolve these issues is an important part of your child’s social development.  When we were Remote Learning I noticed that social development was an important element of education that your children were missing out on.

At St Mary’s, when we know about a social issue (or behaviour incident) we spend a lot of time helping the children resolve it and understanding how to avoid it from happening again. We talk about how they can try to make it better. We use a process called Restorative Justice and a large part of our time is dedicated to this.

"Restorative Justice is a restorative approach, the inherent worth of each individual is recognised, and we seek to strengthen the essential ties that bind us to one another – in the classroom, school and the community.

Restorative Justice is a framework that educators can use to create safe, supportive spaces in our schools. All members of the school learn to bravely engage in that community, and learn from honest – and sometimes difficult – conversations.

When relationships break down – as they will – it is about having fair responsive processes in place in which everyone can share their stories, hear the impact of their actions, repair the relational harm and figure out the best way forward, together.

It builds capacity – in students and in adults – to live in, understand and embrace the real world, with all its contradictions and complexities.

At the heart of restorative justice is the idea that everyone is inherently worthy and that our connection to one another is what matters most."

https://www.monash.edu/education/teachspace/articles/how-to-use-restorative-justice-in-your-classroom-and-school 

Unfortunately, we can’t promise you that your children won’t have some occasional social challenges and unhappy moments at school, but we can promise that if we are told about these issues, we will do everything we can to support you and help your child through to a resolution. If your child is having difficulty managing social issues please encourage them to talk to their teacher and/or the playground duty teacher, depending upon where this issue has arisen). We are here to help. 

It’s extremely important for children to learn how to pick themselves back up when they are unhappy or upset. This skill is essential as they move into their teenage years and adulthood, where problems become even bigger. Bouncing back develops your child’s resilience and sets them up for the challenges that lay ahead. 

In Personal Development and Health lessons, children in Years 1-6 participate in the ‘You Can Do It’ Program. This program addresses the aspects of the psychological functioning of young people that lead to poor learning, behaviour, social and emotional outcomes. Negative Attitudes and under-developed Character (values and strengths) help create five Social-Emotional Blockers. Additionally, the framework represents the Positive Attitudes and Character (values, strengths) that support five essential Social-Emotional Skills all contributing to positive outcomes.

https://www.youcandoiteducation.com.au/ 

If you think your child can use additional support with developing resilience our counsellor Madelyn Burns specialises in this area. Madelyn works one-on-one with students and parents and also can take small class groups, to support the Social and Emotional Learning curriculum.

Madelyn will run a parent session after school on Monday 20 June about developing and building resilience in our children. 

It’s hard, as a parent, to see your child upset about an issue that occurred at school, but remember, how you discuss this incident models important resolution behaviour, regulation and management skills. When talking to your child about an issue remember to stay calm and to ask lots of questions. What happened? What were you doing? What was the other person/s involved doing? What was happening before then? How were you feeling? How do you think the other person was feeling? How do you think it could have been avoided? What can you do to make it better? What do you think they can do to make it better? Have you told a teacher? Encouraging your child to speak up and talk about their troubles is important.

Please remember that there are always multiple perspectives to everything and that your child, of course, will generally only relay their perspective. 

Social development is an important aspect of your child’s education at St Mary’s that we need to work on as a united team. Please contact your child’s teacher if you have any concerns about your child’s social development and resilience. 

Industrial Action

The Independent Education Union Executive has endorsed a full-day stop work on Friday 27 May.

St Mary's will be operating as normal this Friday and will not be affected by the industrial action. Students are expected to be at school ready for their regular learning program.

The Peter Lucas Cup has been cancelled due to this action. Unfortunately, the only schools that had registered to participate were Catholic Schools. 

The School Explorers

On Friday 3 June our school readiness program, The School Explorers Program, commences with our 'Move It' session at 2pm. The attending children will explore movement with our Perceptual Motor Program. We ask families to sign their children in at the school library prior to us moving to the Multipurpose Hall to commence our activities. Parents and carers are welcome to sign their child in and return to collect them at 3pm or to stay for the session. 

All preschool students who are school-aged in 2023 are welcome to attend our school readiness sessions, regardless of school choice. Please spread the word.

Uniform Shop

A reminder that the uniform shop is open on Tuesday and Thursday 12pm-1pm only. Any orders made through Qkr will be available for collection during these times or will be sent home with your children.

A reminder items must be paid for before leaving the uniform shop.

Enrolling Now

Enrolments can now be placed online. Go to https://enrolments.stmarysc.nsw.edu.au/enrol/ to enrol now.

Enrolments packs are available from our School Office or can be downloaded from our website http://www.stmarysc.nsw.edu.au/enrolment.html

School Hours, Morning Club and Teacher Contact Out of Hours 

Students commence school at 9.00 am (first bell) and conclude at 3:10 pm. Morning playground supervision does not commence until 8:40am. Please ensure your children are not at school before 8.40am, unless registered to attend morning club. Afternoon supervision concludes at 3:30pm. 

Morning Club is on Monday to Thursday only from 8.00am to 8.40am. Children must be registered to attend. The children will be able to take part in quiet activities, such as reading and drawing.

In recognising work-life balance for our teachers, St Mary's staff may not respond to emails between 4:30pm and 8am during the week and not at all on weekends. We hope you can respect and support our endeavour to promote a healthy work-life balance for our staff.

Introducing Mrs. Alison Cummins

I’m Alison Cummins and I am teaching Kindergarten this year. I live on a farm near Taralga with my husband and three children. Although I was accepted into teaching after completing Year 12, I decided that I had a lot of living to do before diving into more study. Therefore, I did not begin my teaching journey until 2010 when I began working as a Student Learning Support Officer while I completed my teaching degree. Upon completion of my degree, I worked on a composite Kinder/Year 1 class and as a casual teacher in Taralga and Goulburn. My love for St Mary’s Primary School started when I completed a work placement with Mrs. Skelly and I remember thinking how lovely it would be to work at a school with such amazing teachers and respectful students. It’s funny how things work out! I’ve been at St Mary’s now for 5 years teaching Year 1, Kinder and all classes for music. My passion in education includes nurturing the wellbeing of the whole child emotionally, spiritually and academically so that we develop independent and kind, lifelong learners.

Peace I leave with you

This coming Sunday is the feast of the Ascension of Jesus into heaven.

Having experienced the pain and sorrow of Jesus’ crucifixion, then the joy and new life of His resurrection, His followers have to face the reality of His departure – again. Jesus knows their confusion, pain and sense of loss. Before he leaves them, he gives two parting gifts; The Holy Spirit and His own Peace.

Jesus doesn’t give them all the answers to the questions they have. He knows that they will have to face difficulties, disagreements, and differences. So he prepares them for the road ahead by strengthening and encouraging them with His Holy Spirit and His own inner Peace. He is sending them out to proclaim the Good News, but He does not expect them to do it on their own. His ongoing presence reassures them that they will never be alone or helpless.

Neither will the community of believers today. The Christian's life is not shaped by Jesus' absence but by God's abiding presence. We are asked to face our daily reality and lives not just with optimism but also with faith and hope in the risen Jesus and each other.

As our celebration of the Easter season is coming to an end, we remember that Jesus remains with us through the Holy Spirit, who teaches us everything we need to know, reminds us of all that Jesus taught, and brings us peace.

“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

It is up to every one of us – with the help of the Holy Spirit – to do our best to help others not to suffer, not to be afraid, not to have troubled hearts

MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN OUR WORLD by supporting our Mini Vinnies

Donations of the following items would be greatly appreciated:

• New thick socks
• New gloves/mittens/beanies/scarves
• Coats
• Sleeping bags
• Blankets/donnas
• Non-perishable food items

(please make sure any used items are in reasonable condition

Let us strive for excellence in answering Jesus’ call to help others…

School Athletics Carnival New Date

We can confirm that the new date for the carnival is Thursday 9 June.

If you can assist on the day in the following roles, please email me directly at rachael.croker@cg.catholic.edu.au ASAP.

• 8,9,10,11 and 12 year team managers
• Time keeping
• Infants’ helpers

Peter Lucas Cup- Rugby League Gala Day- CANCELLED

Unfortunately the Peter Lucas Cup is cancelled.

Weet-Bix Active Bands

Athletics Australia is running a promotional program, encouraging primary students to increase the level of activity they are participating in daily. The program sees students given an active band that has a scanning code, where students create their own profile, record their daily physical activity and graph this over a period of a month.

Your child will take home a band that has a QR code. Families will need to register the band using the QR code and update each day how much physical activity a child does. We have been assigned resources and lessons in each classroom, with the goal of every class doing an extra 15 minutes of fitness daily. Families can add this time to their child’s daily activity.

Please note that this is an OPTIONAL program, and there is no expectation that families must register. Many children will be happy to wear their cool new band to school and let it be a visual reminder to perhaps do a bit of running during play break or join a game of soccer for a session.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Book Club  

Please order through LOOP by Thursday 2 June 2022.

The web address is:

scholastic.com.au/LOOP

LOOP enables parents to order and pay for your child’s order online using a credit card or voucher if you have one. Books will be distributed at school. For a quick start, just click on ORDER

• OR Register first to save your details for next time
• Select your school and your child's class 
• Add your child's first name & last initial (so the school knows who the book is for) 
• Enter the item number from the Book Club catalogue
• Follow the instructions for payment and submit
• All orders are sent directly to the school for submission to Scholastic. Books will still be delivered to your child's classroom if you order by the close date.
• Afterwards, there's no need to return paper order forms or payment receipt details back to your school! 

Please contact me if you experience any difficulties.

National Simultaneous Storytime

On Wednesday all classes participated in National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS).

This year the book was “Family Tree” by Josh Pyke. Family Tree celebrates the seasons of life, family and community alongside beautiful illustrations.

This event is held annually by the Australian Library and Information Association. Every year a picture book, written and illustrated by an Australian author and illustrator, is read simultaneously in libraries, schools, pre-schools, childcare centres, family homes, bookshops and many other places around the country. This event aims to promote the value of reading and literacy, using an Australian children's book that explores age-appropriate themes.

Excursion Recounts

On Tuesday the 24th of May, Year 5 and 6 went on an excursion to Canberra! Mrs Walsh, Mr O’Kane and Mrs Lowe came on the excursion as well. On the bus I sat next to Mia, the bus trip was pretty boring because there was nothing to do, but when we got to Canberra the fun began! First, we went to the War Memorial and saw some amazing things like planes, paintings, lots and lots of poppies, the tomb of the unknown soldier, the Eternal Flame and people talking about the past! The War Memorial is a place where I would love to visit again, and I hope my tour guide, Sasha will be there again.

After an hour at the War Memorial, we went to a park near a lake to have lunch, and it was really nice. After eating we had a little play and a walk, then we were told to head back to the bus.

We headed off to Questacon, which was the one I couldn’t wait for! When we got to Questacon, we had a little chat about what was there and what was closed. Sadly, the Mars exhibit was closed and so was the big slide, but that didn’t stop us from having fun. There were a lot of rooms that had information about space and there were even invisible strings to be able to play music! My favourite room was definitely the last one called Excite. In Excite there were suction tubes that you could put a cloth in and then it would shoot out the other end, you could play air hockey against a robot and a whole lot more.

Our excursion was an exciting day of fun and adventure, and I can’t wait to go there again. By Chloe Bensley

WOW! Was yesterday a good day or what! Yesterday Year five and six went on an awesome excursion to Canberra. We went to two amazing places. I will tell you all about it.

Firstly, we went on the bus which was pretty long and pretty boring. A lot of us talked and played games to pass the time. Our first stop was at the Australian War Memorial. It was awesome and big. There were sixty-two thousand names on the Remembrance Wall that had a lot of poppies and there was an Eternal flame. We split into four groups and we each had tour guides. My tour guide's name was Sasha. We went into this room. There was a grave in there and an extremely high roof. The grave had an Australian soldier, but he was the only one they didn't know about. We learnt a lot about war, and it was very interesting. 

After that we got back on the bus and went to the lake to have lunch. Then we finally went to Questacon. There was a talking robot and a lot of exhibits and galleries. They were called Awesome Earth, Australia in Space, Mars, but it was closed but it looked really cool. There was a big Mars model as big as the room, Q lab, The Shed, Fundamental and lastly Excite. There were also things about plasma, an earthquake simulator and caged lighting. In the room Awesome Earth every fifteen minutes lighting would go off in a big cage and it was really loud. There were also mirrors that made you look short and fat or tall and skinny. There was one that made you look like you were flying. In the last room Excite, there was air hockey with a robot. The robot mostly won but some people got a goal including me. It was an awesome day! I will definitely go again, even though the bus trip was long, it was worth it. By Ava Hewitt

Student of the Week Awards

The Student of the Week Awards go to...

Kindergarten: Sidney Bush, Lucas Charnock

Yr. 1: Henry Butler, Denzil Hills, Henry Lowe

Yr. 2:  Hamish Carlon, Beau Knight, Max Strode

Yr. 3: Owen Moorby, Riley O'Brien

Yr. 4: Sophie Kilborn, Maddie Strode

Yr. 5: Chloe Bensley, Lachlan Pascoe, Emilee Salt

Yr. 6: Xavier Stallard

School Spirit Award

Alice Frost for community service

Japanese Awards

Year 4 and Year 5 are the joint winners of the Japanese class awards. 

RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults)

The RCIA is an opportunity to learn more about the Catholic Faith. The program is open to all and is particularly designed for those interested in exploring the idea of becoming a Catholic or receiving the Sacraments for the first time. The sessions will begin in August. If you are interested, please contact Fr Joshy (0412 358 222) - joshy.kurien@cg.org.au before 14th July 2022.

Parish Office

For Parish and Sacramental matters, please forward your enquiries to Goulburn Parish Secretary, Sharon Cashman, via email. Alternatively, call into the Parish Office at the Old Convent Building. Sharon is available in Crookwell on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month from 11.30am-3.30pm

Parish Associate: Sr Rosemary Hart

Email: Crookwell@cg.org.au

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

Phone: 48321 633 

Address: 55 Wade Street (the Old Convent Building)

Kids Community Disco

The Keeto 80km

Free Child Restraint Safety Check

Rocky Hill Musical Theatre- Wizard of Oz

Romeo and Juliet performance at the Lieder Theatre Company

Goulburn University School Holiday Program