Welcome Back!

It is lovely to see everyone back safe and sound from a restful break with their family.

This term will bring us many exciting events with the main dates to remember being:

• Northern Region Cross Country - 3 May (Tomorrow)
• Catholic Schools Week - 6 - 10 May
• Scholastic Book Fair - 7- 9 May
• Open Week Tours - 6 - 9 May
• League Shield Gala Day - 7 May
• Mothers Day Mass - 9 May
• NAPLAN - 14 - 16 May
• Athletics Carnival - 17 May
• Dental Check - 30 May
• Arch Cross Country - 4 June
• School Explorers Program - 31/5, 7/6, 14/6 & 21/6
• School Photos - 24 June (Please note change of date)
• Stage 2 Showcase of Learning - 5 July
• End of term - 5 July

Welcome

We are very excited to welcome the Foran family back to Crookwell and the St Mary's School Community. Many of you will remember Archie who started Kindergarten at St Mary's in 2017. Archie and his sister Sophia have commenced in Year 2 and Year 1 this term. Welcome back, Lucinda and Brad!

ANZAC Day

It was wonderful to see approximately fifty St Mary’s students at our ANZAC Day March last Wednesday. We also had students participate in the Dawn Service and the Taralga services. 

Our students and teachers marched proudly demonstrating wonderful community spirit.  Our Captains and Vice Captains represented the school at the ANZAC day Mass, presenting the Wreath for a blessing.

Thank you to all the parents that brought your children on Wednesday. Thank you also to the staff that assisted.

A very big thank you to Sharron, Katyanna and Nathaniel Waters for the donation of a rosemary shrub. This will be planted by our garden club and will ensure a supply of rosemary for ANZAC Day well into the future. 

Catholic Schools Week - Engaging Faith, Minds & Community

Next week we celebrate Catholic Schools Week. We do this by offering service to others in our community. This year our Catholic Schools Week activities include:

We ask that the students participating in community visits to please wear the full winter uniform, with the exception of Year 5 who will wear their sports uniform.

Please spread the word about our Open Week Tours. If you know someone that is interested in learning more about St Mary's or who has a child ready to start Kindergarten in 2020, we welcome their visit.

Our Catholic Schools Week and Mothers Day Mass will be held at St Mary's Catholic Church at 9.30am next Thursday. All mothers, grandmothers, families and parishioners are welcome to join us for this special occasion. Year 3 will also serve a cup of tea and biscuit in our Hall after, for anyone who is able to join us.

School Photos - Change of Date

Please note that our school photos will now be taken during Week 9 on Monday 24 June.  Ordering can be done online by inputting the 9 digit code AN3 WE9 3JZ on the Advanced Life website http://www.advancedlife.com.au/ . Envelopes were sent home last term.

Year 6 Camp

Year 6 had a wonderful week in Narrabeen at the end of last term. All the students demonstrated a ‘can-do’ attitude, trying everything that came their way.

I cannot thank Mrs. Croker and Mrs. Spackman enough for their time and nurturing care of the students.

A huge thank you to Belinda Tarlinton and Boe Croker for collecting the bus and driving the students to and from the excursion and thank you also to Gaye McManus and Trinity Catholic College for the donation of the bus. It certainly made our excursion more easily accessible.

Once again we received wonderful feedback from staff at the Sydney Academy of Sport about our Year 6 students. They were impressed with how well they looked after one another, how they all 'had a go' and how supportive they were of each other. Again, I was thrilled to hear this feedback. The children are a credit to their families and our school!

Please read the student reports in this newsletter.

Uniform Matters

In Term 2 we transition into our winter uniform. We allow two weeks at the beginning of the term for students to still wear their summer uniform if the weather is warm. Please be aware that if your child chooses to wear their summer uniform it must be the complete uniform, not parts of both.  

Could I ask that everyone please check their child's clothing to make sure they have the correct uniform items? It is very easy for items to get muddled up at school. At the moment quite a few students are missing items which are named.

In preparation for the cooler months, you might like to order our school coat, which is a warm bottle green parka style coat, from our Uniform Shop. No other coats will be permitted, however, bottle green gloves and beanies may be purchased elsewhere. 

Some other reminders about our school uniform- hair accessories must be in the school colours only, earrings must be sleepers and studs and no nail polish is to be worn to school.

Clubs

This term our Maths Club will resume next Tuesday afternoon at 3.15pm-4pm.

We will also be offering a Lego Club each Tuesday, Chess Club each Wednesday and Garden Club each Thursday, all held during our lunch play break.

Morning Club has resumed this week. We have found this club to be extremely well supported and commit to offering this service each day from 8.00am.

Student Pick Up

The street directly out the front of St Mary’s is a Bus Zone from 8.30am-9.30am and 3.00pm-4.00pm. Please be aware that occasionally parents dropping their children off in the mornings in this bus zone have been fined by the police.

We recommend that in the afternoons if you have come to collect your children by car that you walk with your child to the crossing on Wade Street to cross safely out of the Bus Zone. 

NAPLAN

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) assesses literacy and numeracy skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life. Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 participate in the annual NAPLAN
tests in reading, writing, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.
The assessment provides parents and schools with an understanding of how individual students are performing at the time of the tests. NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process - it does not replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance.
NAPLAN also provides schools, education authorities and governments with information about how education programs are working and whether young Australians are meeting important educational outcomes in literacy and numeracy.

The assessment window for NAPLAN Online is extended from three days provided for the paper test to nine days. This is to give schools more flexibility in scheduling and accommodate schools that may have fewer devices.

The NAPLAN Online assessment window starts on Tuesday 14 May and finishes on
Friday 24 May 2019. The online tests must be taken in the following order:

Excerpt from:

https://www.nap.edu.au/resources-new/resources

School Counsellor

Our School Counsellor, Kate Dean, will be available next Thursday, 9 May. Please contact Belinda to make an appointment. 

DATES TO NOTE FOR CROSS COUNTRY    

Northern Region Cross Country Team – Braidwood this FRIDAY 3 MAY. (these are the notes received so far)

Archdiocesan Cross Country – Mt Stromlo TUESDAY 4 JUNE

Mackillop Cross Country – Eastern Creek  FRIDAY 15 JUNE

Primary Sport- Canberra/Goulburn Archdiocese

www.sport.cg.catholic.edu.au

PLEASE NOTE – THERE ARE TWO SITES TO FINALISE REGISTRATION.

 -TEAM APP IS TO PAY FOR THE REGO. https://www.teamapp.com/

- THE CSSS SITE REQUIRES CHILD AND PARENT DETAILS AND PRINCIPAL APPROVAL. https://www.csss.nsw.edu.au/nswcps-home.aspx

Registrations received and Principal approved to date:

NSW PSSA Girls Rugby 7s

NSW PSSA Initiative - NSWCPS Polding and MacKillop have been invited to participate in:

‘COME AND TRY’ GALA DAYS IN GIRLS RUGBY – SEVENS FORMAT

VENUE:             The Kingsway, St. Marys (Sydney West Association)

WHEN:              Monday 16^th & Tuesday 17^th September 2019 (Week 9 Term 3)

NSWCPS is calling for nominations for Polding and MacKillop Teams.

After the close of nominations, a decision will be made in regards to a trial date and location

NOMINATIONS CLOSE 6 MAY 2019

To nominate - Parent logs in to website https://www.csss.nsw.edu.au/nswcps-home.aspx​

If you do not have a login - go to help and follow prompts to create an account and add your child.

While logged in, come back to this part of the website - RUGBY > REGISTER >

Complete the consent and submit.

Details of moving forward will be sent out by 13 May.

Athletics Carnival

We will be holding our Annual Athletics Carnival on Friday 17 May (Week 3) at Todkill Park for all students K-6.

Years 2-6 will take part in rotational activities: 100m, 200m, 800m, Shot put, Discus, Long Jump

Years K and 1 will have a 100m race, followed by tabloid activities for the remainder of the day.

The children on buses will be delivered straight to the venue and picked up from there in the afternoon. There will be teacher supervision available from 8:40am.

Please make sure your child is appropriately dressed for whatever weather comes our way.

There will be a canteen available on the day, this is a Yr 2 fundraising event.

Thank you to families who have indicated that they are able to assist on the day. I will send home next week a copy of assigned roles for the day.

Any queries, please contact me via the school email office@stmarysc.cg.catholic.edu.au

Welcome back to Term 2!

Our intervention programs will commence next week. New volunteers are always welcome to help with reading, spelling or maths intervention. Listening to students read is also extremely important and if you know any volunteers who would like to simply listen to children read please let us know.

Maths club will commence next week after school on a Tuesday from 3.15-4.00pm.

AUTISM Parent online learning.

The following link has some fantastic free learning for anyone who would like to increase their knowledge about Autism. Just register and complete the course in your own time.

https://aus.oltinternational.net/user/short-course/autism-for-parents

Scholastic Book Fair

Next week there will be a Scholastic Book Fair in the Library.

It will run from Tuesday 7th May – Thursday 9^th May.

Opening Times are 8.40am – 4.00pm each day.

Payment options are cash, cheque and eftpos.

Commission from the Book Fair provides resources for the Library. Please come along and support this event. 

Kindergarten welcoming the Book Fair

May is National Family Reading Month.

All children are encouraged to read for 10 minutes every day in May.

A Reading Log was sent home on Tuesday and children are to colour in the pages on the Reading Log each day they read.

Go online to scholastic.com.au/nfrm and enter into the prize draw to win 1 of 50 $100 book vouchers.

Year Two Class Fundraiser Event- tuckshop at the Athletics Carnival

The Yr 2 class fundraiser for 2019 is the tuckshop at the Athletics carnival. We are in desperate need for volunteers to coordinate and assist. An eForm is available on Skoolbag, you can contact P&F representative Allison Hewitt or you can return the slip that was sent out earlier in the week.

Please remember that many hands make light work!!

P & F Meeting

The term 2 P&F meeting will be held on Tuesday 21 May in the staffroom starting at 7.00pm. Hope to see as many there as possible.

Tuckshop

Our tuckshop will recommence this coming Monday 6 May. A big thank you to all who have volunteered, but they will always happily take more!

Monday 6 May- Daria Lawson, Angela Cuskelly & Teena Pitt

Friday 10 May- Jo Grove, Katherine Fraser, Jodie Charnock

Monday 13 May-  Allison Hewitt, Tori Simmons, volunteer needed

Friday 17 May- Jayde Costello, Angela Cuskelly, Jenny Skelly- note this is the Athletics carnival

Please arrive at 9.15am.

Yr 6's recollection of camp..

Paige     An American accent, tall and in charge of us -this was Nathan our instructor. When he was giving instructions he was very calm and encouraging. He never took too long to explain and he got straight to the point. When we were worried he would cheer us up with a joke. Sometimes he told us lame dad jokes that weren't even funny and took forever for him to say but we laughed just to be polite.

Will   We all ran to choose our rooms. My friends and I went straight to room 13. It was ok.I was surprised the room had a bathroom with it. It was also ok until I saw a bug in there. We had  two single beds and one bunk bed. We thought we kept it clean!

Billie Most of us didn’t like the flafels! We had breakfast at 8:00, lunch at 12:15 and dinner at 5:30. For breakfast we normally had toast, spaghetti and a orange juice or pineapple juice. For lunch it varied from wraps to burgers. Dinner also varied from pasta to chicken. On our final morning we were on duty and that meant that some of us were cooking toast and the others were cleaning the dishes.

Isabelle M  Yes! We were on camp and our first activity was sailing, we were all so excited for sailing. As we walked down to the sailing area we listened to our instructor as he told us what to do and how to set up the boats. We got into groups of 4 or 5 and sailed for a little bit before we got stuck in the dead zone! All we could do was just sit and talk until the wind picked up again. Finally about ten minutes later a wave came and we fell off the boat and some of us floated away. The teachers were already back at shore and everyone else was struggling to get back in because the wind had dropped, but Nathan came and helped everyone get back. This was one of our favourites.

Bradley  On our first morning there our activity was the ropes. Everybody who had a go went really slow for the first round, but half way through we started to pick up the pace and were flying to the finish, WHICH WAS A FLYING FOX. On the second run we flew through the course. It was really fun to see other people enjoying themselves. All in all it was a really exhausting morning, but still really fun.       

Ashleigh That afternoon we went kayaking. There were a bunch of different kayaks, some for four down to singles. For the kayaking we headed down to the lagoon and after a quick lesson on kayaking we were off. We went out on the lagoon then headed down the Narrabeen river. It lead us under bridges and over sand banks that were very easy to get stuck in! We changed kayaks in front of the second bridge we went under. We eventually had to turn around because a huge tree blocked the way and then we went back around to the first bridge we went under and pulled them up out of the water. 

Issy The following morning we were all excited and ready to get on the bus to go to  Palm Beach. It was a 40 minute drive from Narrabeen. We got off the bus and hiked to the top of the cliff where the Barrenjoey Lighthouse was. Everyone made it to the top safely. We had a look around at the magnificent view and the graves and then we went back down to get on the the bus and go to the beach. Everyone ate the lunch they had made and Mrs Croker went and bought us an ice-block each. When everyone was finished we went and had a swim in the beach pool. The water was so cold to start off with but then it was ok. We were at the pool for about half an hour. On the bus back to camp most of us were tired. Everyone had a good day at Palm Beach!

Bella  Three nights of amazing fun! Three nights we would never forget! Our night activities were Tabloids, Stunts and games and a Trivia Night. Our first night at camp we went to Tabloids (like Mini Olympics) in the Gymnasium. Stunts and Games were just activities for fun and use teamwork. The Trivia Night was where you had to guess the celebrity, TV series or movie! These were supposed to make us even more tired!

Adelaide We got to the rock climbing wall and harnessed up easily. Nathan explained a few minor details about the belaying team and how they worked and operated. Bella went first on the left side of the three walls. The right and left sides had a bell that the climber rang when they were at the top. The middle was the hardest wall. The belaying team were hooked onto a long rope and walked back when the climber moved a foot up. When the climber wanted to be let down they banged on the wall three times and let go, just hanging there until they’re feet touched the ground. This was another one of our favourite activities.

Taj Wow Archery! What an awesome activity. It was fun for most but for others a complete failure :(  When Mrs Croker told us we were going to Archery we were filled with joy. But when we got there for some, it was not thought the same anymore. Nathan explained to us what we had to do. There were two groups of six and each group had three turns. On the first turn there were hits, misses and all mixed results and the same for the second time. On the third round we played a game where you choose with arrows your home, transport, roommate and future job. Some of us got the best things and some got the worst! But no one should complain because in the end it was just for a bit of fun

Lachlan At camp we had a strict daily routine. This routine was very easy to follow. We had an early start to the morning at 8am for breakfast. After all of the activities we went back to our cabins just before dinner to shower and get ready for dinner. We followed the same routine until the last day. Sometimes we had half an hour for free time before dinner. Most of us enjoyed staying in our cabins or playing outside on the oval. In my cabin we watched tv for a while or threw the footy around.

Fynella  Our school was lucky enough to be booked into the camp with year 6 from St Joseph's and Sts Peter and Pauls.When we got there we saw our friends, Sophie Mia, Nicole, Bailey, Isaac, Luke, Zali, Ty and Max. At dinner, lunch and breakfast we would all eat with our friends. We watched a movie and went to a Trivia night together. Our group was called Spongebob- we didn’t win.       

Archie  Lean back, don’t look down and let the rope go slowly! This is what was running through our heads when we were abseiling down the five metre rock face. Everyone did it confidently and everyone loved it!!

Darcy Our last activity for Camp 2019 was some problem solving group activities called Initiatives. One of them involved five different sizes of tyres on three poles and you had to move all the tyres onto a new pole but you couldn’t place a bigger tyre on top of a smaller one.

Parish Office

For Parish and Sacramental matters please forward your enquiries to Parish Secretary, Janet Haynes or Pastoral Associate Sr Rosemary via email or call into the Parish Office at the Old Convent Building on Tuesdays or Thursdays.

Email: Crookwell@cg.org.au

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

Phone: 48321 633 

Address: 55 Wade Street (the Old Convent Building)

Altar Roster

5 May- Ashleigh Bachta & Olivia Anderson

12 May- Nathaniel Waters & Oliver Gray

19 May- Bella Croker

26 May- Eliza & Chloe Kemp

2 June- Lillian & Paige Croker, Regan Picker

9 June- Ashleigh Bachta & Olivia Anderson

16 June- Nathaniel Waters & Oliver Gray

23 June- Bella Croker

Please arrive 15 minutes before Mass to help Father prepare.

We would love it if some more children could join our Altar Serving team. Please contact the Parish Office if your child is interested. Training is provided and new children are rostered on with experienced servers.

CWA Day Branch-decorated potato competition

Kids On Keyboards

Carer Support Group Crookwell