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- Principal Talk with Mrs Lowe
- School Fees
- Uniform- please check
- Religious Education with Mrs Skelly
- Representative Sport with Mrs Sally Croker
- Classroom Support with Mrs Spackman
- Library News with Mrs Hewitt
- Poll Results- EFTPOS
- Term 3 Calendar
- Student Awards
- P & F News
- Parish News
- Sharepoint
- School and Community Notices
Welcome back!
Firstly, I would like to extend a warm welcome back to all our students and their families. I hope you managed to enjoy a break from your usual in-term routines.
I would like to especially welcome back Mrs Branson from her long service leave break.
During the holidays we had some very dedicated parents offer their time to get our gardens looking spick and span. I would like to offer a huge thank you to Shaun and Ange Cuskelly, Jodie Garnham and Jackie Blowes for their work on the large garden bed behind the Murphy Building, top playground, front garden beds and the Peace Garden trees. They weeded, pruned, staked and mulched.
I would also like to thank Steph and Brad Knight for their work on the commemorative garden bed on the top playground. This area now has a selection of beautiful roses around Maxine's maple.
Term 3 Key Dates
| Thursday 25 July | CWA projects due |
| Friday 26 July | NAIDOC Mass - St Christopher's Cathedral Manuka ACT |
| Fridays in August | School Explorers Program 2/8, 9/8, 16/8, 23/8 |
| Wednesday 7 August | School Public Speaking Competition Years 3-6 |
| Wednesday 14 August | Northern Region Public Speaking Competition Years 3-6 |
| Thursday 15 August | Feast of the Assumption |
| Thursday 22 August | Archdiocesan Athletics Carnival |
| Saturday 24 August | P & F Social Function |
| Thursday 29 August | Fathers Day Mass |
| Tuesday 10 September | Cricket Blast School Cup Years 3- 6 |
| Friday 13 September | Official Opening of the Multipurpose Sports Court |
| Friday 20 September | Archdiocesan Public Speaking Competition Boorowa |
| Friday 27 September | Stage 1 (Year 1and Year 2) Showcase of Learning 12.30pm |
| End of term |
Multipurpose Sports Court
With the completion of the front fence towards the end of the last term, our Multipurpose Sports Court is now ready for use. The students have industriously spread mulch around the court to allow student access so the winter mud is not walked onto the court.
With the help of Shaun Cuskelly, we are now planning the landscaping, including grass and defined paths. A working bee will be upcoming so please keep an eye out for the date and time in our newsletter.
Are you interested in being part of an organising committee for either Netball or Basketball? We welcome the formation of associations to get these sports running in our community. It would be great to see these sports offered in our community and our court used for this purpose.
The official opening of the Multipurpose Sports Court will be held on Friday 13 September.
Mufti Day
On Friday 2 August we will be holding a 'Favourite Sport or Sporting Team' Mufti Day to support Isabelle Galland and Bella Croker's State hockey trip. Students may come to school out of uniform and dressed in their favourite sporty clothes in exchange for a gold coin donation.
It has been decided by the school executive staff that this will be an event we organise for all students facing the large costs involved with state representative sport.
Annual Satisfaction Survey
An annual satisfaction survey of parents, students and staff will be conducted on behalf of all Catholic schools in the Diocese this term. The surveys are designed to gather feedback from parents, staff and students about our school and will be used to inform school improvement. Responses are confidential and individuals can not be identified.
The surveys will be launched via email on 29 July and close on 9 August 2019 using the email addresses supplied to the school. If you do not receive an email with a link to the survey, you can access and complete the survey at the following link. https://www.research.net/r/stmaryscrookwellparent2019
Public Speaking
Our primary students are now working on their speeches for our 2019 Public Speaking Competition.
The class topics are as follows;
Year 3 – Best Friends - 2 minutes
Year 4 – Good Advice - 2 minutes
Year 5 – Don't Try This - 3 minutes
Year 6 – The View from the Top - 3 minutes
Students in Years 3-6 will present their speeches to their class over the next few weeks. Five students from each class will be selected to present at our school competition on Wednesday 7 August.
Following on from this, two students from each class are selected to represent the school at the Northern Region Public Speaking Competition, to be held on Wednesday 14 August at St Mary’s. This will commence with morning tea at 10am, followed by the competition at 10.30am for Years 3 and 5 and 11.15am for Years 4 and 6.
The NR Public Speaking Competition has been nominated as a Year 5 P&F event. If you are a parent in this class and can assist with donating food and/or preparing and serving morning tea on this day, can you please let me know. Parents and friends of students in our other classes are also welcome to help.
The Archdiocesan Public Speaking Competition will be held on 20 September at St Joseph's in Boorowa.
Children’s Lunch Food Items
If you are choosing to send warm items to school with your child for lunch, please send them prepared in a thermos with the utensils required. Please be aware that we are not allowed to supply boiling water to add to items such as noodles and packet soups due to safety regulations.
Thank you for your understanding with this.
Pick-Up and Drop Off Reminders
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 near our bottom gate to ensure you are crossing safely out of the Bus Zone.
Enrolling Now
Staffing for 2020 will be allocated earlier this year than in previous years, so we encourage families to commence the enrolment process as soon as possible.
Enrolments can now be placed online. Go to https://enrolments.stmarysc.nsw.edu.au/enrol/ or collect an enrolment form from Belinda in the Office.
For those without a direct deposit in place, please ensure that your school fee account is up to date. If you require another copy of your Term 2 statement, please contact Belinda.
Term 3 fees will be invoiced early August.
Is your current direct deposit enough to cover the minimum amount required? Perhaps it is time to revisit this to guarantee your payment is covering the fees invoiced. Belinda is able to assist you with any fee-related queries, so please do not hesitate to contact her.
During the holidays, did you check your child's items of school uniform to find it didn't have your name on it? We have families who are still missing named items so we would really appreciate if you could kindly return anything that does not belong to you.
Now is a great time to ensure all your pieces of clothing are labelled clearly so we can return anything that is misplaced.
We thank you for your assistance.
Our St Mary’s School Value for Term 3 is RESPECT
What does the word RESPECT mean? The dictionary says……to take notice of; to regard with honour and special attention; to regard as worthy of special consideration; hence, to care for; to heed.
As Christians we are called by Christ to respect ourselves and each other. There are some people we may not like or get along with, be envious of or even angry with, but God calls us to show them respect none-the-less; and this is why…
-every person is made in the image of God. Every person is the clearest reflection of God among us. Every life belongs to God and so every life is holy and sacred.
- To see another human being is to see Christ, therefore to disregard, disrespect or attack another human being is to attack God’s very self.
Jesus Himself said: “Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, you do unto me!”
Therefore we should not treat everyone with respect as if they were like Jesus. We should treat everyone with respect because they are Jesus.
5th August - The following girls will be traveling to Hunter's Hill to vie for selection in the first ever Girl's Rugby 7's MacKillop team; Ellie McCormack and Marnie McCormack.
18th - 23rd August - Bella Croker and Isabelle Galland will be representing NSW at the School Sport Australia Hockey Championships in Ironbark, Victoria.
22nd August - Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn Primary and Secondary Athletics Championships - AIS, Bruce; Fynella Parsons, Lachlan Nagle, Ava Nicholson and Bridie Croker.
5th-6th September – Jake Cosgrove will be attending the Mackillop Cricket Trials in Wagga.
We wish all our students the best of luck in their chosen sports this Term.
Staff Professional Development on Dyslexia and Struggling Readers
On Monday, we had 17 staff members and casual staff members participate in an online course on Dyslexia. This course is a huge commitment from staff involving about 16-20 hours of extra study. The course will be ongoing throughout this term as staff participate in twilight sessions as well. Many of the strategies and interventions will be valuable for all readers in our classrooms, regardless of the label ‘dyslexic’. Already the staff are setting and writing goals to best cater for the children in their care.
People with dyslexia have many strengths; they just learn differently.
Below are free dyslexia screening assessment links which you might find useful.
https://www.dyslexiaaustralia.com.au/
Minilit
This week in the Star room we have begun Minilit (Meeting Initial Needs in Literacy) sessions with a group of students in Year 1 and another group in Year 2. These lessons will continue each morning to assist in building the reading skills of our students.
Book Club
Thursday 1 August 2019 is the due date to have Book Club orders submitted through the LOOP website.
scholastic.com.au/LOOP
- 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
Book Week
Book Week is held from 17–23 August. We will celebrate this event on Tuesday 20 August. The theme this year is “Reading is my Secret Power”.
Children are encouraged to come to school dressed as their favourite book character (maybe one with special powers).
A parade will be held at 12.10 pm in the Old Hall.
Our EFTPOS poll results are in! Unfortunately out of our 84 families, only 51 responded to the poll. The results were split with 25 voting "Yes" and 26 voting "No".
As there are significant fees involved with having the terminal available, at this stage we have decided that it is not viable for us to offer EFTPOS facilities. This is something we will monitor closely and reassess over time.
Thank you to those families who participated in this poll.
Our updated Term 3 Parent Calendar can now be downloaded here, or print copies may be requested from the Office.
Class Awards
The Student of the Week Award recipients this week are...
Kinder - Quade Haynes & Sam White
Year 1 - Lily Coggan, Leo Knight, Tahlia Naughton & Thomas Walsh
Year 2 - Archie Foran
Year 3 - Naomi Picker
Year 4 – Georgina Culley & Lucy Gamble
Year 5 - Bree Hearne & Olivia Wong
Year 6 - Bradley Nagle
School Spirit Awards
Chloe Bensley- for caring for our environment.
Awards are presented at our Monday morning Assembly in the Old Hall at 9.05am.
Everyone is welcome to attend.
Social Function
Our Term 3 Social Function, coordinated by our Year 3 families, will be held at the Crookwell RSL Club on Saturday 24 August, with the theme of "Gatsby Night".
Tickets will be sent home with each family as well as being available at the School Office and some local shops.
It's set to be a great night so be sure to put it on your calendar!
Tuckshop
The Term 3 roster is below. Please take the time to check your dates and if you are unable to do your allocated day, organise a swap.
The catering for the Northern Region Public Speaking Competition on Wednesday 14 August is the Year 5 P & F Event. If you are a parent in this class and can assist with donating food and/or preparing and serving morning tea please contact Daniel Walsh or Sarah Lowe.
Year 1 Fundraiser
If any businesses or families would like to donate prizes for our raffles on Grandparents Day, please contact Rechell Naughton, who has kindly taken on coordinating.
Grandparent's Day will be held on 1 November.
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
28 July- Eliza & Chloe Kemp
4 August- Regan Picker
11 August- Ashleigh Bachta & Olivia Anderson
18 August- Nathaniel Waters & Oliver Gray
25 August- Bella Croker
Please arrive 15 minutes before Mass to help Father prepare.
It is important that you contact another server to arrange a swap if you are unable to make it on your rostered day.
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.
Hockey raffle tickets for sale
Issy G and Bella have raffle tickets for sale to help offset their costs to represent in their hockey team later in the year. Tickets are $5 each and can be bought through the school front office.
The prizes are:
1st: Apple iPad WiFi (32gb)
2nd: NutriBullet RX 1700W 10 piece set
3rd: Fitbit Charge 3 Fitness Watch
4th: Fitbit Alta Activity Tracker
5th: Sony Bluetooth Speaker
