2 June 2017

Newsletter

St Mary 's Pr im ary School

PO Box 672 Graf t on NSW 2460 Telephone 0266422282 Fax 0266432345

em ail: sm pgraf@lism .cat holic.edu.au

No. 11

REP&FNoticeboard CanteenCalendar

Dear Parents and Carers,

This week we received the DOLSIS data generated from the parent, student and teacher surveys completed earlier this year. The acronym DOLSIS represents the Diocese of Lismore School Improvement Surveys.  DOLSIS is a highly reliable and valid tool for assessing the strengths, challenges and opportunities for improvement in our school.  I thank all survey participants for their honest feedback during this process.

It is pleasing to see many improvements across the many dimensions of our school's culture. According to the survey we have demonstrated an improvement in the four major climates of our School Culture; Leadership Climate, Teaching Climate, Student Well being Climate and the Community Engagement Climate. While we should and will celebrate these improvements it is important to remember that this tool is a school improvement tool and as such provides data that is aimed at improvement. The data provided will guide us in the next step of the process.

In terms three and four of this year, the school will be undertaking a school based Review and Improvement process in preparation for next year's Federal and State Government Compliance audit in term one which is then followed by a year-long Diocesan School Improvement and Review process.

At the commencement of term three leadership will create a School Improvement Team (SIT) consisting of teachers, teacher assistants, off ice staff , parents and students with the aim of joining together in analysis of the data and the relevant conversations.  These conversations will be in depth and ongoing over the f inal semester and will ult imately result in a Strategic Management Plan that is transparent, contextual and relevant.

On behalf of all the staff I thank our parent community for their ongoing engagement. God Bless,

Frank

Sport

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ConfirmationLast weekend the Parish welcomed Bishop Gregory Homeming. The Confirmation candidates received the Sacrament of Confirmation at Mass on Saturday night or Sunday morning at St Patrick?s Church, South Grafton. The children were beautifully prepared for the Sacrament by their families and the staff from St Mary?s. Thank you to Mrs Myson for her catechetical knowledge in leading the Confirmation candidates. If you would like any photos please contact Mrs Cannon.

Please come to the 9:30am Mass on Sunday 4 June at St Patrick's Church to celebrate with the candidates.

Rel igious Educat ion

Proclaim staf f

The staff of St Mary?s Primary joined with fellow Diocesan colleagues on Wednesday 24 May for Proclaim Staff event. During the day, the staff continued to focus on Jesus Christ . In doing so, allowing us to ref lect on being truly Catholic in our identity and life.

Year 6 RE test

The children in Year 6 are preparing for the Diocesan Religious Education test. The test will be held on Wednesday 14 June at 9:00 am. Please keep the children and their teachers in your prayers.

Holy Communion

The children will be preparing for the Sacrament of Holy Communion shortly. Please contact me on tajones@lism.catholic.edu.au if you would like your child to participate in the preparation for this sacrament. Please be prompt with letting me know as we are unable to register once the lessons commence.

Interested in becoming a Cathol ic?

The Rite of Christ ian Init iat ion of Adul ts (the RCIA)

Is a journey that we offer to take with adults from the age of 15 years and older who are seriously thinking about becoming a Catholic.

An information night will be held on 16 August at the Parish off ice at 7:00pm.

The RCIA journey will begin in August and, if the candidate feels ready to commit, reaches its highpoint at the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday night, when the candidate is either baptised or received into the church. The RCIA journey continues for another couple of months ending around pentecost Sunday.

The RCIA involves formation and prayer together with other candidates and your sponsor every week with a break for school holidays. Towards the end of the journey, as we enter into Lent, there will also be a short retreat.

If this is what you have been looking for, or if you know someone else who is interested, please contact Sandra in the Parish off ice - 66439017 to leave your contact details.

Would you l ike to al tar serve?

Fr Fred will be holding an altar server workshop, for existing and new servers, in the near future. To be a new altar server, you need to be a baptised Catholic between the ages of 8 and 18 years.

Any girl or boy interested in being trained as an altar server is asked to contact Fr Fred or Sandra at the Parish Off ice for an application form.

God bless,

Tarnya Jones

Leader of schools Evangelisation and Catechesis

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Conf irm at ion Celebrat ion Mass 9:30am St Pat r ick 's Church

Religious Education At St Mary's Primary

Religious education is the centre of our core curriculum at St Mary?s Primary. The children from K-6 enjoy the rich and engaging lessons that we have to offer. This week in the newsletter the teachers have put together a section on what they are teaching in their rooms in Religious Education and as part of the permeation process of all units taught.

KindergartenThis week in Kindergarten we began our new unit: Belonging to God?s People. We went for a walk around the school and identif ied all the things that show that we belong to a Catholic School. Along the way, we were also lucky enough to have a chat with some of the people in our school who we can talk to and ask questions about Jesus. We didn?t realise that there were so many things that show we belong to a Catholic School. Once we returned to our classroom, we began an artwork which depicts the symbols and objects that we saw around our school environment.

Year 1In Year 1 we are learning and appreciating the Sunday celebration of the Mass. We are beginning to link the celebrations and special family meals we experience, to the celebration we experience when we gather for Mass. Students have explored what we need for a memorable celebration, what we do, what we talk about, where we gather, who attends, music, decorations, special words and gif ts. We discovered that music, food, decorations, friends and family are a very important part of celebrating and these are all present in the Mass. We hadn?t realised this before. It made us feel excited and special that we can experience this celebration every weekend!

Year 2This term the focus has been on preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation. Our students welcomed two other students, Lil ly and Elizabeth, who came to the Confirmation lessons with us. Our children were very welcoming and inclusive showing their ?light shining?. The Confirmation Candidates were excited to celebrate a wonderful Reflection Day together and spent t ime talking with Fr Paul. Meeting Bishop Gregory was very special and he gave the children a special blessing. He wants the children to use the Gift of Wisdom and Knowledge to know what is right, to use the Gift of Fortitude to always have the courage to do the right thing, and the Gift of Piety which is to love.

 

Year 3Year 3 have been learning about the important events of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and how the Church celebrates these through the liturgical season of Easter. Our focus last week was linking the Sacrament of Baptism to the Easter season as a sign of new life. This week students have been immersed in the story of Pentecost. Students had the choice to respond to the story in a creative way of their choosing: drawing, writ ing, sequencing and playdough. We are looking forward to putting together a Liturgy of the Word to celebrate the strength of the Holy Spirit.

Year 4Year four students are exploring how the Church lives the Good News in our parish community. To do this, students had to gain a better understanding of the structure of our Church; from our own local parish to the bigger picture of our global church. Students then examined how the Good News is being lived via the dif ferent kinds of gif ts and acts of service that members of our

community exhibit. Students also participated in presenting a Liturgy of the Word as an example of how the good news is shared in our school community. Each day for a week, a dif ferent group of students shared the readings of the day in an engaging and reverent l iturgy.

Year 5Easter: A Time for Hope and New Life is our focus for Religious Education. We have been ref lecting on the hope and new life that Jesus? life, death and Resurrection brings to us. We have explored how our belief in the Resurrection inf luences the way we live in our interactions with each other at school, home and the wider community. Students have studied and presented, through slide shows, scripture passages that tells of Jesus bringing hope and new life. We ref lected after each presentation on how we can bring this message from scripture into our own lives.

Year 6Year six students have been engaging in tasks to help prepare them for the upcoming Religious Education test. We have been using some online quizzes and having lots of discussions around what could be in the test that might be dif f icult or we need to do further work on.

Alongside our preparation we have also been looking at the impact of Jesus? Resurrection and the Ascension had on the disciples at the time and what we believe everlasting life means to us and our Church. Students are creating symbolic representations of their understanding of ?new life? and ?heaven?.

Wishing all year six students lots of luck as they sit this test; I know you will do great!

Sport

Dio Cross Country

Congratulations to Jasmine Chellew who participated in the Lismore Diocese Cross Country carnival in Bowraville on Thursday. Jasmine competed with great enthusiasm and sportsmanship and represented St Mary?s in a wonderful manner. Well done Jasmine.

Athlet ics Carnival

Next Wednesday 7 June 2017, we will hold our school Athletics Carnival. All children from Kindergarten to Year 6 will attend and are encouraged to participate in at least one event.   The main focus of all our sporting carnivals is participation and enjoyment.

All children should be at Terry West Oval , Junct ion Hil l by 9:00am. There will be a bus to and from Junction Hill for those children who are not able to be transported privately. The cost of transport by bus will be $2.00 per child, payable on the day. If your child requires this transport please complete the slip below and return it to the school off ice on or before Friday 2 June.

Children may wear a T-shirt and sports-style shorts in their house colour. Clothing must be sunsafe and appropriate for running races and activit ies.

NRL and AFL Sessions

Our AFL sessions for the infant students continued this week while our primary students began their NRL sessions with the code's game development off icers. It is evident that students are thoroughly enjoying these activit ies and learning new skills that can be transferred to a variety of sporting disciplines.

Art News - Wayne Gilholm

Wow! Congratulations to our award winners at this year?s Grafton Show ? 74 student altogether. Such a great creative effort from our St Mary?s students. We are very proud of you all!

Champion Prize Beau Thompson

First place winners

Wyatt Bullen, Liam Salvestro, Samuel Brophy, Marianna Tranter, Olivia Ambrose, Theodore Lobsey, Lily Cameron, Jasmine Chellew, Joe Corbett, Jonah Stocker, Noah Gallagher, Molly Cosgrove, Matthew Morgan, Noah Paul

Second place winners

Lucinda Ryder, Pippa Creighton, Sahara Powell, Shyam Ashokumar, Jasleen Ghotra, Inari Whiley, Kendra Duff, Kane Patricks, Eliza-Rose Bullen, Sabrina Mari Golding, Sophie Sutherland, Samantha O?Farrell, Bridie McGrath, Max Buchanan,

Highly commended

Paisley Padayachee, Ava Whiley, Ethan Cox, Gabrielle Buckley, Sheridan Sutherland, Kyron Nipperess, Dan Ahern, Nate Gallagher, Sharvani Ashokumar, Rose Corbett, Will iam Hartley, Amelia Cox, Amy Shipman, Levi Vereyken, Seth Webster, Callum Cameron, Oliver Mortimer, Samuel Platt, Hannah Kroehnert, Abbigale Rose Schrader, Mikayla Mauler, Hollie Grant, Judy Irwin, Dean Chapman, Jordan Pera, Jack Cheney, Jace Gilbert, Keaira Alford, Sienna Sutherland, Gus Lobsey, Macey White, Ivy Hiatt, Chelsea Gasper, Solina Bendle, Madeline Cameron, Tedi Swift, Jack Hall, Katie Morgan, Thomas Landrigan, Sienna Patricks, Max Lobsey, Wroxton Fahey, Emma McPherson, Mischa McGrath, Ethan Korn

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P&F

Share your Child's Success

Cant een Updat e

Please cont act Brendan Alber t i f you are able t o assist in

t he school cant een. Helpers m ay nom inat e t o assist

week ly, for t n ight ly or even once per t erm . Dut ies f in ish

at t he end of f ir st break .

Brendan m ay be cont act ed on 0411071343.

Uniform Shop

CHANGE OF HOURS

1 May 2017 to 9 October 2017

Thursday 2:30pm to 6pm

Saturday 9am to 1pm

Lost Proper t y

Please label ALL clot hing it em s t o

ensure t hat we are able t o ret urn

m isplaced possessions.

Work ing Wit h Children Check (WWC)

http://www.kidsguardian.nsw.gov.au/child-safe-organisations/working-with-children-check

Over the next few weeks we will be revising our Volunteer records to ensure that we have a current WWC for

our canteen and classroom helpers.

Volunteers who have not provided their WWC to the school may scan the document and email it to

smpgraf@lism.catholic.edu.au or bring it in to the office for copying.

Noticeboard

Book Club Orders are due 14 June 2017

Monday 24th April

CLOSED

Friday 28th April

CLOSED

Monday 1st May

Ashley & Brendan Albert

Friday 5th May

Jodie Yager

Ian L?Estrelle Michelle Ambrose

Monday 8th May

Peta Ryder

Bernice Pitt

Friday 12th May

Fiona O?Farrell

Bree Henson

Monday 15th May

Sarah Hunter

Kathleen Patricks

Friday 19th May

Angie Day

Amy Cheney

Monday 22nd May

Kylie Shipman

Michelle Ambrose

Friday 26th May

Renee Zimmerman

Stacy Gallagher

Monday 29th May Emma Hreszcuk

Jessica Fahey

Friday 2nd June

Jodie Yager

Bree Henson

Monday 5th June

Peta Ryder

Bernice Pitt

Friday 9th June

Kylie Shipman

Louise Hall

Monday 12th June

CLOSED

Friday 16th June

Mel Brotherson

Renee Zimmerman

Monday 19th June

Sarah Hunter

Amy Cheney

Friday 23rd June

Stacey Kroehnert

Angie Day

Monday 26th June

Ashley & Brendan Albert

Friday 30th June

Renee Zimmerman

Stacy Gallagher

St Mary?s Primary School

Term 2 Canteen Roster 2017

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School Uniform

The purpose of wearing a uniform is to unite us as a school publicly, as well as being practical. Students are

required to wear full school uniform, including hat and shoes, at all t imes. If on occasions this is not possible, a note of explanation from parents is expected.

It is essential that all items of clothing and lunch containers are clearly marked with the student?s name.

Jewellery is not part of the school uniform and for safety reasons and to guard against breakage or loss, the wearing of anything other than a wrist watch, a signet ring and a single pair of plain ear studs or sleepers is not permitted. Long hair should be tied back or plaited. Extremes of hair styles are not permitted.

TERMS 2 & 3 (Winter) Early Stage 1 & Stage 1 (Infants):

Infant girls are encouraged to wear navy stockings (tights). Infant girls, due to developing gross motor skills and toileting issues may find the wearing of stockings difficult. Therefore, infant girls will be able to wear neat, navy track suit pants under the school dress as well as their school jumpers.

Stage 2 & 3 (Primary):

Girls ? navy stockings (tights) ?St Marks? available from Big W

Navy cardigan, school jacket, jumper or plain navy Gotcha with school crest Neat, navy tracksuit pants with elasticised bands at ankles are to be worn only in extreme weather conditions. In all cases it is advisable that girls bring to school a pair of white school socks in case the weather turns warm and they wish to change.

Broad-rimmed school hats are to be worn for all outside activit ies.