2023 Term 1 Week 4
Dear Parents and Carers,
This Wednesday marked the first day of Lent, with our school community participating reverently in an Ash Wednesday liturgy. Lent is the period of 40 days which comes before Easter in the Christian calendar. Beginning on Ash Wednesday, Lent is a season of reflection and preparation before the celebrations of Easter. It's the perfect time to reset your spiritual and sometimes emotional and physical self. This Lenten prayer resource is a simple way to share the traditions of Lent within your family.
Our Learning Expo in Week 3 was a huge success with many families attending to take up the opportunity to contribute to the planning for our 2023 school year and plans. We also had the opportunity to talk to parents about the recent changes in our curriculum.
The curriculum is a plan for learning based on mandated and approved syllabus documents and current policies and procedures. NSW is in the process of the first curriculum reform in over three decades. The reform aims to strengthen and streamline what is taught in schools. It is an opportunity to engage and re-energise what we teach and how we teach it. It focuses on making clear what is essential in the curriculum to give more time to deep learning. This shift in curriculum is reflected in our Annual School Improvement Plan.
We received some informative feedback at the Expo which has been fed into our staff meeting agendas. Some items include:
- Parents would like a review of the Mercy Award system.
- Parents would like more regular check-ins about learning and student progress.
- Parents would like more information on how to help their child with learning at home.
We are grateful for your input and look forward to communicating progress updates with you.
Three-Way Interviews (Parent/Teacher/Student)
As we discussed at the Learning Expo, we have overhauled our parent teacher conference procedures.
Some changes:
- Interviews will be held in Term 1 and Term 3 so that parents are able to provide assistance in learning prior to the report cards going home in Term 2 and 4.
- Interviews will focus on goal setting and involve parents, teachers and students working together as a team to ensure a true partnership in learning.
Best Start (Kindergarten students only) and Maths Assessment Interview (MAI) parent letters will be sent home early next week, this will allow parents the time to read through them prior to the interviews.
On Thursday this week, students in our school began one of the first aspects of our community service program. Year 6 students visited the Clarence Community Preschool to offer their time to read with students at the centre. Service to the community forms a key part of our 2023 Mission goal and we look forward to developing further opportunities for our students to engage with our wider community in service of our Catholic Mission.
Today was our first session of our Extra curricular activities! Please check in with the students to ask them all about it.
Warm regards from the Executive Team
Jacki, Matt and Jas
St Mary’s Primary 2023 Important Dates
(subject to change please check our website for calendar updates)
Term 1
Friday 3 March - Incitare Retreat for Year 6 students
Wednesday 15 March to Friday 17 March - Naplan for Year 3 and 5
Friday 31 March - Cross Country
Monday 3 April - Holy Week and P and F Easter Raffle
Thursday 6 April - Staff PL Day - Pupil Free Day
Friday 7 April - Good Friday (public holiday)
Term 2
Monday 24 April - Staff PL Day - Pupil Free Day
Tuesday 25 April - Anzac Day (public holiday)
Wed 26 April - Anzac Day liturgy at 9am in School hall
Thursday 27 April - School Photo day
Wednesday 3 May - Zone Cross Country for selected students at MCC
Friday 12 May - Mother’s Day breakfast and liturgy
Thursday 1 June - Staff Proclaim - Pupil Free Day
Friday 9 June - Athletics Carnival
Monday 12 June - King’s birthday public holiday
Wednesday 21 June - Footy and Fairies Dress up day + party pies and fairy bread at canteen
Friday 23 June - Sacrament of Confirmation for Year 3 with Bishop Greg
Thursday 29 June - Zone Athletics Carnival for selected students
Term 3
Monday 17 July - Staff PL Day - Pupil Free Day
Thursday 20 July - PJ Day + Milo day
Friday 4 August - Writer’s Festival with pizza lunch
Tuesday 15 August - Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Liturgy
Friday 25 August - Book Week Dress up day and Parade - 9am start
Friday 1 September - Father’s Day breakfast and liturgy
Monday 4 September - Stage 3 Camp to Lake Ainsworth TBC
Friday 8 September - St Mary’s Feast Day celebrations and open classrooms
Thursday 14 September - R U OK? Day - yellow dress up day
Friday 22 September - Staff PL day - Pupil Free Day
Term 4
Monday 9 October - Staff PL day - Pupil Free Day
Friday 13 October - Socktober
Tuesday 17 October - P and F Disco 5.30 start
Wednesday 18 and Thursday 19 October - CSO Band - Wildfire visit
Friday 27 October - World Teacher’s Day in Australia
Friday 27 October - Day for Daniel - Red dress up day
Thursday 2 November - Jacaranda Thursday - school closed
Friday 10 November - Remembrance day liturgy 10.35am start
Tuesday 21 November - Year 5 Leadership speeches
Thursday 7 December - End of Year Mass and Awards ceremony
Friday 8 December - Stage party and colour run; class rewards day; and Christmas Shirt day.
Wednesday 13 December - Year 6 Grad dinner
Thursday 14 December - Year 6 fun day
Friday 15 December - Year 6 farewell assembly and last day of the year for students.
National Rugby League (see our Face Book page for photos)
All classes from Kinder to Year 6 started their Rugby League Sports program last Wednesday with Woz. Students are participating in a fitness and skills program for the rest of Term 1 every Wednesday.
Clarence Zone Swimming Trials
Students from St Mary’s will attend the Clarence Zone Swimming Trials this Monday, 27 February. Most are club swimmers and do a lot of training in preparation for this event. We wish all of them the best on Monday and know they will be wonderful representatives of our school.
Diocesan Summer Sports Trials
Olivia Peppernell and Stella Skeels trialed for the Diocesan Tennis squad earlier in the Term. Both made the top 10. Well done girls.
Clarence Winter Sports Trials
These students have been successful in making the Clarence Zone representative teams in these winter sports.
Hockey - Jamieson Allen, Oliver Gallaher, Serge Lobsey, Olivia Peppernell, Stella Skeels, Harlow Callaghan and Willa Brotherson.
Rugby Union - Chace Harris
Soccer - Emily Archer and Noah Inskip.
Congratulations to all these students who will compete in Grafton on Friday, 10 March.
Collection Notice - Student Residential Address and Other Information
eSafety Advice for Parents - thinkUKnow
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) are urging families to be proactive this school year and update the privacy settings on children’s devices to help prevent predators from contacting them online.
The AFP-led ThinkUKnow program – Australia’s first and only nationally delivered, law enforcement-led online safety program – has produced guides for parents and carers.
- Gaming devices and what you need to know
- Parent and carer social media starter kit
For more information, visit this website.
Parent Guide to DIBELS Assessment (Primary)
St Mary's P&F
The P&F are an important group within our school. We understand that it is not always possible to attend the meetings due to time restraints of family and work. We value everyone's thoughts and ideas, and therefore invite parents to use the link below to share agenda items with us.
Please check the school calendar for the date of the next meeting.
Class Parents
Road Safety
A Message from Busways
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School Fee Update
Kiss and Drop Zone in Turf Street
Just a reminder that the Kiss and Drop Zone is currently signed as a one minute parking zone. This means that you cannot park your car in the kiss and drop zone for an extended period. The students arrive at Kiss and Drop at 3pm and are supervised in this zone until 3.20pm. Please consider arriving closer to 3pm for collection.
The Kiss and Drop is designed for you to stay in your car while your child enters the car. If your child cannot open the car door and secure their own seatbelt, you need to park your car and walk to the gate to collect your child. The Kiss and Drop Zone does not function effectively and becomes congested if there are any hold ups or delays.
The school does not request the presence of the Grafton Police to manage traffic at the front of the school. However, there is a regular police presence on Turf Street monitoring the safety of the school zone. Please ensure that you adhere to all traffic signs in the area to avoid fines.
Please check out our school Safe Travel webpage that details all the processes for travel to and from school.
Parking in Hoof Street
There are a small number of parking spaces near the Sunrise Shop (corner of Hoof and Turf Streets) for use by their customers. To assist this small business we suggest parking away from the corner.
Child Protection
St Mary's Primary School is committed to ensuring we provide a safe environment for students. We are required to meet the statutory obligations of the legislation relating to child protection and the policies and guidelines set out by the Catholic Schools Office. The Child Protection Policy can be found on the webpage.
Working With Children Check (WWCC)
At St Mary's we are committed to creating and supporting a culture of safety for children and ensuring that children are protected. All employees and volunteers are required to have a current WWCC.
NB - The vast majority of volunteers in schools are parents of a child attending the school at which they are volunteering (eg reading groups, fetes, camps, excursions and canteen) and therefore do not require a WWCC. Exceptions to this are
- volunteers interacting one-on-one with a child not their own,
- working with children who have a disability,
- offering mentoring services,
- when the volunteer is not a parent or close relative.
