Newsletter Term 1 - 7th March 2024

Parent Talk

Parent Talk newsletter aims to provide parents and carers with relevant and timely information about parenting, education, wellbeing, upcoming CCSP events and webinars for parents, and significant Catholic news and events.

The Council of Catholic School Parents NSW/ACT represents all parents and carers of students in our Catholic schools. We value and promote the critical role that parents play in the education of their children, and provide leadership, advocacy and support for parents and carers of children in almost 600 Catholic schools.

Parents and carers are invited to subscribe to CCSP’s Parent Talk newsletter to receive future editions keep up to date with how our Council supports Catholic school parents to support their children’s wellbeing, faith journey and academic outcomes.

Click here to subscribe

CCSP would love to know how involved/engaged you feel you are in your child's learning, how comfortable you feel at your child's school, and your thoughts on how schools could enhance family/school partnerships. We'd also love to know what topics you're interested in learning more about so that we can offer professional learning throughout the year.

We appreciate you taking the time to complete our short survey - we value your thoughts and opinions.

Thank you so much!

PLEASE CLICK THE LINK TO GO TO THE SURVEY: https://ccsp.schoolzineplus.com/survey/57

Kind regards,

Cath Garrett-Jones
Executive Director

Lenten Reflection

The third week of Lent calls us to deepen our spiritual practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, following Jesus's example of preparation for Easter. Through reflection, prayer, fasting, and acts of charity, we seek to draw closer to God, repent our sins, and renew our commitment to Him. As a community, we support each other on this journey, aiming to emerge from Lent renewed in faith, hope, and love, ready to celebrate Christ's resurrection.

Grade Parish Masses 

Parish Masses occur at 9:30am each Tuesday. The remaining Parish Masses for this term is on Tuesday 12/3/24 for Year 4 

Holy Week

Holy Week will be celebrated in the form of a special liturgy that will take place on Thursday the 28 of March, 12:30pm in the school hall. Each grade will present an item that reflects the events of Holy Week. All are welcome. 

St Marys's and St Joseph's Holy Week Ceremonies

Monday 25 March
➔ 5.45pm Chrism Mass at the Cathedral in Bathurst
Tuesday 26 March
➔ 7.30pm Candle-lit Encounter Evening at St Mary’s
Holy Thursday 28 March
Mass of the Lord’s Supper
➔ 7.30pm at St Joseph’s (adoration until midnight)
➔ 7.00pm at Molong (adoration until 9.00pm)
Good Friday 29 March
➔ 10.30am Way of the Cross at Orange Botanic Gardens, Manildra, and Molong
➔ 3.00pm The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ at St Joseph’s and Molong
➔ 3.00pm Way of the Cross at Mullion Creek
Holy Saturday 30 March
➔ 10.00am Office of Readings and Morning Prayer at St Mary’s
➔ 7.30pm Solemn Easter Vigil at St Mary’s
➔ 7.00pm Solemn Easter Vigil at Manildra
Easter Sunday 31 March
➔ 8.30am Mass at St Joseph’s
➔ 10.00am Mass at St Mary’s
➔ 8.00am Mass at Mullion Creek
➔ 8.30am Mass at Cudal
➔ 10.00am Mass at Cargo
➔ 10.00am Mass at Molong

Project Compassion 2024 

Project Compassion is Caritas Australia's annual Lenten fundraising and awareness-raising appeal. Millions of Australians come together in unity with the world's poor to help end poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity. 

Thank you to those families who have already returned their project compassion boxes. All boxes need to be returned to school in Week 11. 

Yours in faith 

Joshua Meyers 

Acting Religious Education Coordinator 

Student Parent Teacher Conferences

Student Parent Teacher Conferences will take place on Tuesday 2nd and Wednesday 3rd April. There will be an online booking system to make an appointment with your child's class teacher. If you cannot make these times work please contact your child's teacher via the office for an alternative time.  We welcome all families to attend and strongly encourage your child to be part of this meeting about their learning. This is an opportunity for families to discuss such topics as:

*Student behaviour and work habits

* How does my child relate to peers and adults?

*What are my child's Mathematics and English goals this term?

*What are some of my child's strengths and achievements?

*What does my child need to continue to work on?

*How can I help my child at home?

*How can we work together to assist my child?

Assistant Principal and Primary Coordinator curriculum meeting

Last week Mrs Sally Curran and Mrs Rachel Cranney attended the Primary Curriculum Leaders meeting in Bathurst. Teachers had the opportinity to participate in 'have your say' in new syllabus documents and give professional feedback to the New South Wales Education Standard Authority (NESA) about the new Human Society in its Environment, Creative Arts, Science and Personal Development Health and Physical Education documents.

NESA provides advice about schooling in New South Wales. Find out about learning of all stages of development. 

https://www.nsw.gov.au/education-and-training/nesa/about/who-we-are/information-for-parents-and-carers

Webinar Week for teachers

This week teachers at St Mary's have embraced webinar week; a variety of educational webinars to continue their professional learning. Webinar topics included: Improving Student Attendance at School, Quick Wins in Student Wellbeing, The English Syllabus, Supporting Students with Autism in the Classroom, Religious Education- To Know, Worship and Love Updates and Resources and STEM project possibilities. 

Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Student Personalised Learning Plans (PLP)

Over the course of Thursday 7th & Friday 22nd March parents/carers of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students will be invited to be part of a relaxed and collaborate conversation with their child, class teacher and Mr Benton to help create academic, cultural and social goals for 2024. These will be recorded on a proforma and tracked by Mr Ben, parents and the class teacher throughout the year. Students have a voice in the way they like to learn and how they would like to celebrate their goals.

In the past some students have chosen to create some fabulous Aboriginal art activities with Mr Benton, or learn more about their culture. These Personalised Learning Plans are also a requirement from the Catholic Education Diocese, Bathurst. Invitations to the meeting have been emailed to parents. We look forward to seeing you at the meeting and working together to help your child achieve their goals.

Brilliant at Being Resilient

Our visiting performance on Monday used stories, poetry, fractured fairy tales, illusions and loads of humour to explore the value of resilience and tolerance as well as getting across the message that bullying is never acceptable. We work on giving this message to our students continually. Students learned that by exploring different perspectives, listening and having empathy for others, we can solve friendship problems more readily and maintain positive relationships with others.

NAPLAN 2024

On Wednesday 13th March students in Year 3 and Year 5 will commence four days of  NAPLAN assessments. Please make sure your child is well prepared for NAPLAN by having the following equipment:

• a fully charged chromebook and charging cord to school each day for the assessment 
• working earbuds or headphones  to use during NAPLAN sessions
• a good night's rest!

St Mary's NAPLAN Schedule

• Wednesday 13th March- Years 3 & 5 Writing
• Thursday 14th March-Years 3 & 5 Reading
• Friday 15th March - Years 3 & 5 Conventions of Language
• Monday 18th March - Years 3 & 5 Numeracy

Spelling Bee

All students from Years 3 to 6 will have an opportunity to learn the provided list words and take part in the spelling bee rounds in their classes this term. Students will have the opportunity to progress to the grade finals and the stage finals. One or two students from each stage will be invited to represent St Mary's at the Diocesan Spelling Bee. See the link to the list words in the flyer below for your child to practice the spelling words. Year 3 & 4 use the Stage 2 lists and Year 5 & 6 use Stage 3 lists. 

Mathematics

Below is the parent and carer guide to supporting your child in Mathematics featuring information for Years 3-6.

Over the coming publications, we will be including information about the subject of English.

Sally Curran

Primary Coordinator

ICAS

What is ICAS?  

ICAS is an online academic competition, run by the University of Sydney, that gives students the opportunity to challenge their  higher order  thinking and problem-solving skills in English, Mathematics, Science and Digital Technologies. It is a great opportunity for students to be academically challenged and extended.

 How to participate in ICAS  

If you wish for your child to participate in ICAS this year, please:  

1. Read about ICAS subjects and prices here: (icasassessments.com/products-icas/)  
2. Go to the Parent Portal to sign up to chosen subject areas here: (shop.icasassessments.com/pages/pps)  
3. Enter our school’s access code – WBE353  
4. Enter your child’s details, select the subject areas your child would like to participate in, then proceed to payment.  

After payment is made via the Parent Payment System, you will receive an order confirmation email, please keep this for your records.  

ICAS results and certificates
All assessments will be conducted online, at school. We will notify you of the dates that we will run ICAS assessments, and when your child’s ICAS results are ready. Your child’s ICAS certificates will be delivered to school. Once we have received them, we will present them to your child to bring home. The back of the certificate will show your child’s ICAS results and the login details, “TAP ID and Pin”. - Use these to enter the Results Portal orti.icasassessments.com/ortiStudent. 

Approximate Dates

Digital Technologies 5-9 August

English 12-16 August

Science 19-23 August

Mathematics 26-30 August

https://shop.icasassessments.com/pages/pps

2024 CaFE Grade Reps

Kinder: Alicia Holmes, Stacey Tracey (Kinder Orientation Night, Set up Kinder FB group)

Yr 1: Olivia Day-Gorham, Amy Hinchcliff (Kinder Welcome Morning Tea)

Yr 2: Renee Davis, Alicia Holmes (Mother’s Day gifts)

Yr 3: Mel Balchin, Olivia Day-Gorham (Mother's Day breakfast)

Yr 4: Jess McGrath and Katrina Holway (Father's Day gifts)

Yr 5: Kym Flitcroft, Kellie Pickering (Father's Day breakfast)

Yr 6: Kate Pulbrook, Sharon Collins (Easter Egg raffle and eggs. Organise Yr 6 2024 end of year event)

Bathurst Diocesan Community Sport

Dear Parents,

Keep up to date with sporting events and achievements across the Bathurst Diocese. Search CEBD community sport or use the following link. 

https://sites.google.com/bth.catholic.edu.au/cedbsportcommunity/

 Hannah attended the All Schools Girls U/12 AFL selection trials in Wagga Wagga. Over 80 girls were trialled, and Hannah was among the 22 girls selected for the Southern Inland team. She will play at the final Championship in Albury in May for state team selections. Congratulations on this wonderful achievement Hannah!

#brightfuturesstarthere #AFLgirls #southernteam

Bathurst Diocesan Swimming Carnival 6th March 2024

We congratulate these students who represented St Mary’s at the Bathurst Diocesan Swimming Carnival yesterday in Dubbo. We are proud of your achievements!

Southern Region Swimming Carnival 27th February 2024

It was a very hot day in Cowra on Tuesday for the Southern Region Swimming Carnival.

Our St Mary’s team gathered with students from Catherine McAuley, St Edward’s Canowindra, St Joseph’s Molong, St Joseph’s Manildra, St Columba’s Yeoval, St Joseph’s Blayney, St Raphael’s Cowra and St Joseph’s Eugowra. 

Congratulations to our 33 swimmers who competed on the day. The sportsmanship displayed by our students was exemplary. 

A special mention must go to Thomas Ridding who was named age champion for the 11-year-old boys. We congratulate Thomas on this outstanding achievement. 

St Joseph’s Molong for being crowned the overall winner of the carnival. Congratulations to St Joseph’s.

Children who finished in the top three of their individual events and the top two in the relays have now traveled to Dubbo on the 6th of March to compete at the Diocesan Swimming Carnival. (see above)

Katie Frew 

St Marys is a Nut and Egg Free school 

Please do not put these in your child's lunch box as we have children at our school with severe reactions to these items.

 Children with Communication devices such as Phones and Watches must be handed to the school office in the Morning before class and collected at the end of the day.

Please support your child to meet this school requirement.

If you need to contact your child during school hours please call the school office.

St Mary's CaFE Fundraising with bulbs

Go online to place your order at:

https://www.bulbfundraiser.com.au/STMORANGE

Campaign end date :11/04/2024

Products available to order until this date unless sold out prior

St Mary's Uniform Shop

is run by  Parent Volunteers and is open from 9:00 am Friday Mornings. 

If you have put your order through Flexi schools it will be packed the following Friday and sent home with your child.

The new Active and Creative Kids voucher is now available, helping to make activities more affordable for eligible NSW families. 

Parents, guardians, and carers of eligible school-aged children will be able to use two $50 vouchers per calendar year.
About the new program

• Vouchers are available to those receiving Family Tax Benefit Part A, or Family Tax Benefit Part B, or both.
• Vouchers can be downloaded as a QR code and used toward either an eligible physical or creative activity.
• The $50 vouchers will be issued in school term 1 and school term 3.
• Vouchers must be redeemed before their expiry date. 

For more information, visit Active and CreativeKids.

https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/active-and-creative-kids-voucher