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- Principal’s message
- St Clare's Newsletter
- St Clare's High School
- Cultural Excursion
- HNS says thank you to local Emergency Services
- Mobile Recovery Unit Visit
- Public Speaking
- Maths Olympiad
- Kindergarten Outdoor Classroom Day
- Year 6 First Aid
- Learning Support update for Wellbeing Week
- Paul Dillon
- Scholastic Bookclub
The last few weeks have been challenging for many within our community and will continue to impact on the lives of some for a long time to come. We have witnessed the range of emotions that are part of such events and the evidence of community spirit and the resilience of families directly impacted. At Holy Name, we are also conscious of the increased worry of some students and are working with families to support these students. We shared the following resources over the last couple of weeks and I encourage you to access them if you need.
Talking to children about bushfire risk
In case you missed it, The Aussie Bush Camp was postponed to Monday 16th December due to the fires. We are grateful that the Bush Camp was able to accommodate our classes at this busy time of the year.
This coming week our Yr 6 students head off for their annual pilgrimage to Bathurst and Canberra. This excursion is such a great combination of learning and fun times with peers before the students' transition to High School. We wish them a fabulous week of travel.
Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden
The garden program is ceasing in its current form in 2020. The decision was made to review the program based on a number of factors including work, health and safety, learning and funding. We are hopeful of maintaining the garden space over the next 12 months as we explore ways to connect and align the garden program with the curriculum for each grade, our Catholic Identity and our Student Representative Council. Mrs Loring and Mrs Williamson have been tasked with the review and we look forward to seeing some new directions throughout 2020. If you know of anyone who would be willing to volunteer their time in tending the garden space, please contact Mrs Loring or Mrs Williamson at school.
Can we get St Nicholas OOSH open in the morning?
We are currently inviting interested parents and carers to send an expression of your interest in a morning OOSH service to tracey.sweetman@stnicholasoosh.org.au . If enough parents send Tracey an EOI then St Nicholas will open in both the morning and the afternoon. St Nicholas provides a fantastic service to our families and I hear great things about the Vacation Care programs offered during the holiday breaks.
2020 School Canteen
Earlier this week, I posted a newsfeed item to all families including an Expression of Interest for local businesses that might be interested in providing a Canteen Service to our school in 2020. Please pass this information on to any businesses you think might be interested.
I know everyone will be starting to feel the pressures that the end of the year sometimes brings. Don't forget to look after yourselves and enjoy the preparation for this beautiful time of the year.
Brooke Stephens
A great way to learn about our feeder High School - St Clare's Taree, is to read their newsletter.
On the 4th December 2019, the parents of students entering St Clare’s in 2020 are invited to an informative presentation that will help with transitioning your child into High School. This session will be led by St Clare’s school counsellor Rebecca Jamison and Student Support Officer from the Catholic Schools Office Mrs Judy Mullen.
This session aims to provide parents with information regarding some of the changes and challenges that children can experience when starting high school. Practical strategies are reviewed to assist parents with supporting their child manage change and adjust to high school life as well as information regarding school supports and what to do if difficulties or concerns arise.
There will be an option of three timeslots to choose from on the day:
9am-10am, 2.30–3.30pm and 4.30-5.30pm
If you did not receive a letter in regards to this you can rsvp to Bernadette Boere by email Bernadette.boere@mn.catholic.edu.au or let the front office staff know at St Clare’s.
On Thursday 21st November our Aboriginal students, parents, carers, and staff attended a cultural excursion with Steve Brereton and local Aboriginal artist Lara Went. We started the day with a bus ride to Blackhead where we went on a guided cultural walk around the Back Beach Loop walk and the Rainbow Serpent Cave. Steve shared his knowledge of the local area and we all learned something new throughout the day. Steve spoke in language and encouraged us to do the same. We were able to practice in a real-life setting.
We had a wonderful lunch at Blackhead beach before travelling to the Yukul Art studio where we met up with Lara and painted a group artwork for the school. The students and all attending had time to share in the joy of being together and in this space, a wonderful piece of art was produced by our students.
The sharing of knowledge and time during this excursion allowed us to relax, learn about our local area and to connect to each other and the Worimi land we live on.
HNS says thank you to local Emergency Services
Next Tuesday, 26 November, Xavier Laurie, Oscar Yeates, Baran Zanjani and Jocelyn Reardon will represent Holy Name in the Maitland/Newcastle Public Speaking Finals at the Catholic Schools Office in Newcastle. These four students did a fantastic job at the Manning Regional Finals a few weeks ago and we know they will represent our school and region in fine fashion. We wish them all the very best as they take their public speaking skills to the next level.
Lynn Redding – Holy Name Public Speaking Co-ordinator
This year twenty-eight students from Holy Name competed in the Maths Olympiad. Each year over 40,000 students in the Asia-Pacific region participate in this challenging competition. This year Holy Name achieved some wonderful results, with the following children excelling;
Holy Name Champion – Ethan Hudson
Holy Name 2nd place – Jed Hickson
Holy Name 3rd place – Lylah Darcy and Jack Thacker
Charlotte Cooper received a Special Achievement Award for her dedication to Mathematics and her continued improvement throughout the competition. Well done, Charlotte!
Kindergarten Outdoor Classroom Day
On Wednesday 6 November, Kindergarten participated in the global campaign Outdoor Classroom Day. Outdoor Classroom Day encourages and inspires outdoor learning and play. Outdoor learning improves children’s health, engages them with learning and leads to a greater connection with nature. Kindergarten walked over to Pebbly Beach to participate in a number of different activities including Sponge Bullseye, Dig a Finger Deep Hole, searching for non-living and living things, making patterns from the natural environment. The students enjoyed the interactive activities and were all engaged in their learning. We finished the day, with the students having a great time on the playground!
Last Wednesday, John Moelker from First Aid and Safety Training visited Holy Name to teach our Year 6 students how to perform CPR and how to use a defibrillator. This was a wonderful opportunity for our students to learn this significant skill which they could use to save someone’s life one day. The students were all completely engaged, asked lots of questions and appreciated the opportunity to practise their chest compressions as well as use the defibrillators on the dummies provided. Thank you so much John for providing this opportunity to our students!
Learning Support update for Wellbeing Week
Dear Parents
All bookclub orders need to be returned to school by Thursday 28 November 2019.
You can also use the Loop to order books online.
Thanks
Kerry