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Dear Parents and Carers,
With Christmas just around the corner, it is a busy time at school and at home. I'm sure that every family is feeling a little of the fatigue that comes with the extra functions both at school and at home. Today was certainly no exception at school, with a wonderful day of celebrations that will lead us into the more formal farewells and ceremonies for 2019. Beginning with the final Awards Assembly this morning, we then celebrated the baptism of Brabham, Sienna and Charlotte Cooper and were treated to a sausage sizzle, ice cream and disco by our wonderful Parents & Friends Association. Although not a celebration, our marvelous Mini Vinnies held a Cake Stall to raise money for the Rural Fire Service. With your support, this initiative was a fantastic success.
On Monday we held our Speeches for the students in Year 5 who were voted by their peers to the Student Representative Council for 2020. Following the speeches, Yr 4 and Yr 5 students voted and I am pleased to announce the make-up of the Semester 1 SRC for 2020. Congratulations to Jack and Lylah who willl lead the team. We look forward to supporting these students in Yr 6 as they lead by example and model the lessons learned from Jesus and with Mary Mackillop as their guide.
Captains | Jack Thacker | Lylah Darcy |
Vice Captains | Thomas Priddle | Coco-Simone Huebner |
Representatives | Jed Hickson | Ruby Machon |
Riley Paine | Gypsy Janjic | |
Mohammed Noor | Grace Randall |
St Clare's Newsletter
This week our Yr 6 students travelled to Taree to participate in activities organised by the Yr 10 students from St Clare's. This is one way that our Yr 10 students have the opportunity to develop their leadership skills and for our students to witness the formation of students from St Clare's in action. This day is held annualy at no cost to families and forms part of the transition of our students as an opportunity to have some fun with their peers before moving on to high school. Thank you to the students and their families who attended school and participated in this school activity, and to Mr Nicholls, the Principal of St Clare's, for supporting this event.
Please find attached a link to the latest St Clare's Newsletter.
Staffing
Over the last couple of weeks, we've had some more changes to staffing for 2020. Mrs Morse made the decision to resign from her permanent position, opening the door for a full-time permanent teacher position. Mrs Gooley let us know that she would be taking leave for 2020 and together with her 0.6 position and the three 0.2 positions to support the REC and role of teacher mentors for 2020, we will interview on Monday to finalise our staffing. Mr Hassett visited our school this week and is planning on attending on a couple of occasions during Week 9 to familiarise himself with our school and begin preparations for his class next year.
St Nicholas OOSH
Don't forget to enrol your child at St Nicholoas OOSH to take advantage of the Holiday program on offer. I have receieved such fabulous feedback from the families who have attended their Holiday program and know they have some exciting events planned for the children.
St Nicholas Summer Registration forms
As a parent body, we were also trying to rally as many parents as possible to email Tracey Sweetman about your opening OOSH in the mornings for working families. They are more than happy to consider this but need the numbers before they can open. You can email Tracey at Tracey.Sweetman@stnicholasoosh.org.au
School Fees
This week, some families received information about their school fee payments for 2020 as our Administration Officers prepared for the upcoming holiday period of payments. It is really important that all families who pay their school fees weekly or fortnightly by Direct Debit, through Centrelink or by BPAY, continue to make the payments for 52 weeks of the year. The functioning of our school relies on our families sticking to their fee agreements. The attached letter from Bishop Bill and Gerard Mowbray explains the fees for 2020 and how the funds are used. I am always happy to have a conversation with families experiencing hardship but do expect that all of our families will contribute and commit to their payments.
Upcoming Events
The next week and a half have many events of interest to our families such as the Yr 6 Graduation Mass, the Christmas Concert, the Presentation Awards Assembly, the Yr 6 Graduation Dinner, the Aussie Bush Camp and the P&F Christmas Stall. Make sure you access the Compass Calendar so that you keep up to date. Turning on notifications in the Compass App is also another way you can be sure not to miss any changes that may occur.
Take care during this busy time of preparation and I hope to see as many families as possible this coming Wednesday eveing at Club Forster for our Christmas Concert.
Brooke Stephens
Thankyou to our wonderful Holy Name School community for the many donations of treats which Mini Vinnies sold on the cake stall today. We raised $365.50 for the RFS.
Thankyou from Year 5 Mini Vinnies
On Wednesday, December 4th, our Year 6 cohort was invited to St Clare’s High School to participate in a Peer Support Day organised by their Year 10 students.
The children were split into groups and had the opportunity to participate in different activities and challenges around the school. The children who attended had a great day and got to meet some of the children they may go to High School with next year. The children also prepared a BBQ lunch for us which was very tasty and we were entertained by the St Clare’s band as we ate.
Thank You to Mr Masters and the Year 10 students for organising the day.
A key part of our Science and Technology Unit this term involved the growing of herbs in a plastic bottle terrarium. We realised that keeping the seeds moist was very important which lead to a general discussion about usage, especially considering our current water restrictions. Here are some of the ways 4G families are saving water in and around their households:
- shorter showers
- having a timer in the shower
- only flushing the toilet when necessary
- catching usually wasted water in sinks and showers, and from washing machines
- using captured water for gardening, washing necessary surfaces like car windows, and for some toilet flushing
- marking a line in the bath
We also investigated the ‘hidden’ usages of water in the production of things we consume and use. Some of the data really surprised us. Here are some examples relating to what we wear:
Monday. Wakeup call was 4:45am. Ohhhhh. A fun but long 9-hour ride to Bathurst. When we arrived at Bathurst, we got all the bags out of the bus and chucked it in the cabins we were staying in. Then we all met up at a sitting area and met a man named Gary, who owned the accommodation. Gary then took us down to the gold panning area and showed us how people used to mine and gold pan in the 1800s. It was sooooo much fun gold panning and collecting the flakes of gold from the lake. Then Gary took us to the old blacksmith’s workshop so we could experience what the working conditions were like in the 1800s. After that we split up into 3 groups and participated in some fun activities including tug a war, horseshoe throwing, mud brick making and cooking damper over a fire on a stick. After that experience we went back to our cabins, had showers and then had dinner. After dinner we did line dancing. Line dancing is a fun experience to socialise and have fun with friends. After that fun hour of dancing we went back to our cabins and had a good night sleep and got ready for a big day ahead of us.
Tuesday. Tuesday was also a travel day to Canberra, which was so much fun. After a couple of movies, and a few breaks, we arrived and went straight to CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation). There were so many fun things to do at the Discovery Centre, including a hunt for science facts with iPads, and learning about all the contributions to science, like the invention of wi-fi, or screening the first moon landing (Apollo 11) to the rest of the world. We then went and attended Geoscience, where we had a lot of fun, and learnt about how earthquakes are caused and predicted, and the different effects they have on the land, depending on where it happened. We saw sand from different beaches around Australia through a microscope and played with kinetic sand.
Wednesday. The day started off with the best part of the trip, Questacon. There, we got to experience what falling in space is like, by the free fall, and saw lightning up close by the lightning room. Also, we played air hockey against a robot, stared at the periodic table, at sat underneath the moon. We learnt about the amazing earth, and what its like in the earthquake room. Then, we walked over to the Australian National Art Museum where we saw lots of old and new art pieces on display, by famous Australian and international artists. We saw lots of themed rooms, like the pumpkin room, where everything was yellow with black dots, and you stick your head in a box and its reflected off mirrors and pumpkins. After lunch, everyone got on the bus and drove to the Old Parliament House, which is now used as a learning centre for kids to learn how to vote and had lots of fun with the activities. We then went back to the accommodation where we played basketball and table tennis before dinner, then it was off to the Dinosaur Museum. The Dinosaur Museum was a fun and exciting activity, where we learnt about the different periods of dinosaurs and how different creatures survived extinction (not dinosaurs). We saw a couple of real fossils and many large (plastic) dinosaurs everywhere. We got to discover all the different dinosaurs and how they changed the world.
Thursday. The day started off late, and we went straight to Parliament House. There, in the House of Representatives, there was a vote, which we all got to see. We then got to look at the Senate and a huge display of the Lego parliament house! We then travelled to the National War Museum, where we learnt about the challenges faced by everyone in World War 1, 2 and all wars. We saw different planes used in war and all battles and trails the soldiers fought. We then went to our last activity of the week, the AIS. The first part of the AIS was a game room, where we did stuff like Skelton run, soccer, and rowing. After that we saw the amazing facilities, like the pool, gymnasium, and the gym.
Friday. Friday was a long but fun 8-hour drive back to school. It was overall an amazing week and everyone had the best time.
Students from our school have recently undertaken, an education tour of the national capital. Students will be given the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia’s history, culture, heritage and democracy.
The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion the Australian Government is contributing funding of $30 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program towards those costs. The rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion.
Written by: Elise Duckett, Emily Lawless, Isabel Deal, Nyoka Syron and Hannah Carmichael.
Social and Emotional Learning at Holy Name School
This year, as part of the evolution of our Behaviour Support Policy into a Pastoral Care and Wellbeing Policy we have been explicitly teaching social and emotional skills in every classroom using the SISS SEL program. Students have been taught listening skills, sharing, helping others and emotional regulation. These skills needs to be practiced and with positve reinforcement they can become a normal part of a child’s behaviour.
Social-emotional skills also play an important role in improving academic skills. In fact, experts often refer to social-emotional skills as academic enablers! Classrooms are a great place to teach social-emotional skills. They provide many opportunities to practice skills during daily interactions with others.
In Semester One 2020 we plan to again implement a SEL program and will be targeting behaviours identified by teachers. Each fortnight, parents will receive information about the targeted behaviour and as a school we hope to reinforce the behaviour through a positve reward system. We hope that parents and carers will join us in nurturing our children’s social and emotional development by practising the skills at home and reinforcing positve social and emotional skills.
https://beyou.edu.au/-/media/pdfs/fact-sheet-pdfs/social-and-emotional-learning.pdf