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Over the last fortnight, a highlight of the teaching and learning agenda at Holy Name has been administering the practice sessions for students in preparation for NAPLAN online. These opportunities have been just as much about our teachers and school creating the best environment for students as they have been about guiding the students through the process. The research about this testing suggests that the familiarity of students with accessing the tests is an important gateway for students to show what they really know and can do. There are options for your children to practice the NAPLAN style questions at home and I encourage you to check these out if you haven't already. A big thanks to Miss Spinks for leading the trial of these tests in our school. We have some great feedback on how to ensure the smooth running of NAPLAN in our school during Weeks 3 and 4 next term.
Holy Name School teachers have also been focused on the commencement of the enrolment period and held a Pop-Up Stall at Stocklands following our Open Morning a couple of weeks ago. We are getting many new enrolments across the grades and are looking forward to receiving enrolments from families for our Kinder 2020 students.
We also held our School Cross Country Carnival. The students and teachers enjoyed a fabulous morning over at the Pebbly Beach area with the best views of the coast as they participated in this successful event. Miss Spinks was supported by Mrs Loring and Mr Gleeson in the organisation of this day. We also had many students representing in othersports at Diocesan and Polding levels.
While the Primary students were busy running, our Kindergarteners headed off to enjoy the local area and visit the Great Lakes Library. They learned so much about how to join and enjoy what this fabulous resource has to offer.
To show our support within our local community, 3 of our senior students supported a local Probus Club Talent competition and, as always, were fantastic ambassadors for our school!
I hope you enjoy the following highlights of these events.
Brooke Schumann
Probus Club Talent Competition
On Tuesday 19th March, three of our senior students were invited to be guest judges for the Probus Club Talent Quest. Mrs Lara McCarthy escorted Gypsy Janjic, Hannah Carmichael and Jim Maloney to the talent competition and together they provided feedback to each contestant about their performance. The three students were entertained by a variety of singers and musicians and were delighted to be part of this very special event.
Holy Name Pop Up Stall at Stocklands
On Saturday 23rd March, the Holy Name staff held a “Pop–up stall” at Stocklands Forster and spent the morning chatting with families who are considering enrolling their child into Holy Name School. It was a lovely opportunity to meet new parents and also to reconnect with parents and students from the past. Thank you to the many people who stopped to talk with us.
We are planning another pop up stall on the 11th May on Wharf Street and another Open Day on May 27th. Please encourage anyone you know who is considering enrolling their child into Holy Name School to come and meet us at one of these events.
We are now accepting enrolments for Kindergarten 2020 at https://forster.catholic.edu.au/enrolment-information or through our school office. Please advise interested families to enrol now so we can begin planning our transition process. We plan to visit all of our future students in their Early Childhood setting in Term 3.
If you or anyone you know is interested in speaking with a member of our Early Learning Team about enrolment for Kinder 2020, please encourage them to call us through the school office.
The following Holy Name students were chosen to go to Newcastle for the Diocesan Winter Sport Trials:
Soccer: Rohan Dormor, Latrelle Wilson, Liam Turner, Alexis Hudson, Kalani Ryan and Tahlia Anthony
Rugby League: Logan Joughin and Hayden Robertson
Netball: Piper Bowen and Emily Lawless
Touch Football: Tanaka Gray and Hatden Robertson
Unfortunately Latrelle was unwell and couldn’t attend the trials. Alexis and Kalani made it into the Dio Team for Girls Soccer, Tanaka and Hayden for Touch footy and Logan Joughin for Rugby League.
Last Thursday our Holy Name swimmers joined the schools from our Dioceses as part of the Maitland – Newcastle team for the NSW Polding swimming Championships. Hannah Carmichael, Ethan Hudson, Alexis Hudson, Sophie Scislo, Kalani Ryan, Jonathan Botros, Will Gibson and Dylan Kinkade travelled to Homebush for an action packed day in the pool and competed to the very best of their abilities.
Sophie Scisclo came 3rd in the 50m Butterfly and Ethan Hudson came away with 3 medals – 1st in the 50m breaststroke, 2nd in the 200m Individual Medley and 2nd in the 50m butterfly. What a fantastic effort by these children.
On Friday, March 29th, the primary students headed over to Pebbly Beach for our annual Cross Country. We could not have asked for a more glorious day (except for the mozzies!) A huge Thank You to Kellie Spinks for organising the morning and to all the staff that assisted in making the Cross Country a success. A special Thank You to our volunteers who give up the time to assist – without you these days would be a lot more difficult.
All the children who competed did so to the very best of their ability and demonstrated great sportsmanship. The Diocesan event is on May 7th in the Hunter and the following children will represent HNS at the event:
9 YEARS BOYS | 9 YEARS GIRLS | |
1st | Archie Anthony | Kannika Broadbent |
2nd | Levi Van Haren | Bonnie Dempsey |
3rd | Aston Hodges | Layla Hickson |
10 YEARS BOYS | 10 YEARS GIRLS | |
1st | Nash Syron | Alexis Hudson |
2nd | Preston Robertson | Sophie Scisclo |
3rd | Liam Shanahan | Alexis Wakefield |
11 YEARS BOYS | 11 YEARS GIRLS | |
1st | Rohan Dormor | Lylah Darcy |
2nd | Ethan Hudson | Jocelyn Reardon |
3rd | Tanaka Gray | Kalani Ryan |
12 YEARS BOYS | 12 YEARS GIRLS | |
1st | Jonathan Botros | Grace Randall |
2nd | Riley Webster | Hannah Carmichael |
3rd | Latraye Wilson | Nyoka Syron |
13 YEARS BOYS | |
1st | Latrelle Wilson |
2nd | Bin Jie Wong |
Mr Mackay will be the Team manager for the day.
After the conclusion the children enjoyed a Nachos lunch from the canteen and supported by the Kitchen Garden Team. We sold around 170 nachos meals with all the funds raised going to our canteen and Kitchen Garden program. We are looking at doing a special food day at the canteen once a fortnight from next term. Thanks for your support.
Kindergarten Excursion to the Library
Last Friday Kindergarten ventured out on our very first excursion. Our adventure started with a bus ride to the Bullring where we stopped and enjoyed our fruit in the glorious sunshine. We all had lots of energy to burn so we went for a stroll over to Boat Harbour and were picked up by the bus to head to the library.
After arriving at the Great Lakes Library we were greeted by Meridith, the lovely Town Librarian. Meridith gave Kindergarten a wonderful tour of the library where the students got to see where all the books and DVDs are kept and even showed us how to borrow our own books using self check out. Meridith told us all about the wonderful programs available at the library such as: story time and homework club. All students are very keen to join the library so they can borrow lots of books and use the library facilities.
Kindergarten had a wonderful day enjoying our local environment. Thank you to Mrs Katie Collins for accompanying us on our excursion and being a fantastic parent helper!