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Increasing the capacity of our parents, carers, staff and students to clearly articulate to within our local community what Holy Name School stands for and how they know we are constantly striving to live up to our vision, is a goal for me as the Principal of our school. The idea of leading a community that is passionate and collaboratively focused on the education of students is an appealing commodity.
Building a positive, informed, concerned and resilient Catholic community has been part of the Vision Statement at Holy Name Primary School for many years. As part of our Self-Review this year, we plan to spend time exploring the beliefs and values that drive our work - why we exist, our purpose, what it is that we are supposed to be doing and what we are collectively committed to, as we make clear and current our Vision for Holy Name. How would you answer these questions or reflect on these statements? It would be great to capture your thoughts, and over the coming weeks I will send out a short survey to capture your views.
During Week 4 this term, I attended the State Catholic School's Principal Conference in Sydney. Some points from a couple of the speakers that stuck with me...
Faith and the Church: One or the other - or both
Lana Turvey Collins
'Church means gathering people of faith to work or act together to improve the world in some way...like minded people.'
'The importance of engaging with the next stage of the Plenary Council, the discerning stage'
Let the children play + Leadership for equitable learning & wellbeing
Pasi Sahlberg
'The absolute importance of play in the lives of children'
'Changing the name of lunchtime to playtime in schools'
'Schools as places that capture what children are really good at and letting them go further in their learning in that area - an education that does not try to make children like everyone else'
'The importance of social relationships above all other learning'
'1 in 5 children say they are too busy to play - in Finland children have at least 1hr of play each day'
'Over the duration of Primary & Secondary school, students in Australia have spent 5yrs more in education that children in Finland'
'Australian students do twice as much homework than Finnish students in Junior High School'
'More hours of screen time is associated with lower well-being in children in ages 2-17yrs'
'Higher users of technology show less curiosity, self-control and emotional stability'
'There is a direct association between screen time and poor performance on developmental screening tests'
'Schools need to educate parents about the importance of play - Paediatricians note that play is integral to a child's education - at least 1hr each day'
'Some good tips from Dr Michael Rich - paediatrician www.askthemediatrician.org '
'Consider reframing the school day for more breaks between lessons'
'Create playful environments at school'
Other great presentations and workshops focused on strategic planning, principal well-being and a fabulous summation of the 3 days with the Playback Theatre. I was grateful for the opportunity to gather with the 450 other principals and to learn alongside and from some outstanding researchers and presenters.
I hope you enjoy reading about the opportunities of the last fortnight at Holy Name and continue to share the value of an education at Holy Name Primary School with your family and friends.
This week we welcomed the St Nicholas OOSH Service to Holy Name School. I have attached a letter from Tracey, the General Operations Manager for the Diocese, and encourage families to check out the information and to register to use this service when needed. I know Tracey is keen to begin 'Before' and 'After' school care (along with Vacation care) depending on the level of interest. Please make contact with Tracey and her team to support this service.
Our school Athletics carnival was held on May 24th at the South Street Oval in Tuncurry. We could not have asked for a more glorious day weather-wise and the carnival went really well. A huge thank you to Miss Spinks for organising the carnival and to Mr Gleeson and the teachers that helped set up on the day.
We tried a different set up this year with the children sitting on the outside of the oval and this seemed to work quite well. Our new PA system worked a treat – thanks to Mrs Stephens for purchasing this for the school. Thanks to Mrs Williams and the great band of canteen helpers for cooking us a beautiful lunch and to all the parents who assisted with timekeeping. Finally a huge thank you to all the staff who ran events, covered for the teachers who set-up or supervised the children on the day.
The children looked fabulous in their House colours and the March Past was a colourful spectacle. We ran the Long Jump and Shot Put at school this year and the track events were all conducted on the day. All the students competed to the very best of their abilities and there were some great times on the day.
ATHLETICS CHAMPIONS 2019
Jnr Girls Jnr Boys
1st Alexis Hudson Levi Van Haren
2nd Abby Moelker Lorenzo Gray
3rd Kannika Broadbent Ashton Robertson
11 Yrs Girls 11 Yrs Boys
1st Piper Bowen Riley Paine
2nd Kalani Ryan Hayden Robertson
3rd Jocelyn Reardon Logan Joughin
Snr Girls Snr Boys
1st Manuela Stewart Jonathan Botros
2nd Indigo Titow Latrelle Wilson
3rd Sophie Pither Riley Webster
The Regional Carnival will be held this Friday, June 7th.
SAKG
Over two Monday afternoons a group of enthusiastic volunteers assisted in a Working Bee to spruce up our Kitchen Garden. The space looks great and lots of jobs were completed that have been on the list for a long time.
Thank You so much to everyone who contributed.
Please join us for the 2019 Holy Name School NAIDOC Celebrations in the school hall from 11:30am on July 5th.
Students are welcome to come dressed in red, black and yellow clothes and everyone is invited to enjoy a free BBQ from 12:45pm. Competition winners will be announced at 1:30pm.
Once a month our Catholic Parish of Forster-Tuncurry invites the youth and their families to celebrate a mass with a different feel. The live band and choir are made up of students from Holy Name, St Clare’s and our parish. You are warmly welcome to come to our next Youth Mass on Sunday, June 16 at 5:30 in the Holy Name of Jesus Church, Forster. Fr Greg and our community would love to see you there.
May’s Parish Mass
Last Wednesday, 5 students from Year 6 represented Holy Name School at the 52nd Taree and District Eisteddfod. Kobi Critchley, William Gibson, Jonathon Botros, Indigo Tito and Piper Bowen entered the 12 Years and Under Sacred Reading Section. They competed in a large section of 27 students and the standard was extremely high. Congratulations to all students on receiving a High Distinction for their reading. Jonathon received equal 3rd place and was awarded a trophy. His reading was taken from the Gospel of Matthew. In this reading, Jonathon shared the message of the Beatitudes. It is a reminder to us all of how we encounter Jesus in everyone, from the poor, the meek, the hungry and persecuted and how we are called to be peacemakers and merciful to all.
Thank you to Mrs Titow and Mrs Bowen for driving the children to the Eisteddfod and to Mrs Stephens for supporting our students at the Eisteddfod.
Help design a NEW Catholic Parish of Forster-Tuncurry Logo
Fr Greg is inviting all members of our parish community to think carefully about what they would like our new Parish logo to look like. At the conclusion of Mass last weekend, he called on the community to voice their ideas about the symbols and images they would like to see on a new logo to reflect today’s Catholic parish community. Fr Greg invited Year 6 to reflect, share and discuss what they considered important. He then asked them to set about designing their own new Parish logo. See below some of our students designs.
Any creative designers in our school community that would like to create their own Parish logo are asked to email it to the Parish Office, attention Danielle Kingdom.
Mini Vinnies Biggest Morning Tea
Mini Vinnies hosted Holy Name’s Biggest Morning Tea at our recent whole school Athletics Carnival. Mini Vinnies, you are leading our school community to love, care and serve one another!
From the Yr 6 Mini Vinnies students...
Many thanks to all families who supplied the scrumptious goodies for sale at the Mini Vinnies Biggest Morning Tea held during the Athletics Carnival. We raised $461.65 which has been donated to the Cancer Council. A very big thank you to all those who supported the Biggest Morning Tea and made donations to such a worthy cause.
Computational and Algorithmic Thinking Competition
Twenty-four students in Years 4-6 competed in the Computational and Algorithmic Thinking Competition in Term 1. This problem solving competition is designed to encourage student curiosity and promote multiple modes of thinking. It was exciting to receive the results back from this competition and present the students with their certificates at the Assembly last week.
High Distinction and Perfect Score: Jack Thacker
Distinction: Jed Hickson
Credit: Rhyder Hodges, Riley Kinkade, Byron Donegan, Ronan O’Riley, Ethan Hudson, Will Gibson, Indigo Titow, Sophia Huebner.