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Dear Parents and Carers,
The positive news this week is that we are now able to invite parents and carers into school with just a few guidelines in place. Although last minute, it was good to have some parents and parishioners attend our Ash Wednesday Mass.
This coming week, we are looking forward to holding a meeting with our Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander parents and carers to reconnect and share some information following a survey of families in 2021. The workshop will be held in the library on Thursday 10th March at 1:30pm.
We would also like to hold 45mins-1hr workshops each term for all parents and carers to learn more about some parts of school life. Please use the survey link to preference what you would like these workshops to be about. Our ideas include:
- Teaching and Learning (general information)
- Teaching English
- Teaching Mathematics
- Using technology in the classroom
- Gifted Education
- Successful Foundations
- Positive Behaviour for Learning
- Learning Support
There will be other events prior to the end of this term that our families can attend, including our School Cross Country Carnival for Primary students and our Student Led Conferences on Tuesday 5th April.
Enrolments open for 2023!
With enrolments for Kinder 2023 now open, we will commence our first Thursday morning Playgroup in the school hall on March 10th between 9:00-10:00am. Parents and carers from the local community are welcome to bring their preschool aged children and siblings for an hour of play. Led by our Pastoral Care Worker, Mrs Banham, our Aboriginal Teacher, Mrs Townsend, and our Family and Youth Minsitry Coordinator, Mrs Heffernan, the playgroup offers stories, song, dance, art and creative play. It is a fabulous way for families considering enrolment to come and meet some staff and get to know our school and community. Families are invited to just turn up on the day and will be welcomed via the Carawa Street entrance to the hall.
The following Thursday morning, 17th March, we welcome community members to an Open Day session at 9:15am in the library followed by a tour of the school. This session will be repeated in the afternoon at 3:30pm. Please pass on these details to anyone you know interested in enrolling their child for the 2023 school year.
Diocesan Swimming
It was my privilege to take our Regional Team to Lambton Pool last week to participate in the Diocesan Swimming Carnival. This is really a big jump from our Regional Carnival with an enormous number of very talented swimmers on display. Our team were competitive and good sports - winners already as a member of the Regional Team! The students had a great day and were suitably exhausted as we returned home on the bus. Congratulations to Hamish Carmichael who made the Diocesan Team to attend the Polding Swimming Carnival in Sydney. A couple of our Yr 6 students drafted this report on our way home.
Diocesan Swim Carnival 2022 by Kannika Broadbent and Tara Isbel
In Lambton Pool, Newcastle, some students had made it to Dio, but sadly Levi Van Haren broke his arm and couldn’t attend.
We travelled by one of the Newcombe Busline buses. Our driver for the day was Dru. Dru kindly stopped a couple times for the students who needed to go to the loo.
The schools that attended were St Josephs Taree, Wingham and Gloucester. The regions were Central, Lakes, All Saints, Upper Hunter, North Region and Manning in which Holy Name Primary School was in.
Some people had said that we are able to swim for fun, every team cheered for their teammates and Mrs. Stephens liked students doing what they enjoy best! The good news is that Hamish Carmichael made it to Polding.
We all had a great day!
Thank you Kannika and Tara for your reporting on the day.
We have more baby news among our staff, with Mrs Arrow and Mrs Kelso both expecting a baby this year. Mrs Arrow will finish up in the Learning Hub at the end of this term and Mrs Kelso will finish in Week 5 of Term 2. That will be 3 babies for our Holy Name staff for 2022. We wish both the Arrow and Kelso families all the best for the birth of their second child!
Yours sincerely,
Brooke Stephens
St Clare's Enrolment and Information meeting
Mrs Avery, Assistant Principal of St Clare’s High School will be attending Holy Name Forster on 23 March from 2.30 pm to talk to Year 6 students and 3.30pm to discuss 2023 enrolments with parents. All welcome to attend if you are considering enrolling your child at St Clare’s High School in 2023.
Parents/guardians along with their child/ren are invited to visit the school on this afternoon.
St Clare’s is also offering school tours on Monday 11 April 2022 at 8.30am, 9.30am, 11am, 12 noon, 1.30pm, 2.30pm, 3.30pm and 4.30pm. Please contact St Clare’s to book a tour.
We have been given an abundance of rain this last fortnight. What has come of it on one hand, is very positive because it’s seen our garden beds come to life after the first few weeks of high temperatures in February, and on the other hand, it’s been challenging for our students and staff with the confinements the wet weather brings to their lunch and play breaks. This week more COVID restrictions were lifted, allowing cohorts to mix. Children in Kinder and Yr.1 could be together during wet weather, Stage 2 and 3 could play together either under Kirkangina, on the verandas or in the hall under teacher supervision, instead of remaining in their classrooms for both lunch breaks. You saw the relief on children’s faces when they could be outside in an open space, stretch their legs and feel the freedom of a lunch break again with friends.
Positive Learning Behaviour at Holy Name
Week 5 and 6’s Positive Learning Behaviour has been “I can use kind words”. Children have been taught explicitly what appropriate language in the classroom and playground between teacher and student, student to student looks like. The Catholic teaching, “Treat others as you would like to be treated” overlays the positive learning behaviour. Jesus’ parables have been used to help reflect on his teaching, and class discussions and social stories have been modelled to teach students to be more like Jesus by using kind words in all their relationships.
Week 7 and 8’s positive behaviour focus is “I can use my hands to help others”. This behavioural focus has come about from the Leadership Team interpreting the class and playground heat map data, collected in Compass over the past 4 weeks. Children unfortunately are using their hands to hurt others, either as an isolated incident or as a reoccurring behaviour. In our school Behaviour Procedure, we define using your hands to hurt others as pushing, pinching, punching, using a weapon with intent to harm. These offences are not tolerated. Once reported to the teacher, the incident is investigated. The student is given time to reflect with the teacher and the incident is recorded as a minor incident on Compass. The class teacher is notified. If the incident is investigated and is considered a major, then our Behaviour Policy guides our actions. Parents/Carers of the student are notified that their child is internally suspended from first and second lunch or externally suspended, either is between 2-5 days, under the discretion of the Principal. If the student is externally suspended, the student is collected immediately, and the suspension begins. A return to school meeting is also arranged for the Assistant Principal, parents/carers, and student before school on the day of return.
Let’s Stamp Out Bullying
Students of Holy Name will be given additional support to strengthen their abilities to live out these most recent positive behaviour skills, when School Performance Tours visit our school toward the end of Term 1. “Let’s Stamp Out Bullying” will give students effective, easy to remember strategies to deal with bullies through puppetry, storytelling, and comedy. See attached link and flyer.
http://www.schoolperformancetours.com.au/2022/shows/primary/lets_stamp_out_bullying_part_2.php
School Captains Report
This week the SRC have been very busy working on all their tasks that need to be done. Here are all the amazing things that the SRC have done.
Environment -The Environmental group are writing emails to Mrs Stephens to organise times for emu bobs around the school. This group is also making posters for the bins.
Creative Arts-The Creative Arts group are making posters for the bulletin boards and this group is also making posters for what to bring to school that is environmentally and what not to bring to school.
Social Justice – Social Justice group are preparing what they will say to classes to show us what caring for the environment means.
Information Technology-The Information Technology group is emailing Mrs Stephens to discuss how IT lessons can be taught to all years by the IT group. They are developing a scope and sequence of coding apps to be taught across the school. The IT group is also going to be making a short clip with Mrs Banham to use only reusable drink bottles at Holy Name.
Sports -The sports group has been making equipment labels for both the infants and primary sports sheds. They have also continuously cleaned out the sports shed. And they have also made a sports house roster for collecting sports equipment after second lunch and for cross country colour house roster for hot lap training.
Good job Year six you have been working hard this week, keep the good work up!
Marley and Charlie.
Thank you Marlie and Charlie. Have a lovely weekend and stay safe.
Genevieve Williamson
Acting Assistant Principal
Ash Wednesday Mass
The season of Lent is upon us once more, which I think that it is particularly pertinent this year given recent events in the world. We stop, reflect and think about those less fortunate than ourselves and how we can seek to follow the example of Jesus in how we treat our fellow man. Even though times have been hard for many, there are still those who face even greater adversity in their daily lives.
We were able to find a moment of blessing for ourselves in school this week. We celebrated an Ash Wednesday Mass with Years 3, 4, 5, and 6, and for the first time in over two years were able to invite parents and carers to attend and celebrate with us. We were even able to gather in the hall as a school and sing! It was wonderful to see such participation from the students as we were marked with ash upon our foreheads, and were blessed by Father Peter.
We were also able to celebrate an Ash Wednesday Liturgy with our Infant years. Father Peter has invited Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 to visit the church as he shows them around. Father Peter has been visiting our classrooms and fielding a wide range of questions from our students! Our students have really enjoyed his visits and discussions and we are looking forward to our visits.
Project Compassion
Next week we are launching Project Compassion within the school. This year’s theme is For All Future Generations. We challenge each student to look to the future and imagine how they’d like the world to be in ten, twenty, fifty years time. This empowers each student to have a direct hand in the creation of that world. The children all want a world with no rubbish or pollution, no-one hungry and everyone having a chance to have a good life. We talked about small steps that we can do now to help build the world of tomorrow that we want.
In each classroom we will have a donation box, which goes to Caritas Australia and will then go onward to help with Caritas Australia’s goals of ending poverty, promoting justice and upholding the dignity of all. It provides an opportunity for us to observe the Lenten practice of Almsgiving, and put others before ourselves. Perhaps students could even earn some spare change at home through helping parents and carers with chores, which could then be donated. It’s a great way for children to learn that in some parts of the world children have to work hard from a young age and helps them appreciate living in a safe place surrounded by people who care for them.
Every Tuesday afternoon, we have our teacher staff meeting, where we focus on how we are meeting our Strategic Improvement goals and analyse data which helps us identify how we can best support the learning growth of our students. In our last staff meeting we discussed the importance of knowing the students in our class well and developing positive and genuine relationships early on in the year. Lynn Sharratt outlines in her book, ‘Clarity’ about the power of positive teacher/student relationships. She explains that when teachers know your students well, outside of just their academic ability, they can be better equipped to create assessments and learning opportunities that are best suited to the learners in their classroom.
The teachers at Holy Name, place a high importance on building positive relationships with their students. It was pleasing to hear from different teachers the creative and fun ways they get to know their students in the first few weeks of the school year and how it has positively impacted the development of their classroom culture. Students are much more willing to take risks with their learning and strive for their best when they feel safe, happy and respected by their teacher and peers.
Our Year 3 teachers started the year by creating ‘All About me’ backpacks which were shared and displayed in the room. 3M also regularly engage in games where they have to connect with their peers about common interests and likes.
In Kindergarten, getting to know our learners and what interests them is of the utmost importance. Starting school is a big milestone but can be overwhelming for some students so helping them feel a sense of belonging and a positive connection with their teacher and peers is extremely important. Students that feel safe and happy in their learning environment, will have a much higher chance of making positive growth in their learning throughout the year. Our Kindergarten students were all given a brown paper bag with instructions to bring in 4 of items that they believe would show their teacher and friends things they love and are interested in. It was such a positive experience as it not only helped us get to know our Kinder friends but it also helped develop valuable oral language skills, and the confidence to speak in front of an audience.
Primary Coordinator’s Report
Mrs Suzie Monks
Primary Coordinator
As the new school year progresses, there will be several conversations and meetings relating to students who receive funding through NCCD. It is important that you are aware if your child is receiving funding and what is involved in the way the process is implemented. I have put together a fact sheet below to assist in explaining the process further. If you are aware your child is receiving NCCD but would like further explanation, please get in touch.
National Consistent Collection of Data
What is it?
· National approach to collecting data on students with disability
· Introduced 2013 (2018 saw end of State criteria)
· Gathers information about:
*number of students with disability
*level of adjustments
*category of disability
What are the 4 NCCD Categories for Disability?
NCCD Category DDA Category Examples of possible conditions
COGNITIVE
Intellectual Cognitive delay
Learning Disability Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, language disorder
SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL Mental Health Generalised Anxiety Disorder, OCD, PTSD, Bipolar
Neurological Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, Epilepsy, ADHD, Prader Willi Syndrome, Autism Spectrum Disorder
PHYSICAL Physical Growth disorders
Physical disfigurement Limb amputation
Medical Diabetes, Asthma, etc
SENSORY
Sensory Hearing/Vision
There are 4 levels of adjustment/ support that your child may be receiving:
· QDTP (Quality Differentiated Teaching Practice)- occasionally
· Supplementary – some of the time
· Substantial – most of the time
· Extensive- all of the time
There are 4 categories of evidence that the school need to provide for a student to be included on NCCD:
· Evidence of assessed individual needs- diagnostic reports, specialist reports or standardised assessments
· Evidence of adjustments being made at school to address the individual need
· Evidence of the adjustments made being monitored and reviewed by school and parents/ carers- record of meetings, Learner profiles, Personalised Plan, Behaviour support plans etc
· Consultation and collaboration between school and parents/ carers about the adjustments being made- phone calls, emails, meetings, discussion about learner profile, personalised planning meeting
Damian Kelso
Learning Support Teacher
We are blessed to have a growing relationship with The Forster Tuncurry Community Kitchen at the Forster Parish Hall. They are now supplying our bread for Breakfast Club and we appreciate this support very much. The Community Kitchen serves hot and nutritious meals and continues to expand its offerings to better serve the community. The Community Kitchen currently operates in a partnership between Catholic Care Social Services Hunter-Manning, the Forster Tuncurry Catholic Parish and Holy Name Primary School. Staff from Catholic Care and volunteers make sure all people who visit the Community Kitchen are welcomed with food, support, and a smile.
The Community Kitchen at Forster-Tuncurry is truly a reflection of a community in action, with our students contributing to a shared garden, this supports and provides food to the community kitchen.
The Kitchen always welcomes additional support. To register your interest in becoming a volunteer or donor to the Forster Tuncurry Community Kitchen, please get in touch with Catholic Care on (02) 6539 5900 or email volunteers@catholiccare.org.au
I love that Wellbeing Week allows us a little extra time to be kind to ourselves and each other. Wellbeing week commenced in Breakfast Club, we were so excited to be able to play music again, it creates a joy filled atmosphere on Monday mornings. The students are able enjoy warm milo and toast, catch up on the events of the weekend and begin the week with a smile. Our Mini Vinnies team have been amazing helpers and continue to show ‘concern for others’ in their actions.
Mini Vinnies have supported Wellbeing Week and were on a secret mission last week to discover each and every member of staff’s preferred choice of cuppa…… it was then attached to a cup of care and delivered to staff Monday morning. Artemisia, Shayd and Maddelyn were wonderful helpers distributing our cups of care; I asked them how it made them feel being able to deliver these and they all agreed it made them “feel good”. Giving is such a gift in itself and I love that our students are having these experiences especially in Wellbeing Week.
In Art Club we’ve been working on a brown paper mural, I love seeing collaborative art and the students love creating as a collective. Art Club is open first break Monday - Thursday as an alternative play option.
If you missed our Wellbeing and Kindness clip pop over to our Facebook page, make yourself a cuppa, sit back and enjoy the wisdom of our students. It has made us smile, I’m sure it will have the same effect on you.
Take gentle care,
Kristie Banham
This Tuesday, 8th March, we will hold our second P&F Meeting for the year. The meeting will be held in the Learning Hub at 6pm and all of our parents and carers are very welcome to attend. If you cannot phyiscally attend but are interested in zooming in, this option can also be made available by contacting our school office. I'm sure one of the items for discussion at next week's meeting will be the campaign the P&F are leading about the Kiss n' Ride Zone on Carawa Street. This forum is a great place to begin to connect with other parents and to share your ideas on how to improve what we do at Holy Name.
The Diocese is running the following workshop for parents and carers.