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Dear Parents and Carers,
It has been a wonderful couple of weeks of celebration here at Holy Name. It was Catholic School's week last week, including our Liturgy, the Author visits, Sorry Day and our School Athletics Carnival; all significant events in our calendar. It is always nice to be able to showcase our school during special events but I also noticed that we were shining a light on some of the everyday things that happen at our school that are quite remarkable. Given the weather and challenges of late, we were very grateful for the opportunity for our students to participate in the carnival.
We then moved into Reconciliation Week and this year, the theme, 'Be Brave. Make Change.', was highlighted through revisiting the Tent Embassy and the significant Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people throughout history who have lived out the words reflected in the theme. In this 50th Anniversary year of the Tent Embassy, we asked our students to consider why Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people felt the need to create an embassy and what have been the conversations over time that have helped to maintain this now iconic place. Students were provided with stimulus pictures and notes of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people who have 'been brave' and 'made change' through their words and actions. Through literature and study, all students were encouraged to respond to the theme in pictures and/or words. All of these work samples will be displayed in the hall, with some of these reflections shared during our NAIDOC celebrations later this term.
Wellbeing Week overlapped with some of our celebrations but we managed to combine the 'Wear it Yellow' day and some fun regular wellbeing activities for the students during school time.
Some photos of the Tent Embassy on the playground and in the Creative Arts room when it became too windy to maintain the tent outside.
Amazing feedback - External Review
On Tuesday this week, our Leadership Team received the draft feedback report from the External Review team who visited the school on Monday and Tuesday. During the two days, they used the External Review Report prepared and provided by our staff prior to their visit to compare to what they saw when they visited classrooms and spoke with teachers, support staff, parents and students. To have words like 'exemplary' and 'outstanding' used to describe our school's approach to improvement was a little overwhelming. The team particularly highlighted the learning agenda of the school, the physical improvements to the school site, the organisation and purposeful learning walls within classrooms and the capacity of the parents, students and teachers to all talk about the same things when considering learning at Holy Name. The team said that the evidence overwhelmingly suggested we were all '...singing from the same song sheet.' The leader of the Review Team told us in all sincerity that she has one grandchild and that she would be happy to enrol her here. How good is that!!
We now have a very clear direction for the next three years and once we receive the final report, will set about putting this together in our next Strategic Plan. Thank you for your support in completing our review.
Semester 1 Student Reports
At the end of Week 9 this term, families will receive the Semester 1 Student Report via Compass. With the review of Student Reports in process, combined with the changes that were made during the COVID period, parents will notice a slight change to the physical look of the reports. We have opted to maintain the recording of two area of strength and one area for development in the comment section for Religion, English and Maths, instead of a combined comment in these areas. Some of the feedback from parents suggested that parents were more interested to know exactly what their child is doing well and the area that their child needs to focus on in order to improve. There is still a general comment at the end of the report, however, in the future, this comment may reflect the goal your child has been working on during the semester. The descriptors for the subject areas have changed slightly, and further changes in these descriptors will occur in the future. The review team have tried to support parents by providing greater detail for what children were learning and how they are performing in these areas. We would welcome your feedback as we continue this review process.
We have our Pop Up Stall tomorrow (Saturday) at Stocklands. If you see us, please drop by and say hello. Enrolments are now coming in and I have commenced interviewing families for 2023. If you know anyone interested in enrolling for next year, please encourage them to pick up an enrolment form or to contact the school so that we can send one out.
Kind regards,
Mrs Stephens
SPORT
Last Thursday, we held our school Athletics Carnival at Tuncurry Oval. I was amazed we got such a beautiful day for the carnival after the wet weather leading up to the day.
A big thanks to Ms McKinnon for organising the carnival, to Mr Gleeson for helping set up the oval, to the P&F and their helpers for cooking the BBQ and preparing the lunches, to all the staff for their help in various roles, to the senior students who ran bibs and timesheets and to Angus Laurie and Bianka Schulz-Allan for their assistance with set up, long jump and timekeeping.
We were unable to have a March Past this year; due to poor weather leading up to the carnival which made it impossible to practice, however, the children looked great representing in their House colours. All the children competed to the best of their ability and a great day was had by all.
The Manning Region carnival will be held at Tuncurry Oval on Tuesday, June 14th.
2022 Athletics Champions
Girls |
Boys |
Junior 1st Sophia Whitehouse-Miotto 2nd Charlotte Allan 3rd Mya McCarthy |
Junior 1st Zac Te Raki-Pitfield 2nd Eli Lea 3rd Max Stephenson and Brabham Cooper |
11 Years 1st Mackenzie Allen 2nd Adele Whitehouse-Miotto 3rd Lilah Gibson |
11 Years 1st Ashton Robertson 2nd Ashley Allan 3rd Hamish Carmichael and Koby Pither |
Senior 1st Chelsea Price 2nd Kannika Broadbent 3rd Bonnie Dempsey |
Senior 1st Levi Van Haren 2nd Charlie Gibson 3rd Aston Hodges |
The Champion House for 2022 in Athletics was Biluun (Stingrays) who won from the other houses by over 170 points! Well Done Biluun!
Congratulations to the Biluun House Captains: Adele Whitehouse-Miotto and Ashley Allan.
WEAR IT YELLOW DAY
On Wednesday, HNS raised money for the Children’s Ground Charity by Wearing it Yellow for Reconciliation Week. Children’s Ground raises money for Aboriginal Children in Central Australia by working across across 5 intersecting platforms: learning, health, economic wellbeing, culture and community.
There was an online option to donate as well as children donating a gold coin on Wednesday. Altogether, HNS raised $1362.50 for this wonderful cause!!! A special mention to Autumn Barrett in 1M. Autumn’s family shared the link with friends and family online and they were very generous in donating over $800. Thank you so much to families for their generosity.
PBL
Our PBL focus for the past fortnight has been Wearing the Correct Uniform. Lots of surfboards were given out to children caught wearing their correct uniform. Most of the students wear the correct uniform, however, some families seem to be confused as to the appropriate socks and footwear. All students are to wear a plain black sock (without brands or logos) and a plain black jogger (not black & white or any other colour.) School uniforms instil a sense of pride and belonging into the students and we would ask that families follow the uniform policy.
For the next fortnight, our Behaviour focus will be on using Safe Hands and feet both in and out of the classroom. Teachers can award Surfboard tokens to children “caught” displaying the targeted positive behaviour. Surfboard tallies are kept by the classroom teachers and reward given as the students reach certain levels.
SRC
In the SRC meeting this fortnight, our Year 6 students worked with me on how to use Microsoft Teams as a communication tool for our SRC group. We also learned the correct way to send and receive emails as well as the appropriate way to address and sign emails off.
Each group is working on different projects within the school and there are things being chipped away at behind the scenes. The children have come up with some great suggestions for how to improve the learning environment at HNS as well as some other initiatives. Next meeting, they will fine tune their emails to Mrs Stephens letting her know what is going on in each group and asking for her advice and input regarding these ideas.
LIBRARY NEWS
AUTHOR VISIT
Last Wednesday, the Primary students were lucky to have a visit from Adrian Beck. Adrian is an Australian Author and TV producer who engaged the children with stories of his own writing. He talked about the importance of engaging the reader through the use of humour and lived experience and creating wonderful characters. Thank you to Great Lakes Library and their annual Book Festival for organising these visiting authors.
BOOK WEEK
Next Term we will celebrate BOOK WEEK at Holy Name School. The theme for this year's celebration is Dreaming with Eyes Open.
Each year the Children's Book Council of Australia shortlists books in several categories. On the Friday before Book Week begins, the Winners of each category are announced. During library lessons for the rest of the Term and into next Term, the children will be introduced to the books in the various categories. Before Book Week, we will have our own vote to see which books the students think should be the winners. This week, the Infants students were read an Early Childhood Book of the Year nominee called Walk of the Whales by Nick Bland. It was wonderful to hear small children explaining that the meaning of the book was to stop polluting the oceans. In the primary classes, we have begun reading Huda and Me, by H. Hayek. This is a rollicking adventure about to children who venture overseas on their own to locate their parents.
A love of reading is a fabulous gift to instil in our children and I would encourage all families to spend some regular time enjoying stories together. Reading can take you to another world and is a great pastime in this ever busy world we live in.
Staff Faith Formation at Holy Name
Faith formation of Catholic school community members is Christ-centred. It is intentional, ongoing and a reflective process that focuses on the growth of individuals and communities from their lived experiences, in spiritual awareness, theological understanding, vocational motivation and capabilities for mission and service in the Church and the world.
Staff formation is vital and seen as imperative to help teachers to form students in spiritual formation in our school. Holy Name have records of staff who have been to the various CSO system formation days and retreats. This framework is a way of knowing who is going where each year is a good idea for record-keeping, to ensure fairness and equity. Staff formation is ongoing.
The Principal and REC think about our staff, particularly our new staff (first 5 years of teaching) and experienced staff. We consider who would most benefit from being on formational programs and retreats each year.
In Term 3 our whole staff will engage in a day of contemplation, discussion, and formation around the theme: Love is our Mission- recognising the “Mission” activity in God in the Cosmic Narrative, Christ Narrative, and the Church Narrative. The day will be led by Mr Richard Cootes, former educational ambassador of Catholic Mission for our diocese.
This day will be:
- Christ-Centred, leads to personal and communal encounter with Christ
- Incorporate the 'Head, Heart and Hands'' approach
- Build capacity for mission and service of our staff
- Is invitational, intentional, differentiated, ongoing, reflective
- Deepens vocational motivation and spiritual awareness
In 2022, selected individual staff will be attending formation opportunities with other teachers from the Newcastle/Maitland Diocese during Term 2, 3 and 4. Individual staff formation opportunities include: faith, Story Witness, The Catholic Teacher, One Heart One Soul, Doorways Beginning Teacher Retreat Phase 1-3, and We are Called- We are Challenged Senior Leaders Retreat Phase 1-3.
Parish Based Sacramental Program
Holy Name students are now invited to enrol in the Confirmation Parish Sacramental Program. The sacrament of Confirmation is the second sacrament children prepare and receive before the sacrament of Eucharist. Once children have received Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist, they are fully initiated into the Catholic Church. Recently students enrolled and prepared for reconciliation- this is not included in initiation.
If your child is baptised, did or did not receive Reconciliation last month, they are now invited to enrol for Confirmation. Your child does need to be in Yr. 3, Yr. 4, Yr. 5, or Yr. 6 to enrol in the program.
Forster Tuncurry parish priest, Fr Peter, is eager to ensure all Holy Name catholic students take up this invitation and receive these sacraments before they graduate from Holy Name. We understand COVID has interrupted the sacramental program and are eager to include all students from Yr3-Yr 6 who are baptised in the Catholic Church, to take up this invitation to receive the sacrament Confirmation and Eucharist this year.
Please contact Danielle at the Parish Office 6554601 for further details on how to enrol.
Genevieve Williamson
Religious Education Coordinator
It has definitely been a busy 2 weeks! We were lucky enough to have a beautiful sunny day for our Athletics Carnival last week! It was so nice to see great sportsmanship and happy smiles throughout the day. Catholic School’s week was a great time to reflect on the amazing things that make Catholic schools (particularly Holy Name) extra special.
Great Learning Happening in Year Three!
Each fortnight I would like to put a spotlight on the great learning happening in a particular grade in our school. In this report the spotlight is on Year Three.
Year One have been focussing on becoming engaging writers that use a range of strategies to enhance their writing. The Year Three teachers have created an interactive Bump it Up Wall using a Pokemon theme. Students compare their samples to the wall to identify how many strategies they have used. Students are then given the opportunity to choose a strategy they haven’t used and take a goal strip with the strategy to put on their desk. The feedback from both teachers is that this type of interactive self assessment and goal setting has had a positive impact in their classroom.
Year Three classes have been focussing on writing persuasive texts. Earlier this week the classroom chairs went on strike and the students needed to convince the chairs to come back with their persuasive writing skills. Check out the awesome photos and impressive writing samples.
In Maths, Year Three has been focussing on 2D and 3D shapes. The teachers provided the students with engaging hands on experiences to explore the properties of 2D and 3D shapes. The teachers commented that they were impressed with the mathematical language that students were using when creating their 3D shape models.
Well done Year Three students and teachers, keep up the awesome work!
From the classroom of 5/6R
Another class that has been busy investigating is 5/6R. This week they have been playing the roles of scientists and future engineers. Part One of their Solar Oven Experiment saw them having a mission to make S’mores! They are hoping for a sunny day soon so that their ovens can work their magic and toast that marshmallow to be nice and gooey! We look forward to hearing your results ?
Mrs Suzie Monks
Primary Coordinator
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