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Dear Parents and Carers,
Welcome back to Term 4! It already feels like things are moving quickly and that it will be Christmas before we know it. On my final day of last term, prior to heading to Israel on pilgrimage, the announcement of my appointment to St Joseph's Taree from 2024 was made. As you might imagine, this was a huge decision, but one that I can already see the benefits of for my professional growth and for this community. Holy Name School has an amazing group of highly professional educators, a community of supportive families and our students are engaged and positive about their learning growth. It is good to make changes when things are going well and I have no doubt that a new leader will see things that I don't and bring new and exciting opportunities to this school community.
Last term, I wrote about our access to SchoolTV, an online resource that will provide ongoing support to our staff and families for student wellbeing by providing access to reliable and relevant information. I can now say that the link has been placed on our school website and further information can found in the attached letter of introduction. This is new for all of us, however, moving forward, we will offer some parent evening on topics that we feel are appropriate for our community.
Pilgrimage to The Holy Land
It is hard for me to believe that just two weeks ago, I was in Israel and Palestine, meeting the people, visiting the places of significance and learning about the events of the past and present that have shaped the landscape in this part of the world. Our group of 44 members of staff from across this Diocese were fortunate to leave on a flight the evening prior to the rockets launched early the following morning. I have not stopped thinking about the events that have occurred over the last couple of weeks and the impact on the people from both countries. Part of our learning was about building our perspective of the reality for both the Israeli and Palestinian people. We visited a Catholic University in Bethlehem in the West Bank, a school for children who have experienced trauma as a result of the conflict and require a high level of support, and met with a Palestinian and an Israeli man who both lost children as a result of the conflict and are part of a group of parents from both countries working for peace. Their group is called Parents Circle and an article about them was recently forwarded to me that you can read here. When they spoke to us, they spoke about the importance of everyone working for peace in their own lives and countries. They mentioned the significance of Australia working towards reconciliation with our First Nations people and the relationship between this and achieving peace in this country.
We are so lucky to live in this beautiful country of Australia and I will never take this for granted. There will be people in our community affected by the conflict in the Middle East. Please reach out if you need our support. I will continue to pray for peace in the lives of all those around the world affected by war and ask that each of our families pause this weekend, light a candle and do the same.
Yours sincerely,
Brooke Stephens
This is a photo of me catching the sunrise over Jerusalem.
Welcome back to school for Term 4! Term 4 is always a busy and exciting time at Holy Name School. The weather is warming up and we start to enjoy the wonderful things our wonderful environment has to offer in the Summer months.
Lots of learning is still to occur this Term as well as the end of year festivities which will be upon us before we know it.
ICAS Testing
During Term 3, several students undertook the University of NSW ICAS tests. The certificates all came througfh over the holidays and the results were as follows:
ICAS 2023 Results
|
ENGLISH |
MATHS |
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES |
SPELLING |
SCIENCE |
WRITING |
Participation |
Joshua Adamson 2 Selim Hamdy 2 Matthew Jajo 2 Georgia Levick 2 Ryan Simpson 2 Noah Adamson 3 Noah Bergagnin 3 Brabham Cooper 3 Abby Levick 3 Matthew Malferrari 3 Hafsa Omar 3 Nikky Dang 4 Haya Hamdy 4 Amna Omar 5 Sienna Cooper 6 |
Joshua Adamson 2 Arielle Bergagnin 2 Aaron Huynh 2 Ryan Simpson 2 Noah Adamson 3 Matthew Malferrari 3 Hafsa Omar 3 Amaya Pucci 4 Amna Omar 5 Bridie Smith 6 |
Sienna Cooper 6 Amna Omar 5 Zomoreda Al- Azzawi 2 Aaron Huynh 2 Matthew Jajo 2 Brabham Cooper 3 Matthew Malferrari 3 Hafsa Omar 3
|
Milly Kijko 6 Sienna Cooper 6 Max Isbel 5 Haya Hamdy 4 Matthew Malferrari 3 Brabham Cooper 3 Joshua Adamson 2 Zomereda Al-Azzawi 2 Arielle Bergagnin 2 Ryan Simpson 2 Noah Adamson 3
|
Selim Hamdy 2 Aaron Huynh 2 Brabham Cooper 3 Hafsa Omar 3 Haya Hamdy 4 Amna Omar 5 Sienna Cooper 6 Bridie Smith 6 |
Hafsa Omar 3 Nikky Dang 4 Nanma Joy 4 Max Isbel 5 Amna Omar 5 Sienna Cooper 6 Myra Gupta 6 |
Credit |
Myra Gupta 6 Eli Lea 4 Nanma Joy 4 Zomoreda Al-Azzawi 2 |
Eli Lea 4 Zomereda Al-Azzawi 2 Matthew Jajo 2 |
|
Selim Hamdy 2 Matthew Jajo 2 Noah Bergagnin 3 Hafsa Omar 3 Amna Omar 5 |
Max Isbel 5 Nanma Joy 4 Matthew Jajo 2 Zomoreda Al-Azzawi 2 Matthew Malferrari 3 |
Haya Hamdy 4 Brabham Cooper 3 |
Merit |
Max Isbel 5 Arielle Bergagnin 2 |
Myra Gupta 6 Max Isbel 5 Nanma Joy 4 Nikky Dang 4 Brabham Cooper 3 Noah Bergagnin 3 |
Nanma Joy 4 |
|
|
Matthew Malferrari 3 Noah Adamson 3 |
Distinction |
|
|
Max Isbel 5 |
|
Eli Lea 4 |
|
Positive Behaviour for Learning - PBL
KM | Chillea Simon | Marcus Bradbrook |
KP | Ruby Simpson | Joey Sleiman |
1N | Charlie Cadiou-Scopelitis | Oliver Smith |
1M | Isabella Machett-Caberlon | Hudson Paterson |
2S | Everly Webb | Jordan Clubb |
2L | Autumn Barrett | Sam Oake |
3M | Grace Jurss | Callen Ridgeway |
3W | Gypsie Justice | Reegan Skelton |
4H | Nikki Dang | Jax Tull |
4L | Larah Farr | Zarah Clark |
5F | Noah Portelli | Sara Uprety |
6M | Marley Donegan | Kyesha Pucci |
6R | Ivy Baker | Mya McCarthy |
Principal Award Winners:
Student Name |
Year |
Number of Surfboards |
Agnes Johnson-Azzi |
Kinder |
40 |
Joseph Sleiman |
Kinder |
20 |
Kai Tulio |
Kinder |
20 |
Ruby Simpson |
Kinder |
20 |
Kirra Nadin |
Year 2 |
20 |
Hayley Whitehouse-Miotto |
Year 2 |
40 |
Selim Hamdy |
Year 2 |
40 |
Edie Loy |
Year 3 |
40 |
Matthew Malferrari |
Year 3 |
20 |
Oliver Crain |
Year 3 |
20 |
Abby Levick |
Year 3 |
20 |
Noah Adamson |
Year 3 |
40 |
Danny De Sousa |
Year 3 |
40 |
Reegan Skelton |
Year 3 |
40 |
Maddie Keegan |
Year 4 |
20 |
Athletics
A huge congratulations to Harrison Mills in Year 4 for achieving 3rd place in the All Schools Athletics Championships that was held at Sydney Olympic Park late last Term.
Tae Kwon Do
Grand Master Faye Shacklock offers Tae Kwon Do lessons at HNS after school on Thursdays. The students enjoy this time and are learning critical skills around self control, managing emotions and self defence.
Faye has been working with a small group of Year 3 boys since she started lessons and yesterday, they were awarded a certificate from Faye for achieving their Yellow Belts. Congratulations to Danny De Sousa, Oscar Atkinson, Callen Ridgeway, Reegan Skelton and Oliver Crain. This is a great opportunity for the students and we thank Faye very much for her efforts!
School Garden
Our Year 6 students have been working this week to clean out our garden beds now that we can access the space again after the renovations. A Stage 2 Gardening Club has also been formed that will work with me at second lunch breaks.We plan to empty the beds, resoil them and plant out with Summer veges and herbs. All the produce, along with our eggs, are donated to the Parish Community Kitchen.
Day for Daniel
Cybersafety
Acting Religious Education Coordinators Report
Socktober Liturgy
October is Catholic Mission Month, with World Mission Day falling this year upon Sunday 22nd. With its theme of ‘Hearts on Fire, Feet on the Move’, it is a call to action for all of us. This year a special event was held in Newcastle, in the McDonald Jones Stadium, and every school within the Diocese of Manning-Newcastle was invited to send some representatives.
Holy Name was proudly represented by Max, Layla, Chase and Airlia from our Year 5 class, who all got a taste of the Leadership opportunities they will have next year! After a liturgy led by Bishop Kennedy, they joined in with other schools in a series of football games upon on the hallowed field of the Knights!
They were also privileged to meet Sister Carolina, a Missionary from Timor-Leste, who heard God’s call and has dedicated her life to caring for the sick. We thought about how we at Holy Name always seek to show Concern for Others, and were inspired by her story and dedication.
Mission Day
Yesterday, we celebrated Mission Day at Holy Name. I would like to thank all the families who generously provided recycled materials for Sock Balls, as well as gold coin donations. These funds will go to Catholic Mission where they will be used in Timor-Leste. Following Timor-Leste’s hard-won independence, many people live in a state of impoverishment, and the country lacks sufficient hospitals and schools to help its people flourish and grow. Missionaries like Sister Carolina have made a difference to the lives of many, but need our support to continue and we are pleased to be able to help.
In school we learned about the importance of Mission and why we are called to serve. Afterwards all the students worked in pairs to create their own sock balls, ready for a game of football. I was very impressed at the construction skills of the students! We have enjoyed celebrating Socktober and making sock balls for a few years now, and each year their footballs get better and better!
I’d also like to give a big thank you to the Paine family, who generously donated a set of goals. These have already been put to good use. It’s now harder than ever to get the children to stop playing football at the end of recess!
Parish Mass Visits
Week 1: Year 2
Week 2: Year 5
Week 3: Year 1
Week 5: Remembrance Day Liturgy at Holy Name
Week 6: Kindergarten / Year 6
Week 7: Years 3 & 4
Great Learning Happening in Year 6!
Each fortnight we 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 6. This is the final term of primary school for our Year 6 students and even with the excitement of the upcoming end of year celebrations, the students have continued to say calm and focused on their work.
In reading, Year 6 have been developing their skills in skimming and scanning to locate information quickly in informative texts. Over the past fortnight the year 6 students have been reading different space texts on specific planets and develop questions that their peers have to quickly locate the answer to. The students and teacher developed the Success Criteria below so that students could identify how they were tracking with their skimming and scanning skills. This is common practise in all classrooms to help students take ownership of their learning.
OK – read text and write down three specific words that their friend needs to find (some difficulty)
GOOD – read text and write down phrases their friend needs to find
GREAT – read text and write down questions where their friend has to find the answer (for example, What was Saturn named after?)
EXCELLENT – read text and write down questions where their friend has to find the answer with more difficulty (for example, How many of Saturn’s moons are unnamed? Information says that there are 82 moons and 53 are named.)
OUTSTANDING – read text and write down questions where their friend has to infer the answer (for example, Why is it named Saturn? What type of data did the Huygens space probe send back?)
In writing, Year 6 have been developing the imaginative writing skills needed to write different forms of poetry. Students have learnt that the purpose of poetry is to engage and excite the imagination of the reader, or to stir a particular emotional response within them. The classes have started by analysing a variety of poems including song lyrics and traditional Australian poems by Banjo Paterson. The Year 6 teachers have been impressed with the level of enthusiasm the students have displayed and the creative ideas and topics they have chosen to write their poems on. The Year 6 students have worked on: I am poems, Haiku poems, tongue twisters and poems using alliteration. The students worked on a draft in their writing books and then after feedback from their peers and teachers the students published their poems on Canva. Check out these great poems!
In Mathematics the students have been working on analysing different data and using this data to create line graphs. The students showed a keen interest in the data around Great White Shark sightings so they used this current data to create graphs using Canva. Check out some of their work samples!
In Science, Year 6 are looking at major geological and extreme weather events such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, drought and cyclones. Through questioning, gathering evidence and developing explanations, they are learning how rapid or extreme natural events can affect the Earth’s surface and environment. The student’s have been researching and investigating scientific and technological developments in measuring, predicting and minimising the effects of natural disasters. The students will be planning and producing a STEM design later on in the term.
In Creative Arts the students have been focusing on Graphic Art. Students were tasked with creating a graphic design that would pop and painting it onto the deck of a skateboard. The students worked through a number of skill building sessions on how to sketch, use effective spatial awareness and using line/shape/colour to enhance a design. The students used their skills to create their skateboard design. Take a look at these amazing designs!
Well done Year 6 students keep up the awesome work!
Mrs Suzie Monks
Primary Coordinator
Mini Vinnies
Our Mini Vinnies team have commenced the term with meetings in action. Last term we picked lavender from the school garden and let it dry over the holidays ready to strip the leaves and flowers. We have done that and are busily filling fabric pouches that will be sewn into dream pillows and presented to some special people in coming weeks. Our Mini Vinnies team are extremely excited to be able to make to give and looking forward to learning a new skill of sewing. We look forward to sharing some photos of our sewing in coming weeks.
Breakfast Clubs
Over the previous two weeks, our Mini Vinnies have resumed Breakfast Club, demonstrating unwavering commitment every Monday. Moving into the warmer weather we offer cold Milo to students, this is a task that also requires a significant amount of cleaning and dishwashing, as we consciously employ reusable cups. Additionally, our toast makers were tirelessly busy, toasting two whole loaves of bread, ensuring that a multitude of children had the opportunity to savor both Milo and delicious toast.
Wednesday Breakfast Club has seen lots of students enjoying some fruit prior to commencing their learning for the day. We thank Catholic Care for the continued support in donating fruit to us for Wednesday’s Breakie Club. We are fortunate to have banana bread some Wednesdays also.
Art Club
Art Club remains a well visited creative hub, welcoming all students during the first lunch break. Here, students are encouraged to engage in drawing, collaborate on group projects, and explore various colouring techniques using different mediums to craft their unique artworks. Students are enjoying a new Art Club blackboard that they can colour with chalk. We’ve also been making friendship bracelets with wool; this is fun and encourages fine motor skills.
Wellbeing - https://www.smilingmind.com.au
Smiling Mind, an Australian-based organisation, offers a wonderful online platform dedicated to the well-being and mental health of primary school children. Founded with a vision to empower young minds with mindfulness and resilience, the website provides a wealth of resources and tools that cater specifically to children in their formative years. Smiling Mind's programs are designed to be engaging and age-appropriate, incorporating playful activities and guided mindfulness exercises. Through this website, primary school children can access an array of content that helps them build emotional intelligence, reduce stress, and develop skills for self-awareness and self-regulation.
The benefits of Smiling Mind for primary school children are numerous and invaluable. The platform promotes mental well-being, an increasingly important aspect of education as young minds grapple with the pressures of modern life. It equips children with practical techniques for managing stress, anxiety, and emotional challenges. By integrating mindfulness into their daily routines, children can improve concentration and focus, ultimately enhancing their academic performance. Moreover, Smiling Mind encourages empathy, kindness, and emotional resilience, fostering an inclusive and compassionate school environment.
Journal Club
Our Stage 3 girls love the opportunity to share Art Journal Club each week. We meet each Friday morning from 8.30am ready to create. Together we use lots of art supplies explore, draw and design pages for their journals. The girls have been able to repurpose old books, bring a journal or make pages to create for their journals. It is a quieter way to commence Friday mornings and the benefits of journaling and making art empower our students to express themselves, build resilience, and develop the skills necessary for emotional intelligence and lifelong personal growth.
Kristie Banham
Pastoral Care Worker
Parents, please check out this amazing and important opportunity for you to get some advice on assisting your children to build their skills in navigating the online space. It goes for 30mins and covers:
• creating a positive digital identity
• privacy and sharing online
• managing what you see online
• good practices in group chats
• help-seeking
At Holy Name, we observe an increasing number of challenges experienced by our students online and encourage our families to take this opportunity provided for free by the Council of catholic School parents.
Skilled volunteers needed!
The growing popularity of the Tell Me a Story writing and illustration competitions, requires us to expand our team of volunteers, in order to satisfy the demand.
Since the writing competition started in 2018, Holy Name school has been one of the top scorers in the number of entries received each year.
If you are a retired, or a semi-retired teacher, writer, artist, or if you have MS Word and Excel skills, please consider joining our team of volunteers who administer and judge the competitions.
Or maybe you know of someone, who could assist us?
Some tasks may only require one day’s work. Your duties will be tailored to your availability and preferences.
We wish to hear from you! Please contact Teresa, by email at teresa@tellmeastory.org.au
Further information about our competitions is available on the Tell Me a Story website: tellmeastory.org.au