Term 3, Week 4 2022

Principal's Message

‘We do whatever it takes to lead the way in Love, Learning, Faith, School Spirit, Sport & Community’

Dear families and friends,

Feedback: The Tell Them From Me surveys close very soon. Please complete this if you have not already done so in order to allow us to know the areas we are doing well and to look at opportunities to continue to improve. It only takes around 10 minutes to complete. Thank you!

Assumption Mass: We will gather as a whole school to celebrate mass for the first time in 3 years on Monday, this is a big deal for us. We also celebrated the life of St Mary MacKillop who started our Catholic schools in Australia and always did what was best for the kids and community. She is such a role model for me.

Grandparents Day: I am really looking forward to celebrating our Grandparents on Friday 26th April 9:30- 11:30 am. We wish to make it a very special time for them.  

Casino School Leadership Meeting: On Wednesday night, Sam, Laura, Felicity, and I met with the other school leaders from the College, Casino High, Casino Public, Casino West and Christian school, alongside members of the Catholic Schools Office and the Department of Education. The aim of the meeting and dinner was to collaboratively look at ways we can best meet the needs of our Casino kids and families.

Take care,
John O’Brien

Assistant Principal's News K-9

I am behaving pretty well. Not biting, not barking and enjoying all the cuddles from the SMP kids. I am trying very hard to not eat all the kids' great lunches. The teachers have said that I am already having a great impact with the morale of all and have brought great joy to our school.

Vinnies Funnies: What do I do when I need to go to the toilet whilst watching Netfix? I press the ‘Paws’ button.

Woof Woof,
Vinnie - Assistant Principal K-9

Assistant Principal's News - Mission

Canteen Lunch Orders Cut Off Time
We have been informed that the canteen has a new cut-off time for online orders which is now 9 am.

Important School Information Update
From Term 4  2022, we will gradually transfer to our new Student Information System (SIS) called Compass. The Compass platform has a parent portal and offers many extra features and benefits, including a smartphone application (app). This will mean that the current Skoolbag school app will no longer be used from Term 4, 2022 (more                                                                 info to come).

The Compass app and computer parent portal will be our school communication to you, similar to what our old Skoolbag app did for our community. The Compass app will allow you to;

• Enter in explanations for absences.
• Update your family contact details.
• Download and view your child's semester reports.
• View news feeds of school announcements, alerts and updates.
• View the school calendar.
• Provide consent for events, and pay for excursions and school fees

One of the first things we need to make sure as a school is that we have all parent and family members' contact details up to date, particularly phone numbers and email addresses. If we do not have your correct email address, you will be unable to access the new parent portal on the app. There will be a note to go home shortly with the details we currently have for each family and there will be further instructions on the easiest way to update this information if it is incorrect.

Parent Surveys Online - “Tell Them From Me”
In the coming weeks we will be inviting students, teachers and parents to provide feedback on their experience of our school using an online survey. The surveys are an important part of our whole school evaluation and planning process.

 We would like to invite you to complete the Tell Them From Me (TTFM) Partners in Learning survey. As we value the role of parents and carers within our school community we would greatly appreciate your feedback. The information you provide will be used to maintain our commitment to working together in partnership to further improve student learning and wellbeing at SMP.

The survey is anonymous and will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. You are able to access the parent survey on your computer or mobile device from the first week of August and we will send a link home on the app and make it available on the school website.

Friday Church Visits - All parents and family members are welcome to join

• 12th Aug 1 pm - K, Y5 & 6 Mass (church)
• 15th Aug 10 am Whole School Mass - Feast of the Assumption (church)
• 9th Sept 1 pm - K, Y5 & 6 Mass (church)
• 16th Aug 1 pm - Y1-4 Mass (church)
• 23rd Sept 12:30 pm Whole School Mass for the Feast of Our Lady of Mercy (church)

3:16 Church Youth Group
Dates:
Friday 12th August (3:30 - 5 pm)
Friday 9th August (3:30 - 5 pm)

Mini Vinnies
Our Year 6 Mini Vinnies group did an amazing job last weekend providing cooking and manning the social justice stalls at both the Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning Masses. We would like to thank their families and members of the parish who supported our stall by providing additional cooking or through the purchase of goodies last weekend. The raffle was won by Kate Dougherty. The students raised an amazing $906.65 which will be used to sponsor students in Fiji. As Fr Peter told the congregation on Sunday morning, Mini Vinnies is an important ministry as it allows our students to ‘see the face of Jesus in the poor’.            

New Altar Servers:
Since making their First Communion in late June we’ve had 5 Year 4 students join this Ministry, assisting with both school Masses and Weekend Masses. We welcome: Bella MacMahon, Valentina McDonald, Elaina Underhill, Annabelle Winters and Matthew Brenan. We also welcome Ollie Lamont in Year 5. The photo shows 3 of these students receiving their certificate after serving at their first weekend Mass.

Sam Irvine,
Assistant Principal - Mission

Assistant Principal's News Teaching & Learning

Clarity- What Matters Most in Learning and Teaching

Over the past 18 months, all teaching and learning staff at SMP have been taking part in a learning collaborative focusing on the work of Lyn Sharratt, around what works best in schools. The first "Parameter" of school improvement is the importance of Shared beliefs and Understanding for all staff. This states that we at SMP believe that 

1. All students can achieve a high standard when given the right time                                                                   and support

2. All teachers can teach to a high standard when given the right assistance 

3. High Expectations and early and ongoing intervention are essential

4. All leaders, teachers, and students can articulate what they do and why they lead, teach and learn the way they do.

This week I'd like to unpack our first belief. What does it look like at SMP when we believe that all students can achieve a high standard given the right time and support?

Our teachers and SSEs have identified that this will include:

• Providing focused and timely feedback to our students
• Ensuring a strong "Third Teacher" (a physical environment that teaches).
• Using our SSEs effectively to support all students
• Providing adjustments and differentiation for all students
• Developing and maintaining strong relationships with our students
• Having access to appropriate resources
• Providing opportunities for student voice, choice and influence.
• Encouraging student collaboration

We are working as a team to embed these practices in all classrooms so all students are given the opportunity to achieve the fullness of life.  

If you'd like to learn more about Lyn Sharratt's work you can visit- https://www.lynsharratt.com/post/achieve-clarity-using-the-14-parameters

BOOK WEEK and GRANDPARENTS DAY

Week 6 is Book week and this year we will be combining our annual Book Character parade with our Grandparents day celebrations. 

When: Friday 26th August.

Where: SMP starting at 9:30am

Book Week Theme: "Dreaming With Your Eyes Open"

9:30am - Welcome in the COLA
9:40am - Open Classrooms
10:30am - Liturgy & Parade in the COLA
11am - BYO shared lunch on the Turf and morning tea for Grandparents 
11:20am - Finish

Felicity Wilde,
AP Teaching & Learning

Learning & Teaching News

Oral Language focus in K-2
In K-2, we are having a focus on oral language and the students speaking in full sentences to help them write in full sentences. Oral language is the foundation of all literacy skills. If young children experience rich oral language by talking with and listening to adults and other children, they will have a large ‘bank’ of spoken vocabulary or words they understand when used in spoken communication. 

Families can support children in their oral language development by providing a variety of opportunities for children to listen and talk for different purposes. Here are some of the best ways parents and                                                                            caregivers can encourage oral language:

• Talk to your child and listen responsively. Ask and answer questions.
• Read aloud to your child at least once a day. Good books expose children to vocabulary and sentence structures that they won’t hear in everyday situations. 
• Talk with your child about the books you read aloud together. Ask your child about the characters, plot or setting; the themes and ideas raised by the book; topics they’d like to read or learn more about as a result of reading aloud.
  

Laura Hughes,
K-2 Instructional Leader

Leader Of Pedagogy

Public Speaking
Term 3 at SMP is where we have a big focus on public speaking skills. Each grade has incorporated this into their English units, which means many writing and reading tasks are also linked to presenting a text orally to their peers. 

Year 6 and Year 3 are focusing on poetry this term. Already the students in Year 3 have written and published an Acrostic poem. Year 6 are rotating around 'expert' groups of writing, where each class will focus on a specific poetry type for a fortnight. Each teacher in Year 6 is the expert so will teach each of the classes for that two-week cycle in writing lessons. By the end of the term, each Year 6 student will have a range of poems published onto their own website. 

Year 4 are focusing on reading, writing and presenting informative texts across the term. They have already published an information report featuring an animal and will work on other informative texts over the next few weeks. The goal is to present an engaging,  informative speech on a topic of their choice to their peers. 

Year 5 are very excited about their Tiny Homes unit this term. This means they will research what tiny homes are, form a company in small groups, interview a client (a staff member), make brochures and plans to meet their client's needs, make a model of their tiny house and sell it in a persuasive sales pitch at the end of the term. Already students have learned how to email a client, dress as professionals and formally interview their clients. 

Year 2 are reading and writing imaginative texts and learning how to present these to an audience. This includes a focus on fluency, pitch, eye contact, gestures, and vocabulary choices to enhance their presentations. 

Year 1 are learning about the features of persuasive texts using picture books as a stimulus for their reading and writing tasks. By the end of the term, they will compose a short persuasive text from a range of topics to convince their peers to think like them or take action. 

Kindergarten are learning to write short texts to entertain and inform their audience. At the end of the term, each student will have written a short informative text about themselves. This will be presented in a speech to their peers. 

The Public Speaking focus will culminate in a Whole School Poetry and Public Speaking Competition. Each student will participate in a class competition, finalists will be selected to compete in a Stage competition in the Relihan Centre in the last week of school. You will receive more information about this later in the term. 

Michelle Bratti,
Leader of Pedagogy 

Leader of Love & Community

Wakakirri
Last week saw over 50 of our students film their Wakakirri performance. They have been working so hard over the past 2 terms in preparation for this. They all did a wonderful job and should be so proud of their efforts! Keep an eye out for the video in the coming weeks! 

Upcoming Events Take a look at these events coming up and mark them in your diaries!
- Grandparents Day/Book Week Dress Up - Friday 26th August (Week 6)
- Scooter Friday - Friday 2nd September (Week 7)

Please see attached flyer for Scooter Friday

Kristie Irvine,
Leader of Love

Sport News

Zone Athletics
Congratulations to all the boys and girls that participated at Woodlawn last week. All students did a fantastic job displaying great sportsmanship and effort throughout the day. Big Congratulations to Harper Myers who was Senior Girls Champion, Rocco Jenkins who was Junior Boy Champion and Lachlan Rippon who was runner up Senior Boy Champion.

NSW School Cup
Congratulations to all the teams that participated in the NSW Schools cup held in Casino. Big Congratulations to SMP Giants who went through the day undefeated and competed in the Regional Finals at Colley Park. The girls played extremely well finishing the day with a win in their final. They narrowly missed out on making it through to Sydney.

Matt King Cup
The annual Matty King Cup is scheduled for the 15th of September (week 9) at Queen Elizabeth Park. St Mary’s will be taking 1 Stage 2 and 1 Stage 3 team on the day.

Gala Day
Unfortunately, we have had to withdraw from the Multi-Sports Gala day this year. Hopefully, we will be able to participate in the future. We will be taking a team for the Soccer Gala day held on August 19.

Brendan Mitchell,
Sports Co-ordinator 

Birthdays

Happy birthday to Marli Smith Rian Stokes Dakoda Slater Nate Want  Matari Blair-Irving Tahlia Freeburn Dean Priestley Vincent McSweeney Savannah Whitney Archibald Fergurson Jackson Ferguson Ashton Newby Daisy Dougherty Tyson Francis Austin Bird Arrabella Johnson Archie Bultitude Arabella Scheepers  Willow Hale Mathew Gilmore Stuart Addison Caysen Lambeth
Traevon Hickling Cole Ruane-Taylor Sonny McInnes Kahlarni Irving Ruby Seed Axel Smith Curtys Aleckson Zoey Chruchill Eboni Gibson   Roman Prior Felix Wilkinson Peyton Brown Jackson Gay Dimity Smith Oliver Formaggin James Williamson Jacob Dean Harley Northfield Lily Transton Joshua Borello