Term 3 Week 8 2022
Principal's Message
Dear families and friends,
‘We do whatever it takes to lead the way in Love, Learning, Faith, School Spirit, Sport & Community’
Important Dates Ahead
- Student Free Days Term 4
Monday 10th October (first day back from holidays)
Friday 25th November - Proposed Christmas Carol Concert
Thursday 24th November - Swimming Carnival (only for competitive swimmers wanting to go onto
the next level as Casino pool is yet to be complete)
Thursday 1st December - Casino Dance Concert
Friday 2nd December - Year 6 Graduation
Wednesday 14th December - Last Day of the Year for Students
Friday 16th December
Student Recognition
At SMP, we wish to acknowledge students who give their best in all areas of our School Vision. This covers the holistic development of children and allows all students the opportunity to achieve and be recognised. We ensure that this recognition is earned and that we do not offer false praise. We also ensure we look for the best in all kids and provide and recognise different opportunities for students to shine in their own way. Our biggest goal, however, is for our kids to intrinsically do their very best without looking for any reward or recognition. Below is what we currently do, but we are open to feedback and are going to examine this, always looking to improve.
Vision Awards
Approximately 3 Vision awards are handed out each week per class. The award may be for Love, Learning, Faith, School Spirit, Sport or Community.
Student of the Month Awards
These will be presented at the SOM assembly. Presented to a child who is doing whatever it takes to lead the way in Love, Learning, Faith, School Spirit, Sport & Community. This award is open to all students who receive a Vision Award over the last 5 weeks.
Learning Achievement Awards
These will be presented at the SOM assembly. Presented to a child who is doing whatever it takes to lead the way in either Mathematics, English or another Key Learning Area.
Reading Awards
Presented for 100, 200 & 300 nights. Teachers may hand out intermediate awards during class time. The student's photo will be placed out the front of the Library. One student, who has read 100 nights or more per semester will receive $100 to spend in Casino.
Sport
Students will be presented with awards for placing at school events and for progressing to a Zone, Diocesan or Polding carnival. Students who participate in the Running Club also have the opportunity to receive recognition.
Positive Principal Phone Call
I make a few phone calls home each term to really recognise those students who are going above and beyond in our School Vision.
Office Visit
Students who have completed work to the best of their efforts will often be invited to show Mr Irvine or myself. We then show our appreciation for their efforts with an award sticker.
Winning House Reward
During the term, points are awarded to our House Teams - McAuley, Champagnat, MacKillop and de Paul when students in that house achieve points for their attendance at community events, sporting achievements, learning reading awards, etc. At the end of the term, the House with the most points enjoys a ‘Pizza Party’ together at lunchtime.
Facebook
Our Facebook page is designed to celebrate our students and staff in all areas of our School Vision.
Other
Some other awards and rewards that our school does to acknowledge students are:
Year 6 Graduation Awards; Poetry & Public Speaking award; Writers Festival award; Individual classroom incentives and rewards; a phone call from the classroom teacher to acknowledge them.
John O’Brien
Principal
Assistant Principal's News - Mission
Whole School Mass - Mercy Day
On Thursday 22nd Septemeber (Week 10), we will celebrate Mercy Day with a whole school mass at the church at 12:15pm. Mercy Day is the anniversary of the opening of the first “House of Mercy” in 1827 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley who went on to create the Sisters of Mercy order. The Sisters of Mercy taught in our school from 1887 right up until 1992 (Sr Josephine was the last nun to teach at SMP). We are lucky today to still have Sr Frances and Sr Mary teach piano to some of the students of our school. All parents and family members are encouraged to join us for the mass at the church.
School Mass & Liturgy Visits
Today our Kinder, Years 5 & 6 students celebrated a liturgy in the church with a number of family members joining us for this one. Next Friday 16th September, our Years 1, 2, 3 & 4 students will have a special mass together based upon 'friendship at 1.00pm. All parents and family members are invited to come along and celebrate with us.
Three Sixteen Youth Group
Today is the last 3:16 Youth Group for Term 3. All parents and family members are encouraged to come along to the BBQ dinner at the church at the conclusion of the session for the kids at 5:30pm.
Tell Them From Me Surveys
Thank you again to those who completed the surveys. Our Leadership Team has looked over the results and feedback and the whole staff will do the same at our meeting in Week 10. From then we will have a good plan moving forward to action some priority areas.
Compass - Replacing Skoolbag
Just a reminder to confirm your contact details, particularly your email address, with the school office in preparation for the first live day of the new school application system called Compass (replacing Skoolbag). You can download the app now ready for further details on how to register. This will be out shortly with your username and password.
School Hats
A reminder that school hats are compulsory at all times when outside for our students. We are cracking down on this as a school as we understand how important is for our kids to be aware of sun safety.
Student of the Month Assembly
The last one for the term is on Thursday 22nd September at 2:10pm in the Relihan Centre. All parents and family members are welcome to come along.
Sam Irvine
Assistant Principal - Mission
Assistant Principal's News Teaching & Learning
Safe Communication Online- Snap Chat
Communication between peers has changed dramatically over the last few years and it is important that we as educators and parents understand how our children are communicating and how we can keep them safe whilst doing so.
There are many apps available to our children to communicate, some with strong parental controls that allow safe communication and others that seem to be designed for secrecy, which can put our children at risk.
It has come to my attention over the last few months that a number of our students are using Snapchat for their communication. How your children communicate with their peers is 100% a parental decision and responsibility, and I would never want to overstep the mark in this area. In my role as Assistant Principal, I often see the ramifications of the use of these apps and I believe knowledge is power, so I would like to share some information in regards to our kids using Snapchat.
Snapchat has an age rating of 12+. It is an app that is designed to allow photos and messages to disappear as soon as they are received. This gives many people a false sense of security around the privacy of what they have sent and can sometimes encourage people to say and send things they would not normally. This can lead to more "bullying" behaviour and can mean that our kids are at greater risk on this app than on others.
The Snap Map allows for location sharing and can put our kids at risk of being tracked online. This can be a major problem if your child has connected with people they don't know "In Real Life" through Snapchat.
I encourage all parents to maintain open communication with their children in regards to the apps they use for communication and to monitor their internet use to ensure cyber safety for all our kids.
I have attached an info sheet on Snapchat and if you would like any more information on other apps our kids can have access to visit The Carly Ryan Foundation page.
Thank you
Felicity Wilde
AP Teaching & Learning
Leader of Pedgaogy
Prime Minister's Spelling Bee
Congratulations to Oliver Christensen in Year 3 who made it to the National Finals in the Spelling Bee. He competed against other talented spellers across NSW through an online platform to spell accurately and quickly. It is a great achievement to make it through to this level. Well done, Oliver.
Oliver Christensen
Byron Writer's Festival Workshop
On the 24th August, 48 talented eager writers from SMP travelled to Southern Cross Uni to participate in writing workshops with other Primary School students across the area. The students engaged in workshops with two published authors, Isabelle Carmody and Corey Tutt, to hear how authors use their storytelling skills to compose engaging texts. There was lots of laughter and excited comments throughout the sessions and students were very excited to be involved in these workshops.
Michelle Bratti
Leader of Pedagogy
K-2 Instructional Leader
Little Learners
Little Learners started in Week 4 of this Term. Our future SMP students have settled in so well! Each week, the children play, read, draw, write and explore interest-based activities. Here are some snaps of the children leading the way in learning.
Laura Hughes
K-2 Instructional Leader
Leader of Intervention News
Leader of Intervention News
At St Mary’s, our teachers ensure students with additional needs are catered for within the school setting by making, recording, and monitoring individual adjustments.
Adjustments are made to enable students with a disability or additional needs to access and participate in education on the same basis as their peers.
The first step our teachers take in making adjustments is to understand the individual student’s strengths and challenges through collaboration with the student, family and specialists. Teachers then reflect on the adjustments that will support the student in accessing their learning within the school setting.
When planning student adjustments teachers will ask themselves questions such as:
*What additional support does a student need to access their learning?
*If required, how could I use visual scaffolding to help a student?
*How could I best support a student to organise their time and complete tasks?
*How can I introduce effective break times, but still maintain structure?
*What technological tools could I introduce into the classroom to help a student with either handwriting difficulties or challenges with executive functioning, or both?
*How can I create a classroom environment that supports the needs of a student who may be sensitive or reactive to aspects of the learning setting?
Teachers then record, monitor, and review the adjustments. If you have any questions about student adjustments please contact me or your child’s classroom teacher.
Paula McIntyre
Leader of Intervention
Sport News
Lachlan Rippon & Sam Butler
Big congratulations to both boys who travelled to Mudgee to compete for Polding in Rugby. Both boys did extremely well against some extremely tough opposition. Polding won the Grand Final 26 - 10 in a hard fought game. Lachlan and Sam should be extremely proud of themselves and their efforts as we are of them here at SMP. The boys unfortunately narrowly missed making the NSW State team.
Alice Shields
Alice will represent Polding in Sydney for Softball in Week 10 of this term. We wish Alice all the best and are very proud of her efforts.
Polding Athletics
Big congratulations to the eight students who travelled to Newcastle to represent the Diocese at Polding Athletics this week. All eight students did an excellent job and should be very proud of their efforts. Final results are yet to come.
NRRRL (Matty King Cup)
Stage 2 and Stage 3 Rugby League teams will head to Queen Elizabeth Park on Thursday 15th September to compete against other schools for the Matty King Cup. We wish all the students the best of luck.
Brendan Mitchell
Sports Co-ordinator
Leader of Love and Community
Hi All!
These past few weeks we have celebrated a few special occasions!
Book Week and Grandparents' Day saw so many families come in for a special, sunny Friday morning! The students' costumes were all fantastic! Thank you to everyone who came and saw our classrooms and shared lunch with us! Such a highlight of our year!
Last Friday, we celebrated our dads and special men in our lives. We hope the beer and pies went down a treat and that all of the special people in our lives were looked after on Sunday! A big thank you to our parent helpers at the Father's Day stall.
Lastly, we saw the return of Scooter Friday!! The rain held off for the kids to have a great time scooting away at lunch and recess!
Kristie Irvine
Leader of Love & Community
Thank you
Thank you to the wonderful mothers and grandmother who helped with the Father's Day stall on 2 September. The mothers helped choose, wrap and decorate over 900 gifts for our fathers and grandfathers.
A special thank you to: Dannika Patton, Charlotte Cameron, Wendy Horseman-Noijens, Kiralyn Flack, Kate Snape, Debra Marshall, Hannah Clark and Jan Andrews.
Birthdays
Happy birthday to 
Nash Campbell Mia Davis Claudia McDonald Mia Trustum Mackinly Walker Taylor Hancock Charli Quinnell-Billett Anevay Dow Oliver Lamont Meiah Anscombe Athea Bate Telijah MacMahon Zoe Connolly Amelie Bonner Harper Gould Lachlan Allen-Preece Thomas Zeller Nicholas Marshall April Anderson and Eva Crompton who have recently celebrated their birthday.
Community News
Casino Library Sept/Oct School Holiday Program attached.
Casino Fun Run
The Casino Fun Run is back on the streets this year on Sunday October 23.
Casino Little Athletics information attached.