Term 1 Week 10 2023

Principal's Message

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

Dear families and friends,

ANZAC Day 

25th April 2023

The ANZAC Day March 
We gather as a school at 10:15am on Monday 25 April at Graham Place (near council chambers). This is the day after we return from holidays, so  I expect that all students who are in the Casino area will march in full school uniform (including hat & jacket) with our school.  We will treat it like a shortened school day.

This year we will still march as a group, however, all schools will march under one banner, to symbolise our commitment as a group of schools ensuring all our Casino kids are highly valued and safe at all times.

It is such a privilege to march each year and honour the courageous men and women who defended and fought for our country, who still defend us today and helped us out during last year's floods. They have ensured we remain the greatest country in the world.  It is the least we can do to honour these heroes. Students are also welcome in uniform for the Dawn Service at 5:30am at the Mafeking Lamp.  Thank you very much for your great support!

Easter Mass Times

• Holy Thursday - 7.00pm
• Good Friday - 3.00pm
• Holy Saturday - 7.00pm
• Easter Sunday - 8.00am Casino             Mallanganee - 9.00am

Holidays
I wish you all a safe Easter holiday. This has been such a great term of Love, Learning, Faith, School Spirit, Sport and Community and I look forward to doing it all again next term.

Take care
John O’Brien

Assistant Principal's News - Mission

Chrism Mass
Thank you to Oliver Formaggin, Archie Ind, Bree Willows, Maddalena Noijens, Ella McIntyre, Millie Trustum and Angelina Nuccio who represented our school at the Chrism Mass at the Cathedral in Lismore on Monday evening. 

Sporting Scholarship Recipients
Congratulations to Xavier Bate (Dancing), Tom McCormack (Swimming), Taylor Hancock (Swimming)  who received a $500 Sporting Scholarship sponsored by the Casino RSM Club.  Teo Stavenow and Jonah Vakararawa (both Rugby League) also split a scholarship and will receive $250 each.  Thank you so much to the Casino RSM Club for once again sponsoring this initiative for the 11th consecutive year!

Tell Them From Me
Early in Term 2 we will be sending out our parent surveys which are called "Tell Them From Me". We are really keen to hear our parent voice and feedback to help us improve as a school. 

Holidays Jobs
In the holidays we will have a number of maintenance jobs going on around the school to help us stay on top of things.  This will include all air cons being fully cleaned, pest spraying, sanding of the chapel hard wood floors, painting, repairs to artificial turf and drainage and cleaning of the storm water pipes.  We will also have the brick wall in the COLA where the bubblers are taken out to continue opening up more space for our students and the rest of the new black fence will be installed on the North Street side.

Charlie Cox Beef Week Cup
Students in Years 3-6 have had the opportunity to register interest to be in one of our rugby league, netball or soccer sides for the Charlie Cox Beef Week Cup which will be held on Thursday 25th May.  No experience is necessary to be involved, however, it is important that parents are aware that rugby league is tackle and students in Year 3 will play against Year 4 students and students in Year 5 will also play against Year 6 students.

We require parent coaches / managers to help support for a number of teams. Please email me if you can help out on the day (sam.irvine@lism.catholic.edu.au).

Term 2 Dates for the Diary
Please visit the "School Calendar" on our website to check for all important dates coming up in Term 2 - it is a super busy term again!

Sam Irvine
Assistant Principal - Mission

Assistant Principal's News Teaching & Learning

Holiday Reading Challenge
We all know how important continued reading is for our children’s education so I have put together a challenge to encourage our students to continue reading over the school holiday break. The challenge is attached to this newsletter and all students who print out the challenge and complete it by following the instructions included will receive extra playtime on their return to school next term as a reward. Please return all completed challenges to Mrs Wilde before Friday Week 10 to claim your extra break time.

Congratulations, Abby Gray!
Last year our Yr 6 student, Abby Gray submitted a short story to the Write4Fun writing competition.  Abby had to write a 500-word story on a topic of her choosing and her piece was considered one of the best, which meant it has been included in a published book titled “Unleashed”.  Congratulations, Abby on this amazing achievement. We will let everyone know when this competition becomes available again, later this year, as we may have more hidden budding authors amongst us. 

Premier's Reading Challenge
Just a reminder that the Premiers Reading Challenge has started and students may begin logging their books now. Students in K-2 do not need to log anything as this will be completed for them through the texts that are read to them in class. Access more information about this here- https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/home.html

Art Showcase

Congratulations to these students whose work has been chosen to be displayed in the Catholic Schools Offices throughout our region.  These pieces will showcase the amazing artistic talent we have throughout SMP and we thank Lena Llewellyn for organising this for our school.

Kindergarten- Thea Clark
Year 1- Luca Cadman
Year 2- Savannah Whitney
Year 3- Lucy Hancock
Year 4- Payton Fuller
Year 5- Bianca Hodges
Year 6- Mia-Rose Hampton

Wishing you all a restful time with family and friends over this Easter Break. I look forward to seeing everyone return next term, ready for some more amazing learning!

Felicity Wilde
AP - Learning and Teaching

Leader of Pedgaogy

Extension Learning Opportunities
At St Mary’s we offer opportunities to challenge and extend the learning for students who are excelling in certain areas. 

Mathematics
A number of students in Stage 2 are participating in the Maths Explorer group each week. The primary focus of this program is to build students’ confidence to allow them to develop their skills in a non-competitive learning environment. Students work in small groups to solve challenging mathematical problems, share their strategies and reflect on their learning.

Maths Olympiad
A number of Stage 3 students are participating in the Maths Games and Olympiad competition. They meet each week to practice problem solving skills and apply strategies to solve challenging tasks. The programmes teach major problem solving strategies and strengthens students’ mathematical intuition prior to starting high school. The students in these groups compete in four competition events over two terms. Top achievers across Australia receive medals and trophies to acknowledge their success.

Our aim for all these students is to strengthen their love of learning and build on their skill to solve challenging mathematical tasks. 

Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee
Students from Years 3 to 6 are selected to participate in this online competition. This involves an online Spelling Bee, where 30 challenging words are given to each student on their devices. Students who spell these words with the greates accuracy in the shortest time then move on to the next level. More information will come out in Term 2. 

Writing
We are always looking at opportunities to participate in writing initiatives and competitions at St Mary’s. We engage in the Byron Writers Festival School programme, including visiting authors holding workshops for our talented, eager writers.  

The following initiatives are coming up:

NESA Write-On Competition
Any student in Years 1 to 6 may enter this competition. Students are asked to write a short imaginative text on a given stimulus. One student text from each stage will be selected to be entered into the competition. Winners stories are published each year in the Annual Write-On Publication. I will work with students who are entering this competition to edit and refine their writing pieces at lunchtime workshops in early Term 2.  Students who wish to be involved will be given more information and the stimulus to work on at home.  A poster showing more details for you can be found on this link . 

Storyboard Masterclass
This is a great free opportunity for talented writers eager to be involved in fortnightly works shops after school in Lismore with an author. Students from ages 8 to 12 can enrol in this initiative and work with other students to extend their creative writing skills.  If you want more information about this programme, click on this link.

Michelle Bratti
Leader of Pedagogy

Sport News

Polding Swimming 
Taylor Hancock and Thomas McCormack went to the Polding Trials last Thursday at Homebush. Congratulations to Thomas McCormack for making it to the NSW PSSA State Swimming Championships at Homebush.

eSports Competition 
Our school competed in the Diocese of Lismore’s eSports competition for Super Mario Cart. In the lead-up to this competition, there were a lot of interested students.  During lunchtime, trials were held to finalise the team of four.  The team practised during their lunchtime to work on their skills.  On Thursday there was an outstanding competition between the schools involved.  Each of the players in the team raced 6 races throughout the day and where they placed in the race added to the final point score.  Overall St Mary’s came in 9th place. 

Well done Myles, Jacob, Felix and Teanu for giving it their all in the competition.

Cross Country
Thank you to everyone who attended our school’s Cross Country last Friday, it was a successful day.  Congratulations to the students who are going onto zone which will be held at Hepburn Park in Goonellabah on the 3 May.  Information for this has been sent out on Compass for those students who came in the top 5 from 8 years and up.

Cross Country

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Soccer Gala Day
On Monday 19 students from Stage 2 attended a soccer gala day at Colley Park.  They played 5 a side games of soccer, all students had a wonderful time.

Well done Stage 2 leading the way in sport!

Running Club
Congratulations to all of the students who participated in running club this term. We have a number of students who reached 50 laps. Well done to all!

Jack Fiedler
Sports Co-ordinator 

Leader of Faith

Sacrament of Reconciliation
On Wednesday night last week, 26 students from Year 4 and their families gathered in our church for this special time in the students’ faith journey. We thank Fr Peter, Fr Arthur and Fr Eric from Kyogle who were present on the night to support our students. There were many smiles after the ceremony and all Year 4 students joined in a celebration party the following day at school. Thanks to the girls of Year 4 who provided the wonderful array of party food.

Mini Vinnies
It is wonderful to have 40 students from Year 6 joining Mini Vinnies in 2023. Already these students have collected the mission money for Caritas, raised money for the poor through an amazing cake stall and have great ideas for fundraising in Term 2! These students received their badge at the SOM Assembly this week. 

Holy Week Presentation
This week, 27 students from Year 6 dramatised the events of Holy Week for all students at SMP. We witnessed Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the washing of feet and sharing of the body and blood of Christ on Holy Thursday, the crucifixion of Jesus on Good Friday and the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday. It was a moving experience for the audience, congratulations to those students involved. Well Done!

Chrism Mass
On Monday night of this week, Mr O’Brien, Mr Irvine and Miss McDonald accompanied 7 representatives from Year 6 to the Chrism Mass held at the cathedral in Lismore. At this Mass, the priests of the diocese renewed their vows and the holy oils used in the sacraments were blessed by the Bishop and then distributed to each parish.

Karen McDonald
Leader of Faith

Leader of Love and Community

Student Representative Council (SRC) 2023
I am pleased to announce our Student Representative Council (SRC) for 2023 are:
Jonah Vakararawa
James Bratti
Riley Formaggin 
Jackson Gay

Charlie O’Brien
Taylor Hancock
                                                         Abby Gray
                                                         Ella Rippon

These 8 students were voted for by the students and will be their voice at SMP over the next 12 months. They will help collect our student voice and enact upon this, work hard to improve areas of our school that are identified by the students, provide support to the Principal and Assistant Principals, communicate to their fellow students and teachers about what the SRC is working on and how they have listened to the student voice and enacted upon this and attend special school occasions and ceremonies. 

On behalf of everyone at SMP, I very much congratulate each of the students and look forward to working alongside them in their role throughout the year!

Kristie Irvine
Leader of Love and Community

Birthdays

Happy birthday to  Halle Barber Tane Stavenow Mason Smith-Proctor Darcy  Hardwick Nate Anderson Ewan Connolly Lorenzo Llewellyn Jack Morton Bentley Mathias Chloe Clark Hayden Murray Archie Moss Harley Robinson George Flynn Adrian Campbell Grace Turner Harry Wilson Willow Honey Ruby Moss Kieran Grant and Dane Turley. 

Student of the Month & Learner Achievement Awards - 5 April 2023