Term 4 Week 6 2023

Principal's Message

Dear families and friends,

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

GOD, THANK YOU
FOR EACH CHILD
I GET TO TEACH. 
EVERY SINGLE ONE IS A
MARVELLOUS CREATION. 
HELP ME TO ALWAYS SEE
YOU IN THEM AND VALUE THEM.  AMEN.

2024 Staffing 

My leadership team has been placing kids into classes whilst I have been away.  This is quite a big ongoing job so I thank them. They are putting a big emphasis on learning success. Going up day will be Monday 11 December where your child will find out who their teacher is and spend a couple of hours with them in preparation for next year. Some students may need extra transition support and time for this to be successful.

Start to 2024
Tuesday 30 and Wednesday 31 January will be Student Free Days with staff learning.  Years 1-6 will start on Thursday 1 February and Kinder will begin Tuesday 6 February after completing their Best Start Assessments with their teacher.

Thank you
I would like to thank Sam, Felicity and our leadership team for doing such an amazing job leading the school whilst I was away ... in fact the school has never been run so well before.  We have a great team here of dedicated educators that put our kids at the centre of all we do.

Tracy Robinson 
I would like to wish Tracy Robinson, former principal of our College, all the best as she takes on another educational role in a school. I personally thank her for her support of SMP and of the Casino community for many years. She was always supportive of us and was a great colleague to work alongside. I will miss her.

I congratulate Michael Campbell on his position at the College for the next 3 years as Principal and look forward to working closely together to improve our schools and our connectivity.

Take care
John O’Brien

Assistant Principal's News - Mission

Friday Church Visits
All students will have 2-3 visits to church to participate in a Liturgy of the Word during Term 4 which will be celebrated with Fr Peter. We will send parent invitation letters home the week before your child has their visit as we would love to as many parents and family members come along to celebrate as well. Dates are below that you are more than welcome to attend:

• Friday 3rd November 1-1:45pm (Kinder, Years 1, 2 & 3)
• Friday 1st December 1-1:45pm (Years 4, 5 & 6)

ThreeSixteen Youth Group
A reminder that the final ThreeSixteen Youth Group is on Friday 1 December (Week 8) from 3:30-5:00pm.

Student of the Month Assembly
Our final SOM will be on Friday 8 December at the Relihan Centre from 2:10pm - 3:00pm. All family members are welcome to join us for our last SOM assembly for 2023. 

Crossing Supervisor
There have been a few instances recently of the crossing supervisor being unavailable in the morning to help support the safe crossing of our students and families from one side of Centre St to the other.  Please be aware there is nothing we can do about this as we don’t have anything to do with this area. We often don’t even receive a ‘heads up’ if the crossing supervisor is absent. 

With this in mind, we ask all driving drop off families to please double check that there is a crossing supervisor before you allow your children to hop out of the car and walk across the road. 

When there isn’t a crossing supervisor available and we are informed of this, we try our hardest to have a staff member support the crossing of the road. 

Lowes 20% Off Sale
Today (17 Nov) is the last day of the Lowes 20% Off Sale.  It will also be the last 20% sale before the price increases on the 4 December.  Please visit the Lowes website for further information.

Year 5 Exuro
A big thank you to Miss O’Connor for organising and facilitating the wonderful Year 5 student retreat day, Exuro (Latin for ‘on fire’) which was held at the Casino RSM Club on Tuesday.  The Exuro retreat is a one-day opportunity to bring students together with their peers, to share and build relationships that strengthen the practice of their Christian faith and to be leaders in building strong Catholic school communities.  A big thank you to our Year 5 students who led their peers in activities on the day.

Sam Irvine
Assistant Principal - Mission 
 

Assistant Principal's News Teaching & Learning

Changes to Student Reports
Students will be receiving their Semester 2 Report at the end of Week 9 this Term and you will notice a few changes to what you are used to. These changes have come about for a number of reasons and are similar across the system. 

Why are there changes to the K-6 Semester Two Student Report?
The NSW Government is reforming the curriculum to streamline and strengthen what is taught in every classroom in NSW, so every student is prepared and ready for their future. The curriculum reform has been informed by consultation with teachers, parents and education experts, and is underpinned by extensive research. Curriculum reform involves changing teaching, learning, assessment and reporting to parents. 

The release of the new syllabuses provides the opportunity to revise aspects of the Student Report to align with current research.

“Parents want to know what was taught and how well their child has learnt it,  as well as where improvement is needed…….  (NESA, 2023)”

What are the changes to the Student Report Comments for Semester Two?
Due to the inclusion of the Success Criteria Reports and our Student Led Conferences, our Student reports will no longer have an achievement-based comment. We feel that our Success Criteria reports give a clearer, more targeted explanation of exactly what your child is achieving than the general comment ever did. The report will also reflect your child's commitment to learning and identify strengths and goals moving forward.

Will there be further changes to the Student Report?
Yes. In 2024, Year 3-6 will have a new English and a new Mathematics syllabus. In 2025, K-6 teachers will teach, assess, and report on new syllabuses for the other Key Learning Areas. The release of the new syllabuses provides the opportunity to revise aspects of the Student Report to align with current research. The research, as well as feedback from schools, will guide future changes.  We will communicate any further changes prior to the 2024 Semester 1 Student Report. 

What if I have questions about the changes?
Please contact me felicity.wilde@lism.catholic.edu.au to discuss any questions you have about the K-6 Semester Two Student Report and/or if you have not yet received a copy of your child's Success Criteria Report for Term 4.

Felicity Wilde
AP Teaching & Learning

Leader of Faith

SMP Christmas Hampers

Once again our school will be supporting the Casino St Vincent de Paul Society with the creation of  Christmas hampers to be delivered to those in need in our town.  We are asking each family to send in one or two items from the list below.

                   Bags of lollies                          Large bags of chips (or similar)

                   Bottles of cordial                   Pkts jelly crystals

                   Tinned fruits                       

Each classroom has a Christmas Box where these items can be placed.  We will collect items until Friday 1 December.  Thank you once again for supporting our Social Justice outreach at SMP.

Karen McDonald
Leader of Faith

Sport News

Swimming Timed Heat Finals
The Swimming Timed Heat Finals will be held on Monday 20 November from 12:00pm - 2:30pm (approx.).  Nominations have now closed for these events.  Mrs Lyon will be running the day.  Thank you to those parents who indicated they could support on the day with timekeeping, it is greatly appreciated.

School Swimming Carnival (Years 3 - 6) Monday 4 December
Our Year 3 - Year 6 Swimming Carnival will be held on Monday 4 December. This is a compulsory school event.

   Where:             Casino Memorial Pool
When:               Monday 4 December 

Thomas McCormack has been selected to receive an NSWCPS Maroon Award for swimming. This award recognises the students who have performed in the top percent in their sport. This was held in Sydney on Monday 13th November.
Congratulations Tom on this huge achievement!

Jack Fiedler
Sports Co-ordinator

Leader of Love and Community

Christmas Concert
Our school Christmas Concert on Thursday 23 November (5.00-7.00pm) at St Mary’s Catholic College (grass area).

The students will be performing on the concrete steps of the new Mercy Hall building looking back out towards the Relihan Centre. 

Casino Rotary will be catering on the evening and will be selling hot chips, sausage sandwiches and cold drinks.

Students are encouraged to wear Christmas themed shirts / colours and accessories if they wish. 

Please be aware that the students will be remaining with their cohort and their teachers whilst not performing as this is a Child Protection measure we put in place to make sure we can safely account for all students on the evening in our care. The students will remain together until the collection by parents at the end of the evening. 

Kristie Irvine
Leader of Love and Community

Birthdays

Happy birthday t0 Gracie Robinson Mackenzie Parker Maggie Llewellyn Ameliah Butcher Clancy Rippon Lilly-Grace Armfield Chloe Ewart Holly Transton Zac Willows Xander Hill Jonah Vakararawa Oliver Benn Shiloh Dennis and Stella Henderson who have recently celebrated their birthday.