Term 2 Week 4 2024

Principal's Message

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

Dear families and friends, 

Beef Week - We Love Our Community!

It has been another great Beef Week here at SMP. Our Yr 6 Leaders of Love helped set up the Rural High Tea, our Leaders of Community assisted with the Breakfast with the Butchers, we had a visit from the Beef Week Queens, our staff went out and about checking out the cattle and having a drink downtown together, we crowned the Betty Schuhmacher Bucking Bull Champion and the Inaugural Father Slack Cattle Stampede Champion earlier in the week, the Leaders of School Spirit helped out with the Kinder Interviews, grades went downtown and participated in the festivities, Betty once again created such a magical place for our kids, and today like always, was a special day, with staff and students looking amazing.  Come to the parade tomorrow where your child can parade, meeting at 1.00pm at Graham Place and where you can watch our Junk Drummers do something a little special with some '80s musical hits.

Student Learning
Our initial results this year are pleasing, as explained by Felicity Wilde below. I'm excited by these results. In Week 10 of this Term we will host a brief information session on how we are teaching English and Mathematics and parents will be able to see it in action in our classrooms.

                                                                  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 to be recognised. We ensure that this recognition is earned and that we don’t 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 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 and Community. This award is open to all students who have received 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 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 Mrs Wilde, Mr Irvine or myself.  We then show our appreciation of their efforts.
• Facebook: Our Facebook page is designed to celebrate our students and staff in all areas of our School Vision whether for school or outside events
• 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 and just some good old fashion feedback from a staff member for doing something well.

Take care
John O’Brien

Assistant Principal's News - Mission

Catholic Social Teachings - Acts of Mercy
Last Friday, all of our Year 6 students were supported by staff to participate in their ‘Acts of Mercy’ which involved the students volunteering to clean business windows, support at the Soup Kitchen, help out at St Mary’s and Jumbunna pre-schools, clean rubbish in the town and clean up around the school grounds. 

As a school, we believe that volunteering your time to help out others is a value that is really important for our students to appreciate. By doing this, they are fully enacting the Catholic Social Teachings of:

• Caring for God’s Creation (our environment)
• Preferential option for the poor (giving up time and energy to help those less fortunate than us)
• Solidarity (we are all should work together to help support each other)

Family Mass
For the diary - this term our 'Family Mass' will be on on Saturday 22 June.

Friday Church Visits Roster
All parents and family members are welcome to join us for our prayer services that are held in the church throughout the term.

• 7/6 - Kinder, Years 5 & 6 (1.00pm)
• 21/6 - Years 1, 2, 3 & 4 (1.00pm)
• 28/6 - Kinder, Years 5 & 6 (1.00pm)

Charlie Cox Beef Week Cup

The new date: Friday 28 June @ Colley Park

3:16 Youth Group

The date for the final 3:16 Youth Group has been changed to Friday 31 May.

Lockdown and Evacuation Drills
It is important for the safety of our students and staff that we are very well prepared for any unforeseen event or emergency. One way we do this is by having very clear and detailed instructions for a lockdown or an evacuation. As a school, our students and staff will practice these in Week 5 and 6 of this term.

Student of the Month Assembly
All parents and family members are welcome to join us for our next Student of the Month Assembly in the Relihan Centre on Friday 31 May from 2.10pm.

School Survey Results
Thank you to all of the parents who completed a school feedback survey. We will now be able to deeply analyse the teacher, student and parent feedback provided and identify some key, achievable areas for us to become better as a school. We will keep you posted as to what we identified in the results.

Sam Irvine
AP Mission

Assistant Principal's News Teaching & Learning

PAT Testing
All students in Years 2-6 have been taking part in online PAT testing over the last few weeks. PAT  stands for Progressive Achievement Tests and are tests taken by students right across Australia to track growth in Maths, Reading and Spelling. We are especially interested in analysing the results of these tests for our kids this year, to track the early impact of our new Explicit, Direct Instruction programs. 

Although it is early days, more students than ever before are achieving in the top two bands of Maths, we are seeing continued growth for our students in Reading and all grade levels are on track to meet the expected average achievement level in Spelling by the end of the year.  So far we are feeling great about the results we are seeing and it is pointing toward early evidence of the success of our new way of teaching. Congratulations to the staff who have worked so hard to learn the process of this new pedagogy and our amazing kids who have taken the change of learning style in their stride and are getting positive results along the way. 

ICAS Testing
We are once again offering ICAS testing to those students who wish to take on the extra challenge that these tests offer.

What is ICAS? 
ICAS is an online academic competition that is designed to assess students’ higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills in English, Mathematics,  Writing, and Spelling. 

Each assessment celebrates students’ accomplishments by providing opportunities for recognition and development. Every student who participates will receive a printed certificate and an online results report. Top performers will be eligible for medals. 

We encourage you to consider entering your child into ICAS this year.  

Learn more about ICAS here. (https://www.icasassessments.com/products-icas) 

How to participate in ICAS
If you wish for your child to participate in ICAS this year, please: 

1. read about ICAS subjects and prices here:(https://www.icasassessments.com/products-icas) 
2. read the terms and conditions here: (https://www.icasassessments.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Finalised-Parents-Ts-and-Cs-2022v03-1.pdf)
3. go to Parent Portal here: (https://shop.icasassessments.com/pages/pps) 
4. enter our school’s access code – ZMX113
5. enter your child’s details, select the tests you would like to purchase, then proceed to payment. 

After payment is made via the Parent Payment System, you will receive an order confirmation email, please keep this for your records. 

The dates for the test this year are:

Felicity Wilde
AP Teaching & Learning

K-2 Instructional Leader

PAT Testing

Recently, our students completed three PAT tests (Progressive Achievement Tests). These are standardised assessments designed to measure what students from Year 1 to Year 10 know, understand and can do in the areas of Mathematics, Spelling and Reading.

PAT tests are adaptive, meaning they adjust the level of difficulty based on each student's responses. This ensures that every student is presented with appropriately challenging questions, providing both support and stretch opportunities. By adapting to each student's performance, the tests offer a personalised assessment that accurately reflects individual abilities and knowledge levels.

Results from PAT tests allow us to collect detailed data on student performance and help us to identify each student’s strengths and areas for improvement. It also allows us to monitor student progress over time and measure student growth.

Karen Faber
K-2 Instructional Leader

Sport News

Diocesan Cross Country
Marcos Barber, Olive Chelman, Isabel Flynn, Lucia Formaggin, Wallace Gray, Myf Gray, Larah Kenny, Emmett Patton, Chelsea Rose, Harper Williams and Thomas McCormack competed at the Diocesan Cross Country Carnival at McAuley Catholic College Grafton. All students had a wonderful day.  Well done to all representing St Mary’s, leading the way in sport!

Special congratulations to Harper Williams and Thomas McCormack who have progressed to Polding Cross Country in Sydney at the Sydney International Equestrian Centre, Horsley Park, on Wednesday, 5 June.

Dio Rugby League Trials

Last Friday, on May 17th, three SMP students headed to Grafton to try out for the Polding Rugby Union Team. Big congrats to Jaxon Williams, Thomas McCormack, and Toby Makejev for making the team! They will now compete at Forbes in July.

Beef Week Cup
The new date for the Charlie Cox Cup is Friday 28th June to be held at Colley Park. Fingers crossed the weather is kind to us.

Athletics Carnival
Congratulations to the following Year 6 students who have been elected as our 2024 Athletics House Captains:

Champagnat: Chelsea Cruickshank & Chase Anderson

DePaul: Milla Constable & Arlen Connolly

MacKillop: Ruby Seed & Isaac McInnes 

McAuley: Lucia Formmagin & Jack Crimmins 

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Nikki Hammond
Sports Co-ordinator

Leader of Love and Community

Mother’s Day
Earlier this term we celebrated all of our amazing Mothers at SMP.  Thank you to all who were able to join us for our Prayer service and our afternoon tea. Our Mother’s Day stall was also another huge success, thank you to Mrs Gilmour and all of the mothers (and fathers) who helped out. 

Beef Week Parade
This Saturday 25th May, SMP will be walking in the annual Beef Week Parade. We would love to see as many students dressed in their costumes from Friday and our Junk Drummers, walking in the parade. 

• What - Saturday Beef Week Street Parade, 25th May
• Where - Outside the Council Chambers 
• When - 1:00pm

Hannah DeSilva
Leader of Love and Community

Mother's Day

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Mother's Day

Thank you to the wonderful mothers, grandmothers and fathers who helped on the Mother's Day stall.  We would not have been able to run the stall without your help.

Danni Patton Jan Andrews Sophie Convine Aprillia McSweeney Courtney Noble Kira Flack Marlee Newby Kirralee Barrett Debra Marshall Hannah Clark Josh Miller Steve Porker Linda Monks Kasey Cowan Amy Richards Emma Richards and Kira Richards.

Found on the playground
A mother would have received their gift of a light box on Mother's Day without the message characters to insert.  The characters were found on the playground.  They can be collected at the school office.  

Birthdays

Happy birthday t0 Harvey Larsson Harriet Metcalfe McKenzie Armstrong Grace Armstrong Ruby Goldthorpe Archie Walker Darcie Foster Kaylee Hale Ruby-Lee Marsden Howard Armstrong Luca Cadman Miami-Lee Simpson Avalon Llewellyn Elodie Llewellyn  Layla Balderi Bobbi Grissell Chloe Marshall Kaden Parker Kaden King Bronte McIntyre Hugh Derrig Lexi Vidler Xander Opryszko Arlen Connolly and Patrick Burgess-Connor who have recently celebrated their birthday, and to Hannah Hines who celebrates tomorrow.