Term 2 Week 8 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,
"Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God's gift of himself."
- Mother Theresa
Learning
On Tuesday, 2 July, we will hold a brief information session on how we are explicitly teaching English & Maths here at SMP. It will start with my presentation at 8:45am in the Catherine Centre, have 2 x 15-minute classroom observations and finish with a de-brief at 9:45am. You must record a response to the Compass message here Link to Attend if you plan on attending. I'm aware that most parents cannot attend classrooms in person as this is during work hours, so we will video my presentation and some classroom Teaching and Learning in English and Maths and share this digitally with all our SMP families. One thing I will share on the day is that Quality Teaching & Learning by a Quality Teacher in a well-structured and well-behaved learning Environment is the key over anything else.
Success Criteria
Please use the Success Criteria and the examples of learning the class teacher provides if you wish to consolidate some of the learning your child is doing at school. This is one authentic way, alongside reading, to benefit your child with learning at home, which can be done simply by understanding and consolidating what your child is learning at school.
Congratulations Mrs. Kristie Irvine on obtaining the acting Assistant Principal Mission role for 8 weeks in Term 3. Kristie is an exemplary staff member, who lives out our school vision in all she does. She will continue to lead us very well during this time.
Tell Them From Me Surveys
We had 79 parent responses to the TTFM surveys. Thank you to these parents. The results were pleasing, but we have set up a few action teams to look at areas identified that were not as strong. We may be hitting you up of an afternoon to delve a little deeper into this. An area some parents want to know more about is how your child is developing emotionally and socially. Mrs Kristie Irvine and I will ask you more about this to help identify a solution.
Student Free Day: Friday 5 July (last day of Term 2)
Take care
John O’Brien
Assistant Principal's News - Mission
Family Mass
This Saturday, 22 June, we will hold our termly combined Family Mass with the College. All parents and family members are welcome to come along and join in with our parish community to celebrate Mass. Our school choir will be singing a couple of songs and some of our students will be doing the scripture and prayer readings.
At the end of the Mass we will share a meal together with some free pizza. We very much look forward to seeing you on Saturday evening.
Friday Church Visits Roster
All parents and family members are welcome to join us for our prayer services we hold in the church throughout the term.
- 28/6 - Kinder, Years 5 & 6 (1pm)
Breakfast Club
A reminder that vegemite, jam and butter toast are available from the Breakfast Club everyday fully paid for by the school.
Charlie Cox Beef Week Cup
The CCBWC will be next Friday 28 June at Colley Park. We ask that all students come to school first to get their name marked off the roll before they walk with the teachers to Colley Park. Students will be provided with their team uniform at some stage early next week. There will be two canteens open on the day with hot food, drinks, lollies etc available. A draw has been sent out on Compass.
Family Connect Support
Our school, Social Futures and the Catholic Schools Office are in partnership to integrate the Family Connect in Schools Service in our school.
The Family Connect in Schools Service helps families to connect with a wide range of services in the community. They can also accompany families to service appointments and case manage a support plan if a family needs a significant variety of services.
This service can support families with a wide range of issues including:
- Housing and homelessness
- Centrelink
- NDIS applications, access and coordination
- Domestic Violence
- Mental health
- Parenting education
- Transport
- Flood recovery
- Financial planning
Our Family Connect Worker is Jamie-Lee Farnham who prefers to be called 'Jimmy'.
How do families connect with Jimmy?
- Families can self-refer after learning of the service through our communication channels.
- Staff who have concerns for the wellbeing of a family can speak with key leadership and wellbeing staff who will be responsible for referring families onto Jimmy.
- The Pastoral Care/Wellbeing and Counselling team will also identify families and contact them to offer the service.
Sam Irvine
AP Mission
Sport News
On Wednesday, 12 June, thirteen of our boys travelled to Coffs Harbour to compete in the Diocesan Rugby Union Gala Day. The boys demonstrated outstanding effort and teamwork, ultimately winning the competition. This victory means they will now represent the Lismore Diocese in the finals of the Chris Gangemi Cup, to be held in Sydney in August.
Congratulations to all the boys on this amazing achievement! We wish you the best of luck in the upcoming finals.
Our 2024 Athletics Carnival was a fantastic day filled with sportsmanship and healthy competition. Congratulations to everyone who participated and helped bring our house culture to life. Below are the results of the day, along with some outstanding record-breaking achievements by our students.
Record Breakers
- Lucas Myers broke the 11 Years shot put record with an incredible throw of 9.53 meters.
- Rocco Jenkins set a new 11 Years 100m record with a remarkable time of 13.91 seconds.
- Marcos Barber broke the 10 Years 100m record finishing in an impressive 14.50 seconds.
- Thomas McCormack broke the Senior Shot Put record throwing an impressive 8.71 meters
Congratulations to all our athletes for their exceptional performances and for making the day memorable. A huge congratulations to de Paul for winning both the cultural trophy and the overall champion house title!
All our CCBWC teams have been training for the big event next Friday, 28 June. We warmly invite families to come and support our teams throughout the day. There will be a canteen available and a coffee van for all your caffeine needs. The first games will start at 9:45am, with the finals scheduled for 12:50pm, followed by a presentation at 1:30pm. We look forward to seeing you there and cheering on our teams!
Congratulations to Edward Shields, who travelled to Blacktown International Sports Park in Sydney to try out for the Polding Softball team. Representing the Lismore Diocese team, it’s wonderful to see our talented students from SMP participating in state events.
Nikki Hammond
Sports Co-ordinator
Leader of Love and Community
Bentley Art Prize
Bentley Art Prize will be held during the school holidays, from the 12th - 14th July.
Students have been given the opportunity to participate in the art competition and collect an entry form from school. If your child chooses to participate, this will need to be completed at home and the art work dropped to the Bentley Hall. The entry form will have more details. Entry forms close next Friday, 28th June. A range of prizes are up for grabs. Please see the invitation below for more details.
Preschool Buddies
This term, some Year 5 students have had the opportunity to visit St Mary’s Community Preschool to form relationships with those who will be starting Kindergarten next year. This has allowed a greater connection between our school and the preschool, and given the Year 5 students an opportunity to build leadership skills. The students have been visiting during lunch time and eat their lunch with the preschoolers. They are then able to read with the students, play dress ups, draw, play games and just enjoy getting to know the preschoolers.
We can't wait to watch the friendships grow!
NAIDOC Day Celebrations Families and carers are warmly invited to attend our NAIDOC celebrations on the 4th July at The Relihan Centre at 10 am. NAIDOC Day is a day when we celebrate the history, culture, and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, cherishing and honouring them. These communities enrich the fabric of our nation with the oldest living culture in the world.
Hannah deSilva
Leader of Love and Community
Birthdays
Happy birthday t0 
Eva-Grace Boucher Mackenzie Ferguson Mason Cross Zahryah Pirlo Imogen Wells Spencer Really Bonnie Pearce Charlotte Bloomfield Saxton Purnell Larni Clark Addilyn Reilly Myf Gray Jack Francis Zoe Formaggin Gabriel Esteban Amelia Paterson and Toby Makejev who have recently celebrated their birthday.