Term 2 Week 6 2022

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: Yet again we had such a great time this Beef Week.  Thank you to staff for really ensuring our kids had a great week with all the activities organised and to parents for helping your kids be ready, in particular for the dress up.  Well done and thank you to Mrs Kristie Irvine for coordinating and facilitating the week for us.

Our parent helpers were fantastic. Thank you to Mick Opryszko, Kelly Creighton, Ben Dougherty, Belinda McCormick-Stephen, Shawn Butler, Dane de Wit, Jody McLeod, Jane Lockwood, Tania Creighton, Kevin Trustum and Kate Bailey for helping with the BBQ. 

Thank you Rod McKee for judging the Betty Schuhmacher Bucking Bull competition, former principal Mrs Suzanne Nicholls and Sister Mary for helping to judge the students costumes, Scott Doohan for judging the Whip Cracking and Mrs Nicole Hammond for helping with the Cooee competition.

Walk of Flame: I was really keen to honour those that helped during the recent flooding through our Walk of Flame. It is so important that we, and our kids take the time to show gratitude and give credit where credit is due. Imagine the world we would live in if we continue to do this? So many ordinary people stepped up and did extraordinary things. This for me, was a labour of Love.

Flood Repairs:  Two Year 1 classes have  moved into the demountable buildings this week. We have cleaned, connected power, supplied new carpets, moved furniture and will paint in a couple of weeks.  The Kinders will stay where they are until their rooms are ready to go and are very settled where they currently are.  Year 1MB will also remain in the Music Hall where they are still very comfortable too. The Kinder and Year 1 rooms will most likely be ready towards the end of this year. I am not putting it back exactly the way it was, to ensure we use this as an opportunity to create an environment that better suits our kids.

Next Wednesday State of Origin: The students can dress up in Origin colours next Wednesday to support your team.

Casino Quota Club and Sisters of Mercy:  Thank you to the Casino Quota Club and Sisters of Mercy for providing financial assistance to some of our families really needing it now, especially after the floods. Your generosity is so welcomed and amazing!

Extra Support: This week we provided extra support and counselling to any of our kids affected by what took place last Sunday night. Please contact me if your child or family would like any more support too and  we recommend the following support services:

• Griefline: Griefline supports anyone experiencing grief, facing any type of loss, providing access to free telephone and online support services and resources. You can encourage your child to use the service or you could ring them for advice. Website   https://griefline.org.au / Phone 1300 845 745
  
• Kids Helpline: Kids Helpline is Australia’s free, private and confidential 24/7 phone and online counselling service for young people aged 5 to 25 years old. Website  https://kidshelpline.com.au / Phone 1800 55 1800 
  
• Parentline: Parentline is a free telephone counselling and support service for parents and carers with children aged 0 to 18 years old who live in NSW. Website https://www.parentline.org.au / Phone 1300 1300 52
  
• ReachOut: Reach Out is a free online coaching service for parents and carers to help create clarity and increase confidence to support your teen through a tough time. Website https://parents.au.reachout.com/one-on-one-support

Take care

John O’Brien

Assistant Principal's News - Mission

For the Diary

• 1500m race at QEII - Monday 6 June from 1:30pm
• Student of the Month Assembly - Thursday 30 June
• Sacrament of Confirmation (Year 3) - Tuesday 7 June
• First Eucharist Students Reflection Evening - Wednesday 15 June 6.00 - 6.30pm
• Sacrament of First Eucharist (Year 4) - Sunday 19 June
• Athletics Carnival - Friday 17 June

Student Jacket Order

We are again taking orders for our school jackets ($55).  Jackets may also be ordered for Kinder 2023 students.  The cut off date is Thursday 9 June 3.30pm and all orders are made through the school office by cash or card. 

Casino Quota Club Donation

Thank you very much to the Casino Quota Club who kindly donated $100 vouchers to a number of our families. We are so appreciative of the support this wonderful organisation has given to our local community!

“Toolkit” Lessons

During Weeks 1 - 7 in Term 2, our whole school will be focusing on building their personal toolkits by learning about resilience and strategies to support them with being resilient. It would be great if you could follow up with your children at home and ask them about this as well as building on some of the strategies the kids have learnt at home. All of our teachers adjust and differentiate the language and learning content to make it age appropriate and relevant to their mandated curriculum they have to teach.

The focus area for Weeks 6 & 7 is:  Mind Hooks (Me, Them, Always and Everything) 

A key message is that having negative or uncomfortable thoughts is a natural and inevitable part of life and that by learning to notice unhelpful thoughts, children and young people can be better equipped to cultivate healthier and more resilient patterns of thinking.

Youth Group - ‘ThreeSixTeen’

This term, St Mary’s Catholic College have offered to run an after school youth group at the church for our Years 3-6 students that focuses on bringing kids together for fun, food and understanding about God in their lives.  The program is called “ThreeSixTeen” and will be coordinated by College teacher Mahaila Day and supported by youth ministry officers and high school students in Term 2 from 3.30pm-5.00pm.  The idea of the session is for students to have lots of fun and participate in enjoyable activities.  If your child would like to participate in this program and they haven’t already registered, please send Mr Irvine an email at sam.irvine@lism.catholic.edu.au

SMP Casino RSM Sporting Scholarships

Congratulations to Laura Lockwood, Harper Myers, Josie Ryan and Lucy McCormack/Tom McCormack (shared family scholarship) who are our 2022 SMP Casino RSM Sporting Scholarship recipients.  Thank you very much to the Casino RSM Club who have kindly donated $2000 for the 10th consecutive year - what a great community supporter they are!

Pentecost Sunday

This Sunday the Church celebrates the Feast of Pentecost. We recall the coming of the Holy Spirit to the apostles and Mary, giving them the knowledge and courage to continue the mission of Jesus. Mass times in our parish are Saturday Night 5.00pm and Sunday morning 8.00am. All are welcome to join this special celebration of the coming of the spirit.

The Sacrament of Confirmation

The students have almost completed their preparation and will be confirmed next Tuesday 7 June at 6.00pm.  Please pray for them in the upcoming days.  All are welcome to attend this ceremony in the church.

The Sacrament of First Eucharist

The students will make their First Communion on Sunday 19 June at the 9.00am Mass. All members of our school community are invited to join us at Mass.

Sam Irvine

Assistant Principal Mission

Assistant Principal's News Teaching & Learning

Learning Intervention at SMP

At St Mary’s we are committed to ensuring all students learn and develop. Student learning is supported through Tier One and Tier Two teaching & learning. 

Tier One is quality differentiated learning and teaching for all students that is delivered in an intentional way to meet their individual learning needs.

Tier One teaching & learning includes: 

• Careful monitoring and tracking of student growth and frequent collaboration with Teaching and Learning Teams.
• In-class adjustments to support students to ensure we cater for individual needs.
• Student Support Educator (SSE) in every classroom for at least an hour for English & an hour for Maths four times per week. This ensures all of our students participate in targeted small group in-class learning opportunities. 
• COVID funded intervention teachers, working with targeted small groups, in the classroom for Year 2 - Year 6 for English and Maths.

• If you would like to know if your child is receiving targeted, tier 1 support in the classroom from one of our educators, please check with their teacher.

Tier Two targeted intensive small group instruction using an evidence-based program to address specific needs. 

Tier Two teaching & learning includes: 

• Targeted small group instruction aimed at a particular learning focus area. 
• Usually short term 10 - 20 weeks of daily 30-40 minute sessions.
• The majority of Tier 2 intervention occurs in the afternoon so students are still part of the daily class English & Maths lessons.
• Parents/carers play a vital role in supporting Tier Two intervention by ensuring students complete any home learning/additional reading and students' attendance is a priority. 

• Parents will be notified if their child is receiving Tier 2 Intervention

We have some very talented writers here at SMP and this week we’d like to share the work of Matthew Brenan in 4KM. This is an imaginative text that demonstrates Matthew’s use of descriptive vocabulary to engage his reader. Amazing work Matthew!  Please see attached the story of 'The Grubber' by Matthew. 

ICAS Assessment information below for those interested in participating.

Felicity Wilde

AP Teaching & Learning

Birthdays

Happy birthday to Archie Ind Chloe Marshall Avalon Llewellyn Elodie Llewellyn Henrietta Estreich Lexi Vidler Connor Winters Hannah Hines Ivy-Rose Barrett Parker Fleming Elijah Murray Sophie Peters Summah Young James Brenan Charlotte Young Bianca Hodges Thomas McCormack Ada Presbury Mollyanna Hogg Tahlani Lambeth Kellie Zhou Nicholas Marsden Natalie Marsden Payton Smith William Macdonald Natalie Pratt Jaymie Chinnery Alexa Holdsworth Lachlan McClelland-Lindsay Harper Williams Troy Williams and Lawson Bennett who have recently celebrated their birthday.

Beef Week Thank You

Last week we celebrated Beef Week for 2022! You know it is in the air when you start to hear whips cracking and cooee competitions happening out in the playground! Friday last week saw our children and teachers come dressed up as a tribute to all who helped during the floods. Everyone looked fantastic and it was a wonderful homage to all those in our community.
Big thank you to our parent helpers who manned the BBQ on the day and made sure we were all fed and happy - we appreciate you! 
Congratulations to our champions in the bull riding, whip cracking and cooee competitions!! And a big well done to our Leaders of School Spirit & Community for helping out at Brekky With the Butchers on Friday morning!

Kristie Irvine 

Leader of Love & Community 

Student of the Month & Learner Achievement Awards

Help Needed

The school canteen is reaching out to parents for help in the Canteen on Fridays.  The canteen has over 200 orders for the Primary School alone on Fridays.  If you could spare an hour around 10.45am (or anytime that suits) on Fridays to help it would be appreciated.  Contact the canteen on 6662 2255 if you can assist.