Term 2 Week 8 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,
Prayer
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
School Dog: We are looking into the possibility of having a wellbeing school dog as I am keen to get a dog as a companion to our kids. I see the impact our reading dog, Argos, and Father Peter's dog, Lola, has every time they come into our school and have been doing some research on this. This dog will get special training to ensure it is safe. Just having a dog around has proven to bring joy and calmness to our kids.
Cecil Hotel: Thank you to the Cecil Hotel, Matt and Jodie, for lending us some used kegs to allow us to make some extra seating areas for our kids to sit at lunchtime ... they look great!
School Fees: Whilst we don’t have to worry about fees for the entire year, next year there will be a small change. Our school will be looking after the fees without the need to communicate with the Parish office. Families will continue to be supported with school fees, sibling discounts and fee assistance. More information will be provided towards the end of the year.
Casino NAIDOC Celebrations: Our kids and families are invited to march with the school and I for the NAIDOC March on Monday 4 July (1st day of the school holidays). The NAIDOC Ceremony will begin at 10.00am in Graham Place, followed by a March along Walker Street at approx. 10:30am.
Take care
John O’Brien
Assistant Principal's News - Mission
New School Jackets have been ordered and hopefully will arrive in the not too distant future. We will do another big order in the back end of Term 3.
Our final Student of the Month Assembly for Term 2 will be held on Thursday 30 June at 2.10pm in the Relihan Centre.
Our Year 6 Leaders of Faith will help with an act of service by cooking dinner with members of our staff at the Our House facility in Lismore on Thursday 23 June. Our House is a joint project by Northern Rivers Community Cancer Foundation (NRCCF) and Our Kids. It is a purpose-built accommodation for patients, carers, and their families who are receiving treatment at the Cancer Unit at Lismore. It also provides accommodation for other patients, carers, and their families who require medical attention in Lismore.
The final Three SixTeen Church Youth Group for Term 2 will be held on Friday 24 June 3:30pm-5.00pm. Currently, we have over 50 students registered to participate in this after school initiative which is run by Mahaila Day, some College students and the Youth Ministry Officers, Jacob and Hannah. Stay tuned for information regarding more dates for Term 3. The feedback from the students has been overwhelmingly positive.
“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 8 & 9 is the Defusion Strategy. This lesson helps to create depth to students’ learning by exploring simple cognitive defusion techniques to distract the mind when it starts to get caught in negative thought patterns, particularly around blaming yourself, others and situations for different outcomes.
Sam Irvine
Assistant Principal Mission
Leader of Catechesis
Sacrament of Confirmation
Last Tuesday, all our Year 3 students participated in a Formation Day at school leading up to the Sacrament of Confirmation at 6.00pm in the Church. It was a day of prayer, craft activities and games with a beautiful prayer experience in the library prior to recess with the students sitting with their candles. On the night the church was filled with excited children and proud parents and sponsors with Bishop Greg leading the ceremony. We thank both Bishop Greg and Fr Peter for their spiritual guidance during our preparation.
First Communion
This Sunday a number of our Year 4 students will receive their First Communion at 9.00am Mass.The students have been attending Mass each Thursday morning with Fr Peter explaining the parts of the Mass. All members of our school community are invited to join with the students this Sunday.
Mini Vinnies - Jumpers for June 
Our Yr 6 Mini Vinnies group invites all members of our community to donate one jumper to our ‘Jumpers for June’ appeal. We have 2 large collection boxes, one in the school office entrance and another outside the school library. If you have a jumper you no longer wear, we would love you to wash it, put it in a plastic bag and place it in one of our collection boxes. This year there are many flood affected families sleeping in tents and caravans who could really benefit from a nice warm jumper. At the end of the term we will take all the jumpers down to the St Vincent de Paul shop.
Mini Vinnies - Cake Stall
We will be holding a cake stall on Wednesday 22 June at lunchtime. Cakes will be 20c - 50c each. There will be cupcakes, slices, biscuits etc. Please support our cake stall as we are raising money to support the St Vincent de Paul Society in their ‘blanket appeal’ purchasing blankets for the homeless.
Karen McDonald
Leader of Catechesis
Assistant Principal's News Teaching & Learning
The Third Teacher- How our environment leads to learning
At SMP we believe strongly in the importance of immersing our students in an environment that allows them to thrive socially, emotionally and academically. The design of the classroom environment impacts greatly on our students' ability to access and embed new learning. Research tells us that the parent is a child's first teacher, the adults in the classroom are the second teacher and the environment itself becomes what is known as the third teacher for our students.
We have had a strong focus on this "Third Teacher" this year at SMP and our staff have done an incredible job of making their environments spaces where children feel supported in their learning and where our teachers and students can use their surroundings to improve- their learning.
A strong "Third Teacher" is built as the students learn. It is not about a pretty "Pinterest-Ready" classroom but one that showcases the students' learning journey and is filled with collaboratively developed learning supports that the students use to support their continual growth.
I recommend you ask your child where they can go in their classroom to get help with their learning. Although their first answer may be an adult in the room, I hope that many also refer to the environment itself.
SMP Learning Walls
ICAS Assessments
A reminder that we are offering ICAS testing in English, Maths, Science, Writing, and Spelling. Please see the flyer below for more information on enroling your child for these.
Felicity Wilde
AP Teaching & Learning
Birthdays
Happy birthday to 
Gracie Bahadori Darcie Baker Paige Holmes Faith Johnston Hunter Ryan Charli Scherf Myf Gray Josie Ryan Jack Francis Ella McIntyre Bonnie Pearce Charlotte Bloomfield Zoe Formaggin Kye Brombal Larni Clark and Mason Cross who have recently celebrated their birthday, to Audrey Jones Isaac O'Kane Amelia Paterson and Addilyn Reilly who celebrate tomorrow.