2024 Term 2 Week 9
Dear Parents and Carers,
Teachers have been working on student report cards over the past few weeks. These report cards were made available to parents and carers on Wednesday via the Compass app. Please contact your child’s teacher if you would like to organise a time to discuss the report card in further detail.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to all the wonderful parent helpers who made this week’s canteen services a resounding success! With over 104 lunch orders received on our special Footy and Fairies Day on Wednesday and an equally busy day on Friday, your support and dedication have truly made a significant impact on our school community. Your efforts ensured that our students enjoyed delicious meals efficiently and with smiles on their faces. It’s through your commitment and generosity that we are able to provide such valuable services to our students. However, as our school continues to grow, so does the demand for more helping hands. We kindly invite and encourage additional parents to join our volunteer team for future canteen days. Your involvement not only supports our school operations but also fosters a sense of community and camaraderie among us all.
Currently, hundreds of lay people and clergy are involved in the multi-year journey of renewal for the Catholic Diocese of Lismore. This journey has commenced from the ground up, with the principles of collaboration, co-design and co-responsibility, as they explore answers to key questions, including:
- What should the mission and focus of our parishes and diocese be as we move further into the 21st century?
- How well are the structures and mechanisms in the diocese working?
- How can we improve our youth ministry?
To find out more, visit https://www.lismorediocese.org/renewal/
Next week is the last week of Term 2 and students will finish on Thursday 4 July. Staff will undertake Professional Learning on Friday 5 July. To celebrate the end of term we are holding a disco during school time on Thursday and students are permitted to wear play clothes to school (please ensure they bring their hat and wear closed in shoes).
Bitesize ‘Funraising’ and our Pie drive with Prince Bakery have now finished. We are waiting for a collection date for the remaining pie orders and we will notify families via email. Thank you to the Prince Street Bakery for their generosity and for making this event possible. Thank you also to families, staff and parishioners for their support.
On Wednesday staff and students participated in a Footy and Fairies themed day. Students and staff embraced the theme and managed to dress as a footy player AND fairy! This was a fun day designed to promote student wellbeing with some fun activities and a special lunch from the canteen. Thank you to our generous canteen helpers who supported the day with a lovely lunch.
Please note staff return to school on Monday 22 July for a Staff Development day. This is a pupil-free day and students return for Term 3 on Tuesday 23 July.
Later in Week 1, we will hold a Grandparents Day Liturgy on Friday 26 July. Further information will be shared on Compass and we hope to see all those important people in our lives join us on the day eg Grandmothers and Grandfathers, Grandmas and Granddads, Grans and Gramps, Pops and Nans/Nanas, Nanny and Poppy, Nonnos and Nonnas, along with parents.
In Week 2, students who successfully qualified to compete in the Diocesan Zone Athletics Carnival will travel to Coffs Harbour on Tuesday 30 July, and on Thursday 1 August a Trivia night is being held at Grafton District Services Club.
We enjoyed celebrating 100 Days of Kindergarten at our recent Family Night! The event was filled with fun and laughter as families worked together on various challenges, created 100-eyed monsters, and enjoyed activities centered around the number 100. It was wonderful to see everyone come together and engage in the festivities. We extend our heartfelt thanks to all the families who attended and contributed to making this event a success.
HouseKeeping
Compass is the multifaceted platform that allows for timely and relevant communication (both outward and inward) and is our main form of communication at St Mary’s. The portal allows access to calendars, attendance, permissions and financial components, as well as school reports. To allow the full benefit of its capabilities we ask parents to ensure that notifications are turned on for mobile phones.
Signing in
Please remember to visit the school office to sign in your child when arriving after 8:45am as students are not permitted to sign in themselves. Notifications to the school regarding students who are unwell can be made via the Compass app (open in Browser and tap ‘Add Attendance Note’ for the student).
Visiting St Mary's
Any time parents and visitors enter the school grounds they must always use the ‘Who’s on Location’ QR code to record their visit. We understand that sometimes parents wish to quickly walk their child to class or have a quick chat with the teacher before school, however signing in is a legal requirement.
Warmest regards,
Jacki
Upcoming Staff Development Days
- Friday 5 July (Week 10 Term 2)
- Monday 22 July (Week 1 Term 3)
- Friday 27 September (Week 10, Term 3)
- Monday 14 October (Week 1, Term 4)
- Thursday 19 and Friday 20 December (Week 10, Term 4)
Term 2 Events Calendar
Accendere Retreat
Today, the Year 4 students took part in a student discipleship retreat with the theme ‘Friendship’. Through songs, games, activities, and prayers, the students deepened their understanding of what it means to be a good friend and learned how Jesus is their greatest friend, no matter what is happening in their lives. A special thank you to the McAuley Ministry Class, who gave invaluable testimonies and led the students through games and activities.
Sacrament of Confirmation
We are thrilled to congratulate all the candidates who recently received the Sacrament of Confirmation. This significant event marks a deeper commitment to living out their faith with courage and conviction. In his message, the Bishop emphasised the importance of experiencing and sharing love in their daily lives. May the Holy Spirit continue to guide and inspire them.
Mrs Dominique Montford
Assistant Principal Mission
Our school has been working in partnership with Dr Lyn Sharratt as part of the Learning Collaborative initiative. Dr. Lyn Sharratt is a highly accomplished practitioner, researcher, author, and presenter based in Canada. The work of the Learning Collaborative aims to build teacher capacity to increase student achievement and growth for all students with a focus on providing intentional learning experiences for our students. One of the ways that we work towards this are Learning Intentions and Success Criteria,
What Are Learning Intentions?
Learning intentions describe what students should know, understand and be able to demonstrate by the end of a lesson, a series of lessons or a unit of work. Learning intentions are informed by curriculum documents and focus on knowledge, understanding or skills.
What is Success Criteria?
Success criteria states what students have to do to show they have achieved the learning intention. It can be used for students to self assess their learning in order to improve achievement. The criteria should be co-constructed with students and have a sufficient level of challenge.
Why are they Important?
Learning intentions and success criteria give students clarity around what they are learning, why they are learning it and assists them to track and assess their progress. They are very powerful in helping students in their progression towards higher levels of achievement. Using the success criteria as a basis for feedback, students will know what they need to do to improve. This encourages independent learning. Self assessment, as well as effective and timely feedback from the teacher, has significant impact on student achievement. Learning intentions and success criteria provide an anchor for students when they are tracking their progress.
Students will be well supported when effective learning intentions and success criteria are used. They can be used across all Key Learning Areas. In particular, success criteria will
- Improve understanding
- Help when designing tasks
- Help learners to focus on the task
- Encourage independent learning
- Enable accurate feedback
- Allow students to self assess
Students will take more responsibility for their learning when they know what they are going to learn, how they will recognise when they have succeeded and why they should learn it in the first place.
School Annual Improvement Goal Update
Every fortnight, our teachers meet in Professional Learning Teams (PLT’s), the Assistant Principal Learning and Teaching is also involved in these meetings. The Professional Learning Team is built on the foundation of a shared moral purpose for school improvement. We have high standards of learning for all students, and recognise that a Professional Learning Team enables our school community to work collaboratively, learn and gain knowledge, skills and understanding from one another to strengthen learning outcomes for all of our students.
The focus on learning growth for every student demands that the team agrees on the evidence they use to measure this. This data is gathered and shared by each educator within the Professional Learning Team to determine next steps in their inquiry and to monitor achievement of their goals.
Our focus for our Professional Learning Team meetings this year has been on the spelling element of writing. This focus aligns with our School Annual Improvement goal for 2024, to improve the growth of our high performing students in writing. During our PLT meetings, we work together to analyse data and determine the next steps for students to ensure all students are progressing in their learning, including our students who require extending.
Premiers Reading Challenge is now on.
We encourage our students to keep reading!
SORA
Sora is our Lismore Diocesan school digital library. It houses eBooks, magazines and audiobooks suitable for Kinder through to staff (including professional reading).
Sora will work on any platform. You will need internet access to locate and borrow, but you can download to read and listen offline. Sora is available for all staff and students in the Lismore Diocese. The ability to borrow a resource is determined by date of birth to ensure appropriate content. (Juvenile - Kinder - Year 6, Young Adult - Years 7 +, Adult - Year 9 +). Visit "Getting started with Sora" for more information.
Warm regards
Jas Stuart
Assistant Principal Learning and Teaching
Vacation Care
Uniforms
St Mary's School uniforms are available to purchase from Lowes in Grafton Shopping World. The sports uniform is worn on Wednesday and Friday each week.
Attendance
- If your child is arriving to the school after 8:45am please sign them in at the office.
- Please use Compass to record full day absentees. Partial absences are recorded by staff when students are signed in and out of the office.
- Students who leave a school event early will have a partial absence recorded.
- A medical certificate or other documentation may be requested where frequent absences due to illness occur.
- Generally, extended leave (greater than 10 days) during the school term would not be approved. These absences are recorded on the roll as unjustified and a completed Form 01 Extended Leave Notification Travel/Other Greater than 10 Days is required.
- In exceptional circumstances parents may complete an Form 02 Approved Extended Leave Application - Travel/Other Greater than 10 Days for consideration by the Principal, explaining why an absence for extended leave is in the best educational interest of the student. The Principal may decline or accept this application.
Parking in Hoof Street
There are a small number of parking spaces near the Sunrise Shop (corner of Hoof and Turf Streets) for use by their customers. To assist this small business, we suggest parking away from the corner.
Overseas Visa Details
Reminder: Parents and Carers are to keep the school informed of any change in residency/visa status during the course of their child's enrolment, with
evidence of new visa status provided. Parents should be made aware that
the school must be informed of any change in residency status;
Working With Children Check (WWCC)
At St Mary's we are committed to creating and supporting a culture of safety for children and ensuring that children are protected. All employees and volunteers are required to have a current WWCC.
NB - The vast majority of volunteers in schools are parents of a child attending the school at which they are volunteering (eg reading groups, fetes, camps, excursions and canteen) and therefore do not require a WWCC. Exceptions to this are
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volunteers interacting one-on-one with a child not their own,
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working with children who have a disability,
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offering mentoring services,
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when the volunteer is not a parent or close relative.
