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SEMESTER REPORTS
As we come to the end of Term 2, it is time to check in on your child's progress this year. Reports will be available through the COMPASS platform from 5:00pm on Friday. It is important that you access the reports and discuss them with your children. This discussion will be a good precursor to the Parent Teacher Interviews which will be held over next week.
We are aware that some parents have been experiencing difficulties with their COMPASS App or Computer access, so if you haven't accessed your APP for a while it would be a good opportunity to check it this afternoon or tomorrow by trying to access past reports before this semester's are released. Please contact the office if there are any issues. Instructions on how to access reports are below.
PARENT/TEACHER INTERVIEWS
Parents will have the opportunity to meet with their children's teacher's next week to discuss their progress. To book a time with your child's teacher, open your COMPASS APP >choose "CONFERENCE" from the COMMUNITY icon. A timetable for child's teachers should be then available to select a suitable time.
If you cannot make it on the days posted, you are encouraged to contact your child's teacher to arrange another suitable time.
STAFF CHANGES
There have been some, and will be more, staff changes from this week and the beginning of next term.
Sadly, Year 1 said farewell to Miss Payton this week as we welcomed back Mrs Hingston from maternity leave. Next term, Miss Gallagher will be moving to Queensland and will be leaving a big gap to fill in Year 5/6. Fortunately we have a wonderful replacement lined up in Miss Payton. The replacement for Miss Gallagher's EAL'D position is yet to be finalised.
We wish all teachers all the best as they move to their next stages in their careers.
COVID INTENSIVE LEARNING SUPPORT (CILS)
Support from the Federal Goverment to "catch up" the learning lost due to COVID lockdowns last year has been given to us. Schools have been given funding to identify children that might have fallen behind or not progressed as well as they should have during that time. We have identified a number of our children who might be in this catergory and employed a teacher for 3 half days to work intensively with these children on the skills they may have missed. Mrs Catherine Bourne is working wth these children until th end of the year in small groups.
ASPIRE
Year 5/6 are looking forward to waching their fellow student, Isla, in this year's ASPIRE production of "The Masked DJ". Isla W in Year 5 will be one of the star dancers in the show. We wish her the best as she prepares and rehearses more intensely as the show approaches. Year 5 & 6 will be attending the Matinee performance on Thursday 22 July. Watch out for the COMPASS Event early next term.
PUPIL FREE DAY
REMINDER: The first day of next term will be a PUPIL FREE DAY. The school will be closed on Monday 12 July.
School will resume for children on Tuesday 13 July. Don't forget, it will be SPORTS uniform that day.
LIFE EDUCATION
Tomorrow and Monday the children will be visiting the Life Education Van. They will be working through presentations that explore healthy lifestyle choices. If you haven't done so, please give consent and pay via the COMPASS App.
PAYING ACCOUNTS
As we move to less and less cash in the office, parents are encouraged to pay accounts online. The default payment method is COMPASS Pay but this comes with significant bank fees of which we have no control. Parents are encouraged to use BPay or Direct Deposit/Debit methods for online payments for school fees if possible.
We thank all parents for taking to this change so well.
Whole School Mass
This Friday 18th June, we will be celebrating Mass. Our theme is Families and Kindergarten have prepared the Mass and would like everyone to join us at 9:15am in the church. We look forward to enjoying the enthusiasm and spirit of our Kinders as they lead the prayers and celebration of families. As part of the recognintion of Families, any Kinder parents who are able to attend will be sitting with their children and we will be encouraging the other children to sit with any family members that are able to join us after Communion.
Liturgy
On Monday 21st June, Year 1 will lead us in our Monday morning liturgy. The children love to see their parents and grandparents at school so please come along and join us.
CONFIRMATION
Congratulation to all the children who were Confirmed last night and last week. This is the second stage of their initiaion into the faith family. I am sure they are looking forward to the final step when the begin to prepare for and recieve their first Holy Communion.
OLV Sleep Out
Thursday the 24th June. We have a number of primary students and teachers volunteering to sleep in our school hall. Some of the children will be asking you to sponsor them. All money raised will go to St Vincent de Paul Winter Appeal. We will be remembering all the people who are homeless in our world and do not have the comforts we have each night.
Sausage Sizzle
We will be having a sausage sizzle Friday 25th June. All children that would like to have a sausage on this day will need to put in a lunch order. It will cost $3 for a sausage and a drink. If your child would like more than one sausage extra sausage sandwiches will cost $2 each. All lunch orders will need to be in by Wednesday 23rd June so we can order the correct stock.
Pyjama Day
Everyone will be able to wear their pyjamas to school on Friday 25th June. This will be our last fundraiser for St Vincent De Paul. We ask that all children bring in a gold coin donation. All children will need to wear their joggers and bring their school hat to be able to play at lunch time.
Kindergarten
Kinder are continuing to practice basic sentence construction. They do this in guided and independent writing activities. Attempts at invented spelling are encouraged in independent writing. The children work daily in groups and assist each other or are assisted by the Teacher.
Year 1
As part of our Spelling lessons each week, Year 1 view a selection of phonics video clips featuring the blend/sound that we are focusing on for the week. Through these video clips, we have learnt how to use dots and dashes. When we are writing out words with our focus sound, we use dots under the letters that represent single sounds and then we use a dash to represent two letters that come together to make the one sound, eg, 'ee', 'ss', 'ay'. It's a visual way for us to see the sounds in a word. We have included examples of our brainstorms on the mini whiteboards.
Also this term...each Monday we have been writing a 'Weekend Recount' to incorporate some free writing that follows a recount format where the children become confident at using time connectives (firstly, secondly, then, next, after that, finally), past tense verbs, correct sentence structure, etc. It also gives the Year 1 teachers an insight into the childrens' interests, hobbies and family activities outside of school that we can then connect with the children on. Good work, Year 1!
Year 2
In our Science unit we have been looking at sustainable houses and designing our own sustainable house. The children had to give reasons why they placed items in their sustainable house.
Year 3
This term, Year 3 has been reading the novel ‘The Tale of Despereaux’, and thoroughly enjoying it. We are almost to the end of the book and wonder if the hero of the story, Despereaux, will rescue the beautiful Princess Pea from the rats and the deep dungeon. We read Chapters 46 – 48 recently and have written a recount of the events of these chapters. Some of the recounts are included in this newsletter.
Year 4
We are working well on our Persuasive Text writing in Year 4. To help develop our skills, we worked together to write Persuasive Text titled, All Children Should Play a Team Sport. Everyone worked to develop ideas for arguments to support the statement. We then shared our ideas and chose the best points. Our completed text was very convincing.
We then worked, individually, on a text titled, Children Should Do Chores Around the House. Firstly, we had to choose our own point of view, then plan our writing. We have all tried to make a good start!
Below is an example of our Class Text and two individual pieces of writing.
Year 5/6
In Year 5 and 6, we have been focussing on using wonderful word choices to make the ordinary sound extraordinary!
Yesterday, we wrote about the most uninteresting part of our long weekends, but as you can see in these examples, the students have been able to ‘dress up’ these moments to be far more interesting than they originally were.
Editing, through word order or choice, sentence structure and the addition or omission of words, is obvious. Miss Gallagher and I could not be more proud of the progress our ‘authors’ have made.
| Kinder | Ruby B, Matilda B, Eleanor T, Tomi O |
| Year 1 | Annabelle H, Vincent D, Van K, Ariana C |
| Year 2 | Kasey S, Laura N, Toma V, Sienna S |
| Year 3 | Ben T, William T, Charlie F, Emmesen P |
| Year 4 | Harrison S, Max G, Suma M |
| Year 5/6 | Marley B, Finlay T, Archie P |
| Captains | Lucy C, Sienna S |
| Lexia Awards | Khal D, Anabel L |
REGIONAL ATHLETICS CARNIVAL
We wish all the children who are selected to represent hte school at the Regional Athletics CArninval next week all the best. I am sure they will do us al proud. Go for it Gemma M, Ruby P, Annalise F, Isla W, El W, Breanna M, Suma M, Freya B, Elsie O, Georgina H, Millie H, Lilly W, Ruby A, Margreit K, Indiana P, Summer F, Lily Westaway, Harrison S, Mark M, Cooper C, Finlay T, Julian A, Chase B, Harry F, Levi P, Max G, Jesse C, Daniel Z, Luka S, Charlie F, Oliver W, Maxwell W, Deagan C
If you want to check the credentials and find out more, click the link below.
https://wwccheck.ccyp.nsw.gov.au/Verifiers/Search
ZONES OF REGULATION
We have been introducing a new Social Emotional Learning program in the school since the beggining of Term 4 last year called ZONES OF REGULATION. Click the links below for an example of the explanations in the program. The whole school participates in fortnightly, explicit instruction of the knowledge and skills needed in regulating their emotions and how to respond to them. From these lessons, children are able to gain the language, confidence and recognigition of their emotions and how they affect their own behaviour and the feelings of others. Charts in the classroom give the cjhildren the opportunity to visualise where their emotions are at and how they they can move within the zones.
Identifying the emotion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTII0cyUbQo&list=PLj-5cig-690P5Ku7DaBA5m3px03oYu4ez
Green Zone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzps2iCaMlY
Blue Zone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM31Xu3d8SU
Yellow Zone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEtsMoqZOiU
Red Zone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss-p7q5j0v4
REGIONAL ATHLETICS CARNINVAL
We have selected a team to represent the school at the Regional Athletics Carnival to be held next week. Congratulattions to the following children: Gemma M, Ruby P, Annalise F, Isla W, El W, Breanna M, Suma M, Freya B,Elsie O, Georgina H, Millie H, Lilly W, Ruby A, Margreit K, Indiana P, Summer F, Lily W, Harrison S, Mark M, Cooper C, Finlay T, Julian A, Chase, B, Harry F, Levi P, Max G, Jesse C, Danial Z, Luka S, Charlie F, Oliver W, Maxwell W, Deagan C. These children should have recieved a permission note today. There has been an event created on COMPASS for Permission and Payment if you chose to go that way. The Competitor Information Sheet must be returned to school by Monday please.
Good luck to them all and we look forward to hearg of all the success stories.
We would like to wish the following children a Happy Birthday
| Kindergarten | Lucy C |
| Year 1 | Anabel L |
| Year 2 | Luka S, Grace G |
| Year 3 | Oliver W |
| Year 4 | Tyson L, Freya B |
| Year 5/6 | Cooper C |
Congratulations and we hope you had a happy day
DISCO THANKS
We had a great night at the Disco recently. These events can't be that great if we don't have the siupport of parents helping out -- so a big thanks to you all for organinsing a wonderful night and volunteering your time to make it a success.
NEXT MEETING
Our Association's next meeting is scheduled for Monday 26 July at 7pm. Please come along to join in the discussions. If you have any items you would like on the agenda, please let Jackie Barrett know.
Check out this link for more info on St Nicholas OOSH.
How to enrol for our OOSH Services:
You will be able to access the school newsletter here and notifications will come through Schoolzine. Please DO NOT use the old SkoolBag App. It is no longer used for communications of notifications and messages..
Go to this link to download the Schoolzine App: