Week 8/9

Term 3 Week 10 Important Events

• 14 September - Board meeting, 5.15pm
• 15 September - End of Term Mass, 9am; MMBDO - Lawn Bowls

150th Anniversary Event

Please join us this weekend for our 150th Anniversary event.

Students need to wear formal uniform for the official ceremony and liturgy at 2pm, and for their dance performances at 2.45pm.

From the Principal

St Mary's has been a hive of activity over the last two weeks as we have counted down to the 150th Anniversary to be held tomorrow, Saturday, 9 September. Many students, led by Mrs Krystal Land, have been busy compiling a thorough timeline of the school's history, which is now on our school website and will be displayed on the wall in the undercover area. Mrs Melanie Menzies and Mrs Krystal Land have also coordinated a number of students in conducting interviews with past pupils about their memories as students of St Mary's. These interviews will be displayed on the screens in the classrooms. Our wonderful volunteers from the parish has been sorting through old photos and resources and are creating a memorabilia museum in the library.

On Saturday, the event will start at 2pm with a Welcome to Country, smoking ceremony and liturgy, presided over by Bishop Tim Harris. After the liturgy, there will be a celebratory cake cutting. Mr Ben deLuca will be cutting the 1873 cake, as one of our oldest past pupils, and one of our students in attendance will be drawn out of a raffle to cut the 2023 cake. 

The cake cutting will be followed by a roll call of students based on the year they started at St Mary's Catholic School. Please ensure that you register your children for the roll call on arrival on Saturday. Following the roll call will be performances by the students, starting with each class' dance that they have been working on in the Arts. The choir and each of the rock bands will also be performing. While this is happening, the P&F will be providing afternoon tea options and guests will be free to explore our memorabilia display, timeline and participate in school tours that will be led by the Year 6 students. 

After the official close of the school event at 5pm, guests are invited to attend Mass with the Parish before the meet-and-greet event at the Grand View Hotel, at 7.30pm. For those who have travelled and would like additional time to explore the displays, the school will be open again on Sunday morning. Morning tea will be provided in the undercover area after Mass finishes at 9.00am.

There has been a lot of effort invested into the 150th over the past year, and I would like to thank the following people for their regular attendance at the committee meetings, and their assistance in helping us to achieve a successful event:

• Judy Feeney
• Sarah Romano
• Fay Ryle
• Melanie Menzies
• Gloria Fisher
• Jenny Brazil
• Cheryl Hammond
• Suzette Windridge
• Krystal Land

God bless,

Mrs Alicia Ninnes. 

Religious Life of the School

150th Committee

St Mary’s school would like to profusely thank the members of the 150th celebrations team. These generous ladies have given countless hours over many months to organise and prepare the celebrations which will occur this Saturday at St Mary’s School. St Mary’s has a proud history of providing, over 150 years, a faith filled education to our community, raising students with a love for each other and a Catholic worldview. Judy Feeney, Cheryl Hammond, Gloria Fisher, Sarah Romano, Melanie Menzies, Fay Ryle, Jenny Brazil (photo underneath) are to be congratulated on their efforts and tireless love for Saint Mary’s. Thank you! 

We also want to thank Margaret Fox, who has created countless jars of Mango Chutney to sell to go towards the Ignite conference this year. Margaret, you are amazing! You can purchase some tomorrow at the 150th event! The spring gardening raffle will be drawn on Monday. 

Australian Bishop’s Statement on Social Justice

Recently, the Australian Bishop’s released a social justice statement called, ‘Live, learn, love: A new engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’. This document has key ideas regarding healing and justice for indigenous peoples. The bishops invited indigenous spokespeople to meet and discuss their concerns and how the Catholic Church could support them better. The Australian National Aboriginal and Islander Catholic Council state within the document:

Among our people are great teachers, doctors, lawyers, artists, sportspeople and diplomats. Many of us work hard in jobs as receptionists, electricians, shop assistants, cooks and carpenters. We send our children to school and get involved in community groups. We make a great contribution to Australia. However, there are many who miss out on opportunities for a happy family and community life and for a good education, good health and a rewarding job. The Closing the Gap report shows how big the problem is. We are pleased that the Bishops Conference supported visits to communities around Australia earlier this year as part of the preparation of this Statement. The visits were arranged to hear directly from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples about their lives and what they want to change. These visits have helped to strengthen understanding of the experiences and concerns of our people. It has also helped to include us more in what the Church does to support our people.

If you are interested in reading more of this thought provoking and insightful statement by the Bishops, you can access it here: Social Justice Statement 2023-24 - Office For Justice, Ecology and Peace 

New Parish Leadership Team

Father Sibi has announced the formation of a new Parish Leadership team, which will work in conjunction with the Mission Team. Thank you to Mary-Kate, Paul, Jen, Suzette and Father Sibi for taking on this role to support our Church. Please say hello if you see these people around and wish them the best. From Left: Paul, Sibi, Suzette and Jen. Underneath Mary-Kate. 

Sacramental Program 2024

Mrs Young, Mrs Ninnes, Mrs Beverly Lowcock and Mrs Windridge are already busy preparing the Sacramental program for next year. We are so excited to begin this special journey with families in the local community. Please see the notice below and get in early to register your child for the 2024 Sacramental program. 

Whole School Mass

There will be a whole school Mass at 9 am on the last day of term, at the Church. We hope you are able to join us in a special Mass to celebrate the end of term as a school community. Mass will be led by the Year 2 students.

Learning and Teaching

Last week our teachers attended a session with Nic Beltramelli (TCE Curriculum Adviser) and Terhi Reid (TCE Speech Pathologist) to receive their Early Years Post Test Feedback for 2023. This was a wonderful opportunity for teachers to pause and reflect upon their teaching, as they celebrated each individual students growth across the 20 week period. The natural effect size of learning that a student should do over a 20 week period is 0.4. It was pleasing to see that some of our learners grew by 3.29 and 3.59, with most students growing by 1.1 or more. Congratulations to our Prep-Year 2 teachers and students for their amazing effort and achievements! Testing continues in our school with our Year 2-Year 6 students beginning their annual Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT) for Reading (week 8) and Maths (week 9.) We are looking forward celebrating the students achievements and reviewing this data further in order to inform our teaching and learning for Term 4. 

Peter Stower the Director of Learning and Teaching from TCE also visited our school last week for his annual visit. He spent some time discussing with Alicia how our Annual School Improvement Plan is going in relation to Learning and Teaching Initiatives. He also visited the classrooms to discuss with the students their learning, and asked them some of the following questions:

• What are you learning?
• How are you doing with that learning?
• How do you improve your learning?
• What goals have you set for yourself?

During the Pupil Free Day our teachers were hard at work engaging in Reflective Practice Day for 2023. The topic of this years day was the new Curriculum Version 9.0. The first learning area that our school will roll out is Mathematics, which will be used to teach and assess students across Prep-Year 6 by no later than Semester 2 of 2024. Below you will see the timeframes released by QCAA and TCE in relation to rolling out the learning areas. Green is the Familarisation and Planning phase, this is where teachers are upskilled on the learning area changes. They also spend time reviewing and reimagining current assessment pieces and learning experiences. Blue is the latest date that a learning area can be implemented.

Some students in Years 4-6 have been selected by their classroom teachers to participate in Raise Our Voice in Parliament 2023. From the 16th to the 20th of October, Raise Our Voice Australia is running Youth Voice to Parliament week. The campaign will amplify the voices of young people from across the country, giving them the platform to share their stories and visions for the future.

Raise Our Voice Australia is inviting young people aged 25 years or younger across Australia to write a 90 second speech, answering the question “what change would make Australia a better place for future generations?”  We look forward to seeing our students entries and hope that they are successful change makers. 

Kind regards,

Krystal Land

Learning and Teaching Adviser

Prep 2024

We are currently taking Prep enrolments for 2024. If you have a child beginning school next year or know someone whose child is due to begin Prep, please get your enrolment forms in ASAP. These forms can be found on our school website. Please follow this link to access our current enrolment form.  

From the Guidance Counsellor

In this edition of SchoolTV - NEURODIVERSITY

Neurodiversity emphasises the natural variation in how an individual's brain functions and how they perceive and interact with the world, leading to diverse ways of learning and communicating. While most young people are neurotypical, some exhibit variations in brain development, such as ADHD, autism or dyslexia, making them neurodivergent.

Embracing neurodiversity involves accepting, celebrating, and supporting neurodivergent children and adolescents without attempting to change or treat their differences. Using respectful language, challenging unhelpful attitudes, avoiding assumptions, and actively promoting inclusivity can help embrace neurodiversity effectively.

Acknowledging the unique ways neurodiverse young people do things and then adapting tasks and activities to ensure their full participation will encourage them to develop strategies that feel natural to them. It will help improve their mental health, wellbeing and sense of self. By recognising and nurturing their strengths, parents and caregivers can contribute to building an inclusive and compassionate society where all young people can thrive.

Learning more about neurodiversity, equips caregivers with insights into effective communication techniques, educational strategies, and parenting approaches tailored to the specific needs of their neurodivergent child.

We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this edition of SchoolTV and we always welcome your feedback. If you have any concerns about your child, please contact the school guidance counsellor for further information or seek medical or professional help.

Here is the link to the Neurodiversity edition of SchoolTV
https://smbtsv.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/neurodiversity

Sports News

Congratulations to Sam Murray on his selection into the Whitsunday Athletics team for shot put. He put in his very best effort at the NQ Athletics Trials last week in Townsville and we are very proud of him!

Award Winners Week 8, Term 3

In Week 8, our weekly awards were presented to students who have been following Mary's Way by showing "M" Mercy and Outreach.

Mary's Way Award Winners:

Back row: Bela, Joel, Laharnah

Front row: William, Makayla, Penelope

Absent: Dwyatt

Praise Note Winner of the Week:  Matilda

Star Reader of the Week:  Bailee-Maree

Award Winners Week 9, Term 3

In Week 9, our weekly awards were presented to students following Mary's Way by showing "C" Compassion and Care.

Mary's Way Award Winners: 

Back Row: Harley, Paulo, Kendall, Andrea, Evan

Absent: Alexander, Laila

Paise Note Winner of the Week: Domingo

Star Reader:  Maggie

Tournament of Minds

Congratulations to all of the students who competed in the Tournament of Minds competition at St Catherine's. Four of our teams won their sections and have advanced to the State Finals, to be held this weekend. One of teams also won the Spirit Award, for embodying the spirit of teamwork and collegiality that is central to Tournament of Minds. Good luck to all!

Birthdays

Birthdays

                                                                                Robert, Elodie, Zane. Colten

Tuckshop Menu Term 3

Mary Mackillop OSHC

OSHC at St Mary’s Catholic School is now operating Monday to Friday from  6.30 am to 8.30 am and 2.45 pm to 6.00 pm.

The government has announced changes in the way that Child Care Subsidy is worked out. The income limit for CCS will be increasing to $530,000, meaning that the cost of OSHC will reduce for the majority of families. The changes came into effect on 10 July.

Currently the service costs $17.50 for Before-School Care, and $22 for After-School Care, before CCS reductions are applied. Food (breakfast and afternoon tea) is provided at no extra cost. Please see below for more information about the upcoming reduction in fees.

If you would like more information or to register, please contact Miss Camila on 0428 216 062 OR at bowenoshc@mmcnq.catholic.edu.au

School Student Broadband Initiative

The School Student Broadband Initiative, in partnership with NBN Australia is providing unconnected school aged students and their families with free internet for 12 months.

This Initiative aims to boost education opportunities by providing up to 30,000 Australian eligible families with school age children (K-12), with free nbn-powered broadband internet at home.

For more information on how to apply and grant guidelines follow the link:

Community News

UQ Research Project

Auskick

Healthy Lunch Boxes Cooking Class

NRL Workshops