Weeks 6/7, Term 4

Term 4 Week 8-9 Important Events

• 22 November - Swimming Carnival
• 23 November - Graduation Dinner, Merinda Hotel
• 24 November - Pre-Prep Graduation
• 25 November - Community Christmas Carols
• 27 November - Yr 7 Orientation Day; Step Up sessions
• 29 November - Christmas Play, 5.30pm
• 30 November - MMBDO trip to the cinema
• 1 December - Last day of school: End of Year Mass, Academic Awards Ceremony, school finishes 12pm

Principal News

We have reached the point where we count down to the end of the year, making the school an extremely busy place. Our staff are working hard to complete reporting, end of year sorting and cleaning, graduation, the Christmas play, and preparations for 2024. Next week our teachers will be conducting handover meetings as part of our end of year transition program. These meetings allow the 2023 teacher and the 2024 teacher to exchange information on how best to support each student in the class. They facilitate the students’ smooth transitions into the new year level, and will ensure that the teachers have a solid understanding of each student's needs in their 2024 classes. These sessions will be followed by the Step Up session on Monday, 27 November. On this day, the students will spend the middle session of the day with their 2024 teacher, allowing them further time to get to know each other. There will be additional sessions available for those students who may need more time with the new teacher to support their transition. 

We are very sad to be farewelling three of our teachers at the end of the year. Miss Alex Wenta, Miss Courtney Cook, and Mrs Anita Julyan will unfortunately be leaving us. As mentioned in the last newsletter, we have secured one new teacher already, Miss Abbey Ross. The recruitment process for the other two positions is underway, and we will update the community as soon as we know who the successful applicants are. As a result, our staffing for 2024 has not yet been finalised, however the staffing arrangements currently are as follows:

Classroom Teachers:

• Prep: Miss Emily Harte
• Year 1: Mrs Karen Jones
• Year 2: Mrs Melanie Menzies
• Year 3: TBA
• Year 4: Miss Rachel Strambini
• Year 5: Mrs Suzette Windridge (2 days) and Mrs Rachael Young (3 days)
• Year 6: Miss Abbey Ross

Specialists:

• PE / Inclusive Practices Teacher: Mrs Catherine Antonio
• The Arts / Music: TBA
• Italian / Technology: Mrs Krystal Land
• Chaplain: Mrs Suzette Windridge
• Indigenous Education Worker (IEW): Mr Blake Sulusi

Leadership Team:

• Acting Assistant Principal - Pedagogy and Learning (APPL): Mrs Krystal Land
• Assistant Principal - Religious Education (APRE): Mrs Suzette Windridge
• Principal: Mrs Alicia Ninnes

We also have some new staff who have started over the last two weeks. Mr Michael Howard is our new groundsman / cleaner, and Mrs Bernadette Allan is our new cleaner. We also welcome Mrs Zodie Crocker as our new administration officer starting today.  Please join me in welcoming all three of our new staff to the school.

If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s transition to their new year level, please contact the school office.

God bless,

Alicia Ninnes

Religious Life of the School

Welcome to our final few weeks of term everyone! 

I would like to thank Stephen Gasparini from the Youth engagement sector of St Vincent de Paul’s, for attending the Mini Vinnies sleepout last weekend. You wouldn’t think learning about homelessness would be fun, but students had an amazing time and now have a greater understanding of this important issue which affects all communities. Students participated in interactive and fun activities about homelessness, wants, needs and privilege, as well as shared a simple meal of bread and soup before laying out on the oval under the stars. Thanks parents for allowing us to educate students further in social justice teachings and for supporting our Mini Vinnies at St Mary’s! 

A reminder that the class which brings in the most donations for the Vinnies Christmas Appeal, wins a pizza party! Next week I will begin gathering up each rooms items. Putting the needs of others before our own is a way of bringing God directly into our lives and those of others. Jesus taught us to love our neighbour, and that those who have the least, will come first. St Mary’s strives to spiritually develop the values of justice, compassion and outreach within students and we are definitely growing in this space. We are very proud to share with you that St Mary’s has recently been awarded the distinguished Townsville Catholic Education Director’s Laudato Si Award for our social justice action and future planning. We are proud to see Catholic Social Teachings alive and thriving within our school community. Well done St Mary’s! 

This was our last week of football training for 2024. We can’t thank Nick, Lona, Blake and Levi enough for your time and efforts. We look forward to an amazing year of NRL at St Mary’s next year. If you are interested in helping out we would love to hear from you! Please contact Suzette or the school office.

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. 

Learning and Teaching

It was lovely to do a walk around the school earlier this week and see our students engaging with mentor texts, which has been one of our initiatives this year with Literacy. When I popped into Year 5 they had continued their exploration with their mentor text for the term by looking at the etymology (origin and history) of the words/vocabulary used in the text. Well Done Mrs. Young for exploring word etymology with your learners, parents look out for your children using the word contretemps.

Last week at The Writing Project Celebration Day in Townsville, staff from Townsville Catholic Education viewed the work that we have been doing with Literacy. Some of the feedback given to us was that we have an authentic student voice, increased student engagement, increased writing trait growth, and a common language for Literacy across P-6. It was also a great opportunity to see what other schools in our diocese are doing to gain further ideas. 

We look forward to continuing our journey with Literacy in 2024, and reviewing our Numeracy practices as we embark on  V9.0 of The Australian Curriculum.

Kind regards,

Krystal Land

Learning and Teaching Adviser

Literacy at St Mary's!

From the Guidance Counsellor

A SPECIAL REPORT: Starting Year 7

When a child starts high school, they suddenly become one of the youngest and newest kids at school all over again - a small fish in a big pond! The transition between Year 6 and Year 7 is one of the biggest jumps in a child's life and is a very important milestone. This can easily become a daunting time for students and parents alike.

Starting Year 7 poses many new challenges, but also exciting opportunities. It comes with a number of mixed feelings. Some students may be feeling a little anxious about their expectations of starting Year 7 and finding their place in the “big pond”. As your child grasps new skills and engages in new study practices, it is important for parents to be supportive, but also realistic in their expectations. Parents and students can easily become overwhelmed during this time of transition but, there are a number of strategies that can be implemented to start things off on the right foot!

We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this Special Report, and as always, we welcome your feedback.

If you do have any concerns about the wellbeing of your child, please contact the school guidance counsellor for further information or seek medical or professional help. Here is the link to your special report:

https://smbtsv.catholic.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-starting-year-7

Award Winners Week 5, Term 4

In Week 5, our weekly awards were presented to students who have been following Mary's Way by showing "B" - Be my Best.

Mary's Way Award Winners:

Back row: Xander, Manning, Ryan

Front row: Violet, Miranda, Elijah

Praise Note Winner of the Week:  

Star Reader of the Week: 

Award Winners Week 6 , Term 4

In Week 6, our weekly awards were presented to students following Mary's Way by showing "S" - Safe, Just and Fair.

Mary's Way Award Winners: 

Back Row: Wilhemina, Aaliyah, Sophie, Domingo

Front Row: Reef, Rayan

Praise Note Winner of the Week: Makayla

Star Reader of the Week: Bailee-Maree

150th Anniversary Event

Birthdays

Birthdays

Lannah, Oliver, Ryan, Ben, Aubrey

Tuckshop Menu Term 4

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:

School Dental Service

UQ Research Project

Community Christmas Carols 2023