Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours.

Teresa of Avila

Dear Families,

As we approach the end of Easter we are reminded of the resurrection, the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven and Pentecost Sunday which finalises the Easter season. The above saying by Teresa of Avila is a wonderful reminder of the commitment that Jesus made for us and that ultimately his sacrifice was not in vain. We are the Kingdom of God. Jesus came and taught us so that we could carry on God’s messages to learn and grow together. Our overarching rule, “Be a Mission Star” speaks to the essence of the Easter message. 

Please keep our community in your prayers. There are many members of our community, (staff, students and Families) who are experiencing a range of difficulties and challenges. When we come across others, be mindful that we do not know what they may be going through, therefore it is important we treat each other with courtesy, respect and positive regard at all times.

Thank you and God Bless,

Tell Them From Me

Over the past week you will have received a link to a Survey Tell Them From Me.  This survey is part of our preparation for the School Cyclic Inquiry where we will develop our strategic plan for the next 4 years. Your feedback is valuable in this process. Today we provided the survey to our Year 4 - 6 students and staff have been given a staff survey. The survey remains open until 19 May. Following this staff will unpack the results along with other data to assist in informing future directions. The survey is anonymous.

Tell Them From Me Survey Link

Winter Uniform & Lost Property

Winter has certainly arrived. Full winter uniform is to be worn by the students. Please ensure all items have been labelled with the children’s names.

We continue to have a large pile of lost property.

Stage 2 Excursion to Pioneer Museum Park

Year 3 and 4 will be attending Pioneer Park in Kangaroo Valley on Thursday. We hope they have a great day learning about things from the past.

Professional Learning Teams

On Monday Teachers engaged in Professional Learning Teams. These teams focused on Mathematics and how teachers can develop their practice to ensure engagement in mathematics. During these meetings teachers referred to data and research in order to discuss ways they can develop their practice in order to improve student outcomes. This work is part of the Annual Improvement Plan focus for this year.

NSW Association of Catholic School Principals Conference

Next week Mrs Browne will be attending the Conference. The Wollongong Diocese is hosting the conference from Tuesday Evening until Friday afternoon. Mr Farrugia will be Acting Principal during this time.

Enrollment Interviews for 2024

We have begun enrollment interviews for Kindergarten 2024. This is a wonderful and exciting time. If you know of anyone who has a child ready to begin school please let them know to contact the office for an application form.

P&F

The P&F meeting will be on Thursday evening at 7pm this week only. A link will be sent out on Thursday via compass.

Walk safely to school day 19 May

WSTSD is a Nationally participated day, aimed at schools and has health, road awareness and pollution reduction at its heart.

In more detail the main objectives of Walk to School Safely Day are:

• To encourage parents and carers to walk to school with primary school age children and reinforce safe pedestrian behaviour.
• To promote the health benefits of walking and help create regular walking habits at an early age.
• To ensure that children up to 10 years old hold an adult's hand when crossing the road.
• To help children develop the vital road-crossing skills they will need as they become mature pedestrians.
• To reduce the car dependency habits that are being created at an early age and which will be difficult to change as children become adults.
• To promote the use of Public Transport.
• To reduce the level of air pollution created by motor vehicles.
• To reduce the level of traffic congestion.

Changes to our Athletics Program

The following changes were intended for 2022. However , with COVID restrictions and weather restrictions, we were unable to implement them. 

This year we have reviewed our programs regarding athletics. We are fortunate to have pathways for students to progress in a number of sports, one being athletics. For this to happen we are required to provide an opportunity for students to participate in a carnival in order to put forward a team. It is essential that this does not stand alone from the PDHPE syllabus and all relevant skills are taught according to the syllabus. The Leadership Team and Sports Coordinator have reviewed our athletics programs to ensure consistency in teaching the skills from Kindergarten to Year 6 so the children can be competitive on the day if they wish to but also to provide necessary age appropriate developmental opportunities for the children to develop their skills.

In this process we have reviewed CEDoW policies and will no longer be providing High Jump as an option at the school based carnival or during sport lessons. Children who attend Little Athletics and have an official recorded high jump height may produce this to the Sports Coordinator for review and consideration in being included in the school team for the CEDoW Western Region Carnival.

The Leadership team and Sports Coordinator have also reviewed the Athletics Carnival and have moved to running two carnivals in place of one. There will be a Field Events carnival on Friday 16th June (Years 2 - 6) and then the Athletics Carnival Thursday 22nd June (Kindergarten - Year 6). There are a few reasons for this change that were considered, including the challenge of fitting all the events in one day, providing all children with the opportunity to participate, allowing time in PE lessons for the actual teaching of the skills to perform in these events and having time for breaks for staff and students.

By holding a Field Events Carnival we can provide all children who are eligible for selection in the team the opportunity to participate in each of the three field events, shot put, long jump and discus. This means we are not holding trials and then finals. The whole event will take place in one go with warm up opportunities and then actual throws and jumps. Prior to this event all skills will have been taught during PE lessons. Kindergarten and Year 1 will not take place in this carnival however they may hold their own sporting activities at some point on this day. Children in Year 2 who are not eligible for team selection will still be able to participate but their throws and jumps will not be measured. Parents and carers are welcome to attend and watch the events taking place.

The Running Carnival will take place after the Field Events Carnival. On this day all the running events will take place, the marching, war cries and tabloid sports. This day is about the community and we will look to provide opportunities for families to picnic together at the breaks. All children will participate in all of the events excluding the 200m and 400m races.

I would like to thank the leadership team members and the Sports Committee for the work they have done on reviewing and preparing for these changes. This link takes you to the Rationale of the PDHPE syllabus which has formed the basis of why we have made these changes. I encourage you to take a look. While having sporting pathways is a wonderful opportunity for some students, our core purpose as a school is to teach the syllabus. The carnivals are a way to celebrate the children’s achievements in their learning with the added bonus for some students in going onto the next level.