NAPLAN ONLINE PRACTICE TEST 2021

Today, Year 3 and 5 students at St Nicholas School took part in a NAPLAN Online Practice Test. The students answered sample questions covering Reading, Language Conventions and Mathematics. This is a practice test to ensure that the online platform and requirements are ready for the actual tests on the 11- 20th May. It also allows students a chance to practise the format of the online test. The test is not marked and no feedback is given to students or teachers about their results.

Yesterday, Year 5 had a practice online writing test. Year 3 will not have a practice online test because their writing test will be on paper on the actual test day in May.

All students will require their own set of headphones or earbuds to access questions being read to them in the Mathematics and Language Conventions tests in May.

More information about NAPLAN will be published in the newsletter early in Term 2. The following link provides parent information

https://www.nap.edu.au/naplan/parent-carer-support

INFANTS EASTER HAT PARADE

Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 will host their annual Easter Hat Parade on Wednesday 31st March (next week Week 10). Parents and friends are welcome to attend the parade which will take place on the school oval at 2:15pm. Sign in is required and COVID safe practices will be in place. The students will make their Easter hats at school with their buddies.

SCHOOL UNIFORM - SUMMER TO WINTER

With winter approaching, it is time to consider the conversion from summer to winter uniform. We expect that the days will be still warm enough for the students to wear summer uniform on the commencement of Term 2, however it is expected that all students will be wearing the full winter uniform by Monday, 3 May 2021.

REAL TALK

REAL Talk has been a huge success over the last three years and the team is back again this year! Parents of students in Years 4 and 6 are strongly encouraged to attend the Parent Information Night on Thursday 29th April from 6:00 - 7:30pm.

The REAL Talk team will facilitate workshops with our Year 4 and Year 6 students on Friday 30th April so it is important that parents are aware of what will be discussed with their child. The Parent Information Night is not limited to parents of students in Years 4 and 6 but is open to all parents.

REAL Talk is an organisation that is about getting REAL on the topics of relationships and personal identity. Based on Catholic Christian values, Real Talk provides up-to-date resources, presentations and programs that help young people to understand God’s amazing plan for love and life.

Presentation topics include; self-worth and appreciating diversity, making good choices based on respect and love of self and neighbour, the impact of the media (including social media) on how we see ourselves and how we act, the importance of our bodies, the value and meaning of sexual body language, the beauty of healthy relationships and friendships.

KINDERGARTEN 2022 ENROLMENTS

Applications for Kindergarten 2022 are NOW OPEN and close on Thursday 1st April 2021. Please contact the school office for an enrolment pack or access an electronic form from the Compass Parent Portal. Enrolment forms will not be processed until all supporting documents are received: Birth Certificate, Immunisation Certificate, Baptismal Certificate (only required if your child is a baptised Catholic) and proof of student’s residential address.

KINDERGARTEN 2021 SCHOOL PHOTOGRAPHS

This years Kindergarten class photographs will be published in the Northern Daily Leader today Thursday 25th March.

ART COMPETITION WINNERS

Winners of the Art Competition will be announced at morning assembly tomorrow.

LIVING WELL, LEARNING WELL

As part of our implementation of the 'Living Well, Learning Well' Framework at St Nicholas Primary School, we will be taking some time to focus on each rule for a week or two. Our second rule that we will be continuing to focus on next week will be "I am valued, respected and cared for".

This means that "Manners Matter - not just sometimes, but all of the time." If you could please take some time to talk with your child about what it looks like to be valued, respected and cared for, and how they can show this to other students, both at school and when representing the school, that would be greatly appreciated.

Take a look at some of our Captains in the video below showing how we can value, respect and care for others.

MCCARTHY COLLEGE ENROLMENTS

Please note that enrolment packages are accessible from the Compass Parent Portal.

The Enrolment Information Night which was scheduled for Wednesday 24th has been rescheduled to Wednesday 31 March 2021 at 6:00pm.

The closing date for enrolment applications will be extended until Tuesday 20 April 2021.

VERITAS AWARDS

These awards are received for acts of citizenship and service to others, attributes which are highly regarded at St Nicholas.

As Saint Mary Mackillop once said “Never see a need without doing something about it!”

So we congratulate the following students for the various ways they sought to help others.

Lynn Mafura, Ava McAuley, Infinity Hardman-Shoobridge, Raphael Smith, Payton Bell, Thomas Mahony, Cooper Jones, Kudrat Sidhu, Max Edgar, Oliver Kunovic, Georgie O'Halloran, Nora Tamang, Irvan Kaur, Lucy Westhorpe, Sophie Riley, Ruby O'Rourke, Hugo Clery, Anna Barwick and Zoe Sedon.

SCHOOL FEES

Fee letters were sent home a few weeks ago. If you are making a direct bank transfer please do not narrate the payment as 'School Fees' but reference your surname and account number (as noted on your statement) to enable us to correctly record payments received against the appropriate account. For example, SMITH 1234.

Thank you to everyone that has paid to date.

Please contact Mrs Robyn Burke on 6766 1500 or email rburke@arm.catholic.edu.au if you have any queries or wish to discuss your account.

STUDENT ABSENCE

Please notify the school if your child is absent. This can be done using the 'Add Attendance Note' function in the Compass Parent Portal. Due to government legislation, notification of your child's absence must be received no later than 7 days after your child's last day of absence. If you know your child/ren will be away on future dates, for example if you are going to be away on a family holiday, absences can be input in advance of the holiday.

Please note that if you are collecting your child early from school for an appointment you must sign the child out using the Compass kiosk in the office. Please do not use the Parent Portal to try and record that your child will be leaving early as this inadvertently marks them as them as being absent all day.

COMMUNICATION WITH SCHOOL

Our office is open between 8.00am and 4.00pm each day. For any queries, the most efficient way of contacting our staff during this time is via email.

admin@stnicholastamworth.catholic.edu.au

jgrady@arm.catholic.edu.au

CONNECTING WITH BOYS

Below is an article from Michael Grose, founder of Parenting Ideas and one of Australia’s leading parenting educators. He’s an award-winning speaker and the author of 12 books for parents including Spoonfed Generation, and the bestselling Why First Borns Rule the World and Last Borns Want to Change It. Michael is a former teacher with 15 years experience, and has 30 years experience in parenting education.

"Teaching and raising boys has long been a fascination of mine. As a primary teacher it was boys who provided me with the most joy and the most headaches.

As a father of a boy and two girls it was my son who provided the most sleepless nights, although all gave me my fair share.

As a parenting educator I always field more queries about raising boys than girls. Questions about boys have usually focused on learning, lack of confidence and poor or aggressive behaviour while queries about girls have often had a relationship or mental health or focus.

Fortunately there have been some great boy champions in this part of the world who have shown the way for parents, teachers and other professionals. Steve Biddulph, Dr Tim Hawkes and Maggie Dent are personal favourites. While each comes from a different background and offers a diverse perspective, they each share the same belief that adults must form deep connections with boys if they are to influence them, especially in adolescence.

The need for approval

Retired psychologist and esteemed parenting educator and author Steve Biddulph emphasises the importance of adults liking boys and feeling comfortable in their company. Teachers in particular will experience success, he maintains, if the boys believe that they genuinely like and approve of them. Conversely, boys shut down and won’t try for teachers who don’t understand or like them. Approval is at the heart of successfully teaching and raising boys.

The place of banter

Esteemed educator Dr Tim Hawkes, author of Ten conversations you must have with your son, maintains that banter and small talk are essential elements in conversations with boys. He busts the myth that ‘boys don’t talk’ wide open and says that fun, trivia and jest are the foundations for more serious, significant conversations that a parent will have with their sons.

Dr Hawkes encourages parents to have serious conversations with boys about the things that really matter such as values, health and sex, rather than hope that their sons will develop their own ideas by osmosis, or worse, from peers and social media.

Dr Hawkes revealed a communication gem in his book. He wrote that family banter is the secret ingredient that allows parents to hold meaningful conversations with teenage boys. He’s on the money, as fun and laughter provide parents with permission to take their children to some serious spaces for enlightenment and learning.

Avoiding shame

Parenting author and educator, and former teacher and counsellor Maggie Dent reminds parents and teachers that many boys battle both their physiology and a sense of shame when they move into adolescence. Contrary to popular opinion, teen boys crave connection with significant adults. Our clumsiness and unease in their company often becomes a barrier. Dent’s experience of raising sons, as well as her professional work with teen boys has taught her that adults need to show compassion, commitment and communication smarts if they are to connect with boys.

Ask what they think to find out what they feel

In my many years of experience in teaching and parenting boys, I’ve learned that if you want to find out how a boy is feeling, ask him what he is thinking. For instance, if he experiences rejection at school and he is obviously unhappy, ask him what he thinks about the situation rather than how he feels. He will actually tell you how he feels in the process. It is important that parents understand this and put this knowledge to good use if they want an entry point into their son’s emotional life.

In closing

Helping tween and teen boys navigate the world is challenging parenting territory. It’s tempting to put off the conversations that we need to have because they seem too hard to initiate. As the experts above state – each in their own way, the key to communication lies in our ability to form deep connections with the boys in our lives."

SPIRIT OF CATHOIC EDUCATION AWARDS

For further details on how to nominate please see the attached form below.

CLOTHING POOL

SECOND HAND CLOTHING POOL