GENERAL NEWS
AND THE WINNER IS...
Congratulations to Mia Schumann-Gross on winning the Years 3-6 section of the Students as Authors Writing Competition. This is a wonderful achievement and we are incredibly proud of Mia!
2023 NON-GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS CENSUS COLLECTION NOTICE
ICAS TEST DATES
Please take note of the following dates if you have booked your child to sit an ICAS test/s
WRITING: Monday 7th August ,11:20am
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES: Monday 7th August, 1:20pm
ENGLISH: Monday 14th August, 11:20am
SPELLING BEE: Monday 21st August, 11:20am
SCIENCE: Monday 21st August, 1:20pm
MATHEMATICS: Monday 28th August, 11:20am
FEAST DAY MUFTI DAYS
This term we will be celebrating the following feast days with a mufti day for the children in that house.
Tuesday 8th August
Mary Mackillop Feast Day - Mufti Day (Mackillop students only)
Friday 8th September (Frederic Ozanam Feast Day is Saturday 9th September)
Fredric Ozanam Feast Day - Mufti Day (Ozanam students only)
MORNING SCHOOL DROP OFF
A reminder that if you are using car drop off in the morning, that parents are not to get out of their car. This is for children that are able to exit their car without assistance. We appreciate your cooperation.
Please also be aware the there is no supervision until 8:15am. Students arriving before this time need to be sitting down until the teachers dismiss them. If you need to drop your child to school before the gate opens at approximately 8:10am, please consider the use of Esteem Kids Before School Care.
CLOTHING POOL
Thank you to all our families who have donated to the clothing pool. We would love a few volunteers to help sort and hang our donations. If you have any time to spare we would love your help.
SRC TERM 3
Congratulations to the following children who have been voted as their class SRC representative for Term 3:
3I - Emerson Feasey
3T - Alyssa Mayer
3W - Annie Davidson
4M - Sophie Ferguson
4P - Sophie Brownlee
4B - Lucy Milne
5H - Sarah Nguyen
5W - Isabella Harding-Brown
5M - Ariel Pannan
ATHLETE'S FOOT VOUCHERS
We have another round of Athlete's Foot vouchers to pass along to our families.
The first person from each grade to come to Mrs Daley on Friday morning with the correct answer will win a voucher.
Q: I can run constantly without ever getting tired. When I run, I frustrate people and drive them crazy. Yet I don’t even have to move to irritate you.
What am I?
SCHOOL TRAVEL - BUS PASSES - CONCESSIONS
There is a new website where parents can access bus pass applications.
https://transportnsw.info/tickets-opal/ticket-eligibility-concessions/school-student-travel
PUPIL FREE DAYS
The following are the Pupil Free Days for the remainder of 2023.
Please mark in your diary....
Monday 18th December
Tuesday 19th December
YEAR 5 LAKE KEEPIT EXCURSION
THURSDAY 19 OCTOBER TO FRIDAY 20 OCTOBER 2023
We are really looking forward to this excursion to close out the 2023 school year and to give our 2024 school leaders the opportunity to come together as a group before they begin their final year of primary education. Thank you for your support. If you have any queries, please contact our office staff.
YEAR 6 CANBERRA EXCURSION
MONDAY 4 DECEMBER TO FRIDAY 8 DECEMBER 2023
Our Year 6 students and staff will be travelling to Canberra for their annual excursion.
Thank you for your support and please do not hesitate to contact our office staff if you have any questions or are experiencing any difficulties.
PARENTING TIPS
KNOW WHAT MAKES BOYS TICK
by Michael Grose www.parentingideas.com.au
Boys can be a mystery to many parents, particularly those who were raised in all-girl households or who have had minimum exposure to males in their formative years. Here are some insights into what makes boys tick:
BOYS ARE MORE LIKELY TO LEARN FROM EXPERIENCE THAN BEING TOLD
Boys, more than girls, are likely to learn many of their lessons from experience rather than being told. This can be make parenting them challenging, particularly if you don’t have an appetite for risk yourself. Perhaps the biggest challenge is keeping them safe so some risks need to be out-of-bounds. It can also be difficult as a parent being the support person when the lessons that boys learn bring hardship and tears.
BOYS BRAINS ARE DESIGNED BY A DIFFERENT ARCHITECT
In the first five years of life a girl’s brain is busy developing fine motor skills, verbal skills and social skills, which are all highly valued by parents and teachers. Meanwhile, a boy’s brain is busy developing gross motor skills, spatial skills and visual skills. These are all handy hunting skills. So boys often start school with a distinct disadvantage when it comes to learning and fitting in. You can overcome this disadvantage through extra fine motor activities in the early years.
BOYS MATURE DIFFERENTLY TO GIRLS
The maturity gap between boys and girls of anywhere between 12 months and two years, seems to be consistent all the way to adulthood. Parents should take this into account when deciding the school starting age of their sons. This maturity gap is also evident when kids finish school and move into tertiary studies or the workplace. Girls are often better placed to succeed, and many boys get lost once they leave school. You need to be prepared to keep supporting boys well into their adulthood.
LOYALTY IS A HIGH DRIVER FOR BOYS
Understand that a boy’s loyalty to his friends and family is a key driver and you’ll begin to understanding the male psyche. They are incredibly influenced by their peers, which can hold many of them back. It takes a brave boy to get too far ahead of the pack, so they often hold each other back when it comes to achieving. Use encouragement rather than praise to motivate your son, thus decreasing his reliance on others for approval.
BOYS ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE VISUAL LEARNERS
Boys generally need a reason to learn. If you are having difficulty motivating your son then try linking learning to their interests. They may play a musical instrument when they know they can play in a band or practise their kicking a football if they can see it will help kick more goals. If they love skateboarding the chances are they want to know more about it, so use this as a lever to motivate them if reading is a problem.
BOYS BENEFIT GREATLY FROM SILENCE
Boys don’t have the same innate tendency for reflection that girls are born with. Don’t get me wrong, males of all ages have the ability reflect on their behaviours, values and their lives (when older) but they need the environment to be right for them to do so.
Quiet time and down time give boys the chance to let their thoughts wander around inside their heads. It also helps them get to know and even like themselves. Boys will often do their best thinking on their own, so they tend to retreat to their caves (bedroom) when things go wrong at school or in their relationships. They need to go within to find their own answer.
BOYS JUST WANT TO BLEND IN
Boys are group-oriented by nature. They want to fit in. They tend to play group games and form themselves into structured friendship groups. Boys generally don’t want to stand out from the crowd.
Don’t put them down in front of their friends and understand that they may make poor friendship choices rather than be in a group of one – by themselves. They prefer the ‘wrong friends’ rather than no friends at all.
APPROVAL IS AT THE HEART OF PARENTING BOYS
Approval is at the heart of working parenting boys. They will walk over broken glass or hot coals if they feel you like them. In a sense this notion holds many of them back, as most boys will only work for a teacher if they like them and close down on learning if they sense the teacher doesn’t like them. If as a mum or dad you show your love and approval of them personally, even though you may not always approve of their choice of behaviours then you’ll more than likely enjoy a strong relationship with your son.
Take the time to nurture a relationship with your sons or the boys that you interact with. Some boys like to talk; others like to share an activity; some like you as an adult to do something for them; others are very kinaesthetic and love to be touched, cuddled and hugged; while some just love gifts and mementoes. Work out the relational preferences of the males in your life and make sure you match these.
VERITAS
Our Veritas Awards stem from our school motto - ‘Veritas’ - meaning truth. The Veritas Award is awarded to students who have been consistently displaying citizenship, leadership and/or Christian Living. Students receiving a Veritas Award are those students who have displayed our ‘Rules for Living’ in their everyday interactions. This term our focus is on ‘Valuing, respecting and caring for others’.
Congratulations to the following children who received Veritas Awards recently; Hank Jones, Tao Dunst, Spencer Felton, Arveen Kaur, Abigail Lewis, Rylee French, Mia McCarthy, Emerson Feasey, Amelia Wilson, Brianna Tuazon, Molly Jones, Paige Gwatkin, Will Gardiner, Annie Bui, Mason Knox, Jason Igbeije, Matilda Marshall, Isabelle Harding-Brown, Lillian Hobden, Henry Armstrong, Michael Pham, Payton Bell, Isaac Bennett, Alex Chaffey, Mia Schumann- Gross,
COVID INFORMATION
At the end of 2022, National Cabinet announced that people who test positive to COVID-19 do not need to isolate. In line with this announcement, schools will continue to follow guidance issued by NSW Health to support the safety and wellbeing of our school communities.
Staff and students with COVID-19 symptoms
If a student or staff member is unwell and has any symptoms they should always test for COVID-19 and not attend school until they are symptom free.
Positive COVID-19 cases
If a student or staff member receives a positive result with a RAT or PCR test they should:
1.Record the positive result through the Services NSW website or app
2. Notify the school of the positive results as soon as possible
