School News
Term 2 Week 3
School Photos
This Monday is school photos!! If all students could please wear their full winter uniform and if you would like to order please return the msp order form with either the cash or the receipt code today or Monday.
Making Friends With Worry
Wednesday the 8th we have the "Making Friends With Worry" program running in the school Library. Parent information session will start at 9:00am and go until 9:30am, would be great to have you all here if you can. Dhelkaya Children’s Counsellor and Community Health Nurse at Dhelkaya Community Health have developed a fun, interactive program to explore worry and anxiety with primary school aged children from Prep to Grade Six. The program will run throughout the day with each of the classes taking part.
Mother's Day Breakfast
On Friday, May 10th, we will be hosting our annual Mother's Day Breakfast. Join us in celebrating the incredible mothers, grandmothers, and mother figures in our lives. It's a time to show appreciation, share delicious food, and create lasting memories together. We look forward to welcoming all families to this special event.
Walk to School Day On Friday, May 10th, we invite all students and families to participate in Walk to School Day! This is a wonderful opportunity to promote physical activity, reduce traffic congestion, and enjoy the fresh air as we walk together to school. Let's embrace a healthy lifestyle and make this day memorable by walking as a community.
We encourage all students and families to mark their calendars and join us for these meaningful events. Let's make May 10th a day filled with joy, appreciation, and community spirit.
Drew Lane Concert
On Friday 10th May, Australian religious songwriter and singer, Drew Lane, will be visiting our school to share his songs with our children.
Drew’s songs, such as “We Are One”, “God Is Everywhere”, “The Stone’s Been Rolled Away” and “I Like The Way God Made Me” are used in classrooms and liturgies around Australia, New Zealand, and the world.
The concert will take place in our Media and Performing Arts Rooms at 2:15pm. We look forward to seeing you there. All welcome!
Our class has had a busy couple of weeks. Last weekeveryone was invited to shop in Mrs. Cotter’s All Aboard Toy Shop. This was fun and a big thank you to Nyabol and Soleil, our wonderful shop assistants. Our family trees are coming together nicely and are part of our Inquiry unit this term. This week we have had some happy time getting to know our some local attractions in Castlemaine, visiting a community garden and the Castlemaine Library. Thanks to Neive’s Mum, Jen and Fionn’s Dad, Paul who came on our excursion. We also enjoyed singing with Miss Marian on Thursday.
Year 3/4
Maths Trail - The Grade 3-6s are continuing to create their Maths Trail to explore different ways how maths can be used outside of the classroom. Over the comming weeks, they will continue to plan a trail for a group to follow around Castlemaine township to solve their maths questions.
Have a lovely weekend!
Bridget
Wellbeing
On Wednesday 8th May, St Mary’s have Helen Smith from Dhelkaya Health coming in to present a program to class groups called Making Friends With Worry. There will also be a parent information session that will be held in the Library. It will begin at 9.00am and conclude at 9.30am and I’m thinking that we should fire up the coffee machine afterwards for a catch up and a debrief. It would be great to see as many parents and carers as possible. This will really help to create some shared understandings and common language both at home and at school.
Information from Dhelkaya Health:
Making Friends with Worry:
Parent/Carer information sessions
Making friends with Worry is a program from Dhelkaya Community Health to help students understand worry and ways to manage this tricky feeling. The program is delivered to all classes from prep to grade 6 each year. This year we are also offering a half hour info session for parents and carers. The information session will share the key concepts in the student program and explore ways families can support kids to manage worry well.
Worry is a normal response to life challenges, and kids can develop skills for life.
The program is presented by Bron Grieve (Community Health Nurse) and Helen Smith (Children’s Counsellor). We’d love to see you there!
On another note, I had one response to the following information from last Term and I thought it might be worth putting it out there again as many people are firing up their chainsaws at the moment and may be able to assist!
I have a request from our community for some donations. We are looking to restock our nature play sensory area down near the rotunda. We used to have about 30 bush poles and over time they have disappeared. We have some permanent structures that allow the students to build cubby type structures. So, if you have two or three metre straightish sticks/poles of about 50 - 100 mm diameter could you please drop them off sometime or let me know and I could pick them up? That would allow another option for our students both in class time and at recess and lunch.
Any Lego donations would also be appreciated for our lunchtime Wellbeing space.
Don’t forget our weekly Friday morning coffee catch ups for parents and carers. It was great to have a chat with some parents this morning. If you have any Wellbeing concerns, please contact me by email: mark.osullivan@smcastlemaine.catholic.edu.au or phone the school.
P.E. News
This term in PE we began with Grade F-2 District Tabloid Sports (week 1), Grade 3-6 Cross Country (week 3) and a whole school day of class footy clinics run by AFL Victoria (week 2). Students really enjoyed all of these events and are to be commended for their participation and positive attitude!
The grade 3-6 students are also to be commended for their effort and persistence during cross country training! They all worked well on building up their endurance, focussing on going the distance rather than winning. I enjoyed supporting them on the day and witnessing their persistence and positive attitude! Well done grades 3-6 students!
This term all students will engage in skill and game sessions to further develop their fundamental motor skills whilst also focussing on the important values of participation, team work, personal best, respect, responsibility and resilience!
Grade 2-6 students will focus on team relays, group games, soccer and volleyball. Grade F/1 students will be engaged in a 6 week PMP - Perceptual Motor Program from week 3 to week 8, focussing on developing coordination, fitness, balance, self control and locomotion as well as obstacle courses and group games towards the end of term.
This term, with our school wide enquiry topic being Australian History, students will also be engaged in learning and playing some traditional Indigenous Australian sport games!
Science News
This term we are focussing on Science History with a particular emphasis on Indigenous Australian science/Australia’s first scientists, science inventions and discoveries in Australia and beyond, as well as historical and current knowledge of both space and our planet earth.
Looking forward to a fun and engaging term of science! I’m really enjoying the interest, curiosity and enthusiasm the students adopt in our science learning!
Here are a few photos from our science classes during week 1 - students learned about the vast use of science by Indigenous Australians. They used a modified version of mud paint (paint made from natural products) and tried painting different symbols used traditionally for communication by Indigenous Australians. Our next session we will be making our own origami boomerangs and testing them out!
Clare
PE & Science Teacher
clare.grainger@smcastlemaine.catholic.edu.au
Upcoming Events:
Don't forget to mark your calendars for the upcoming events on the Calendar.
As always, we encourage parents and guardians to stay updated with school news and events by regularly checking Seesaw and following us on social media.
Thank you to everyone for your continued support and involvement in our vibrant school community!
Warm regards,
John