Catherine McAuley Christmas Newsletter

Principal's Page

Jo Flynn

Welcome

Welcome back to Term 4, and a special Welcome to the new families who have joined the McAuley Family. We have the Whittle Family, with Leah and Skye, the Gervacio Family with Gio and Noah, The Vaidyan Family, with Evan starting this year and Eric in Kindergarten 2024 and the Bhatia Family with Ananya starting at the end of Term 3. 

 

World Teachers Day

Next Friday, 27th October, Australia celebrates World Teachers Day. Please take a minute to think about all your teachers and what they have meant in your life. 

Let’s celebrate your children's teachers for their skilled work in educating, inspiring and supporting your children. If you would like to, please take a selfie of yourself and your children taking your hats off to teachers. Share your “hats off” selfie with me to celebrate teachers, and to tell us what they mean to you. 

 

Parent Engagement Committee

I am seeking parent volunteers who would like to be involved in a Parent Committee that would work with me to encourage and increase parent engagement in the life of the school. I would like to meet with any interested parents about the establishment of this committee, with ideas of what our focus could be and what structure would suit our community. I would like to establish this committee, ready to start work in 2024. If you are interested, please email the school with the subject Parent Engagement Committee and I will contact all interested parties to find a date for our initial meeting. Thank you in advance for your interest.

 

End of Year Awards for Year 6 

This year there will be a slight change to the process of discerning which students will receive the special awards at the end of the year. Students have been made aware of these changes. Please see below the list of awards and the criteria for the discernment  of who receives each award.

Criteria

Dux Award:

The student who is the recipient of the dux award will demonstrate the following characteristics. This demonstration is worth 50% of the teacher vote with the other 50% being based on academic results. 

  • Demonstrates a commitment to:
    • Fair play
    • Ethical behaviour
    • Integrity
    • Positive attitude 
    • Best effort
    • Accepting feedback
    • Acting on feedback
    • Being a lifelong learner
    • Living up to the school expectations (be safe, be responsible, be respectful)

Mercy Award:

The student who is the recipient of the Mercy award will demonstrate the following characteristics. This demonstration is worth 50% of the teacher vote with the other 50% being based on living the Mercy values of Spirituality, community and Service.

  • Demonstrates a commitment to:
    • Compassion
    • Fair play
    • Ethical behaviour
    • Integrity
    • Positive attitude 
    • Best effort
    • Accepting feedback
    • Acting on feedback
    • Living up to the school expectations (be safe, be responsible, be respectful)

Sportsmanship Award:

The student who is the recipient of the sportsman award will demonstrate the following characteristics. This demonstration is worth 50% of the teacher vote with the other 50% being point accrued in sporting events.

  • Fair and generous behaviour and treatment of others.
  • Demonstrates a commitment to:

Following the school and sporting rules

  • Fair play
  • Ethical behaviour
  • Integrity
  • Good will or fellowship to others
  • Positive attitude
  • Striving to achieve their best effort
  • Supporting teammates
  • Accepting the decisions without argument at school and on the sporting field (teachers or umpires)
  • Living up to the school expectations (be safe, be responsible, be respectful)

 

Creative Arts Award:

The student who is the recipient of the Mercy award will demonstrate the following characteristics. This demonstration is worth 50% of the teacher vote with the other 50% being based on contribution to the creative arts.

  • Demonstrates a commitment to:
    • Fair play
    • Ethical behaviour
    • Integrity
    • Positive attitude 
    • Best effort
    • Accepting feedback
    • Acting on feedback
    • Living up to the school expectations (be safe, be responsible, be respectful)

 

Consistent Effort Award:The student who is the recipient of the Mercy award will demonstrate the following characteristics. This demonstration is worth 50% of the teacher vote with the other 50% being based on consistently applying themself in all areas of school life.

  • Demonstrates a commitment to:
    • Personal growth
    • Fair play
    • Ethical behaviour
    • Integrity
    • Positive attitude 
    • Accepting feedback
    • Acting on feedback
    • Living up to the school expectations (be safe, be responsible, be respectful)

In addition to these awards, students in Year 6 will also participate in a number of fun activities to round out their Primary School experience. However, participation in these events is contingent on students behaving in line with our school expectations. We acknowledge that children at time make poor choices, which can end in a behaviour breach, leading them to receive a minor or major behaviour incident. This will not affect their participation in the planned fun events. However, continual poor choices of the same behavior will affect their chances of participating in these events. 

 

Have a good fortnight,

Warm Regards,

Jo Flynn