GENERAL NEWS
COMPASS MEDIA CONSENT
Please make sure that you jump onto COMPASS and approve or decline the Media Consent event for your child or children.
STUDENT TRAVEL
TERM 1 PRIMARY ROAD SAFETY 2024
School Zones are active during this time. http://roadsafety.transport.nsw.gov.au/stayingsafe/schools/flashinglights/index.html |
Safety Town
Safety Town is a road safety education resource for teachers, students and families. It provides a variety of interactive learning activities for students from Kindergarten to Year 6. Teachers are provided with comprehensive teaching notes to support the use of the interactive activities, and support learning as part of PDHPE, English, Science and Mathematics
www.safetytown.com.au
SCHOOL DROP OFF AND PICK UP SAFETY
A friendly reminder to adhere to safety measures when dropping off and picking up your children from school. Please especially make sure that you are mindful of not parking in driveways or allocated bus zones and only using the designated car drop off/pick up area if you are not parking your car.
For more safety tips see the attachment below.
PUPIL FREE DAYS
The following are the Pupil Free Days for the remainder of 2024.
Please mark in your diary....
- Monday 27th May
- Friday 5th July
- Monday 22nd July
- Monday 14th October
- Thursday 19th December
- Friday 20th December
SCHOOL UNIFORM for WEEK 2 only - Years 1-6
Friday - Full Summer Uniform (Years 1-6 attending Mass at School Undercroft - 9.30am)
PARENT INFORMATION EVENING
On Wednesday 21st February our annual Parent Information Evening will be held at St Nicholas School.
The details of the evening are as follows:
The evening will begin in the HUB at 6pm. There will be a short introduction to the night where Mr Clery will address everyone. From there we will hold two session.
First session: 6.15pm - 6:45pm.
Second session: 6:55pm - 7:25pm (the second session is a repeat of the first for families who have more than 1 child at school)
To ensure everyone’s safety, we ask parents to please not attend the evening if you are feeling unwell or have any COVID like symptoms. We will be hosting a creche in the Library if alternative arrangements cannot be made for children. We look forward to seeing some familiar faces and meeting new ones as we start our 2024 school year. Here is an outline of where each grade will meet.
Grade Meeting Areas
Grades | Meeting Area |
Kindergarten | KH/KC Learning Spaces |
Year 1 | 1S/1H Learning Spaces |
Year 2 | Year 2 Learning Spaces |
Year 3 | Year 3 Learning Spaces |
Year 4 | Year 4 Learning Spaces |
Year 5 | Year 5 Learning Space |
Year 6 | Year 6 Learning Space |
Creche | Library |
CENTACARE SUPPORT IN OUR SCHOOL
This year we have been fortunate enough to secure some regular support from Centacare. For Terms 1 & 2 we will have some staff from the Family Rural Resilience Program come into our school for 1 day per week. They will be holding programs around improving resilience and self-confidence, as well as promoting strategies for positive communication and healthy relationships. We are excited to be able to offer this experience to groups of students from each grade over the course of the year. We look forward to this continued partnership with Centacare which will be another avenue of support for our students.
SCHOOL UNIFORM - We wear it with pride!
At St Nicholas School we have high expectations with wearing our uniform with pride. We therefore seek parent and student support with wearing our uniform correctly each day. Each week for every student our sports uniform is to be worn Monday, Wednesday and Friday and our formal uniform is to be worn on Tuesday and Thursday.
We understand that at times students may need to wear an alternate piece of attire because of an unforeseen circumstance. If this is the case please email your child's class teacher to let them know.
NORMAN UPDATE
Last week we shared the exciting news with you that we have registered with an organization called Dogs Connect. Later this term we will welcome on board our school wellbeing dog, Norman.
The Dogs Connect program will support us in implementing this very gradually, thoroughly and considerately. In the upcoming weeks we will send you communication asking for you to share any important information about your child regarding such things as fears, allergies etc.
Next week we will begin educating & preparing our students for Norman’s arrival. They will learn how important it is that we help Norman relax and feel calm when he starts his visits to school. It is vital that all our staff, students and parents understand the importance of the following three expectations.
Don’t forget to take a look at the following website: Dogs Connect The 2 minute videos in the “Case studies/Testimonials” tab are fantastic (and very heart-warming) as they showcase schools who already have wellbeing dogs in their communities.
Keep an eye out for further doggo updates
GAMES & ACTIVITIES AT BREAK TIME
On the weekend our undercroft was transformed. New 'line markings' were painted on the cement for students to enjoy games such as Snakes and Ladders, Hop Scotch, Handball and Chess. A big thank you to MACC Painting and Total Line Marking for making this happen.
Miss McMullen has also begun some fun activities for students to complete during their break times. Thank you Miss McMullen.
DONATION REQUEST FOR OUR STUDENT GARDEN/PLAY AREA
As we reported last week, our student garden area continues to delight our students. To further add to such joy, perhaps you have some items at home that you no longer need and would be happy to donate. We are seeking: small fairy toys/ornaments; match box cars; tiny toys (such as figurines, McDonalds toys etc); outdoor play kitchen and outdoor child-sized fairy style furniture.
NAPLAN INFORMATION: Year 3 and Year 5
Each year the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is undertaken by students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. Students will participate in tests for writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.
NAPLAN 2024 will take place from Wednesday 13 March to Monday 25 March. A more detailed timetable for St Nicholas' schedule will be distributed soon.
NAPLAN is just one part of our school learning assessment program. The tests assess literacy and numeracy skills your child is already learning at school.
In preparation for NAPLAN, our school will undertake activities to help students become familiar with the format and functionality of the online tests. These activities are not an assessment of student ability and will not be marked.
The public demonstration site (https://www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/public-demonstration-site) is available to see the types of questions, tools and functions used in the NAPLAN tests.
Further information about NAPLAN is available on the NESA website (https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/k-10/understanding-the-curriculum/naplan/parent-information).
If you have any questions about NAPLAN, please contact Amanda Doyle or Shelly O'Sullivan (Leaders of Pedagogy).
SRC Term 1
Congratulations to the following students who have been selected by their peers to be the class representative on the Student Representative Council.
3T - Harper Charlesworth
3I - Sophia Mitchell
3C - Nellie Cook
4M - Max Collett
4P - Hudson Barnes
4B - Stella Clery
5H - Priya Hitchcock
5M - Cleo Cook
5W - Willow Bird
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:
- Record the positive result through the Services NSW website or App.
- Notify school of positive results as soon as possible.