FROM THE PRINCIPAL
TERM 3 - WEEK 10
To the St Nicholas School Community
Many of you will have noted the emphasis placed on a positive, vibrant and learning culture being part of the St Nicholas School fabric. This is particularly important during the last week of a term. A time when some may be forgiven for being present physically, though have mentally switched off, our culture demands we work to our potential until 3.30pm on Friday afternoon. Week 10 is a wonderful opportunity for learning, as you will notice from just a quick snapshot of opportunities below.
KINDERGARTEN PALEONTOLOGY DAY
On Tuesday St Nicholas School was overrun with nearly 90 young paleontologists. Furthermore, our young paleontologists discovered hundreds of dinosaur bones and artifacts. Enjoy the gallery below of this wonderful engaging opportunity and learning experience for our Kindergarten students.
WHO DONE IT?
This week St Nicholas Leaders of Pedagogy led an inquiry based learning experience for our Primary students. The students worked in investigating teams, inferring, questioning and synthesising evidence and clues to solve the mystery of the ‘Missing House Challenge Cup’. Some of the challenges included mathematics, code cracking, riddles and knowledge of the topics they have learnt in class. Rest assured, the cup has been found due to the diligent investigation process carried out by our students. The culprit has also been dealt with under the firm hand of the law, led by Sergeant Doyle and O’Sullivan. Take a look at this experience on the Youtube link.
SPELLING BEE
Today we held an exciting inter-house challenge within St Nicholas School, in the form of a Spelling Battle. It was very close and at times we were forced into a “nerve rattling” tiebreaker stage with some grades. From 42 finalists across the school we eventually came up with the following Spelling Bee Champions of 2019.
Kinder- Baxtar Sharp
Year 1- Joint Winners Fred Tyler and Annie Croger
Year 2- Mia Schumann Gross
Year 3- Brody Howard
Year 4-Erica Holzigal
Year 5- Toby Simpson
Year 6- Cooper Holzigal
Special thanks to our buzzy little bees who helped with the delivery of the annual house challenge.
INFANTS LITURGY
Congratulations to our Infant students on a beautiful Liturgy with Father Francis on Wednesday morning. Their participation and reverence was a credit to themselves, their families and their teachers.
DISCO
Tonight we are excited to welcome all 'superheros' to our disco. Thank you to Julie McGuirk for her organisation and to the St Nicholas School staff for giving up their Thursday evening to ensure our children receive this enjoyable opportunity. Next Term we will share with you a short video highlighting the excitement of this night.
CONFIRMATION
On Saturday night and Sunday morning the Sacrament of Confirmation was bestowed on children from St Nicholas Parish. This included 46 St Nicholas students. Congratulations to these children and their families.
Congratulations also to Renee Dunst and out Year 6 teachers Michelle Martin, Rebecca Hofman and Katie Daley on the way our children were prepared. Thank you to Bishop Michael Kennedy and Fr Chris for the role they played during this special time for our children and their families.
COLOUR FUN RUN
Congratulations to 1P ($3200.11) and 5S ($3185.12) who were this week announced as the classes who raised the most money during our recent PT&F Colour Run fundraiser. As promised, both these classes will now participate in a mufti day and pizza lunch on Friday 18th October.
2020 STAFFING
Planning for 2020 is already well and truly underway. This week two temporary full time teaching positions for 2020 were advertised. I am also delighted to announce Mrs Dayna Bevan and Mr Tim Unwin has been offered and accepted a permanent teaching transfers to St Nicholas from 28th January 2020.
Dayna has extensive experience from 11 years teaching, 5 years at St Philomena's Moree, 5 years at St Michael's Manilla and transfers from her current position at St Joseph's School, West Tamworth.
Tim has extensive experience and transfers from St Edward's School, South Tamworth, where he has been for the last 7 years.
Both Dayna and Tim will be a wonderful additions to our staff and I ask you to join me in welcoming them to the St Nicholas family.
HOLIDAYS
Finally, I wish all our wonderful students and staff a very well deserved school holiday break. I hope our parents, if not on holidays, also get a couple of days to relax and recharge their batteries.
I look forward to seeing everyone, fresh and recharged ready for our final term of the year on Monday 14th October.
Have a wonderful week.
John Clery
PRINCIPAL