Dear Families,

The last few days has seen an improvement in the weather with Winter sunshine gracing us – this in turn helps to raise spirits and allow for more time spent outside. The wattle is continuing to blossom as well – an early sign that Spring is on its way.

For families managing illness, or have recently experienced a bereavement with the loss of a loved one, please know you are very much in our thoughts and prayers.

ICAS Assessment Tasks 2023.

Each year, students from Grade Two upwards have the option to participate in the ICAS Assessments in Term Three.

ICAS is designed to target students' higher order thinking and problem-solving skills in English, Maths, Science and Writing. The assessments are suitable for students wishing to extend themselves academically and take up the personal challenge of competing in an International Assessment.

All tests will be completed online and in school time. Every student who participates will receive a printed certificate and an online results report. Once we have received your child’s ICAS certificate, we will send it home with your child.

If you wish for your child to participate in ICAS this year, please: 

1. Read about ICAS subjects and prices here: (icasassessments.com/products-icas) 

2. Read the terms and conditions here: (icasassessments.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2023-ICAS-Assessments-Parents-PPS-TsCs_final.pdf)

3. go to Parent Portal to purchase tests here: (shop.icasassessments.com/pages/pps) 

4. Enter our school’s access code – IDO660.

5. Enter your child’s details, select the tests you would like to purchase, then proceed to payment. 

After payment is made via the Parent Payment System, you will receive an order confirmation email, please keep this for your records.

Registration closes on Monday 31st July 2023.

The tests take place over a four-week period. Individual tests take place as follows; (at a designated time set by the school each week.)

Writing: Monday 7th August.

English: Monday 14th August.

Science: Monday 21st August.

Maths: Thursday 31st August.

Again, student participation in ICAS is a parent choice. It is not a compulsory task.

If you require any further information, please feel free to contact me at school.

Book Week 2023:

Book Week Parade – Monday 21st August.

Book Week is fast approaching! This is a great opportunity for us as a school to celebrate together a love of reading as well as an opportunity to dress up as favourite characters from much loved stories. Book Week officially takes place from 21st August till the 25th of August. The theme for Book Week this year is ‘Read, Grow, Inspire.’ As a school we will be having our Book Week Parade on Monday 21st August, starting at 9:15 am. This is the day when children can come dressed as a favourite character from a story. We will begin our day with a whole school parade for children to share their costumes with everyone. Parents/families are welcome to join us for this. Staff are busy planning their costumes for the day as well.

We look forward to seeing the children's costumes as a part of our school’s celebration of the joy of reading.

One of Mrs Keenan’s beautiful displays in the library.

Alpha Show:

On Friday 18th August, the Alpha Shows Theatre Group will be coming to St Luke’s to perform for our children. The performance for this year is Beauty and the Beast.

Alpha's Beauty and the Beast combines all that is loved about any version of the classic fairy tale you could imagine. The show helps the audience believe in themselves through a process of letting go of negative emotions by feeling them fully, so they can feel happy easily, treat others with love and have fun.

All children will be attending the performance in the stadium. We look forward to a great production.

St Luke’s Pie Drive:

This week an order form came home for our pie drive at St Luke’s. A great opportunity to stock up the freezer with some great savoury and sweet treats. Instructions for ordering are on the form. All orders need to be returned to school by Thursday 17th August.

Thank you to the Community Group for organising this.

Grade 5/6 Story Writing competition:

The Greater Shepparton Book Bag Story Writing Competition is happening again this year. This writing competition is open to students in Grade’s Five and Six to enter. Students wishing to enter are asked to write and illustrate an original picture story book. The winning story will be professionally printed and included book bags for the next twelve months. Entries for the competition are to be in by Monday 11th September by 5pm. All conditions for the competition are as below:

All entries need to be given to Mr Mac at school by the end of August. As a school, we select three entries to be entered into the competition.
The target age group (audience) for the story is 3-5 years old.
The word limit is 200 words and it can be either handwritten (using a dark coloured pen or pencil) or typed.
All stories need to be illustrated with original pictures (using pencil, crayon or paint,) not with downloads from programs like CLIPART or the internet.
No pop-up or lift-up style illustrations.
For printing purposes, the pages for the story need to be in multiples of four (eg: 4 pages, 8 pages, 12 pages) with a maximum of 16 pages. This number includes the front and back cover of the book.
The front cover needs to include a title, name/s of the author/s and illustrations. Students are encouraged to include illustrations on both the front and back cover of their book.
Students can partner up with a friend to co-author a book.
Entries need to be submitted in hard copy on unstapled single sided A4 sheets of paper.
The winning illustrated story will be professionally printed and included in the 3 1⁄2 year Best Start book bag for 12 months, from October 2023 to September 2024. A book voucher to the value of $200 will be awarded to the school of the winning student, along with a certificate for the student/s.

So, to all our budding authors in the Senior school, if you’d like to enter the competition, start thinking of an imaginative idea for a story you think a younger child would love to read and treasure. If you need any further information, please see Mr Mac.

Wishing everyone a safe and happy fortnight ahead.

Kind regards.

Tony.

Library News

REMINDER- Issue 5 Scholastic BookClub closes on Monday 31st JULY. Don't miss out on the FREE BOOK GIVEAWAY! Follow the instructions online to participate. Remember that all payments are to be made online via Loop. To make payments visit scholastic.com.au/LOOP or download the LOOP app. If assistance is required with this please let us know so we can help you. Every order earns FREE books and learning resources for our school.

Religious Education

St Brendan's Parish Bulletin - 30th July 2023