GENERAL NEWS

PUPIL FREE DAY - CHANGE OF DATE

Please note that the pupil free day set down for the 26th May has been changed to Monday 22nd May. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. Esteem Care will be able to provide care for students so look out for more details closer to the date. 

KINDERGARTEN ENROLMENTS FOR 2024

NAPLAN Information for Year 3 and 5

The National Assessment Program- Literacy And Numeracy (NAPLAN) for Year 3 and 5 students will be held earlier this year than previous years, starting Wednesday 15th March. All assessments will be online except for Year 3 writing, which will be a pencil and paper test. Being online allows for tailored (or adaptive) testing, where the test presents questions which may be more or less difficult depending on a student’s responses. All students will require their own set of headphones for NAPLAN. The Year 3 and 5 teachers are continuing to work with our students to ensure that they are familiar and at ease with the testing process.

Writing assessment -  Wednesday 15th March

Reading assessment - Thursday 16th March

Conventions of Language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) - Monday 20th March

Numeracy assessment - Tuesday 21st March

If parents have any concerns/ further questions or wish their child to withdraw from NAPLAN please phone or email Amanda Doyle adoyle@arm.catholic.edu.au or Shelly O'Sullivan sosullivan@arm.catholic.edu.au before Friday 24th February.

Further information about NAPLAN can be found at  

https://www.nap.edu.au/naplan/for-parents-carers

PARENT INFORMATION NIGHT

Thank you to the parents who were able to attend our Parent Information Night last night. It was lovely to welcome our parents into the school and see some new and familiar faces. Hopefully you found the evening informative and we thank the staff for their professionally delivered presentations. 

PIANIST REQUIRED

Dear St Nicholas Community,

If there is anyone amongst you who would feel confident in accompanying a choir, on piano, in the Eisteddfod in June, please send an email to jmcguirk@arm.catholic.edu.au.

VIOLIN LESSONS

We currently have piano and guitar lessons that run during school hours,  through the Conservatorium. We would like to guage if there is any interest for students to learn violin during school hours. If you think your child would be interested in learning violin please call the office so that we can get a feel for numbers.

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.

SRC

Congratulations to the following children who have been elected by their peers to be their class SRC member for Term 1 2023

3T - Sophie Labrooy

3I - Mia MacCarthy

3W - Ruby Heywood

4M - Layla Sumner

4P - Mason Knox

4B - William Gardiner

5W - Brody Hill

5H - Oscar McMurtrie

5M - Thomas McDougall

PLAYGROUND FUN.......DONATIONS WELCOME

Our daily break-times at St Nicholas not only allow our students time to re-fuel from their lunchboxes, but they also provide important opportunities for fun, connection, creativity, down-time or activity. On any given day you will see students enjoying table tennis, sand-pit fun, chess, soccer, the play equipment, cricket, hopscotch, library games, car track games, garden time, reading, lego, oz-tag, hoola hoops, basketball, handball, dancing, skipping.....the list goes on. Perhaps you have had a recent clean out and would like to donate some items for us to re-purpose and enjoy. Our car track is currently a huge hit, so we would certainly appreciate any pre-loved match-box or small cars to boost our supplies. We would also be grateful for any saucepans, cake tins or large serving spoons for our sandpit! And as you can see from the photos below, tiny toys such as farm animals, fairies/mini dolls, McDonalds trinkets etc are always a huge source of joy at our mini picnic tables. If you are in a position to donate, simply have your items dropped to the front office at school. Many thanks in advance.

St Nicholas School Art Extravaganza 

The St. Nicholas Art Extravaganza is approaching for another year. Students should have received an information poster with two entry forms attached to the back. There are spare entry forms located in the front office if your child has misplaced theirs. 

Students are permitted to enter a maximum of two artworks (see poster for size restrictions and categories) but their entry form must be attached securely to each piece of art along with the $2 entry fee. Art can be placed in the large green tubs which will be outside the canteen each morning from Monday 6th March until Monday 13th March (this is the final day to submit an artwork). Please read the poster carefully for all the details. 

The Art Extravaganza will take place on Friday 17th March running alongside Green Day which means parents/visitors are welcome to enter or exit via the school auditorium on Green Day to view the students' art.  We look forward to seeing the artistic creations our students enter in this year's Art Extravaganza. 

Prizes for each section will be presented at school in Week 9 and will be announced in the Week 10 newsletter. 

MCCARTHY CATHOLIC COLLEGE

VERITAS

Our Veritas Awards stem from our school motto - ‘Veritas’ - meaning truth. The Veritas Award is awarded to students who have been consistently displaying citizenship, leadership and/or Christian Living. Students receiving a Veritas Award are those students who have displayed our ‘Rules for Living’ in their everyday interactions. This term our focus is on ‘Valuing, respecting and caring for others’. 

Congratulations to the following children who received Veritas Awards last week;

Archie Clein, Henry Brownsmith, Lucia Gonzalez-Florez, Sophia Wadwell, Ned Rennie, Alyssa Mayer, Lily Jackson, Hendrix Moore, Flynn Thomas, Jaxen Carter, Lily Cannon, Hank Jones, Nate Drury, Iona Burns, Ivy Thomas, Ruby Cook, Srishti Goli, Ethan nijo, Audrey Bird and Lacey Hutton.  

STUDENT LEARNING

Minimum Interruptions to Student Learning

Could we please ask that we have minimum interruptions to the students learning. This includes trying to avoid making medical appointments etc in school hours. 

For afternoon arrangements in regards to your child getting home, we ask that you make these with your child before school. (Kindergarten students require the correct bag tag attahed to their bag) We have many students coming up during the day to find out their afternoon routine. This disrupts the flow of their learning as well as making the office an even busier place.

If you are collecting your child during the day, come to the office to sign your child out. There is no need for a phone call to the school.

We thank you for your understanding in these matters, and look forward to a fabulous year with your children.

PUPIL FREE DAYS 2023

Thank you for your support and understanding with having two Pupil Free Days at the beginning of this year. The following are the Pupil Free Days for the remainder of 2023.

Please mark in your diary....

Thursday 6th April

Monday 22nd May

Monday 18th December

Tuesday 19th December

STUDENT ABSENCE

All student absences need to be lodged on the Compass Parent Portal.  Due to government legislation, notification of your child's absence must be received no later than 7 days after your child's last day of absence. 

COMMUNICATION WITH SCHOOL

Our office is open between 8.00am and 4.00pm each day.  For any queries, the most efficient way of contacting our staff during this time is via email or calling the office on 6766 1500.  

admin@stnicholastamworth.catholic.edu.au

CHANGE OF DETAILS

We ask all parents to please use the Compass portal or contact the school office to advise us of an any changes to phone numbers, addresses or student medical details.

SUPERVISION OF STUDENTS

All parents need to be aware, our supervision of students

does not begin until 8.15am each day.

If your child/ren require supervision and care before 8.15am please contact Esteem Kids for before school care.  Currently, students are expected to come in and sit in the Holy Family Courtyard unsupervised and wait. We cannot be responsible for any accident or potentially harmful incidents occurring. Please organise alternative care for your child if your child requires supervision before 8.15am.

COMPASS

This year, our main form of communication will be via Compass. It is essential that all families are logged into Compass so that they can perform tasks such as: consent to events, receive fee statements, view their child's reports and mark their child absent. If you are unsure how to access Compass or are having difficulties, please see our friendly office staff who will be able to assist you. 

SCHOOL FEES

St Nicholas School has transitioned to a new finance system.  These changes will include new ways in which you can make payments to the school, this will include Bpay, CompassPay and EFTPOS.  

Soon you will receive your new fee statement via Compass which will indicate your fees due for the entire 2023 school year. Included on the statement will be your new Bpay payment details.  You can easily set up regular payments from your bank account to the new school Bpay account.

You can also make payments for School Fees and Events via the Compass App.  Please contact the School if you require assistance with the Compass App.

Our school will also have EFTPOS facilities available.  This means you will be able to make payments or purchases over the counter at the school rather than relying on cash.

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:

1.Record the positive result through the Services NSW website or app

2. Notify the school of the positive results as soon as possible