From the Principal

Week 10 

P & F Sausage Sizzle

Families are invited to come to school on Thursday 7th April from 5pm for a BBQ to connect with other families after such a long time being unable to come onto school grounds.

Thank you to the P & F for organising the BBQ on Thursday evening. I am looking forward to seeing everyone at school.

Easter Raffle

P & F Easter Egg Raffle. Thank you to all the families who have sent in Easter Prizes for t raffle. 

Tickets will be sold at the Sausage Sizzle Welcome Back BBQ - 7th Aprl.

DIOCESAN WINTER TRIALS POSTPONED UNITL 8th April

Diocesan Winter Trials (Netball, Rugby League & Soccer) - Sport UNE Armidale and the Hockey in Tamworth.

Reading for Homework

We will be sending home Reading Logs for the children to record their reading each night in.

Research shows that reading each night will improve your childs academic success.

Regular Reading will: increase your child’s vocabulary, and a strong vocabulary will lead to a higher level of academic success. Your children will amaze you with their growing conversational skills!

Reading exercises your child’s comprehensions abilities.  It stimulates the childrens imagination and your memory. It also helps to recall information.

Your children can read books on line, also supplement their books with Reading Eggs

& PM Online Readers online.

Dismissal Time

The end of the school day is very busy with students collecting their belongings, notes & receiving messages for the following day. To ensure the smooth transitioning to buses, to the Pick Up area and walkers, we remind our families that pick up is between 3:10-3:30pm. 

ANZAC Day -25th April

St Mary's School Captains have been invited to represent our school at the ANZAC Day March on Monday 25th April.   St Mary's students who are accompanying their parents to ANZAC Day Services may wear their full winter uniform to the service. 

Parent Teacher Interviews 

Thank you for attending your parent teacher interviews. The interviews are a wonderful opportunity for the teachers & parents to discuss goals for the children's learning.

Parent Information Evening

Thank you to the parents who were able to attend the evening on Tuesday.

The AGENDA for the evening was: Staff for 2022, CSO AIP, School 2022 AIP, School Goals, Student Expectations, Attendance, Reading for Homework, Partnership & Communication.

Please see a copy of the sides below form the evening.

Year 6 O'Connor Step Day

Year 6 students went to O'Connor on Thursday 24th March for their first Step Day.  Yr 6 had a very enjoyable day at the Agricultural Farm, Science Labs,  Design & Tech classrooms and PE. Thank you O'Connor for hosting our Yr 6 students.

Extra Crunch & Sip 

Extra Crunch & Sip! Some children are hungry when they get to school. If your child has a long trip to school each monring we encourage you to pack an extra snack they can eat before school. The time each class has crunch & sip varies between 9-10:30am, then morning tea at 11:20am.

School Cross Country

Well done to all the children who participated in the Cross Country. Congratulations to the children who placed in the top 6 for each age division. These children have been offered the opportunity to respresent the school in the Diocesan Cross Country next term.

Please see the SPORT page for the results of the Cross Country.

Kindergarten Open Morning for 2023 Flyer

Wii Gaay

‘Wii Gaay’, Gamilaraay Language for ‘The Clever Child’ is a program involving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) students from across our Diocese. It is aimed at effectively identifying ATSI students with a high academic potential and reversing academic underachievement by addressing the issues perceived to contribute to the underachievement of these children.

Last week Wesley Stahlhut from Year 4, Mrs Walters & Mrs Stahlhut attended Wii Gaay in Dubbo. Congratulations on a very successful week. 

End of Term 1 - Happy Easter

At the end of next week we head into our Easter school holidays. I would like to thank all of our school community for an amazing Term 1!  Thank you to the staff for their dedication to the students learning. Thank you to the children for the joy you bring each day to our school.

Everyone take time to enjoy the company of your family and friends at Easter.  

I am looking forward to Term 2 and working together to achieve amazing results. I will see everyone back at school on April 26th. 

HAPPY EASTER!

Term 2 Winter School Uniform

When we return to school on the 26th April the studnts are to wear their full Winter Uniform.

The winter uniform requirements is listed below.

Communication - Contacting School and Teachers

Please send any email communication for the School or Teachers through the following address -smaadmin@arm.catholic.edu.au  This will ensure all emails are addressed in an appropriate time frame. 

Please do not use the Compass email option to send emails to the School Office or Teachers. Thank you for your assistance with this matter. 

Student Care Insurance

All children enrolled at a Catholic School in the Armidale Diocese are covered for accidents 24hrs day / 365 days a year. It covers students if they are at school, sport, or on holidays. 

There are exclusions and conditions that apply to what is covered, for example exclusions apply if the student has been consuming alcohol, drugs, riding motorcycles, on joy flights, suicide, or terrorism related accidents.  CCI can not pay medical expenses where a medicare benefit is payable.

For information about Student Care Insurance please visit www.ccinusarence.org.au/studentcare

COVID 

Our final instalment of RAT kits were sent home yesterday with the eldest child in each family.  Any children absent yesterday will receive their kits today.  If your children are still not present at school today, they can collect their tests on their return to school.  

Please remember, these tests are to be used only if your child is displaying any symptoms associated with COVID. 

Unfortunately, as mentioned in the media, COVID cases are again on the rise, especially with a new sub variant of the Omnicron strand. 

Even though restrictions are starting to ease, we still need to be vigilant to ensure that we continue to minimise the spread of COVID. Any student or staff member who is unwell and/or displays symptoms of COVID-19 must be asked to go home and stay there until they can complete a RAT or PCR test. If a student or staff member displays even mild COVID-19 symptoms, they must take a RAT or get a PCR test and isolate until they receive a negative test result. Students must not come to school until they are symptom free, even if they get a negative RAT result. If unfortunately, your child has contacted the virus, please contact the school immediately.

Please see https://www.nsw.gov.au for information on COVID - 19 Rules / NSW Government.

NAPLAN 2022 Dates

Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 will take part in this year’s National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) on the following dates:

• NAPLAN 2022 online test window: 10–22 May

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is held in May each year for Year 3 and Year 5 students. NAPLAN tests assess student knowledge and skills in Writing, Reading, Conventions of Language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and Numeracy. The results of the tests provide information for students, parents, teachers and principals and can be used to improve student achievement. 

Online Naplan Practise Assessment

Last week, our Year 3 and 5 students completed the Omnibus Practise NAPLAN Assessment. This task included various problems associated with numeracy, spelling, grammar and reading comprehension. The focus of this assessment is to give the user an understanding of what the various NAPLAN Assessments (Writing, Reading, Language Conventions and Numeracy) will look like as well as using the various tools, like moving images, inserting text and using online rulers that they would need to use to solve different problems. 

There are various websites that allow all Years 3 and 5 students to practise for the upcoming Online NAPLAN Assessments beginning in May. A really good site is the ACARA website (address listed below).

https://www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/public-demonstration-site

This is not the whole assessment but it gives you an idea on what certain types of tasks our Year 3 and 5 students could be asked to do.

NAPLAN Success Media Statement

Living Well, Learning Well