Term 3 Week 3 2023

Giinagay families,

   Welcome to another wonderful Term at St Mary's. Term 3 is always a busy one with learning, sporting and many great St Mary's events planned for the term ahead. I am looking forward to seeing all of of families join in the community events we have planned. There is nothing better than seeing our mums, dads, carers, aunties, uncles and all family here at St Mary's. Community means so much to us.

Bus

A reminder about our St Mary's bus.  If there is a change of circumstance, please let Uncle Dean know on 0484 870 574 in the mornings, or the school on 65647369 before 2pm. We seem to be doing a lot of unneccessary driving to places, only to be waved on.

Learning & Teaching - Priorities for 2023

This is my 4th year at St Mary's, and I must say that in that time, this is the BEST I have ever seen our school. The Learning and teaching is second to none, and I am so proud of all our staff for taking on new researched initiaves and implementing them with fidelity. One of these changes is to implement Learning Intentions and Success Criteria for our students, some of which are shared below. We are also making a strong intent to model writing with our students. This learning is through the work of the Learning Collaborative, in which we work with Educationalist and Author Lyn Sharratt. We are very excited to have Lyn and executives from the Catholic Schools Office visit our school and students on the 30th of August. 

Looking forward to another wonderful Term ahead.

Nadine

Week 3 Awards Winners:

K/1: Josiah Weldon, Lance Breckenridge, Mia Howard, Violet Taylor, Kelaari King & Arlo Taylor

2/3: Bretsen Ballangarry, Sofia Brunno & Bradley Walker, 

4:  Jacob Leece, Harry Duncan, Charlotte Ivers, Troy Edwards & Kobi Lawson

5/6: Rowan Hall, Lleyton Jarrett-Biles & Martin Walker

Week 10 was filled with NAIDOC activities and celebrations with in our community and at our school.

On Monday 26th June students attended Henessey Tape Oval in Bowraville with Tallowood Steiner School, Bowraville Preschool and Bowraville Central School for the opening ceremony of NAIDOC week. Uncle Martin and Elder Nan Marj opened the ceremony with a smoking and sprinkling.

Stage 3 along with students from Tallowood and BCS sang "From Little Things Big Things Grow' - written by Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody.

Afterwards students had a shared sausage sizzle. Stage 2 and 3 stayed at the oval after lunch where they spent the afternoon weaving and making fish out of clay and also planted trees with Landcare.  

On Tuesday 27th students made damper ready for our visitors on Wednesday. Students from every class made damper. We had many helping hands!

On Wednesday 28th St Mary's hosted NAIDOC week activities for Years 2, 3 & 4 with Tallowood, BCS, Bowraville Preschool and St Patrick's Primary students visiting. The day started with an opening dance followed by Indigi games, arts, crafts and chalk drawing. Finishing with lunch which was was Roo Stew, Spaghetti Bolognese and sausage sandwhiches. 

On Thursday 29th our K/1 Students went to Bowraville Community Preschool for a lovely morning tea and NAIDOC activities. Students had fun and felt very welcomed.

On Friday 30th Students who participated in NAIDOC week received an award.

Our K/1 students attended Buz Brazel Oval in Scotts Head today to participate in the Mini Olympics which is an exciting and fun filled day for the children to celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day. The day is organised by Lifetime Connect, HIPPY & Uncle Ritchie for 3-7 year olds.

Students participated in group activities and games such as Jumping sacks, egg & spoon race, ball and parachute games, obstacle courses, sand art and arts & crafts.

On Wednesday we opened our school to the community, current families and future families to see our wonderful school and all the exciting things that are happening here. Everyone was welcome to view our classes and ask questions about what we do here and what sets our small school apart from the rest. Families enjoyed afternoon tea together.

On Wednesday the 26th July 3 of our students Lily, Isaac and Harry competed at the Zone Athlethics held in Port Macquarie. Well done to these students for making it to this level and competing in this day.

Over the past year Mr Pascoe has been working closely with the University of Sydney's STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Academy, to improve not only student's understanding of STEM but teachers as well.

This week St Mary's were lucky enough to be visited by two members of the University Dr Vilma and Professor Manju. During their visit students participated in many STEM activities and teachers received some professional development in the area. Our visitors even donated a large amount of STEM supplies to our students.  St Mary's are looking forward to exciting new STEM opportunities in the future. 

Science this term is all about materials that surround us in our everyday lives. We are exploring their properties, how we use them, design them and the effects they have on our environment. We are learning to think like scientists, making predictions and testing them, learning how to gather and represent data. 

Students conducted science experiments around solids, liquids and gases. The first experiment consisted of a cloth in a plastic bag and placed in the sun. Students were able to witness the change in the bag where condensation had formed, a change from gas to liquid!

Whilst in the school kitchen students were able to see how a candle can transform from a solid wax candle to a liquid when heated and then back to a solid when cooled. Students also saw the same transformation with chocolate melted over boiling water and were happy to eat their experiment when finished!

We are very excited to start our own school farm. Through an innovation grant the school was able to fund this program. The idea generated though a science investigation in the stage 1 class (Years 2/3). The idea of a school farm started with a discussion around the price increase of eggs. Through this discussion students came up with the idea of a school farm where they could produce their own eggs. 

Stage 1 students then put a plan forward to raise chicken's and produce eggs. Through this process they designed and built small replica chicken coop's. They showed their design's to Dan Argent who is going to build the chicken coop for the school farm. With Dan they came up with design that will work for our farm.

Ongoing we may see other seasonal animals such as potty calves and spring lambs added to our school farm

Stage 2 is investigating healthy eating in class. After a  class discussion students decided that they would make a healthy banana muffin. Students were each given a copy of a receipe that they had to read and follow the ingredients list and method to make the muffins. 

After 25 minutes of anticipation the muffins came out of the oven and were enjoyed by the students who made them. it was worth the wait!

On Tuesday the 1st of August our Kindergarten students celebrated 100 days of learning. They celebrated by dressing in their PJ's, watching a movie and eating popcorn.

The finishing touches have been added to the new playground and it's now officially complete. The playground equipment is very popular with our students and has become a fun hangout during play time.

Thankyou to all Staff and Families that devoted their time on Saturday the 29th to our school working bee. We are very blessed to have staff and family putting in the extra hours to help our school. We appreciate all of your hard work.

If you know any children starting Kindergarten next year please tell them about us! Our transition program runs for 5 Weeks. Please call the school if you or anyone you know needs further information.