20 February 2019

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPALS REPORT

Welcome to the first St Marys District School newsletter for 2019. I am Carolyn Watson, the Principal and I would like to begin by acknowledging the fantastic work of our staff in preparing our school for students to begin on the 6th of February. The EFA and Administration teams, as well as our Teachers and Teacher Assistants have worked extremely hard to ensure the brand new 7-10 learning spaces and the K-6 and 11/12 classrooms were all ready for teaching and learning to commence.

We have had a fantastic start to the school year with all classes settling quickly into their new classrooms and routines and all students and staff working hard to make this year the best it can be. Our first two weeks have been extremely positive and I have been very impressed with the friendly and sociable nature of our students, as well as their interest in getting to know me and our other new staff members. We appreciate parent’s efforts to ensure children are at school on time and ready for their learning – thank you. Uniform is looking great and on the whole students are here ready for learning. I am very excited to be back working in the St Marys District School community and I have really enjoyed meeting students and parents at both the St Marys and the Fingal campuses over the past two weeks. I am trying hard to learn as many names as possible, but please excuse me if I take a little while to remember them all!

During the school assemblies, held during the first week, I shared with the students the high expectations I have for both them and their teachers. I would also like to share these with you. I have high expectations of our teachers, expecting that they will provide a thoroughly planned, engaging educational program for their students. I also have high expectations for the students, I expect them to do their best, be their best and make the most of every opportunity that comes their way while at school. School uniform was also discussed and students have been notified that hoodies are not part of the school uniform and must not be worn to school or in class. Mobile phones are also not permitted in class. Students are expected to leave their mobile phone in their school bag, in their locker or at the school office during class time unless individual teachers specifically request phones are to be bought to class. The school’s mobile phone policy will be reviewed and updated during the year.

We have started the year with a focus on the school values. During the year we will be working hard to live these values both as a school and as individuals. We look forward to sharing our values work with you in a variety of ways including this newsletter, the school Facebook page and our new, soon to be introduced Positive Postcards.

This year we have welcomed 47 new students. 27 students from Prep to Grade 12 and 20 Kindergarten students. Whilst we recognise that there is always a settling in period for new students we have been very impressed with how smoothly the transition has gone for these students this year. We also welcome two new staff members to our school, Narmina Hasanova K/P/1/2 at Fingal Campus and Keziah Nunn, Maths/Science.

We have a very exciting year ahead, with many opportunities ahead for students, staff and parents. Please do not hesitate to contact your child’s class teacher or a member of senior staff if you have any questions or concerns, or if there is any information that may assist us to provide the best support for your child. Thank you to those parents who have made appointments and come in to meet with me. I do appreciate having the opportunity to discuss your child’s learning with you, as I firmly believe that the best outcomes for our students are achieved when we work together as partners.

Best wishes,

Carolyn Watson
Principal

MEET OUR NEW KINDERGARTEN
CHILDREN AT ST. MARYS

SCHOOL HEALTH NEWS

I will be working at the St Marys District School on Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s. Also starting this year alternative Mondays commencing Monday 4th February. I will be away in week 5 (4th March – 8th March) working at another school for the week.

I will undertake the Kindergarten Health Assessment for the new Kindergarten students (consent forms have been sent home). Assessments will be commencing on Wednesday 13th March.

If parents, students or teachers have any concerns, I can undertake hearing and vision assessments throughout the year. Parental consent is required for primary students.

There is a drop in clinic for secondary students from 12:40pm to 1.00pm in the school nurse office, located in the main administration building. This is a chance for students to ask any health or wellbeing questions. Students can come as a group or an individual.

Activities with the health nurse will continue again this year, from 1pm to 1.30pm Tuesday and Wednesday in the Primary building. Activities include hand hygiene, oral health, bullying, nutrition, respect and being kind to each other.

I will be running different programs for students including the “Inside Out 4 Kids Program”, supporting students who have experienced trauma, grief or loss; unstuck program in anxiety recovery, and some boys and girls groups looking at bullying, understanding emotions, respect, and wellbeing

Esther Beveridge, School Health Nurse

THINKING DIFFERENTLY

Grade 3-6 Fingal

Students were all given a piece of paper with dots on it to make a drawing. Students’ ideas represent their interests, hobbies and things they like. The objective of the exercise was to recognise that we all think differently, have different ideas, and to be respectful of other people’s point of view.

LEARNING IN FAMILIES TOGETHER (LIFT)

Learning In Families Together (LIFT) is a 4 to 8 year old initiative at St Marys District School, coordinated by Mrs Bec Mason. LIFT aims to support parents engaging with their child’s learning, both at school and at home, with the main focus being student literacy and numeracy development.

At the end of 2018, LIFT, in conjunction with Hub 4 Health, hosted our Garden to Plate evening on the farm. It was a lovely, sunny evening for students and families to celebrate their gardening, cooking and learning. Thank you to all who supported this event. It was heaps of fun gobbling with the turkeys, getting dirty in the garden, cooking up a storm, and eating together. Have a look at the photo gallery!

This year, LIFT will continue our Feed My Family program in the K-2 area, starting with our Preps from Mrs Wills’ classroom. A notice will be coming home soon for parents to sign up.

At St Marys District School, we value the time students spend sharing a book with their parents. This may be a child reading to their parent, or a parent reading to their child, both are highly beneficial to reading development. To support students in finding snippets of time to share a book, we have three new bean bag lounges for the K-2 areas. Parents are encouraged to sit with their child at school drop off (before the 8:50 am bell) or pick up (while the class is packing up), and share a book from the classroom. We are introducing one bean bag to Prep Wills and Grade 1/2 Cromb this week.

If you hold a Working with Vulnerable People card, you are welcome to share a book with other students too, in fact, we would love parent help!

Students may also share a book with a friend on the bean bags throughout the day, including recess and lunch times. Have a look at the photo gallery!

Student Values for the new “Share a Book” bean bags:

• Respect - Gentle entry and exit, please don’t jump/climb on them. Return books to the box or to class. Maximum of 3 people on the bean bag. No food.
• Aspiration – What would you like to focus on while you enjoy a book?
• Growth – Select a “just right” book to read, or an “interest” book to share.
• Courage – Have a go! Ask Mum or Dad to share a book. Ask a friend to share a book.

GRADE PREP – WILLS AND GRADE 1-2 CROMB FRIDAY AFTERNOON LEARNING

Students chose from a variety of activities that involve Art, fine motor, gross motor, Maths and Literacy learning. The students in Grades 1/2 were fabulous tutors for the Prep students. The oral language that occurred was a delight to be a part of!

GRADE 3-4 BENNETT AND GRADE 4-5 BURBURY/COOK

The 3/4 class are collaborating with the 4/5 class on Wednesdays to become designers, planners, engineers and builders. Through our Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) lessons the students will be learning to plan, design, create and reflect according to a design brief. This week the brief was to design a robot. The students could choose whether their robot was even or odd. The robot would need to have an even number of parts if was to be even and the opposite for an odd robot. They were also required to have a certain number of moving parts on their robot. We had lots of fun.

GRADE 6 WILLIAMS

In Grade 6 Williams we have been learning to work in teams. We did some challenges and established expectations for group work.

Here we are trying to save the gummy worm Freddy, who has been capsized, without touching him or the boat.

Here we are trying to get our marshmallow the highest using spaghetti, string and tape.

ASSIGNMENT – HOMEWORK SCHEDULE

SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS