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Dear Parents and Carers,
As we move towards the last week of term, I can finally say that our Year 3 and Year 4 classes have moved into their new rooms. We are very grateful for the support of the Catholic School's Office for prioritising our school and the Building and Development Fund that our families contribute to that allows for this work to be completed. Alhtough there is some way to go in the completion of the outdoor spaces, I have included some photos of the new classrooms in case you haven't been able to visit.
Photos of Stage 2 Classrooms
I hope that all our families had the opprtunity to visit the classrooms this week as part of the Student Led Conferences or to meet with your child's teacher in the Goal Setting Conversations. We are strengthening our relationships between home and school through the development of a feedback culture and focusing on the learning growth of all students. Thank you for your positive participation in both of these options. Please take the time to complete the 3 question survey depending on which option you had so we can continue to improve.
Goal Setting Conversation Survey
It was great to receive some positive feedback this week form one of our parents who took up the opportunity to attend the workshop provided by our Diocese on Anxiety and Resilience. Keep your eye out for more events through the year.
"....I just finished up watching the webinar from Justin Coulson tonight about Anxiety and Resilience and it was great. I always love seeing / hearing from Justin so I thought I'd say thanks to Holy Name / Catholic Education for organising such insightful and educational talks..."
This week's events...
Monday
- 8.45am Easter Hat Parade
Tuesday
- Cultural Immersion Excursion and Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Parent meeting
Wednesday
- 8.45am Easter Raffle Draw
- 9.00am Cross Country
Thursday
- 11.30am Holy Week Liturgy
- 1.30pm Heart to Heart Exhibition
- Final day for St Clare's enrolment forms to be at Holy Name (enrolments will be accepted after this date, however the advice from St Clare's was to have them in at the end of term to avoid the possibility of being on a waiting list due to a high level of enrolment interest)
Don't forget to save the date for our P&F Trivia night at Club Forster on Friday May 5th - start to organise your table!!
I wish you all a safe and happy Easter Season,
Brooke Stephens
Last week, Mr Gibney, Principal of St Clare's shared some positive feedback about the attendance of new families at the recent Open Day. He stressed to the Manning Region Catholic Primary Schools, the importance of our Yr 6 families returning their enrolment forms to either St Clare's or Holy Name by the final day of Term 1, Thursday 6th April. He said they are again expecting a waiting list and would not like any of our families to miss out. Please follow this link to read one of their latest newsletters.
Positive Behaviour for Learning
Our PBL focus for the past fortnight has been Sitting Quietly and Calmly. Students have been receiving surfboards when they display this behaviour. The PBL Award winners for the fortnight are:
Principal Awards
The following students received Principal's Awards at assembly this morning.
| Sasha Dempsey | 4H | 40 Surfboards |
| Hayden Pol | 5F | 40 Surfboards |
| Franky Wall | 1N | 40 Surfboards |
| Kovi Coulton | 2L | 20 Surfboards |
| Johnny Black | 1N | 20 Surfboards |
| Charlie Cadiou-Scopelitis | 1N | 20 Surfboards |
| Ilijana Trautsch | 1N | 20 Surfboards |
| Olivia Quilter | 1N | 20 Surfboards |
| Sophie Andrews | 5F | 20 Surfboards |
| Airlia Coulton-Donnelly | 5F | 20 Surfboards |
| Harrison Mills | 4L | 20 Surfboards |
| Mia Collins | 4L | 20 Surfboards |
| Skye Brennan | 4L | 20 Surfboards |
| Indie Ryan | 4L | 20 Surfboards |
PBL Class Awards
| Kinder M | Reuben Kosteliz | Lexi Barnett |
| Kinder P | Evie Redman | Agnes Jonsson-Azzi |
| 1N | Rocco Lambkin | Remi Tull |
| 1M | Charbel Andary | Mia Pruim |
| 2S | Amity Letcher | Everley Webb |
| 2L | Dorian Doherty | Zoe Moncrieff |
| 3M | Mila Newman | Indy Cooper |
| 3W | Charlotte Allan | Hafsa Omar |
| 4H | Evie Barnett | Haya Hamdy |
| 4L | Zarah Clark | Indie Ryan |
| 5F | Sara Uprety | Max Isbel |
| 6R | Madeline Todd | Ellara Collins |
| 6M | Koby Clarke | Jackson Paine |
SPORT
Polding Swimming
Our very own Hamish Carmichael has come a very close second in the Senior Boys 50m breasttroke at the Polding Swimming Carnival at the Olympic Swimming Centre in Sydney. This result sees Hamish move forward to compete in the NSW All Schools Swimming Carnival.
A fantastic effort from a very dedicated swimmer!
Rugby League
Cross Country
Next Wednesday, April 5th, is the date set for our school Cross Country Carnival. We will hold the event at Pebbly Beach, which is probably the most picturesque Cross Country venues, from 9.15 on the day.
Families are always welcome to attend.
Kyla Loring
Assistant Principal
Religious Education Curriculum
In our last newletter I shared the RE Units Scope and Sequence for Term 1 across K-6 and also unpacked the new RE Encounter Kinder and Yr1 units for Term 1. I have this week included a brochure to support Kinder and Yr 1 parents to understanding the Encounter model. Please see attached below.
Holy Week Liturgy
Holy Name will through prayer and ritual recall the events of Holy Week on Thursday 6th April at 11:30pm. All parents and carers are welcome to join us for this liturgy that Yr 4 will be leading.
Investing our Yr 5 Mini Vinnies
Following the Holy Week Liturgy, Fr Peter will invest all Yr 5 students who have pledged themselves to serve as members of our Mini Vinnies team. Fr Peter will firstly hear the students give their pledge, bless the badges with holy water and invest them. We hope many of our Yr 5 parents can join us to see their children invested into this important social justice position.
Option for the Poor and Vulnerable
The option for the poor is an essential part of society’s effort to achieve the common good. A healthy community can be achieved only if its members give special attention to those with special needs, to those who are poor and on the margins of society. Caring for the poor is everyone’s responsibility. Preferential care should be shown to poor and vulnerable people, whose needs and rights are given special attention in God’s eyes.
- How do we look upon those less fortunate than ourselves?
- Do we judge those living in poverty?
- Do we give to those in need?
- Do we offer a helping hand when someone needs assistance?
As we draw closer to the end of Lent, Mini Vinnies have focused their service to raising money for Project Compassion. Please read the Pastoral Care Report to explain how through their action of service they are making a difference for the poor and vulnerable in Australia and the wider world.
Easter Triduum
Students are getting close to beginning their Easter school holidays, they are sharing what their family will be doing over the fortnight. As Catholics, the last week of term signifies we are preparing for the Easter Triduum. The easter Triduum (also known as the Holy Triduum), is the final three days of Lent and Holy Week. The summit of the Liturgical Year is the Easter Triduum - from the evening of Holy Thursday to the evening of Easter Sunday. Christians celebrate the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
Liturgical services that take place during the Triduum are:
# Mass of the Lord's Supper- Holy Thursday
# Good Friday of the Lord's Passion
# Mass of the Resurrection of the Lord - Easter Sunday.
These celebrations will be held at the following times in the Holy Name of Jesus Church, Forster for which you are all warmly welcome to join and celebrate with the Forster Tuncurry Parish.
Holy Thursday- Mass of the Lord's Supper 6th April 6:30pm
Good Friday- Passion of the Lord 7th April 3pm
Holy Saturday Vigil 8th April 7pm
Easter Sunday Mass of the Resurrection 9th April 8am and 10am
Great Learning Happening in Year Three!
Each fortnight we like to put a spotlight on the great learning happening in a particular grade in our school. In this report the spotlight is on Year 3. During reading sessions Year three have been focusing on narrative texts that entertain, where they can show their understanding of a text by making connections to their own life or other texts they have read. Students have been using senses brainstorming charts to describe the setting within their focus texts. This has been a great way to assist the students in using their senses to describe the setting of their own narratives. The class have been taking part in partner work in enhance example sentences.
The students in Year 3 have also been working hard to develop their vocabulary skills. Each week students work together to build their knowledge of new vocabulary words within their text, they focus on:
- Looking at the sounds within the new vocabulary words
- The number of syllables within the words
- The definitions of the words
- Examples and non-examples of what the word means
- The morphology of the words
In writing, Year 3 have been creating a narrative text. The students started by creating a plan for their narrative using a planning scaffold developed by their teachers. They then developed a draft introduction which was shared with a peer for feedback. After feedback was given and necessary changes made, students developed the body which included the complication and a conclusion with a clear resolution. Students used the success criteria to check over their own work and to then provide constructive feedback to their peers narrative sample. Students were given time to make changes to enhance their writing and then submit to the teacher for formal feedback. This cycle has helped students to identify their writing goals which motivates them to improve their writing skills. Take a look at the photos of some of the great writing samples from the student’s assessment folders.
In Maths, Year Three has been focusing on the Big Idea ‘Being Flexible with Numbers.’ The students are learning to describe, continue and create number patterns resulting from performing addition or subtraction. This week the students have described patterns counting forwards and backwards by threes, fours, sixes, sevens, eights and nines from any starting point. Students have being working hard to explain the patterns they find and the ones they create to their peers. Check out some of the great launch tasks the students have been taking part in.
In Visual Arts the students have been inspired by the artist Pete Cromer. They used ripped pieces of coloured paper to create a collage of an Native Australian animal. They look fantastic!
Well done Year Three students and teachers keep up the awesome work!
Mrs Suzie Monks
Primary Coordinator
Mini Vinnies
As you are aware Mini Vinnies sold Zooper Doopers last week to raise money for Project Compassion. We are very excited to share with you that together we raised $602.75. This money will help plant trees and gardens in Nepal, it will help provide healthy meals and supermarket food for young people, it could even buy 85 chickens for people in Zimbabwe. We are so proud of our efforts and appreciate the support the whole school has shown by buying the Zooper Doopers. We look forward to sharing more activities with the school next term.
Next week at our Holy Week Liturgy Mini Vinnies will have their badges blessed and presented to them. Parents and carers are welcome and we would love to see you there.
Breakfast Club
So many of our Mini Vinnies team volunteer their time on Monday’s and Wednesday’s in serving other students. On Monday’s we serve Milo and toast and Wednesday’s our team serve fresh fruit and sometimes banana bread. Thank you to Catholic Care who continue to provide fruit and bread for our Breakfast Club.
Art Club
We have made around 100 poppies for an Anzac Day display that will feature at Stockland Forster over the next school holidays. The children had enjoyed using oil pastels, crayons and sharpies to create our poppies. Look out for our Holy Name display when you visit Stockland over the holiday period. The children are very excited that their artworks will be on display.
Heart to Heart
Our beautiful Year 5 Heartists have completed their spectacular cake paintings and have worked hard on making invitations for their loved ones to share in a celebratory Exhibition next Thursday. This term we have watched these beautiful girls grow in confidence, they have loved watching their painting emerge from the blank canvas. We have been bleeds to have been supported by lots of wonderful mentors and we appreciate their support.
May you all have a wonderful and blessed Easter break. I hope you can enjoy time in the sun with family and friends taking gentle care of each other.
