Week 7

Dear Parents and Friends,

There has been a lot of activity taking place around St Mary's recently and I would like to express my sincere thanks for all those members of the parent community who are giving so generously.

Firstly a special thanks goes to Kirsten O'Sullivan and her dedicated team of Year 3 parents for the wonderful success of the Big Night Out last Saturday night. Indeed it was a great community building event where parents could enjoy the lively mood and opportunity to connect socially. Your generosity shown at the BNO through the support of the art auctions and raffles was truly amazing. Well done St Mary's!

Parents have also been instrumental in fundraising for the Jesuit Mission so I'd like to thank Jenny Della Pica and her team of generous mums for their donation of $1100 this week. Jenny's team worked closely with the Year 6 Social Justice Captains making this event a real community effort.

Parents have also been very supportive of the Robo Cup Competition which took place over the weekend and where St Mary's School had great success. Our teams won the following events:

• Ist Place to Rockbotics for the Primary Dance event.
• 2nd Place to Tankbot for Primary Rescue event.
• 3rd Place to Droids for Open Dance event.
• Lucas Neilson for his excellence in the Open Robotic Event in which he competed on his own.

Congratulations to Karen Westall and the students of St Mary's for their commitment to achieving excellence.  Photos of Robocup 2016 are on the Bog Site.

Great skill and wonderful school spirit were also evident in the St Mary's Rugby mini game held at North Sydney Oval on Sunday. Under the direction of one of our generous parents, Jason Smith, the boys were successful in winning their game. Congratulations to all.  

Kind regards,
Beverly Coffey

Term 3 - Week 6

Holy Spirit, you are the Helper Jesus sends to be our friend.
You bring your special gift of Wisdom to understand all the teachings of Jesus.
Guide our minds and hearts to be like the Heart of Jesus.
Help us to know what God would like us to do, and give us the courage always to do what is right.

Dear Parents and Friends,

We congratulate our Year 6 students who received the Sacrament of Confirmation during the weekend Masses in the parish of Our Lady of the Way. Members of the parish community celebrated along with the students and their families in a very special occasion. Bishop Terry Brady's message to the students was to go forth and be disciples of Jesus and be peacemakers in the world. We encourage all students of St Mary's to follow Jesus' way in their daily interactions with others.

Champion Teachers and Learners
One of our focus areas for school improvement this year is around Change. Through a collaborative process the teachers are engaged in seeking and acting on feedback and through innovation and implementation of evidenced-based leading practice. The teachers are involved in reflecting on their current pedagogy to determine the impact they have on student learning. Essentially, knowing thy impact means connecting what we do as educators with what happens to learners. This continual inquiry into impact will drive improvement at all levels.

This process aligns with research on learning from Professor John Hattie from the University of Melbourne where he speaks about Visible Learning. Central to Hattie's work is the importance of feedback and the purpose of assessment which should provide answers to these three goal-directed questions: Where am I going, how am I going and where to next? Teachers know their learning intention for every lesson and the success criteria for every student by differentiating the curriculum to meet student needs. As a staff we are all very passionate about our Change project and look forward to implementing insights by creating challenging learning opportunities for all students and to help them embrace their futures with confidence.

Learning Celebrations
We invite all parents to see St Mary's learning in Action on September 12th between 9 and 11am. Parents will have the opportunity to see how learning is differentiated as part of the school's involvement in the Newman Program. We hope that you can make this experience a priority for your diary.

Excellence in Religious Education
We congratulate the Year 6 students for their outstanding performance in the recent Diocesan Religious Education Test.

St Mary's School was awarded 2 High Distinctions; 5 Distinctions; 14 Credit and 9 Participation Certificates.  Congratulations to our Year 6 students.

NAPLAN
All students in Year 3 and 5 received their results in NAPLAN last week. St Mary's students continue to perform well on this testing. We will provide a detailed analysis for the next newsletter showing student growth and school trends.

Best wishes
God bless,
Beverly

Principal's News Term 3 - Week 3

Dear Parents and Friends,

This week we celebrate the outstanding performance of our Year 5 and 6 students in the Wakakirri Story and Dance Challenge for primary schools around Australia.

Under the direction of our Year 5/6 teacher Meghan Bassett, the students designed their own story and choreographed it to music performing a visually stimulating and authentic creation. Our children learn best when their curiosity is piqued as they are naturally and deeply curious about their world. Learning opportunities such as Wakakirri foster this curiosity in children.

The success of such a school performance as Wakakirri is a result of the work of many people within the school community and we are blessed to have such generous parents whose creative work behind the scenes was inspirational. Special thanks is given to the following parents:  Bryony Cooper, Karen Harrison, Lynn McMahon, Jane Szetu, Deanne O'Regan, Di Gedeon, Mary Tazawa-Lim, Fiorella Castro, Deirdre Duggan and Lucia Ryan.

Another very active and generous group of parents led by Jenny Della Picca are busily raising funds for the Jesuit Mission. Last week we all enjoyed the special food day with the delicious doughnuts and on September 9th we look forward to another sizzling culinary experience! We greatly appreciate the efforts of Jenny and her team of willing mums.

Staff News
Our Assistant Principal, Julie Hunt, will be on Long Service Leave for Weeks 4, 5 & 6, Monday 8th August - Friday 26th August inclusive. Julie's daughter is getting married and   to help with the preparations and to celebrate this exciting event, Julie needs to take some leave. We wish Julie a joyous time with her family.

Mr Sean White will take over the acting position of Assistant Principal as well as Year 5 teacher during this time. We wish Sean every success in this leadership role.

Blessed Mary Mackillop
Today we celebrate the Feast Day of Blessed Mary Mackillop. This is an occasion to recall a life that embodied characteristics integral to the Australian identity including a sense of a fair go for everyone and her willingness to stand on the side of people often referred to as the 'Aussie Battler'.

The message of the feast challenges each Australian to know the God who is with us, to embrace with a compassionate heart those who travel the journey with us and to believe that each person can and does make a difference in our world.

Mary's innate goodness and her down to earth approach to life, her ability to bring hope and purpose in the midst of suffering has given Australians the freedom to be spiritual. Mary is not a Saint to be admired from afar. She is a person who truly understands the everyday life of people, their struggle and their joys.

Best wishes for the week ahead,
God bless,
Beverly

Principal's News Term 3 Week 1

Dear Parents and Friends,

Welcome back to our students and families for Term Three. It promises to be a busy one with many opportunities for learning and growth.

We commenced our new Term with a visit from Liga Miklasevics, a Canadian school principal from the city of Toronto in Ontario, who is here to see the learning in action at St Mary's. Liga is particularly interested in how the students develop strong skills in Mathematics learning and how the teachers differentiate across the curriculum to engage students in authentic learning. Liga is part of the principal exchange program which has been developed over the years between Australia and Canada to bring a global connection for leaders in schools.

It was a pleasure to be part of the Year 1A Liturgy celebrated in St Mary's Church this morning. I congratulate the children on their beautiful responses to their theme that God's love and nourishment is special to all children in the world.

The term ahead will be interesting for us all so we look forward to working closely in partnership with you as we encourage our students to be successful and happy learners.

Yours in peace,
Beverly

Principal's News - Term 2 Week 10

Dear Parents and Friends,

Leadership at St Mary's School starts at an early age. Students in Years Kindergarten to Year 6 are elected to the Student Representative Council and invited to give a voice into making their school a better place. Students experience leadership by being involved in Liturgies and School Masses, public speaking and special events for the St Mary's community. Our leadership program encourages students to become confident and articulate and to see service to others as an opportunity to make a difference in the community.

Our Year 6 students are developing their leadership skills in a variety of ways, enabling them to become confident, dedicated and positive students who are prepared to guide and inspire others. I am grateful to our Year 6 student leaders for their positive role modelling and willingness to give their time and effort to others in their first semester of Year 6.  They are true models of the spirit of St Mary's. Congratulations!

School Liturgies
Last Sunday our Year 3 students received the Sacrament of the Eucharist for the first time. We congratulate these young people and their families at this special time. I would also like to thank our celebrant Fr. Michael, and the many staff members who supported our students and families at the Masses.

Celebration of Learning
Congratulations to our students who work hard each day to do their best. This has been celebrated in the school report and parent/teacher interviews this week. Thank you parents for supporting us at home. It is when the school and family work in a partnership that great gains are made by the students.

Student Performance
Today our Junior Band students performed a number of songs under the creative direction of Mr. Rod Herbert at our morning assembly. This was a most entertaining finish to the school term and a tribute to our hard-working students.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a restful, happy and safe holiday and enjoy this special time with your children. I look forward to greeting you again next term.

School Building Update
We are anticipating that the builders will be on site from Week 3 in the next term to commence the Stage 2 Building Project. Students who will be housed in the demountable classrooms will move across at the end of Week 2 after the preparation work is completed. A more detailed report will accompany this bulletin.

Staff News
We say farewell to Mrs. Sarah Lewis our Y 1 teacher, who is taking maternity leave until 2017. We wish Sarah and her husband Jed, much happiness for the coming weeks.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a restful, happy and safe holiday and enjoy this special time with your children. I look forward to greeting you again next term.

May God bless you all,
Beverly

Term 2, Week 8

Dear Parents and Friends,

The weekly merit and principal awards are given to students to encourage and challenge them to try their best in all facets of school life. I have noticed that a number of our students are responding well to the award for Mercy.

As you are aware Pope Francis announced a Jubilee Year of Mercy for 2016 which ends on the Solemnity of Christ the King on November 20 this year. Mercy, if pondered, could profoundly and mysteriously influence the way we live our daily lives. Using Pope Francis' words as a springboard can help us examine the call and challenge to be disciples of Jesus. In doing so, we too witness to the divine love that God has for us as proclaimed by Jesus Christ. Mercy is the force that reawakens us to new life and instils in us the courage to look to the future with hope. I congratulate our students who are showing mercy in their relationships with others and being the face of Jesus.

The Athletics Carnival last week was also a wonderful display of our students and their ability to try their hardest in team sports and individual events. Their ability to be resilient as well as encouraging others were positive traits on the day. I congratulate them all!

Creative thinking skills are always listed as desirable characteristics for 21st century learners. Last week, four of our Year 6 students participated in a creativity project with the advertising agency Clemenger BBDO as part of the Vivid exhibition. I was most impressed with Niamh S, Lucy, Niamh O and Isaac in their clever responses and project work around the topic of Drought as part of real-world solutions and outcomes implemented by the students. Well done students!

This coming weekend will see the demountable classrooms installed on site. Builders will need a couple of weeks to install them and make the area surrounding safe and secure. We are planning to move the classrooms across during the second week of the school holidays and have them ready for occupation at the beginning of next term. Further updates will be given next week.

Best wishes for a positive week ahead
Yours in peace,
God bless,
Beverly

Principal's News, Term 2 Week 5

Dear Parents and Friends,

What makes a Catholic school distinctive?

The answer lies in its attempt to generate a community climate which is inspired by the Gospel spirit of freedom and love. At St Mary's school we continue to strengthen our faith community whose values are communicated through the close relationships of its members, and a common belief in the presence of God. Thank you for your genuine efforts as we work together in this partnership.

May I also give a special thanks to our Yr 6 parents who co-ordinated the recent Lapathon. Julie Donnell and Diana Gedeon were instrumental in volunteering their time for the success of the day. Altogether we raised a very generous amount of $18 000. Congratulations to all!

Catholic Education in Australia has a wonderful record of volunteering which started with the Priests, Brothers and Sisters who, as members of Religious Orders were responsible for setting up an Australia wide network of schools and colleges. This was achieved with the support of Catholic people who, though mostly belonging to the lower socio-economic section of society, gave generously to support the purchase of property, the erection of buildings and the provision of teaching materials. This of course is not purely an historical reflection, for the same support is still occurring on a daily basis in thousands of schools throughout Australia.

When it comes to helping around the school by being an active member of a school committee, assisting in classrooms , supervising an excursion, listening to children read or coaching a computer team - this is the wide scope for parent volunteers. Volunteers are the life of healthy societies everywhere. We really appreciate your efforts.

Staff News
It is with great delight that we announce the appointment of Mr. Tim Butt as the Acting Religious Education Co-ordinator for the remainder of this year. We congratulate Tim and wish him much success in his new role.

This week I will be attending the Eastern Region Principals Conference  for three days so will be absent from the school. Mrs. Julie Hunt will be available for any parent consultation should any situation arise.

May I wish you a happy and positive week ahead.

Yours in peace,
Beverly