Term 4 Week 7

Dear Parents and Friends,

As the start of Advent heralds the move into the final few weeks of Term 4, our staff are engaged in completing end of year student reports, preparing for the end of year Mass and the various events that come together to make this such a very busy time in the school year.

Year 6 Graduation

It was a privilege last night to attend the Year 6 graduation Mass and dinner.  The Mass was a beautiful reflection of the past seven years, and it was a joy to watch the children celebrate together.  A sincere thank you to Julie Donnell and Di Gedeon for all your work in organising a wonderful evening which I am sure the children will remember for the rest of their lives.  

Swim Week at Monte

Next week we have the swim week program at Monte.  Swim week is part of our PDHPE curriculum and all children from Year 1-6 are required to participate.  Thank you to the many parents who have volunteered their time to help out with walking the children to the pool and back.

End of Year Mass - Thursday 8th December - 5.30pm

All children are expected to attend the end of year Mass in their school uniform to celebrate as a community our year at St Mary's.  I look forward to seeing you all there.

Building Works Update

The house next door is currently being demolished.  The Builders will take possession of the Site this Monday 5th December and we will start to see progress over the coming weeks.

Thank you for your continued support of St Mary's School.
Beverly Coffey

Term 4, Week 3 2016

Dear Parents and Friends,

The month of October is traditionally where we reflect on the importance of Mary in our spiritual lives and all children have been praying the Hail Mary as part of their devotion this month. I hope they have shown you their special rosary beads.

Christians see Mary as a human being, who willingly allowed grace to work in her. St Luke tells us that from the moment that Mary was told that she was chosen to be the Mother of God, she expressed her natural human feelings: Mary was deeply troubled by the angel's message and Mary pondered those things in her heart. All mothers ponder things about their children.

Mary, like us, had to strive to understand the mystery of the revelation made to her with regard to her Son, Jesus. She had to make her personal journey of faith as we now make ours. St Bernard called her Stella Maris, the Star of the Sea, our guide and our assurance as we journey on the through the challenges of our lives.

The most famous Mary Shrine in the world is Lourdes and it attracts more than six million visitors or Pilgrims to its Grotto every year. In a recent address Pope Francis stated why so many people visit Lourdes each year from every part of the world, so as to entrust to the mother of the Lord, the intentions which they bear in their hearts and ask for help and intercession.

Innovate Now for STEM

St Mary's has successfully applied to Sydney Catholic Schools for an Innovate Now Grant which will assist in the development of the STEM program at the school. It will allow the program to continue through 2017 and into the following year as a creative, engaging and relevant source of learning for the children.

Funds will be used to supply STEM classes with science and technology resources along with materials for hands-on activities. They will also build the school's intellectual capacity by providing STEM literature and facilitating professional development as well as connections with outside sources of expertise.

We congratulate Markus Powling and Tim Butt for their excellent efforts in designing this submission for the Innovate Now Grant.

International Teachers Day

All teachers are very appreciative of the generous gift from the Parents and Friends Association in honour of the teaching profession. On behalf of all the teaching staff I would like to thank Hamish Hutton and the P&F Executive for their wonderful coffee making machine and the delicious selection of coffee. It will most certainly will be well utilised!

Academic Excellence

I congratulate all students from Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 on their excellent results in all ICAS competitions from the University of NSW. These competitions are sat by students from the Asia-Pacific regions and are highly competitive in the areas of Mathematics, English, Spelling, Science and Digital Technologies. A special commendation is given to Isaac in Year 6 for his outstanding achievement in Digital Technologies. Isaac will receive the prestigious medal for the highest achievement in NSW/ACT which is a wonderful recognition of his talent.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Beverly Coffey

Term 4 Week 1

Dear Parents and Friends,

It has been delightful this week to welcome all the students and staff back from their Spring holidays and to see everyone looking so well and relaxed after the 2-week break. The classrooms have been abuzz with chatter and laughter as the students have enjoyed catching up with one another and sharing their holiday news.

It was lovely to welcome our new students and families:
Claudia (Year 1) and Hugh (K)
Caden (Year 1)
May your time at St Mary's be filled with great joy and learning!

The Year 2, 3 and 4 classes are particularly excited about being back at school as they are located in their new demountable classrooms for this term. At the moment they are busy designing a name for their new classroom which they will share at the Blessing Ceremony to take place shortly with Fr. Andy Bullen when he returns from his visit to Melbourne. We will invite parents to this occasion when a date has been formally set.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the many parents who assisted with the setting up of the new demountable classrooms in making them attractive and welcoming learning spaces. Annie Austin and her team of helpers from the Lendlease company organised the outdoor spaces with a nice environmental touch and Simon Robinson and his team of generous Dads helped set up the technology in the rooms. All the staff and students greatly appreciated this support.

The Stage 2 Building Project will be commencing early this term and will be managed by Gledhill Construction Company. They have a strong reputation in the school building industry for excellent work so we look forward to welcoming them on site shortly.

The Year 5/6 classes are enjoying their excursion to Canberra this week and from all reports the students have been involved in some wonderful learning experiences. We have shared some photos of the trip with you.

My warm wishes to all students and families for a fulfilling and enjoyable Term 4.

Dear Parents and Friends,

This week brings Term 3 to a close.

It has been a busy and very rewarding term for everyone in our community as we acknowledge the many achievements.

The students continue to enjoy their learning and perform very well across all curriculum areas. They are passionate about their school and bring great spirit and energy to the whole community.

May I take this opportunity to thank our dedicated teaching staff for their commitment to excellence in teaching and learning and to all parents for the wonderful support in all that we do for your children.

May I wish you a very happy holiday and a safe return to school next term.

Best wishes and God bless,
Beverly

Dear Parents and Friends,

Congratulations to our Year 3 and 5 students for their excellence in the 2016 NAPLAN testing. Both Year 3 and Year 5 students achieved significantly above the state average in at least four of the five NAPLAN Assessment areas. St Mary's has been congratulated on their achievements by Sydney Catholic Schools in a recent news bulletin from the Director. Well done students!

School Building Update
During the next school holidays Year 2, 3 and 4 classes will be moved across into the demountable accommodation ready for the building project. It is anticipated that the builder will be on site early Term 4 and a notice will be posted when an exact date is confirmed. A timeline for construction will also be advised.

Learning Celebrations
We invite all parents to see St Mary's Classes In Action this coming Monday September 12th commencing after assembly.

At St Mary's we believe that the students will be happiest and thrive when families and teachers are working together in a strong partnership. We welcome and encourage open and positive communication and involvement with parents as we foster confident, caring and independent lifelong learners.

As you move around the classes you will see our teachers who apply the best of theory and practice from a variety of curriculum frameworks to provide rich learning tasks and effective learning outcomes for students. Technology supports the learning program via networked computers, iPads and Chromebook laptops and interactive whiteboards and televisions in each classroom.

Classrooms are exciting and welcoming creating an inspiring and challenging learning environment.
Children are always curious, enthusiastic and keen to learn at St Mary's.
We look forward to welcoming you this Monday.

Best wishes,
Beverly

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