St Canice's Primary School Newsletter

Dear Parents, Carers and Members of the St Canice’s Community,

First of all, I am delighted to let you know that Mrs Szyzcpek has had her baby! Toby was born to Alice and Mark on 26.6.22. I know that you will join me in congratulating Alice, Mark and Toby’s big brother, Jasper. May God bless them and keep them safe. 

The term is almost over and we all need to be proud of navigating a very challenging term. Many of you battled with illness on an ongoing basis. Likewise, at school, staff and student absence was high. My thanks to you all for working with us and supporting us during these challenging times! My hope for you is that you have a healthy and happy holiday with your family that gives everybody a great opportunity to rest. Let’s hope we can all look forward to a healthier Term 3!  

Parent Involvement at St Canice’s:

Despite the challenges of the times, our term has been full of learning, faith-based moments, sporting and environmental opportunities. It was so wonderful to see so many parents here for Open Day and again for last Friday’s Healing Assembly. Parents have helped with events such as The Election Day Barbecue, The Athletics Carnival and the Mother’s Day Stall, to mention just a few. I am also very grateful to the 47 families who responded to the Tell Them From Me survey. Having your say about St Canice’s helps us to work with our system leaders to act on feedback and improve St Canice’s.

My thanks to all of our wonderful staff for all that has been done to support your beautiful children and me throughout Term 3. Many staff took on additional duties daily when staff absences were high. I felt nothing but love and support from the staff. I am blessed to work with such committed, good people. It is time for them to now draw a breath and enjoy the holiday break. Best wishes go to the staff leaving us at the end of this term.

All the best to Mr van der Walle in his retirement, to Mrs Karatovic as she awaits the birth of her beautiful baby and Mrs Szczypek as she embraces the joy a new baby brings.

May God bless you all and keep you safe and see you for Term 3 on Monday, 18 July 2022.

Ms Miriam

God bless,

Ms Miriam

 I am pushing hard for parents and carers to attend our cybersafety sessions with Lyndel Hatton, local Police Youth Liaison Officer. I am concerned about the amount of time children spend on devices, who they interact with and how they interact. I am concerned about the videos they watch on Youtube and the effect of regular exposure to  inappropriate material on their view of the world. It is important that we are aware of the risks, of the children’s exposure and of the strategies we can put in place to develop them as safe, responsible technology users. Please attend if you can- it is important. The children from Years 3-6 will also engage in sessions with Lyndel on Wednesday. Please talk to your child about what he / she learned about staying safe with technology after these sessions.

Thank you to all those who participated in the games night on Friday. It was a great success. The students and staff who attended had a wonderful time playing board games followed by sharing a simple dinner. The night concluded with prayer and we were fortunate that some of our parents were able to join us for this reflection time. Thank you also to the families who made donations to support  the St Vincent de Paul Winter Appeal.

Thank you Mini Vinnies & Ms Morley

Please take these school holidays as an opportunity to go through your old photos or to explore our local area with your children and capture something that relates to our beautiful Blue Mountains, in particular our Totem area of the Three Sisters, Flora and Fauna.

At this stage we only have a small amount of entries so please remember this is not a Competition, it is an Exhibition where we encourage all ages to showcase their creativity.

My thanks to Rosa, Ella’s Mum, and Maria, Mia and Poppy’s grandmother, for organising and running a finger knitting club on Tuesdays in Term 3 in the Library at lunchtime. This will be a great opportunity to learn a craft in the comfort of the library on those chilly lunchtimes! Two students, Max and Leo, will work with Jayden, our ICT Support person and our supervising teachers in the Library on Wednesdays at lunchtime, providing students with the opportunity to develop their skills with Scratch, a coding program. Mr McCarthy will continue to work with our chess enthusiasts on Thursdays at lunchtime. The chess club will be practising their skills and preparing for an inter school chess competition at Wentworth Falls Public on  Friday 12th August.

What a beautiful sunny day the athletics carnival  was! I can’t give enough thanks to our parents' helpers, staff and wonderful students for their assistance with making the day a success. Ribbons have been distributed to children that placed 1st, 2nd & 3rd in their age group events at the carnival. 

Congratulations to the following children for receiving an aged champion medal - Dean, Ella-rae, Patch, Annie W, Oliver M, Natasha, Vengili & Kamran. 

House Points Winners 

1st Gold - 450 points

2nd Green - 301 points

3rd Blue - 300 points

4th Red -  295 points

The Zone Athletics carnival will be held on Thursday 4th August at Blacktown International Sports Centre. The children that have qualified for the zone carnival are listed below. Please note that if your child received a ribbon that does not mean they have qualified for the zone carnival. The 100mtr race is for children in their age group. For 200m, 800m and long jump the age groups are classified into the following  groups: Junior (8/9/10yrs), 11 years and Senior (12+). Unfortunately we can only select TWO students in each of these groups. Full details are still to be confirmed for the zone carnival. Permission notes will be sent out in Week 1, Term 3. 

St Canices will be participating in the 5 week Jump rope for heart program.

Skipping it’s good for everyone as it is an easy and highly effective way to help kids increase their aerobic activity levels, as well as muscle and bone strength.

Here’s why:

• It improves heart health and aerobic fitness

• It improves bone density, muscle strength and coordination

• It improves cognitive function

• It burns lots of energy and helps maintain a healthy weight

• It requires minimal equipment, which keeps it affordable

• It takes up minimal space – perfect for small school playgrounds

• It’s fun, non-competitive and a great social activity for kids of all ages.

This program is designed to promote a healthy lifestyle incorporation with exercise. All students will be participating in the  program starting in Week 1 to Week 5, Term 3, 2022. Children will be learning new skills as well as important information about heart health and lifestyle choices on Fridays in their usual sport lessons, they can train during recess and lunch if they choose too. Further information about the program will be sent home on Wednesday afternoon. 

Sporting Schools Futsal Program with Football Australia

The students will be having their final futsal session with Sue & Michael this Friday. We hope they have enjoyed their sessions as much as we have enjoyed watching their skills develop. Thank you Sue and Michael for sharing your knowledge and skills with our students here at St Canices. 

Sporting Schools Basketball Program - Week 6

Next term starting in Week 6 all students will be learning how to play basketball on Fridays. We are extremely lucky here at St Canices to be awarded another Sporting schools grant which enables us to have an external provider come and teach the students a sport at no cost to our school or school community.

Kind Regards, 

Kylie Ranson 

Katoomba Cultural Centre family events on Saturday 2nd July 

Get Up! Stand Up! SHOW UP! means showing up and giving our support for our local Aboriginal presenters as they share culture and connect with us in our community.

St Canice's Students will celebrate some pre-NAIDOC fun on Friday 1st July.

Blue Mountains Cultural Centre NAIDOC COMMUNITY DAY 2022

At St Canice’s, we want to hear complaints as they arise because we want to ensure that we are working with our community to maintain positive relationships and a safe and happy school. 

All complaints are treated seriously, dealt with as soon as practicable and conducted in a fair, impartial and professional manner.   

Depending on the nature of the complaint, parents and carers are encouraged in the first instance to raise the complaint with the relevant staff member. If a parent / carer deems that the Principal or Assistant Principal need to be aware of the complaint, an appointment time should be made to discuss the complaint. 

If the complaint is not resolved to the parent / carer’s satisfaction, he / she should put the complaint in writing. The school will assess the complaint and seek a resolution.

Parents / Carers who feel that the school is not resolving the complaint  should contact CEDP at communityliaison@parra.catholic.edu.au  or telephone on 9840 5600. Alternatively, they can access the CEDP Handling Complaints Form at the link provided below. 

The CEDP Handling Complaints Policy is available from our website at this address:

https://www.stcaniceskatoomba.catholic.edu.au/-/media/Files/CEDP/Global/Policies/managing-complaints-policy.pdf 

A reminder to all families that we have students at St Canice's who have severe allergies that result in anaphylaxis.

We ask that no nut / nut products be sent to school.

As a strategy to reduce risk, we ask that you remind your child not to share their food with other students.

We value our strong relationship with families and welcome opportunities to communicate with parents and carers. We also recognise that email is a fast and convenient way to contact your child’s teacher or other school staff.

Although staff will read their emails at various times throughout the school day, they are not expected to respond to emails outside of normal working hours. Staff will try to respond to emails within 24 hours.As some staff work part time, it is reasonable to expect an email response from part time staff on their next working day.

In the case of an emergency, do not rely on email.  In such situations, please contact the school office on 4780 6800. Our caring team will return your call as soon as possible.

If you wish to contact the office via email, please email stcanices@parra.catholic.edu.au

If you need to contact a staff member and are not sure of the staff member’s email, you can also send your email to stcanices@parra.catholic.edu.au It will then be directed to your child’s teacher or another relevant staff member.

Thank you so much for your assistance and understanding.

Ms Miriam Principal

The borrowing of Library books for students will be on Mondays from the begining of term 2.

If students have a library bag, please bring it along each week.

Thank you to all the parent volunteers who have informed me of your interest. I will be in touch soon.

Happy reading.

Ms Sue

We look forward to welcoming parent / carer volunteers into St Canice's in the future.  If you are interested in volunteering your time either in the classroom or at any of the exciting upcoming events, please ensure your Building Child Safe Communities training is up to date.

This module must be completed every two years and is mandatory for anyone wanting to volunteer regardless if you hold a WWCC number or not.

Please follow the link to complete your training

https://www.parra.catholic.edu.au/About-Us/Building-Child-Safe-Communities

Term 3 Statements will be posted by Week 2 of term, if you have any questions regarding fees, please call the office on 4780 6800 or email jmacpherson@parra.catholic.edu.au

We encourage parents and carers to contact us at any time to arrange a tour of our school, meet our staff and see our learning in action. Please phone 4780 6800 during our office hours 8:30am - 3:30pm or email stcanices@parra.catholic.edu.au

Please share this post with our community -

Everyone is welcome at St Canice's

Katoomba!https://youtu.be/TNhJBt6ofY8

We are now taking enrolments for Kindergarten 2023, if you know of people looking for a school for their child (even if it is for the other grades), please let them know about St Canice’s. The power of your words of recommendation has an enormous effect on our enrolments. Let’s keep working together to make St Canice’s that great school that has been in operation for the past 120 years.

The Child Safety Handbook has been produced by NSW Police Legacy, together with its partners, for over 11 years. It aims to raise awareness about risks to children and steps that can be taken to protect and keep them safe.  The Handbook has the support of the NSW Government and of the NSW Governor, Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AO QC, the Patron of NSW Police Legacy. 

Child Safety Handbook

In partnership with the eSafety Commissioner, CEDP would like to remind schools about the availability of the following free webinars for parents and carers in Term 2: 

• Parental controls

Designed for parents and carers of young people aged 4-13

Register now 

• Online gaming

Designed for parents and carers of young people aged 8–13.

Thu 9 June 2022 12:30pm - 1:30pm

Fri 17 June 2022 12:30pm - 1:30pm

Tue 21 June 2022 7:3pm - 8:30pm

Register now 

The full 2022 parent and carer education schedule is available here.

Follow this link to access details of dates and instructions on how to register. 

KATOOMBA ADORATION CHAPEL 10:00am Monday - 8pm Friday.

The chapel is at the back of St. Canice's church. Entry is from the outside. You are invited to sign up for an Adoration hour. Please contact Catherine Gale 0420 337 033. “One cannot know the Lord without the habit of adoring in silence (Pope Francis).”

Mary Gale

St Canice’s Parish

St Mary of the Cross MacKillop Parish

Parish Priest Fr John McSweeney

 Presbytery Contact  Ph: 02 4782 2804

                                     Fax: 02 4782 6090

Website: marymackillopupperbluemountains.org.au

Monday 9.30am, Tuesday 5:15pm, Wednesday 9:30am, Thursday 5:15pm Friday 12.00pm Saturday 9.00am Sunday 10.00am

Saturday 9.30am Confession outside this time is available on request

Saturday Cenacle Rosary and Consecration following benediction after 9am Mass

1st Friday of month, 12.30pm

Fridays (Except 1st Friday) 12.30pm

Benediction Saturdays following 9am Mass

Sundays 12.00pm to 1.00pm

4th Monday of month - 6pm

Parents of school-age children are reminded to register for their Active Kids and Creative Kids vouchers. The NSW Government’s Active Kids program provides  vouchers for parents, guardians and carers of school-enrolled children to use towards sport and active recreation costs each year and also vouchers that can be redeemed for creative activities  such as drama & visual arts. Creative Kids vouchers are also available to be redeemed for creative activities and craft supplies.

To find out more information on how to apply please visit https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/transaction/apply-creative-kids-voucher

Your creative kids voucher can be used to purchase items via approved websites, check out the links below.

Creative Kids Wonderland
Artzee Kids

BrickTastics

Family Bushwalking Fun

Check out these beautiful bushwalk guides featuring over 25 different walks suitable for kids (infant & primary) in the Blue Mountains. https://www.bushtrackers.com.au/guides-maps

Volleyball @ Katoomba 

Looking for something fun and active for the kids to do during the July school holidays? Volleyball NSW is bringing their 'Learn to Play Volleyball Holiday Camp' back to Katoomba Sports and Aquatic Centre.

When: Friday 15 July, 12 – 4.30pm (July school holidays)

Who: Kids aged 10-16yrs

Cost: $77 or $99 with merchandise

Bookings: You can book anytime up to the day of the camp. To register, follow the instructions online: ttps://www.volleyballnsw.com.au/events/144341/

Balls, hoops & ribbons workshop (Rhythmic Gymnastics) @ Springwood Girls & Boys Club

On Saturday 2nd July 2022 from 10-11am for ages 6-15yrs. Non members welcome.

Numbers are limited. Bookings essential. Please use the link below to our website to book.

http://sbagc.com.au/workshops-holidays.html

Moti8 Sports Holiday Clinics - Hawkesbury & Penrith

At Motiv8sports  we get kids excited about sport and help them learn about teamwork and sportsmanship in safe and fun settings. We offer awesome party packages, school programs and of course, the coolest kids’ sports camps on the planet. Our incredible team of coaches are selected based on their love of sport, using their experience, knowledge and energy to inspire the next generation. All of our coaches have undergone Working with Children checks. Camps are held every school holiday throughout the Hawkesbury & Penrith areas. We create events that motivate children to play, where no one sits on the bench and everyone’s treated like a superstar. Check out our events page for an event near you  More information - Choose Your Location | Motiv8sports

Fusion Football Clinic @ Orchard Hills 

In this 3-day holiday program, professionally qualified coaches with Working With Children Checks will engage your kids in fun, challenging, game and skill-based football activities that will help develop and strengthen the fundamentals of Football. All of the activities are designed to get your child thinking, moving, creating options, and developing core strength and coordination, all in a team environment. WHEN: Monday 4 July – Wednesday 6 July 2022 WHERE: Penrith Christian School, 1 Simeon Rd, Orchard Hills NSW 2748 (View map). SUITED FOR: Ages 6 – 13 years COST: $150 for all three days HOW TO BOOK: Book online. For enquiries, contact Mario on 0450 227 508; info@fusionfootball.com.au  WEBSITE SOCIAL MEDIA: Facebook, InstagramI

TruNinja @ Penrith 

Monday - Friday 

Half Day 8:30am -12:00pm or 12:00pm - 3:30pm

Full day  8:30am -3:30pm 

Fully supervised program & private VIP break room. The program includes supervised time on the ninja course with games, coaching and challenges on the obstacles.Our school holiday program is designed to get kids to have fun while engaged in physical activities and learning new skills. Bookings now available - please email penrith@truninja.com.au or call us (02) 4721 0654.Classes + Programs - Tru Ninja

Looking for things to do in the upcoming school holidays? PCYC NSW runs a variety of safe, fun, creative and inclusive school holiday activities for primary and high school aged youth. Our structured programs have a selection of sport and creative based activities to ensure we offer something for everyone!

From multi-sport, gymnastics and boxing to painting, dance and crafts. From pirate days and graffiti, to coding classes and skateboarding, we have lots on offer! Looking for school holidays child care while you're vacation elsewhere in the state? PCYC membership gives you access to any of our 65 clubs! Drop your kids off for school holidays activities while you're on your 'staycation'! 

PCYC Penrith school holiday activities are run by qualified coaches that have a passion for working with young people in a sport and recreation environment. Our programs are designed to be affordable for the local communities that surround our clubs ensuring a cost effective school holiday option for all families. We also accept Creative Kids vouchers at all of our clubs. Check out our timetable of upcoming school holidays activities below. For bookings or more information 0247 321755 School Holidays | A Charity Empowering Young People | PCYC Penrith (pcycnsw.org.au)

Our School Holiday Clinics run in each of the school holidays periods and are the perfect opportunity for new and pre-existing players to master the basic foundations of football. Older participants can challenge themselves with a more advanced program at our Blacktown clinics which are tailored to a more highly developed player. 

Warragamba 12th July Holiday Clinic – Western Sydney Wanderers FC (wswanderersfootball.com)

Is your child a science wiz, a green thumb, a sensory student or an artist in the making? No matter what your child enjoys, we’ve got a broad range of school holiday sessions that every child is sure to enjoy. All sessions are created by our Diversional Therapist and have a duration of 2.5 hours and includes playtime and morning tea. We’ve also dedicated our activity sessions to age based programs to suit both primary and high school students. 

Bookings now available - For more information  sharemyability.org.au   School Holiday Program | Share My Ability| Primary & High School Students

Futsal Skills Training and Game

3-5 year olds

Tuesday's

10am - 11am

Katoomba Sports & Aquatic Centre

For more information, call Sue 0419 434 725

Thursday Afternoon Juniors: 5 - 15 year olds

Cost is $80 per player per term.

Plus yearly registration fee wit Futsal NSW

Girls and Boys / Registration of teams and individuals welcome

Competition held at Katoomba Sports and Aquatic Centre

Contact Sue Kindek

0419 434 725

kondek2@bigpond.com

Competition commences Term 2 Thursday 28th April 2022