St Canice's Primary School Newsletter

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

The sunshine was very welcome this weekend and I am sure that you and your family benefited from the beauty of The Blue Mountains. We have had and continue to have busy times at St Canice’s. 

Open Day was a great success. Thank you to those parents who were able to join us for our wonderful Music concert, Art activities and Open Classrooms. Many thanks to Ms Frazer whose drive, passion and skill has created excellence in Music at St Canice’s. Many of you saw the capacity of our children to sing and play an instrument with confidence. Thank you also, Ms Morley, for your efforts. Some visiting toddlers spent time painting  in the art room and our own students contributed to a beautiful floral canvas. Otherwise, there was time to see learning in our learning spaces. We ensured a variety of activities. I know that your children love showing you their work and talking to you about their learning when you visit. 

The purpose of Open Day is to give you and others the opportunity to see our great school at work. Our next Open Day is on Wednesday, 27 July. We need your help advertising Open Day in our community. Please encourage those you know who may like to consider St Canice’s for their children to come along and see us. There is no need to wait until 27 July- every day is Open day at St Canice’s!

Tell Them From Me                                                                                                 I am very grateful to the 20 parents who have completed the Tell them from Me survey. We will continue to remind you in the days and weeks before the end of term to complete the survey. Your feedback helps us at system level. You ensure we have a voice by responding. Do not underestimate your impact on decision-making! 

Reporting on achievement                                                                               The teachers at the school are currently finalising your child’s Semester 1 report. These will be made available to you via COMPASS on Friday, 24 June. The student-led conferences of recent weeks enabled your child to express his / her goals and to show evidence of learning to you. Now is the time for the teachers to use their professional expertise in crafting your child’s report. Should you have any queries about your child’s report when you receive it, please contact a member of your child’s team in the first instance.

The link to the survey is: http://tellthemfromme.com/stcanices22 

Mrs Amber Baines joined us for the first time last week and will join us on an ongoing basis from Monday, 20 June. Amber enjoyed meeting the teachers, the students and engaging in initial planning for K-2 in Term 3. We have ensured that Amber will have time to work with the K-2 team of teachers to plan learning and to get to know the children.

I hope that we see you at one or more of our special events in the weeks ahead,

God bless,

Ms Miriam

We will farewell Mrs Karatovic on Wednesday this week, Wednesday, 15 June, with a Prayer Assembly at 2:15pm. All are invited to attend and to join us in wishing Mrs Karatovic well as she prepares for the birth of her third daughter. My thanks to Mrs Karatovic for her contribution to St Canice's this year and last year and look forward to welcoming her back to us in 2023.  

Stage 3 students will walk from St Canice’s to the Three Sisters on Thursday, 16th June at 9:40am returning by 12:00pm

They will connect with the Three Sisters as a stimulus for painting. This forms part of the Stage 3 connection with the Three Sisters totem that Aunty Carol has helped us relate to and care for.

Students' work from this day will be incorporated into a larger piece of artwork that is to be presented at the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander conference in the Fairmont Hotel on 13-14 October.

We encourage parents who are available to join us on Thursday 16th June. Feel free to walk with us from school or join us at any stage.

Next week, June 19 - 25, is Refugee Week. The theme this year is Healing. At St Canice's we are a catholic school for all. We welcome all and are privileged to have a very diverse community. We think of our refugee families in a particular way next week. We contemplate the efforts they went to to find safety in Australia and the sacrifices they have made in leaving their troubled homelands. We also celebrate the contribution they make to our community and to Australian society. We advocate for them to ensure that they too have what is required to live life to the full. My thanks to Mrs Clarke who is coordinating a special assembly dedicated to refugees on Friday next, 24th June at 2:15pm.

FIAT

Some of the students on the FIAT (Faith in Action) team in Stage 3 spent last Friday afternoon at St Columba’s school in Springwood, accompanied by Mrs Wedesweiler and Mr McCarthy. Six children from Stage 3 attended. 

Ava and Natasha explain below how it worked:

We did a tour of the school and thought it was an awesome campus. Then we did activities and sang songs that we heard at Lifted Live. We met students from St Thomas Aquinas, Springwood, Our Lady of the Nativity, Lawson, Our Lady of the Way, Emu Plains and St Finbar’s, Glenbrook. It all finished up with pizza- Yum!  

Baptism

We will celebrate a wonderful event in our Church tomorrow Wednesday, 15 June at 12:00pm. Grace in Stage 3 will be baptised. We will take the opportunity to celebrate Grace and also to mark the gift of the Spirit at Pentecost at this mass. If you can, please come and join us as we can gather as a community. 

 Reconciliation

A number of our children received the sacrament of Reconciliation recently. They prepared at school with their parents under the guidance of Mary Gale, who coordinates the sacramental program for our parish. Some of the children at St Canice’s will receive their First Eucharist on Sunday next, 19 June. This is being celebrated on the feast of Corpus Christi, the feast of the Eucharist. Thank you for joining with us in praying for them. If you can, we would love you to join us in St Canice’s church at 10:00am next Sunday. God bless Annie, Billy, Claire, Owen, Nate, Poppy, Mia, Violet, Harry, Sophia and Elizabeth 

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 2 Statements have been posted to all families.  If you have not received your Statement, or if you have any questions, 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

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