St Canice's Primary School Newsletter

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

Welcome to our first newsletter of Term 2. I hope that you all enjoyed the Easter break and managed to stay healthy during that time. The weather was in our favour and let’s hope that the sun continues to shine for a while.

Many thanks to our Stage 3 students and teachers for the ANZAC Day presentation last week. It opened our term beautifully and helped us to connect the spirit of remembrance and gratitude to our own faith. Just as our war veterans made enormous sacrifices for us, their spirit lives on as does Jesus this Easter season.

Mothers’ Day is upon us. We look forward to holding the Mothers’s Day stall on Thursday this week, 5 May. We consistently remind the children that Mothers’ Day is about all of those special carers in children’s lives. We are aware that some children do not have Mums caring for them and we want them too to feel included by celebrating those people special to them. We invite all to Afternoon Tea at 1:30pm on Friday, followed by a liturgy and assembly, to celebrate all Mums and all special people in our children’s lives.

Looking forward to seeing those of you who can join us on Friday to celebrate Mums and special carers- 1:30pm for tea / coffee / cake and 2pm for Assembly.

God bless,

Ms Miriam, Principal

mmeaney@parra.catholic.edu.au

You will receive the Term 2 Calendar shortly. The calendar is never locked in concrete but it is a reliable guide to what is happening in Term 2. As we move through the term, we will provide updates as necessary. Among the key events are the Student-led Conferences in Week 6. Student-led Conferences are similar to Parent-Teacher conferences. The difference is that the student is at the centre of the process. More information about booking your time for the conference will be provided in the weeks ahead by Ms Emma.

The St Canice's Mother's Day Stall will be held THIS Thursday 5th May

Gifts are available for $5 and $10​

All gifts must be ordered and purchased via the Qkr! app.

Orders must be placed and paid for in advance by tomorrow Wednesday 4th of May.

St Canice's can no longer accept cash payments.

Please see attached information on how to download the Qkr! app. If you have any questions please contact the Office staff on 4780 6800.

St Canice's School Photo Day will be held on

Thursday 12th May 2022

All students are expected to wear full winter school uniform.

All new uniform items are ordered online via the School Locker at theschoollocker.com.au/schools/st-canice-s-primary-school-katoomba

Please email wetherillpark@theschoollocker.com.au if you require assistance.

We are expecting to have photo order forms distributed to your child / children later in the week, we will confirm when this has happened.

To Order Photos:

Once you receive your photo order form, go to www.msp.com.au enter your unique shootkey and follow the prompts.

Family Photos: 

Please order online prior to photo day with your unique shootkey. One shootkey per family. 

Please note - All orders placed after photo day incur a $20 late fee.

Cashless Made Simple! 

Australia is on the brink of becoming a cashless society. MSP Photography have embraced this new change to help improve your school photography experience! All orders are made online. No cash accepted.

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.

My thanks to the teachers for getting Learning Overviews home to you early in Term 2. Please take 20 minutes to go over the term overview with your child. It will be exciting for parents and students to consider what will be learned and what your child already knows. It will also give you great opportunities to keep the conversation going about learning throughout the term. 

Teachers and students K-6 will be putting the spotlight on Writing this term and in particular their capacity to develop ideas so as to engage an audience. The connection between what they read and what they write will be prioritised. As they read picture books in class, they will see that writers narrow down their ideas and generally develop one good idea rather than many. They will also realise that authors write about what they are interested in and write about that in a way that engages the reader. We encourage you to also talk to your child about the ideas in books you share and to discuss what they like to write about. 

New enrolments at St Canice’s are always front of mind for staff and parents alike. We will take the opportunity to market our great little school on Election Day and on our Term 2 Open Day- Thursday 9 June. My thanks to our community building team of parents for organising rosters for Election Day. Parents, remember that you can all help us, whether available to help at school or not. Please promote St Canice’s through your social channels. Let your friends with school-age children know about St Canice’s! And don’t forget to vote at St Canice’s on Saturday 21 May.

We are very privileged to have Kelly, who has been assigned by Transport NSW as the school crossing supervisor.

The School Crossing Supervisor program is a state-wide program that contributes to the safety of infants and primary school students. School crossing supervisors help students use the crossings on roads adjacent to or nearby schools. 

School crossing supervisors are provided to increase mobility and safety around schools by enhancing the performance of pedestrian traffic facilities. School crossing supervisors provide additional measures for the safe and efficient movement of primary and infant school children.

The School Crossing Supervisor program is an important component of the Safety around schools program.

Please say hello to Kelly when you see her and remember to follow her instructions for the safety of all.

My thanks to the group of parents listed below who have formed a community-building group, charged with encouraging participation from all families in the life of the school following COVID.

The group has formed chat groups and is seeking permission from parents to add them to the group if this has not already happened.  Please contact the parent from your class to connect with the chat group. Being a part of the group enables you to keep updated on what is happening at school and to help where you can. It also enables the group to find ways of getting together outside of school, perhaps for a coffee or for a play date at a local park. If you have more than one child at the school, you will have two people to contact. Many thanks to all parents for helping these parents to build our community!

St Canice's students are not required at school on Friday 10th of June.

Staff will be completing their First Aid Training Refresher.

No student supervision will be available on this day.

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

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

Welcome to Mrs Sue Kondek, who has returned to St Canice's in our Library.

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 early term 2 to chat about how you can help.

Happy reading.

Ms Sue

Cross Country Update

 Unfortunately due to the weather and timing we were unable to proceed with the catch up cross country race. Students that were absent and wished to compete were given the opportunity to attend  the cross country carnival at the diocesan event this week. 

Results from the school carnival 

House points 

1st - Green 

2nd - Red

3rd - Gold

4th - Blue 

Any students that have been awarded ribbons and have left the school these ribbons will be posted to their residential addresses. 

Students representing St Canices at the Diocesan Carnival on Tuesday 3rd May at Eastern Creek

Billy Ward, Dean Irwin, Leo Altavilla, Nyah Allen. Ella-Rae Kurth-Shaw, Sofia Shaw, Patch Allen, Harrison Barnes, Jude Diaz, Keitah Altavilla, Claire Rickard, Sophia Parrott, Antonella Nunez, Grace Linehan, Sophia Heint, Oliver Masselos, Natasha Vasquez-Seers, Grace Bigelow, Vengili Selvarasa, Javier Diaz, Kamran Lynch, Elodie Shaw, Aylah Lynch, Marshall Field. 

Thank you to the staff, parents and carers for helping on the day. We hope you all have a fantastic day. 

Futsal Gala Days  Reminders

Stage 3 - Friday 6th May and Stage 2 Friday 13th May 

Where: Katoomba Aquatic Centre

Time: Please arrive by 8.00am

Uniform: Sports uniform, joggers, recess & lunch, plenty of water

(St Canices will provide - Soccer jerseys, long socks &  some shin pads on the day)

 Canteen: Will be open for purchases

Please take your child to the courts to find Mr Okladnikov & Mrs Ranson to get their names marked off the roll and set up ready for the first game at 8.30am the games will conclude by 3.00pm. Spectators are welcome 

• We are short 10 pairs of shin pads if your child plays soccer can they please bring their own shin pads on the day  

Futsal Teams are finalised and will not be amended, Teams consistent of 5 players plus subs 

Teams 

Stage 3 - Friday 6th May, 2022 

Stage 2 - Friday 13th May, 2022

Diocesan Soccer Gala Days @ Penrith 

Stage 3 Girls - Wednesday 25th May

Stage 3 Boys - 

Stage 2 Boys & Girls - 

Thank you to the students that have returned the permission slips, parents please ensure any permission notes are returned to the office asap. It is very important to contact me if your child has decided not to play. If we do not have full teams we will have to forfeit our team on the day. We still require a couple of referees and a team manager if you have a high school child attending St Columbas that would like to help referee on the day their absence can be marked as Community service.

Reminder - Students can wear soccer boots if they have them, alternatively normal joggers are fine. 

St Canices will provide soccer jerseys, some shin pads and soccer socks on the day. 

If you have any questions please contact me. 

Many thanks to the parents and carers for all of your assistance with transport to these sporting events 

Please subscribe to calendar  Upcoming School Events at St Canice's Primary Katoomba (stcaniceskatoomba.catholic.edu.au)

Kind Regards, 

Kylie Ranson 

I would like to congratulate our school students, we have seen a vast improvement in student attendance and less late arrivals. 

We still have a number of families not completing attendance notes in Compass. If you are unable to access Compass please contact the office so we can assist you. 

If your child is off school it is a legal requirement for us to be informed of why they are absent. School attendance is compulsory for children over the age of 6 years until the minimum school leaving age of 17 years (students may leave earlier only to attend TAFE or work in full time employment). The Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta has a set standard for all schools that every student be present at school for at least 90% of the time. 

To achieve this student absences need to be minimised. While we understand the impact of COVID and the need to keep children who are sick at home we need to balance this with the impacts on student learning.

Additionally students who have been ill due to COVID related symptoms have provided the school information and certificates that explains this illness and this will be acknowledged. It is a requirement of all schools to acknowledge, inform and follow up student attendance patterns and absences. 

For students  arriving late to school, we ask that students  are walked to the office by their parent/carer so they can receive a late note. It is unsafe to let your child wander down the driveway unaccompanied by a parent.  

I want to thank all parents & carers for their continued support in this area and for maximising student attendance in what has been a challenging time.

Kind Regards, 

Kylie Ranson

Attendance Family Liaison Officer

Now that we can, we are seeking volunteers for a number of events. Please click on this link to fill in a form indicating which events  you can help out with and we will be in touch to confirm. 

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 will be posted out by the end of this week.  If you do not receive your Statement by Friday 14th May, please contact the office. 

If you have any questions or would like to make a payment plan 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

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