St Canice's Primary School Newsletter

St Mary of the Cross MacKillop Parish

Parish Administrator Fr John McSweeney

 Presbytery Contact  Ph: 02 4782 2804

                                     Fax: 02 4782 6090

Website: marymackillopupperbluemountains.org.au

If you wish to come to come to a weekend Mass please use form below to book a Mass time. To avoid disappointment please book for the coming weekend before Friday 3pm.

https://forms.gle/LDSNjTP69UjtEJYs5

If you have trouble accessing the form or know others who would like to book but don't have computer access, please contact the parish office to book your preferred Mass time either by email bluemountains@parracatholic.org or phone 4782 2804.

Thank you for your understanding.

Weekday Mass times are no longer booked but are on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Looking forward to seeing more of your friendly faces at Mass!

https://www.facebook.com/pg/BlueMountainsCatholic

Monday 8.30am Friday 12.00pm Saturday 9.30am Sunday 10.00am

Monday 9.00am Friday 12.30pm Saturday 10.00am

Before Daily Mass each day Saturday Cenacle Rosary and Consecration following 10am Mass

1st Friday of month, 12.30pm

Fridays (Except 1st Friday) 12.30pm

1st Saturday of month – (following Mass)

Sundays 12.00pm to 1.00pm

4th Monday of month – 6pm

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back to Term 4! 

As I write I am surrounded by a multitude of book characters, looking absolutely splendid in their costumes today. Many thanks for your part in helping the children get excited about books. In addition to the parades all children engaged in today, they have participated in reading activities related to the The Children’s Book Council of Australia’s shortlisted books for this year. That shortlist is available at the link below if you are interested in borrowing / buying children’s books. https://cbca.org.au/shortlist-2020 My thanks to all staff at St Canice’s for their enthusiasm and commitment to important events such as this and thanks in particular to Mrs Friend and Ms Marisa in the library, who, in no time at all, got us all ready to make the most of this exciting day.

Our first day of Term 4 was a staff day. The focus again was on Reading K-6. One of our system experts in that space, Ms Kim Platts, worked with us on the day and continued to support us throughout Week 1 in strengthening our capacity to teach reading, which is the most complex and essential  skill of all. Teacher learning this term will also focus on Mathematics and on Religious Education.

The children have settled back into their learning. Our class overviews will provide you with the information you need to talk to your child about what is happening in his / her classroom this term. They are due to go home this week. Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any queries arising out of the learning overview you receive.

Parents, when I hear of the challenges our children are often faced with in cyberspace, I like to pass that on to you. The Social Media / Gaming environment that has come to my attention most recently is Among Us. This one is considered a fun and appropriate game for children 10 and over, once you and your child have strong digital trust.  Unknown people can play this game, thus children need to be aware of stranger danger and what to do if they encounter unknown people in the game. There is a chat function and the children need to ensure that they use this appropriately. Likewise, they need to know what to do if the chat becomes inappropriate. The best advice I can give about this game, since I have not played it, is to play it first with your child by joining in an online game together. Setting a time limit is also an important aspect of playing this game. All of the above is solid advice that applies to many of the social media apps and games your children access. Such an approach helps your child to grow in responsibility whilst ensuring safety.

Next Tuesday, 27th October is a big day in our calendar. We are looking forward to our Colour Fun Run, which will take place at the school. We are most grateful to you for your generous donations so far- we have already almost reached our goal of $5000! What an amazing effort from a school our size. Many thanks also to Mrs Kondek and Mr White who are working together to coordinate the event. 

On the subject of giving, I received a beautiful letter from Maurice Rasmussen, the Vice President of the Katoomba St Vincent De Paul Conference. His letter was to thank us for our great generosity in such a difficult year. We were very proud to be able to donate $2102.50 to him, which is used totally within the Katoomba area, meeting the needs of the community in housing, food assistance and general welfare. So thank you, Parents and children. You are making a difference to the lives of others. October is World Mission Month. We will continue to support local and global communities in the weeks ahead. Ms Morley and Mrs Wedesweiler will be in contact with more information.

Finally, a tip about children and financial literacy. Financial literacy is the capacity to understand and use money sensibly and to save. Lessons in financial literacy are essential, you will agree, and can start with the very young. Among the tips I have come across, I have listed below my top three:

• Talk to your children about money, about how we all have limited money and we need to carefully decide what we spend it on.

• Talk to them about where your money goes to, for example, what happens when you Tap and Pay

• Show them a bill you regularly pay, such as an electricity bill

God bless,

Miriam Meaney

School Principal

Tomorrow Wednesday 21st October,  we are having professional photographs taken at the school by our system photographer. This happens once every three years and is used by our system in publications and promotions related to the school.

We have a few important uniform requests:

Stage 2 needs to wear full summer school uniform and bring sports shoes for gymnastics in a bag

All other students in the school are to wear their sports uniform.

All students need to be present in the correct summer uniform, outlined above, and need to be beautifully-groomed.

We will ensure that we do not photograph the children of those parents who have requested that their children not be photographed.

Many thanks for your help with this.

Just in time to celebrate our love of reading, Clickview have put together a collection of Australian children's books read by their authors. 

The video series comes courtesy of YABBA - Young Australia Best Book Awards.  

These stories could be shared with students in a classroom or library setting or students could be encouraged to explore them at home.  

This book of 24 Absolutely True Facts About...Penguins looks particularly good!  

The Cicada Concert has been deafening at St Canice's this week. On Tuesday we brought some Cicadas into the classroom to find out more about them. we discovered how long they are underground, how long they live above ground, which ones make the noise - and why. Some students, like Sophai P had already done their own research about the different names we have for them.

Then we drew a cicada and wrote some facts that we had discovered about them.

Kinder and Year 1 had a wonderful start back to school for term 4.  We were very excited to see two new play pods when we came in.  The bus was kindly given to us by stage 3 after their drama performance at the end of last term.  We had a lot of fun making Opal cards and drawing maps so that the bus could take the correct route to our favourite places.  The other play pod was dress ups and there was a lot of rich language and imaginary play there as we pretended to be everything from butterflies to pirates!

Ms Clarke and Ms K have been so impressed with the development of oral language in our youngest students as they engage in the play pods.  As an added bonus the development of skills such as negotiating, cooperating and problem solving have also blossomed.

Dear Families,

An exciting development has been bubbling behind the scenes this year at St Canice's.  A new program to positively support the behaviour and choices that the children make has been developed and is now ready to be trialled.  It is called the St Canice's Calling.  We have chosen this name to recognise that we are a Catholic school and Jesus calls us to be the best people we can be, every day.  The three pillars of the program are:-* At St Canice's we love selflessly* At St Canice's we live responsibly* At St Canice's we learn purposefully. The children have begun lessons to unpack the language and ideas contained in these pillars.  A key component of the program is consistency from Kindergarten to Year 6.  It is also crucial that this is a positive program so that the children are recognised for the times when they DO make good choices and act in a way that is outlined in the pillars.  We have chosen a Lyrebird as our mascot for the program.  The Lyrebird has connections to our Totem- the Three Sisters and is also, in Darug language,  a "bird of peace".  Later on this term we will have some fun and engaging sessions where the children can draw / paint / create some images of the Lyrebird and we hope to use their original artwork as our symbol for our motto. Once COVID restrictions ease we hope to have some information sessions for the community and a launch day.  We are hopeful that we will be able to do this early next year.

Watch this space for more information to come!

Kellie Clarke

The St Canice's Colour Fun Run will be held on Tuesday 27th October 2020!

Brochures and sponsorship forms have been distributed.

You can go to schoolfunrun.com.au to create a profile page for your child. Take time to familiarise yourself with the page by watching the video, creating your avatar and most importantly sharing your link!

Students who raise $10 or more will receive a reward and the more money you raise, the better the reward, and the more you help the school.

Remember for creating a page and getting at least one donation, you'll automatically be in the draw to win a $20,000 Ultimate Family Experience!

If you have any issues, please contact the School Fun Run Office on 1800 FUN RUN. 

Thank you in advance for being a part of our 2020 Crazy Colour Fun Run!

Happy Birthday to all who celebrate in October

Fionn

Serena

Patrick M

Xavier

Grace B

William B

Antonella

Elizabeth

Owen M

Thomas

Connor

Max T

Just a gentle reminder bubblers are not currently in use due to Covid19

Please ensure your child brings both a drink bottle and hat to school daily, clearly labelled with their name. 

Children who forget to bring their school hat will be asked to sit in the shade during recess and lunch time in order to protect them from the sun. 

Prolonged absences from school can greatly impact your child’s academic achievements as well as their social and emotional development.

Regular school attendance sets up good behaviour for workplace and other life commitments.

You can help your child achieve this by ensuring they attend  school every day (except when genuinely sick).

How you meet your commitments can often impact on a child arriving at school on time. You can be a great role model by being on time yourself.

• assist educators to engage families in the early learning of their children; 
• assist families and educators reflect on how children learn at home and at school;
• provide practical, evidence-based activities to support literacy and numeracy skills/development aligned to the NSW Syllabus and the Early Years Learning Framework; and
• reinforce Catholic schools’ commitment to work in partnership with all families to support children’s learning and wellbeing.

This project has benefited greatly from the expertise and wisdom of the early years consultants and teachers across our Catholic schools. We are also grateful to those educators, families and children who let us observe and film them while they were busy at work and play. 

CSNSW is also grateful to the Australian Government for the provision of funds under the Non-Government Reform Support Fund (NGRSF) which has made this project possible. 

• • Family School Partnership Framework (2008, Australia)
  • Through Growth To Achievement: Report of the Review to Achieve Educational Excellence in Australian Schools, March 2018
  • Lifting Our Game Report: Report of the Reivew to Achieve Educational Excellence in Australian Schools Through Early Childhood Interventions
  • Early Years Learning Framework
  • NESA English Syllabus
  • NESA Mathematics Syllabus
  • National Literacy and Numeracy Learning Progressions

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.orci. Etiam volutpat lectus nec risus tincidunt, nec iaculis ligula ullamcorper. Praesent bibendum dictum turpis, non fringilla nisl tincidunt non. Donec rhoncus odio ut libero dictum, et ullamcorper nisl condimentum.

https://earlyyears.csnsw.catholic.edu.au/

We continue to have good interest by prospective parents in our school and this often results in new enrolments. The children are always excited to welcome new children to St Canice’s and we too are always eager to expand our community by welcoming new families.  Parents who visit tell us that it is word of mouth that encourages them to have a closer look. Parents and Carers, thank you  for speaking highly of this great school in the community. I hear praise of our teachers and of our beautiful students from prospective parents time and again. I want to encourage you to keep up this great work. It has been proven beyond doubt that the single greatest advertisement for a school is the good word that is passed on. 

In accordance with advice from NSW Health, parents and carers are reminded NOT to send children to school if they are unwell, even if they have the mildest flu-like symptoms.

NSW Health have requested that anyone who is unwell or has even mild flu-like symptoms, to arrange to be tested through their local medical practitioner or one of the COVID-19 clinics.

Students  with flu-like symptoms will need to provide a copy of a negative COVID-19 test result before being permitted to return to school.

Additional safety measures for school activities have been put in place to minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission in schools.

As of Wednesday 19th August 2020

* Only providers that are essential to the delivery of curriculum can continue to provide services and programs until further notice. 

* Parents/carers and other non-essential visitors are not allowed on the school site. If you need to speak with your child's Teacher, please call the office on 4780 6800 or email the school at stcanices@parra.catholic.edu.au to arrange a phone appointment.

To minimise risk to staff and in an effort to minimise disruption to students learning we request that if you must deliver items ( including food / drink)  to a student within school hours, we ask that this only be done during recess or lunch. Your child will then be called to collect items directly from you. 

Recess is at 10:40am - 11:10am

Lunch is at 1:10pm - 1:50pm

Please be mindful to maintain social distancing when coming to the Administration Office.

For those students participating in private lessons, please ensure your child brings their instrument to school on the following days.

Violin Lessons - Wednesday with Bonita

Cello Lessons - Thursday with Paul 

Ensemble - Thursday 3 - 4pm

Payment for Term 4 is now due - please organise payment as soon as possible.

The Office is now unable to process cash payments.

Payment of School Fees can be made via BPay or direct debit, details can be found on your Statement.  If you have not received a statement and have a query about your school fees please call the office on 4780 6800. 

EFTPOS is available for any other payments. 

     We are enrolling for Kindergarten 2021, 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 119 years.

The Parent Calendar can be found at the St Canice's website - please subscribe

https://www.stcaniceskatoomba.catholic.edu.au/In-the-Loop/Calendar-and-Term-Dates

The health, safety and wellbeing of our communities and our people remains our highest priority. Due to the ongoing uncertainty surrounding coronavirus, the School Banking program will remain on hold. We will continue to monitor the situation and keep you informed with any updates including how we will be managing Dollarmite tokens for students. 

In the meantime, here are some handy online resources for parents who wish to maintain momentum with their child’s financial education: 

• Start Smart: these resources have been created to improve children’s money management skills, and is aligned to the Australian Curriculum and the National Consumer Financial Literacy Framework. 
• The Beanstalk: offers videos and fun activities for children to learn about money.

All messages and notifications from the school are sent through the "Skoolbag" app.

Please make sure you have this app on your devices for all current and up to date school alerts.

Download skoolbag from the app store

Select St Canice's Catholic Primary Katoomba

If you have any difficulty accessing the app, please contact the school so that we can ensure everyone is receiving information sent out.

Building Child Safe Communities - Volunteer Undertaking

Dear Parents/Carers 

All Volunteers have until 30th September 2020 to submit a new Undertaking in the new system.

In Catholic Education Diocese Parramatta (CEDP), we see parents and carers as partners in your child's learning journey. Parents and carers are encouraged to become involved in our schools in many important ways such as supporting classroom learning, being part of advisory groups, mentoring programs, coaching sporting teams and supporting other extra-curricular activities and other kinds of help.

A range of checks and undertakings are required for people who work for or provide services to CEDP. These checks reduce potential risk and form part of our strategy to build child safe communities.

CEDP has launched a new Building Child Safe Communities form and online training module that all volunteers are required to complete. 

The purpose of this training is to inform you of the standards of behaviour and other requirements that must be adhered to when volunteering for CEDP.

The undertaking should take no more than 5 minutes to complete and the training module approximately 10 minutes. Once the form and training modules are submitted, an automated email will be sent to you within two business days to confirm the status of your submission.

The undertaking form will expire within two years or when your Working With Children Check expires (if applicable), whichever is sooner. At that time you will need to complete the undertaking form and training module again. You will receive an automatic reminder email when this occurs. 

Further information on the new online form and training module can be found at www.parra.catholic.edu.au and clicking on about us/building child safe communities. Within the form you will also find help sheets and a video tutorial to assist you. 

Thank you in advance for your support.

The Diocese of Parramatta’s Office for Safeguarding and Professional Standards (OSPS) has launched a new website, strengthening their ability to deliver advice and support to parishes, agencies and ministries to ensure the Diocese is safe for all people. Visit the website at www.safeguarding.org.au