St Mary's Newsletter

Term 2 - Week 4 (24th May, 2019)

Principal's Message

Dear St Mary's School Community

John 14: 23-29

In Sunday’s Gospel Jesus says, “All who love me will keep my words and my father will love them and he will come to them.  I give you my peace, peace the world cannot give.”. When Jesus promises peace, it is truly a great gift.  No matter what challenges life brings us, we can pray for the peace of Christ to fill our hearts.

Sorry Day

National Sorry Day is an Australia-wide observance held on May 26 each year.  This day gives people the chance to come together and share the steps towards healing for the Stolen Generations, their families and communities.  Stolen generations refer to Indigenous Australians who were forcibly removed from their families and communities.


Code of Conduct

Conduct Statement  7: You give and seek the best, honest and most accurate information about the education and care of students.

For STAFF this includes but is not limited to:

Documenting and passing on relevant and important information about student & staff well-being .

Being present and approachable for all parents or caregivers 

For PARENTS this includes but is not limited to:

Keeping the school informed about any new information in relation to their child

Keeping an open line of communication with all teachers

For STUDENTS this includes but is not limited to:

Forming good relationships with their teachers, so that they feel supported in their learning environment 

For VISITORS/VOLUNTEERS this includes but is not limited to:

Other forms of communication are open to visitors and volunteers. 

Health Alert

St Mary’s has had an unusually high number of children away with illness this week.  However, some parents are still choosing to send sick children to school.  To reduce spreading germs and to help our community be as healthy as possible it is important to keep children at home if they are unwell or still recovering from a contagious illness.  Children who have suffered from vomiting, diarrhoea, the flu, chest infections, or other contagious conditions such as whooping cough, chicken pox, etc need to be kept at home until they are completely recovered to minimise the risk of infecting others.  Hopefully the weekend will give everyone the opportunity to rest and recover and be back on deck on Monday!

GEMS

Mrs Riethmuller and I will be at GEMS in Esperance on Monday and Tuesday.  Mrs Craine will be responsible for the school in our absence.

CPPA Members Day

I will be attending the CPPA Members Day on Friday, 31st May.  Mrs Riethmuller will be responsible for the school in my absence.

Change of Date

Due to the Junior Winter Carnival being rather close to the Winter Carnival the two schools (Merredin College and St Mary’s School) have decided to change the date for the Winter Carnival from 26 June to 3 July (Wednesday – Week 10).  Please change this date in your diaries.

End of Year Concerts

A survey link was sent via the Skoolbag App to all families about providing feedback on the format of the End of Year Concerts.  Thank you to all the families that have taken the time to give their thoughts and opinion.  At this stage, we have had over a third of all families (Kindy to Year Six) respond.    If you have not had the chance to respond to the survey – please do so by Wednesday, 29 May.

Thank You

Our sincerest thank you to John and Julie Nicoletti who donated “The Grower:  Roots of Australia” and “The Grower:  Heartbeat of Australia” to St Mary’s School.  These two books capture the diversity that is rural and regional Australia through the photography of Al Mabin.  The books will be housed in the Library and I encourage families to make a time to spend some time having a look at them.  They are magnificent and St Mary’s is very lucky to have had them gifted to us!

God Bless and have a lovely weekend with your families.

Ms Adriana Coniglio

Principal

Religious News

Mrs Hannah Herbert 

Religious Education Coordinator 

Other News & Important Dates

Term 2 Parent Calendar - Full Version

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Tuckshop

Tuckshop

Please see below the Tuckshop Menu and Roster for Term Two.  As you can see, we are still in need of addition  volunteers to fill our roster.  If you are able to help please drop in and see Damiana next term or contact the office

Term 2 Tuckshop Menu

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Class News

Pre-Primary Corner

We have begun to send home our Pre-Primary prayer bag with the children, they have been thinking about and writing prayers to share with their class. The children write down what they are grateful for, what they are sorry for and what they would like to pray for. The children have been very excited about the prayer bags that go home to two children each week and love showing them to their friends. Over the last few weeks in Pre-Primary we have also been focusing on belonging to families, groups and communities. We have talked about what places or things make up our neighborhood and discussed what makes a good class community. We have also shared stories about how Jesus belonged to communities and wanted others to be part of them in loving ways. 

Year Five Class News

Passive Solar Heating 

Last term, the Year Five class learned about passive solar heating in Technologies. Passive solar heating is when you heat an area without using mechanical elements like solar panels or heaters. 

This term, the students have been given the task to pretend that they are a designer and someone has approached them and asked them to design a passive solar heated home. They have to follow the steps below in order to complete the task:

  • Create a poster to define passive solar heating and explain that five key elements of passive solar
  • Complete a PMI chart in relation to passive solar heating
  • Draw a plan for the passive solar heated home and label the key design features
  • Create a model of the passive solar heated home
  • Evaluate the passive solar heated home. 
  • Later this term, the students will have a fun filled day creating their passive solar heated houses using a variety of recycled materials. 

    Science/STEM/DT News

    We are studying the Physical Sciences this term. 

    Physical Sciences refers to a number of forces that can be used on different objects. Some of these may include:  to push and pull something, gravity and the forces. 

    Kindergarten Students – will be involved in many and varied learning experiences from – how toys move, what we can push and pull, creating a maze and what sinks and floats. 

    Pre Primary Students – studying how objects move and testing different objects to predict and classify them depending on their movement of spinning, rolling or bouncing.  Does the size and shape change how it moves?  

    Year One -  are going to be investigating Light and Sound.  How can describe the colour of light?   How does light help us to see colours?  What is sound and where does it come from? 

    What instruments make different sounds?  

    Year Two – will be looking at forces.  How can we move an object?  What is gravity?  How can wind create big waves?  How to design and construct a toy boat that will float?  

    Year Three – are going to look at heat sources.  Why do we need heat sources and how are they used?  Comparing the conductivity different sources.   Why does heat transfer from hot objects to cooler ones?  

    Year Four – studying Newton’s theory of gravity.  Do magnetic fields created pass through non-magnetic fields?  Explore the strength of a magnet.  How do gravity and magnetic forces react from a distance?  Working on a We Do 2 project about Push and Pull to construct and code a robot. 

    Year Five – studying light and how it travels.  What is the difference between transparent, translucent and opaque?  What is a periscope and how can we construct it?  Working on a project about Simple Machines using the Sphero robot. 

    Year Six – What renewable energy resources are used to create energy?  How can we construct a simple circuit?   Working on a STEM project to design and create a Sustainable City using recycled materials.  Studying the Collgar website and working with the Collgar Wind farm on a sustainable project.   

    Assembly Award Winners

    Cooperative Learning Social Skill for week 1, 2 & 3 - Asking For Help

    PP:                             Jacob Robartson                  

    Year One:                Hamish Carr      

    Year Two:                Angelica Kraske-Beck               

    Year Three:             Jasmine White

    Year Four:               Joe Goedhart

    Year Five:                Alexis Kermode

    Year Six:                  Vincent McCormack

    St Mary's Footy Tipping

    Round Nine

    Congratulations to Round Nine Winner Wilgoyne Sponsored by Elders.

    Footy Tipping Ladder

    Round Ten is sponsored by Ranbuild and Tompkin Engineering.


    TipperRound 9Total
    1Livprue858
    2Wayne S855
    3Dragon Lady954
    4Val754
    5M Quadrio753
    6Pavarotti853
    7Bear5853
    8Brendan Smith853
    9Fr Andrew653


    Other News

    Waste Wise News

    By bringing less waste into schools we can minimise litter, reduce waste going to landfill, save money and develop healthy eating habits. Producing excessive amounts of waste is a major problem in Australia, with Australia being the second highest producer of waste per person when compared to other western countries. Australians produce 41 million tonnes of waste each year. This amount of waste would fill a line of garbage trucks from Perth to London. Recent statistics also reveal that WA produces significantly more waste than the rest of Australia.   

    Research has also shown that 22 per cent of the total litter stream is packaging materials (Keep Australia Beautiful, 2008). By purchasing food products with less disposable packaging and by storing them in reusable containers, individuals can reduce the amount of waste produced and decrease the amount of plastic items found in our litter stream.

    Let Us Pray

    Lord Jesus,

    you give us peace,

    peace the world cannot give.

    May our hearts rest in your peace.

    Amen

    St Mary's Parish Roster

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    Community Notices