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Parents and Friends
A very big thank you to 12 of our dedicated parent/guardian/grandparent volunteers who attended our first P & F meeting for the year. With so many families joining our committee, we can share the load of organising events. Special thanks to Karen Glancy our coordinator and Juliette Parsons our secretary for keeping the meeting on track and keeping us informed. Our committee members have a number of fundraising and community events planned for this year. Information about these events will be advertised regularly in this newsletter. Please see the Parents and Friends section.
Family Picnic
We are hoping our school family picnic will be back on!! We have set a new date- FRIDAY 12 MARCH from 5:30-8:00pm. Of course this is subject to COVID restrictions. Mark the date in your calendars and we will keep you informed. Fingers crossed.
We urge all families to please complete the community organisation survey as the information we collect will greatly support the work of the Enrolment Maximisation Committee. We are hoping to make stronger connections with organisations in our local community and raise the profile of our school. We are seeking one member from each of our school families to please complete the survey. Please click on the link below to complete a quick survey.
Thank you
Enrolment Maximisation Committee
CLICK HERE TO COMPLETE the Community Organisation- parent survey
Parent/Teacher/Student Meetings
This year our students will be involved reporting back on their learning. All students will participate in parent/teacher/student meetings. The meetings will promote conversation between the student, their parents and their teacher, allowing students to demonstrate their individual growth and any particular achievements that they are proud of.
The meeting structure will follow a simple format. The teacher will talk for 5 minutes, students for 5 minutes and parents for 5 minutes.
The benefits of including students in these meetings are:
- Students are supported to take responsibility for their own learning
- Monitor and share their progress through self and teacher feedback
- Evaluate their progress through teacher directed assessment and self evaluation
- Gives students a chance to show parents direct improvement in their own learning
- Allows parents, students and teachers to celebrate student success together
- Gives students a chance to develop and use real world skills:
*Self-reflection and evaluation
*Organisation and communication
*Self-confidence
This year it is compulsory for all students to attend parent/teacher/student meetings.
Meetings are scheduled for Tuesday 23 March and Wednesday 24 March.
Meetings will be 15 minutes in duration and take place in your child’s classroom.We suggest that parents with more than one child do not book back to back meeting times, to allow time to move to the next meeting.
At this stage, unless restrictions change, wearing of masks is not required as long as social distancing is maintained.
Students must be supervised by parents or wait quietly outside classrooms and are not permitted on the school playground.
2021 Student Residential Address and Other Information
The Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment collects information from schools that is used to inform school funding calculations. It is combined with data held by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) to calculate a non-government school community’s anticipated capacity to contribute to the costs of schooling.
I write to inform you that the school is to provide residential addresses and other information as required under the Australian Education Regulation 2013 (Cth).
The school is required to provide the department with the following information about each student at the school:
- Names and residential addresses of students’ parent(s) and/or guardian(s)
- Student residential address (excluding student names)
- Whether the student is a primary or secondary student (education level)
- Whether the student is boarding or a day student (boarding status).
St Peter’s, St Paul’s St Catherine's generates a unique and unidentifiable record number for each student record. The number is only used by the school for this collection. It is not allowed to be used for any other purpose. The number indicates to the department that each record provided is for one student.
Open Day
Our school Open Day is Thursday 11 March. Please let friends and neighbours know our school will be open from 9:30-11:00am on this day. School Tours will be conducted by our informative year 6 students. All are welcome. We kindly thank Sam Hartrick from Hartrick Property for donating two advertising boards, greatly supporting our school in advertising this event in our local community. We also thank the Castrillion family for once again agreeing to us placing one of the advertising boards on their property.
HELP NEEDED!- Letterbox Drop-Open Day Flyers
We are seeking any families who are willing to assist in dropping some flyers into letterboxes in the local area. Please see Carmel Donlon or email her directly. carmel.donlon@scmoorabbin.catholic.edu.au
Google Review
To support us to raise the profile of our school in our local community, we are asking parents, families and friends to complete a google review on our school.
Kindergarten/Child Care Visits
As part of our Community Outreach Program, a number of our year 5 students over the next few weeks will be visiting local pre school centres to support younger children in their learning. Last week we visited Bruthren Street Kindergarten, where the children quickly responded to our students. Our year 5 students demonstrated kindness, understanding and patience, while working and playing with the preschool children. They were excellent ambassadors of our school.
School Closure Days
Each year Catholic Schools allocate 6 school closure days for Professional Learning for staff.
The remaining school closure days for the year are:
Tuesday 15 June
Monday 26 July
Monday 1 November
Friday 26 November
Kingston Woman of the Year Finalist
Our very own Sue Pattinson has made the finalist of the Kingston Women of the Year.
The announcement of this year’s women of the year will be made on Friday 5 March.
Sue has worked at St Catherine’s Primary School since 1982 and has been a committed member of the school community inspiring students to achieve positive learning outcomes. She has taught physical education with continued passion and dedication over many years. Using sport as her tool, she instills a strong sense of self worth and respect for others in every student.
The National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence is an important day to mark Australian school communities standing together against bullying and violence. This year as a school community we would like to show our support of this national day on Monday the 22nd March.
We would love each family to sit down over the next few weeks and chat about how we can take a stand against bullying by standing together and acting responsibly and not being a bystander. Our school values which we proudly display on the front of our school; We strive to be Respectful, be Responsible and be Restorative, enable our school community to provide a safe environment for all.
This Friday 5th March the eldest child in each family will receive a template to complete. We would encourage every family to include an image / illustration and a slogan such as; We can start the change, We’re not silent bystanders to bullying, Take a stand together or make up your own slogan. As a family you are invited to come along on Monday morning the 22nd March before school and show your support by placing your poster on the school banner which will be displayed in the school hall.
Thank you for your support,
Kind regards,
Maree Hills
RECONCILIATION REFLECTION DAY-
‘A Change of Heart”
Wednesday 3rd March
St Catherine’s School & Church
On Wednesday 3rd MARCH ALL of the Year 3 & 4 students will be involved in the Reconciliation Reflection Day at St. Catherine’s. This day will be led by the class teachers and myself (Religious Education Leader). The day will continue to lead the students to a deeper understanding of Reconciliation.
The students are allowed to wear casual clothes on the day. All students will be required to bring a snack (including fruit) and water bottle (no glass). A sausage sizzle lunch (gluten free sausages) will be provided for all of the students. Children who are unable to eat sausages due to dietary concerns are required to bring their own lunch from home. If this is the case please let your child’s classroom teacher know.
RECONCILIATION FAMILY WORKSHOP
YEAR 3 & 4 RECONCILIATION CANDIDATES
Wednesday 10th March 7.00-8.00pm
St Catherine’s Learning Hub
The Family Workshop for Reconciliation will take place on WEDNESDAY 10th MARCH 2021. Families and their child must attend (at least one parent). We look forward to working with families to pray together and explore the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
The season of Lent began with Ash Wednesday, which also marks the beginning of the annual Caritas Australia Project Compassion Appeal. Donations to Project Compassion allows Caritas Australia, the Catholic Agency for International Aid and Development, to work with local communities around the world to alleviate poverty, hunger, oppression and injustice.
We encourage you to put your compassion into action this Lent through your prayer, fasting and almsgiving by supporting Project Compassion. Each family has received a Project Compassion box for donations or you can donate online via the Caritas Australia website at: lent.caritas.org.au. Spare collection boxes can be obtained from the office.
If you choose to collect during Lent, please return the boxes to school Saint Oscar Romero is our inspiration for Project Compassion 2021, so in his words let’s “Aspire not to have more, but to be more.”
Please return donations to the school office by Friday 26th March so we can add the school donations to St Catherine's Parish Donations. Boxes can also be returned directly to St Catherine’s Church during weekend masses.
Week 2 Lenten Prayer
God of all peoples and nations
As you accompany us on our Lenten journey
May our fasting strengthen our
Commitment to love in solidarity
Our almsgiving be an act of justice, and
Our prayers anchor us in love and compassion
Through living simply and loving generously
May we care for our global family
And our common home as we
‘Aspire not to have more, but to be more’
We ask this in Jesus’ name
Amen
Carmel Donlon
Religious Education Leader
carmel.donlon@scmoorabbin.catholic.edu.au
Holt District Swimming Sports
Congratulations to my swimming squad. We may have been small in numbers, but we were big on heart. Alexander Arnaoutis came second in freestyle and backstroke and our 11 year old relay ( Lex, Jasmine and Alexander ) came 3rd with the help of a slightly older Ramy. Unfortunately Jackson was feeling unwell and unable to compete. I know I will see him next year. Everyone enjoyed the experience and had a great day. A big congratulations to Alexander who will represent Holt District in 50m Backstroke on March 5th. We all wish him the best of luck.
Thank you to Laura Armour and Antonella Chiodo for their support. A huge thank you to Lisa Grainger, Kristina Arnauotis and Anna Khodr for officiating on the day. Thank you Anna for my delicious Magnum, greatly appreciated on such a hot day in the sun.
Holt Date Changes
Holt District Netball Lightning Premiership Thursday June 10th
Holt District AFLLightning Premiership Friday June 4th or 11th. TBC.
Tri Skills Gymnastics Program
On Thursday the 11th, 18th and 25th June, children will be participating in the Tri Skills Gymnastics Program. A fantastic program incorporating activities to enhance physical strength, flexibility, power, agility, coordination, and balance.
In the last five weeks we have been really busy learning about each other. We have presented our “Me bags” to the class sharing things that are special to us and explained why they are so important. We have also spent time with our Year five buddies learning about their interests. We have drawn portraits of our buddies and discussed what it means to be a good buddy.
During Maths we have been learning about collecting data and making different kinds of graphs. We have learnt how to pose questions and gather responses. We have discussed our reflections of the data gathered. We used our skills to gather information about what kinds of activities we would like to do during recess and lunchtime for the SRC reps to take to the SRC meeting last week. First we worked in groups and made a list of all of the activities we would like to do and then each group shared their ideas. Next we wrote down the top six ideas and we each voted twice for our favourite activities. The most popular activity was building with blocks and Lego.
In Literacy we have been learning how to spell our frequency words by using lots of different materials like fluffy sand, playdough, chalk and alphabet stamps. We are learning about the importance of visualising what we are reading about. We have listened to the beginning, middle and end of stories on the iPads and when Mrs Hills has been reading her favourite books and then we draw what we imagine the story is about after listening.
Last week we worked with the Year 2’s and completed an hour of code. We had a great time trying to help the beaver stack the dam wall by creating a code to assist him. We have also been using the iPads to play Word Mania. We have been learning how to generate a list of words quickly by replacing the first letter of each word to make rhyming words. We have been making lots of words and getting high scores.
We have been looking after the vegetable garden by watering it each day and weeding the garden beds. Our Year 5 buddies have helped us to pick and sell the vegetables from the garden. We have really enjoyed watching the tomatoes ripen and the eggplants grow, we cannot wait to pick them and sell them soon.
By Mrs Hills & Year 1MH
In year 5 we have been having a great time exploring new things and improving on things we already know.
In maths students have been learning about multiples and factors. Using this knowledge to identify and classify numbers. Some students have started to use their knowledge of multiples and factors to identify prime numbers and square numbers. We played a game called In The Club. To play in the club you list some numbers that follow the rules to be in the club and numbers that do not follow the rules and so are out of the club. Can you figure out the rules of these clubs?
In writing we have been building on our knowledge of persuasive writing using the seven steps. We have been learning how to structure persuasive texts and what persuasive devices we can use to make our writing more convincing. One of our activities was to convince a friend of Mrs B’s to give her a free puppy. Below is Alyssa’s persuasive letter.
Dear Mr Sarton,
I would like to inform you about one cute companion, a need for a playful puppy and a very lonely Mrs Berends.
How would you feel if every day you long for a fluffy friend who will happily hop around? Imagine a lonely Mrs Berends staring out a window, sulking because she doesn’t have even one perfect puppy and her friend has TWO. Think of poor Maegen, wishing everynight that a certain friend of hers would give her one of their fluffy friends.
You can help poor Maegen by giving her a fluffy companion to help her get exercise. If Maegen gets a cute puppy she pinky promises that she will give it a walk every single day. The dog and Mrs Berends will get exercise together instead of having to do horrible jumping jacks or push ups. She could even bring it to school to run around the oval.
Mrs Berends will be a great dog mum - she somehow manages to control the class, so she is going to be even better at taking care of the dog. She already knows the basics: No feeding it chocolate, walk it everyday and don’t let it chew your slippers!
BARK! The puppy is running around the oval chasing Maegen. Mrs Berends isn’t sulking anymore, she is smiling! Do you want a miserable Maegen, or a happy Mrs Berends? If you let Maegen keep a cuddly puppy, she will be happy forever! Maegen will even buy you more expensive birthday presents. A cute companion, two dogs to pick from and three friends all wishing for a puppy! If you do not give Mrs Berends a dog, you will make Billy, Kim and Maegen sad!
Sincerely,
Alyssa
Though we wrote some very convincing letters, all we managed to do was secure some very promising dog sitting time!
Thank you to Juliette Greskie, Emma Bugg, Claire Castrillon, Julia Runci, Abbey Webster, Sue Wallace, Pia Jin, Thomas Williams, Angelina Piccolo for attending the Parents and Friends meeting last week and to Sylvia Cary and Sally Todd who will be involved but were unable to attend on the night.
It is wonderful to have so many of the families at the school represented by someone on the committee. The committee members have agreed to take on coordination roles for many of the P&F activities for the year and we will let you know how you can contribute.
We have rescheduled the family picnic to Friday the 12th of March from 5.30-8pm. There will be icy poles and lucky dips for sale on the night. A request for RSVPs will be sent via Operoo. You are most welcome to attend for the whole time or just for a little while.
We have some fabulous prizes for our Easter Raffle – tickets will be sent home with the oldest child in the family at the end of this week.
Thank you to our wonderful prize doners:
Performance Academy of Dance
Museums Victoria
Darrell Lea
Woolworths Highett
The school Working Bee will be held on Saturday the 20th March from 9am-11am – if you are able to give an hour or two of your time, it would be greatly appreciated.
Karen Glancy
P&F Coordinator
Ride2School is a nationwide program delivered by Bicycle Network, designed to support schools to encourage, empower and enable more students to
get physically active on their journey to school.
On Friday the 19th of March St Catherines will be participating in the ‘ride to school day program.’
In preparation for this students will be learning about the benefits of participating in the ‘ride to school program’ in conjunction with the health and environmental benefits of using transport such as walking and riding to places in general. More information about the day will be provided in the following newsletter.
Laura Armour Year 6 teacher
We are pleased to announce our Application Portal for Year 7, 2023 at Star of the Sea College (Grade 5 students this year) will be open until Friday 20 August 2021 at 4pm.
To apply online, visit www.starmelb.catholic.edu.au/new/enrolment/application-to-enrol-year-7-2023.