St Mary's War Memorial School West Wyalong eNewsletter

Dear Parents and Carers,

Over the last couple of weeks I have had some inquiries about the High Impact Teaching Practices (HITP) that St Mary’s is implementing. HITP is part of Catholic Education, Canberra & Goulburn’s Catalyst initiative. Informed by the Science of Learning and Science of Reading, Catalyst delivers excellent learning experiences for students through evidence-based teaching practice and high-quality resources.

Through this approach our students benefit from:

High expectations for learning
Impactful teaching practice
Equal opportunity classrooms
Increased knowledge building engagement in learning
Focus on “learning”
Improved retrieval of learnt content

Obviously, this explanations barely scratches the surface of the approach in action. For more information I encourage parents to go the following website https://catalyst.cg.catholic.edu.au/.

The 3 key programs we are implementing to support HITP are InitiaLit (Kinder to Year 2), Spelling Mastery (Year 3 to 6) and Connecting Maths Concepts (Kinder to Year 6). The fourth program we are investigating is Reading Mastery (Year 3 to 6).

If you require more information or wish to discuss any of this content further please contact me at school.

Regards,

Phil Nielsen

Yesterday we celebrated Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost occurred 50 days after Easter Sunday, 50 days after Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus had already gone back to Heaven so the disciples and new believers of Jesus were waiting to receive the Holy Spirit because that's what Jesus told them would happen. As Jesus wasn't with them anymore the Holy Spirit would help bring them closer to God.

We reflect upon the Gospel scripture from yesterday, John 20:19-23.

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

Again, Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Jesus breathed new life into his believers and left them with one of the most precious gifts, the gift of peace. We extend the invitation to you all to practice using this gift. An amazing way would be through the virtue of humility.

Humility means that we have a realistic and objective view of ourselves – understanding both strengths and weaknesses. While it’s helpful to be aware of our talents and achievements, humility doesn’t draw attention to them and knows how to accept responsibility and bounce back from failure. In addition, a humble person will listen well and is willing to serve others.

Wednesday 31 May @ midday	Year 1/2 class Mass
Wednesday 7 June @ midday	Kinder, Year 5/6 class Mass
Wednesday 14 June @ midday	Year 3/4 class Mass

The recipients of our Whatever You Do, Do Well awards this week:

Clancy Blampied	Owen Browne	Charlotte Carne
James Curry	Molly Green	Hugh Haworth
Halle Lashbrook	Alan McCoullough	Chloe Morton
Larna Pilon	Alexander Ridley	Reuben Ridley
	Ricky Smith

Our assembly will be held in the school hall on Friday afternoon at 1:55pm. Parents and carers are welcome to attend.

Please note that if you receive a text on Thursday regarding an award and your child is not at school on Friday, the award will be presented at the next assembly your child attends. No further texts will be sent.

Wednesday 31st of May from 7pm to 8pm

West Wyalong S&C Club

A parent session on social media use by children, hosted by Safe on Social.

All parents of local schools are welcome to attend.

It’s important that the online safety messages continue outside of the school gates, so educating the community of parents and carers is vital. This session will provide information for parents and carers on current social media challenges and will have them leave feeling educated and empowered. There will be a lot of practical information that can be immediately apply to the home.

A reminder that winter uniforms and ties need to be worn from Thursday the 1st of June.

Students also need to move from shorts/skorts to long pants or tartan skirts and tights. Hats are worn all year round.

Ties and skirts are available from the school office for the price of $16 and $40.

Please ensure all items are marked with students names.

Date and Day	Teacher on Leave or PD	Class	Relief
Mr Collins will be absent all week attending the PSSA Basketball in Tamworth where is the coach of the Canberra Goulburn team.

Happy Birthday to

Molly Gaynor and Riley Greenwood

who celebrate their birthdays during this week.

We hope you enjoy your special day.

Our school counsellor, Mrs Emma McRae, has asked this information on the Cool Kids program be included in our newsletter for interested parents.

Catholic Care Canberra & Goulburn will be offering places in the Cool Kids Anxiety Program that will run during Term 3 and Term 4. This is only available to students enrolled in regional Catholic Education schools and their parents. Applications are welcomed for students from years 3-4 and 5-6. The program will be run after school hours with the child and parent logging in from home, or another private and quiet location. One parent is required at each session, two are welcome.

If you would like to take advantage of this wonderful program please find the details and a form below.

Cool Kids Anxiety Program

Cool Kids Anxiety Program 175.97 KB

We are welcoming new enrolments for the 2024 school year.

Please enrol online before the 4th of August, however late enrolments are always accepted, at our website with the link below - https://smwms.nsw.edu.au/enrolment

If you require further information please call the school office.

Our Year 5/6 students will be travelling to Young by bus on Wednesday the 31st of May to compete at the Mortimer Shield Rugby League Gala Day.

The bus will leave St Mary's at 7:45am SHARP. Time of return will be advised as the day progresses however this could be after the school buses leave.

Please ensure your child is at school at this time with their footy gear including head gear if required, mouth guards and footy boots plus a hat, sunscreen, water bottle and the food they will require for the day.

The St Mary's jersey and shorts will be given to the students on the day.

THERE WILL BE A CANTEEN OPERATING.

Mrs Turner and Mr Arms will be with the students on the bus and at the games.

Parents are most welcome to attend to cheer on the teams. A draw and field map is attached to the event resources in Compass.

Mrs Emma McRae our counsellor will be visiting our school every Monday this term.

For a new referral please complete the School Referral Form.

For students already seeing Emma she schedules sessions as necessary. If you would like Emma to see your child on a particular day please contact the office.

Our school athletics carnival for Kinder to Year 6 will be held on Tuesday the 6th of June.

Date	Tuesday the 6th of June
Venue	McAlister Oval, Park Street, West Wyalong
Time	9.10am
Transport	Students in Year 2 to Year 6 need to indicate how they will be getting to and from McAlister Oval. Staff will be present at the public school bus stop for children alighting there. Students in Kinder and Year 1 will leave the school at 11.30 and walk to the oval. Once finished they will return to school before the school bell. These students may also leave the oval with their parents once they advise their teacher.
1500m race	The 1500m race is not compulsory and students will need to nominate for this race. PLEASE CALL THE SCHOOL TO NOMINATE YOUR CHILD. his race will be run on Monday afternoon the 5th of June. All other events will be run at the carnival.
Please bring	Food and drink as required. The Community Council will be operating a canteen and ordering is open.
Clothing	Sport uniform with a house coloured T-shirt allowed
Staff Attending	All class teachers

Please complete the COMPASS event form for your children.

ATHLETICS CARNIVAL - CANTEEN VOLUTEERS

We still require volunteers to help with the Athletics Carnival on Tuesday 6 June for the following:

Make meat & salad rolls – (to be made the morning of at the oval in the canteen before 10:30)

BBQ cooking and making of Bacon & egg rolls (1hr shifts starting from 8am – 10am)

Canteen (1hr shifts starting from 9am – 2pm)

Or if none of the above suits but you still would like to help, you're more than welcome to run items down to the oval the day before and assist in the pack up after the carnival.

Please comment on the Facebook post or contact Bridget on 0404 633 688 to volunteer.

CARNIVAL MENU AND INFORMATION

There will be an option to pre order some lunch, drink & snack items through the Qrk! App as well as the option to purchase on the day with cash or Eftpos limited hot and cold food options as well as drinks and snacks. The BBQ will be going from 8am so that everyone setting up won’t go hungry!

Qrk! will open for ordering on Monday 29 May and close at midnight on Monday 5 June.

St Mary's community surveys opened on the 22nd of May and will close on Friday the 9th of June. We are inviting students (Year 4-6), teachers and parents to provide feedback on their experience of our school using an online survey. The surveys are an important part of our whole school evaluation and planning process.

PARENT SURVEY

We would like to invite you as parents/carers to complete the Tell Them From Me (TTFM) Partners in Learning survey. As we value the role of parents and carers within our school community we would greatly appreciate your feedback. The information you provide will be used to maintain our commitment to working together in partnership to further improve student learning and wellbeing at St Mary’s War Memorial School.

The survey is anonymous and will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. You are able to access the parent survey on your computer or mobile device by using the URL below:

St Mary's School Survey Link 2023

STUDENT SURVEY

During the next three weeks, students in years 4, 5 and 6 will be given the opportunity and time to participate in this survey during regular school hours.

Students’ names cannot be linked to their responses which allows it to be completely anonymous. Results will show all student scores combined together – it is not possible to single out individual students in the results.

The survey takes approximately 15-20 minutes to complete. The survey measures include such topics as emotional and social well-being, physical health, and behaviours and attitudes linked to student success. The survey also allows students to give their thoughts and feedback in open-ended question responses.

Participation in the survey is entirely voluntary. Your child will not take part if either you or your child do not wish to.

If you do not want your child to take part in the survey, please contact the office.

If you would like more information, please contact Mr Nielsen.

Add Winter Escape

Canteen Roster

Monday 29 May	Friday 2 June
Kate Dean Baking: Kate Dean	Bridget Lashbrook Limited menu of hot food only.
Monday 5 June	Friday 9 June
Kate Maslin Baking: Kate Maslin	Gina Morton 1 VOLUNTEER REQUIRED Baking: Both
Monday 12 June	Friday 16 June
CLOSED - PUBLIC HOLIDAY	Allirah Stewart & Emily Watts Baking: Both

Award Winners

Our award winners this week.

Book Parade and Book Fair

Another successful St Mary's Book Fair was held on Wednesday. Parents joined our students under the new covered assembly area to watch the Book Parade, then visited our open classrooms and finally browsed the books in the hall. The Book Fair sold over $3000 worth of books.

Thanks to the support of our students and parents, each class teacher was able to choose $100 worth of books for their classroom library.

Thanks to Mrs Tulloch for setting up and packing up the Book Fair.

The following events are in the calendar in the next few weeks.

The Compass Calendar is updated to show Mass times, sporting events, important events.

The SZAPP calendar is no longer updated, please do not refer to this calendar for important dates.

Day	Event	Location
Monday 29 May	School Counsellor Visit	At School
Monday 29 May	National Sorry Day - Kinder to Year 2 will take a bus to TAFE West Wyalong to attend an aboriginal art session with Taylor Hampton @10am	TAFE West Wyalong
Wednesday 31 May	Class Mass Year 1/2 @ midday	St Mary's Church
	Mortimer Shield Year 5/6 @ Young	Young NSW
	Safe on Social - Parent Information Session at 7pm	S&C Club
Thursday 1 June	Eucharist Retreat Day	At School
Sunday 4 June	First Eucharist at 9.30am	St Mary's Church
Monday 5 June	School Counsellor Visit	At School
Tuesday 6 June	School Athletics Carnival	McAllister Oval
Wednesday 7 June	Class Mass Kinder and Year 5/6	St Mary's Church
Monday 12 June	Kings Birthday Holiday
Tuesday 13 June	MacKillop Cross Country (for athletes who qualify)	Horsley Park
Wednesday 14 June	Class Mass Year 3 and 4	St Mary's Church
Friday 16 June	Western Region Athletics	Tumut
Monday 19 June	School Counsellor Visit	At School
Tuesday 20 June	PSSA NSW Rugby League (for athletes who qualify) - 3 days to Thursday 22nd June	Wagga Wagga
Wednesday 21 June	Lake Cowal Excursion for Kinder to Year 2	Lake Cowal
Sunday 25 and Monday 26 June	MacKillop Rugby (for athletes that qualify)	Forbes
Monday 26 June	School Counsellor Visit	At School
Monday 26 June	St Mary's Kinder 2024 Information Session and Tour @ 9.30am	At School
Friday 30 June	Last Day of Term 2