St Mary's War Memorial School West Wyalong eNewsletter

2019 Drought Relief Funding

I am pleased to announce that Catholic Education, Archdiocese of Canberra & Goulburn have decided to provide additional funding to systemic schools in drought declared and drought affected areas. St Mary’s War Memorial School has been identified as one of these schools.

The amount calculated per school is 15% of fees the school invoiced to their families in 2018. St Mary’s will receive $32,249 which will need to be spent in 2019.

Due to the wide spread nature of the drought, the school has decided to apply the money equally to all families at St Mary’s. To achieve this, the money will be used to fund the cost of the swimming lessons due to begin Thursday 21 November. Those that have already paid their swimming fee will be reimbursed in full.

The remainder of the money will be applied as a reduction of school fees. Each family at St Mary’s will be given a $340 deduction off their current fee commitment.

The Catholic Education, Archdiocese of Canberra & Goulburn is also working on a funding relief package for 2020. At this point in time the amount will be calculated at a 10% rate of the full year of fees invoiced to families in 2019.

On behalf of our school community I would like to thank Catholic Education for recognising the hardship our community is facing and for providing financial assistance in an appropriate time leading into Christmas.

Our final prayers for mission month and the continents are for Oceania and Asia.

As you pray the rosary this month, keep in mind those around the world and in our own country needing our help.

Our fourth colour is BLUE which represents the waters of OCEANIA

Our Prayer for Oceania

Let us pray for the people of Oceania and missionaries who deliver God's love there.

We pray that we may all value and care for the oceans and sea life and all whose work involves the sea.

Amen

Our fifth colour is YELLOW which represents the bright morning sun of ASIA.

Our Prayer for Asia and missionaries who deliver God's love there.

We pray that the people of Asia may work tegether to build a land of mercy and peace, where all are treated fairly and treasured as children of God.

Amen

MISSION TOGETHER PRAYER

May all children

In the world

Share Love

Share fridenship and live

In the peace

Of God's Love.

Now and forever.

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

Amelia Alchin	Abbie Blampied	Bodhi Cattle
Maci Coburn	Archer Crawford	Andrew Cumming
Jogele-An Dignan	Hunter Ferguson	Jagger Lange
Marley Loudon	Olivia Mangelsdorf	Ellie McDonell
Alexandra Patton	Georgina Patton	Jay Player
Maive Stewart	Samuella Tachie-Menson	Chelsea Thomas

Results from the Spelling ICAS assessment have been received and the following students were awarded certificates:

DISTINCTION: Samuella Tachie-Menson

CREDIT: Max Cuthbertson, Samuel Tachie Menson,

PARTICIPATION: Hannah McDonell, Leo Stephens, Adelaide Brown, Ava McClintock, Asha McDonell, Nell Ramsay, Grace Kellahan, Indi Loudon, Daniel Tachie-Menson, Oliver Brown, Ellie McDonell, Priscilla Tachie-Menson

Results from the Digital Technologies ICAS assessment have been received and the following students were awarded certificates:

CREDIT: Asha McDonell

MERIT: Ellie McDonell

PARTICIPATION: Adelaide Brown, Ava McClintock, Daniel Tachie-Menson, Oliver Brown, Matthew Nowland, Priscilla Tachie-Menson

Results from the Science ICAS assessment have been received and the following students were awarded certificates:

HIGH DISTINCTION: Asha McDonell

DISTINCTION: Ruby Reid

CREDIT: Hannah McDonell, Samuella Tachie-Menson, Ava McClintock, Ellie McDonell

MERIT: Priscilla Tachie-Menson

PARTICIPATION: Leo Stephens, Samuel Tachie-Menson, Adelaide Brown, Daniel Tachie-Menson, Ashley Thomas, Oliver Brown, Matthew Nowland, Chelsea Thomas

Snap chat? Instagram? Tik-Tok? Musical.ly? FaceBook?

As parents you may or may not be aware of some of these social media and social video apps and how they function.

However your children most likely have or will learn about them and they may ask you to get them on their device.

On Wednesday 27th November Sergeant Mark Griffith will be coming to St Mary's to present general information covering cyber safety and relevant laws. He will present to our year 5/6 students from 2.20 to 3.20 pm at school.

All parents, not just Year 5/6 parents, are then invited to attend a presentation for parents the same day from 7 - 8.30 pm in the school library.

We strongly encourage parents to come along to be informed and ask questions to ensure their children's safety in the cyber world.

Please RSVP the office by calling or click on this link to email your attendance by Friday 22nd November 2019.

It was wonderful to have our Kinder 2020 in the school for the last four weeks.

We enjoyed meeting all our new parents, existing parents and of course the fabulous children.

We will see you in the new year for the start of your child's primary school years at St Mary's.

School Swimming Notes - All Years - Please complete this form before Monday as the students need to be grouped into classes. Please return the paper form to the office or use this link Intensive Swim Lessons - Permission Note

Happy Birthday to

William Stokes, Alan McCoullough and Tommy Anderson

who celebrate their birthdays next week.

We hope you enjoy your special day.

We have had a few reported cases of head lice in the school.

Could all parents please check their children’s hair and treat accordingly. It is really important to check your child's hair regularly as lice spread quickly.

Link to NSW Health - Treatment of Head Lice

Children with shoulder length hair should always tie their hair back.

Wednesday 13th November @ 12.30pm	Whole School Mass
Wednesday 17th December @ 12.30pm	Year 6 Graduation Mass

Date and Day	Teacher on Leave or PD	Class	Relief
Monday 11 November	Mrs Harland Mrs Scott	1/2 Joy N/A	Mrs Riechstien Mrs C Koop
Wednesday 13 November	Mrs Manchur Mrs Tulloch	5/6 Hope N/A	Mrs Riechstien N/A
Thursday 14 November	Ms Jackson	3/4 Peace	Mrs Maier
Friday 15 November	Mrs Cuthbertson Mrs Manchur Mrs Scott	3/4 Trust 5/6 Hope N/A	Mrs Riechstien Mrs Taylor N/A
Mrs Tulloch will be working on Friday this week instead of Thursday. Mrs Harland will be in school on Friday for play practice.

Rock Bottom - Matinee Performance	Thursday 12 December at 11am
Speech Night including Rock Bottom	Thursday 12 December at 6pm
Year 6 Graduation Mass Year 6 Graduation Dinner	Tuesday 17 December at 12.30pm Dinner at 6.30pm
Final School Day	Wednesday 18 December
Term 1 2020 Commences for all students (All children including Kinder start the first Wednesday then Kinder students will have the next 4 Wednesdays off as they tend to get very tired.)	Wednesday 29 January

It appears the popularity of basketball is very strong in our school, with St Mary’s entering seven teams in the 2019 CPS Basketball Challenge in Albury/Wodonga this year.

In the senior division (Years 5 & 6) we entered four teams in total with two boys and two girls teams.

In the Junior Division (Years 3 & 4) we entered 3 teams with two boys and one girls team.

Our St Mary’s teams attended training with their coaches over a number of weeks before this two day event. Everyone was well drilled and more than ready for the competition to begin. Each team played three games on the Saturday and the results from these games would seed the teams into divisions for Sundays knockout component of the competition.

The results from the weekend were as follows:

Senior Boys Green, coached by Peter Kelly, won two games on the Saturday and this qualified them for Division 2. On the Sunday they lost their quarter final to Lavington 33 to 17.

Senior Boys Black, coached by Casey Loudon, won one game on Saturday and this qualified them for Division 3. On Sunday they lost their quarter final against Griffith.

Senior Girls Yellow were coached by Renee Pettit and Bron Rogers. They came up against some tough teams on the Saturday and did not win a game, but they gave it their best. On Sunday they placed in Division 4 and had a convincing win against Kiama in the quarter final and lost the semi final.

Senior Girls Pink, coached by Andrew Connellan, won two games on the Saturday and they qualified for Division 2. On the Sunday this little team won their quarter final, but lost the semi-final.

Junior Boys Red, coached by La’Shey Cattle, had one win on the Saturday and they qualified for Division 2. They unfortunately went down in the semi final on the Sunday.

Junior Boys Blue, coached by Phil Nielsen, won one game on the Saturday which saw them qualify at the top of Division 3. On the Sunday they won their quarter final and semi final easily and went on to the grand final. The grand final was a heated game against Griffith and they won by 1 point, making them Division 3 winners. They are shown with their winners medals below.

Junior Girls Purple, coached by Carlie Byrnes, had two wins and a draw on the Saturday which qualified them for a very impressive Division 1 placing on Sunday. They lost their quarter final against Griffith 9 to 5. Overall they placed 6^th in Division 1.

All teams played with outstanding sportspersonship and represented St Mary’s with great pride and enthusiasm.

A huge thank you must go out to the coaches and managers who donated their time to train and prepare our teams for the tournament and then to coach them through the weekend.

We look forward to CPS 2020.

Planning is underway for St Mary’s Intensive Swimming Program. All students are encouraged to participate in this program. Swimming is very much a part of the Australian lifestyle and a high level of swimming ability and knowledge and skill in water safety is not only highly desirable but could be life saving.

The program will run over seven days, from Thursday 21 November to Friday 29 November. The program will meet the needs of the K – 6 PDHPE Syllabus and is under the control of L&R Group from the Holland Park Swim Centre and their qualified instructors. Class teachers will attend to supervise. The primary aim is to develop each child’s swimming ability. The program will offer the following skill levels:

*WATER LEARNER*	Water Learner encourages children to become independent in the water. We introduce the fundamentals of water safety and continue to develop water confidence. The core focus is to get the child to stay afloat and start achieving short distances of propulsion.
*WATER BASIC*	This level introduces swimming skills. At this level, children will learn kicking, breathing, streamline, body position and arm rotation, the core swimming skills needed to ensure your child has the correct techniques for their on-going development.
*WATER SKILLS*	Children are now displaying correct freestyle techniques. We start to advance the distances of swimming to 15 metres. Backstroke is also introduced along with more advanced skills and drills to refine the child’s stroke and to continue water confidence.
*JUNIOR MINI*	Junior Mini is re-enforcing the core swimming skills over a longer distances of 25m. Butterfly, breastroke and diving are now incorporated. Junior Mini is the first level of our squad training and fun and fitness are other key elements that are promoted.
*MINI SQUAD*	Mini Squad focuses on fine tuning all four strokes along with further development of dives, introduction of turns, starts and finishes. It will help children transition to and understand competitive swimming. There is also a concentration on developing fitness and fun.

The students will be placed in groups depending on their level of ability as advised by parents, and in consultation with Angus. Students will be assessed on the first day to make sure they are in the correct group.

Students not attending the program will be supervised at school and set appropriate literacy learning activities.

We have received a drought relief grant from the Catholic Education Office which will be used to pay for the intensive swimming program. There will be no cost to parents for the program.

The children have also received a paper permission form, you can use either that paper form or this electronic form. All children can be recorded on the electronic form.

Click on the following link to send your permission form electronically.

Swimming Excursion Permission Note

Volunteers Required

We require one volunteer to help Fliss Ridley on Friday the 15th of November.

Volunteers for Friday the 22nd November, 29th November and 6th December are also required.

If you can help please let us know via our Facebook page or by calling the school office.

Canteen Roster

Monday 11 November	Wednesday 13 November	Friday 15 November
Carlie Byrnes Baking: Carlie Byrnes	Jodie McDonell Baking: Jodie McDonell	Fliss Ridley & Volunteer Required Baking: Fliss Ridley
Monday 18 November	Wednesday 20 November	Friday 22 November
Tash Stephens Baking: Tash Stephens	La'shey Cattle Baking: La'shey Cattle	VOLUNTEERS REQUIRED

Assembly and ICAS Awards

Kinder Orientation

This is our final day of Kinder 2020 Orientation. We all enjoyed having you join us at the school

Front Garden Upgrade

The front of the school is slowly transforming into a beautiful, welcoming space.

The process began with the removal of the tired looking plants and ground coverage that was there previously. A huge thank you must go to Chris and Jodie McDonell for making this happen.

Our grounds man, Tony Glasgow, has been instrumental in the selection of plants and coordinating the landscaping that has taken place.

On behalf of the school I would like to thank everyone that has had input into the garden and we look forward to final work that is due to happen in the coming weeks.