Marion Catholic Primary School Sowing Seeds For Success Thursday, May 11, 2017 Newsletter No. 2017 / 07

We acknowledge the Dharuk Clan and custodians of the land. May we walk gently and respectfully upon the land. Dear Parents and Guardians, As you are well aware, the latest craze is fidget spinners. As you may not know, these devices are designed for children with attention deficits or children with specific learning difficulties. For everyone else they are the fun, new craze. Many children are bringing these spinners to school. Up until now, they have not become a problem in the classroom, only the playground as the devices are ‘lost’. Please note that we will only ban these spinners if they become an issue with the children’s learning. Please talk with your children about appropriate use of these devices at school. Mr Pittavino has left Marion Catholic Primary School. Ms Clarke will continue as the Year 6 class teacher. The school leadership team, Mrs Stone and Mrs O’Connor will continue to support my role in the leadership and management of the school. The position of substantive Assistant Principal will be advertised later in the year for 2018.

As you would have noticed, afternoon dismissal has remained the same as term one following the results of the survey conducted last term. Thank you to all the parents who completed this survey. In regards to assembly in the summer months, it was voted that these be moved to the morning to avoid the extreme weather. We have had some extra seats delivered to be cemented into the paved area for lunch times. If there is a dad out there with the tools and skills to do this, could you please contact the office ASAP. This weekend we celebrate Mothers Day. Being a mother is the most rewarding, challenging, loving, heart breaking job that any woman can undertake. The love mothers have for their children is endless. Let us celebrate our own mothers, our role as mothers and all women who take a mother role in a child’s life.

Every year our school supports “The Biggest Morning Tea” held by the Horsley Park community group. This year we are asking for donations again for non-perishable goods for raffle baskets. Could these be brought to the office ASAP. Please find attached to the newsletter a letter from Dr Dan White regarding the Federal Budget announced this week.

1788 The Horsley Drive Horsley Park NSW 2175

Telephone: 9620 2045 Fax: 9620 1012

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Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers in our community. Therese Gaunt Principal

another alternative for clothing for our children. The next clothing pool will be on Tuesday 13th June at 2.45pm.

FROM THE REC PROFFESIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR STAFF

Dear Parents and Carers,

Mon 15/5 Miss Anderson at eLearning day Tue 16/5 Mrs O’Connor at Literacy Meeting Mon 22/5 Mrs Stone at REC Meeting

I hope you have been keeping well and have been enjoying the amazing weather!

P&F MEETING A reminder that the next P&F Meeting is on the 30th May. Please have items to the Executive by 24th May.

PARENTING IDEAS This week I have included an article about the marvel of motherhood. Happy Mother’s Day!

CAR PARK Thank you for an improved effort in the car park. Please do not become complacent about our car park safety. All children and parents in our community need to feel safe.

SCHOOL ENEWS APP One of the best ways to keep up to date with school news is through the School eNews app. Attached are the instructions for anyone who has not yet downloaded the app. Please subscribe to this app to allow you to receive notifications and news from the school regularly.

CLOTHING POOL Thank you to Mrs D’Emanuele for running our second hand clothing pool. If you have any items in good repair to be donated, please do so to provide

Thank you to everyone who attended our Easter whole school parish mass last Friday. It was a beautiful mass, and the message of the risen Christ was so cleverly demonstrated by Father Marek! I had a few parishioners compliment me on how reverent and prayerful our students were. This is such a testament to you and the class teachers. Well done, everyone! Please join us on Friday for a whole school mass in celebration and thanksgiving of our beautiful mothers! Class Visits At the beginning of the term, I visited Year 2 and taught a lesson on Good Friday. The students enjoyed engaging in Scripture, watching an animation and participating in a Guided Meditation session. They were so receptive of the lesson and worked so beautifully! Well done, Year 2! This term, I will be visiting all classrooms to see how our students

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are engaging in their newly structured Religious Education lessons. I will also be talking to the students about their new RE Learning Journals.

Teachers will be focusing on Mary in their classrooms, including praying the Rosary once each week and the weekly POP Group sessions will be dedicated to Mary this month.

Year 6 Leadership Retreat Day

“The bond between mothers and their children is one defined by love.

Next Friday, 19th May, Year 6 will be participating in a Leadership Retreat Day. The focus of this day is ‘Do this; Do that’. Students will consider: Am I willing to do what’s right even if it means going against my friends? Am I a follower or a leader? How do I handle bullying? These and other tough issues will be addressed throughout the day.

As a mother’s prayers for her children are unending, So are the wisdom, grace, and strength they provide to their children.” (George W Bush)

The day will be facilitated by NET Ministries, who are part of Catholic Youth Services. May- The Month of Mary As we are a Marion school, Mary plays such a significant role in our faith. She is a role model for us and her example leads us to strive towards living a good and moral life. According to https://www.catholicculture.org/cult ure/liturgicalyear/overviews/months /05_1.cfm, the month of May is the month for a moving tribute of faith and love which Catholics in every part of the world pay to the Queen of Heaven. We offer up to Mary from our hearts an especially fervent and loving homage of prayer and veneration.

Mrs Deborah Stone Religious Education Co-ordinator

Literacy News!!!!

New South Wales Premier’s Reading Challenge Thank you to the parents who have contacted me in regards to their child participating in this year’s PRC. I have sent home a letter to these parents in relation to usernames and passwords for the challenge. Please let me know if you did not receive a letter in response to your child registering for the PRC. The 2017 PRC has begun. Please take some time to read through the website

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about the challenge and encourage your child to participate. The challenge encourages a love of reading and promotes good quality literature. If you would like your child to participate in the challenge, please let me know via email or send a note to school informing me of this. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask. More information can be found at this site link: https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/home.html

Marion Literacy Statement Comes Alive! At Marion, students demonstrate literacy learning when they are. . connecting to real world experiences:

In Kindergarten, students demonstrate literacy learning and understanding when they are connecting to real world experiences. Students engage in structured play-based scenarios that are rich with opportunities to develop in their literacy learning. The play based learning involves students to connect to their real world experiences with literacy, to further encourage them to carry and build upon this literacy learning outside of the classroom. Year 1 Year one makes connections to their world during literacy as they read factual texts based on real world events. Max read a book about sheep and how we use sheep for clothing and food. He made the connection as he said "I've got a jacket that is grey on the outside and on the inside is sheep's wool. My sister also has Ugg boots made of sheep wool".

During the past two terms, we have been connecting to our world as we are learning about past and present family history our own families and other cultures. This term we are learning to write a literary recount based on a book 'Too Many Seven's". This book looks at the present life of a young boy named Matthew and relates his childhood to that of his parents and grandparents. Reading this allows us to reflect on our own life and make connection to our family. Year 2 The children in Year 2 are always connecting to their own real world experiences, especially during Guided Reading sessions! We can be discussing events in a book we are reading and a lot of the children are recalling similar events that have happened to them or relating factual information to the things they already know. Calling on personal experiences also helps them to understand and relate to the text. We also get some interesting questions pop up in our Religion lessons. Today we were discussing the Resurrection of Jesus and one of the children asked if people today can be resurrected - trying to fit the events into real life. Year 3 In Year Three, students are connecting to real world experiences in their free writing journals, guided reading sessions and class discussions. Students enjoy writing about their own experiences in the form of a letter, diary entry or recount. Students also connect to their real world experience in our guided reading sessions. This assists students in understanding the text and engaging with the text. Class discussions allow students to share ideas based on their own world

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experiences which is great when creating narrative stories. Year 4 Students in Year 4 have the opportunity to apply new language features in their writing based on events and experiences that are occurring in their lives. Here are some examples of sentences the students have created, where the focus is language of time sequence:

Holiday Reading Challenge Winner! Congratulations to Laura from year 2, the winner of our Easter Holiday Reading Challenge. Many thanks to James Haga from Hoyts Wetherill Park for kindly donating 4 tickets to our school community. Enjoy the movies Laura!

"Long before Marcus came to Nicholas' house, Nicholas was doing a Google Slide, but after, Marcus came to play soccer". (Nicholas and Marcus) "Shortly after we arrived in Coolabah, my dad's battery was wasted because I forgot to stop charging my iPad". (Rocco)

Happy Reading! Mrs Virginia O’Connor Literacy Coordinator

Year 5

Email: [email protected]

In Year 5 students connect to real world experiences by drawing on personal experiences and people, which inspires and feeds the children's writing and interpretations of texts.

SPORT NEWS

Year 6 In Year 6, we link many of our real world experiences into our shared and guided reading time. We often make connections to our personal experiences, relating texts to ourselves and our knowledge and understanding of the world. Whether we are reading factual texts or fiction compositions, we always make connections to our own lives to gain more meaning and relevance. Making connections to real world experiences helps us understand our world better and makes what we are reading more relevant and purposeful.

A huge congratulations to all of the children who represented Marion at the Combined Cluster Cross Country Trials in Miranda on the 28th of April. The children showed great support for their team mates and represented Marion with pride. A further congratulations to Gian-Luca, Jake, Luca, Eve, Alvaro, Ramiro and Marko on their efforts, progressing to the next round on the 18th May at Miranda. Year 2-6 will be participating in a Touch Football program this Term for 6 weeks. An allocated Coach from NSW Touch will be providing the children with skills and knowledge of the game. As a result of this program, sport day will be on Mondays rather than Tuesdays for the remainder of this term, commencing the 15th May.

ICT NEWS With knowing how important Number Facts are to children's knowledge in Numeracy and skills in problem solving

Page 6 the Squeebles Times Tables 2 Perfect for 5 to 11 year olds. Squeebles Times Tables 2 allows them to practise their times tables in the most fun and interactive way possible. By answering times tables questions, children help Whizz to rescue the Squeebles from the clutches of the nasty Maths Monster and earn a multitude of rewards, as well as earning turns on two great mini-games.

Ms R Anderson Sports & ICT Co-ordinator

Family Educator News Project Compassion Thank you to all the children and their fantastic contribution to Project Compassion this year. We raised over $900 for the less fortunate in our world. A special mention to year 3, for their constant contribution throughout Lent to Project Compassion. Also thank you to our Mini Vinnies who encouraged the students and collected the money each week.

Holy Communion Spiritual Gift Thank you to all those mums who have indicated that they would like to make Rosary beads for their child’s First Holy Communion. If you are interested please return the note or contact me at school.

Mother’s Day Thank you to all the mums who assisted with the Mother’s Day Stall on Monday. It

would not have run as smoothly as it did without Mrs Casha, Mrs Gauci, Mrs Bastac, Mrs Jeffrey, Mrs McHale and Mrs Sazdanovski . Also thank you to Mrs Esposito for buying the gifts. I hope you enjoy your gift as the children loved shopping for them! I wish you all a Happy Mother’s Day. I hope you get some special time with your family in particular your beautiful children. We mothers work so hard for others, I hope you get time for you! If you get a chance please watch the following clip to see how much mothers actually do! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB3xM93rXb Y&feature=youtu.be

A blessing and prayer tribute to all mothers

"Blessed be all mothers Who have come into our lives Whose kindness, care and loving Remain with us to guide. Your inspiration in us Made us strive in every way Especially to remember Helping others makes our day. Mothers, this little tribute Flows directly from my heart You are so loved and cherished Invaluable, one and all, you are. Susan Kramer

Have a great weekend!

Mrs Rosalie Capolupo WINTER UNIFORM The official change over date to Winter Uniform is Monday 15th May 2017.

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DE LA SALLE COLLEGE ASHFIELD – EX STUDENTS AND STAFF ANNUAL DINNER Friday, 18 August 2017. Please contact the College on 9797 3200 to order your ticket. Tables of 10 can be booked. Tickets $75.00 each which include your meal and drinks.

CANTEEN THURS 18/5 Selvana Szelocei Laura Marando FRI 19/5 Lousie Busuttil Teresa Harbieh

THURS 25/5 Kerri Connolly Teresa Harbieh FRI 26/5 Marta Coelho Alastair Hogbin

NUT FREE SCHOOL Marion Catholic Primary School is a nut free school. Please make sure that your children’s lunches and snacks are free of nut products. We have a number of children who have severe allergies to nut products. This means that if they come into contact with nut products (even the smell of nut breath from another person) they can go into anaphylactic shock. Thank you for making our school environment a safe one for all students.

DIARY DATES TERM 2 Week 3 Fri 12/5

Week 4 Mon 15/5

Tues

16/5

Fri

19/5

Week 5 Tues 23/5 Wed

24/5

Thurs

25/5

Fri

26/5

Sun 28/5 Week 6 Tues 30/5 Fri 2/6 Sun

4/6

9.15am Mothers Day Whole School Mass and Picnic No Assembly Students to wear full Sport Uniform for Touch Football Students wear full Winter Uniform Year 3 Mass 9.15am Year 3 Assembly 2.30pm ICAS Test – Digital Technologies Our Lady Help of Christians Mass at St Marys Cathedral First Eucharist Workshop Biggest Morning Tea Year 6 Mass 9.15am Year 6 Assembly 2.30pm First Eucharist Mass ICAS Test - Science Year 5 Mass 9.15am Year 5 Assembly 2.30pm First Eucharist Mass

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