Logo

SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

22nd October| Week 2

Important Dates

  • 25th to 29th October: Teacher Appreciation Week
  • 26th October: Transition 2022 Orientation Sessions commence
  • 26th October: 5pm BYODD 2022 Parent Information Session
  • 29th October: World Mission Day Liturgy led by Room 15 & Whole School Crazy Sock and Hair Day Fundraiser
  • 1st & 2nd November: All Saints Day and All Souls Day
  • 4th November: School Board Meeting
  • 11th November: 11am Remembrance Day Liturgy
All Term 4 events and details are published on SchoolStream. Please check the EVENTS tab to add event details direct to your calendar!

Principal's News

Week 2, Term 4, 2021

Photo
Dear Families,

We are now in the second week of term and time is flying!
We had a wonderful presentation of the NED’s Mindset mission this morning at Assembly, the key messages were -
Never Give Up
Encourage Others and
Do Your Best
We look forward to this wonderful message being actioned in both our school playground games as well as classroom endeavours across the school.

Congratulations to our Year Four students who have completed their Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) this week. It was wonderful to see the way in which the children approached and responded to this more formal aspect of their learning journey and for our school to be able to contribute to this national study.

It is great to hear that we have three school netball teams playing in the Wednesdays night comp – A huge shout out and thankyou to Sarah Muller for organising the participating teams for the comp this year ably supported by other St Mary’s staff Belinda Hicks, Briony Bastin, Kelli Coccetti and Clare Nolan.

We had a few incidents recently where children have brought nut packed lunch food into the school. Please note that we have an Allergy aware policy at St Mary's and items such as peanuts are not allowed at school. Please also remember that popular products such as Nutella and peanut butter contain peanut allergens.

The Year 5/6 camp is now in the final stages of planning. The Year 5/6 students will be away in Week 7 of this term staying at the Batchelor Outdoor Education facility. Planned activities include Archery, Raft building and a half day visit to Litchfield as well as well as lots of water activities.

We are now in the last phase of recruitment for staff and school planning for 2022. Therefore, I ask again that you let us know if your child will not be returning to St Mary’s next year. As always, thanks to all those parents who have had conversations with us to keep us up to date on what will, or might, be happening with transfers and relocations.

Our orientation sessions for Transition students commences next Tuesday for children are starting Transition in 2022. We look forward to welcoming our 2022 Transition class and their families to St Mary’s over the next 5 weeks. Just a reminder the times for these sessions are 8.40 – 10.40 am.

Welcome to Evie and family and Eva, Noola, Hamish and Kyah and family who recently joined our school community. Farewell to April who recently left St Mary's.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone and stay cool in this very warm ‘build – up’ weather!

In faith and love,

Rosie Harrison
Principal

Uniform Reminder

Please ensure that your child has the correct uniform requirements including the correct footwear, socks and school hat. Please support us in our endeavour to adhere to our uniform guidelines, which can be found in our Parent Handbook or school webpage.
shoes

Classroom News: Room 6

In Room 6 it has been great to welcome back all students and especially welcome three new students who have started with us this term. In our class we have been enjoying starting our day with a range of games and activities that allow us to practise areas of learning or socialise with others before we start our day.

Thank you to all families who have bought in recyclable materials that we will be able to use to make our robots later in the term.

Term 4 is sure to be a fun and exciting time where learning and friendships continue to develop in Room 6.

Chloe Tiss
Room 6 photo 1
Room 6 photo 2
Room 6 photo 3
Room 6 photo 4

NED's Mindset Mission

NED 2
At this morning’s assembly we had a very important virtual visit from NED and Chad. Chad introduced us to NED who was on a very important mission: to find his mindset. Chad, the yo-yo master, showed both students and teachers some yoyo tricks while telling us a story about always giving things a go and growing our brain. He talked about how we all can achieve our potential, embrace challenges, persist in the face of setbacks, and see mistakes and failures as a necessary step to develop a growth mindset to overcome social, emotional and academic challenges. Developing resilience and persistence skills in a fun and motivational way gives students strategies they can use when they face challenges in other curriculum areas or aspects of their everyday lives.
NED’s message is:
NED3
NED’s message closely aligns with the Spirit of St Mary’s and the school’s Four R’s:
Be Respectful
Be Resilient
Be Responsible
Be Ready to Learn
The e-deck has been transformed into NED’s Yo-Yo Zone at recess and lunch where students can purchase yoyos and practise the tricks they have been taught. While learning to yo, children will make mistakes, try again and improve. Read more at www.mindsetmission.com/yoyos
NED (yoyo)

BYODD 2022 Parent Information Session

Students in Grade 4/5/6 at St. Mary’s are expected to bring their own designate device to use for in class activities. Overall we are very pleased with the Year 4/5/6 students’ engagement with the BYODD program.
A BYODD Parent Information Session for 2022 is being held on Tuesday 26th October at 5pm in the Room 2. All families of students currently in Year 3 or those who do not have a designated device are strongly encouraged to attend to learn more about the program and device specifications.
For more information please contact our Deputy Principal Christine Ferreira.

RE News

Socktober: Our school is participating in Socktober, a fun and educational program for our students to learn about key issues of mission and social justice and make a difference for young people in need around the world. Here at St Mary’s we will be holding a Crazy Sock and Hair Day and encouraging the children to donate a gold coin on Friday 29th October to support children in need around the globe.

You can also donate on our St Mary’s Soctober Fundraising page by following the link
https://www.socktober.org.au/fundraisers/stmaryscatholicprimaryschooldarwin

All donations go towards the Catholic Missions. Thank you for your support and for helping your child ‘sock it to poverty!’

St Vincent’s Christmas Appeal: Every year, St Mary’s Catholic Primary School supports the St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal, and this year will be no different. Caring for the poor and vulnerable is an important part of our Catholic faith. Further details about the St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal will be communicated later in the term, as we get closer to Christmas.

Masses/Liturgies for Term Four are noted below. All are welcome to attend.

Friday, 29th October (Week Three): World Mission Day Liturgy
Thursday, 11th November (Week Five): Remembrance Day Liturgy
Friday, 26th November (Week Seven): Advent Liturgy
Thursday, 2nd December (Week Eight): Graduation Mass
Monday, 13th December (Week Ten): End of School Mass

Kind regards,
Clare Nolan

Socktober - Crazy Sock and Hair Day Fundraiser

Soctober

Back to Front Maths

The Australian Curriculum: Maths goes beyond student ability to compute. They are also required to explain their Mathematical reasoning which requires;
  • analysing information and deducing patterns,
  • choosing a reasonable process to solve a problem,
  • proving that your process works
  • generalising the process to other areas
‘Which One Doesn’t Belong’ gives students the opportunity to explain their thinking and justify their reasoning. Each image set is designed to be interpreted in a variety of different ways, and because all answers are correct, students naturally shift their focus to justifications that spark deep mathematical thinking and discussion. This promotes a respectful learning community by creating a culture of valuing students as thinkers, reasoners, listeners, justifiers, and doers of mathematics.

Which one do you think doesn't belong? More importantly, why?
Can you see a different way of looking at it?
maths

21st Century Dancing Concert

230268429_3852297631541798_7095000563873986656_n
Thank you so much for making the concert a huge success with your support and presence. The concert video is going through it's final editing and proofing stage and will be available for purchase soon.

Enrolments for 2022

Enrolling now
Help spread the word! Enrolments for 2022 are now open
If you would like an enrolment package, please contact the school office. If you have already received an enrolment package for your Transition 2022 child, please complete and return to the school office as soon as possible so your enrolment interview can be scheduled. If your child is currently enrolled in the St Mary’s Community of Learners Pre-school program you will still need to complete a School enrolment form for Transition.

Please note, that until enrolment paperwork is received at the school office, we cannot hold places for Transition 2022. Therefore, if you currently have a child at St Mary's and have a younger sibling starting Transition next year, please let the school office know as soon as possible. Information for the Transition Orientation program in Term 4 will be emailed to all families who have completed enrolment forms. Only children who have completed enrolment forms will be able to attend the Orientation program, so please kindly finalise all Transition enrolments by 22nd October.

In the Event of a Cyclone

As we are now in the cyclone season in the Top End, families are reminded of our school procedures in the event of a cyclone. School closures are announced by the Department of Education and are broadcast to the public on the local TV and radio stations. In the event that government schools are closed, Catholic schools will also be closed. Please listen to the radio or TV for updates in relation to school closures and reopening. We will endeavour to keep families informed via our school app – school stream, facebook and email, but this will be dependent on the availability of power and personnel.

Visit www.securent.nt.gov.au for more information or visit the app store and download the SecureNT app.

For up to date weather alerts please refer to www.bom.gov.au.

A free service for all Territorians. Log into https://www.tiofi.com.au/alerts and register. Information can be received directly to your phone or email.

Optimistic October 2021

oct_2021

Download our School App

schoolstream-logo
APP

Why download the App?

  • Receive instant notifications for important news and classroom updates.
  • Complete permission and absentee forms.
  • Keep up to date with events and save event details directly to your own calendar.
  • Order from our school canteen.
Don’t forget to turn your notifications on – so you don’t miss any important notices!

Canteen Online Orders

download
To streamline processes across the school, this term we will be phasing out paper bag lunch orders from our canteen.
We encourage families to set up an account for online ordering through Flexischools, which is linked directly in the School Stream App. Details on how to set up an account can be found in the “CANTEEN” tab of School Stream. There is no need to download the Flexischools App, it can all be accessed from the School Stream App.
Please note daily orders close at 8.40am. Any orders received after this time, will be fulfilled subject to availability of stock and may be substituted for a basic sandwich.
Playgroup 1 copy
Please help spread the word!
We are so excited to be running our very own Playgroup sessions at St Mary's.
These sessions are open to families outside of the school and cater for babies and toddlers of all ages. You can find us every Friday (school term only) in the Mary MacKillop Hall, please enter via the Parish entrance from Smith Street.

St John's Catholic College, Darwin

Year 7 2022

Information regarding Year 7 2022 at St John's Catholic College.
st jophns

Looking after each other on the bus

Bussy's Corner

What is happening in Darwin

242990993_902729283685943_4838990363632813980_n
Cupcakes 1
Gardens tennis
Indoor sports 15-10-21
Banks 15-10-21
Athletics 15-10-21
Rugby 24-9-21
Joeyroos 10-9-21
Santa Fun run 15-10-21
facebook website email