St Cecilia's Newsletter Week 4

A word from the Principal

Dear Parents and Carers, 

The past fortnight we welcomed two new families to our St Cecilia's community, the Calero Wu family with Marzeline (2 Gold) and Sebastian (1 Gold) and the Turnbull family with siblings Emily (5 Blue) and Amy (4Blue). I know you will all extend a warm St Cecilia's welcome to the families as they settle in over the next few weeks.

Winter is only a few weeks away and already we have been met with a range of sickness, including a present spike in Covid cases. Please keep your children at home when they are sick and displaying symptoms.    Failing to do so puts other children, our teachers and support staff at risk. The administrative staff are inundated with children in sickbay at present, of which many visits could be prevented if children were kept home when unwell in the first place.

We are also experiencing a severe teacher shortage at the moment in NSW with very few casual teachers available to cover classes if teachers are sick.  I know first-hand how difficult it is juggling work commitments and sick kids at home, but maintaining the health of all in our community will help us to continue the uninterrupted education of all children at St Cecilia's.

Therefore over the next few weeks whilst we ride out the current wave of infections, I would ask you all to be diligent with testing and keeping your children home if they are sick.  If you are in need of RAT kits please let Kat or Donna in the office know via email at scw@dbb.catholic.edu.au and we will send these home with your child.

Lastly, I wanted to share a heartfelt thank you to all those who came together last week to collaborate and deliver the several Mother's Day events that occurred. 

The celebrations began with the Mother's Day breakfast on Thursday morning. Every year the teachers give of themself and their time to gather, attend school very early and serve our loving mums and motherly figures in the community. It is a beautiful tradition of love and service to others, and I take my hat off to all the staff who deliver this with such a joyful and encouraging spirit. 

Following the breakfast we had the amazing turnout to the Mother's Day liturgy hosted by stage one (year 1 & 2 classes). The liturgy was a beautiful reflection of the impact many loving mothers have in their child's life. There was not a dry eye in the house after that tearjerker slideshow Mrs Scott put together (attached below). What phenomenal effort collating all those photos and videos to such a moving song. 

Lastly, a sincere thank your to the Year 2 class parents Tara Dwyer Grogan and Nicole Mackillop who spent countless hours preparing for and running the Mother's Day gift stall last Friday. This event would not have been possible without Tara and Nicole's commitment, collaboration and organisation. It was also lovely to have the fathers assist in running the Mother's Day stall so that the mum's could all be pleasantly surprised with their gifts on Mother's Day. Thank you dads. 

Motherhood (parenting) is one of the greatest gifts and one of the most important roles that you will ever engage in. At times we become overwhelmed, exhausted while juggling everything and can question ourselves but I do hope that all the Mother's in our community saw the breakfast, the liturgy and your cherubs gift choice as a chance to take in how much your children love and appreciate you! 

God bless

Marta Chylewska 

Staying Connected

NATIONAL FAMILIES WEEK ~ 15-21 MAY! Living Real, Dreaming Big

National Families Week is a time to celebrate with your family, connect with your extended family and friends, and share in the enjoyment of family activities within the wider community.

The aim of National Families Week is to not only celebrate the vital role that families play in Australian society, but to also reflect on the critical role that families play in teaching, supporting and nurturing children as they grow. 'Living real' promotes some of the practical, supportive strategies and resources available, to foster resilience in individuals, in families and within communities.

Head to their resources page for more information on resilience. https://familiesaustralia.org.au/useful-resources/

'Dreaming big' is a celebration of our successes, and firmly places resilience as a central building block of individual and community wellbeing.

Safety News

-Yesterday we had a lockdown drill at school and in the upcoming weeks we will also practise a fire drill procedure at school.  We are reviewing processes and familiarising ourselves with the new bells and PA system. In case your child comes home to talk about these drills, please rest assured, that at present these are routine measures taking place as part of  our Work Health & Safety Plan. Should there be an emergency or anything of concern, families would be notified. 

-We also ask that parents/carers please exit the premises as soon as assembly is finished as we require all school gates to be locked by 8:55am each day.

Mini Vinnies Pyjama Day

Next Tuesday is Pyjama Day. We are asking for a gold coin donation on the day which will go towards the St Vincent de Paul Winter Appeal, which is helping homeless families in our wider community.

We thank you all for your ongoing support to our Mini Vinnies. The Pastoral T.E.A.M are very excited about this personally planned initiative. 

2024 Kindergarten Sibling Enrolments

Thank you to the families who have returned your enrolment paperwork for siblings starting Kindergarten next year. We are currently going through the interview process and letters of offer will be sent out in a few weeks time. We ask if there are families yet to submit an application, could you please return the forms and other documents to the office as soon as possible to ensure your child receives a first round offer.

Bright Beginnings 

Our first Bright Beginnings session Tuesday 30th May. You can register on the QR code on the below flyer.

Bright Beginnings playgroup can assist your child in the transition to Kindergarten, and is suitable for children aged 3-5. Anyone in our local community is welcome to attend! 

Bright Beginnings focuses on the social and emotional development of your child to give them the best possible start to school. Each session has a different theme and it is a great opportunity to expose your child to different learning areas whilst engaging in play with new friends and meeting some of our staff. 

Teaching and Learning Matters

St Cecilia’s Vision Statement: 

St Cecilia’s Catholic Primary School is an inclusive, safe, and nurturing place of learning where, united in our faith, students build strong relationships that foster trust, compassion, and respect. 

As a school community we work in partnership with families to ensure that every child has a positive and fulfilling school experience. The staff and parents work as partners in nurturing faith filled, curious children to become creative contributors and innovative problem solvers for a changing world. 

Learning Assets  

Supporting all children to become better learners 

One of the aims at St Cecilia’s is to prepare our children for lifelong learning in the 21st Century and beyond. In preparing students to be active citizens we therefore must do more than provide students with information. Knowledge alone is not enough; they also need the skills and dispositions to transfer this knowledge across learning domains and into the future. At St Cecilia’s we empower our students to be inquiry learners. Teaching and Learning is therefore focused on both content  AND  process - meaning that students learn "the WHAT" together with "the HOW". Following our staff development day with Kath Murdoch, our students are explicitly taught the learner assets (skills and dispositions for lifelong learning). The Learning Assets outline the most important qualities and skills that good learners need in order to develop and enhance their learning. The learner assets encourage children to be researchers, thinkers, collaborators, self-managers, contributors, and communicators across all areas of learning. 

Our Framework of Learning Assets 

Iam a researcher. I can research/investigate in many ways. 

I am a communicator. I can communicate effectively to others. 

I am a thinker. I can  think  logically, creatively, empathetically, and reflectively. 

I am a collaborator. I can collaborate  with others and work effectively in a team. 

I am a self-manager. I can self-manage my own learning and behaviour and work independently. 

I am a contributor. I can contribute positively to my life and the life of others. 

Religious Education Update

Praying in the Kindergarten Classrooms

As the students are welcomed into the prayer space, they each have a special prayer stone to hold as they pray together as a class. After praying they are called by name to place their prayer stones around the sacred space whilst making the sign of the cross.

Faith and Learning Walk

Thank you to the parents and grandparents who joined us in prayer last Wednesday. The grade liturgy, focused on how the Eucharist is God’s special gift to his people. During the liturgy students reflected on the special connection between the Last Supper and the Eucharist.  

Noah MacDonald’s reflection...

As soon as you walk into Mass (Eucharist) you become a disciple. You listen to the priest as if he's Jesus and deeply think about what he says. He gives you some bread and says these exact words, “this bread is my body which I will give you to eat. This bread will invite you into the Christian family and will take away all your sins”. He picks up the wine and says, “this wine is my blood which I will give to you to drink”.  As we leave, we are still disciples and, in our hearts, we are remembering the important words the priest said.

Altar Servers

Thank you to nine of our senior students who took part in altar server training with Maureen Roast. This will be a great leadership opportunity for these students and an important role to serve our school and parish communities. These students will help Father Raul and Father Alex during our parish and whole school masses. Congratulations to our 2023 altar servers!

Shine Conference

This week, on Friday the 19th of May, the Year 6 Pastoral T.E.A.M and our School Captains have been invited to attend Shine, student gathering at St Peter’s Catholic College, Tuggerah. This event is being hosted by the Youth Ministry team at St Peter’s to assist students in their faith developmnet and exploring servant leadership in their lives to inspire them to become actively involved in their faith and the community. The ‘Shine Conference’ will be an exciting and spiritually uplifting experience for our students. The event will also provide students with an insight into the 'bigger picture' of spirituality and Youth Ministry within our feeder high school and national landscapes.

Staff Spotlight

I'd like to introduce a new section of the newsletter called 'Staff Spotlight'. In this section we will take the opportunity each fortnight to introduce the community to a staff member at St Cecilia's. The 'Staff Spotlight' will not just focus on new staff as sometimes our long standing staff are known to our  existing families but possibly not to our new families.

This fortnight I'd like to introduce you to our new Student Support Services Officer, Kat Motte (pronounced mot). Kat works at the front desk in the office with Donna on Tuesday to Thursday between the hours of 10am -2pm. 

Kat is a mother of two and has come to us from St Brigid's at Lake Munmorah. Before her work in Administrative support services, Kat had her own business in dog training and worked as a dog instructor. I know many of you haven't yet had the chance to meet Kat in the office as yet, but perhaps you've chatted on the phone and no doubt made her feel most welcome in our St Cecilia's community. 

PEC Update

Dear Parents and Carers

What a great week we have had, Year 5 Faith and Learning Walk, our beautiful Mother’s Day Breakfast/Liturgy, and the fantastic Mother’s Day stall with so many great gifts.  It was great fun catching up with all the mum’s at the Mother’s Day Breakfast photo booth.

In the coming weeks we have our Confirmation Enrolment night Monday 29^th May, Bright Beginnings Tuesday 30^th May and Year 4 Faith and Learning Walk Wednesday 31^st May. 

Sacrament of Confirmation

Please see attached an enrolment form for the Sacrament of Confirmation.  For your child to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation they will need to have received the Sacrament of Baptism and be in year 3 or above. 

Parent/Carers are invited to Sacrament of Confirmation information night 7pm Monday 29 May St Cecilia’s Church 23 Byron Street Wyong. Please note: Children do not need to attend the information night).

You can enrol either via the QR code or fill in the attached enrolment form.  Either email it to wyongparish@bbcatholic.org.au by Friday 2^nd June, bring it along to the information night or bring it to the Presentation Mass on 3^rd/4^th June.

If you have any questions, please call me on 0424 763 734.

Blessings

Jo Helm

Parent Engagement Coordinator

PBL - Positive Behaviours For Learning

Classroom Connections

2 Blue

During our inquiry unit this week, 2 Blue conducted an experiment to find out how we know the suns position in the sky changes and how it affects our shadows! We created stick men, put them in a sunny spot and then traced and measured their shadows 3 times during the day. We found out that our shadows are longer in the mornings and afternoons, when the sun is lower in the sky and shortest in the middle of the day, when it is highest and right on top of us! 2Blue discovered this is because the angle of the sun hitting our object.

Awards & Acknowledgements

Congratulations to the following children for their achievements! The listed award recipients will receive their award at Friday morning's assembly at 8:45am!  

Academic Achievement Award

PBL Award

Personal Best Award

Sporting News

AFL Polding Team 

Congratulations and best of luck to Lincoln who is currently representing our school as a team member in the Catholic Schools AFL, Polding team who are playing in Bateman's Bay. 

Such a huge accomplishment to be selected from all Catholic Schools across NSW and wear that maroon and gold Polding uniform. 

You should be extremely proud of this achievement Lincoln and we can't wait to have you return to share your experience with the school. 

Catholic Schools Broken Bay Cross Country Carnival

Tuesday 23rd May, eight of our children will be competing at the Catholic Schools Broken Bay Cross Country Carnival. The event will be held at Fagan Park Galston and we wish them all the best. Good luck next week Kenzi, Azalia, Sophie Mc., Daisy, Harry, Flynn, Jayde and Ivy. 

Upcoming Events

Week 4 

Friday 19th May ~ Whole School Awards 8.45am

Week 5 

Monday 22nd May ~ Year 4 Parish Mass at St Cecilia's Church at 9.15am

Tuesday 23rd May ~ Pyjama Day Gold Coin Donation 

Week 6

Monday 29th May ~ Year 3 Parish Mass at St Cecilia's Church at 9.15am

Sacrament of Confirmation Parent Info Night at the Church at 7pm

Tuesday 30th May ~ Bright Beginnings #1- Reconciliation Week

Year 6 Presentations in the Hall (Australian Significant Individuals)

Wednesday 31st May ~ Year 4 Faith and Learning Walk at 2.30pm