St Cecilia's Newsletter Week 10

A word from the Principal

We are halfway through the year and what better than a ‘half time break’ to recharge the batteries, reflect on our performance, and set goals for the two terms to come. With our end of year award ceremony (4th December, 9:30am), less than 20 weeks away, the children should be setting goals to increase their attitude, commitment, and effort to learning, improve their social or personal challenges, or gain even better understanding in learning areas than they have these past two terms. 

With only one more day of learning for the children this term and one additional day of learning for the teachers on Friday, I always like to reflect on all we have accomplished in the term at St Cecilia's. Term two has included:

-A recent and very successful trip to Canberra with 44 year 6 children. 
-K-2 teachers adapting to reviewed reporting standards against the new RE, English and Mathematics K-2 syllabus.
-A spirit filled and fun Stage 3 soccer Gala day was had last week. 
-Implementation of new decodable readers in grades K-2. 
-Second Step (Social and Emotional Learning Program) implementation across the whole school.
-A busy and exhausting, well worthy Year 3 excursion to the Aquarium.
- AFL team making it to Regionals and cam fourth in their competition. 
-3038 Shine awards distributed to children this term. 
-127 Bronze Awards distributed to children who have been recognised for being SAFE, RESPECTFUL and/or COOPERATIVE learners on 20 occasions. 
-CSBB's Culture Survey had some valuable, constructive and heartwarming feedback of which I'll share with the community next term.
-RECORD NUMBER of 72 enrolment applications for Kindy 2024. Numbers and classes TBC.
-Faith and Learning walks welcoming families into our classrooms.
-A successful Mother's Day brekky, a memorable liturgy and well organised Mother's day stall.
-Our debating team beat St Mary's at debating and only lost by six points in theie debate against OLR, The Entrance. 
-Our first ever handball tournament hosted thanks to Mrs Ross and TEACHERS WON! 
-Mrs Harrison's Techmatics Day initiative expanded beyond St Cecilia's & OLR to include two other schools in our diocese.
- A new PA system installed in the school with a more upbeat school bell. 
-A successful Sports Awards Ceremony celebrating all our children's sporting achievements over the past year.
-1232 student Place Value learning goals achieved this term across the whole school.
-322 student reports written and sent out a week ago. Accessible via Compass. 
-Insightful and open dialogue between parents and teachers at last week's parent teacher interviews. 
-Reflection Room relocated to the demountable and open to invite restorative reflection when needed.
-So many generous family donations of food and hygiene products for the St Vincent dePaul Winter Appeal. 
-Starting to meet some of our upcoming Kindy children at the last two Bright Beginnings playgroup sessions that have been run...

and still NAIDOC week celebrations to finish up the term tomorrow. All children are invited to wear mufti clothes tomorrow in the colour of the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander flag.

Term 2 is always one of the busiest school terms and the children and staff are well and truly ready for a well deserved break. Thank you to all the staff, children and families for a wonderful term! I wish you a safe, restful and enjoyable winter holiday. Enjoy the break and I look forward to hearing all about your adventures when you return next term. 

God bless

Marta Chylewska 

Staying Connected

Second Hand Uniform Shop  

Please email any second hand uniform requests to simbub21@gmail.com. This shop relies on the generous donations from families who return their well kept and useable second hand uniforms to our school. Many thanks for your kindness. 

Building Works  at Catholic Schools Broken Bay

Please find attached detailed information of two major building works that will be of huge gain and benefit to our existing and prospective members in the school community. Any families considering enrolment for their child into the Eileen O'Connor School within the next 2 years, please send me an email to discuss this at scw@dbb.catholic.edu.au 

1.St Cecilia's Catholic Primary School, Wyong - Catholic Schools (csbb.catholic.edu.au)

2. Eileen O’Connor Catholic School - Catholic Schools (csbb.catholic.edu.au)

Contemporary Learning Spaces for St Cecilia's

From the Parish

Wyong Parish Secretary - Position Vacant

The Wyong Catholic Parish is seeking to recruit a permanent part-time Parish Secretary, working 3 days per week. There is a preference for Wednesdays and Fridays to be two of the working days with flexibility on remaining days in relation to hours worked.

This role plays an important part in the Parish team, providing support for Parish communications, administration, financial processes, Parish property, compliance and Diocesan support.

The ideal candidate will have a comprehensive knowledge of office administration processes and procedures and a sound understanding of Microsoft Office Suite, MYOB, bookkeeping or accounting practices.

As you will often be the first point of contact for our parish, well-developed communication and interpersonal skills are crucial.

If you have high developed administration skills coupled with well-developed relational and rapport building skills and this role interests you, please email a brief cover letter and CV to wyongparish@bbcatholic.org.au

Applications close Wednesday, 12 July 2023

The Diocese of Broken Bay is committed to and promotes a culture of safety and care for all people, especially for children and others in the community who are vulnerable. Our Diocese has no tolerance to Child Abuse and is committed to ensuring our staff and volunteers understand the joint responsibility to safeguard all those within our community.

The successful applicant must have the right to work in Australia and will be required to undertake pre-screening which may include a National Police History Check and/or Working With Children Check.

Farewell Graham!

On Thursday we farewell Graham our crossing supervisor. Graham has been doing this position, rain, hail or shine for the last 9.5 years and is retiring at age 86years. Thank you Graham for your years of service and dedication to keeping our children safe.

Teaching and Learning Matters

Mathematics Update

St Cecilia’s students have been striving in mathematics to improve their understanding of place value. Teachers have been working with their class, identifying each child’s point of need and setting individual goals. The students know what their goal is, and by understanding and knowing their individual goals, they are motivated and excited to achieve their goals. These goals are tracked across the school.

This term a total of 1232 student place value goals have been achieved, a sensational effort.

Religious Education Update

SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION 

This term our Year 3 students have been preparing to make their sacrament of confirmation. They have been exploring how the sacraments of initiation (Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist) help them to live as a disciple of Jesus.

Recently, the students engaged in a character perspectives task where the children reflected on Jesus’ disciples receiving the gift of the holy spirit. 

As a school community we pray for those students who will be making this special sacrament during the school holidays… 

Dear Father, 

Come Holy Spirit and live in our hearts. 

Enliven each heart with the warmth of your Love 

so that we may share this love with our family, 

our friends and those who are in need. 

Speak Your Word, Lord and it 

will happen and the whole world will be made new. 

Amen 

Confirmation Ceremony Details: 

St Peter’s Catholic College, Tuggerah 

Saturday, 15th of July @ 10:00 am 

PEC Update

The latest edition of Parent Talk is now available for Council of Catholic School Parents (CCSP). Please click on the link to read. Parent Talk There is an article regarding the Back to School vouchers and a reminder that they will expire on 30 June 2023, so be sure to use these vouchers if you haven’t done so already. 

With the school holidays on our doorstep, I hope those that may be travelling a safe and happy holiday and for those that may be staying on the coast may be interested in some of the following links for ideas to keep the kids entertained: 

31 Things to do on the NSW Central Coast with Kids 

68 CENTRAL COAST ATTRACTIONS FOR FAMILIES - Playing in Puddles 

WINTER IS HERE! JULY SCHOOL HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES FOR CENTRAL COAST FAMILIES 

School Holiday Activities Newcastle & Central Coast Winter 2023 

Reminder from the School Services Team

Please note the following requests from the administrative staff at St Cecilia’s:

• Please do not enter partial absences in Compass from home, these need to be entered at school via the Compass Kiosk. If you do not walk your child into school to sign them in for a late departure your child’s partial attendance will be marked ‘unexplained’.
• Reminder to include your child's class and teacher in the email subject you are sending to scw@dbb.catholic.edu.au 
• Any parent who volunteers at the school in any capacity (e.g. canteen, on excursions, at sporting events etc.)  is required to complete a volunteer engagement form prior to attending. You can click on the link for CSBB Contractor & Volunteer Engagement Form to access the form or go via the QR code. A QR code to this link is also available at the front office. PLEASE MAKE SURE THE OFFICE STAFF SIGHT YOUR LICENSE AFTER YOU'VE COMPLETED THE FORM.

Classroom Connections

Year 4 Gold

In our inquiry unit, Who and what can impact on the changes to the Earth’s surface? Year 4 have been focusing on erosion and its effects in our local community. We were fortunate enough to have a guest speaker, Mr Hankin come in and share some of his expertise in this area. We hope you enjoy reading about some of our learning. 

PAUL KELLY CUP REGIONAL FINALS

Wow, what an amazing day of AFL today. Our Paul Kelly Cup team went up against the top teams of the Central Coast and played some fantastic football!!Our first game was up against Copacabana PS and we fought hard to only go down by one point. A tough game where a few players were injured but the boys battled on! The team then went on to have a tremendous win against OLR The Entrance. Some killer midfield and attack combinations up the field by LINCOLN and ZAVIER who made our attacking end very strong. Our next game was a must win and we were up against an undefeated Central Coast Sports College. As us spectators eagerly watched a nail-biting game, it was clear that the boys were in for a fight for the win. We started with some early goals from attacking superstar ASHA! We took the lead for the first half with some amazing midfield performances from LUKE and LEVI B. The boys were able to work together as a team and the good sportsmanship was infectious! LEVI W made some crazy marks and ABDUR shone in the midfield in the second half. Another injury occurs but we still battle on, especially with our hard to beat defence OLLIE. Our St Cecilia's spirit strong!! We came away with the victory, as HARTLEY states, in the longest last 10 seconds of a game ever! Our sideline, full of SUPPORTERS, erupted as that final hooter rang. With some injury taping, ice and hydration, we get ready for the next game! Our next challenge, a 1 v 4 final where we find ourselves up against Copacabana PS again.

The boys played their little hearts out. Some amazing moments throughout the whole game, from MILLER, JOEL and HARTLEY playing some hard to beat defence, all the way to the other end of the field, with ZAC T and CALLUM putting in some awesome attacking plays. Not to mention our phenomenonal ruckman, who was hard to beat all day BILLY! We can't forget our dedicated defence that absolutely killed it all day with an injury, but even more so when he realised that he actually played the whole day with a broken arm, KEATON!

Although the result wasn't what we hoped for in the end, what an amazing day of sportsmanship, team spirit and 110% effort from everyone! 4th in the Central Coast region is seriously a fantastic achievement and the boys should be very proud of themselves.

Last but certainly not least, a massive thank you to our dedicated, enthusiastic, passionate and supportive coach GREENY! The boys are so lucky to have you believe in them and bring out the best in them the way that only you can do.

From a proud teacher, Mrs Harrison

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Staff Spotlight

Peter Coombes is our new Aboriginal Education Worker at St Cecilia's, embarking on his role in late term one. 

Peter was born in Dorrigo and he is a proud Gamilaroi man, who grew up in Walget before moving to Sydney.  Peter has now been a local member of the Darkajung Council since 1995 and is also heavily involved in the Aboriginal Community, having represented the Central Coast in the Koori knockout. 

Peter has been working with a diverse range of young people for over 30 years and he extremely passionate about his Aboriginal Culture and keen to share it with our children, families and the wider community. 

Peter says he is open to any conversations in regard to his role here at St Cecilia's.    

PBL - Positive Behaviours For Learning

Awards & Acknowledgements

Congratulations to the following children for their achievements! The listed award recipients will receive their award this Thursday morning at 8:45am before our NAIDOC week celebrations begin. All welcome!

Academic Achievement Award

PBL Award

Personal Best Award

Upcoming Events

Term Two Week 10

Thursday 29th June ~ Last day of Term 2 for students

~NAIDOC week MUFTI Day!

~Wellbeing Week activity: Lunch Time Disco – Second Half in the Assembly Area.~2:05pm Additional Play for whole school. Take care of ourselves and the environment -whole school clean up.

~NAIDOC day rotations 9am - 12pm

Friday 30th June ~ Staff Development Day

Term Three Week 1

Monday 17th July ~ First day of Term 3
Tuesday 25th  July ~ Bright Beginnings ; Mini Maestro's
Wednesday 26th July ~ Grandparents Open Classrooms (8am) & Liturgy at 8:45am 
Thursday 27th July ~ Kindy celebrations for frist 100 days at school! 

Grandparent's Day

A reminder that early next term we are hosting our Grandparents Day celebration on the 26th July  with Open Classrooms from 8.15am-9am, then we will make our way to the hall to celebrate the liturgy followed by morning tea. Please RSVP here to indicate how many Grandparents will be attending.

100 Days of Kindergarten Event

On Thursday of week 2 Kindergarten will celebrate their milestone of 100 days of Kindergarten. Parents are invited to join the celebration from 2.30pm