St Cecilia's Newsletter Term 3, Week 8

A word from the Principal

Welcome to Wellbeing week.

Knowing the importance of physical activity for good physical and mental health, as well as wellbeing, there is a significant focus this week on utilising some more of our class time on additional sporting activities. 

The teachers will be providing children with additional opportunities to explore, play and clarify rules for all the new sports and playground equipment we have raised money for or had donated to the school. 

Last week, the table tennis tables finally arrived and were quickly assembled by Mr Burrows and his team. Many thanks for your assistance in this task Russ. The children have been utilising the tables during lunch time and grades 2- 6 are playing and learning the St Cecilia's Table Tennis rules during Wellbeing Week sessions outdoors. (See our rules displayed below and check in if your child knows them.)

Kindy and Year 1 have inherited new soccer goals for their playground with some of the money donated on green and gold day. The Year 5 and 6 children have been assisting in refereeing the Kindy and Year 1 soccer games with new bibs that we ordered, as well as a fancy squistle (squeezy whistle) that helps our referees remind the infants children of necessary rules that need reinforcing. Soccer is now only played at morning tea on the infant's playground and the sport trolley baskets are brought out at lunch time to allow our infants to play and explore with other sport equipment from the sport shed. 

In addition to the sport trolleys at lunch, our Learning Support Aides are bringing out a range of donated toys from the Playpod and the children are enjoying time either on blankets or the new activity centre tables that were ordered for the playground in term one. Some of the Playpod items we have include; cars (small and large), Shopkins, dinosaurs, action figures, animal figurines and colouring in/drawing items. We are a bit low on sand toys and equipment so if any parents are looking to get rid of any sand toys, please send the recycled goods in with your child. They will definitely be put to good use in our infants playground. 

While on the topic of playgrounds, during primary school your child/ren will go through many stages of making friends and along the way will experience conflict at some stage. It is very normal for children to experience conflict from time to time as this a way of children discovering what works with friends and what doesn’t – put simply children are developing their social and emotional skills. Some children may get confused when they have a disagreement or conflict with another person and may call this bullying. There is a great difference between conflict and bullying and here is a simple way to differentiate between them:

• Misunderstanding – usually problems around communication.
• Disagreement – do not agree on something and both want their own way.
• Conflict – people usually want to solve the problem. Can be over a period of time if not sorted 
  properly.
• Bullying – threatening, repetitive, targeted, deliberately wanting to harm, abusive, no attempt to 
  resolve issue.

If your child does experience conflict, this is a wonderful teaching moment to guide them and help them 
learn about how to get along with others. Sometimes children can resolve conflict themselves, particularly as they grow into the upper years of primary, but when they are young they may need guidance, and most importantly emotional support.

The best way to give emotional support is to use ‘reflective listening’ which takes places in our school Reflection Room. When we practice this type of listening, we listen to the content of what your child is saying and listen for the emotion, then we reflect back what they are saying e.g. “It sounds as though that really frustrated you when the players from the other team said you were offside but you didn't believe you were.” We can then try to help the child/ren problem solve the situation by giving them lots of opportunities to brainstorm a solution without stepping in too early to solve it for them.

Conflict teaches your child: 

• How to give and take
• How to come to an agreement
• How to compromise
• How to solve problems
• To build empathy
• To understand others and their needs
• How to get along in a group
• How to develop successful, loving and healthy relationships as adults.

As Mahatma Gandhi once said "Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it."

God bless

Marta

Staying Connected

Mr Madigan on Leave

Till the end of term three I would like to welcome Mrs Dowling and Mrs Tori Jones in the Acting Assistant Principal role. Mr Madigan has taken some leave for three weeks and I am extremely grateful to have Mrs Dowling and Mrs Jones working with me on the executive till the end of term. 

Transition to Summer Uniform

As the warmer weather approaches, please do not hesitate to dress your children in the summer uniform. On the return of day one, term 4 it is expected that all children wear their summer uniform. For the next three weeks, it is ok for children to wear summer or winter uniform, however not a hybrid of both uniforms. 

Baby News

Congratulations to Mrs Mikaela Scott (2 Gold) and her family in who are growing their family and expecting a baby early next year. We are very excited and wish her well during her pregnancy. 

Building Update 

Status update on Wyong building works project is:

• Tender is currently under assessment with CBGA and engagement of the Head Contractor will be established in the coming weeks.
• DA is under assessment and is looking to be approved by mid-September for the commencement of the construction project thereafter.
• Preliminary/Early works package is being developed for the staging of the project.

Please find attached the link to the revised proposal waiting for final approval from Council. 

Thank you to Father's Day Stall helpers

A big thank you to the many mum volunteers who gave up most of their Friday last week to provide our children with the exciting opportunity to choose a special gift for their dad or fatherly figure. Belinda and Mel (year 4 class parents) have been phenomenally organised in their preparation for this event. The pride, order and care the ladies provided in coordinating this event brought so much joy to the children in their selection process and having their individual gifts wrapped with beautifully donated wrapping paper from Belinda and Jeroen was a unique touch to the event. 

Thank you so much to everyone who contributed in making this another successful St Cecilia's event. 

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Canteen News

National Child Protection Week (4-10 September 2021)

National Child Protection Week (4-10 September) is an annual event starting on the first Sunday of September. This year’s theme ‘Every child, in every community, needs a fair go’ aims to spread the message that to treat all of Australia’s children fairly, we need to make sure every family and community has what kids need to grow up safe and supported.

Visit www.napcan.org.au to find out more about the campaign, including activities for families.

In particular, check out the Children’s Art Activity which asks children what they think is most important in a child-friendly community https://www.napcan.org.au/art-activity-ncpw-2022/. 

Wiseberry Heritage 'Solds for Schools' Competition is on again. We were lucky enough to win this competition in 2021 and would love to see one of our students win again. 

The winner receives $50 for each sold property during the month of September for their school.

Some of our students have been completing their sign as part of our Wellbeing Week activities and some may have taken theirs home to complete. All entries need to be submitted by Friday the 8th September.

School Service Team Updates

Last day of school 

The last day of this school term is Friday 22nd September.

Extended Leave application form

A reminder that if you are going on holidays for more than 10 days, you must complete the following 'Application for Leave' form and send it to the office addressed to the Principal.

https://csbb.catholic.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/a1-application-extended-leave-3.pdf

Teaching and Learning Matters

Learning Assets

At St Cecilia's we recognise that schools are no longer just about knowledge acquisition. With the ease of internet accessibility these days, most knowledge can be acquired at the click of a few buttons. 

Our journey of learning pursues much more than just knowledge and understanding and the children are taught the how of learning as well. At no time do we lose sight of what our learners are investigating but knowing how to respond when they don't know something is the true test for them as learners. 

We believe that successful learning is not just simply about what one produces but it's about how the learning actually proceeds. To assist our children with a common language to talk and think about learning we identify and talk daily about our six core Learning Assets:

- I am a thinker
- I am a self manager
 -I am a collaborator
- I am a communicator
- I am a researcher
- I am a contributor

Utilising these 6 learning assets we get students to think and make connections between 'what' they are learning (learning purpose) to 'how' they learn (process). One effective strategy our teachers use for sharing learning intentions, with learning assets as the focus, is the 'split screen' teaching approach. 

A split screen will allow a teacher to get the learner to understand the process of how they are going to learn what they want to learn.  A learning intention can be split into the following way (see example below):

Learning about  What they are going to learn (knowledge)	Learning to How they are going to learn (skills)

Creating a split screen learning intention reminds us all that we are continually focusing on learning to learn while we are learning about a concept or exploring a question. 

Religious Education Update

SHARING OUR FABULOUS LEARNING

During Religious Education and PDH lessons (Second Steps) the Year One students have been learning about Mary MacKillop and how to be a compassionate person. To consolidate their learning, they have created some beautiful artwork. The artworks highlight what compassion looks like in action: to be like-minded, to be sympathetic and to love one another. Well done Year one!

FATHER’S DAY LITURGY

Thank you to the fathers and fatherly figures who celebrated our recent Father’s Day Liturgy. Stage 3 lead a beautiful liturgy where we were able to honour these fathers and recognise the important role they play in our lives. We love you, Dads!

Staff Spotlight

Mrs Adcock is not only our 3 Blue classroom teacher, she is also our school's Literacy Coach. In her Literacy coach role Mrs Adcock works closely with our school staff to review, plan, implement and analyse all our English related programs, data and initiatives within the school. Mrs Adcock is released from class every Thursday for Literacy coaching with teachers. She alternates her coaching time each term with grades K-2 (terms 2 &4) and grades 3-6 (term 1 & 3). 

Mrs Adcock also contributes her curriculum and literacy skills and expertise at a system level, where she is part of an English Expert Teaching Group that writes exemplary teaching programs for teachers across all CSBB schools and contributes to bigger picture thinking and planning of new curriculum implementation in our system. Mrs Adcock also coordinates the Primary Public Speaking competition for all 36 of our Catholic Schools Broken Bay (CSBB) primary schools. 

We are so fortunate to have Mrs Adcock's skills and expertise at our school, bringing positive change to student outcomes and improveing the continuous learning and growth of all staff and children. 

PEC Update

Fearless Triple P Program

Our Lady of the Rosary Parish at The Entrance in partnership with Central Coast Family Support Services present the Fearless Triple P program. A program for Parents and Grandparents Caregivers of children aged 6-12 who suffer from anxiety.

Monday 11th of September in the OLR Parish Centre. Please see full details in the attached flyer.

From the Parish

BUNNINGS BARBECUE

Wyong Catholic Parish will be holding its Annual Bunnings Barbecue on Saturday 9 September at Tuggerah.

Funds raised from this activity will be used to help disadvantaged of our local community through.

• Wyong Neighbor Centre
• St Lucys School for Years K-12 children with disabilities
• St Edmunds School for Years 7-12 children with disabilities

Please visit us for a sausage ($3.50) and cold drink ($1.50) between 9:00am and 4:00pm.

Hope to see you there!!!!

Your support would be most appreciated.

Chosen: Wyong Parish Youth Group

Due to unforseen circumstances the community Trivia and TikTok nights have been cancelled for September. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Thank you

PBL - Positive Behaviours For Learning

Classroom Connections

Year 5 Bathurst Excursion

During week 6 Year 5 travelled to Bathurst Goldfields. We gained an understanding of the past by engaging in cultural tours that focussed on the history of the Australian colonies and Aboriginal stories and art. Many of the activities gave the students hands-on opportunities to experience what life was like in Early Colonial Australia. The students operated horse drawn machines, including the Californian bucket pump, whim and poppet head. During the Blacksmith shop demonstration, four students were apprentices for the blacksmith as they pumped the bellows. The students also headed to the ponds where they experienced how the miners panned for gold. There were so many fun activities experienced, some of the students' favourites were throwing returning boomerangs, and participating in mud brick making, damper cooking and playing bush games. 

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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

Light of Learning Award

Upcoming Events

Term 3 Week 8

Thursday 7th September ~ Round 3 Public Speaking Competition Final

Friday 8th September ~ Whole School Awards 8.45am

Term 3 Week 9

Monday 11th September ~ Kinder Parish Mass at St Cecilia's Church 9.15am

Tuesday 12th September ~ Bright Beginnings #5 Crazy Scientists

Wednesday 13th September ~ Public Speaking Showcase 9am

~ Year 6 Faith and Learning Walk 2.30pm

Friday 15th September ~ Year 4 Eucharist Ceremony at 6pm

Term 3 Week 10

Monday 18th September ~ Year 6 Grade Mass at St Cecilia's Church 9.15am

~ Year 6 Debate against SJF Tumbi Umbi

Friday 22nd September ~ Whole School Awards 8.45am

~Stage 3 Netball Gala Day

~ Last Day of Term 3!