St Cecilia's Newsletter Term 3, Week 10

A word from the Principal

Dear Families,

As we approach the end of another busy school term, I always like to take a moment to reflect on our time together and share some moments of gratitude and accomplishments achieved this term.  

• Extremely talented children presenting their public speaking competition this year. The growth from last year to this year was phenomenal.   
• Stage 2 Techmatics day was hosted at our school inviting 4 of our other local primary schools to join in with us. This day provided an opportunity for our gifted and high potential learners to engage in a mathematical technologically enriched day. The children are now looking forward to next year’s event. 
• 3236 Shine Awards distributed this term across the whole school. This equated to 87 Bronze Awards and 25 Silver Awards in term 3. 
• An extremely successful Book Week Parade and a phenomenal Book Fair raising $6809 and made a commission of 2042.50 that will go towards books for the library.  
• Our table tennis tables arrived and are being used.  
• 2 sets of new soccer goals have arrived, one in the infant's playground and one larger set for the oval. Another set for the oval is on back order. These are being heavily utilised.  
• Our Father’s Day brekky, liturgy and stall were all memorable and joy-filled events.  
• Kindy had a fun-filled day at the Alpaca farm this week getting up close and personal with many farm animals.  
• Our winter appeal raised so many hygiene products and foods to help those less fortunate in our local community.  
• Our debating team won 1 out of their 2 debates this term. On Monday they somehow managed to convince the adjudicators (including myself) that Mobile Phones should be allowed to be used at school.  
• Year 5 struck it rich in the memories they brought back from Bathurst, having their first overnight excursion in primary school.  
• The language and strategies from our Second Step Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) program are being applied more frequently and referred to. 
• Bodhi making it to Polding Athletics selection is a huge achievement. 

With the end of this school term approaching, we know term 4 is just around the corner and it is going to be a busy one! Listed at the end of the newsletter are some key dates till the end of the year. Please pencil in relevant events to you and your family.  

Unfortunately Mr Madigan won't be with us for the next six months. Next term, he has requested personal leave to care for his wife after she underwent major surgeries. Please keep Paul and his family in your prayers for a speedy recovery. As for term 1, 2024, Mr Madigan had always planned to take long service leave and we hope he enjoys that time off.  

Catholic Schools Broken Bay, Father Alex and I will be interviewing for an Acting Assistant Principal for six months. Danny Casey, the Director of Schools will meet with the top two candidates put forward by the panel and he will make the final decision on the appointment. When I receive an update of this appointment, I will share the news with the community. It will be pending Danny's calendar availability, which may be over the holidays. Till now Mrs Dowling and Mrs Tori Jones are in the Acting Principal role and I thank them for stepping in during Paul's absence this term. The two exceptional educators have done an fantastic job leading in the Acting Principal role. 

I also want to thank Mrs McArthur for her time, dedication and inspiring teaching in 4 Gold this term. It has been such a pleasure having you on staff this term Mrs McArthur and I know the children and families of 4 Gold are very grateful for all your hard work and the meaningful connections you made with all the children. We look forward to having you back next term in a casual capacity. 

May this holiday break be a time of rest, reflection, and reconnection with your loved ones. There is nothing more important than family so please hold each other closely, savour each moment and cherish your time together these holidays.  

Stay safe and God bless. 

Marta Chylewska 

Staying Connected

Music Bus Term 4

The Music Bus has opened their term 4 enrolments and are inviting new students to apply.

Classes offered are - Keyboard (K-6) · Ukulele (K -6) · Drums (1-6) · Guitar (2-6)

Lessons are 30-minute duration - once per week.

Held in the hi-tech music classroom on wheels on our site.

 Cost $20 per week ($22 drums) payable by the term on commencement.

If you wish to take part please complete this expression of interest form. https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/ee4627a5204c46158e1ab17e7c8069c6

Many thanks for your continued support.

The Music Bus

FLIP - Families Leading In Partnership

For any families who may be waiting for P&F meetings to occur in our annual calendar, we do not have a P&F (also known as P&C) at St Cecilia's, our parent body group is called Families Leading in Partnership. Anyone is welcome to these meetings hosted once a term. The structure is outlined at the school website. Families Leading in Partnership (FLIP) - St Cecilia's Wyong (scwdbb.catholic.edu.au)

Our next FLIP meeting will take place in term 4 on Tuesday 18th October and the agenda is listed below. Please RSVP at the attached link.  https://forms.office.com/r/DrL0FAFNSe

Shine Awards Update

We have reached 12 months since implementing our Shine Award acknowledgement system. We are excited to announce that since implementing Shine Awards, teachers have distributed 11,160 awards. Though with any new system, we always strive to grow and improve what's in place through ongoing review processes. Therefore, in a culture of continuous improvement staff and parents have fedback in staff meetings, leadership team meetings and FLIP meetings, identifying What's Worked Well? What we've noticed? How can we make it better.

Please find an outline of the Shine Awards on our school website: Awards and Acknowledgements - St Cecilia's Wyong (scwdbb.catholic.edu.au)

I'd also like to apologise but there was an error communicated to the children that the morning tea with the AP came earlier than usual and it should happen for the 'Gold' not 'Silver' award. Apologies for this small hiccup. It was still a great opportunity to trial and get an estimated budget for future morning tea's with the Asssitant Principal, which will happen at 100 Shine Awards (GOLD). Those 25 children who had their morning tea earlier will receive their personalised school pencil when they reach their gold award. 

Thank you for everyone's valuable input, transparency, patience and understanding as we strive for quality and consistency in implementation of new processes in our school. 

School Service Team Updates

A reminder that earlier in the week there was an important letter sent out on Compass from Catholic Schools Broken Bay outlining changes to our student billing and finance systems.

Please take the time to read this note carefully, it was titled Parent Communication Ancestry Promotion.

Thanks

Mrs Clancy, Mrs Bagiossi and Mrs Motte

Teaching and Learning Matters

At every stage of learning from Kindergarten to Year 12 in NSW mathematics classrooms there is a focus on Working Mathematically. The Working Mathematically processes present in the Mathematics K–10 syllabus, which Kinder - Year 2 have begun implementing in 2023 and Year 3 - Year 6 will begin implementing in 2024, are:

• communicating
• understanding and fluency
• reasoning
• problem solving.

NESA (2023) notes, “Students learn to work mathematically by using these processes in an interconnected way. When students are Working mathematically it is important to help them to reflect on how they have used their thinking to solve problems. This assists students to develop ‘mathematical habits of mind’ (Cuoco et al. 2010).

Working mathematically requires students to: 

• explore and connect mathematical concepts (understanding/fluency) 
• choose and apply efficient techniques to solve problems (fluency/problem solving) 
• communicate their thinking and reasoning coherently and clearly (communicating/reasoning)”

In the past when teachers and parents in our school community were themselves primary school aged students it would not have been uncommon to find ourselves with a page of sums, each looking much like the other. For example, 

12 x 5 =

While it can be helpful in some instances to have fast recall of multiplication facts like this, it is unlikely that in answering a question like this a student is able to explore and connect mathematical concepts, solve problems or communicate their thinking and reasoning in a clear manner. Instead, the student is likely to either ‘get it right’ or ‘get it wrong’, which does little to build student confidence or knowledge. Within a classroom where questions are structured only in this manner a student very quickly develops a positive or negative perception of themselves as a mathematics learner, as it appears that only knowing the answer is valued. 

Instead in a classroom, where Working Mathematically is valued a question could be posed like this,

The product of two numbers is 60, what might the two numbers be?

When a question is posed in this way it provides many opportunities for students to explore various pathways to the problem. A student who does not have instant recall of their 12 times tables might access the problem by using skip counting by 10s to help them find an initial solution of,

 ‘6 and 10 are two numbers that have a product of 60.’

The student might then apply their knowledge of other simpler multiplication facts such as, 

‘I know that 1 and 10 have a product of 10, and 2 and 5 have a product of 10 too. When one of the numbers is halved in multiplication the other must be doubled for the total to stay the same. So if 6 and 10 are products of 60, then so are 3 and 20, and 5 and 12.’

While both questions modelled are asking students to multiply numbers to determine a product, the second asks students to apply efficient strategies to find multiple solutions and show a deeper understanding of multiplicative thinking, while also asking them to communicate their reasoning behind solutions to their teacher and peers. This kind of thinking allows for students to develop their understanding of relationships in mathematics, rather than simply memorising facts for quick recall.

Yours in learning.

Tori Jones
(St Cecilia's Numeracy Instructional Coach) 

Religious Education Update

YEAR 6 FAITH AND LEARNING WALK

The Year 6 students and their parents came together to celebrate a lovely liturgy last week. The theme of the liturgy was following in Jesus’ footsteps and how we can nourish ourselves in our journeys of discipleship. During the reflection Dean H and Pandora M shared their learning and described how Jesus serves others.

Prior to the liturgy, the Year 6 students showcased what they have been learning about during their Science and Technology Inquiry Unit. Many fantastic simple and complex circuits were created and specifically designed to fulfil a purpose. Awesome learning Year 6!

FIRST EUCHARIST

We would like to congratulate the Year 4 students who made their first Eucharist last Friday evening. As a school community we prayed for these beautiful students and special cards were made by the Mini Vinnies and Pastoral teams. Congratulations!

Staff Spotlight

Mrs Jamie Dowling

Mrs Dowling is our 5 Gold classroom teacher and the school's Religious Education Coordinator (REC). Mrs Dowling is currently wearing multiple hats in the role of REC, Acting AP and classroom teacher. She embodies the essence of faith, community, and educational excellence. Mrs Dowling's dedication and commitment to fostering spiritual growth, unity within our community, and delivering exemplary education makes her an invaluable asset to our institution.

She approaches her role with a genuine and profound spirituality, infusing every aspect of her work with a sense of purpose and reverence. We are thankful for the many opportunities Mrs Dowling creates for our community to come together in worship, learning and fellowship. Some of these opportunities include the Faith and Learning Walks, weekend Parish Masses, youth programs, all our school and Diocesan masses, sacramental programs and liturgies.

Faith is not just an individual journey but a communal experience and we are blessed with Mrs Dowling's warm and inclusive approach which fosters an environment where everyone in our community feels welcome and embraced, fostering a sense of belonging that strengthens our faith community.

PEC Update

Dear Parents and Carers,

I wish you a wonderful safe holiday and look forward to seeing you in term 4. 

I will leave you with a lovely reflection I came across the other day.

Some of you don't even realize how you light up rooms when you enter, and how many you inspire while they watch you, being you.

You don't know how many set their personal goals just seeing you refuse to give up when you are slowed down, regain your speed and going for it again.

You don't see your children watching you when you are kind to others, when you stand up for those who can't/dare not stand up for themselves, being fair when you could have been biased. And they remember this when people talk about you. They build their lives on you as a role model.

You're literally magnetised, and you don't even realise it.

May your day give you many opportunities to inspire every person who sees and meets you.

Blessings

Jo Helm
(Parent Engagement Coordinator)

Sports News

What's happening in Sport in Term 4?

We have an actioned packed sports calendar for Term 4 of 2023.

K-2 Swimming Program, 3-6 Cricket Clinic, Swimming Carnival and Surf Days just to name a few.

Be sure to check out the attached sports calendar to ensure your child is in sports uniform on the correct day.

Classroom Connections

St Cecilia's Public Speaking Competition

This term, the whole school participated in the annual Public Speaking Competition, an initiative we started 3 years ago but due to covid, we could only officially implement in 2022.  Public speaking in a lifelong skill.  To deliver a successful speech, there are many skills involved. The students need effective communication skills, clear articulation, engaging content, confidence, the ability to connect with the audience and passion. All the students certainly did not fall short. The students in Years 1 – 5 worked hard to plan their speech, write their speech, edit their speech, and practise their speech. Kindergarten focused on the delivery rather than the content and practiced effectively delivering a poem. It was evident that all the students worked extremely hard and should be highly commended on their results.  

After presenting it in front of the class, around 5 students were selected from each class to continue onto the Grade Level.  This is where the students re-presented their speech but in front of the entire grade this time.  Both teachers had the tough task of adjudicating and selecting the top 5 speakers from the grade to go onto the Stage Level.  At the Stage Level, the speakers had yet again present their speech but in front of a larger audience. After careful deliberation, the adjudicators announced the following winners: 

The entire school then enjoyed the Showcase where the winners above presented their speech in front of the whole school to celebrate all the hard work that has taken place. Thank you to all the parents for your continued support. And congratulations to all students for participating in this amazing initiative. You represented yourself, your class, and your school with pride.   

Mrs Adcock

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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

Term 4 Upcoming Events