St Cecilia's Newsletter Term 1 Week 6 2023

A word from the Principal

Today we celebrate International Women's Day (IWD). A day where we acknowledge the accomplishments of women in areas of culture, politics, the economy, and society at large. 

Firstly, I'd like to take the time to recgonise the beautiful women I have the privileage of working with each day. Ladies, your strength, intelligence, passion and talents are what makes our school such a special and welcoming place. You all inspire me every day and  I thank you for everything that you do for the children, families and your colleagues at St Cecilia's.

To the mothers, grandmothers and other motherly figures in our community. Being a mum is not always easy because there are so many roles to play managing your personal as well as professional life. I know you are all doing an amazing job.  You may not always realise it but you are very important to your children. Never underestimate yourself and your significance. In many of my conversations and encounters with you exceptional mums, your patience, unconditional love and your ability to bond the family inspires me. 

Lastly to the women of our future, our K-6 girls! Never give up fighting for what you believe in, and never lose faith in your own skills. Daily, we see your compassion, perserverance and respect towards self, others and your environment. You are role models to many in our school. May you continue to grow into confident and resilient learners who stand up for what is right and contribute positively to future generations. 

Peace and blessings

Marta 

Teaching and Learning Matters

St Cecilia’s collaborative coaching model in Mathematics and English this year will continue to be driven by student learning improvement and achieving goals. This provides the environment for teachers working collaboratively with their colleagues to improve student outcomes.  

The Maths Assessment Interview and Best start data enables us to pinpoint the point of need for each individual student and set individual goals for students. It also allowed teachers to use the data to group their students with similar needs. 

The students know what their goal is, and by understanding and knowing their individual goals, they are motivated and excited to achieve their goals. 

Religious Education Update

The New K-2 Religious Education Curriculum

The new Kindergarten Religious Education Curriculum was successfully implemented and executed in 2022. The new pedagogy aligns with the Early Years Framework and is a significant tool to assist with the understanding of the new approach to Religious Education in Kindergarten and Stage One. This new pedagogy highlights:

The new approach offers children time to be, to engage in their own seeking and to make meaning when they are ready.

Becoming: “Becoming reflects the process of rapid and significant change that occurs in the early years as young children learn and grow.” (EYLF, p.7)

The new approach enables children to grow in faith and awareness of God’s presence in themselves and others.

The Kindergarten teachers and children have already engaged in this renewed thinking and learning and this year Stage One will be introduced to this same pedagogy. The new pedagogy has been well-researched and as a result, an established scope and sequence of experiences has been developed and excellent resources provided to allow for best practice. The Religious Education programs and learning environments have been designed to be age appropriate and to meet the developmental needs of all children. The children are provided with opportunities to respond to the stories of Jesus with their hands, hearts, and minds. Importantly, an essential aim of this renewed thinking and learning is for the children to be active participants who are engaging their whole person (head, heart, and hands) in a systematic synthesis of faith and life.

This is continuously achieved through the Religious Education sessions, where the children listen to presentations, engage in response tasks (e.g., practical life activities, play using concrete materials, painting, and prayer) and respond in their student journals. These experiences allow the children to be drawn into the mystery of God and strengthen their relationship with Christ and develop an understanding of the significance and meanings of scripture and liturgy for their lives.

PBL - Positive Behaviours For Learning

Staying Connected

STAFF DEVELOPMENT DAY
A reminder that tomorrow,Thursday 9th March is a staff development day. School will be closed. 

NAPLAN
Year 3 and 5 NAPLAN period has moved to term 1 this year and it has creeped up on us, with the children sitting their NAPLAN tests next week. The dates and times for the tests are:

Wednesday 15th March at 9am - Writing; Years 3 & 5 
Thursday 16th March at 9am - Reading; Years 3 & 5
Thursday 16th March at 11:25am - Language Conventions; Year 3 & 5
Monday 20th March at 9am - Numeracy for Years 3 & 5

'NUT AWARE' SCHOOL

St Cecilia's is a ‘nut aware’ school. Some students have a mild reaction when exposed to nuts and some may have a severe reaction known as anaphylaxis. Anaphylaxis is potentially life threatening and always requires an emergency response. 

Whilst we cannot guarantee that our school environment is nut free, we do encourage our community to be ‘nut-aware’ and help to minimise the risk of accidental exposure by:  
- Considering other choices rather than providing loose nuts and/or food with nut additives, such as peanut butter, when preparing snacks and lunches for your child to eat at school.
- Requesting that all nuts and any food containing nuts are not brought to school. 
- Discussing with your child the importance of not sharing their food with others. This also includes the sharing of drink bottles and eating utensils.

OPEN DAY AND SIBLING ENROLMENTS

It's that time of year again when we begin the process of enrolling students for Kindergarten in 2024. Siblings clearly take priority for places, but I would urge you to collect or ask for an application package to be sent home as soon as possible if you have a little one starting next year. This helps me manage the external demand for places and anticipate numbers. Please contact the office on 43 53 2922 or  complete the form below so we can send home an Enrolment pack and arrange interviews with you.
https://forms.office.com/r/FeNd4trFKu

Our 2023 Open Day for prospective families is on Tuesday the 21st of March. We will be holding two sessions:
MORNING = 9.30am - 10:45am
EVENING = 6pm - 7:15pm.
There will be student guided tours (day and evening), showcase tables from our Year 6 TEAMS (day and evening), performances from the choir, open classrooms and a presentation from our Principal Mrs Chylewska.

You can register your Open Day or Evening attendance via the link. https://bit.ly/3XLqDKm

If any of our existing families know of anyone with a child starting Kindergarten in 2024 or anyone interested in our older grades please feel free to share this event with them.

PEC Update

I am so excited to be the Parent Engagement Co Ordinator at St Cecilia’s school.  It has been great meeting parents at the Kinder Tears & Tissues, morning front gate, and most recently at the Families Leading in Partnership (FLIP) meeting. 

Thank you for making me feel so welcome.

This April I will be running a preparation class for any children in our school who would like to be Baptised Catholic which will allow them to follow through with the rest of the sacraments along with their peers.

This program will be for children from kinder to year 6.  For more information, please call me on 0424 763 734.

It was amazing to see so many smiling faces at our first children’s mass on Saturday evening. Thank you to everyone who came along. The children’s mass will continue every Saturday at 5pm and we would love for you all to join us.

Blessings

Jo Helm

Classroom Connections

K-2 AFL CLINIC

Exciting news for our K-2 students who will participate in a 3-week AFL clinic run by Wyong AFL Club. This will commence on Friday 17^th of March (week 7) and continue on the 24^th and 31^st March. We ask that all K-2 students wear sports uniform on these days.

2023 CROSS COUNTRY

Last friday we held our annual Cross Country Run. The 2 – 6 Cross Country was held at Baker Park with the K-1 Cross Country held at school. It was such a successful day, filled with good sportsmanship, smiling faces, talented long distance runners as well as perseverant runners non-long distance runners, and many extremely helpful teachers and parent volunteers.

Congratulations to all students on a wonderful effort.

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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

Personal Best Award

PBL Award

Upcoming Events

Week 6

• Thursday 9th March - Staff Development day.
• Friday 10th March - Whole school awards @ 8.45am

Week 7

• Monday 13th March - Yr 2 Grade Mass at the church @9.15am (*recent swap)
• Monday 13th March - Broken Bay Netball Trials
• Tuesday 14th March - Broken Bay Swimming Carnival Mingara
• Wednesday 15th March - NAPLAN 2023 Yr 3 and Yr 5
• Thursday 16th March - NAPLAN 2023 Yr 3 and Yr 5
• Friday 17th March - St Joseph's Liturgy @ 8.45am

Week 8 

• Monday 20th March - NAPLAN Yr 3 and Yr 5
• Monday 20th March - Yr 4 Grade Mass at the Church @ 9.15am
• Tuesday 21st March - 2023 Open Day Sessions 9.30am and 6pm
• Tuesday 21st MarchYear 4 Reconciliation Ceremony at St Cecilia's Church @4pm