St Cecilia's Newsletter Term 1, Week 9 2024

A word from the Principal

Dear Parents and Carers, 

Yesterday all Catholic School Broken Bay (CSBB) schools had the opportunitiy to come together to for the first of our three Curriculum Reform staff development days this year. 

We are in a pivotal time of education around Australia as the education system is reforming the curriculum which will be taught in all classrooms from Kindergarten to Year 12. The new curriculum, because of the Curriculum Reform, will give students more time to focus on key learning areas such as English and Mathematics so that they can acquire a deeper understanding of central concepts. It will ensure students develop strong foundations for learning, life, and work in a complex and fast-changing world.

This reform has been informed by extensive consultation with teachers, parents and education experts, and is underpinned by extensive research. Curriculum reform involves change that spans many aspects of schooling, including teaching, learning, assessment and reporting to parents. These new syllabuses provide schools with a unique opportunity to re-focus and place curriculum at the heart of school planning. Key curriculum changes include:

• building strong foundations for future learning with new English and mathematics syllabuses for Kindergarten to Year 2
• an entirely new curriculum from 2022 with new syllabuses focused on what is essential to know and do in early and middle years of schooling, and key learning areas in the senior years.
• providing more time for teaching by reducing the hours teachers spend on extra-curricular topics and issues and compliance requirements.
• strengthening post- school pathways with new learning areas for Years 11 and 12 that clearly link learning to future employment and study options.

The reform is vital for the young people in our schools today, and for those who will arrive in the years to come. 

The first of our Curriculum Reform days was led by our keynote speaker Jennifer Pledger from National Education Standards Authority (NESA). The day focused on deepening knowledge and building consistent understanding of the approach to assessment and future focus for assessment across our schools. It was a wonderful opportunity for our teachers to network with staff from other local Catholic schools, strengthen consistent teacher judgement, collaborate, and learn from each other.  

The staff and I look forward to our second Curriculum Reform Day on Monday 29th April, which will be the next staff development day in our St Cecilia's school calendar. 

Peace and blessings.

Marta Chylewska

New School Phone Number

We have recently made the transition to Microsoft Teams which means we now have a new school phone number. Please save this number in your phone!

The old number will divert to the new line for a few weeks before it is disconnected.

Staying Connected

Mother's Day Breakfast

Currently we only have 30 RSVP's for our Mother's Day breakfast. Our suppliers have asked for crossaint orders to be in two weeks prior to the hosted event. Since holidays fall between this period and don't allow the exact two weeks from our return date, we ask that all mums place their orders for the annual Mother's Day breakfast ASAP. Please complete the attached form by the end of this school term. https://forms.office.com/r/97TxZcPLGZ

Colour Run - Tuesday 9th April

Reminders:

- All children can wear white or light clothes which you're happy to get discoloured and closed toe shoes, no thongs or sandals on the day. 

- Parents who have purchased a ticket to run in the Colour Run can arrive at 2pm (sorry for change in time again) and you will need to sign in at the front gate with Mrs helm to get your wristband to run. Wear your white clothes too. We have 60 parents participating so far and tickets can still be purchased via QKR. 

- Children will have morning tea and lunch earlier this day. 

- All families welcome to arrive at 2:35pm for the Raffle that will be drawn at the end of the day. 

- Lolly Guessing Competition Winners will be announced at morning assembly on 9th April. 

- Please remember to complete the online consent form on Compass to indicate your child's involvement due to possible medical conditions.

- We have raised $6815 so far. This is amazing and will get us 5 new benches to seat all of Kindergarten at tables in the infants playground for outdoor learning or break times. Only a few hundred more and we will manage to get at least 6 tables and benches.

- QKR raffle ticket sales will close at 9:30pm tonight but you will still be able to purchase tickets at the end of each day at 2:30pm at the back gate from our year three class parent helpers.  

Class Parents 2024

I wanted to take a moment to extend my heartfelt gratitude to each of the mother's listed below for graciously volunteering to be class parents for your child's grade in 2024. Your willingness to dedicate your time and energy to support our classroom community is truly appreciated and I know the staff in our school are excited to work closely in partnership with you this year. 

It's going to be a fabulous year! We learned a lot from our first cohort of class parents in 2023 and are building upon those foundations. 

Canteen Update

A reminder that the canteen is CLOSED for Week 10!

Teaching and Learning Matters

Curriculum 

Each year, the children at St Cecilia's will be taught subjects from syllabuses developed by the NSW Education Standards AuthorityExternal link. NSW syllabuses provide an outline of the requirements for teaching and learning in various subjects for stages of students’ learning. They also contain the outcomes and content which are intended to be inclusive of the learning needs of all students, including:

• Aboriginal students

• students with disability

• high potential and gifted education

• students learning English as an additional language or dialect (EAL/D).

Our teaching and learning programs are designed with the needs of your child at the core. Programs are adapted to cater for the needs of each student in the class. Our teachers use a range of high-quality resources to deliver the teaching and learning. The planned curriculum for each term in each grade can be accessed via the Curriculum Overviews provided for each grade at the start of each term. You can alwyas find these at our school website. https://www.scwdbb.catholic.edu.au/news-events/curriculum-overviews/

At St Cecilia's we value the important role our parents and carers have in the educational journey of our students. Please contact the school should you have any questions or would like to discuss your child’s specific learning needs.

Religious Education Update

RECONCILIATION SACRAMENT (YEAR FOUR) 

Congratulations to the year four students who made their Sacrament of Reconciliation last week. A special thank you to our presiding priests; Father Raul, Father Alex and Father Teody for listening carefully to the children as they made their first Reconciliation and to our teachers; Mrs Jordan, Mrs McArthur and Mrs Curnow for preparing the children to receive this sacrament of healing. Well done year four!

HOLY WEEK CELEBRATIONS

Holy Week Mass (years 4 and 5)

Fr Raul highlighted beautifully in the homily the reason for covering the crucifixes and statues in our Catholic churches two weeks before Easter. He explained to the children that when the sacred images are covered it immediately signals that something is different. The covering of sacred images keeps our minds focused on the promise of Easter, as we are reminded of the anticipation of the resurrection and the significance of the sacred Triduum (Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday).

Holy Week Liturgy (K – 3)

The younger children also lead a special Holy Week Liturgy. During this liturgy the children made connections with the gospel (Jesus Washes the Disciples Feet) and their lives by reflecting on how they can make random acts of kindness. Thank you, parents and grandparents, for joining us in these holy week celebrations and we hope you all had a lovely Easter spent with family and friends!

Shining Stars

PEC Update

Dear Parents and Carers,
 
You are invited to join me for a parent workshop on tackling anxiety in children.
 
The workshop will take place on Monday 8th April 6pm - 8pm at St John Fisher School, Hicks Lane, Tumbi Umbi, in the main school hall.

Christine Hain, St John Fisher's school counsellor and psychologist will facilitate this workshop.

The workshop is aimed at parents whose children are struggling with anxiety. It will be general information, not specifically case based.

The content will be research based and will go through Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and mindfulness techniques.
The Focus will be on strategies we can employ that could work for everyone.

Resources will be available to take home.
 
Please register via the link below or contact me at joanne.helm@dbb.catholic.edu.au if you’d like any further information.

https://forms.office.com/r/af9GukgWxx

Tea and Coffee will be provided.
 
Blessings,
 
Jo Helm
Parent Engagement Coordinator
St Cecilia's School and St Peter's College

Sports News

Congratulations 

We wish Archer W all the best in his 50m Butterfly race today at the POLDING event and look forward to hearing his results. 

I would like to congratulate Levi W who has been selected from the Broken Bay Representatives for Polding Under 11s Rugby League Team. 

Athletics Carnival Update 

Thank you for all those parents and carers who have volunteered for next week's Athletics Carnival. The Jobs are being finalised and an email will be sent shortly to let you know what job I have allocated you. We are still waiting for 39 students to be given consent to attend the day.  
 
If you have volunteered, could I ask you to go onto this website and fill out the CSBB Contractor & Volunteer Engagement Form. If you have already completed this form, please ignore. 

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 2 Key Dates