St Cecilia's Newsletter Term 1 Week 8 2023

A word from the Principal

Dear Families, 

This week I had the honour of showcasing the outstanding staff, children and learning that happens at our school. We had over 50 families (new and existing) attend the Open Day or Open Evening for 2023. Mrs Scott led the choir in a spectacular performance of 'Colour Me in Sunshine ' and our Year 6 children had a big role in promoting the school. Each year six child worked collaboratively with their peers to prepare a focus learning area stall to showcase to prospective families. They also took parents on tours around the school, during the day and then the Year 6 children returned at night to fulfil their leadership responsibilities and represent their school ever so proudly. 

Below is an email I received from a prospective parent and I feel it really captures the exemplary behaviour that all our children, in particular the Year 6 leaders, displayed at our Open sessions... 

I attended your open day this morning and wanted to express my thanks for all the effort put into a great morning for all of us to learn about St Cecilia’s. The choir was lovely and the year 6 kids stalls were fabulous, all hosted by a great bunch of kids who had clearly put in a lot of effort to welcome potential new families to your community and showcase their much loved school. Thanks to the principal and assistant principal for their informative presentations.

I wanted to give a special mention to Troy and Levi who did an excellent job walking us around on our tour. Not only did they show us each classroom and explain what was happening, but I feel they went the extra effort to explain little extras about the school like the buddy program, what happens certain days at lunch and recess, wet weather, options of quiet time, coding, chess etc in the library. They showed us some awards, explained how various classes work, and really gave us a feel for the school and its students. These boys were respectful, polite, engaging and very helpful and are an asset to your school. Their parents and teachers should be proud of how diligent they were in their job today.

Thank you very much once again for a lovely morning.

Lastly, a special thank you to the Year 6 parents who brought their children back to school for the Open Evening. I appreciate you promoting a sense of responsibility, leadership and community engagement with your child. The children made me proud by the way they conducted themselves throughout the whole day. 

The enrolments are already coming in fast, so if you are an existing family with a Kindergarten child wanting to start in 2024, please ensure you get your enrolment form in by the end of term. We want to ensure we can secure a spot for all our existing families. 

Peace and blessings.

Marta Chylewska 

Prev

Showing images 1 - 8 of 9

Next

Teaching and Learning Matters

NAPLAN  

Congratulations to our Year 3 and 5 students who have completed their NAPLAN tests. Year 3 completed their writing test by hand, while all other tests were completed online. This year the Naplan tests were conducted earlier than in previous years, therefore we are hopeful to get the results earlier so we can analyse the data to inform our teaching in the classroom. 

While we acknowledge that the NAPLAN tests are one test on one day, it does provide the school with a snapshot of student academic achievement and progress over time. This data is valuable to our school as it highlights the effectiveness of our whole school teaching programs and provides all past and present teachers of your child, with information regarding levels of understanding about a range of literacy and numeracy concepts.  

Religious Education Update

LENT 

We are now in the Fifth Sunday of Lent (The Searching for Life period). As we journey through the Lenten weeks to the celebration of Easter it is a reminder of how we can continue to grow deeper in our Catholic faith. We can simply do this through prayer… 

A Prayer for the Lenten Grace 

Loving God, 

During the sacred season of Lent, bring me closer to you. Prepare a place in my home and heart for silence and solitude,  

so that I may re-discover the grace of a prayer-full life. 

Help me to fast from those things that threaten me well-being of  

body and soul  

and remind me of the grace of simplicity. 

Enlarge my heart so that I give to those in need and, in so doing,  

re-discover the grace of gratitude and generosity. 

May this season be a grace-filled time to rekindle my love for and faith in you. 

Amen 

HOLY WEEK CELEBRATIONS

The children will re-enact the significant events of Holy Week on Monday 3rd of April. Please join us at 9:15 am in the school hall to reflect on these important events.

PEC Update

Let all that you do be done with LOVE. -1 Corinthians 16:14 

For those that may not know, I also work with Fr Raul and Fr Alex at Wyong Catholic Parish as Parish Coordinator. If you have any questions in relation to the Sacramental programs or would like more information about Baptism for yourself or your child, please feel free to contact me at joanne.helm@dbb.catholic.edu.au 

We understand that COVID prevented many families from having their child/ren Baptised so now is the time to consider this Sacrament, especially with the sacrament of Confirmation coming up in term 2. (Your child will need to be baptised before they can make the sacrament of Confirmation) 

PARENT TALK

The Council of Catholic School Parents NSW/ACT (CCSP) provide an informative newsletter called Parent Talk. These newsletters are packed with news, invitations to webinars, surveys and more. They cover topics from Kindergarten to Year 12.  In this edition, there is an invitation to Justin Coulson’s webinar on 29 March on the topic of anxiety and resilience. Be sure to register to attend this event online. There are many other articles on bedtime routines for children with Autism and ADHD, information about Lent and NSW Family Vouchers. Click on the link Parent Talk to view. You can also follow the CCSP on Facebook. 

Nurturing Faith in the Families Series 

Families and Lent – Acts of Love and Sacrifice 

(PDF attached) 

Blessing for the week ahead. 

Jo Helm   

Ph 0424 763 734 

Parent Engagement Coordinator (PEC) 

PBL - Positive Behaviours For Learning

Staying Connected

EASTER RAFFLE

Tickets are now on sale for the Easter Raffle. 

30 tickets for $12 are available on Qkr and all other tickets available for cash sale at school. The children are loving bringing in their coins or notes of a morning to purchase their own tickets. 

Any QKR ticket sales will be written up by the Year 4 class parents. A spreadsheet of the QKR sales will be provided to the Year 4 class parents (or helpers) and your eldest child will bring an envelope with the ticket numbers you were allocated. These tickets are just a receipt purchase of your tickets online. Please rest assured that it's OK if you don't have your tickets on the day of the drawer as the other half of your ticket has your child's name and class. That's all that's needed to claim the prize. 

Thank you to the rostered parents who have been making the sales at school.

See attached flyer for full Raffle Details.

Classroom Connections

THE SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION 

Congratulations to the Year 4 children who received the Sacrament of Reconciliation on Tuesday evening. It was a beautiful celebration led by Father Raul and Father Alex. A special thank you to Jo Helm our Parish Coordinator, and Mrs Jordan and Mrs Doughty for preparing them to receive this sacrament of healing. Children we are very proud of the way you showed respect and reverence whilst making this sacrament. 

Following the reconciliation the children and their families along with parishioners celebrated with a sausage sizzle. 

May God's Blessings of Love, Mercy and Peace be upon them and their families.

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! Year 4 will receive their awards first as they will be rushing off to their excursion at Hyde Park Barracks. 

Academic Achievement Award

PBL Award

Personal Best Award

Light of Learning Award

Upcoming Events

Week 8

EASTER RAFFLE
Thank you so much for bringing in all your donations for the Easter Raffle. We have a range of chocolates, baskets, bunnies, cellophane and other non-cholocate raffle items. Over the past three days we have have sold $236 worth of tickets at school and our QKR sales are at 32 bundles of 30 tickets, which takes the QkR sales to $384. So in three days we have raised $620 towards our playground sports equipment fundraiser! What a amazing effort. 

In addition to the generous Central Coast Mariner tickets as prizes, I received an email from the Burrows family, wanting to donate two table tennis tables and their delivery on the families behalf. In addition to the table tennis tables, Australian Table Tennis Olympian, Michelle Bromley has offered to run some table tennis workshops for our children focusing on building their motivaion and teaching them some table tennis rules and skills. We know how excited the children will be about this opportunity to meet an Australian Olympian and it will contribute to the momentum of table tennis in the playground. 

We are just finalising quotes on table tennis tables and will share with the community where we're at with our target goal for raising funds towards this initiative that focus' on fitness, health and promoting wellbeing. 

For those families who may have missed the Compass message about the Easter Raffle, please see the attached message below. 

HOLY WEEK LITURGY DATE CHANGE
Our apologies for the the move in our Holy Week Liturgy but there was a clash with the Year 6 St Peter's Taster Day. The new date for the liturgy will be Monday 3rd April at 9:15am in the hall. All parents are welcome to join us. 

ANZAC DAY REMINDERS
A reminder that school is open on Monday 24th April, however closed for the Anzac Day Public Holiday on Tuesday 25th April. 

This week, an RSVP note from Mrs Callaghan will be coming out to children who may be interested to join the transitional Anzac Day march in the Wyong Centre Town Park, Rankens Court, Wyong (look for the St Cecilia’s banner) for a 10:00am service. Children wishing to march will need to meet Mrs Callaghan, at 9:45am. It has been a long-standing tradition at St Cecilia’s for children to represent their school at this march.

St Cecilia’s choir has also been fortunate enough to be asked to perform at Palmdale this year for ANZAC Day. Any parents whose child is in the choir, please complete the attached form https://forms.office.com/r/MSCMMbGAAM to indicate if your child will be able to make it. Any children wishing to be part of the audience and watch the choir participate are welcome to the Palmdale Cemetery and Memorial Park on Palmdale Road at the main Cafe. The service will commence at 9am at the Defence Force Memorial, however choir children will need to meet Mrs Scott at 8:45am.