Week 8, Term 2 2023 - 6th June 2023

Reflection - Week 8

The Skills Your Child Must Have to Succeed in the 21st Century

Educational leaders, policy makers and others who are invested in developing a strong future generation have considered what essential “21st century skills” students need to have in order to succeed in school and beyond. Organizations and websites may use different terminology, but the following skills encompass many common themes.

While the formation and development of these skills are essential learning in our classrooms, at St Mary’s we also make the opportunity for students to interact across the whole school. Benefits include widening student’s recognition of other teachers, students and methods of learning, as well as providing challenging tasks which can be achieved through peer assistance and group commitment.

In our MJR sessions this term students have discovered the Catholic Social Teachings and applied their learning to real-life situations, such as a visit from Mayor Williamson, petitioning companies to be ecologically aware and creating gifts for those who may be lonely or isolated.

As noted, an essential part of development is the ability to communicate and on 16 June we are present a Showcase where students will present demonstrations and explain all that they achieved this term. All are welcome to attend the Showcase, further information is included in this newsletter.

Terri Leotta
Assistant Principal: Religious Education

Hurrahkids.com

From our Principal - Mr Wes Rose

School News

• This week Miss Wendy Parker (School Counsellor) is away, attending a training course about the Berry St Education, a model of dealing with people who have experienced childhood trauma. For more information about this, click here.
• Miss Brooke Anderson goes on leave for the Army Reserves from 9^th – 16^th Mrs Simpson will replace her during this time.
• Good luck to our Reader’s Cup team who will compete at the Mackay Regional final, held this Thursday at St Mary’s Hall.
• All the best to our Yr 6 students who are preparing their Caritas stalls for next Monday and Tuesday.
• Next Friday 16^th June we welcome members of the Mackay Meteors, who will play a game of basketball against some students at first break. I am sure the students will thoroughly enjoy their visit!

Sports News

• Congratulations to Jax Fidler, who was selected into the MDSS Rugby Union team. The team played at the Capricornia Union trials, where Jax played some noteworthy games.  Well done, Jax!
• Well done to the 11-13 years students who completed their field events yesterday. We have had some outstanding results and even some records broken, so stay tuned for the official announcement later on.
• Our 9-10 Field events have been rescheduled to Wednesday 7^th June from 8:40am. Parents are most welcome to attend school to spectate.
• Our 9-13yrs Athletics Track Carnival will be held this Friday 9^th June at the ARC. Students will catch buses from school at 8:45am to the venue.  Parents are once again most welcome to attend.

Quote of the Week

Mackay Readers Cup

This Thursday we welcome schools from around Mackay and district to compete in the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Readers Cup. 

Readers Cup is in its 20^th year of inviting students to work together in teams to read and analyse novels.  There are 414 teams competing across Queensland this week. We have ten schools competing in the Mackay competition.  The winning team will advance to the state finals to be held in Brisbane in September. 

Our St Mary’s team consists of Mayson, Deepthii, Jessica S and Tavonga.   This team has worked hard to read and prepare questions based on five novels.  Best of luck to our team!

Val Paul
Readers Cup Co-ordinator

Year 6 Caritas Stalls

Next Monday and Tuesday the Year 6 students will be running their Caritas stalls to raise money for this very important charity.

The stalls will be active during both breaks and will have a variety of wares available for purchase. They will have home baked goodies, games,  jewellery, hair bands, icy cups and much, much more.

Please send along some spending money and support this initiative of the hard-working year 6 students.

Jenni Motteram,  Belinda van Lint, Val Paul & Simone Sibley
Year 6 Teachers

Catholic Social Teachings Showcase

Next Friday 16 June, from 1:45-3pm, St Mary’s will hold a Showcase displaying all that has been achieved in this term’s MJR Peer Led Sessions. This is a chance to view all that our groups have created and the positive changes they have made to the world.

All parents, carers and friends are invited to come along and view the demonstrations, posters, constructions and achievements of our St Mary’s students. Please accept/decline through Parent Lounge Events by clicking on this link.

Sport News

Field Events  (9 to 10 Yrs) - Wednesday 7th June

Tomorrow, Wednesday 7th June from 8.40am, students born 2014 and 2013 will rotate through discus, shot put, long jump and high jump on the school oval. Parents are most welcome to spectate.  

Interhouse Track Events - Friday 9th June

The Interhouse Track events will be at the Mackay Aquatic and Recreation Complex, Boundary Road, Ooralea this Friday.  All year 3-6 students will bus over to the venue first thing in the morning so please ensure your children arrive to school on time.  Snack, lunch, water bottles and hats will all need to be taken to the field with the students. Students are asked to wear running shoes and socks, HPE shorts and their house shirt.  They will need to sit with their team rather than with family to ensure they do not miss their race. Events on this day include 800m (optional), 100m, 200m and relays. There is room for spectators if you would like to bring a chair or rug, but please take photos from behind the fence.  If you choose to take your child home early, please let one of the staff members know.

Simone Sibley
HPE Teacher

Congratulations to Jax Fidler who was selected to represented MDSS in the U11 boys Rugby Union. Well done Jax.

Run Club

There will be no Run Club this week – Week 8.  We will have our final Run Club Thursday 15^th June.

2023 Premier's Reading Challenge

READ, READ, READ!

The 2023 Premier’s Reading Challenge kicked off last month.  The challenge is not a competition but aims to improve literacy and encourage children to read widely for pleasure and learning.

Students at St Mary’s will participate in the challenge by recording all the books they read between now and 25th August 2023.  The winning class will be announced on assembly following the closure of the competition and the collation of results. Let’s get reading St Mary’s! 

Book Club

St Mary's Trivia Night Thanks

We would like thank all of the volunteers and the P&F for a cracking night on Friday.  The trivia night is one of the highlights of the St Mary’s calendar and the costumes didn’t disappoint!

Well done to the winners from the night:

1^st Place – Table 12 - Harrup Park – 82 points
2^nd Place – Table 7 – Jazz Party Hire – 78 points
3^rd Place – Table 2 – Cool Chain Mackay – 76 points

Best Dressed #1 – Table 10 – Carnival
Best Dressed #2 – Table 14 - Rubber Ducks & Carni’s

We would also like to pass on a huge thank you to all of the wonderful sponsors for helping making this event a success:

Prep Vision Screening

Good vision is important for a child’s educational, physical and social development. Vision screening checks for common eye conditions that may impact your child’s ability to see and therefore impact their learning and development. 

A Registered Nurse will be visiting St Mary’s on Monday 4th September to conduct vision screening for children in their prep year. Your child does not need a Medicare card in order to participate in screening.  If you wish to have your prep child participate in this free vision screening program, please complete a consent form by Tuesday 13th June.  Online consent forms have been distributed to you or paper consent forms are available upon request from your school. Parents do not need to be present for screening, however if you would like to be, please contact the school to arrange this. 

If your child’s vision is screened, you will be advised of the results in writing. If a vision concern is found, you will receive a phone call from the nurse to discuss referral to an eye health professional for further assessment. If a vision concern is identified and your child requires glasses, eligible health care card holders may be assisted with free basic glasses through the Spectacle Supply Scheme. 

Participation in vision screening is not compulsory. If you do not wish for your child to participate in screening, please complete the consent form and indicate that you wish to decline screening. 

If you have any questions, please contact the Primary School Nurse Health Readiness Program on 1800 687 372.

Student of the Week

Week 7, Term 2 Student Award Winners

Community News