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Newsletter Week 5
Mary Mackillop Feast Day August 8
PAINTED BY D’ARCY DOYLE (1932 – 2001, AUSTRALIAN)
Ever-generous God,
You inspired St Mary MacKillop to live her life
faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ
and constant in bringing hope and encouragement
to those who were disheartened, lonely, or needy.
With confidence in your generous providence
we ask that our faith and hope
be fired afresh by the Holy Spirit so that we too
like Mary MacKillop, may live with courage
trust, and openness.
Ever-generous God, hear our prayer.
We ask this through Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Student’s Coming Onsite
I was surprised to hear that some students were potentially coming to school to have a ‘Play Day’ with their friends. The school is open to students of essential workers who have no other option to have their children cared for. Students who do need to come onsite are working on the online tasks set by their teacher and have normal recess and lunch breaks.
Remote Learning Update
Thank you for the ongoing support from families during this lockdown time. Classroom teachers are continuing to work very hard in providing an online learning platform for their students. I acknowledge that this is now how teachers were trained to teach but am continually impressed at their commitment to the task. The SeeSaw and Google Classroom platforms are continuing to be refined and improved as teachers seek out new ideas and learn new skills.
This week, teachers are reporting that there has been a decline in the enthusiasm for remote learning by students. This seems to be prevalent across all grades. Covid fatigue is a term now being reported in the media and it is something that we, as teachers, are witnessing. Once again, you know your child best to know when to push and when to take a step back and say enough is enough. Sheltering younger children as much as possible from the constant media talk about Covid cases, death, hotspots, etc is advisable. Even if they are not directly watching these reports / updates, hearing it in the background can have a significant impact as their young brains try to absorb the information. Older children need time to talk about how they are feeling and what their interpretation of the information is. Even as adults, we get worn down by constant negativity. As families, we need to look for the positives - what can we do as opposed to what we can’t do!
Stay safe and watch out for changing behaviours. If you need any support, please contact us as we are happy to help.
Principal’s Challenge
This is on hold for this week as we have the Assistant Principal’s Challenge!! Mrs Vezinias has come up with a great idea with details in this newsletter. I look forward to seeing how clever our students (& staff ???) really are!
Welcome to our St Therese Remote Learning site
The purpose of this site is to plan for educational continuity for the students of St Therese Catholic Primary School and ensure that learning continues for your child at home. In addition, it aims to provide clarity across the school community about the delivery of home learning.
There will be regular changes to our website. Please bookmark this site on your child's device.
https://sites.google.com/dow.catholic.edu.au/stww-covid-support/home?authuser=0
If you have any issues or need assistance please contact the school on 42291818
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL'S CHALLENGE
St Therese has Got Talent
Social Emotional Learning
School Birthdays
11 August 2021 - 17 August 2021
Happy Birthday:
Elijah Smith, Rocco Carniato, Annabelle Cruickshank, Mark Khalqa, Joseph Barila, Lucas Germano, Alexander Tomeski, Koa Pike, Kristian Gacesa, Ellie Wilkins.
Happy Birthday
NO AWARDS THIS WEEK
St Therese School Facebook Page
www.facebook.com/westwollongong.sttherese
School Vision Statement
“St Therese Primary School – a dynamic, Catholic community
educating and empowering learners for life’s journey.”
PARISH
KEEPING THE LORD’S DAY HOLY
Join Fr Duane for Sunday Mass live streamed 5pm EVERY SUNDAY from St Therese Church at the St Therese Facebook page at:
Those without Facebook can still view it through this link which will take you to the stream
To view through YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG6HKCV4D_a1JMWx0gS7rTw
NSW Premier's Reading Challenge News 2021
Congratulations to the following students who have recently completed their PRC:
Ruby Murray 2G
Alice Thornberry 2G
Lilian Cleary 5G
Anastasia Ezeanowai 6B
Zeke Thompson 6B
Due to recent lockdowns, some rules for the PRC Challenge have been updated: https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/rules.html
There are 4 of the recent changes to help students complete their PRC Challenge:
- Students are now allowed to enter 10 personal choice books which are any book he/she has read (or had read to them for K-2) since last September
- Students on all Challenge levels will be able to include books on their reading records that they read collaboratively as a class, in person or online with their teacher or at home with their parents/carers.
- NSW PRC has been extended and now finishes on Friday 2nd September. This means there are still 3 weeks to finish your reading!!!
- Students who do not participate in the Challenge in 2021 will not be disadvantaged in the receipt of cumulative awards.
Due to restrictions students cannot borrow any PRC books from school. You might have some books from the PRC list at home too - see link: https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/booklist/home.html
SORA APP
For students who miss reading or borrowing books from our mobile library at school, please remind them they can login to SORA from the library home page: https://oliver2.dow.catholic.edu.au/oliver/home/news
How to use Sora App
- Click on 'Find my school'
- Click on ACEN member collection
- Sign into your school and then click on ACEN member school again
- Enter username and password (use your google or google mail password)
- Go to 'Explore'
- Search for a favourite books or series
OR
- Click on the 'Collections' folder on the right hand side
- Students can also log into SORA and continue their Premier's Reading Challenge
- Search for:
- NSW PRC, Years K-2
- NSW PRC, Years 3-4
- NSW PRC, Years 5-6
Years 5 and 6 might like to check out some of the Book Week Notable and Shortlisted books:
2021 CBCA Notable: https://cbca.org.au/shortlist-2021
Please contact us if you have any questions.
Happy reading,
The NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge Team
Mrs Hamilton - hamiltonr02@dow.catholic.edu.au
& Ms Rose - rosep01@dow.catholic.edu.au
Dewey Books Due this Friday
The Dewey Awards is an optional in-school opportunity specific to St Therese for our talented students to show their writing skills and produce their own book. There are two categories - Silver Dewey is for Infants and the Gold Dewey is for Primary Grades 3-6. Each student receives a participation certificate. Entries are judged by a panel of anonymous judges. The judges choose 6 shortlisted entries per category and the winning entry is one of these shortlisted books, just like the CBCA books. The winner is announced during Book Week with a date to be advised.
Participation in this competition is optional. As such, there will not be time given at school to complete the entry. This must be done in their own time and entries will be due by the end of this week- Week 5, Term 3, Friday 13th August. Due to lockdown - digital entries (copies of hard copy books) can be emailed to Ms Rose by this Friday. Hard copies already dropped in at school will be judged and others can be brought to school once lockdown is over.
Some points to consider;
- Students can produce only one entry, either on their own or as part of a pair. This means that if the student chooses to enter as a pair, they cannot additionally enter individually.
- Maximum of two collaborators per entry including the illustrator.
- The book can be handwritten or typed. It can be as simple as a booklet of A4 pages stapled together, or can be more elaborate.
- If you have collaborated with your sibling across a stage the main author (or the first author’s name) will determine what category it is judged in - Infants or Primary.
- Entries must be original ideas but parents can help with spelling and writing.
Good luck and we look forward to reading the brilliant, original writing of the fabulous students at St Therese! If you have any questions please email Ms Rose at: rosep01@dow.catholic.edu.au or Mrs Hamilton at: hamiltonr02@dow.catholic.edu.au.
Happy writing,
The Dewey Awards Team
Calendar Dates 2021
August 2021
15 - Feast of the Assumption
27 - Staff Spirituality Day (Pupil Free Day) - CANCELLED
September 2021
7 - Catholic Mission Launch - TBC
10 - Christmas Art Entries Due
17 - Last Day Term 3
October 2021
5 - Term 4 Commences
29 - World Teachers Day
November 2021
5 - Year 6 Excursion to Canberra - TBC
11 - Remembrance Day
December 2021
3 - Whole School Mass - End of Year Thanksgiving - TBC
15 - Last Day Term 4 Students
17 - Last day Term 4 Teachers and Staff
January 2022
26 - Australia Day
27 - Student Vacation (Pupil Free Day)
28 - Term 1 Begins - Student Vacation (Pupil Free Day) - Staff Return
31 - Student Vacation (Pupil Free Day)
February 2022
1 - Students Return
Best Start Assessments commence
7 - Best Start Asessments conclude
8 - Kindergarten 2022 commences