St Mary's School, Charleville eNewsletter

Principal - Ms Katrina Dunne

St Mary’s Strategic Plan 2022-2024

Our St Mary’s School Strategic Plan was developed at the end of 2021 to establish a clear direction, set goals, allocate resources effectively, engage stakeholders, drive improvement and innovation, ensure long-term sustainability and adapt to changing needs of our school. Please see our Strategic Plan below and contact the school if you have any suggestions and/or feedback as we reach the middle phase of this plan. Email: charleville@twb.catholic.edu.au to share your feedback.

CHA_Strategic_Plan_2022_2024.pdf

Year 5/6 Fundraising – Thank you for your support.

Thank you to our families and wider community who have supported the Pie Drive this month. Orders have been placed and pies will arrive in Charleville on Friday 16^th June. Collection will be from the Cobb and Co canteen 4:00-5:00pm.

Uniform Expectations

Now the cooler weather is upon us, a timely reminder that ONLY plain navy-blue track pants and jumpers are accepted for the St Mary’s uniform. The St Mary’s school jacket is also available for purchase from the uniform shop and the new St Mary’s fleece jumper is available for purchase direct from R and P Taylor.

Have a wonderful fortnight.

Cheers,

Katrina

Important Dates

Movie Night – Friday 16^th June from 6:00pm
Belief in The Arts – Term 2 | Week 10
Pupil Free Day – Monday 10^th July
NAIDOC Week Celebrations – Term 3 | Week 1
Whole School Athletics Carnival – Friday 21^st July
Bishop’s Inservice Day (Pupil Free Day) – Monday 24^th July

APRE News - Mrs Kirsty Lines

Sacramental Program

Congratulations to our students Maggie, Peggy, Zoe, Sam, Beau, Regan, Ruby, Henry and Maddie, all of whom made their first Holy Communion on Saturday, June 3^rd at Parish Mass. Fr Peter gave a very insightful homily during mass, likening completing the sacraments to being a full member of the ‘team’ – the Parish team. So true Fr Peter! We hope to see lots of team members at mass in the future. Confirmation will take place in term 3, with a date to be confirmed as soon as we hear from our new Bishop, Bishop Ken. Please enjoy photos from Saturday night below. Thank you Mrs Alice Short for being on hand to capture these very special moments.

Welcome Bishop Ken!

As stated above, we welcome a new Bishop to the Toowoomba Diocese – Bishop Ken Howell, from Brisbane. Bishop Ken officially takes over from our retiring Bishop, Robert McGuckin, on July 11^th. He will visit St Mary’s in Term 3, as part of Catholic Education Week. We thank Bishop McGuckin for eleven years of service to the Toowoomba Diocese and wish him all the best in retirement.

Catholic Education Week 2023

The theme for CEW this year is communities of Faith, Hope and Love. Toowoomba Diocese has a special focus on ‘Hope’. Catholic Education Week will take place from July 23 – 29 this year. Our staff will travel to Cunnamulla on Monday, July 24^th for Bishop’s Inservice Day with our new Bishop, Ken Howell. This year, classes will celebrate CEW with a class liturgy, with all parents, grandparents and our community welcome to attend.

I will be taking some leave from week 9 (June 19^th) into term 3. Ms Amy Halliday and Miss Taylor Morrison will be filling in whilst I am on leave. They can be reached via the school phone – 46541638 or email – amy.halliday@twb.catholic.edu.au or taylor.morrison@twb.catholic.edu.au. I’m hoping to be back for CEW in week 3!

Wishing you a peaceful end to the term and wonderful holidays,

God bless,

Kirsty Lines

APRE

Learning Support News - Mrs Belinda Phillips

This week we have several members of the Inclusive Education Team visiting from Toowoomba Catholic Schools, including acting Learning Support Advisor, Sally Yin, School Inclusion Coach, Carrie Morton, SLP Alex Borlai and OT, Rachel Crooke. They will be observing classes and working with students as well as meeting teachers to find opportunities for inclusive classroom and curriculum approaches to improve outcomes for all our students.

This week we will look at our whole school TCS Reading Data and identify areas of growth and whole school areas for improvement across reading decoding and comprehension. This information will guide our intervention for students. I am looking forward to spending the week on the ground with teachers and students. As always, please don’t hesitate to contact me or pop in to say hi.

This week's Auslan sign is -

WITH

**1. Two Fingers together, join them together**

**2. Place one set of fingers in front of the other set of fingers**

Enjoy the last few weeks of term!

Belinda Phillips

The Arts

Prep - Miss Imogen Hunt

What a busy and fun filled term we have had so far. Let's take a look at some of the learning experiences we have had.

In Math we have investigated how to design our own hopscotch and even how to cut sandwiches into equal parts. Students thoroughly enjoyed the hands on learning where they were able to make their own sandwiches in technology by sequencing the steps and then cutting their sandwiches using the design they created. We have been exploring activities we do on each week day and matched a picture to this.

For Mother’s Day students were busy creating cards and key rings for their mums. It was a wonderful morning where families were able to have a pancake breakfast and then see a presentation from their child. In prep we looked at what we loved most about our mums.

Students participated in an activity afternoon with their 5/6 buddies talking about acts of kindness. It was so wonderful to hear the kind things each student said about another and highlighted the importance of doing this more regularly within our classroom.

In Library we have been exploring bee bots and how to program these. We took the learning outside and completed different paths around the school to check our directions and understanding how to move.

Under 8’s Day was a huge success for all students. They had a wonderful morning exploring the activities with the message of play as the theme for this year. It was fabulous to see students working with 5/6 buddies to complete a range of activities.

Last week we presented our prayer assembly about the 10 lepers with the main message of gratitude. It was fabulous to see all students giving it a go even when it was a little scary. A message that we would like the community to have, is an attitude of gratitude.

The next three weeks are set to be busy with students completing assessments and finishing off the term.

Thanks,

Imogen

Year One - Mrs Bernice McPhee

Term 2 has disappeared fast, with only three weeks to go. There has been a lot happening this term and the kids have been having a blast! It’s a great time to be a kid in Year 1 at St Mary’s.

In Science back in week 4 we did some building. Our building materials were uncooked spaghetti and marshmallows! The temptation to eat the marshmallows was extremely high, but I’m pleased to say they resisted and instead used them to join their spaghetti structures together. We saw some amazing teamwork this day!

During week 5 we had a visit from some community service members who did some activities with the students to remind them to always choose kindness.

Week 6 was a huge week! So much happening!

Using some of the techniques we have learnt in Design and Technology, we designed and created our own mini worlds (eg. Rainbow World, Dinosaur World, Astronaut World etc). Students had to make their creations 3D as much as possible. Year One love to create!

We were very fortunate to have the Shake & Stir Theatre Company visit and watch their show. They are so very talented. We were also lucky to participate in the National Simultaneous Story Time. We had a special guest come and read us the story, “The Speedy Sloth”.

Under 8’s Day was a huge hit! So many fun things for the students to participate in, and so many goodies to take home. Huge thanks to Mrs Thomas for organising the morning.

Working with our Year 4 Buddies is always one of our favourite things to do. On Friday in week 6 it was National Sorry Day and together with our Buddies we designed our own handprints for the garden.

Year Two - Miss Holly Price

Welcome to week 8! What a busy, fun-filled term we have had so far.

Thank you to everyone who attended Under 8’s Day. It was a very successful day, and all students had a wonderful time!

We have been having lots of fun with our Buddy Class (Year 3) each Friday afternoon. Pictured below are some fantastic artworks made by students for National Sorry Day.

In Science we have been exploring different mixtures (liquid and powders) and discussing the changes being made.

A special thank you to Sean Taylor for coming into our class to read ‘Speedy Sloth’ to us for National Simultaneous Story Time! The kids loved having you in our room.