Term 2 Week 8 (16/06/2023)

What is On?

Thursday 29th June -Zone Athletics  -  Coffs Harbour

Thursday 29th June - Last day Term 2 

Friday 30th June - Staff Foundation Day - Pupil Free Day

Term 3

Monday 17th July - First day Term 3

Tuesday 15th August -  Confirmation- St Mary’s Church, Maclean

Tuesday  15th August- Dio Athletics  - Coffs Harbour

Dear Parents and Carers

It was lovely to see so many of you today at the annual Athletics Carnival. It was wonderful to see all the children giving it their all in every race and in every age group. It is a great venue, it's a great vibe and as I write this the carnival it not yet completed. Mr Dougherty will provide the results later in the day. It's nice to be a big enough school to have multiple heats and give everyone a chance to compete. From this carnival a team will go forward to the zone carnival on the last day of term 2. 

Just a heads up that next Wednesday St James staff in some numbers will be attending Noah's funeral. Mrs Petersen will be staff in charge of the day and we have been able to keep all classes operating with the assistance of our casual staff. If your children come home saying they had a different teacher this is the explanation. We ask for prayers for all on that day. These changes in staffing will also impact RFF meaning there could be some changes in staffing across the week. 

As I write this there is a tower of Book Club over a metre high waiting for Mrs Imeson to unpack on Tuesday. Kids at St James sure like to read! I don't think we have had that many books ordered in one session before. A love of reading is one of the best indicators of being able to manage the workload in secondary education and beyond. Great to see.

Have a lovely weekend.

Ann

Athletics Carnival - Results

Winning House:

TURNERS

Age Champions:

Girls:

Iyla Towner - Junior girls

Sailor Short - 11yrs girls

Marlie Zvatora - Senior girls

Boys:

Ashton Miller - Junior boys

Alfie Ison - 11yrs boys

Kydan Jones - Senior boys

Sport News

Cross Country

On Tuesday this week we had 3 students competing down in Sydney at the Polding Cross Country Carnival. Iyla Towner was 11th in the 9yrs girls. Jake Seivers 4th in 10yr boys and Marlie Zvatora 33rd in 12yrs girls. A great effort from all. Jake has now qualified for the NSW PSSA Cross Country Carnival back down in Sydney in a few weeks time. Good luck!

Athletics

Today we had our Athletics Carnival. Well done to everyone who joined in the different races on the day. Winning house was Turners and Age Champions were

Junior- Iyla Towner and Ashton Miller

11yr- Sailor Short and Alfie Ison

Senior- Marlie Zvatora and Kydan Jones

Students who qualified in the first two placings and met the qualifying standards will now compete at the Clarence Zone Carnival in Coffs Harbour in a fortnight.

RE News

Congratulations to Ella and Amelia MacInnes on receiving the Sacrament of Baptism last weekend. 

Sacrament Dates 2023

Confirmation- Tuesday 15th August -  St Mary’s Church, Maclean. 

AP Teaching and Learning

The students from Kindergarten to Year 6 are currently completing DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) assessments. DIBELS measures the acquisition of literacy skills. They are short one minute fluency measures that can be used to detect risk and monitor the development of early literacy and early reading skills in Kindergarten through to Year 6. This data is then used to provide students with the relevant classroom instruction.

Students in Year 2 to 6 have also been completing PROBE (Reading Comprehension assessment). PROBE assists teachers to determine a students reading level, how students engage with the text and comprehending what has been read. This leads to helping teachers determine specific teaching strategies for their students.

These valid and reliable assessments inform teachers about the achievement, progress and learning needs of their students.

Stage 3 News

This collaborative artwork was created by the students in Stage 3 during Reconciliation Week in 2023. Students had been studying Indigenous Culture and had listened to Yaegl Elders tell their stories. ‘We Heard Your Voice’ was inspired by the Yaegl Elders, we thank them for sharing their stories with us. We chose to present the paintings on narrow canvas, similar to the artworks of Frances Belle Parker. The artwork represents each story the students heard. We will continue to share your stories.

‘The Lighthouse’’ panel is an artwork about the Yeagl Elders telling us their concerns and stories. It represents celebrating reconciliation. When you look at our lighthouse you can see tracks from a dingo which is the Yaegl totem. We also included the symbol of the meeting place, which is below the lighthouse. This is where we heard your voice!

By Sailor Short, Jack White, Fin Waghorn, Myla Cranston, Henry Miller and Lola Dougherty

We based our artwork on the greed and unfairness involved in overfishing. We involved the Indigenous style of dot painting, and we added lots of fish getting trapped in a net, and a dark night sky to represent the sadness. Furthermore, we included a big fish in the middle of the ocean, which shows how the fish are getting trapped and how the other fish are lonely.

By Kydan Jones, Indie Wright, Levi Cavanagh, Rashad Rice, Deja Little and Savana Wheatley- Mazzitelli 

Our painting is about how introduced weeds can be detrimental to our environment.  Through this painting we say sorry, sorry for treating you so dismally. We painted how happy, healthy, colourful plants growing on a healthy native terrain, then depicted how planting introduced species bombard the environment. This is a tragic, sorrowful story. The red and black represents the weeds taking over, but we have to thank Frances Belle Parker for this inspiration and her extraordinary dot work and Indigenous art pieces.

By Aiden Ribeiro, Isabel Duckett, Alyssa Beveridge, Grace Stoddard, Reevan Harding and Eli Byrne

This painting is about Coastal Emus and a story the Yaegl people shared with us. If the Emu is standing up in the sky the eggs have hatched, and if it's sitting down the emus have just laid the eggs. Coastal Emus are now an endangered species. This was heartbreaking to hear. The emu that was painted in the sky looks beautiful with all the colours of the galaxy, all the detailed stars in the sky, the sugar cane fields and the lovely bush in the background. It is our wish for the Coastal Emu to revive in numbers and flourish. We tried our best to replicate Frances Belle Parker's amazing style. We hope you enjoy this painting.

By Willow Seivers, Dusty Wood, Mignon Espag, Scarlett Long and Heath Stowe

Our artwork is about the devastating bush fires and the importance of back burning. After we heard the voices of the local Yaegl Elders and their anger towards the arrogance, negligence and ignorance of people today not listening to their practices of back burning that have worked for tens of thousands of years. We created this piece which represents the destruction of our local area and the devastating impact it had on local wildlife and houses. We used splatter painting for the fire, inspired by Frances Belle Parker, we added some koalas to represent how badly the wildlife suffered through the fires, and additionally we have dotted the roots which represent the Aboriginal people's deep roots in Australian Society.

By Eamon Mawn, Marlie Zvatora, Hannah Haslett, Alfie Ison and Aaron Perry

We put a dolphin in art painting because it is one of the totems of the Yagel Aboriginal people. We also incorporated a Dingo into our painting and the people in the painting are celebrating that they have been given Native Title and the people today admitting that what they did was wrong, and recognising that it is their land. They are also celebrating because they have now been given the rights of the land from Black Rock to Wooli and 200 m out to sea, which gives them the freedom and comfort knowing that they can live and hunt as they always have.

Created by Clarence Dougherty, Sage Edwards, Levi O'Shea, Gemma Hollington, Sanne Little, Autumn Enns and Benson Smith and Zoe Edwards.

Sport Dates 2023