Term 1 Week 5 (3/3/2023)
Welcome Back School Community BBQ - Thursday 9th March 5:30pm
REMINDER - Welcome Back to School Community BBQ - Thursday 9th March 5:30pm
At this stage we have responses from about 10 families.
Seems like a very intimate gathering!
For catering purposes could we ask for a response by close of business Monday 6th March.
with numbers.
School Photo Day Monday 20th March
Photo envelopes will be sent home with students today. Please ensure you keep these in a safe place. These envelopes have your child’s name and unique code on them- please ensure you do not lose these, as we do not have replacements available.
Photos can be purchased online. Details on how to do this can be found on your child’s envelope.
Please return these envelopes to the office before Monday 20th March.
What's On?
Thursday 9th March - School Awards Assembly
REMINDER - Thursday 9th March,⋅5:30 – 7:00pm - Welcome Back School Community BBQ
Friday 10th March -Dio Winter Sport Trials- Grafton
Wednesday 15th March -Monday 27th March - NAPLAN
Monday 20th March - School Photo Day
Friday 24th March - School Cross Country (Week 8)
Thursday 30th March -Polding Swimming Carnival - Sydney (Week 9)
April
Wednesday/Thursday 5th, 6th April - PSSA Swimming Carnival - Sydney (Week 10)
Thursday 6th April - Last day Term 1, 2023
Monday 24th April - First Day Term 2
Dear Parents and Carers
As alluded to late last year St James will be adding two Professional learning days to the calendar. I have spent the last three days at the school improvement review training. As a result of developing a better understanding of the process we will be having a pupil free day on Monday April 24th and Friday June 9th to ensure that we are ready for our school review on the 8th, 9th and 10th of August.
Two key messages:
1) School Review is about providing evidence of our current state and having external eyes assisting us to look forward for our future plans
2) Keep the dates free so you can come in and have voice.
The two pupil free days that we are adding to the calendar are part of our requirement as a school and we have placed them near 'holiday time' to try to minimise disruption.
I heard that our children at Dio today for swimming have swum well. I've seen photos of seconds and thirds and expect that some of our children will be off to Sydney. A full report will be in next week’s newsletter but we congratulate everyone on their efforts.
The Welcome BBQ next Thursday is a great opportunity to gather outside our learning conferences and we recommend this to all families. As I said in last week’s newsletter I won't see you! as I am at a principal conference. On the night however I will have an invitation to join us for a community conversation within the next couple of weeks. The information that we really need is which days our community can attend. This remains my biggest goal. Working with new structures, old expectations and previous experiences seems to be a difficult agenda. In actual fact balance on the other side is goodwill, true desire for partnership, passion and expertise. I believe these outweigh any challenge involved and offer the opportunity to craft a new community conversation and partnership going forward.
By all reports learning to surf was the best thing ever. Thank you to those who arranged the program. Thanks Marty for fighting the fight to get a risk assessment developed with CSO to offer this opportunity.
Have a lovely weekend
Ann
New Acknowledgement of Country signs
You may have noticed this afternoon we had our beautiful new Acknowledgement of Country signs installed by Spectrum Signs at various entry points. We have been working with local Yaegl artist, Frances Belle-Parker on creating signs to both acknowledge country and inform our school community about Yaegl language and culture. Check them out on your way in!
Sport Dates 2023
Term 1
Dio Winter Sport Trials- Friday 10th March - Grafton
School Cross Country - Friday 24th March (Week 8)
Polding Swimming Carnival - Thursday 30th March - Sydney (Week 9)
PSSA Swimming Carnival - Wednesday/Thursday 5th, 6th April - Sydney (Week 10)
Term 2
Zone Cross Country - Wednesday 3rd May - Grafton (Week 2)
Diocesan Cross Country - Tuesday 23rd May - Grafton (Week 5)
Polding Cross Country - Tuesday 13th June - Sydney (Week 8)
School Athletics Carnival - Friday 16th June
Zone Athletics - Thursday 29 June - Coffs Harbour
Term 3
Dio Athletics - Tuesday 15th August- Coffs Harbour
Polding Athletics - Friday 8th September-Newcastle
Term 4
Dio Summer Sport Trials -Friday 24th November - Lismore
Sacrament Dates 2023
Confirmation- Tuesday 15th August - St Mary’s Church, Maclean.
Reconciliation- Wednesday 23rd August in Hall
First Holy Communion- Saturday 26th August, 5:15 – 6:15pm - St James Church Yamba
Advanced Notice - Disco - Thursday 18th May
RE News
What a fabulous two days we had this week with our visiting worship band, Wildfire. Students and staff were filled with the Holy Spirit through music, dance, testimonies and fun games. We had 15 members of Wildfire with us both days, who had all travelled from various parts of the Lismore Diocese. These wonderful people gave up time in their own schools to come and perform for us and work with our students and staff. We LOVED the experience so much and hope to have them visit us again in the future!
Videos and photos were posted to our instagram account, so check them out!
Sacrament Dates -Please note change of date for Confirmation!
Confirmation- Tuesday 15th August, St Mary’s Church, Maclean.
Reconciliation- Wednesday 23rd August, school hall
First Holy Communion- Saturday 26th August, St James Church, Yamba
The order of Sacraments in the Lismore Diocese is:
Baptism, Confirmation (Year 3), Reconciliation (Year 4), First Eucharist (Year 4)
If you would like your child to receive these Sacraments, please contact Mrs Howland at school. For your child to receive any of these Sacraments they must first be Baptised. If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact me at school.
If you are interested in your child/ren being Baptised, please contact the Maclean Parish Office on 66451188 Mon/ Wed/ Fri 9am-2pm.
Renee Howland
Assistant Principal- Mission
Sport News
Swimming
On Monday this week we had 25 students compete at Maclean in the Clarence Zone Swimming Carnival. All the students swam well on the day and we had 6 students qualify for the Diocesan Carnival in individual events and two relay teams(results below). Clarence and Lola Dougherty also were named age champions in the Junior Boys and Junior Girls divisions. Those students who qualified are in Kempsey today, competing at the Diocesan Carnival and we look forward to hearing their results.
Zone Results
Harlan Bews - 1st Freestyle
Clarence Dougherty - 1st 50 Freestyle & Backstroke, 2nd Breastroke, Medley & Junior Relay, 3rd Butterfly & 100m Freestyle
Lola Dougherty - 1st Freestyle & Medley, 2nd Butterfly & Breastroke, 3rd Backstroke
Sanne Little - 3rd Butterfly
Deja Little - 2nd Breastroke
Kydan Jones - 2nd 100m Freestyle, 50 Freestyle, Backstroke, Butterfly, Medley and Senior Relay
Junior Boys Relay, 2nd - Clarence Dougherty, Duke Ison, Jake Seivers, Harlan Bews
Senior Boys Relay, 2nd - Kydan Jones, Eamon Mawn, Levi O’Shea, Rahad Rice
Winter Sport Trials
Next Friday, 10th March, we have 5 students representing our school and the Clarence Zone at the Diocesan Winter Sport Trials. The students will play as part of the Clarence Zone team, competing against the 3 other zones on the day. A Diocesan team will be selected at the end of the day to play at the Polding carnival later in Term 2. Good luck to those involved.
Rashad Rice - 11yrs Rugby League
Eamon Mawn & Levi O’Shea - Rugby Union
Marlie Zvatora & Indie Wright - Girls Soccer
Wellbeing
ES1 News
Wow, what an incredible start to the year we have had in ES1! We’re all so proud of how settled the students are; they have made new friends, adapted to new routines, and are all showing a keen desire to learn!
This week we did our first Science experiment after exploring how living things drink water. We looked at how humans and animals drink through mouths and then looked at how plants drink through roots and stems. Over the week we observed the effects of giving celery either water or no water - coloured dye helped us to see the water travel up the stem!
In Maths we have been learning about features, and this has helped us to sort a wide variety of objects in different ways. We’ve also been practising our subitising skills for numbers 1-6, and have learnt some new games to help with this. In English we are developing a love of stories, and are learning how to make predictions based on pictures and titles, and are concentrating on forming our letters and saying sounds correctly. In Religion we’ve been practising the Sign of the Cross and learning about the symbols of our prayer space. What a busy first 4 weeks!
Birthdays
Jack James - 7th March, Willow Seivers - 10th March, Lily Gill - 11th March, Lola Dougherty - 12th March, Clarence Dougherty - 12th March, Mrs Lewis - 12th March, Sol McInnes 13th March, Alfie Ison - 14th March, Aria Jolly - 14th March, Sanne Little - 14th March, Deja Little - 14th March, Anzac Williams - 21st March