Term 3 Week 5 2024

Stage 3 Todd Woodbridge

On Monday, our Stage 3 students represented the school at the Todd Woodbridge Cup Zone finals. It was a fantastic day with great participation from our students. Harry Shean was awarded the special award for effort and participation, and Logan Higgins was given the respect award as he supported children from every school to participate with wonderful encouragement and sportsmanship. We played against teams from Kendall and Coopernook, and our three teams did incredibly well, coming 4th, 3rd and 1st. Our school will now represent the Zone at the Regional Finals.

Diocesan Athletics 

On Tuesday, six students represented the Hastings Zone at the Diocesan Athletics Championships. Jaidah Stevens and Gypsy Sams ran the 100m, Willem deVries ran the 200m, making the Finals and coming 7th overall. Lachlan Wilson came 3rd in Shot Put and 2nd in Discus. Yasmin Cain came first in Discus and Bella Fede came 2nd in 100m and 1st in 200m, Shot Put, and Discus and was the Senior Girls Champion.

Bella, Yasmin and Lachlan will now represent the Lismore Diocese at the Polding Championships in Newcastle. A massive achievement for our little school.

Book Fair

A massive thank you to Bec and Jane for a wonderful Book Fair. Thank you to teachers, parents, and students for supporting this wonderful event. It was very successful, with $3968 in sales.

Save the Date - School Community Group Meeting Term 4

Thank you to families for responding to the survey regarding the SCG meeting in Term 4. After unprecedented responses, the most popular time was Monday, 28th October, at 6pm. 

Families can also listen in via zoom, or contribute via our SCG Suggestion Box found on our website or through our class parent network representatives. With at least 15 people nominating to attend this next date, we look forward to having a very successful meeting.

If you would like to contribute to the school in other ways, please contact the office or your parent network. Ways to support include volunteering at the canteen, covering books on weekends, cooking cakes for the upcoming Year 5 & 6 gala day stall, promoting the school in the community, liking and sharing good news stories on Facebook and supporting other families in the community.

Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee

This week, our Primary students sat the Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee. As expected, it was a very challenging test. Some of the words year 6 were challenged by were STOAT, CORPS, STACCATO, DACE, CHARY and HINDRANCE. All students who enrolled were given different lists online and received immediate feedback at the end of the test. Now when our students watch the Spelling Bee on TV, they will appreciate the level of difficulty this competition has. Thank you to Mrs Jackson for coordinating the Spelling Bee.

Attendance Matters

The Diocese of Lismore Catholic Schools have updated the procedures for monitoring and supporting schools to promote student attendance. Every school day builds upon the previous one, making it essential for students to attend regularly. Regular attendance is crucial as it fosters resilience and enables students to form vital social connections. Across all NSW education systems  the expected level of student attendance is above 95%, and we aim to support all of our students to achieve this. 

If your child’s attendance is below 90% you may receive a COMPASS communication in the coming weeks. We acknowledge that there may be many reasons for absences and you may have already provided information to the school about why your child has been away. However, this communication is to ensure all parents are aware that their child’s attendance is currently at or under 90%. 

We believe that by working together, we can ensure that every student has the opportunity to succeed. Please ensure you contact the school if you would like any support with your child’s attendance.

NAPLAN

Years 3 and 5 sat the National Assessment NAPLAN at school in early March this year. Our school results for NAPLAN are now in place, and we have achieved some great areas for success and some clear areas for improvement to work towards. In brief summary, these are our school average results compared to the State, National and Catholic Schools NSW averages:

• Year 3 Writing achieved well above all State, National and Catholic Schools, which is a consistent trend over the last few years.
• Year 5 Writing also achieved well above all other scores showing a huge improvement this year.
• Year 3 and 5 Reading are both above the Diocese average, and Year 5 is above the State.
• Year 3 and 5 Mathematics achieved above Diocese and State, with Year 5 showing huge growth from last year.
• Grammar, Punctuation, and Spelling in both Years 3 and 5 are our areas for improvement. With our new 2024 Spelling programs and implementing the new curriculum in years 3-6 this year, we expect to see an improvement in this area.

We will present a more detailed analysis of these results in achievement and growth over time at our next School Community Group meeting. You can also access some of this information on Schools Online.

Creative Arts Showcase 2024!

The sounds of dancing, singing, music and art-making are all around our school as classes and groups are busily preparing for an exciting and fun showcase of Creative Arts this year! Tickets for our three shows are now on sale through Flexischools and the school office. Please purchase your tickets soon, as the evening show quickly sells out. We encourage families to purchase tickets to other shows to ensure we have a full audience to perform for each time.

Monday 16th and Tuesday 17th September: Whole School rehearsals

Wednesday 18th September: Matinee Show 12 pm

Thursday 19th September: Afternoon Show 3:30 pm and Evening Show 5:30 pm