St Canice's Primary School Newsletter

St Mary of the Cross MacKillop Parish

Parish Administrator Fr John McSweeney

 Presbytery Contact  Ph: 02 4782 2804

                                     Fax: 02 4782 6090

Website: marymackillopupperbluemountains.org.au

Monday 8.30am Friday 12.00pm Saturday 9.00am Sunday 10.00am

Saturday 9.30am Confession outside this time is available on request

Saturday Cenacle Rosary and Consecration following benediction after 9am Mass

1st Friday of month, 12.30pm

Fridays (Except 1st Friday) 12.30pm

Benediction Saturdays following 9am Mass

Sundays 12.00pm to 1.00pm

4th Monday of month - 6pm

Dear Parents and Carers, 

Road Safety

Thank you to the many parents who have supported our Road / Driveway safety work. On Friday 5th March, we will start developing a new Traffic Management Plan which will inform improvements in our driveway to ensure the safety of our community. The work to be carried out will commence shortly and will be completed by the beginning of Term 2 2021. I will provide more detail after we have finalised our traffic management plan.

Parent Meetings

Many thanks to the vast majority of parents and students who took up the invitation to visit for Meet and Greet meetings. Teachers found these meetings very worthwhile and we hope you did too. Hearing from you and your children about their learning is vital information for teachers that  enables them to better target learning to individual needs.  For those who missed out, the classroom teachers will be in contact to find a suitable time.

COVID Restrictions

Parents and Carers, we are seeing a slow relaxation of the COVID restrictions. There continues to be a restriction on adults coming onto our school site. We are creatively managing this. On Fridays when the weather permits, we are having Assembly outside at 2:10pm so that parents can view Assembly from the Pick Up zone. We have organised a Parent Meeting in the hall for 2pm on Tuesday 9th March. 30 people can attend so we are urging you to contact the office to register your name if you wish to attend. Please also send agenda items you would like included to the school email address stcanices@parra.catholic.edu.au

A number of parents have been in touch with me because they are concerned that, from 1st April,  we can no longer provide opportunities for therapists to hold private sessions with students within CEDP schools. We value opportunities to collaborate with external providers and I am encouraging this at St Canice’s. Should you have a concern about your child and the provision of an external service within school hours on our premises, please contact me. I would value an opportunity to discuss with you what is possible for your child and our desire to work with EFSPs for the benefit of your child’s learning.

Many thanks to you all for your ongoing support of our wonderful school. 

God bless,

 Miriam Meaney, Principal

mmeaney@parra.catholic.edu.au 

Enrolments / Open Day:

We are entering a busy enrolment period at St Canice’s. Open Day on Wednesday March 3rd from 9:30-11:00am invites new students and their parents to come and see us learning and to consider St Canice’s as their school of choice. All current families are also welcome to come along and see the children performing on the Church lawn. Word of Mouth is our best way of persuading others to make the same wise decisions you have made regarding school choice. Please encourage any prospective parents you know to contact us and we will take their enquiries to the next step. We are asking  any existing parents who have little ones due to start Kindy in 2022 to contact us to commence the enrolment process.

Many thanks to the Class Liaison parents who visited us on Friday last to help promote the school to the broader community. Thank you in advance to this team who will help to promote the school on Open Day from our Katoomba Street entrance. Thanks also to those of you who delivered flyers advertising St Canice’s. I have included the schedule below. Please support us by visiting if you can / encouraging others to visit.

Thank you to Ms Honeyman for providing students with the opportunity to learn about Financial Literacy during Catholic Schools  Week. A guest presenter will visit us on Tuesday, 9th March to discuss matters such as saving and budgeting with the children. It is never too soon to start this conversation with them, I am sure you will agree. Make sure to quiz your child about financial literacy on Tuesday afternoon. What a great dinner table conversation in the making!

We will hold our first Gold Award assembly this Friday, 5th March.

As students will know that they are to receive a gold award, we will precede the Assembly with a yummy morning tea. Congratulations to all of our recipients!

For parents new to the school, the table below shows the Awards structure at St Canice’s. As you will see, it is very important to store the awards safely as each reward has value towards the next reward in the hierarchy of awards.

Our Stage 3 students from The Faith in Action Team ( FIAT) will be hosting Purple Day in recognition of the Lenten Season. 

All students are invited to wear mufti that incorporates either a little or a lot of the colour purple on Thursday 11th March.

Students can donate a gold coin to Project Compassion

Our FIAT Team will also be running a purple themed cake stall, All items will be available for 5oc - $1

We received the tragic news last week that a past student of St Canice’s lost his life in a tragic accident on Wednesday, 24th February. He was struck by a bus outside the school gates of Balaklava High School in South Australia, where he had just begun in Year 8. The school has sent flowers and a card to his family on behalf of the community. May this beautiful boy, taken so young, rest in peace.

Catholic Schools Week occurs from Monday 8th to Friday 12th March. Many thanks to Mrs Wedesweiler for coordinating activities on Thursday, 11th March, to especially mark this week. The focus on this day is on the colour purple as this is the colour of Lent. We will make sure to connect to our faith tradition on this day and will provide other opportunities for the children to get excited about Catholic Schools Week. Students will engage in Religious Education lessons focused on Lent. They will also complete a creative writing activity based on the colour purple. The Creative Arts programs in Music and Visual Arts will also use purple as the springboard to learning. Children can come to school dressed in purple on the day and we ask for a Project Compassion donation of a gold coin to support those less fortunate than we are.

Zone Swimming Carnival 

Huge congratulations to Eva Garraway and Alexia Anagnostopoulos who qualified and represented  St Canices at the Zone Swimming Carnival. 

Eva came 1st in her heat for 50mtrs freestyle and 2nd in heat for 50mtr backstroke. Alexia came 2nd in her heat for 50mtr freestyle. 

Many thanks to Kim Garraway for transporting the girls to and from the carnival. Well done Eva and Alexia, we are so proud of you both, and what an outstanding result.

Gala Days

Mr White and I have been working on getting St Canice's more involved with the Diocesan Gala Days that will be occurring during the year.  We are hoping to have enough students to make boys and girls teams both in  Stage 2 and Stage 3,  in  Soccer and Basketball. These Gala days are a fun day where the students have the chance to play against the other local schools in our diocese. More information about these gala days will follow over the next few weeks.

Kind Regards, 

Kylie Ranson 

Sports Coordinator 

Please keep Ms Sally in your prayers as she is at home recovering after surgery to repair several broken bones in her leg. Ms Orford will be replacing Ms Sally until her return.

Getting back into the school routine is hard as children don’t understand time the same as adults do which causes many stressful mornings within a household. 

Being organised by having a morning and night  routine set out helps keep families on track and leads to less meltdowns and stress for both children and parents. 

Here are some suggestions to help the morning routine go smoothly

• Purchase a wall family planner, each family member has their own column for each day of the month so you can add information such as library or sports days 

• Check for notes or events daily, add them to the planner and set reminder alarms on your mobile phone calendars. Subscribe to the school newsletter and Skoolbag app

• Organise the next days uniform the night before, including socks, shoes and hats

• Organise school lunches and water bottles the night before

• Get your child to have a bath or shower the night before

• Set alarms for 15 to 30 minutes earlier 

Younger children may  require more assistance with getting into a morning routine so you could prepare a simple picture checklist to help them know what needs to be completed.

Limiting devices and television time should be considered until the task is completed then screen time is used as a reward. Make sure you show praise to your child for even the smallest tasks involved with getting ready for school.

If your child is struggling with coming to school by dragging out the time in the morning to avoid attending please give the school a call so we can look into any problems that may be occurring. 

Kind Regards, 

Kylie Ranson

CEDP promotes daily school attendance. Going to school every day is the single most important part of your child’s education.

If your child is sick or absent you are required to notify their school on the first day of absence if  possible. All explanations to the school must be provided within 7 days from the first day of any period of absence. 

Absences can be explained using one of the following methods:

SMS - respond with reason to school notification of absence (preferred method)

Telephone - the school office  4780 6800

Email - stcanices@parra.catholic.edu.au

When an explanation has not been received within the 7 day timeframe or the explanation has not been accepted, the school will record the absence as unexplained or unjustified on the students record.The school will not be able to accept explanations which are not received within the 7 days timeframe.

Justified reasons for student absences may include:

• Being sick or having  an infectious disease

• Having an unavoidable medical appointment

• Being required to attend a recognised religious holiday

• Exceptional or urgent family circumstances e.g. attending a funeral

Why do I need to notify the school if my child is absent?

Parents of children aged 6-17 years are legally required to ensure their children attend school every day or provide an explanation if they are absent. Notifying the school and providing an explanation for your child’s absence will fulfil this legal responsibility.

The safety and wellbeing of students are the highest priorities for schools. Parents need to know if their child isn’t at school and schools need to know when and why a child is absent. Notifying the school of your child’s absence helps ensure the safety and wellbeing of all children in school.

What is your responsibility?

• Ensure your child attends school every day

• Notify the school immediately if your child is absent

• Provide an explanation for any absences within 7 days

• Make sure the school has your correct contact details so you can receive attendance information about your child.

Please feel free to contact the school office if you have any questions.

Open Day - Wednesday 3rd March

Purple Day - Thursday 11th March

Week 10 - Easter Liturgy & Easter Hat Parade

Good Friday Public Holiday - Friday 2nd April

Staff Development Day - PUPIL FREE DAY - Monday 19th April

First Day of Term 2 - Tuesday 20th April

As Easter approaches St Canice's will hold an Easter Hat Parade to celebrate during Week 10, we will confirm a date and further information will be distributed soon.

Our Easter Liturgy will be held durning week 10. When the date is finalised we will send home further information.

Happy Birthday to all who celebrate during March 

Sofia S3W

Jude S2B

Eva S3B

Zaman S2W

Jerome S3B

Josh S2B

Keitah S2W

Vicky S2W

Benny S3W

Hamish S2B

Dear parents and carers, This year Ms Frazer has a tiny school choir. At this stage we have no year 6s, two year 5s, five stage 2s and two stage 1s. It will be almost impossible to create a strong, solid sound and confident harmony with such a small number of students. If you know your child loves to sing, or wants to sing, can you please encourage them to join choir? Ms Frazer would love to see them there on Wednesday (even weeks) at recess in the conservatorium.Thanks so much!

Choir is on Wednesday every even week at recess in the conservatorium. Students need to bring their recess and their voices.

A reminder that parking is not permitted on the ramp that connects the two car parks in Studleigh Place as you restrict traffic flow and create danger for other road users.

Only vehicles transporting a current Mobility Parking Scheme (MPS) permit holder can park in areas displaying this sign. The permit must be displayed in the parked vehicle. Permit holders must comply with the conditions of use of the permit.

No Stopping Spaces are clearly marked with both a sign and lines - please do not use these space.

Please be considerate of all others.

Blue Mountains Portraits 2021 

On exhibition from 23rd January – 7th March 2021 

Blue Mountains Portraits is the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre’s annual celebration of the local community and its diverse members.  

Several St Canice's Students have their Artwork on display!

The exhibiting artists portray the unique people that make up  the cultural fabric of the Blue Mountains and tell the stories  behind the person.  

Fifty artworks in a broad range of styles and media such  as painting, photography, drawing, collage and video will be  exhibited together with a selection of local students’ work.

For those students participating in private lessons, please ensure your child brings their instrument to school on the following days

Ensemble - Wednesday Morning 8.20am - 9am with Bonita Silva

Violin Lessons & Strings Program - Wednesday with Ms Frazer & Ms Silva

Cello - Friday with Paul Smith

We are now taking enrolments for Kindergarten 2022, if you know of people looking for a school for their child (even if it is for the other grades), please let them know about St Canice’s. The power of your words of recommendation has an enormous effect on our enrolments. Let’s keep working together to make St Canice’s that great school that has been in operation for the past 120 years.

All messages and notifications from the school are sent through the "Skoolbag" app.

Please make sure you have this app on your devices for all current and up to date school alerts.

Download skoolbag from the app store

Select St Canice's Catholic Primary Katoomba

If you have any difficulty accessing the app, please contact the school so that we can ensure everyone is receiving information sent out.

Building Child Safe Communities - Volunteer Undertaking

Dear Parents/Carers 

All Volunteers have until 30th September 2020 to submit a new Undertaking in the new system.

In Catholic Education Diocese Parramatta (CEDP), we see parents and carers as partners in your child's learning journey. Parents and carers are encouraged to become involved in our schools in many important ways such as supporting classroom learning, being part of advisory groups, mentoring programs, coaching sporting teams and supporting other extra-curricular activities and other kinds of help.

A range of checks and undertakings are required for people who work for or provide services to CEDP. These checks reduce potential risk and form part of our strategy to build child safe communities.

CEDP has launched a new Building Child Safe Communities form and online training module that all volunteers are required to complete. 

The purpose of this training is to inform you of the standards of behaviour and other requirements that must be adhered to when volunteering for CEDP.

The undertaking should take no more than 5 minutes to complete and the training module approximately 10 minutes. Once the form and training modules are submitted, an automated email will be sent to you within two business days to confirm the status of your submission.

The undertaking form will expire within two years or when your Working With Children Check expires (if applicable), whichever is sooner. At that time you will need to complete the undertaking form and training module again. You will receive an automatic reminder email when this occurs. 

Further information on the new online form and training module can be found at www.parra.catholic.edu.au and clicking on about us/building child safe communities. Within the form you will also find help sheets and a video tutorial to assist you. 

Thank you in advance for your support.

The Diocese of Parramatta’s Office for Safeguarding and Professional Standards (OSPS) has launched a new website, strengthening their ability to deliver advice and support to parishes, agencies and ministries to ensure the Diocese is safe for all people. Visit the website at www.safeguarding.org.au