St Mary's Newsletter

Term 2 - Week 8 (11th June, 2021)

Dear St Mary's School Community

Value in Focus: Forgiveness

We accept apologies and give others the opportunity to do the right thing and to have another chance.

Mark 4: 26-34

In Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus likens the Kingdom of God to a mustard seed.  He reminds us that every little act of kindness, love, caring, etc grows into a greater presence of God in our world (like a mustard seed).

Feast of the Sacred Heart

Thank you to Miss Wells and Year Two for preparing this morning's  Mass to celebrate the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  The devotion to and celebration of the Sacred Heart takes Jesus' physical heart as the representation of his divine love for humanity. 

Confirmation

Our Year Six students will be receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation on Sunday, at the 10.30am Mass.  Please keep the following students, their families, sponsors, teachers and Fr Andrew in your prayers.  Congratulations to Blair Carr, Sam Adamson, Charlotte Criddle, Olivia Geier, Tyler Geier, Lachlan Cooper, Miji Onikola, Jake Casella, Jonah Clarke, Savannah Dean, Ava Downsborough and Alexis Kermode, who receive the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in Confirmation for the first time.

All are welcome to attend the Confirmation and support these students and their families.

Keeping Safe

At the Pupil Free Day last Friday, staff undertook professional learning on The Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum (KS: CPC).  This is a world class, evidence-based child safety curriculum that teaches children and young people to recognise abuse, tell a trusted adult, understand what is appropriate and inappropriate touching and ways of keeping themselves safe. The curriculum is based on two main themes:

· We all have the right to be safe

· We can help ourselves to be safe by talking to people we trust.

The themes are presented through four Focus Areas:

1. The right to be safe

2. Relationships

3. Recognising and reporting abuse

4. Protective strategies

More information will come out for families about this program through the Newsletter/Bulletin and from class teachers.

The Little Prince

Last Thursday afternoon, the Year Three to Six students went to Cummins Theatre to watch a performance of ‘The Little Prince”.  This is a classic children’s book by Antoine de Saint Exupery.  The students and accompanying adults spoke highly of the play.  

Office Addition

A partition was recently installed in the office which gives Mrs Ryan a quiet, functional space to work in given the increased complexities of the Finance Officer role.  The next step is to get the partition painted to finish everything off.  We have received many positive comments about the improvement to the office and Mrs Ryan loves her new 'office'.

Sick Students

As winter starts to firm up, there is a higher chance of students becoming unwell (runny noses, scratchy throats, coughing, etc).  if your child is unwell please do not send them to school.  Children who come to school unwell make other students and their teachers unwell.  Parents of students who exhibit flu-like symptoms will be asked to come and collect their child from school.  Your support and understanding with this is greatly appreciated.

P and F

Everyone is welcome to the next P & F meeting on Monday night at 7.30pm in the Library.  Our P & F do great things for our school community so please come along and support them.

God Bless and have a lovely weekend with your families,

Ms Adriana Coniglio

Principal

Religious News

Confirmation Retreat

Our Year Six students enjoyed their Confirmation Retreat on Friday, 11th June. We spent the day practising for Confirmation Mass, talking to Father Andrew, completing craft to be displayed in the Church and re-enacting The Story of Pentecost. We enjoyed Subway for lunch and free dress.


School Photos

School Photos will be taken on Thursday 24th June. Please see attached document at end of the newsletter for further information relating to ordering.

All students will be expected to wear their full winter uniform.  In Year One to Year Six, this means tights for the girls and long pants for the boys. In Week Ten, Phys-Ed will be moved to Monday so students in Year One to Year Six will be required to wear their sports uniform on the Monday, 21st June and not on Thursday, 24th June.

Kind regards,

Mrs Zoe O'Malley

Assistant Principal

Class News

Pre-Kindy Class News

In Pre-Kindy we have been learning through play and having lots of fun!

The children have loved engaging in arts, crafts, singing, and dancing activities. We are also developing our gross motor skills outside in the playground and sandpit.

Over this semester it has been fantastic to see everyone settling into school routines and forming new friendships. We are looking forward to next term when more children will join our Pre-Kindy FUN!!!

Year Four/Five RE Corner

This term we have learnt a lot of new things in Religious Education. As May is the month of Mary, we really got to know our rosary beads and how close to Mary we feel when we pray the Hail Mary.

The rosary beads provide a physical method of keeping count of the number of Hail Marys said as the mysteries are contemplated. The fingers are moved along the beads as the prayers are recited. The Hail Mary is said on the ten beads within a decade, while the Lord's Prayer is said on the large bead before each decade. We researched the four mysteries and we didn’t quite realise there were so many special parts to the rosary beads.

Music

Here is a quick run-down on what’s been happening in Music this term!

Pre-primary

We have been very busy this term- learning lots of new songs and folk dances. A favourite is a golden oldie- “Home among the gum trees”! We made our own rock band and also used our listening and imagining skills to move along to some Bluey Music. We have been doing lots of learning about the orchestra and all the instrument families- I have been amazed at everyone’s memory of the instruments!

Year One

Apart from all our usual singing and dancing, this term we have been learning about Pitch- the High and Low sounds. We have been looking at pitch maps and using our voices to sing high and low. We also used the Xylophones to play some high and low patterns.

Year Two

We are learning about Music in different cultures and have learnt some new songs. We have also looked at the song’s structures (form) and had a go at playing along to the songs with the xylophones, percussion instruments and our voices!

We have also had a go at creating our own compositions on the Xylophones using three notes. Impressive stuff!

Year Three/Four and Year Four/Five

This term we have been learning about Musical shapes which correlates to our Musica Viva incursion in Term Three. We have attempted creating our own shapes using words and phrases from our classrooms and then adding a melody. This has given us a few laughs.

We have also created some rap lyrics about ourselves and used a website called Groove Pizza for our beat. We then performed for the class.

Year Six

This term we have tried something new- Kaboom percussion! Using sticks and chairs, we learnt rhythms and choreography to create a group arrangement. This was definitely a challenge for all, but I was very proud of everyone’s perseverance and I saw some wonderful skills shining through- leadership, friendship and patience!

Other News & Important Dates

2021 Footy Tipping Update

EDMW is still on top of our overall leaderboard but their lead has been eroded to just 1 point so it is still anyone's game!

Round 11 was sponsored by SportsPower Merredin and won by MezOxys21.

Round 12 was sponsored by Nextra and won by Richmond Pat.

With all these COVID complications, please be aware of fixture changes and game date changes!  For instance, this week was a random Thursday game.  Don't get caught out and forget to tip that crucial first game!

St Mary's Parish Merredin - Mass Times

Saturday - 6.30pm

Sunday - 10.30am

Kellerberrin: Sunday 8am

Let Us Pray

We give you thanks, Lord God.

In you we are planted.

Grow our faith.

Amen.

Community Notices

Thank you to our Footy Tipping Sponsors