St Mary’s Catholic Primary School Cnr Byng and Park Street / PO Box 8007 ORANGE NSW 2800 Ph: 6362 7926 [email protected]www.stmarysorange.catholic.edu.au 19th March 2020 Term 1 Week 8 Third Sunday of Lent This week’s Gospel is the story of the Woman at the well. From the Gospel according to John Jn 4:5-15, 19b-26, 39a, 40-42 Gospel Reflecon: In today’s gospel we hear about the woman of Samaria who was engaged in a very truthful encounter with Jesus. The Jews despised the Samaritans as having no claim on their God. This nameless woman, an outcast from her own community, chose to visit the well at a me to avoid those who judged her harshly. It’s important to acknowledge how radical this encounter was. Jesus reaches out to her as he did to other outcasts demonstrang that all people are valuable to God. In this way we too are called to be radical, to uphold the dignity of all people. The exchange was so profound, bringing about a change of heart for the Samaritan woman. She then became a witness for Jesus, influencing those around her. Taken from Caritas Australia. Our Vision With Jesus Christ as our inspiration and guide, St Mary's Catholic Primary School Orange is a Professional Learning Community that works in collaboration with family, church and community to celebrate high levels of learning for all. Sherene Gould During this Lenten season, Sherene a parent at our school, is preparing to receive the sacraments of Bapsm, Confirmaon and Eucharist at the Easter Vigil. This is very excing for our school community and for Sherene and her family. We support Sherene with our prayers as she connues her journey to becoming Catholic.
Transcript
St Mary’s Catholic Primary School Cnr Byng and Park Street / PO Box 8007 ORANGE NSW 2800
This week’s Gospel is the story of the Woman at the well.
From the Gospel according to John Jn 4:5-15, 19b-26, 39a, 40-42
Gospel Reflection:
In today’s gospel we hear about the woman of Samaria who was engaged in a very truthful encounter with Jesus. The Jews despised the Samaritans as having no claim on their God. This nameless woman, an outcast from her own community, chose to visit the well at a time to avoid those who judged her harshly. It’s important to acknowledge how radical this encounter was. Jesus reaches out to her as he did to other outcasts demonstrating that all people are valuable to God. In this way we too are called to be radical, to uphold the dignity of all people. The exchange was so profound, bringing about a change of heart for the Samaritan woman. She then became a witness for Jesus, influencing those around her.
Taken from Caritas Australia.
Our Vision With Jesus Christ as our inspiration and guide,
St Mary's Catholic Primary School Orange is a Professional Learning Community that works in collaboration with family, church and community to celebrate high levels of learning for all.
Sherene Gould During this Lenten season, Sherene a parent at our school, is preparing to receive the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist at the Easter Vigil. This is very exciting for our school community and for Sherene and her family. We support Sherene with our prayers as she continues her journey to becoming Catholic.
Project compassion fundraising challenge. During Lent each grade is challenged to raise funds to
support CARITAS Australia to provide chickens to farmers in Cambodia. Each $50 raised will provide 50 chickens.
We look forward to seeing our donation tally grow each week.
The winning grade will have a “movie afternoon”
during the last week of this term. Student Project Compassion boxes will go home this week.
Term Calendar
WEEK 11
Mon 06-Apr-20 Tue 07-Apr-20
Wed 08-Apr-20
Thurs 09-Apr-20 Easter Raffle will be drawn via video link to classrooms
Fri 10-Apr-20 PUBLIC HOLIDAY - GOOD FRIDAY
Please look at this calendar each week because it is subject to change.
TERM 2 WEEK
1
Mon 27-Apr-20 Back to School Tue 28-Apr-20
Wed 29-Apr-20
Thurs 30-Apr-20
Fri 01-May-20
SPORTS UNIFORMS FOR THIS TERM
Athletics Update: For the children that made the 1500m finals, they will need to
wear sports uniform on Wednesday 25th March
Kindergarten - Friday Year 1 - Friday Year 2 - Wednesday & Friday Year 3 - Friday Year 4 - Wednesday Year 5 - Friday Year 6 - Friday
Library News
Year 2 have moved into their new learning space and the library has books ready to borrow.
Library Days for each class are as follows:
Tuesday: Year 2 & Year 3 Wednesday: Kindergarten, Year4 & Year 5
Thursday: Year 1 & Year 6
The students will need a library bag for borrowing, bags are available from the uniform shop for $15
Kindergarten children will be given a bag prior to their first visit.
School Update
As you are aware the current situation with the Covid-19 virus is presenting plenty of challenges. All sporting activities that were scheduled this term have been cancelled, at the school, Diocesan and Polding level. School assemblies have been cancelled as well as events that we had scheduled for parents to be engaged with our school including Parent/Teacher Inter-views and class/school tours. Our Director, Mrs Christina Trimble, spoke with us yesterday to outline a plan for the coming weeks and months. Part of that planning includes the possibility of students working remotely. As this will take time to organise and prepare we are not offering families/students who are electing self isolation with work packs at present. We acknowledge that each family is making important decisions at the moment. Our staff continues to enforce a high level of hygiene with the students, including regular hand washing and disinfecting of work surfaces. We will not gather as a school. The students still enjoy the freedom of outdoor play and interaction with their peers. It is lovely to enjoy these autumn days in the spaces of our grounds and provide for the students a calm and happy environment. - Kerry Maher
Attendance Policy
Engaging with learning is fundamental in helping all children acquire the skills they need for life. Schools and
services work with families and communities on strategies to address barriers to school attendance.
We value all children at St Mary’s and we aim to have children attend school to receive the best education possible.
We work in line with the Catholic Education Diocese of Bathurst (CEDB) procedures to promote high attendance
rates.
All absences from school require a note or email from parents/guardian to the school explaining why your child
was absent from school, within 7 days of the absence occurring. This can be a handwritten note, email or via
compass on the student portal. If a student has 5 unexplained absences, the school can request an attendance
meeting with the parents.
*Important Information for Parents
NAPLAN Online Practice test
All NSW schools participating in NAPLAN Online will participate in practice tests
between late March and early April 2020. The practice test is a trial-run and key
preparation activity for NAPLAN Online in May. It is not an assessment of student
ability. Participation in the practice tests is highly beneficial as it provides an
opportunity for staff and students to become familiar with the functionalities of the
online platform and the test format students will experience in May. St Mary’s
Catholic Primary School Year 3 and Year 5 will participate in the NAPLAN Online
Practice test.
On Monday, 23rd March (Week 9) All Year 3 & Year 5 students are to bring their
own Chromebook fully charged to participate.
Teacher Training Day
Last Friday our Staff and the staff from our out lying parish schools at Molong and Manildra, joined together to discern the Plenary Council theme of Mission and
Evangelisation .
Father Greg started the day of reflection, sharing with all staff the work of the Plenary council to date, his role as a writer and guided us as we began our
discernment for the day.
It was a valuable day allowing staff to reflect upon our current practice and to share their vision for the future.
Life is full of ups, downs and surprises. During times of uncertainty a smile is a
precious gift to give. While a smile is free to give it is often priceless to the person who
receives it. It can brighten a day, be welcoming, let the receiver know that life is good, it can
reassure, be kind, be thoughtful. Our smiles are wonderful. This week let your smile brighten the
day of those you encounter.
- Kerry Maher
IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING CANCELLATIONS AND NEW PROCEDURES
The following events have been cancelled:
Year 6 orientation day & parent meeting 25th March - A letter will come from JSCHS explaining what to do around enrolment
Kidslit 23rd March This is My School open classroom 31st March Athletics Carnival 1st April Kindergarten & Year 1 Sports day 3rd April Easter Hat Parade 9th April (the raffle will still go ahead and will be drawn by video link) Polding & PSSA Swimming Diocesan Winter Sport trials Parent/ Teacher Interviews (we will be sending home notes about your child’s progress) Assemblies Liturgies CWA Speeches
The following procedures will be put in place: UNIFORM SHOP- The Uniform shop will be closed for the rest of the term. Orders will still be taken via flexi-schools or a call with credit card details to the school. The completed orders will go home with your child SCHOOL OFFICE: We are asking that parents limit non-essential visits to the school office and all contact be made either via phone or email. Please ensure that your child is equipped with their hat, drink bottle etc. so these items don’t need to be dropped into the office. If you have a note etc. to drop in, please give it to your child to place in their class office bag. PARENT/TEACHER INTERVIEWS Parent/Teacher Interviews will not go ahead this term. In order to keep parents informed of their child's progress we are looking at alternative formats. Each parent will receive a short written account of what the child has been engaged in so far this term. There will be an indication of the child's engagement with the content covered as well as an area that may require some more development. Work samples will also be provided to parents. We anticipate that this will go out in Week 10 of this Term, the week beginning 30th March.
St Patrick's Day
We had a fabulous day on Tuesday wearing green and raising $354.80
for Project Compassion.
Thank you to all our families for supporting this day.
There will be no weekly special for Week 9
and due to difficulties with food shopping
at the moment the menu might be limited at some stage
in the near future.
Student Representative Council (SRC) news
Friday 3rd April (week 10) the SRC will be supporting the Cancer
Council Foundation, an initiative led by Maddie Linsell-Ryan
and our SRC, in memory of Miss Steph who was
our dance teacher at St Mary’s. We will be holding a crazy hair day!
(no hair spray please but you can wear a wig)
WHEN: Friday 3rd April, 2020. THEME: Crazy Hair Day
We ask for a Gold coin donation if possible please! WHAT TO WEAR: normal school uniform your grade would wear on a Friday
AWARDS T1 W7
CLASS CLASS AWARDS BOOKWORK HOUSE POINTS
KB Tia Brown Isabelle Burford Jordan Fernando Aiden Kim Toby Miller
Sophie Middleton Laynie Turnbull Lola Sturt Irene Jacob Toby Miller
KG Matthew McGovern Leah Howarth Sonny Venner Ottie Graystone Lincoln Christensen Vincent Eves
We have had a very busy start to our educational journey in Kindergarten Blue! We have been learning how to be a good listener and how to be Ready for Learning.
We now know how to play fairly, how to calm down and how to problem solve. We are very clever! We have been strengthening our fine motor
and gross motor muscles during our PE sessions and fine motor activities. We love colouring, playing with playdough, drawing with chalk and painting!
In English we are singing Nursery Rhymes and have enjoyed participating
in activities such as retelling rhymes, sequencing and writing. We know many sounds and actions and are consolidating this knowledge
during our phonemic awareness activities. We are practicing our counting and recognising numbers in Mathematics.
In Religious Education we are listening to bible stories and are now familiar
with stories such as The Lost Sheep. We have learned how to make the sign of the cross and can say our daily classroom prayers.
We have identified so many Catholic symbols around our school.
Most importantly, we have loved getting to know our teachers and making new friends. Kindergarten Blue is a wonderful place to be!
St Mary’s Catholic Primary School Annual Improvement Plan 2020
(Learning and Teaching)
St Mary’s Catholic Primary School is a Professional Learning Community that is committed to
high levels of learning for all students. We also aim to continually improve our teaching
practices to have a greater impact on student learning and results.
Our Learning and Teaching plan for 2020 includes the following goals:
Explicit Teaching Model in English lessons - Kindy to Year 2 phonics lessons and Year 2-6 Springboard into
Comprehension Program lessons are explicitly taught using strategies that are evidence based and effective in
enhancing literacy development of all children.
Kindergarten - Year 2 Phonics lessons occur 5 days a week. These lessons involve teaching systematic and predictable
relationships between the sounds (phonemes) in words and the letters (graphemes) which represent them. The aim of
phonics is to build accurate and automatic decoding to provide the foundation skills for reading fluency and
comprehension.
Year 2-6 Springboards into Comprehension explicitly teaches comprehension skills including Sequencing, Identifying
Detail, Main Idea, Compare and Contrast, Figurative language, Bias and Prejudice. These lessons are taught 3 days a
week.
Teachers use a systematic approach to teaching these lessons called the Gradual Release Model. Firstly, the teacher
models the skill “I do”, then the teacher and students practice the skill together “We do,” and finally the student has
opportunities for Independent Practice using the skill, “You do.”
Grammar and Punctuation K-6 - teachers will be delivering prepared lessons to explicitly teach Grammar, Punctuation
and Writing lessons. This is a CEDB program written by teachers. The program is taught 4 days a week, skills are taught
explicitly using a carefully designed teaching processes. Students are provided with many opportunities for review and
practice. Students are also given opportunities to apply concepts and skills into other curriculum areas.
Peer Coaching - to enhance teacher capacity and teaching quality by providing opportunities for teachers to observe,
model and receive feedback on teacher practice in the areas of teaching Comprehension skills and Grammar,
Punctuation & Writing lessons.
We aim to improve teacher practice through a structured mentoring process (facilitated by Dr Sarah Mc Donagh).
Staff continually strive for high levels of learning for all. Our teaching focus is on delivering quality explicit instruction to
improve the outcomes for all of our students.
Staff will conduct “Learning walks” to provide opportunities for teachers to learn from each other and give formal
feedback using an objective process with goals and checklists.
TikTok and Musical.ly - the new popular video sharing network
Musical.ly emerged in 2014 and quickly garnered hundreds of millions of users from all around the world. The idea behind the app was simple: users – often
young children and ‘tweens’ – would film themselves lip-syncing their favourite new songs, and then share the footage with the world.
After enormous success – with some users, such as Jacob Sartorius acquiring over 14 million followers – Musical.ly has been bought by the Chinese
development company Bytedance, who have now moved all users over to a similar platform of their own: TikTok.
First and foremost, parents and guardians of children who use this application should view this as a warning about the very nature of the companies behind
some of our favourite online platforms. Users are a valuable commodity, and are now, as was proven by the acquisition of Musical.ly, being bought and sold in
deals reportedly worth up to $1 billion USD.
Secondly, now with over 100 million active users, it’s possible that the children in your care could have been using Musical.ly, have now been migrated across
to TikTok. (Or have simply downloaded TikTok to use since the acquisition a few months ago). It’s important to understand this new app, to ensure you know
what is going on, and that your children or students are safe.
What was Musical.ly?
Musical.ly sounds harmless enough. A platform for kids to dub short videos of themselves with their favourite songs? What could be more harmless.
Unfortunately, this was far from the case.
In one fantastic expose by Anastasia Basil, a mother who ventured deep onto the platform to see if it was suitable for her own child to use, she found that
Musical.ly was a cesspit of depravity, suicidal thoughts, pro-anorexia propaganda, self-harm and more. As her article states: “Porn is not the worst thing on
Musical.ly”.
She continues “…the worst thing is watching little kids (as young as eight) sexually objectify themselves. The kids who get it right (the tweeny Kardashians)
gain followers. The kids who get it wrong — those not “sexy” enough, funny enough, savvy enough — are openly ridiculed in the comment section.”
“There are #killingstalking musical.lys, which are dark-themed (artistic? emo?) videos showing boys putting knives to girls’ throats. There are #selfharm videos
that show suicide options — bathtubs filling, images of blades, a child’s voice saying she doesn’t want to live any more.”
It goes on. We strongly urge you to take a look at the full article.
Numerous reports by concerned parents show Musical.ly was a Lord of the Flies-esque, mob-ruled kingdom, where depression and self-hate were glorified,
children were sexualised, and cyberbullying ran rife. It seems obvious that this was never a suitable environment for children. Even more frighteningly, this
type of culture makes it all too easy for predators to exploit the vulnerabilities of children in desperate need for family and friends as they battle the inherent
anxieties of youth.
What is TikTok?
Now that Musical.ly and TikTok have been combined, you will find it on the app store under the title ‘TikTok – Including Musical.ly’. The page claims “TikTok is
a global video community”; a supposedly lively, safe, social network built around creating and sharing music videos.
Like Musical.ly, TikTok users can upload videos of themselves singing, lip-syncing, dancing, or performing. Although, it’s best to see what direction the
application goes now that they have merged the two.
Like other platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitch, users also have the ability to stream footage of themselves live. This allows their audiences to
interact directly with the creator of the livestream, in real-time, via a chat function.
Like most platforms, TikTok does give users the ability to set their accounts to private. ‘Public’ videos can be viewed and commented upon by anyone, and
even ‘remixed’ by other users.
Finally, TikTok -unlike Musical.ly – has introduced a virtual currency to their application. An in-app store lets you purchase ‘Virtual Items’ that can be used to
buy digital gift icons. These icons are given to streamers in the same way as a compliment, and are otherwise useless. We’ve talked before about the dangers
of in-app payments – although, this is usually with younger users playing ‘freemium’ games. Given that TikTok’s policy recommends the app only be used by
people over the age of 16, reckless spending may not be such an issue, though it should still be monitored by parents.
Given that the two apps are largely identical in function, with the addition of a few new features, TikTok should be looked at in the same light as Musical.ly.
This is particularly true now that Musical.ly’s entire user base has been migrated across to the new platform – presumably bringing with them the same
concerning culture.
The Internet Safe Education verdict
There are many opportunities on the internet for entertainment and social interaction for children and teens. After looking into the scandals behind
Musical.ly, and the new and uncertain nature of TikTok, we cannot in good faith recommend that this app be used by teens or children.
The app developers do claim that the application is only suitable for users over the age of 16, and we support this age rating strongly.
You can find more information on TikTok in their Safety Center, which puts into further detail the tools and policies they have in place to help keep the
