Term 2, Issue #6 2023

From The Leadership Team

REFLECTION FOR THE WEEK

“If parents want to give their children a gift, The best thing they can do is to teach their children to love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort and keep on learning. That way, their children don’t have to be slaves of praise. They will have a lifelong way to build and repair their own confidence.”

Carol Dwek

Dear Families

We can’t believe we are over halfway through Term 2, already! It has been a very busy term with so much happening since our last newsletter, with staff leaving and new staff taking over, a baby arriving, and significant events taking place in our school calendar.

We congratulate Rob and Gemma Fahey for the safe arrival of their baby boy, Brodie James Fahey. He is three weeks old this week, both mother and Brodie are doing well. We can’t wait to meet him later in the term when they both come for a visit.

Over the last few weeks we have welcomed several new teaching staff to our CMS community, Ms Shannay Edwards, who is the new Year 5 class teacher to 5E. Ms Harpreet Kaur, is the new Year 2 class co-teacher to 2E. We farewelled Ms Leanne Crompton last week and wish her all the very best with the arrival of her baby later in the term and Ms Samanatha Turner is now class teacher for 3E.

We farewelled Ms Ariana Willhoite and Ms Paula Clarke and thank them for their time and contribution at CMS as Education Support Officers and wish them well in their personal endeavours for the future.

The winter weather has certainly set in over the past two weeks and we have had to implement our inclement weather processes accordingly. While we have a few spare sets of clothing for children who may slip or get muddy during the days, we struggle to accommodate wet feet and socks. We ask families to consider placing a spare pair of socks in their child’s bag for such occasions as wet feet all day can be very uncomfortable. We also wish to inform families that children using umbrellas to come to and from school will not be able to take these out into the yard during playtimes as they can pose a risk to others.

We are very pleased to see most of our children wearing the correct school uniform including correct shoes and socks. Thank you to the families who check their children’s uniform before coming to school to ensure they are in the correct attire. With winter well and truly set in, we understand that at times your child may be out of uniform due to washing not drying as quickly. Please remember to let your class teacher know via Seesaw message or email if your child is wearing the wrong uniform.

National Reconciliation Week – 27th May – 3rd June

Over the last two weeks we have taken time in classes to recognise National Reconciliation Week. This year’s theme, “Be a Voice for Generations - act today for a reconciled tomorrow”. As educators we play such an important role in being able to be a voice, but more importantly inspire our students to be a voice themselves. National Reconciliation Week is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.

Catholic Education Week – ‘We Love Our Catholic School’

In Week 3, we celebrated Catholic Education Week and all the things we love about Catherine McAuley School, reflecting on what makes our community so unique and special.

Over the last few weeks, many staff and students have shared what they love about our school.

As leaders we also reflected about what we love about our school:

We love that we know every child and family – greeting them as they arrive and leave for school each day. Their smiles and beautiful greetings make each day a joy!

We love the enthusiasm our children show for learning and each other and are privileged to be able to support our children when things are challenging.

We love our families and how they always support their children and our community.

And finally, we love our staff and how dedicated they are to everyone in our community, working tirelessly to improve student learning and wellbeing.

We thank everyone for your continued support in making Catherine McAuley School a diverse, inclusive and welcoming community!

Semester 1 Reports

We are moving to a new Student Reporting System that will be somewhat consistent across CESA, using SEQTA. This semester your child/ren’s report will look different, but still contain all the important information you need. An important part of assessment and reporting starts at the very beginning of the process, with teachers using the Australian Curriculum to develop learning intentions and designs that allow all students to access the curriculum and achieve. These are linked to Performance Standards to assist teachers in moderating assessments to ensure consistency across the school and the whole system.

The new report will provide an A-E grade for the nine subject areas. Each of nine subject areas will also indicate a student’s ‘Approach to Learning’ - Excellent, Good, Developing.

The next section will indicate a student’s ‘Learning Attributes’- works collaboratively with others, is organised for learning, maintains positive and respectful relationships makes safe and responsible choices, and is resilient.

The new report will conclude with a general comment from the class teacher.

Term 3 Reception Teacher

We are busily preparing our new Reception classroom to be ready for our Term 3 Reception class commencing in July, we have appointed Ms Tracey King to teach this class. The Small Mercy transitions will be commencing in Week 7 through to Week 10. We look forward to welcoming our new little people and Ms King to the CMS Community.