Welcome back to our first newsletter for Term 3.  Students and staff have returned to their classrooms fully of energy and enthusiasm and are enjoying the more ‘normal’ start to the Term.

It is great to see the return of school sport with the Country Gold trials being held last week for primary students and the Winter Sports roster beginning this week for our secondary students.  Students have certainly enjoyed these opportunities to participate in team sports again.

Student Free Day – July 20^th

On the student free day, held on July 20^th, our teachers participated in a range of on-line learning opportunities with teachers from muka layna Collaboration schools. In the morning, teachers from St Marys, St Helens, Bicheno, Campbell Town and Winnaleah worked together to deepen their understanding of an element of our Instructional model and then they worked online in collaborative groups to plan together for student learning. In the afternoon of the student free day SMDS teachers worked together in their teams with a focus on planning their learning environment and teaching to support every student, in every lesson, every day.

School Association News

This week we were finally able to hold our School Association AGM and first general meeting for the new 2020 school association committee.  I would like to thank  Sommer Howorka, Emma Woods, Bec Scarr, Sarah Williams and Amanda Jordan, the retiring members of the 2019 committee for their work and support of our school as committee members.

The 2020 School Association Committee members are:

Gary Barnes – Chair (Parent Rep)

Kayley Davie – Vice Chair (Parent Rep)

Secretary – held open until next meeting

Mel Woods – Treasurer (Parent Rep)

Bree Sweet – Parent Rep

Janet Drummond – Community Rep

Lynette Yodgee – Staff Rep

Lisa Bean – Staff Rep

Amanda Jordan – Staff Rep

Carolyn Watson – Principal

Please note, there is currently a vacant Parent Rep position.  If you are interested to join the committee please contact the school for more information.

Reporting Update

Next week reports will be sent home to all families of Prep to Year 10 students.  These reports will outline where students are in their learning and wellbeing. Whilst this will not be as detailed as our normal mid-year report it will still give parents an understanding of where students are at with their learning in key subjects, English and Mathematics for Prep to Year 6 students and English, Mathematics, HASS and Science for Years 7-10 students. Learning progress in these subjects will be described as: working towards, working at or working above the standard. A wellbeing comment will also be included in the report to provide additional information about your child’s return to on-site learning. 

Staffing Update

This week we have received the exciting news that Ellen and Will Redden have welcomed a new baby son named Jack to their family.  We send our best wishes as Jack settles in to family life.  I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Ellen for her contribution to our school and wish her well during her next period of leave.

Term 3 is underway, and it is indeed heart-warming to see all our students back on site.  How valiant all SMDS students have been over the past few months.  As Assistant Principal of Years 7-12, I am particularly proud of our Secondary staff and students who have returned as their wonderful selves yet stronger, more resilient and with a deeper appreciation of friendships and of life. 

Secondary students, in particularly the Year 7 and 8 students have adapted and swiftly settled into the restructured classes.  Teachers are embracing the co-teaching model through collaborative planning and team teaching.  Now, more than ever – visiting learning environments is a stirring experience.  A snapshot might include small groups of learners, individual learning on devices and teachers leading explicit teaching all within a blended learning approach.  Our recent pandemic crisis has stretched teachers and students alike to do things differently as well as adding a dimension to teaching and learning programs of the school that we may well have not experienced or might well have taken educators years to achieve.

Students are to be congratulated on the way they have accepted and followed the guidelines of the recently implemented Mobile Phone policy.  Looking out through my window onto ‘The Green', I am encouraged to see students once again engaging in conversation and ‘hanging out’ together not unlike the days before mobile phones.

I am reassured with the return of Winter Sports this week.  Some of the highlights of our school calendar year are slowly finding their way back into our students’ lives.

 Rahn Emanuel – an American Politician was recently quoted as saying,

“You never let a serious crisis go to waste.  And what I mean by that: 

It’s an opportunity to do things you could not do before”.

The staff and students along with the SMDS community have grasped the opportunity to embrace change.  Many students now work with greater focus and less distraction, show deeper care and concern for one another, value learning experiences and treasure their time at school with a new perspective.  Students are recharged and ready to go!

As secondary staff and students we are – “Same, same but different!” How can we not?

LYNETTE YODGEE AP 7-12

During May and June, the FREE2BE CREATIVE CHALLENGE was organised for people aged between 10 and 16 in the Break of Day Council Area.  Winners were announced on the FM radio at 1.00 p.m. each Saturday.  They were given lovely prizes ranging from Vouchers, money and art books.

All St Marys Art students who entered won a prize for being either 1st, 2nd or 3rd in the competitions.

Thank you to the organisers of this great event as the students enjoyed entering their art work and loved the prizes that they were given.

Jill Lewis, Art Teacher.

Ellie

Rebecca

Tiana

Montanna

Year Art students in grade 8, 9 and 10 were asked to investigate how Western Artists were influenced by Asian Art.

The students were asked to create a piece of art based on the Japonisme way of looking at art.  They looked at wood cut prints from the Ukiyo-e school of printmaking and how these in turn influenced the Impressionist Artists.

                    Addison                                                   De'arne

                  Jessica                                                       Kyia

                 Montanna                                                  Olivia

                                                                               Rebecca

                      Tiana                                                          Tyler

Will

Hi families

Has your child been disappointed to have missed their cross country carnival this year?  Is your child talented at cross country running?  Would your child like to participate in a walking/running/cross country event from home?   Well, we might just have the solution for you!!!

Due to COVID 19 during Term 2 we were not able to host our annual cross country carnivals; a virtual event running event called The Great Australian Cross Country has been created.

 The GACC is a running (jog/walking) event designed to replace usual school cross country events in Australian schools which,  due to our Covid circumstances during Term 2,  could not go ahead in their usual form, i.e., carnivals with large numbers of participants and spectators attending.

 The GACC involves an on-line registration.  It is $10.00 for an individual participant.

 Participants will need to download a tracking app called RunKeeper.   

Results are entered on-line in a Race Hub on the GACC website. 

There are strict registration protocols for U14 students. 

Distances are determined by grade (Kinder/Prep 1km, Gr. 2 – 6 2km, Gr. 7 – 12 4km and older 5km). 

Bibs, medals, certificates, championships are provided/calculated. 

Participants run on courses they set themselves.

 The event is open from mid-March until the end of August 2020

 Full details can be found at:

  www.gaccc.com.au 

Grade 3 / 4 Narrative Writing.

Grade 3 / 4 have written narratives to entertain the class. Narratives tell fictional stories for example stories, myths, legends or fables.

Students wrote using the caption “The day I lost my Dog”

The day I lost my dog Ruby.  By Shelby

One day I went to the beach with my dog Ruby.  We had lots of fun until dad said” let’s go home”

When we got home, we didn’t have Ruby!

So, we returned to the beach to look for her.  We couldn’t see her, but we could hear her.  We followed the sound of her bark.  We found her with a big rock on her paw.  Mum and I grabbed her out. We had to take her to the vet to check her paw.  Dad drove us to the vet as quick as he could.

We were happy that she was OK.

We then went home to give her food and water, then we read her a story.  We made a treat for her as well.

We were happy that she was home and OK.

The day I lost my dog Buddy

One lovely summer's morning I woke up I remember it was the start of the school holidays. Today we were going to Queensland.
Mum, dad, Buddy the dog and I were all going on the holiday.
When we got to the hotel in Queensland we went to bed.
We went to the beach, the shops and Dream World.
A few days later we had to go home. We were about to get on the plane and Buddy was not there. We looked everywhere but couldn’t find him. I said, “what about the hotel room!” We went back to the hotel and there he was in the room.
What a relief. We all went home happy.
The End

Indi

The day we lost our dog at the beach.

by Layla

One day there were two kids named Nick and Jess.  They owned a brown Labrador. his fur was brown and hid chest was a pale brown. He had blue eyes. His name was Henry.

Nick, Jess and Henry loved to walk down to the beach.  Jess loves to build sandcastles. While nick and Henry were at the beach doing their normal thing, Henry suddenly started to chase some seagulls. He ran and he barked but Jess and Nick were so busy they didn’t notice.  Before long Henry was way up the beach and far from Nick and Jess. 

It started to get cold and dark and Henry got scared and found shelter in a sand dune.  Nick and jess started to pack up and get ready to go home.  Jess called out to Henry but he didn’t come, so Nick and Jess began to worry.  Nick and Jess were so worried about Henry they began looking everywhere. Jess began checking the sand dunes and near their bags.  Nick checked the waves, they were worried and scared, then Jess saw paw tracks in the sand. They had to worry because the tide was coming in. Nick and Jess reached the end of the track and kept calling but could not see Henry.    Henry lifted his head and ran as fast as he could to them.

 They had to hurry as the tide was coming in to get their bags and get home.

The Day I LOST My Dog Jessie!

One day we took Jessie to the city. We took her on a walk and the people loved her. She went in shops and meet some other dogs. She was being a good dog until dad got talking to a man.

Jessie sported a rabbit and she was off. She ran around and round.
We called the animal patrol club we waited and waited. The animal patrol club got lost too, so we had to show them the way, but they got bogged in quicksand. We went to the John Deer shop and bought a tractor. We got them out and we started to look for Jessie again.

Four hours went past and we found her in a rubbish bin. We let the animal patrol club caught Jessie. We got her a new tag because she lost hers. It said, Jessie 7742710071.
We gave her lots of cuddles.
We finished our walk with Jessie on the lead.

‘’What a day’’ by Lily

The day I lost my dog Kevin.

By Bailey Freeman

Today we decided to go to the dog park with our dog Kevin. There were so many dogs there Kevin was on the lead. We let him off as soon as I let him off, he bolted. Across the park in a flash he was no were to be seen. We hoped in the car to see if we could see him. Then dad spotted him dad looked at Kevin and Kevin looked at dad and. He bolted again dad put the car in 5th gear and took off after Kevin. We sped past the post office and we flew around corner and drifted around the roundabout. Then Kevin finally run out of breath and stopped we hopped out of the car and. Picked him up and took him home.
And that’s why he has not been to the dog park again.

The Day I Lost My Dog April

One day we went to the beach with April. She loves the beach. She was in the water when we took our eyes off her and when we went to look at her again, SHE WAS GONE!

We were worried that someone took her. We packed our stuff and looked for her. We walked in the boiling heat for at least 2 km. We were exhausted, but we had to keep looking for her. A minute later we heard her bark. She was hurt! We ran as fast as we could. She must have sprained her ankle. We had to take her to the vet. It took half an hour for them to fix it.

A month later her ankle was alright, so we went back to the beach. We played with her. We also played chasses with her. She ran up the beach until we couldn’t see her. She was lost again. We had to go after her, but the beach just keet on going. She could be anywhere. I started crying. Dad said we will find her, so I toughened up and we kept looking for her. Half an hour later we found her, and she was looking for us.
We went back home and we relaxed.

By Illeyna

The day I lost my dog Ted

I went for a holiday to the West Coast. When I was going down to the beach to go fishing on the first day, we got lots of fish and our dog Ted had lots of fun.
The next day we went back to the same spot where we were fishing and it was a very foggy day. There were lots of birds on the beach and Ted chased them in the fog and he got lost.

We were looking around for Ted for ages, then we had a break and got some lunch. Mum was in the shop and mum saw Ted on the beach. Then we ran down to the beach and dad ran chased Ted along the beach, but dad could not get him.  Later when we were eating fish and chips for lunch, which is Ted's favourite food, Ted came up to me and I grabbed him and put him in the car and then we all went home.

We did not catch any fish but we caught Ted.

By Aiden

The day I lost my dog Chase

One-night Chase heard a cat, so he got of his bed and somehow, he got out of the house.

He looked around and there was the cat sitting on the fence meowing.   Chase ran to the cat, but the cat jumped off the fence.   Chase chased the cat until he lost him. But now Chase was lost.

Chase found a big pine tree and tried to sleep but he couldn’t go to sleep. Chase knew that he would try and find us in the morning, so he finally went to sleep.

In the morning we discovered Chase was missing. We were all worried about Chase. We went and looked for him, but we could not find him anywhere.

Chase woke up and tried to find us, but he couldn’t.   So, Chase started howling and we heard it and went to the big pine tree and Chase was sitting there howling for help.

I jumped out of the car and ran to Chase and gave him a big hug. We took him home and he was very hungry and tired. He ate his dinner and he jumped up on his bed and slowly fell to sleep

Now that’s why Chase has never left the house again.

By Ryan

To complement our mini-unit on Fractured Fairy Tales, 5/6B focussed on the design elements of fictional dragons.

Including choosing scale shape to add texture, we also explored how line thickness and colour gradient add depth.

Grade 3/4 have beem reading the book Blueback by Tim Winton.

Please enjoy our art work.

Abel Jackson has lived by the sea at Longboat Bay ever since he could remember. He helps his mother each day and loves to dive. One day he meets Blueback, the biggest and most beautiful fish he's ever seen.

When Abel's mother is approached by developers she decides she must do something to protect their fragile piece of coastline, but can Abel and his mother save Blueback and Longboat Bay in time?

An achingly beautiful story about family, belonging and living a life in tune with the environment, from one of Australia's best-loved authors.

St.Marys students travelled to Launceston on Thursday 29th July to participate in Round 1 of Winter Sports.

Netball

Div 2

St Marys (12)   Cressy (12)

Div 3

St Marys (9)      Kings Meadows (15)

Soccer (Div 2)

St Marys (13)    Campbell Town (0)

Football (Div 3)

St Marys (0)      Campbell Town (165)

Beautifying Our Environs

Three year 8 students with green thumbs got busy this week during Class Teacher time.  Maceo, Addison and Tori took cuttings and potted some plants to grow in an effort to bring some extra ‘life’ to our classroom. 

Class Agreements

Returning to Term 3 with a new class structure, the Year 8 students collaborated in formulating a new class agreement.  The agreement reflects our SMDS Values, ways of working and learning and promotes unity.

Puzzles and Models – Short Course

Friday afternoon - Short Courses are proving to be a real hit with secondary students this year.  As Round 2 draws to an end – one group’s patience and perseverance has been tested in ‘Models and Puzzles”.

School Banking

As coronavirus restrictions begin to ease across each state and territory, we have decided to restart the School Banking program from Term 3, 2020.

Our first banking day for Term 3 will be on Tuesday 21st July.

Treetop Savers rewards

Our School Banking program has exciting rewards to encourage children to practice good savings habits. This year, we've include some environmentally friendly and reusable rewards, plus others that encourage creativity, as well as indoor and outdoor play. Two released each term, available while stocks last.

Term 1

• Terry Denton's Activity Book
• Mini Soccer Ball (size 2)

Term 2

• Treetop Stationery Set
• Treetop Handball

Term 3

• Tomato Seed Kit
• Magic Mist Drink Bottle

Term 4

• Snakes & Ladders Game
• Emoji Wallet

COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS