Dear Parents/Guardians

Welcome back to Term 3!  I hope that students, parents and families enjoyed a relaxing and restorative break.  This term we have welcomed Mrs Kim Braslin to our teaching team and also Mr David Reid, who has taken on the EFA/Grounds role for the rest of this year. 

The first Monday of this term was a Professional Learning Day for staff.  These days are extremely valuable to schools as they provide an extended block of time for our staff to work together to learn, develop their skills and knowledge and to progress aspects of our School Improvement Plan.   Teachers participated in online professional learning about the newly updated Australian Curriculum and worked together to develop an ‘Effective teaching at St Marys District School’ statement of intent. I am excited to take the draft of this document to the next school association committee and then share it more broadly with our school community. We understand that these days can sometimes be challenging for families in arranging care and supervision of their children, so I thank you for your understanding and support of these valuable days.

This year’s book week theme is Dreaming with eyes open…

To celebrate book week, on Wednesday, 24^th August all students from Kinder to Year 12 are invited to dress up and wear a costume based around the theme Dreaming with eyes open or their favourite book character. I’m looking forward to seeing a wide range of  ‘characters’ at school and on parade on the day.

As you would be aware, COVID continues to be present in the community and we are continuing to implement COVID safe measures at St Marys District School.  This includes physical distancing where possible, fans, air purifiers and ventilation throughout the school, increased cleaning, regular hand washing/sanitising and mask wearing.  While mask wearing is no longer mandatory it is strongly encouraged.  Close contact rules have recently changed, with close contacts who feel well and have no symptoms, able to come on site (staff and students) providing they wear a mask and test negative each morning.  If any student is unwell, showing any cold, flu or COVID like symptoms then they must remain at home.  We certainly appreciate the way all members of our school community have been vigilant around this, accepting responsibility for their own health and ensuring the safety of others while on site.

Even with COVID and influenza in our community, it is still timely to be reminded that regular school attendance is critical.  We monitor attendance regularly and record it daily.  As has been stated, please keep your child home if unwell but if this is not the case then students should be at school each and every day to maximise their learning and to strengthen their connections with staff and students.  Being at school each day provides students with purpose and regular routine, and these in turn support wellbeing.  If you need any help or assistance in supporting your child/ren’s attendance at school please contact us through the office on 63723900.  Please remember to notify us if your child is absent from school for any reason.

Regards

Carolyn Watson

Principal

The year 8 Taster MDT group was tasked with designing and building a wooden toy on wheels. Here are some of the early results.

Last week we happily welcomed parents and community members back to our first face to face Primary Assembly for many months.   Student work and achievements were acknowledged during this time.  Thanks to Mr Gledhill for supporting our Grade 6 students to host the assembly. The discussions he had with students enabled them to be focussed, relaxed and supportive of each other before, during and after the event.

Well done to our Grade 6 students who demonstrated courage, by managing their nerves and hosting a wonderful celebration of student work.

On the last day of Term 2, Grade 5/6B experimented with marshmallows and skewers.

No, we didn’t sit around a fire and cook our marshmallows (maybe one day, though :-) ) .

What we did was: build 3D shape nets! Students had the choice to ether follow the instructions on the challenge cards or create their own 3D shape nets.  A few students got really motivated and built 3D models! Although marshmallows were not the strongest building material and the stickiness made it extra challenging, all students had a go at it and had fun!  

In 5/6 we have read the novel Two Wolves by Tristan Bancks. The book focusses on a fictional crime that has been committed by Ben Silver’s parents, Ray and April. They allegedly stole $7.2 million from the bank after it was accidentally transferred into their account. As part of our exploration of the novel, we took on the role of crime reporters and wrote newspaper articles, detailing the events that took place in the novel.

We developed our digital literacy skills by publishing these articles on a Microsoft Word document including elements that make up part of a front cover of a newspaper.   

During NAIDOC week we watched an interview with someone who described what it was like growing up during the 'Stolen Generation' period of Australia's history. We discussed how these stories made us feel and how the people involved may have felt. We then created some art peices to express these emotions. We used colour, line and imagery to convey these emotions. Some of the emotions we expressed through our art include: sadness, frustration and happiness. 

Yes, we have had a lot of rain lately!  I love listening to the sound of rain (particularly at night-time).  The sound of rain helps our brains relax and can create a peaceful frame of mind. It can be very calming and relaxing to draw your full attention to the natural sound of rain falling, unwind from the day, and then gently fall asleep. 

Listening to the sound of rain has been found to provide a range of benefits to your body too, including improving digestion, boosting the immune system, and reducing pain.  Researchers have also found that listening to the sound of rain influences brain activity and can help a person concentrate better and be more productive (particularly with mathematics).  It also stimulates creativity.

So next time it rains, think of all the benefits you can gain from just stopping for a moment and simply listening to the rain.

And for kids, there is always the bonus of muddy puddles to jump in afterwards!

Hannah Rubenach-Quinn

School Chaplain

PRIMARY

WHOLE SCHOOL