Term 3 | Week 9 Newsletter

Key Information

• Wednesday 8th September - Bush Dance Evening from 6pm
• Friday 17th September - Last Day Term 3
• Tuesday 5th October - First Day Term 4
• Friday 8th October - Special Half Day Holiday - School ends 12pm

Tuckshop Menu:

Uniform Shop

As advertised, all uniform items with the old logo are being sold at 50% off normal price. There are limited sizes as shown. If ordering online your discount will be applied when you collect your order from the Uniform Shop or office.

Uniform Shop Days:
Wednesdays & Thursdays: 810-830am
Any requests for uniforms outside these days MUST be done via the link below. 

Homework Club

Homework Club is every Thursday from 3-4pm in the MacKillop Room for Years 5-9.

Bush Dance Evening

Come and enjoy a night of bush dancing in the Mary MacKillop Shed on Wednesday 9th September from 6pm.

Students will bring home an order form for Steak burgers and Sausage on Bread, please return by Monday 6th September. You can pay at the office or pay on the night.

Principal News

Welcome to Week 9, 

Thank you to the family members that joined us at our Learning Breakfast last Thursday morning, followed by our weekly assembly. It was a fantastic time for us to come together (in the rain) and celebrate the achievements of our students. They loved showing you through their classroom and showcasing what they have been working on. Please note that you are welcome to pop into your child’s classroom at any stage - please just contact the classroom teacher to arrange a date and time.

National Child Protection Week

We have a busy week planned as we celebrate National Child Protection Week, which goes from the 5th to the 11th of September. The theme this year is that every child, in every community, needs a fair go. The protection of children is everybody’s business. It is important that we are all working together to support children to thrive and be safe and secure in their environment(s). It is vital that we are always listening to the voices of children in our communities and informing them of how they can speak out and seek assistance if they are feeling unsafe. 

The following link will take you to a video from The Hon Leanne Linard, Minister for Children and Youth Justice. It emphasises the importance of Child Protection and outlines the steps that The Queensland Government are taking to ensure this:

I encourage you to spend some time with your children this week talking about Child Protection, to do so I have pasted a link to some worksheets that you can use as a guide for these discussions:  
https://www.napcan.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Childrens-Voices-Activity-2018.pdf

The eSafety Commissioner have also scheduled free webinars for parents and carers. The live webinars explore the latest research on how you can teach your child to develop skills to be safer online. All of the sessions are delivered by eSafety experts from the Education and Training Team: https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/webinars

R U OK? Day 
R U OK? Day will be celebrated on Thursday the 9th of September 2021. At our P&F meeting yesterday afternoon I spoke to our community about reaching out to someone on Thursday to check in on them, remembering that a conversation can change a life!  

R U OK? Day is to inspire and empower everyone across Australia to meaningfully connect with the people around them and start a conversation with those in their world who may be struggling.

Use these four steps and have a conversation that could change a life:

1. Ask R U OK?
2. Listen
3. Encourage action
4. Check in

If you would like more information including webinars and latest news jump onto ruok.org.au

Royal Flying Doctors Service 

There have been a number of families in our community that have accessed The Royal Flying Doctors Service this year. As a schooling community we focus on the work of Mary MacKillop and the importance of “never seeing a need without doing something about it”. In reflection of this we would love to engage our community to support The RFDS by wearing blue next Friday the 17th of September. We ask all students to bring a gold coin donation which will be donated to The Royal Flying Doctors Service.

School Improvement 

We have had a very exciting week - our personalised pads have arrived for our goal posts in the Mary MacKillop Shed! We have also had our sand arrive, as well as our classroom furniture for Prep and Year 1.

I look forward to joining with you all at our bush dance this Wednesday the 8th of September at 6pm! 

God Bless,
Samantha Kelley 
Principal

APRE News

Yesterday in our school liturgy we celebrated the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We honoured Mary as the mother of Jesus who carried him and cared for him during his life. Mary showed many great qualities in the way she lived her life. We too, can be inspired by Mary’s life so that we may become faithful and true followers of Jesus.

The Catholic Church celebrates the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary on its traditional fixed date of September 8, nine months after the December 8 celebration of her Immaculate Conception as the child of Saints Joachim and Anne.

The circumstances of the Virgin Mary's infancy and early life are not directly recorded in the Bible, but other documents and traditions describing the circumstances of her birth are cited by some of the earliest Christian writers from the first centuries of the Church.

Gospel Reading

Mark 8:27-35

Peter declares that Jesus is the Christ, and Jesus teaches that those who would follow him must take up his or her cross

Peter had expectations about what it meant to call Jesus the Messiah, the Christ. Jesus was indeed the Messiah, but his life and death would show a different understanding of what it means to be the Messiah. We, too, have expectations of God and our own ideas about what we think God ought to be doing in our world. Like Peter, however, we may risk limiting our image of God by thinking only in human ways. God's plan is always more that we can ever imagine.

As you gather as a family, talk about what we expect God to be doing in our world and in our family life. Then read today's Gospel, Mark 8:31-35. Why do you think Peter was so upset by what Jesus was saying? Notice how Jesus reprimands Peter. Do we sometimes forget to let God be God for us? That is, do we sometimes get discouraged because God doesn't act in our world in the ways that we expect? Pray together that we will remember that God is always working for the world's salvation in ways that are beyond our imagination. Conclude by praying together today's psalm, Psalm 116.

Casual Staff for MMCNQ Centres - Mount Isa

We are currently recruiting for casual staff to work in either our early learning centre, Kindergarten or out of school hours care services. Be supported by experienced early childhood teachers and educators, gain practical work experience and work in a fun and active work environment. 

Interested in finding out more about our casual work opportunities in Mt Isa?
Contact our Area Coordinator, Nadia Russo on 0429 918 722

House of Prayer (Townsville) 40th Birthday Celebrations

The House of Prayer and Spirituality is turning 40 and you're invited!

Friday 17th September Drinks and Nibbles followed by the launch of the Commemorative Journal from 5:30pm.

Saturday 18th September Community Eucharist 9:00am

Sunday 19th September Celebration Liturgy followed by lunch from 10.30am

To find out more or to RSVP, contact us by email: houseofprayer@tsv.catholic.org.au or phone: 4728 9661

May God bless you and your family this week,
Shadley Davids

Pastoral Care

Child Protection Week

‘Protecting Children is Everybody’s Business’

Child Protection Week focuses attention on child protection being everyone’s business and ensuring that all across Queensland communities take responsibility for children being protected and experiencing well-being.

The key messages this Child Protection Week:

• Child protection is everyone’s business. The responsibility lies with adults in keeping children safe from harm. All members of society need to play a part in ensuring children are nurtured and safe.
• Adults are essential in ensuring children’s safety and well-being.
• Listening to children and young people is the number 1 indicator in assisting their safety and well-being.
• Children and young people are honest. They are unlikely to lie about abuse. They are more likely to stay quiet about abuse or harm than to speak up (especially if they know their abuser).
• Being ignored, going hungry and feeling and/or being treated as invisible harms children and young people.
• Not having health, educational and other developmental needs met harms children and young people.
• Being forced into situations that feel unsafe harms children and young people.
• Not being heard when they speak about abuse or trauma harms children and young people.
• Caring for children and keeping them safe is a shared responsibility.

In classes this week, we will be completing activities related to child safety and mental health from organisations such as R U Ok and Bravehearts.  

We have three nominated Safe Persons who complete training and receive regular updates on technology, initiatives and legislation in relation to child safety and protection.  These people are Mrs Kelley, Mr Murray and Mrs Schneekloth.

Self-Care September
Self-care isn't selfish, it's essential. No-one's perfect. But so often we compare our insides to other people's outsides. This month Action for Happiness is encouraging everyone to be kinder to themselves (as well as others), especially when things go wrong. Self-care increases our resilience and helps us get more out of life. It also helps us accept others as they are too. Here are some ways to practice self-care each day in September - enjoy!

Prep

Good afternoon,

I hope that everyone that was unwell last week is feeling better!

Only two weeks to go until holidays and a lot of assessment to get through. Last week we completed our treasure map HASS assessment task with the students who were at school. The Preps loved hiding "lolly treasure" and marking this on their map for their partner to find! We will try to catch everyone else up with this assessment this week. For our Science assessment we will be interviewing students about the results of our sunscreen experiment and how this might affect our choices when going out in the sun. I will continue to carry out initial lit testing to see where students are at with remembering "tricky words" and blending sounds to read and write words. Our bush dance is on Wednesday evening. It would be great if you could come along. Each class has a dance to perform and then parents will be invited to join in. 

Monday: Home Readers to go home
Tuesday: Sport
Wednesday: Library and Bushdance 
Friday: Home readers back. There will be none sent home in Week 10.

Mrs McLauchlan

Year 1

Hello and welcome to Week 9!

This week we are in full swing, completing our assessment tasks. Here is a snapshot of our week ahead;

In Religion we are finishing our unit on Jesus’ missions and ministries.

In Science we are completing our second experiment on properties of materials. In Math we are finishing our unit on 2D shapes and are beginning to start our next mini unit on Directions, using Beebots. 

In English we are working on our Media Arts slideshow focussing on the character the Rainbow Serpent.

Reminders:
Sport: Tuesday
Library: Thursday 
Show and Share: There will be no show and share for the next two weeks.

Wednesday night we have the bush dance. Come along to watch Year 1 complete the Gumnut Dance.

Have a great week,
Miss Brock and the always fun Year 1’s

Year 2

Welcome to Week 9! 

No homework this week!

We are also learning about:
Tricky words: remember, other, another
English: Persuasive texts
Maths: Counting to 1000

We are looking forward to seeing our loved ones at our bush dance on Wednesday night!

Reminder:
Wednesday is PE day
Thursday is Library day

Have a great week,
Miss Ansell

Year 3

Hi everyone!  

Welcome to the last two weeks of term 3.

The learning highlights for Year 3 this week are:

• In English we will finish writing our book review and share the finished draft with a partner. Students will consider their partner's viewpoint and respond appropriately by giving feedback on their review.  
• In Maths we will start our new unit on chance and data. Students will conduct chance experiments and list possible outcomes as well as conduct simple data investigations for categorical variables. 

Homework and home readers were sent out on Monday. Please let me know if you haven’t received these. 

Reminders:
Library: Wednesday 
PE: Thursday 
Bush dance is on this Wednesday evening

Have a great week ahead,
Miss Coombs

Year 4

Hi Everyone,

We are well into our assessments of this term’s learning and students are working well to complete these. 

Health- This term we have been concentrating on healthy eating and the food groups. Our cooking sessions have been a great success and the students have demonstrated real pride when they have used the vegetables we have grown to make our dishes. 

As a conclusion to the unit the students will be cooking a luncheon for themselves and any parents who would like to join us. They will be planning a menu as part of their Health assessment this week, then we will be preparing the food next Thursday, 16th September. Our luncheon will be held at 11am in the Home Economics Room and we would love for you to join us. Could you please let your child know if you are able to make it so that we will make sure we have enough food.

Science- Tomorrow is our big excursion to the dam and Cloncurry Unearthed. Hopefully the weather will stay cool for us. Could you please ensure their lunch has an ice pack or food that doesn’t require cooling, as we will have no room for eskies by the time we fit our students in the cars. I will be taking extra water for them to refill their water bottles.

Have a wonderful week!
Lesley Wall

Year 5

Welcome to Week 9!

Over the next two weeks students will be working hard to get through their remaining assessment pieces. 

I have been so impressed with the hard work being put in by every single student. 

This week we will be focusing on:

ENGLISH: we are working on our drafts and eventually our final written pieces for our personal response to the poem Uluru by Eva Johnson.

MATHS: this week we will smash out our budget assessment and begin looking at term 4 units next week to get a head start!

DESIGN: students will begin creating the recipe for one chosen menu item. 

Have a great week!! 
Miss Campbell

Year 6

Welcome to Week 9!

This week’s learning focuses are:

Religion: Students will display their learning of Passover, the Last Supper and Eucharist in the form of a poster. 
English: We will be writing our scripts/informative texts about federation before making the video presentations.  
Maths: This week, we have begun our Measurement and Geometry unit. Students will be learning about calculating area, volume and capacity. 
HaSS: Students will be structuring their learning about the road to federation into appropriate body paragraphs and making a timeline of events. 
Science: Students will be completing the final parts of their scientific report and completing their research task. 
Health: Upon the completion of our flood-resilient houses, we will begin looking at the transition into high school. 

Have a great week ahead!
Mr. Delaney and the Year 6 legends

Subject Spotlight - HPE & Health

Mr Murray - Yr 7 & 8 HPE
In Year 7 and 8 Health, students have been studying a unit entitled ‘Changes in Me’. This unit covered content aligned with the Australian Curriculum, including the range of physical, emotional, social and intellectual changes that occur during adolescence and how they impact on identity. Students explored the development of self-values and beliefs and address increases in adult expectations as they transition towards Independence.

In Physical Education, students have been apply personal and social skills to establish and maintain respectful relationships that promote fair play and inclusivity. They participate in a variety of modified Netball Games. They apply and refine movement concepts and strategies to suit different movement situations in the games.

Mr Murray - Year 9 PE
In Year 9, students have been engaging in Golf and Touch. Students have developed critiquing skills and been taking on feedback from staff, peers and reviewing their own footage to adjust. The students have excelled in this area of being able to identify keys areas of improvement that are required.

Student Awards - Week 8

Congratulations to our Students who received awards for Week 8!

School Band

Students from Years 3-9 are invited to join our school band. Our first practice will be this Friday during first lunch. No skill is required!

Casual Employment Opportunties

We are seeking casual School Officers and qualified Teachers to cover sick and leave days.
For more information please contact our office.
Teaching staff will need to apply here > https://tceo-portal.applynow.net.au/jobs/TCE679-supply-teacher-registration-2021

Community Notices

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