Week 4 Term 2 2021
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From Our Principal Mrs Janelle Heffernan
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From Our Assistant Principal Learning & Teaching - Mrs Amanda Deeps
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From Our Acting Assistant Principal Mission - Mr Brendan Tickle
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From Our Leader of Pedagogy Mrs Abbie Matthews
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From Our Acting Leader of Sport - Mr Luke Collings
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General School News
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Noticeboard
Aboriginal Acknowledgement
We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We commit ourselves to actively working alongside Aboriginal people for reconciliation and justice.
Dear Families,
I have recently had both the privilege and pleasure of meeting some of our new Kindergarten students and their families for 2022. The majority of them are new to our school community and when asked why they have chosen St Carthage’s for their child/children they have unanimously said that they have heard great things about the school. Word of mouth is our best advertisement and it is affirming to hear that our parents are speaking so highly of our school to others and I thank you for continuing to support St Carthage’s.
St Carthage's Feast Day
Today is the Feast of St Carthage. St Carthage is the Patron Saint of our parish and our school. Bishop Doyle and the Presentation Sisters who established our school 135 years ago decided that the Cathedral School of our Lismore Diocese should be named St Carthage‘s in honour of a great Saint who was an inspirational leader and a great teacher. St Carthage, whose name is also given as Mochuda, was born of a good family, in what is now County Kerry, Ireland, about the year 555. Mochuda’s father was an important man in the village so he was given everything that he wanted or needed. When he was young, a group of priests were walking through his village singing songs of praise and he was so fascinated that he followed them to the monastery gates. A while later he decided to join this group of priests and was ordained as a priest in 580 when he was thirty years old. Mochuda was very close
to his head priest and took his name, Carthage. Later on young Carthage founded a monastery for young priests and he lived there for forty years. Carthage was an inspirational church leader who set up a monastery that attracted 1000 young men to the priesthood. He set up a school that produced many excellent scholars and the school became famous around the country for encouraging a love of learning.
Later in life, Carthage was consecrated Bishop of Lismore, Ireland. He died on May, 14th 637. After his death the church and school were named St Carthage’s in his honour.
We will celebrate St Carthage in October on Foundation Day.
Mothers’ Day Breakfast
Thank you to the many mums who came along and shared the Mothers’ Day breakfast with us. It is always a great event and it is an opportunity for us as a staff, to say thank you to our mums and significant mother figures of our students. We were blessed with a beautiful sunny morning and it was lovely to see families socialising together outside the school hall. Please see our Facebook page and Class Dojo for photos. I have included a couple of emails I received after the breakfast;
A very big thank you to the amazing staff at St Carthage's for the wonderful Mother’s Day Breakfast this morning. There was so much effort and time put into it and it is greatly appreciated!! It was such a lovely morning.
I hope you enjoyed your Mother’s Day gifts which were put together by the Friends of Carmel. This organisation takes great delight in supplying them to us.
NAPLAN
Congratulations to our Year 3 and Year 5 students who completed the National Assessment in Literacy and Numeracy this week. The NAPLAN test period remains open for another week to catch up students who were away.
We thank Mrs Deeps, our Year 3 and Year 5 teachers and Mrs Matthews for ensuring the assessments went smoothly.
School Protocol
There are times when issues may occur at school, both in and out of the classroom, which may need clarification for parents/carers. It is important that concerns related to school are directed back to the teacher or the Leadership Team. If your child goes home and tells you of an incident that you are concerned about please follow our school protocols of ringing the Office to make an interview time to talk about your concerns. Under no circumstances are parents permitted to approach a student to gain information or deal with such issues.
I appreciate your understanding and support in dealing with these matters according to school procedure.
Year Two Whole School Assembly
Year Two teachers and students have been preparing our assembly for next Friday, 21st May. The assembly will start at 2.20pm and families are very welcome to join us.
New Stage Three Toilet Block
Our new Stage Three toilet block is almost complete. The students should be using them by the end of next week. We are very grateful to the Catholic Schools Office for providing a grant for us to undertake these works.
School Reports and Interviews – advance notice
School Reports will be sent home in Week 9 and interviews with teachers will be held in Week 10. We will again be using the online booking format for Parent/Teacher interviews and more information will be sent home with the Event Code and a reminder on how to book these interviews electronically as the time draws closer.
International Competitions and Assessments for School (ICAS)
St Carthage's Primary School will be giving the opportunity students in Years 3-6 to participate in the ICAS AssessmentsTM again this year.
ICAS is designed to target students’ higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills in English, Mathematics, Science, Writing, Spelling Bee and Digital Technologies.
ICAS Assessments are now online, a move that reflects a sector-wide transition to online assessments. This allows greater accessibility for students and faster delivery of results.
Learn more about ICAS here: https://www.icasassessments.com/products-icas
Our school has signed up for the ICAS Assessments parent payment system (PPS) for all tests. Through this system parents can pay for ICAS directly online while tests will still be held at our school. Please use the following details to register your child no later than 24th June 2021. Also, complete and return the accompanying permission slip to school by the 24th June 2021.
Access details for parents
School access code is: | LJG449 |
Parent page link is: | https://shop.icasassessments.com/pages/pps |
Dates and Prices
ICAS Test | Sitting Dates | Cost (includes GST) |
Writing | 9th August to 13th August 2021 | $21.45 |
Digital Technologies | 9th August to 13th August 2021 | $17.05 |
English | 16th August to 20th August 2021 | $17.05 |
Science | 23rd August to 27th August 2021 | $17.05 |
Spelling Bee | 23rd August to 27th August 2021 | $17.05 |
Mathematics | 30th August to 3rd September 2021 | $17.05 |
If you have any questions with regards to the ICAS assessments please contact me.
Baptism
Congratulations to Fallon Young, Ashton Yates, Callum Yates, Jack Collins-Bray and Harry Collins-Bray. On behalf of the St Carthage's Parish Community we welcome you into the Catholic faith and look forward to supporting you through your journey as you complete your sacramental program at St Carthage's Primary School.
Confirmation
If your child is receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation this year, you are invited to a parent information night on Thursday 20th May. This will commence at 6:00pm and go for approximately 45 minutes. Thank you for supporting your child on their faith journey. We look forward to seeing you next Thursday.
Proclaim Staff
Thank you for making arrangements for your child last Wednesday. This allowed our school staff to engage in purposeful prayer and listen to key note speakers who addressed the topic of Faith in the future. Staff then explore the future directions for our school in light of these speakers. Our school explore the Foundational Values of Tradition, Worship, Evangelisation, Witness, Community and Service. We look forward to sharing our goals with you in the future.
St Carthage's Feast Day
St. Carthage, whose name is also given as Mochuda, was born of a good family, in what is now County Kerry, Ireland about the year 555. He spent his youth as a swineherd near Castlemaine, and became a monk in a neighbouring monastery under the guidance of St. Carthage the Elder, subsequently receiving priest's orders. In 580 he determined to lead a hermit's life, and he built a cell at Kiltallagh, where his fame soon attracted pilgrims. After a few years the jealousy of two neighbouring bishops forced him to quit his hermitage, and he proceeded on a visit to Bangor, where he spent a year. On the advice of St Comgall he returned to Kerry and founded churches at Kilcarragh and Kilfeighney. He then visited Waterford, Clonfert-molua (Kyle), and Lynally, whence, on the recommendation of St. Colman Elo, he settled at Rahan, near Tullamore, in the present King's County.
St. Carthage founded his monastery of Rahan about 590, and soon had hundred of disciples. He was consecrated Abbot-Bishop of the Fercal district, and composed a rule for his monks, an Irish metrical poem of 580 lines, divided into nine separate sections -- one of the most interesting literary relics of the early Irish Church. Numerous miracles are also recorded to him. At length, Blathmaic, a Meathian prince, instigated by the neighbouring monks, ordered St. Carthage to leave Rahan. This expulsion of the saint and eight hundred of his community took place at Eastertide of the year 635. Journeying by Saigher, Roscrea, Cashel, and Ardfinnan, St. Carthage at length came to the banks of the River Blackwater, where he was given a foundation by the Prince of the Decies, and thus sprang up the episcopal city of Lios-mor, or Lismore, County Waterford.
Great as was the fame of Rahan, it was completely eclipsed by that of Lisemore, although St. Carthage lived less than two years at his new foundation. He spent the last eighteen months of his life in contemplation and prayer, in a cave near the present St. Carthage's Well. When at the point of death, he summoned his monks and gave them his farewell exhortation and blessing. Fortified by the Body of Christ he died on the 14th of May, 637, on which day his feast is celebrated as first Bishop and Patron of Lismore. (Ireland). Short as was St. Carthage's stay in Lismore, he left an ineffaceable impress of his labours in a famous abbey, cathedral and infant university, but more so in the shining example of an austere and blameless life. Purity was his transcendent virtue, and to guard it he practised the severest penances.
St Carthage Parish Prayer
Heavenly Father and God of Mercy,
You have given us St. Carthage to proclaim the riches of Christ.
By the help of his prayers may our Cathedral Parish grow in knowledge of you, be eager to do good, and learn to walk before you by living the truth of the gospel.
May we walk in the footsteps of the Good Shepherd keeping before us the example of St Carthage.
Educate us to a maturity not measured by nature, but by the fullness of Christ With the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
We offer this prayer through Christ our Lord.
Amen
Sound Waves Spelling
The focus sound for the following two weeks are:
Spotlight on ....... Year One!
Writing
Year One students have been working hard on becoming better writers. This term they have started using 'Bump-it-up' walls which is a visual scaffold with connected writing criteria. This scaffold allows students to improve their writing by comparing it to exemplars.
The purpose of Bump-It-Up walls is to show students that through self-assessment
- learning is iterative - it gets better with feedback and successive attempts
- improvement is possible
- writing can also get better
- students look for ways to improve and never settle for the first attempt.
In a short time, students have been referring to this scaffold and have been extremely keen to become better writers.
This term, Year One have been exploring both fiction and non-fiction texts where they have been learning about the similarities and differences between the two.
Below are some examples of some non-fiction writing about wolves:
Science & Technology
One of the experiments they conducted was, 'Rain and Cloud in a Jar'. This experiment allowed students to explore how rain falls from the sky.
What did you learn from this experiment?
'Sun makes the water hot and the cloud rises when water gets heavy'
'The warm and cold air sticks together and makes clouds'
'The rain falls down as rain or ice'
'Clouds are made from condensation'
What did you enjoy about doing this experiment?
'I liked pretending that the shaving cream was the cloud and the food colouring was the rain'
'I liked watching the food colouring go through the cloud to the bottom'
'I liked making the water different colours'
Upcoming Dates
Diocesan Cross Country (Grafton) - Wednesday, 26th of May
St Carthage’s Athletics Carnival - NEW DATE: Thursday, 27th of May (see details below)
Richmond Zone Athletics Carnival - Wednesday, 21st of July
1500m - Lunch times during Week 6 (further details below)
Achievements
Congratulations to rugby union players Nate Collins, Jonah Hudson-Sheaffe who have been selected to represent the Lismore Diocese at the Polding trials in Forbes. All the best boys!
Zone Cross Country
Last Friday St Carthage’s sent a strong and enthusiastic team of middle distance runners to the Zone Cross Country Carnival at the Lismore Turf Club. Our school can be very proud of the manner in which they represented us through their sportsmanship, effort and competitiveness. Out of the 9 schools in our zone, we achieved very well to finish 3rd overall. Congratulations to Arche Sauer, Luella Harris-Kerr, Sammie Jones, Amirah Shah, Zara Hellyar, James Cittolin, Bryce Roberts, Elissa Hills and Layla Macfarlane who will represent Richmond Zone at diocesan level in Grafton later this month.
Athletics Carnival: NEW DATE
As mentioned in the last newsletter. Through an unfortunate double booking that was no fault of our own, our athletics carnival that was set down for Friday 21st of May, has had to be moved to Thursday 27th of May. We apologise for this change but hope that the notice given will allow for as many spectators to attend as possible. The carnival will be held at Riverview Park as in the past.
Students have been participating in long jump and shot put over the last couple of weeks. The results of these are close to being finalised and students who have placed and/or qualified for zone in these events will be informed soon.
Relay teams for Stage 2 and 3 are also being formed in the lead up to the carnival. In our sport times we are holding trials to find the fastest 4 students in each house over 100m. There will be a boy and girl team for each house in the Stage 2 (Year 3 & 4) and Stage 3 (Year 5 & 6).
A note with more details regarding the Athletics Carnival will be sent home early in Week 5.
800m
Today we held our 800m event on our oval. It was terrific to see our talented middle distance runners excelling. It was equally as pleasing to see all students doing their best to achieve well in their respective races. Below are some photos of our podium finishers from today. To advance to zone level in the 800m , students need to finish in the top 2 times for their division. The divisions at zone level are;
8, 9, 10 year olds
11 year olds
12/13 year olds
Students who have successfully progressed will be informed ASAP.
Week 4 Sporting Reflection
Kids, not sure who Jesse Owens is? Look him up. It’s quite a story.
Brendan Tickle - St Carthage's Primary School
Phone: 0266215529
brendan.tickle@lism.catholic.edu.au
Louis Bailey Elijah Hogan Ella Davey Amelie Lundie Henry Davis Lucia Leedham Savannah McPherson Cooper Green Hamish Peters Anthony Sims |
William Armstrong Samuel Conlan Tyler McLennan Finn Boxsell Jared O'Brien Zack O'Driscoll-Wilson Andreas Pereira Willis Rielly Brody Johnson Zack Connolly |
Adrain Brickhill Jak Scofield Lacey Simpson Erin Byrne Noah Watt Manny Woods Dylan Walters Mrs Jenny Allen Mrs Tina Shea |