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 2023. Many 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
Monday 16th May was 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.

St Carthage's Family Night

As a community and as a school we have faced a lot of challenges and changes. Parent Assembly are providing an opportunity for St Carthage's school families to come together to share a meal and listen to a short presentation to help families learn ways to manage the 'Big Feelings' associated with changes and challenges. 

This will be a great opportunity for our school community to come together and enjoy some social time and share a meal.

As we are still limited for space the Family Night will be at held at Invercauld House on Wednesday 15th June from 5.30-7.30pm. Everyone is invited.

Please see the flyer and click on the link if you are able to attend.

Covid-19

We have a significant number of students with Covid-19. As we know this virus is very contagious and spreads quickly. We ask that you continue to monitor your child/children for symptoms and test as necessary. Please advise the school if the results are positive.

Close contacts may attend school but must have a negative RAT for 5 school days. We have a limited number of Rapid Antigen Tests for students. If you require these please contact the school. Visitors who are close contacts must advise the office staff and wear a mask when indoors.

We also have a couple of students who have been diagnosed with Influenza A.

If your child/children have cold and/or flu like symptoms they should not attend school. 

St Carthage's Learning Statement

Staff developed the following Learning Statement a couple of years ago and it is something that we remind our students of as they continue their learning journey. I thought it appropriate that we share this with our families so this message can be shared at home.

At St Carthage's we believe all students will learn with high expectations, focussed intervention and a collaborative culture.

NAPLAN

Congratulations to our Year 3 and Year 5 students who completed the National Assessment in Literacy and Numeracy over the past 2 weeks. 

We thank Mrs Deeps, our Year 3 and Year 5 teachers for ensuring the assessments went smoothly.

Professional Learning Days for Staff – (Pupil free days)

• Friday 1st July (Last day of Term 2)
• Monday 18th July Term 3 (First day of Term 3)
• Friday 23rd September (Last day of Term 3)

Flood Updates

We are slowly returning to our regular classrooms. Our Year One and Year Two students should be able to move back into their rooms in the next couple of weeks. There is work progressing in our hall and administration areas.

We are hopeful that when our bottom playground is dry enough to mow we will be able to use this again. We are grateful for the work that is continuing to happen to get our school operating as normal. We thank our students, staff and families for your patience and flexibility at this time.

There is work also in the Cathedral and the hope is that it will be operational again in September.

Please click on the link to see some photos of our school during and immediately proceeding the flood.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1P4cQnphOjqTSc1dx1O1zSP-AZJDTQYOvw1ZeilUyEcA/edit#slide=id.g12c3422fed9_1_113

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.

School Reports and Interviews – advance notice

School Reports will be emailed out on Friday 24th June (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. 

School Improvement Review
Our school will undergo a School Improvement Review early next term. All Lismore Diocesan Schools undergo this process every three years. School improvement is a continuous process, centred on maximising outcomes for all students, and sustaining this improvement over time. 

School improvement;

• is not an event that happens every few years, it is regular and ongoing
• involves all stakeholders; students, staff, parents, the community.
• is about looking forward not back.
• is driven by data and research.

The ultimate purpose of the School Review is to improve the learning and wellbeing outcomes for all students.

The School Review uses the National School Improvement Tool (NSIT) and looks at the following 9 Domains:

1. An explicit improvement agenda
2. Analysis and discussion of data
3. A culture that promotes learning
4. A targeted use of school resources
5. An expert teaching team
6. Systematic curriculum delivery
7. Differentiated teaching and learning
8. Effective pedagogical practice
9. School-community partnerships

More information to follow.

NAPLAN

Congratulations to all our Year 3 and Year 5 students who have now completed their NAPLAN tests. They all did us proud in the way they approached all the tests and tried their best. 

Thank you to our Year 3 and Year 5 teachers who ensured that the tests ran smoothly throughout the last two weeks.

School Uniforms

We have been made aware that our school uniforms are now available for purchase at Lowes in Ballina Fair Shopping Centre. We also still have a number of second hand uniforms available at school from the Clothing Pool. The Clothing Pool is open between 10:00am – 12:00pm Wednesday & Thursday. 

Whole School Writing Focus

In 2022, Writing has continued to be a focus for staff professional learning. This year we have started to explore Lyn Sharratt's Assessment Waterfall Chart which incorporates five components of effective assessment practice. Although the components of this chart will be used across all curriculum areas, our learning is specifically focused on building students who are 'Assessment Capable Learners' when writing. 

What is an Assessment Capable Learner?

Five Components of the Assessment Waterfall Chart

• Establishing learning intentions that are drawn from the relevant syllabus and clearly describe what students should know, understand and be able to do at the conclusion of a unit of work
• Creating success criteria that describe what success looks like in relation to the learning intentions and are co-created by students and teachers
• Providing explicit descriptive feedback to students in a timely manner and ensuring that it is clearly understood by students
• Building the capacity of students to peer assess and self-assess using the success criteria as a reference
• Developing the capacity for individual goal-setting by students, which includes students asking questions such as ‘What do I need to improve?’ and ‘What is my next step?’.

Five Powerful Questions

To support students through this process, five questions can be asked to help gauge students understanding about what they are learning, how they are going and how they can improve.