Dear Parents and Caregivers,

NAIDOC celebrations are held around Australia each July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, who are honoured as the first Australians. Officially, this celebration is commemorated during the school holidays, but it was marked at Mary Immaculate on Monday during two beautiful liturgies. 

We were honoured and grateful to have some of the members of our school community - our parents and grandparents present to join with us for our celebration. 

In thanking our guests, I also thank the most important people in our school, our students because each of them represents the future of not only our country, but of our world. 

NAIDOC Week reminds all of us about the importance of culture. 

Culture is defined as the sum of the attitudes, customs, and beliefs that distinguish one group of people from another. Culture is transmitted from one generation to the next, through language, objects, rituals and art. As we gathered on Monday we were surrounded by the symbols of our faith, we also experienced many aspects of Indigenous culture that were incorporated throughout the liturgy. 

The culture of our indigenous people is of vital importance to our country, our local community and to our school. Mary Immaculate is a truly multicultural community and the heritage of each member is woven into the great tapestry that is created when the cultural heritage of each member of our community is woven together each day. 

Our hope for each of our students, is that the great gift of education that began with their parents and is continued here at Mary Immaculate, will support them to take your rightful place among all the many and varied cultures within our Australian society and in our world. 

We only have to watch the news each evening to know that our world is in dire need of unity and healing. We each have a responsibility to contribute to bring this about and it can start right here within our own school community. 

Our God has bestowed a great gift upon each of our students, the gift of their uniqueness. Hard work and persistence will give them the opportunity to refine and develop their abilities, their strengths and their weaknesses and to share the rich culture that each of them have inherited. The person each of them becomes will be the great gift they will return to God and those who love them.

In acknowledging our students, who took an active role during the liturgies we must also acknowledge the wonderful leadership and expertise of Mrs Grados in promoting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture within our school community and for supporting cultural leadership opportunities for our students. 

When you read this newsletter our Semester One Parent Teacher Conferences will be fully underway. These meetings comprise of two parts – the first an honest and open discussion of performance to date and the second a road map for improvement into the future. On many occasions the feedback provided from staff will point out issues or areas of improvement and as parents we may not like to hear this input. However, the true purpose of these meetings is to work together in order to frame the conditions for each student to more closely work towards reaching their maximum potential. This is done most effectively when we work together in partnership. The role of parents and educators can be likened to the role of coaches and cheerleaders as we can support, direct and celebrate successes. Ultimately, however, like the athlete, it must be the student who must do the practice and consistently implement the strategies and advice in order to continue to improve and succeed. The message that continues to resonate this week, is about striving to be the best we can be. When we do this we come closer to realising the great plan God has for each of us, of becoming the  ‘fully alive’ person we are called to be for ourselves and for the world. 

Wishing all our students, staff and families a wonderful vacation period, a chance to rest and recharge batteries in order to return for the beginning of an amazing and fulfilling Semester 2. 

NETBALL GALA DAY - Much gratitude is extended to Mrs Alford, Miss Earnshaw, Miss Price and Mr Astill who devoted much of their own time in preparing and organising our school participation in this event. Thank you to the parents who volunteered to act as managers / coaches and those who supported our teams by being spectators on the day. Most of all ‘thank you’ to our students who displayed great cooperation and sportsmanship and were fine representatives of Mary Immaculate.

SCHOOL UNIFORM - Thank you to our students who consistently exhibit pride in their school by the attention they pay to wearing the correct uniform each and every day. 

Long Hair should be tied up.  Hair should not draw attention.

Please ensure if when the need arises to purchase new school sport shoes that these are predominately white, as stated in our uniform requirements. If there are temporary difficulties in maintaining the commitment to the wearing of correct uniform please communicate this in writing to the class teacher.

Tina Murray

Principal

READING OVER THE HOLIDAYS

According to research, children are more likely to read for pleasure when this behaviour is modelled by the adults in their lives. This means it’s especially important for educators and parents to work together for the best outcomes. Over the holidays, families may have opportunities to spend more time together, so below I have included some ideas to encourage reading for pleasure.

Make Time to Read Aloud - Who doesn’t love a story and a snuggle! Neuroscience research confirms connections between narrative reading in childhood, memory creation and life-long feelings of wellbeing. Reading the same book again and again creates neural pathways that link to positive emotions we can return to throughout life.

Read All the Things - Stories are a wonderful opening to different worlds, but that’s not all there is – lots of children are drawn to non-fiction, and comics are awesome too! Recipe books, magazines and craft books offer a wealth of possibilities for developing literacy and life skills, all while having fun.

Give Kids Choices - Research shows children are more engaged, learn more and make more effort when they choose reading materials for themselves. This is true even for very young children and when minimal choice is involved, such as selecting their preferred book from two options.

Try Podcasts and Audiobooks - Going on a family holiday or a long drive? A family audiobook is the perfect solution to keep passengers happy and drivers alert during long car trips. On breaks or between trips, everyone will love talking about the story and predicting what will happen next.

Make It Social - There are lots of ways to share a love of books and reading. Visiting your local library and joining in with some of the activities they might offer over the holidays is a good way of encouraging reading and exploration in children. Even being responsible for returning books on time can teach some basics of responsibility.

LILLIAN DEL GIUDICE

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

ARRIVAL  - Students catching the bus from school to the carnival MUST be at school by 8:30am.  Please ensure you have paid $15.00 for the Bus.

Students can be dropped off at the carnival from 8:30 am. They need to have their names marked off on arrival by the following teachers: 

• Kindergarten - Mrs Nash
• Year 1  - Mrs Irwin
• Year 2 -  Mrs Wulf
• Year 3 -  Mrs McInerney 
• Year 4 -  Mrs Grados
• Year 5 -  Mrs Neilsen
• Year 6 -  Mr Edwards

CONCLUSION - Dismissal of students will occur after the last event of the day and will occur from the middle of the field. Students will line up in classes and parents will then be asked to come forward to collect their children.  

DRESS CODE and WHAT TO BRING  - Students are to wear sports uniform, including school hat. Students are able to wear a shirt in their house colour.

• Water bottle 
• Lunch 1 and Lunch 2 including fruit for Munch and Crunch

EVENTS - Students who have been selected for the 800m and HIgh Jump events will be informed tomorrow, and students need to be ready to compete at 8:30am. If your child does not receive a note about this then they are not competing in that event. Experience, age, being at the stadium at the time were taken into consideration when deciding these. 

Some field even trials have been conducted at school, and students in the competitive events will find out on the day. 

SPECTATORS - Spectators, including parents and carers are permitted to attend the event. All spectators entering the venue will need to check in using the Service NSW QR code (located at each entry) and adhere to the 4 Square Metre Rule between groups at all times. 

Spectators are NOT PERMITTED to enter the field at any time. Only parents / carers who have volunteered for the day will be allowed into the area. Spectators are encouraged to bring a fold up chair to sit around the outside as seating in the grandstand is for children only. 

MASK WEARING BY ALL ADULTS IS MANDATORY.

PARKING - As per the parking arrangements of previous years, there is to be no parking within the Stadium grounds. The car park off Pembroke Road will be available for use however, it is limited. Additional parking can be found off Airds Road in the commuter car park with access to the facility via the pedestrian footbridge.

Congratulations to all those students who have returned their books, well done. Hopefully many more books will come back this week, there are still quite a few students who have books at home. There are now 312 students  with overdue books – please look carefully under beds, behind desks and shelves, in secret spaces….

Tomorrow is Library day for Year One.

The first week back at school next term will be:

Tuesday 13 July -  Year 3

Wednesday 14 July – Year 5

Thursday 15 July – Year 2

Friday 16 July – Year 4

Premiers' Reading Challenge: We now have a few more students who have already completed the challenge, and quite a few who have logged in and registered their books read so far. There are EIGHT (8) weeks left to complete the challenge, so see how much you can do during the holidays.  Holidays are a great time to catch up with some extra reading, especially at this time of the year when it’s cold outside. 

https://products.schools.nsw.edu.au/prc/booklist/home.html

Remember Kinder – Year 2 must read 30 books, and Years 3 - 6 must read 20, with only 5 Personal Choice books allowed. If you are reading books from a series you can only count two towards your Challenge, any extra will be counted as Choice books, even if they are on the PRC list. We will login when we get back next term and register all the books that have been finished.

Enjoy the holidays, a great time to curl up with a book!!

The Premiers Reading Challenge aims to encourage a love of reading for leisure and pleasure in students, and to enable them to experience quality literature. It is not a competition but a challenge to each student to read, to read more and to read more widely.

Happy reading!

Mrs Susan Bryan

Teacher Librarian

Our school had the opportunity to take part in the Diocesan Western Region Netball Gala day on a fresh, windy but sunny day at Minto Netball Courts last Thursday. 

The day involved 97 teams (around 1000 students), over 320 games of netball, close to 80 secondary umpires, many team managers plus a healthy turn up of supporters for all the students playing. The Diocesan Gala Days are an opportunity to link the philosophy of student enjoyment of sport with an opportunity for students to try a new sport together with an emphasis on having fun and exercise without the pressure of competition and winning. These days are non-competitive, with no scores kept or finals played and a good balance to our more elite pathway events. 

The Mary Immaculate Parish Primary School Teams represented our school with a great show of sportsmanship. With varied experience levels in the 6 teams, it was great to see the team spirit shining through as the students helped coach and encourage their team mates to do their best. The confidence built across all teams throughout the day and all students had a great time practising their netball skills. One of the best examples of sportsmanship that was displayed on the day was the very energetic Jack (Senior Boys) who ran from his position in Goal Keeper to the other end of the court to high five his team mate, Ashton, to congratulate him on a great goal. Luckily the umpires didn’t see this rule breach and the team wasn’t penalised! Well done to all of the teams! A big thank you to all of the parent and grandparent volunteer coaches who were a great help on the day. Your support of the teams is greatly appreciated!