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Dear Parents and Carers,
A very warm welcome back for Term 2!
I hope that you enjoyed the blessings of Easter and were able to celebrate this special time within your families and parish communities.
Hopefully the holidays were a time to enjoy the company of family and friends and to bask in the beautiful weather. The Easter holidays are always an excellent opportunity for all of us to rest, relax and recharge our batteries in preparation for another extremely important term of learning at Mary Immaculate.
ANZAC Day each year goes beyond just the landing on Gallipoli in 1915. It is the day we remember all Australians who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations. The spirit of ANZAC, with its human qualities of courage, mateship, and sacrifice and resilience continues to have meaning and relevance for our national identity.
Yesterday, Mary Immaculate was well represented by approximately 50 students and their families who joined Mrs Simpson, Mr Edwards and myself to represent our school at the Campbelltown ANZAC Day March and Service. This annual celebration acknowledges our veterans, many of whom paid the ultimate sacrifice for us to enjoy the freedoms we have today. All our students were exemplary in their behaviour and very publicly and confidently demonstrated our important school value of respect. We are very grateful to all those who were able to represent our school at this important community event.
On our first day back for Term 2 all grades had the opportunity to gather to remember the sacrifices and courage of past and present service men and women who have served and died in many and varied conflicts.
Over the next few weeks Mrs Del and I will be involved in Kindergarten Enrolment interviews. Conducting these interviews, especially with parents who attend for the enrolment of their first child is a wonderful privilege. In our conversations with families one of the topics touched upon is the motivation behind choosing Mary Immaculate as the school for their child. In outlining the reasons behind their willingness to apply for enrolment at Mary Immaculate, the conversation often centres on the fundamental differences between the choice of a Catholic School, such as Mary Immaculate and other schools in the area. Our surrounding area is blessed with many quality schools. All strive to be places of quality learning and teaching, and all follow the common curriculum provided by NESA. We are alike in so many ways. The fundamental difference, however, is reflected in our Catholic identity. Our school actively promotes, teaches, and celebrates our Christian faith and our Catholic traditions. Supporting this identity must be a conscious choice that is made by parents seeking a Catholic education.
Catholic Schools enrol approximately 20% of Australian students and whilst we teach the same curriculum as our government colleagues, the primary difference is on our faith being central in all that we do. We proudly and willingly identify ourselves as Catholic and we strive to bring to life the gospel teachings of Jesus Christ in all that we do and say.
It is with hope and excitement that we commence this new school term together. A term where we can continue to work together through our words and actions, to provide a rich and nurturing environment where all our students can strive to be the best they can be. In doing this we hope to ultimately bring Christ’s presence into our corner of the world and bringing to life our school vision ~ enabling each person to Walk with Christ, inspiring lifelong learning, respect for others and service to all in the light of our school motto, Christ our Way and Life.
Mrs Tina Murray
Principal
WELCOME TO OUR NEW PRIESTS
During the holidays our parish community farewelled Fr Slawek and Fr Nadeem and welcomed Fr Leo and Fr Vasanthan.
As a School Community we wish Fr Leo and Fr Vasanthan every blessing as they take up their important leadership roles within our Parish and School Community.
P&F UPDATE
Unfortunately, we have been unable to fill all positions on the P&F Executive Committee.
As a result, this will mean that alternative options will need to be considered and the P&F will not be able to operate in the present context.
Please join us for this important meeting where the continuation of the P&F Association at Mary Immaculate will be decided.
The link below provides an opportunity to register to attend this meeting, and to add items to the meeting agenda.
https://forms.gle/U2Q1xhxZnWiis9eBA
All parents who have registered to attend will receive zoom details and additional documentation on the day of the meeting. Registration will close on Friday 28 April at 3:00 pm.
We warmly welcome back Mrs Mae after a period of extended leave. Mrs Mae will be taking on the Library PPT role vacated by Mrs Mammone at the end of last term.
We congratulate Mrs Mammone and her husband who welcomed their fourth daughter Isabelle, during the holiday period.
NSW K-2 English and Mathematics Syllabuses
As mentioned in previous newsletters, all schools in NSW are implementing the reformed NSW English and Mathematics K-2 syllabuses. These syllabuses highlight foundational literacy and numeracy skills. Please find below suggestions about what you can do as a parent or carer to support your child in Early Stage 1 and Stage 1 in the area of Mathematics.
Helping your Early Stage 1 child at home with Mathematics
Number and Algebra
Representing Whole Numbers
Representing whole numbers focuses on:
- how whole numbers show quantity
- reading and representing numerals to at least 20.
You can help your Kindergarten child at home by:
- helping them represent numbers from 0 to 10 with words, numerals and finger patterns. For example, the number 5 would be represented as ‘five’, 5 and
- using household items to represent numbers 0 to 20. For example, counting out 15 pegs, 9 pencils, 11 marbles or 5 lollies
- counting objects you see while you are out walking. For example, you might count how many dogs you see, fence palings or flowers on a plant
- counting backwards by ones when your child is confident counting forwards. Practise the ‘Rocket ship countdown 10–1 Blast-off’
- using dice in board games to identify the number pattern
- playing a game of Bingo with the numbers 1 to 20
- playing Snap with a deck of cards
- identifying numbers on coins or letterboxes.
Helping your Stage 1 child at home with Mathematics
Number and Algebra
Representing whole numbers
Representing whole numbers focuses on:
- understanding place value and two-digit and three-digit numbers
- representing numbers to 1000 and partitioning (splitting) numbers to record quantities.
You can help your Year 1 and Year 2 child at home by:
- counting the odd and even numbers on houses as you walk around your neighbourhood. Walk in the opposite direction and count them backwards
- counting numbers by ones up to 120 while skipping rope or throwing a ball to each other. Change the starting point of counting, for example beginning to count from 93
- counting backwards by ones from different starting numbers
- practising partitioning (or splitting) two-digit and three-digit numbers into smaller units. For example, 396 can be broken into 3 hundreds, 9 tens and 6 ones
- using a hundreds chart to practise counting on and off the decade. For example, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 …, 3, 13, 23, 33, 43, 53.
MRS LILLIAN DEL GIUDICE
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL
Welcome Back!!!!
We would like to extend a warm welcome to Father Leo who is our new parish priest. On Monday, Father Leo joined our staff for lunch so that we had the opportunity to welcome him to our Mary Immaculate family before he sets out for the parish pilgrimage next week.
SAVE THE DATE!
We would like to warmly invite all of the special women in our cihildrens lives to our special Mothers' Day Assembly. This year we will be holding two separate assemblies to celebrate.
Kindergarten will be hosting the Mothers' Day Assembly for K - 2 on 10 May at 1.45 pm.
Year 3 will be leading the Year 3 - 6 Assembly on 12 May at 1.45 pm.
We look forward to seeing you!
NEW CANTEEN
ON LINE REGISTERING AND ORDERING LINK
