Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Our school year has certainly commenced with a great deal of energy and positivity. A real sense of promise and hope is present in our playgrounds and classrooms and this hope and promise is never more evident than through the engagement of our newest community members, our 2020 Kindergarten students. We especially welcome all our new Kindergarten students and their families, as they officially commence ‘big school’ this week. Coincidently the presentation of our newest students, resembles the gospel focus last weekend, when we heard the account of Jesus’ presentation in the temple. His parents, Mary and Joseph honoured the centuries-old tradition of bringing their first-born male child to Jerusalem to dedicate him to God. In a similar way, as parents we are the first educators of our children and in choosing to enrol our children in a Catholic school, we are intentionally choosing to seek the support of the Parish and School Community to fulfil our desire to pass on the great gift of faith to our children.

Our community is truly blessed by the presence and contributions of each member, both those returning, as well as, those starting afresh. We look forward to getting to know all the new members of our community as we begin our 2020 journey of growth in faith and learning together at Mary Immaculate. 

At the beginning of the school year we come together with many ambitions, hopes and dreams for ourselves and for our children for the year ahead. However, the reality is that we must also accept that we will be faced with disappointments and upsets along the way. In accepting this fact, it is my great hope that if difficulties do arise there is an understanding that the resources of our school community are always available to support finding a way forward.

As we begin this year, we should do so with alertness for the promptings of the Holy Spirit in our lives and be confident that this year will bring many opportunities to bring to fruition God’s great planhe  has for each of us and for our community.

Tina Murray

Principal

 SET YOURSELF UP FOR A GREAT YEAR

This is a very exciting time of year for most students – meeting new friends and teachers, and reconnecting with old ones. Learning how to navigate the new class routines is likely to be the primary focus of interest for the first couple of weeks. As in any time of change and transition, this period, can be both exciting but also a little stressful. This can be true for both returning families, as well as those who are brand new to the Mary Immaculate Community.

Students who are starting school for the first time or moving to a new school have the biggest adjustment, but even moving up a year means coping with a new teacher, more academic demands and a changing social circle. At the beginning of the school year much time is spent getting to know the students. Teachers help their students to understand and manage school routines, to organise their items and orient themselves comfortably in the classroom and playground. We work extensively on extending friendships and building relationships, both in our grades and across all year levels and indeed the whole school.

I recently read an interesting article "Set Yourself Up For a Great Year" written by Andrew Fuller (www.andrewfuller.com.au). In the article he provided interesting ideas focused upon ways to maximise opportunities for success. I have included four below from the twelve suggested in the article.

I hope you find them helpful:

Build positive relationships with everyone you know.

Parents, teachers, friends, everyone! One of the ways of reducing your stress levels is to set out to have as many positive friendships this year as you can.

Challenge yourself.

You are much, much smarter than you know. If you practice doing your best in life you will succeed because very few people ever practice doing their best. To do your best you have to get out of the habit of predicting that things won’t go well for you. If you look for what’s going to go wrong, you will always find it. If you look for what works, life just gets a lot easier.

Be curious.

Think of someone you know who always seems to know interesting things- weird facts, strange occurrences, funny jokes and whacky stories. Try to be one of these people. Look out for and learn things that are fun and interesting.

Decide to be happy.

Lots of people wait to be happy. They wait for the situation to be right. Or they wait for the right friends to show up. Some people spend their entire lives waiting to be happy. Decide to be happy now. Have a look at the things in your life you can feel lucky that you have. Appreciate the people who like you and love you. Make the most of the moment and seize the day. Have a fantastic year! 

CENSUS DAY - Friday February 14 is School Census Day and our funding from the state government will depend on our student numbers enrolled on this day. As always, it is very important if your child is absent from school to send in a note or email explaining the absence. 

PARENTS & FRIENDS ASSOCIATION, ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (AGM) - Notice is given that the Parents & Friends (P&F) Annual General Meeting (AGM) will held in the Library on Monday 10 February at 7pm.

The primary purpose of the P&F is to provide an opportunity for parents to be involved in the school through social events, fundraising and through support for school initiatives. Involvement in the P&F is a concrete way of fulfilling the commitment made during the enrolment process to support the school.

At the AGM all positions will be declared vacant and an election will take place.  Please consider nominating for any of these positions. Information regarding each of the roles will be included with the newsletter and if you wish to nominate for any of these positions, please complete the nomination form and return it to the Front Office or hand it in at the Annual General Meeting.

We look forward to welcoming as many parents as possible at this important meeting. 

UPDATED INFORMATION - Please take the time to update family contact details on COMPASS. These updated details are extremely important particularly in the case of an emergency or student illness. 

CHURCH CAR PARK - Parents are reminded that the CHURCH car park is not available for parent parking in the mornings or afternoons. 

ACCESS TO HALL - Now that the OOSH service is operating in the hall both before and after school, parents and carers are requested not to come through the hall into the school. This is a child protection requirement and essential for OOSH to maintain their registration. 

KISS AND RIDE ZONE - At Mary Immaculate we are very fortunate to have a designated Kiss and Ride Zone on Emerald Drive. This zone is located directly in the front of the School Office. It enables parents to drop students off SAFELY and QUICKLY. 

To ensure the effectiveness of this area the following procedures need to be followed: 

• Cars will proceed to the first 3 spaces of the Kiss and Ride Zone, closest to the School Office entrance.
• Only the first 3 cars will drop off children.  All other cars will need to line up and wait until they reach this area to drop off their children.
• Adults need to remain in the car at all times. This means that children will need to have their school bags with them in the car, so that they are able to exit the car from the left hand side, onto the footpath.
• Cars will exit the Kiss and Ride Zone in the order that they entered.  Do not leave earlier than the car in front or overtake them.
• If the Kiss and Ride Zone is full or you wish to get out of the car, please park in an area away from the Kiss and Ride Zone.
• Do not park or drop off in the Bus Zone.
• Do not double park.
• Do not make u-turns, they are dangerous and put everyone at risk. 

The safety of all our children is of the greatest importance at all times, so we ask for your patience and respect of others.  We thank you in advance for your co-operation when using this service. 

Announcement: Term 1 Music Bus Enrolments Open - The Music Bus are taking new student enrolments for Term 1. The program is open now and we ready to enrol your child, running weekdays at School. The Music Bus have limited availability in Singing, Keyboard, Guitar, Drum and Ukulele and so it is advised to enrol asap. 

The Music Bus is a wonderful music program that many of our students are already enjoying – a brilliant and cost-effective way for students to get fun and specialist music lessons without parents having to travel all over the area after school. Cost of lessons is only $20.00 per week (Drums $22.00).

If you’re interested in your child having music lessons through The Music Bus, check out their website at www.themusicbus.com.au or call 1300 168 742  

Happy Birthday to the following children who will be celebrating their birthay this week:

Lillian J 3 Green, Rhiannon B K Green, Patrick F 4 Blue, Tyrone J K Green, Bradley G 1 Gold, Layla B 1 Blue, 

2020 PRIMARY SCHOOL FEES

School fees have been invoiced to families and they are available to view in the Compass Parent Portal.  We anticipate that school fee statements will be issued by email within the next 10 days.  We apologise for the delay in distribution of statements, which was unanticipated and due to system issues.  For your information payment requirements are as follows: 

• For families who pay annually, payment in full is due on 28 February 2020. 

• For families that have submitted a Request to Pay by Instalment or who previously had a School Fee Agreement in place, a schedule of the required payments and the due date will be issued with school fee statements.  The first instalment payment will be due on 28 February, 2020.  Parents may commence payments earlier if they wish, however, it is important that any existing regular payment is equal to the instalment amount provided on the schedule and that payment is made on or before the due dates on the schedule.  Reference should be made to the Request to Pay by Instalments on the school’s website for conditions relating to payment in this manner.  

• For families who have a Fee Concession in place, you will be contacted prior to your review date to complete annual documentation and arrange an interview with the Principal.  If you have a current payment plan in place, and you are unable to increase your payments to meet your 2020 school fees, you may continue to make these payments until your next review date. 

• Parents should be aware that our new accounting system will send automatic reminders for overdue payments. 

The following documents are available on the school’s website for the information of families: 

• Diocesan School Fee Management Policy
• Diocesan Frequently Asked Questions
• Diocesan Request to Pay by Instalments
• Information regarding school Fees at our school 

It is recommended that parents make themselves aware of the contents of these important Diocesan Policy and Procedures.

Welcome back to Library for 2020, and welcome to our new students and their families. Each week for Library the students need to bring a Library bag to carry the books they borrow – the bag protects the books in their school bags.  This week sadly we have already had quite a few students who have forgotten to bring their bags, hopefully they will remember next week! Below is a reminder of Library days when each student needs to bring a Library bag, and return the books borrowed the previous week:

Tuesday – Year 3, Year 1, 5Gold

Wednesday – Year 4, Kinder, 5Green

Thursday – Year 6, Year 2

Some times the Library lessons need to be changed because of other events and activities for teachers and / or students. If this is the case, the classes are notified of the change where possible. However, if a student forgets to bring the Library bag on the day of the lesson, he / she can bring it in the following day and borrow then. The Library bag is important for transporting the books to and from school because it helps protect them while in the school bag. We regularly have books which have to be disposed because they get wet.

Next week, because the Swimming Carnival is on Thursday, Years 2 and 6 will have Library and Sport on Monday.

Premiers' Reading Challenge - Any students who would like to take part in the PRC for 2020 are encouraged to do so. All students from Years 3 - 6 will be registered, and we ask parents of students in Kinder, Year 1 and Year 2 to please notify us in writing if your children would like to take part.

It is an easy challenge – students in Years 3-6 only need to read 20 books from the PRC list, and students in K,1 and 2 are required to read 30. The booklists are found at https://products.schools.nsw.edu.au/prc/booklist/home.html

You can search our Library catalogue to see all the available books on the list – go to oliver.dow.catholic.edu.au/miev, and type ‘premier’ in the search box. You can then select the required level, either K - 2, 3 - 4, or 5 - 6. 

All those students who participated in the PRC in previous years are able to use the same User Name and Password to login this year, but you cannot login until registration is completed in early March. Registration can only be done through the school. Thank you. 

Scholastic Book Club - The brochures will be sent home this week, ordering is available online as indicated on the brochures. No orders or money are able to be accepted at school. If you have any problems, please don’t hesitate to contact us in the Library before or after school. Orders close for this issue, Issue One, on Friday14 February. Thank you.

Daily Reading -  It is important  to try to read with your children for at least ten minutes a day. 

"Children are made readers on the laps of their parents."           

Emilie Buchwald, Children's Author

Happy reading!

Mrs Sue Bryant

Teacher Librarian

Research confirms that when parents are partners in their children’s education, their children improve their achievement levels. In our efforts to further develop this partnership between home and school, we will again be providing an opportunity for parents to meet with their child’s class teacher at the start of the year. The purpose of these sessions is to meet your child’s teacher, visit your child’s classroom and for you to share important information with your child’s teacher so that they can get a holistic picture of where your child is at as they start the year.

Meet and Greets for Years 1 – 6, will be held during the week commencing Monday, 17 February. Kindergarten parents will have an opportunity to meet your child’s teacher once the children are placed into their classes. Dates and times will be announced.

The meet and greet conversations will be 10 minutes duration. Teachers are very happy to meet with parents at other times throughout the year to discuss your child’s educational needs – simply make an appointment to see your child’s teacher either by contacting the teacher directly or through the School Office.

There will also be opportunities for formal Parent Teacher Conferences in Terms 2 and 4.

Good communication between home and school is vital to create and sustain a climate that is conducive to productive learning. Children will believe what the people they love and trust believe, including how they feel about school and their ability to learn. So, after praise and encouragement, encourage perseverance. Together, staff and parents can provide educational excellence for every student so that they can achieve their personal best.

MRS LILLIAN DEL GIUDICE

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

PROPOSED ORDER OF EVENTS

 This may be altered at the discretion of the Carnival Convenor, should the need arise.

Outline of the day (please be understanding that times are approximate) 

 What to bring:

• Swimming costume worn underneath Sports Uniform.
• Food and water for the day (Kiosk is only available for parents).
• Hat and sunscreen to re-apply during the day.
• Goggles and swimming cap (optional).
• Asthmatics will be required to bring their own medication with them.
• Plastic bag for wet towel and swimmers.
• Underwear to change into at the conclusion of the carnival.

 Please note:

• To promote sun safety, encourage your child to bring a rash shirt on the day.
• Thongs/sandals are permitted to be worn whilst transitioning between activities. 

Pick up procedures:

• Parents may take their child home from the venue between 1.10pm and 1.30pm. Please ensure you see your child’s classroom teacher to sign them out before leaving. 

Failure to return permission slip:

• Students who have not returned a signed permission slip will not be able to attend the carnival and will remain at school.

Sports Co-ordinator

Jayden O’Brien

Event Coordinator

Leah Beckman

Thank you Mrs Champion for volunteering your time each Monday to run our 2nd hand Uniform Pool this year.

Thank you Mrs Cutajar for running the Uniform Pool in 2019.

THE 2ND HAND UNIFORM POOL WILL BE OPEN EACH MONDAY FROM 8:30 A.M. TO 9:00 A.M.

Thank you to Mrs Lakeman and Ms Brown for volunteering to run School Banking this year.

Thank you to Mrs Shields for running School Banking in 2019.

SCHOOL BANKING WILL BE EVERY FRIDAY, please make sure your child's book is handed in Friday morning.