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School Photos will be taken on Friday 21 August 2020 for students in Kindergarten to Year 6.
Each student has been given an envelope detailing Package Price and Description. You do not need to return this envelope to school if you have already paid on line as the Photographers have a record of all children who have ordered on line.
The preferred Method of Payment is Online. (DUE TO COVID NO CASH OR CHEQUES WILL BE ACCEPTED)
DO NOT PANIC IF YOU DO NOT ORDER YOUR PHOTOS PRIOR TO PHOTO DAY THEY CAN BE ORDERED AFTERWARDS. EVERY CHILD HAS A PHOTO TAKEN IN CASE OF LATE ORDERS.
Full Winter Uniform (not sport) is to be worn on the day. Please ensure that your child has a normal school hair style according to School Policy –
‘Hair must be tidy. Exaggerated fashion hair cuts are not acceptable. Boys hair should not touch their collar. Girls with long hair MUST HAVE ALL HAIR PULLED BACK IN PLAITS, PONY-TAIL etc).’
Thanking you
TINA MURRAY
PRINCIPAL
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Yesterday we gathered together for the very first time in a long time to celebrate National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day. Our School Leaders commemorated this special occasion by raising our brand new Australian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags provided to us by our Federal Member, Dr Michael Freelander on our recently installed flagpoles that were funded by our successful 2019 Community Grant Application. We are grateful to Mrs Alford who co-ordinated our grant application in 2019 and Mrs Grados for leading our school celebration today. The opportunity to mark this day reminds us of the importance of showing respect to the people of our First Nations. It is also a timely reminder of the very special impact that culture, family and community play in the life of every child.
At Mary Immaculate we believe it is important that all our students have the chance to learn about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Culture and to have the opportunity to learn about the many cultures within our school, from each other.
In preparing for this day I reflected upon my own childhood influences and came across the interesting article included below. I wonder how many of you may be able to relate to the contents?
“I grew up in NSW and I walked to primary school regardless of the weather. Dinner time was at 6.00pm and bedtime was 8.30pm every night.
Eating out at a restaurant was a huge deal, that only really happened when it was a birthday or a very, very special occasion.
Having fast food was also an extremely rare occasion and having a bottle of lemonade from the milk bar was a real treat.
You took your school clothes off as soon as you got home and put on your ‘home’ clothes. There was no taking or picking up in the car, you walked or rode your bike! You got home did your chores and your homework before dinner.
Our house phone had a cord attached, so there were no such things as private conversations or mobile phones! We had to remember all our family phones numbers, just in case we needed to contact someone from the phone box while we were out. We always needed to make sure we had coins available for the public phone.
We didn’t have Foxtel, Stan or Netflix, we had only 4 channels to watch and when we first started watching TV these channels were broadcast in black and white. We played Hopscotch, Hide & Seek, Netball, Handball, Cricket and sun-baked on our driveways. The slip and slide was a great way to cool off on a hot day.
Staying in the house was a punishment and the only thing we knew about ‘bored’ was our parent’s response, "You’d better find something to do before I find it for you!"
We celebrated the Queen’s birthday long weekend with fireworks and bonfires. We played music via a record or tape player.
We went to the Milk Bar for bread and milk and a lolly cost 1 cent.
We ate what mum made for dinner or we ate nothing at all and if we didn’t eat our vegetables there was no ice cream. Bottled water was unheard of, we drank water straight from the tap.
We watched cartoons on Saturday mornings, we rode our bikes for hours and ran around the neighbourhood with rest of the kids in the surrounding streets. We played until dark... sunset was our alarm to be home. If someone had a fight, that's what it was and we were friends again a week later, if not sooner.
We watched what the words we used around our elders because all of our aunts, uncles, grandpas, grandmas, and our parent’s friends were all extensions of our parents and you didn't want them telling your parents if you misbehaved!
We respected the Police, Firemen, Ambulance Workers, Doctors and Nurses and Teachers. We never answered back..... ever!
We got detention at school for not doing homework, for being late to class or for being ‘naughty.’
These were our childhood days. These were the days we remember with fondness because they helped to shape the person we have become today.”
Wishing you and your children a week ahead filled with many opportunities to create fond memories. During this time . . . Let Christ be our Way and Life.
Tina Murray
Principal
Happy Birthday to the following children who will be celebrating their birthday this week:
As a parent, you wish you could protect your kids from every disappointment, defeat or scary challenge. Although this isn’t possible, you can teach your children to be resilient. Resilient children have grit. When they encounter a difficult problem, they try to solve it instead of giving up. When bad things happen, they quickly bounce back, ready to face the next challenge. When they make mistakes, they grow and learn from them. Resilient children are hopeful, optimistic and strong.
So while you can’t shield your kids from life’s difficulties, you can provide the tools they’ll need to navigate them successfully. Here are five tips to help you raise a resilient child.
Be a supportive role model
Model resilient behaviours. Be calm and consistent. Admit to your mistakes and how you can do better next time. The more positive adult connections a child has, the more resilient they will be.
Let children make mistakes
If children never make mistakes, they’ll never learn how to fix their errors and make better decisions in the future. Failure teaches perseverance and problem solving, and helps children learn coping skills.
Praise children the right way
Give ‘process praise’ by focusing on strategies, progress or effort.
Teach children to manage emotions
As children learn to manage emotions, they will also learn to be more resilient.
Step 1 – Teach our children that ALL emotions, even the worst ones, are okay.
Step 2 – Deal with bad behaviour, if there is any, in order to set limits.
Step 3 – Brainstorm ways to fix the problem or to prevent it from happening again.
Teach children to problem solve
Don’t rush to solve problems for children or tell them the best solution. Help them brainstorm ways to address the challenge. Help your child consider what the results might be for each solution they propose.
Mrs Lillian Del Giudice
Assistant Principal
Saturday 8 August
Feast Day: St Mary of the Cross MacKillop
Ever generous God,
You inspired Saint Mary MacKillop
To live her life faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ
and constant in bringing hope and encouragement
to those who were disheartened, lonely or needy.
With confidence in your generous providence
and through the intercession of Saint Mary MacKillop
We ask that you grant our request……………….
We ask that our faith and hope be fired afresh by the Holy Spirit
so that we too, like Mary MacKillop, may live with courage, trust and openness.
Ever generous God hear our prayer.
We ask this through Jesus Christ. Amen
On Friday, Year 6 will be sharing a short prayer to celebrate our first Australian Saint, St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. She led a remarkable life in the service of others and founded many schools ensuring all children regardless of circumstance had an opportunity to be educated.
A special thanks to Gissenia Reyna C, Mia R, Patrick W and Emmanuel R in Year 6 who eagerly participated in the preparation.
Father Slawek’s Visit
How blessed we are!
Father Slawek visited our school to speak to Year 3 about Saints and how we can be holy. Our children learned that you can be holy when you love and serve God. They were surprised to learn that they can even be holy when they complete their homework with love!
Father Slawek also explained how holy people become saints and discussed some well known saints with our students. The children were able to identify Mother Teresa and our own beloved Australian Saint Mary MacKillop.
Congratulations again to the students who are remembering to bring their Library bags and return their books. Sadly there are many who are forgetting and unfortunately we cannot borrow without a Library Bag to protect the books as we bring them to and from school! We have lots of lovely new books ready to borrow, so please remind your children on their Library day to pack their Library bags. We understand that there may be confusion with some classes as to when they will actually have Library, but it is a good idea to send the Library bag in just in case!
Students have the opportunity to select books of their choice for reading for pleasure at home. Borrowing is an important part of the lesson – even if the children have lots of books at home to read, the idea of borrowing during the lesson is for them to learn to find their way around a Library, and to choose books which are appropriate for them to read. It also gives them the opportunity to perhaps find different types of books they may not have previously considered. The Library bag protects the books in transit.
- Tuesday – Year 3, Kinder, 5 Gold
- Wednesday – Year 4, Year 1, 5 Green
- Thursday – Year 6, Year 2
Scholastic Book Club: Don’t forget to order your books ONLINE if you are interested in any of the current selection. A reminder that we do NOT accept orders and money at school, all orders must be done ONLINE. Issue 5 closes this Thursday 6 August. Thank you for your support.
Premiers Reading Challenge: We now have a good number of students who have already completed the challenge, and many more who have logged in and registered their books read so far. There are only THREE (3) weeks left now to complete the challenge, so it is important to ensure that any books read are registered . It would be a shame to miss out by just a few titles. Go to:
https://products.schools.nsw.edu.au/prc/logon.html
Remember that it is meant to be a CHALLENGE – let’s challenge ourselves to finish!
Any student who is having difficulty registering the books is urged to come to the Library at Lunch 2 for assistance.
"The more that you read,
the more things you will know.
The more that you learn,
the more places you'll go."
Happy reading!
Mrs Sue Bryant
Teacher-Librarian
Yesterday we celebrated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day at Mary Immaculate with a special flag raising ceremony. The theme "We are the Elders of tomorrow; hear our voice", is an important message that reminds us that our children are our future and are the key holders of tradition and culture. Students participated in a whole School Assembly where they listened to special messages about the day's significance and wore the colours of the Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Australian flags for a Mufti Day. Together with a video commemorating the day, students completed a drawing and writing activity about what culture means to them. Keep a lookout in their school bags as each student was given a bookmark to acknowledge the day.
Thank you to all the students, teachers and staff for making this a special day at our school and for our students.
Mrs Danielle Grados