Upcoming Events

Farewell to Fr Dermid and Fr Lolesio

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Fr Dermid and Fr Lolesio for their support of St Mary's Primary School. 

This week marks the end of Fr Dermid and Fr Lolesio's time with us. Fr Dermid is retiring from his role as Parish Administrator and Fr Lolesio is moving to Cootamundra to be the Parish Priest.

Thank you Fr Dermid and Fr Lolesio for guiding our students and for your dedication to your role.

We will miss you both! 

Official Opening

What a perfect day we had for our Official Opening of the Multipurpose Court last week. The special event, attended by Parish Administrator Father Dermid McDermott, Member for Goulburn Mrs Wendy Tuckerman, Director of Education for the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn Mr Ross Fox, our Parish Associate Sr Rosemary Hart, Mayor of the Upper Lachlan Shire Mr John Stafford, Acting General Manager of Upper Lachlan Shire Mr Andrew Croke, Chairman of St Mary’s Primary School Board Mr Andrew Pursell and School Board members, President of St Mary’s P&F Association Daniel Walsh and P&F Executive, members of the St Mary’s Parish Pastoral Council and Parishioners, parents, staff and students of St Mary’s.

The development of the old St Mary’s Tennis court site was made possible with permission from Father Dermid McDermott and the St Mary’s Parish, and for that, we are truly grateful.

At the start of this year we were thrilled to discover we had been successful in attaining a generous grant of $108,400.00 from the NSW Government. This, along with a $16,500 contribution from the St Mary’s P&F Association and $10,200 from the school, has enabled us to create a wonderful sporting facility that will support our school students and the whole community.

Our Multipurpose Sports Court provides competition-sized basketball, netball and tennis courts, along with a practice wall and handball courts. This facility will be utilised every day by St Mary’s Primary School and will also be offered as a venue for local basketball and netball competitions, something that is not currently offered in our district. 

I would like to acknowledge all the tradespeople that worked on producing this wonderful facility including the teams from Dynamic Sports Courts, Bayden Selmes and Kent Writer. I would also like to thank Sr Rosemary and the Sisters of St Joseph for the donation of power and water. 

Inclusive Education

At St Mary’s we recognise that each of our students is unique and special. They each represent differing family and cultural backgrounds and all have varying abilities.

The staff at St Mary’s supports our shared vision that all students in our school need to receive the support they require to engage purposefully in learning and experience academic success. We are committed to providing inclusive education. 

Inclusion allows all students to access and fully participate in learning, alongside their similar-aged peers, supported by reasonable adjustments and teaching strategies tailored to meet their individual needs. Inclusion is embedded in all aspects of school life and is supported by our culture, policies and everyday practices. 

At St Mary’s inclusion means:

• All students feeling welcome 
• All students being able to learn in a safe and supportive environment, free from bullying, discrimination or harassment
• All students being able to access and participate in high-quality education and fully engage in the curriculum along-side their similar-aged peers 
• All students being able to achieve academically and socially with reasonable adjustments and supports tailored to meet their learning needs.

The inclusive education we deliver at St Mary’s is not a ‘one size fits all approach’. We recognise that each student requires different entry points to help them access their academic, communication and social needs. 

The following cartoon demonstrates why an inclusive approach to education is essential.

Toys

At St Mary's we encourage students to leave their toys at home. We are happy to supply our students with equipment to play with at break time and are always open to suggestions about suitable play equipment and activities. If a child does decide to bring a toy to school, please be aware that they do this at their own risk. Whilst we encourage our students to respect other people and their possessions, sometimes things can get lost or accidentally broken. It would be a pity if this happened to something that is special to the child. 

Good luck!

Good luck to Sophia Galland and Lucy Gamble at the Archdiocesan Public Speaking Competition in Boorowa tomorrow!

Good Luck to Lachlan Nagle who is participating in the the South Coast Music Camp next week.

The SACRAMENT of CONFIRMATION

(Sunday 22 September, 9pm)

At this Sunday’s Mass, Years 6 and 7 students in our Parish will receive the Sacrament of CONFIRMATION. They will be confirmed in their faith by Archbishop Christopher Prowse.

In Catholic theology, the Sacrament of Confirmation is one of the three Sacraments of Initiation (the other two being Baptism and the Eucharist, or Holy Communion). Confirmation completes (or confirms) the grace given in Baptism. On that first Pentecost the Apostles received the fulfilment of Jesus’s promise to be with them always and to strengthen them for the task of spreading His message of love, peace, hope and the promise of the Kingdom of heaven…

²⁶ “I will send you the Helper^[a] from the Father. The Helper is the Spirit of truth^[b] who comes from the Father. When he comes, he will tell about me. ²⁷ And you will tell people about me too. 

On Sunday our young people will receive this special outpouring of the Holy Spirit (who has always been present in their lives), making them more like Christ and strengthening them to continue God’s work.

We pray that they will deepen their personal encounter with Christ through prayer, the Eucharist, a life committed to the moral values of the Gospel, Reconciliation, and a life of service, especially to the poor and needy.

“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” (Jn 20:21)

 “Send your Holy Spirit upon them                                  
to be their Helper and Guide.                                      
Give them the spirit of wisdom                    
and understanding,
the spirit of right judgment
and courage,
the spirit of knowledge
and reverence.
Fill them with the spirit
of wonder
and awe in your presence.
Amen.”

We remember too, that the Holy Spirit is there for all. God sent His only Son Jesus, who died so that the sins of humanity could be forgiven. Jesus rose to new life and with the help of His Spirit, all people may experience God’s Kingdom of heaven. The gifts of the spirit can help all to follow in Jesus’ footsteps to bring about the Kingdom.

Good parent-teacher relationships

A good relationship with your child's teacher and school is a great starting point for handling any problems that come up at school. Communicating and building relationships with your child’s teacher is better than having contact with the teacher only when there’s a problem.

Good parent-teacher relationships mean children:

• do better academically, emotionally and socially
• are happier at school
• attend school more regularly
• are better behaved.

* School problems: what to do

It’s normal for children to have some problems at school.

Some problems are minor – for example, missing out on a part in the play or forgetting to bring their homework. You and your child can usually sort these ones out yourselves.

Some problems might be more complicated or long-lasting. For example, your child might be having ongoing difficulties in the playground with another child and the strategies you’ve suggested to your child haven’t worked. With these problems, you might need to talk with your child’s teacher to find solutions.

* How to approach school problems with teachers

When you need to talk with teachers about problems, a calm and positive approach is likely to get a positive outcome for your child. Here’s what to do.

Pause to calm down
If something has just happened to upset your child, this can upset you too. Try to take some time to calm down before you do anything. This will help you avoid doing something you might regret later, like sending an angry email.

You could say, ‘I see you’re very upset about this, and I’m upset too. We need to calm down so we can think about what to do’. Saying this will help your child to learn this strategy too.

Use it as a teaching opportunity
Even with a serious problem, you can model positive problem-solving for your child by being positive, thinking about solutions and talking about working with the teacher. This is better than complaining or being aggressive.

You could say something like, ‘Let’s ask Mr Smith if he has any ideas about how we can sort out this problem’. This kind of approach shows your child that you value the teacher’s opinion.

Speak respectfully
No matter what you think, it’s important to speak positively and respectfully about your child’s teacher, the school and other children in front of your child. If you complain or criticise the teacher or other children and their families, your child will do the same.

Go through the right channels
This usually means talking directly to your child’s teacher to start with, rather than the principal. Going straight to the principal can make the problem bigger than it is. It’s best to make an appointment with the teacher so that you can discuss the issue privately.

Depending on the issue and your child’s age, it might be appropriate for your child to come to this meeting.

Avoid defensiveness
When there are problems, people sometimes feel defensive. For example, if either you or the teacher feels criticised, you could both end up feeling defensive.

Defensiveness can get in the way of problem-solving, so it’s good to try seeing the teacher’s perspective and to help the teacher see your perspective too. For example, ‘I can see it’s unrealistic to expect you to spend lunch time in the playground helping Jack, but I’m worried because he’s lonely and has nobody to play with. How can we both help him with this?’

* Problem-solving steps to use when meeting with teachers

If you decide you need to meet with your child’s teacher about a serious problem, the following steps can help you and the teacher work together to get a positive outcome.

1. Identify the problem
   Be clear and specific about what the problem is – for example, what’s happening, how often, who’s involved and who’s affected. It can help to use a question. For example, the problem of ‘How can we help Brenna make some friends to play with?’ is easier to solve than ‘None of the children will play with Brenna’.

It’s also helpful to ask your child’s teacher about the problem. This way you’ll hear about the situation from another person’s point of view. For example, ‘Brenna is saying no-one wants to play with her. Does this sound right from what you’ve seen?’

2. Identify wants, needs and concerns
   Allow everyone to identify their needs, wants and concerns. If you want your child’s teacher to appreciate your concerns, it’ll help if you show that you appreciate the teacher’s position.

Use sentences like ‘I understand…’, ‘I’m concerned about …’, ‘I need …’ and ‘I want.."

3. Come up with possible solutions
   Work with the teacher to come up with as many possible solutions to the problem as you can. Your child’s teacher has a lot of experience dealing with problems. The teacher also has strategies that have worked in the past. It’s very important not to judge ideas at this point. This increases the chances of finding the right solution to your problem.
4. Evaluate the solutions
   Once you and the teacher have listed as many ideas as possible, think about the advantages, disadvantages and consequences of each solution. If a solution has more disadvantages or negative consequences than advantages, cross it off your list. Keep doing this until only useful and possible solutions remain.

When you’re doing this, it’s important to be realistic. For example, it’s not reasonable to expect a teacher to sit with your child during difficult activities, but it’s reasonable to expect the teacher to check in with your child every so often.

5. Choose one and give it a go
   Pick the best idea, or a combination of ideas, to try out. Write down what you and the teacher have agreed, who will do what and when. Decide when you’ll meet again to look at how the solution is working. Give the solution 1-2 weeks to work before you talk about it again.
6. Assess how it went
   Consider everyone’s opinions and acknowledge everyone’s efforts when you look at how well the solution has worked:

• What has worked well?
• What hasn’t worked as well?
• What could we do differently to help the solution work better?

If the problem still hasn’t gone away or improved, you might need to get others involved to help generate possible solutions. These people might include the Principal or Assistant Principal. It’s a good idea to let the teacher know you’d like to talk with other staff members.

https://raisingchildren.net.au

Primary Sport- Canberra/Goulburn Archdiocese

www.sport.cg.catholic.edu.au

Rosa Blowes- MacKillop Athletics

Congratulations to Rosa on her fantastic achievement.

“On Monday I competed at Homebush as a member of the Canberra Goulburn Athletics team. I stayed the night in Sydney because we needed to be at Homebush at 9:00am. My 8-10 yrs Girls Shot Put event was meant to be at 12:45 but wasn’t called until 1:00pm. I threw 6.62m which was not a PB for me because I can throw 6.89m. The winner threw 8.43m!

I was awarded 5^th place and the other CG competitor was unable to participate as it clashed with her Relay event.”

Term 4 will see students in the summer uniform. These items are all available from the Uniform shop if you require something.

The uniform shop will be open next Tuesday and Thursday, however please note that it will not be open over the school holidays. Items can still be purchased via Qkr and can be collected next week or the first day of Term 4, Tuesday 15 October.

PLEASE ensure all items are named clearly so it assists us with returning any misplaced items.

This is also a good time to ensure the items you have at home belong to your family and haven't been accidentally collected from another family.

Peer Support- Moving Forward

Week 6 of Program

This week the focus is on step 2 of the model, Plan. In Peer Support children learn the need to develop a range of coping strategies and be creative in drawing on these when planning responses.

Responses include persevering, seeing the positive side to situations and engaging in activities they enjoy as a distraction for a short time.

Encourage your child to talk with you about strategies they could use as difficulties arise.

As we head to the end of term, there is a growing pile of items in lost property. Please see the photo attached to see if any are missing from your house.

Year 4 – Aylish Parsons and George Skelly 

Year 5 - Hayley Francis, William Heffernan and Ethan Whittle

Year 6 - Taj Cooper and Fynella Parsons

School Spirit Awards

Lauren Fraser for "seeing a problem and doing something about it".

Awards are presented at our Monday morning Assembly in the Old Hall at 9.05am.

Everyone is welcome to attend.

Tuckshop

Friday 20 September- Daria Lawson, Rachael Selmes, Jackie Blowes

Monday 23 September- Daria Lawson, Angela Cuskelly & VOLUNTEER REQUIRED.

Please let Rechell Naughton know days/dates you can or cannot do for the Term 4 roster if you haven't already. The roster will be released next week.

Remember more hands means lighter work, so if everyone was able to do one day per term it would reduce the load for others. The kids appreciate your time!

6 Dozen Meat Pies for Sale

The P&F are selling off excess stock from the canteen so have 6 dozen meat pies available for purchase. They are offered in lots of 12 only.

The price is $24.00 per dozen and can be purchased via Qkr under the "P&F Payments" section or cash to the office.

First in, first served with 6 dozen on offer!

South Coast Music Camp

Lachlan Nagle is off to the South Coast Music Camp next week from Monday 23 September to Thursday 26 September 2019. The South Coast Music Camp consists of a 4 day, 3 night residential camp at The Tops Conference Centre, Stanwell Tops. 

The camp will provide large and small ensembles, individual tuition and performance opportunities for students during the camp. Ensembles will be coordinated and staffed by highly skilled and dedicated teachers from within the Department of Education supported by industry professionals.

Have fun Lachlan and we look forward to hearing how it goes!

Our School by Ellie and Madeline

Parish Office

For Parish and Sacramental matters please forward your enquiries to Parish Secretary, Janet Haynes or Pastoral Associate Sr Rosemary via email or call into the Parish Office at the Old Convent Building on Tuesdays or Thursdays.

Email: Crookwell@cg.org.au

Website: http://cg.org.au/crookwell/Home.aspx 

Phone: 48321 633 

Address: 55 Wade Street (the Old Convent Building)

Altar Roster

22 September- Nathaniel Waters and Regan Picker

29 September- Nathaniel Waters

6 October- Regan Picker and Olivia Anderson

13 October- Phoebe Selmes and Oliver Gray

20 October- Regan Picker and Nathaniel Waters

27 October- Oliver Gray, Skyelah Gray and Abagail Gray

Please arrive 15 minutes before Mass to help Father prepare.

It is important that you contact another server to arrange a swap if you are unable to make it on your rostered day.

We would love it if some more children could join our Altar Serving team. Please contact the Parish Office if your child is interested. Training is provided and new children are rostered on with experienced servers.

Goulburn Eisteddfod is holding their Primary Public Speaking Competition on Tuesday 24 September commencing at 9.30am at the Lieder Theatre

This year they have a $100 Cash prize for the Best Primary Public Speaker  as well as an award for the Champion Primary School.

Entries will be accepted until 23September and you can also make payment on the day.

Prepared Speech

Note cards are permitted. No copy needs to be provided for the adjudicator. Competitors are expected to enter in the section which reflects their current level of study. Competitors can enter own choice and/or set topic.

500. Year 3 - Time limit 2 mins: Own Choice
501. Year 4 - Time limit 2 mins: Own Choice
502. Year 5 - Time limit 3 mins: Own Choice
503. Year 6 -. Time limit 3 mins: Own Choice

Entry forms can be collected from the School Office.

Small Business Expo in Crookwell

Small_Business_Expo_Flyer.pdf

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Crookwell Library News

Looking for some single beds?

Maureen Lucock has two single white wrought-iron beds that she is looking to give away. Please contact Maureen on 0477 436 326 if interested

Old Comic Books

If anyone has any old comic books they no longer require, Sharron Waters would love to take them off your hands! Please drop them to the school office if you have any. Thank you!

Blood or plasma donation

The Goulburn branch of the Australian Red Cross Blood Service are searching for more donors for blood or plasma. The Naughton family are great supporters and go as a whole. They would like to encourage other parents to go and you can mention you are from St Mary's Primary School and they will keep a monthly tally of our donations. More details can be found on https://www.donateblood.com.au/blood-donor-centre/goulburn-donor-centre

Auskick in Crookwell

The students were excited to meet James who told them all about the fun of Auskick which will happen in Crookwell. Details below

SKM_C454e19091112220.pdf

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Rugby League Holiday Clinic

Healthy Waterways

Landcare are running a school holiday program on Thursday 10 October. Please see below for more information.

Healthy_Waterways_flyer_FINAL.pdf

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Taralga Fun Run

As part of the Taste of Taralga Festival, there will be a fun run held on Saturday 5 October. Go and be a part of the festivities!

Run_Fun_Flyer.pdf

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Goulburn Netball

Hume Conservatorium Holiday Programs