Important for this week

Sports Uniform Days Year 1 Thursday & Friday Year 2 Wednesday & Friday Year 3 Thursday & Friday Year 4 Tuesday & Thursday Year 5 Wednesday & Friday Year 6 Tuesday & Friday

Nut Allergy Awareness We are a nut aware school. Food is not to be shared among children and our tuckshop will not supply foods with traces of nuts. Parents are encouraged not to supply their children with any food that includes elements of nuts.

Date Claimers for next week Monday – Thursday

Parent Information Evenings Wednesday

Catholic Schools Swimming Carnival Friday

School Leadership Mass P&F Welcoming BBQ

5 February 2015 Term 1 Week 2

St Mary’s School Warwick Newsletter

Whole school consideration for the needs of others:

1. Follow Directions 2. Keep Hands, Feet and Objects

to ourselves 3. Listen Attentively 4. Show respect for ourselves,

others and the environment These 4 simple actions are the umbrella of how we live our lives at St Mary’s School in Warwick. All classroom rules will connect with these 4 actions. It is expected that all students, parents and staff support these 4 strategies on all occasions. Classroom rules will evolve from these strategies as well and will apply to both in the classroom and outside. When life gives you 100 reasons to cry, show life you have 1000 reasons to smile.

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Thank you once again for supporting all of the St Mary’s community

with the beginning of the new school year. There have been some

changes to previous years and this has been mainly due to the

recovery from the Year Seven students’ transition to Secondary

school. The impact on the primary schools has been both physical

and academic. The continued implementation of the requirements

of the Australian curriculum is seeing our daily timetable become

less flexible than it has in the past. Needless to say, the changes had

to come about because of the need to be adherent to such things as

Student Protection, Curriculum requirements, Workplace Health and

Safety and Industrial Workplace regulations. I am sure all members

of the school community will support us in our endeavours to

provide the nurturing and caring community St Mary’s is famous for.

Parents and caregivers are reminded that if there are any concerns,

please do not hesitate to contact me (Acting Principal – Margaret

Grew). I am sure we will all be able to work together to continue to

build on our great community.

If there is……

If there is right in the soul, there will be beauty in the person.

If there is beauty in the person, there will be harmony in the home.

If there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nation.

If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world.

Loving God, help us to remember to be kind and merciful. As we

follow in the footsteps of your son Jesus and Catherine McAuley,

may no one ever come to us without them going away better and

happier. Let us be the living expression of Jesus’ kindness, always

showing kindness in our face, kindness in our eyes, kindness in our

smile and kindness in the way we greet others. May we be

kindness to the poor and to all who suffer and are lonely. May we

always give a happy smile. May we always give others not only our

care, but also our heart. Amen

163 Palmerin Street (PO Box 555) Warwick Qld 4370 Phone: 4661 1872 Fax: 4661 4809 Email: smwarwick@twb.catholic.edu.au

Website: http: //www.smwarwick.catholic.edu.au

SCHOOL TERM DATES – 2015 Term 1 27 January – 2 April Term 2 20 April – 26 June Term 3 13 July – 18 September Term 4 6 October – 4 December

Administration

Farewell and thanks to Kylie Brodrick We would like to thank Kylie for the wonderful contribution she has made to our school community. Kylie supported our school community in so many ways and she assisted Mrs Richards in providing the administration support that is so crucial in the management of the school environment. For those families who have children at both St Mary’s and Assumption College, you will see Kylie’s happy face at reception at Assumption. All the best Kylie.

Farewell and thanks to Denise Van Kerkwyk We would like to thank Denise for the wonderful contribution she has made to our school community through her commitment to the efficient management of the tuckshop. This is no easy task and we thank Denise for her time and energy in this role. We wish her well in her new endeavours at Assumption College. Thank you Denise.

Advertising and subsequent recruitment for these positions will commence next week.

Assemblies

Please note the change from Fridays to Mondays for our school assemblies. Assistance at assemblies will be provided by our Student Council leaders.

Bus Lists A letter was sent home last week regarding the student bus roll. If your child catches the bus home from school, you are required to complete the form and return it to the school so your child can be included on the updated bus rolls.

School Assembly Roster Term 1 Monday’s 2.10pm MacKillop Centre, Upper Campus Week 5: Led by Year 6R Week 6: Led by Student Council Week 7: Led by 4G Week 8: Led by 3O Week 9: Led by Student Council

Coffee, Cake and Conversation Opportunities Throughout the school year, opportunities will be provided to parents/caregivers and interested members of our community, to take part in information sessions provided by Specialist speakers and/or members of our own school community. These sessions will be informative and informal. Topics for conversation could include information from Speech therapists, Occupational Therapists, Counsellors, Educations Officers: Inclusive Education, Curriculum, and topics driven by parents. It is hoped that 1 or 2 sessions per term can be organised throughout the school year. These sessions are designed to provide parents with information to support children through their social and emotional, academic and physical development. If there are particular areas where parents would like information on, please let Mrs Grew know. This can be done by simply phoning the office and leaving a message or dropping by for a quick chat when Mrs Grew is on duty or in the office.

Parent Information Evenings

Monday 9 February Wednesday 11 February Year 6 - 5.15pm (Year 6 Classrooms) Year 2 – 5.15pm (Lower Campus Library) Year 5 - 6.00pm (5P Classroom) Year 1 – 6.00pm (Lower Campus Library) Tuesday 10 February Thursday 12 February Year 3 - 5.15pm (Lower Campus Library) Prep – 6.00pm (Prep M Classroom) Year 4 - 6.00pm (4C Classroom)

Year Level Parent Information Evenings are important opportunities for parents to meet their child’s teacher and for each teacher to clarify expectations for the year. During this session information is shared about curriculum, homework, rules and teacher communication. Parents are encouraged to ask questions relevant to the classroom operations. Parents are asked to make these meetings a priority (where possible) to support our endeavours in providing quality catholic schooling.

Parent Contact Information It is vital we have current and correct parent information for emergency contact. This includes home addresses, mobile numbers, home telephone numbers, work contacts, email addresses and Medicare information. It has come to our attention that a number of student records are not up to date. If your or your child’s details have changed please let the office know promptly.

Sign in and out Registers

A reminder to parents, that it is a legal requirement that the school has a register of all persons who have entered the school during the day. The register must be signed by all persons who enter the school grounds. Registers are provided at both campuses. You will then be required to sign out before you leave the school. Parents are reminded that school commences at 8.40am. Children arriving at school after this time are required to be signed in at the school offices. If for any reason, parents need to collect their child/children from school earlier than 3pm, parents/caregivers are required to sign children out (and in again if returning to school). This is a Student Protection and Workplace Health and Safety legislative requirement and parents are asked to adhere to this request.

School support for the Parish Celtfest On the weekend of Friday 20th March and Saturday 21st March, the Parish is holding a Celtfest. There will be a dinner dance on the Friday night and a Market stall day (10am-3pm) on Saturday (21st March). The school has been offered an opportunity to have a “market stall”. At our recent staff meeting, the suggestion of a Tombola stall was put forward. This is the old “bottle stall”. All funds raised are returned to the school. This will be a great opportunity to raise some funds to support school based initiatives such as adding to the student collection of books in the upper and lower libraries, the purchase of some more ipads, sporting equipment, P & F initiatives…… It is also a wonderful opportunity for the school to support our St Mary’s Parish. The “Market Stall” idea will be further discussed at the next P & F meeting. Please come along and add to the discussion. Mrs Grew is currently investigating the WHS requirements for the bottles, but we do have a back up plan!!!

School Fees – 2015 Parents will be mailed their school fee account for Term 1 2015 shortly. Every family receives a statement of fees, regardless of whether your account has a credit balance or not. Please note that ADF Direct Debit is the recommended payment option for school fees at St Mary’s School as it allows school fees to be paid in regular instalments, weekly, fortnightly, monthly and quarterly. If you have internet banking at home you may prefer to set up your school fee account as follows. Please ensure you identify your payment with your surname and school fee account number listed on the right hand side of your Fees Statement.

Archdiocesan Development Fund Commonwealth Bank A/c BSB 064 786 Account 518206001

If you are experiencing difficulty with meeting your financial commitment to St. Mary’s School, you are asked to make contact with Mrs Grew as soon as possible so that alternative mutually agreed arrangements may be made.

School Tuckshop Commencement, Rosters and Menu Tuckshop will be available on Thursday and Friday starting week 3, Thursday 12 February. All ordering for tuckshop must be completed using the new online facility. NO BAG ORDERS WILL BE ACCEPTED. A flyer has been sent home today. Please note that Flexischools can also be accessed through the St Mary’s School website. Orders must be

completed no later than 7.30 am on the morning that tuckshop is required. A menu will be sent home with the children early next week; it will also be available on our website.

Library Borrowing Days

Monday Tuesday Thursday 1 Shooter Prep Lawson 4 Carr

1 Woodbridge Prep Mathews 4 Gaffney 2 Brosnan 3 King 5 Norton

2 Doyle 3 Oldham 5 Preston 3 Williams 6 Dearden 6 Rutledge

Acceptable Use of Technology

This year all children in Prep-Year 6 will continue to be taught computer skills with Mrs Sharon Young. Over the next two weeks we will be discussing correct use of computers and the internet, with a focus on the 'Acceptable Use of Technology Contract'. Contracts have been sent home with the newsletter to be discussed, signed and returned to school. Signed forms must be returned to your child’s classroom teacher by Friday the 13th of February or your child will not be permitted to use the school computer network.

Book Club Book Club order forms have been handed out. All order forms and payments must be returned to the classroom teacher no later than Friday 13th February. Money must be the correct amount.

School Banking School Banking is conducted every Tuesday and your child’s deposit book with banking can be handed into your child’s teacher. If you would like any more information about student banking please contact the office.

Second Hand Uniform Donations Have your children outgrown their uniforms? Do you have unused clothing you wish to donate? Please consider dropping these clothing items to the office. Your generous gift is greatly appreciated by all members of our school community, especially those families in financial need of uniform support.

News from the Parish

School Review – a letter from Fr Franco

In the pastoral plan issued in April 2013 one of the strategies was the creation of a parish precinct which would include the St Mary’s Church, the existing prep building and the old St. Mary’s Church. Last year the parish finance committee commenced investigating the possibility of creating such a precinct. When we commenced negotiations with St. Mary’s Primary School it was thought that prep classrooms could be provided at the Upper Campus. However, due to difficulties in setting up the prep and other logistical issues for the school we decided not to proceed.

I personally hoped that the question of parish assets could be managed separately from issues affecting the schools. Because the parish and school are so intertwined on the primary school campuses this is not possible. As a result the finance committee has decided to bring forward another strategy of the pastoral plan and that is to review all school campuses.

After consultation with the Primary School Board, School Principals and the CEO, the Parish has engaged the services of AEC Group Pty Ltd. This firm has already worked for Catholic Education to resolve similar issues in other dioceses and the consultant assigned to the Warwick review is Kay McLachlan-Murphy.

Kay has started to work out a process in order to involve all interested parties in the discussion. She has already started to make contact with school authorities and plans to visit schools and parish at the end of February.

I would like to invite both parents and parishioners to participate in the consultation process so as to arrive at a satisfactory outcome for both schools and parish and also to help with future planning by following recommendations made in the final report.

P&F NEWS 2015

P&F Welcome BBQ – A Great Family Fun Night – Friday February 13, 2015 at 5.30pm!! All parents are invited to join us for the P&F Parent Welcome BBQ to be held on Friday February 13, 2015 at 5.30pm at the Upper Campus. This is a family fun get-together and a great opportunity for meeting other parents and teachers. We encourage as many families as possible to come along and enjoy a great social night. The children will have a ball!!! Unfortunately, we have had to cancel the train, however, there will be huge jumping castle instead for the children, along with the disco of course.

First P&F Meeting – Thursday February 19, 2015 at 7pm – Come along!!! Our first P&F Meeting for the year is going to be an exciting one and is scheduled for Thursday February 19, at 7pm in the Upper Campus Library. May we take this opportunity to invite you to come along and take an active part in the school through the P&F Association and hear about all the exciting plans for St. Mary’s school in 2015. Calling for Year Level Representatives This year the P&F are looking for parents to volunteer as Year Level Representatives. We are hoping for 2-4 volunteers per year level. The main role of each Year Level Representative is to provide a link between the classrooms and the P&F Association.

P&F AGM

March 19th

7pm

Upper Campus Library

All are welcome to attend

FRIDAY 13TH FEBRUARY, 2015

5.30pm (Upper Campus)

Sausage Sizzle - $2 each

Chips and Glo Sticks for Sale

(BYO Drinks and Nibblies)

Outdoor Disco and Jumping Castle for children – GREAT FUN!!!

COME ALONG AND CATCH UP WITH OLD FRIENDS AND MEET NEW ONES.

PARENT YEAR LEVEL REPRESENTATIVE 2015

I would be interested in nominating to be a Year Level Representative in 2015.

Name: __________________________________________________________________________

Mobile (or best contact number): ______________________ Email:_________________________

Child’s Name(s): __________________________________________________________________

Child’s Year Level and Teacher: ______________________________________________________

FRIDAY 13th FEBRUARY, 2015 RSVP (by 6th February, 2015) Yes, I will be attending the P&F Family Fun Night Number of Adults _____ Number of Children _____ No, I will NOT be attending