Newsletter - T1,W8 - 24/3/23

From the Principal

As Term One draws to a close, I would like to thank all students and staff for their efforts throughout the term. I would also like to wish our Senior students ‘good luck’ for their end of Preliminary exams which will be held in Week One of next term. I refer to the assessment handbook “If a student is absent for part of the school day before an Assessment task is due, this will require an “Assessment Variation” form be completed with supporting documentation attached (ie. Medical Certificate). Should the Assessment Variation not be approved the student will be considered to have gained an unfair advantage and be awarded zero for the task”. In essence this means that all senior students must be present on Monday 24 April which is the first day back in Term 2. Our Years 7-10 students follow-up with their end of Semester One exams in Week Four. Study hard!

The current national teacher shortage is having an impact at St Mary’s at present. Despite many advertisements and attempts, we have not been able to replace Andrew Bartlett who retired at the end of last year. On top of that, we have a very small casual pool of teachers to take replacement classes when teachers are away. This has resulted in the College needing to have classes in learning hubs. This means that there may be two or three classes together in one space with teachers supervising them to do the work set by their teacher. This is less than ideal, but appears to be working well at this stage. From next term, Zoe Hughes will be employed to take the ‘outside’ PE lessons to allow the students to develop their practical skills. We are still hopeful of finding a PDHPE teacher to begin next term. I will keep you updated regarding this issue. 

ANZAC Day will be commemorated on Tuesday 25 April. This year, all the schools in Casino will be marching together as a unified group. This is in response to the information gathered from students after the tragic events which took place last year. More information will be forwarded closer to this date. I encourage all our students to take part in the ANZAC march this year and show that together, our students are strong, resilient and proud to be part of the Casino community.

The College Open Night will be held on Tuesday May 2, starting at 5.15pm with a visit to the Earth Centre. Please pass this message onto any prospective students to our College. It is one of the biggest nights of the year and we are always very proud to showcase our facilities, students and innovative practices here at the College.

Our school will join with more than 620 Catholic schools across NSW and the ACT to celebrate the annual Catholic Schools Week (CSW). This will take place in St Mary’s Catholic College during Week 2, next term.

This year’s theme “Living our Mission’’ highlights the mission of Catholic schools in the Diocese of Lismore. The Catholic school community has a co-responsibility in the service of mission through sharing Jesus’ messages of love and forgiveness, peace, hope and joy as revealed in the Gospels. The transforming power of mission ensures our students experience the fullness of life (John 10:10). 

We are immensely proud of the important role the Catholic school has alongside our Bishop, Parish Priest, school staff, parishioners and families in the missionary activity of bringing the ‘Good News' to the world. This week provides us with the opportunity to showcase and celebrate the missionary activities of our Catholic schools as well as the quality education we offer. Please look out for the variety of activities that will help us celebrate Catholic Schools Week in 2023.

Students will complete Term 1 on Wednesday 5 April. This will allow staff to be involved in a spirituality day on Holy Thursday. Students will commence Term 2 on Monday 24 April. As Week 10 will be a very short week, this will be the last newsletter for the term and any necessary school correspondence will be sent out via Compass. 

Finally, as we head into the holidays and Easter I wish you a holy and blessed Easter. This is the pivotal moment of our Catholic faith and Jesus rising on Easter Sunday is perhaps the greatest example of his power to turn sorrow into joy; something we can all use to refer to at some time! We can also use Pope Francis’ tremendous example of the washing of the feet prior to Easter each year as a great illustration of his attitude to service. This is truly a time where we can aspire to be of greater service to each other. Have a wonderful break with family and friends.

Early next term we will be inviting students, teachers and parents to provide feedback on their experience of our school using an online survey. The surveys are an important part of our whole school evaluation and planning process. As we value the role of parents and carers within our school community we would greatly appreciate your feedback. The information you provide will be used to maintain our commitment to working together in partnership to further improve student learning and wellbeing at St Mary's. Further information will be sent home next term.

Tracy Robinson
Principal

Upcoming Dates

Week 9
Wednesday 29/3/23 - Year 7 Vaccinations
Thursday 30/3/23 - Cross Country
Thursday 30/3/23 to Friday 31/3/23 - Transitus
Friday 31/3/23 - Year 8 Civitas Day

Week 10
Wednesday 5/4/23 - Last day of Term 1 for Students
Thursday 6/4/23 - Holy Thursday, Staff Spirituality Day

TERM 2 - Week 1
Monday 24/4/23 - First day of Term 2
Tuesday 25/4/23 - Anzac Day public holiday
Wednesday 26/4/23 - Anzac Ceremony
Stage 6 Preliminary Exams all week

Parish Mass Times

Weekend Mass
6.00pm (Sat) & 8.00am (Sun)

Weekdays
Monday 9.00am
Tuesday  8.00am
Wednesday 8.00am
Thursday  9.00am
Friday  9.00am
Saturday  9.00am

Adoration
Follows 9.00am Saturday Mass

Reconciliation
Saturday 8.30am - 9.00am

Country Mass
Sunday 9 April - Mallanganee

Holy Week & Easter Mass Times

Palm Sunday
6.00pm Vigil
8.00am Sun
5.00pm Stations of the Cross - Windara (bring a chair)
 
Monday
9.00am Mass
7.00pm Chrism Mass (Cathedral) 

Tuesday & Wednesday
8.00am Mass 
 
SACRED TRIDUUM

Holy Thursday
7.00pm Mass of the Lord’s Supper, Casino
 
Good Friday
10.00am Stations of the Cross
3.00pm Commemoration of the Passion
Reconciliation following Stations and 3.00pm service

Holy Saturday
9.00am Morning Prayer
7.00pm Easter Vigil

Easter Sunday
6.30am Morning Prayer, Windara
8.00am Mass, Casino
Time TBA , Mallanganee

From the Assistant Principal - Mission

In our last newsletter, I mentioned some of the ways we are called to consider changing our behaviours during the season of Lent. Pope Francis encourages us to continue this with an understanding of replacing challenging behaviours with positive ones. Pope Francis says “Fast from worries and trust in God. Fast from complaints and contemplate simplicity. Fast from pressures and be prayerful. Fast from bitterness and fill your heart with joy.” Through conscience decision making we are able to change our reaction to the world around us. This in turn allows us to respond in kindness and promote positivity.

Clare Axman
Assistant Principal - Mission

From the Leader of Curriculum

Year 10 - 12 Confirmation of Entry
Over the last fortnight I have managed to get all but three students to sign their Confirmation of Entry form. As explained in the previous newsletter, this form lists a student’s name, address, birthdate and the subjects they are currently studying. The signing off of the above is a NESA requirement as all NSW Year 10 -12 students need to be enrolled with that authority.

Whilst I was able to attend to the vast majority of students either as a Year group or in Base classes, the high degree of absenteeism has made this quite a challenge for some students. Consequently I wish to reiterate what our Assistant Principal - Mission, Ms Axman, stated at the morning assembly on Monday. The NSW education act requires a 90% attendance for students attending a school and we have students sitting below this.

One of the possible consequences of a high amount of absenteeism is that a Year 10 - 12 student may fall short of the NESA rule that in order to be credited with having completed a course e.g. English, Mathematics, etc., they need to have completed a minimum of 50% of the course work. A failure to achieve this can lead to being “N-Awarded” i.e. they may not be credited with having completed a course and therefore jeopardise their chances of attaining a HSC.

In the case of Year 10 students, this could lead to a ROSA (Record of Student Achievement) that is incomplete and prevent enrolment with TAFE or continuing on to Year 11.

Lastly, as part of completing the Confirmation of Entry form, I have walked all the present students through the process of activating their StudentsOnline account. Please refer below to an extract from the last newsletter about the importance of having this completed.

StudentsOnline - This is the NESA site where Year 10 - 12 students can check the following:

• HSC Exam Timetable
• eRecord until a ROSA becomes available. The former is only available at the conclusion of Year 10.
• ROSA which can be applied for from late March.
• Personal details such address, email address & phone number (optional)
• NB It is critical that a student, who is leaving St. Mary’s Catholic College, changes their school email address to their personal one on this site BEFORE unenrolling from the college. The reason being that their school email account is deleted by the Catholic Schools Office (CSO) after a student has left.

Michael Woerner
Leader of Curriculum

From the Leader of Pedagogy

Following our professional learning day (a few weeks ago) staff have been investing time and resources in designing and implementing key learning around developing collaborative, productive classroom environments.  Students have co-constructed resources to build their understanding of key concepts, what quality examples look like, infographics, vocabulary walls and many other rich resources to support their learning.

Kelly Winters
Leader of Pedagogy

From the Leader of Pastoral Care

Safe on Social- Protecting Minors
Kirra Pendergast and the Safe on Social team have some advice for parents on their use of Instagram as well as the ongoing Tik Tok issues. Please click on the links below for further information.

Safe on Social- The French Digital Protection of Minors 
Youtube Shorts

Upcoming Vaccinations & Online Consent
If your child is in Year 7 or Year 10 this year, you can now provide online consent for their routine school vaccinations.

In Year 7, students are offered free vaccines for diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (dTpa) and human papillomavirus (HPV).

In Year 10, students are offered the meningococcal ACWY vaccine.

Vaccination will only be provided at school if consent has been received. 

How to provide consent:
1 - To complete online consent for your child’s school vaccinations, visit:
https://nswhealth.service-now.com/school

2 - Click the login with ‘Service NSW Account’ button and log in using your Service NSW details. This is the same account you may already use to renew your driver’s licence. If you don’t have a Service NSW account, refer to Service NSW to create one.

3 - Update or confirm your personal details in Service NSW as required. 

4 - Complete the School Vaccination Consent Form for your child/ren. You will need to:  
a) Enter your child’s personal details 
b) Provide the Medicare card details for you and your child  
c) Read the linked Parent Information Sheet and privacy statement 
d) Provide consent  

If you or your child do not have a Medicare card, consent can still be provided by requesting a paper-based consent form directly from our College office.

To read a step-by-step guide on how to provide consent online or for more information on routine school vaccinations, please visit www.health.nsw.gov.au/schoolvaccination.

Please note our visits scheduled for 2023 are as follows:
Term 1
Wednesday, 29 March - Year 7 HPV & Boostrix
Term 2
Wednesday,  7 June - Year 10 Meningococcal ACWY
Term 4
Wednesday, 18 October - Catch up vaccines for either year 7 or 10.

Michele McCaffery
Leader of Pastoral Care

From the Leader of Learning - Inclusion & Diversity

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) on School Students with Disability
Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on school students with disabilities (NCCD). The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with a disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019).

Information provided about students to the Australian Government for the NCCD includes:

• Year of schooling
• Category of disability: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional
• Level of adjustment provided: support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary, substantial or extensive.

This information assists schools to:

• Formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in schools
• Consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disability in schools
• Develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes for students with disabilities.

The NCCD provides state and federal governments with the information they need to plan more broadly for the support of students with disabilities.

The NCCD will have no direct impact on your child and your child will not be involved in any testing process. The school will provide data to the Australian Government in such a way that no individual student will be able to be identified – the privacy and confidentiality of all students is ensured. All information is protected by privacy laws that regulate the collection, storage and disclosure of personal information. To find out more about these matters, please refer to the Australian Government’s Privacy Policy (https://www.education.gov.au/privacy-policy).

Further information about the NCCD can be found on the NCCD Portal (https://www.nccd.edu.au).

If you have any questions about the NCCD, please contact the College.

Excursion to Summerland Farm - A farm with heart
On Wednesday of Week 8 Mrs Jenny Scully, myself and four students travelled to Alstonville to attend the Supported Employment Showcase at Summerland Farm.

Students participated in tours across the farm, speaking with staff about their daily tasks that they perform in their area of focus. They accessed all areas of the farm, and learned about all of the different jobs available at the farm. 

The staff and supported employees at Summerland Farm made every effort to make our students feel welcome and comfortable across their experience. Each student shared their feedback around possible areas of interest, which we hope will evolve into work experience in the future. 

Kelly Scurr
Leader of Learning - Inclusion & Diversity

From the Sports Coordinator

Diocesan Tennis
On Friday the 10th of March Ben George, Miller Scully, Jayden De La Cruz and Connor Turner travelled up to Tweed Heads to participate in the Dio Tennis Championship. During the day they dominated many schools from Banora Point to Port Macquarie - they were undefeated! This meant that St Mary's was crowned the Dio Tennis Champions. Now, our SMCC team has progressed to the All CCC Tennis Championships held down at Bathurst later in the year. Finally, I would like to thank Kristy Robson who took the time out of her week to drive and support us up at Tweed Heads.

Diocesan Basketball
On Wednesday, 22nd March, the open boys and girls basketball team travelled down to Port Macquarrie for an overnight stay to play in the Diocesan Open Basketball championships on Thursday 23rd.

SMCC has not entered a team into this carnival for a long time and this year we entered quite a young team with students from years 9, 10 and 11. Although both teams did not win a game, some were close and the effort and camaraderie shown by the students was second to none. With such a young team, we are confident both teams will grow and improve in our chances next year.

The trip was overall a huge success as the students had a fantastic time on the long bus trip, at the accommodation and throughout the carnival while representing the College with pride.

SMCC Representative Students
Good luck to all students swimming at the CCC state swimming carnival in Sydney on Friday next week. We know you will swim your best and represent the College and Diocese with pride.

Goodluck also to the students representing the diocese at South West Rocks for the individual Northern Selection trials.

Weekly Sport
Term 2 sport selections have now closed and the sports list will be posted on the sports noticeboard.

Students will be participating in the sport they have been allocated to for the entirety of term 2. If students do not like the sport they have been allocated based on their preferences, they have until the end of the term to speak with Mr Fitness or Mr Ludwig to request a change. Once term 2 starts, no changes will be made to the sport rolls.

Upcoming events:
Girls wishing to participate in the Girls League Tag Challenge held in Casino on Tuesday, 4 April (Week 10) please register your interest on the sports noticeboard. Age groups are 14s, 16s, and Open.

 Andrew Fitness
Sports Coordinator

From the Leader of School Evangelisation

LEAD
The annual Lead Conference was held on the 9 and 10 of March at McAuley College, Grafton. We had 20 students attend the conference this year and gathered with over 200 other senior students in the Diocese. 

The conference challenged all of our students to grow as individuals, the theme of the conference was ‘Set Apart’ and students were pushed to be courageous and go beyond our comfort zones.  We are that are students are now inspired to continue to provide opportunities at a school level to encourage students to also accept the challenge to go beyond the known and reach our full potential. 

TRANSITUS
Good luck to our eight year 7 students who are attending Transitus next Thursday and Friday. Also a big thank you to the year 10 students who are assisting in the facilitation of the retreat. The retreat will be a chance to bring students together to meet like-minded peers and to celebrate with other young people who want to grow and be supported in their Christian faith.

Mahaila Day
Leader of School Evangelisation

Vaping: Information & Awareness - Part 2

Vaping: Why is it attractive?
Young people can be drawn to vaping for a number of different reasons including peer pressure, accessibility and affordability, the belief that vaping is harmless and curiosity. Sometimes a family member who vapes can also influence children and young people to try vaping.

This short video provides some insights into why vaping is attractive to young people and is important viewing before parents and carers use the conversation starters at home.

Conversation Starters
Be ready to have these conversations with your child with a sense of calmness and interest in what they have to say. Be ready to listen to their responses without jumping in too quickly to correct them. Choose your timing wisely, perhaps during a relaxed moment at home, when driving somewhere together, or when no other stress or distractions are present.

1. Why do you think more children and teens are vaping? Listen to understand. Your child may mention one of the reasons listed above or have another opinion. This conversation starter opens the door to healthy dialogue.
2. Could you confidently say no if you were offered a vape? How could you do this? Help your young person create an ‘exit plan’ if they are offered a vape.
3. How do you think the person offering you the vape would react to you saying no? How might that make you feel about this friendship? Now might be a good time to talk about what your child values in their friends.

Peer pressure can be powerful, so coming up with realistic action steps and practising them together in a safe environment will prepare and empower your child to make good choices when it matters. Remind them that not everyone is vaping. There are many young people making healthy choices to say no.

ABSTUDY Information

ABSTUDY: Information for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander High School Students

It’s not too late to claim ABSTUDY support for the 2023 school year.

We’d like to ensure families know about how ABSTUDY can help support high school students. This includes families whose children are living at home and may not know they’re eligible. When students live at home, eligible families can get support with school fees and school materials like uniforms, textbooks and stationery.

Please download the ABSTUDY high school eKit for further information on ABSTUDY when students live at home and for the available support.

Free Parent/Carer Online Headspace Workshops

Youth mental health outreach service, headspace is hosting free webinars for parents and carers who are supporting young people with their mental health during the school holidays. The session aims to:

• Identify challenges and opportunities of the school holiday period
• Offer practical ideas for parents and carers
• Provide information about additional support services
• Highlight the importance of self-care

Click here to register for the free webinar.

Canteen

Volunteers
We are looking for volunteers to assist in the Canteen. Please contact the Canteen via the College office if you are available at any time to help.

Flexischools
Flexischools is a well-established organisation allowing you to easily place all your canteen orders online at any time.

Download the Flexischools app from the App store or Google Play. Click here for details on how to set up your account. 

Once registered, you can start placing orders immediately.

Please note that sushi orders will need to be placed before Tuesday afternoon at 1pm as Sushi will only be available for Wednesday orders.

There is a charge of $0.29 per order for using this service.

If you have any questions, please contact the Flexischools Customer Service Team via their website contact page.

The normal process of ordering from the canteen (cash, eftpos, morning lunch orders) is still available.

Uniform Shop

The new Uniform Shop is open and ready for business.

 All parents and visitors will be required to sign in at the front office prior to proceeding to the uniform shop. This is a child protection requirement.
 The Uniform Shop service is now a cashless service. The only method of payment is EFTPOS or online ordering via Flexischools.

Uniform Shop Opening Hours
Tuesdays         3.15pm to 5.00pm
Thursdays        2.00pm to 5.00pm

Orders can also be placed via the Flexischools service. No fees are charged to families for using this service.

Please note the following information for orders made via this service:

Tuesday Orders
- Cut off time is 12noon on Monday
- Pick up available from the College on Tuesday afternoon from 3.30pm - 5.00pm

Thursday Orders
- Cut off time is 12noon on Wednesday 
- Pick up available from the College on Thursday afternoon from 3.30pm - 5.00pm.

Orders not collected will be given to the student to take home.

Whilst all care will be taken to ensure that stock availability is correct at the time of ordering, there may be some items that are not in stock at the time of packing the online orders. In this case, you will be contacted to advise of an estimated time of arrival for new stock of that item or given the option of a refund processed through Flexischools.

All uniform shop order enquiries can be emailed to: cash-uniform@lism.catholic.edu.au

Second Hand Uniforms

Sustainable School Shop is an online shop dedicated to buying and selling of second hand uniforms. For more information ring 1300683337 or visit www.sustainableschoolshop.com.au.

 Please note that this facility is available for use with the new College uniforms only.

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