Newsletter 11 February 2022
- Principal's Message
- Faith and Mission News
- 2021/2022 Upcoming Events
- Photo Day reminder: 21 & 22 Feb
- 2022 Kinder Information Night - Wed 23 Feb
- A big first week for our 2022 Kinders!
- Sport News & Sport Calendar
- Parent Forum
- Learning and Teaching
- Canteen Roster
- Rugby Union - St Augustine's
- Seasons for Growth
- Prepare for Easter
- School Fee Payment Reminder
- Parenting Ideas
- Community Notices
Principal's Message
Friday 11 February 2022 - Term 1 Week 2
Dear Parents and Carers
Welcome to the first ‘official’ newsletter of 2022. A big welcome to our new families who have joined us this year; it is great to have you join our community. We also welcome our new staff Emma Dent (Teacher’s Assistant), Lauren Dootson (Indigenous Education Worker), Ashleigh Slater and Kaitlyn Brazel (Trainees), Kevin Wilson (Grounds), and teachers; Heidi Wray (various grades), Brianna McGennisken (Yr 1), Giorgia Cox (Yr 2), Jamie Martin (Yr 5) and Maddie Batey (Yr 4).
We have many plans for the year but our vision remains the same: that every child thrives. This is in faith, learning and wellbeing at school and in life. Our particular focus area for 2022 will be to firstly enable our children to help others through Catholic social justice initiatives both locally and globally. Secondly, our learning focus will be to ensure every child improves in English and Maths by at least, but hopefully more, than expected growth. This means whatever your current knowledge and skills are, you need to improve. To help us in our improvement journey we are very fortunate to have Lyn Sharratt, an international school improvement consultant, to assist us in pursuing our goal.
Of course, the year will also be full of fun, including celebrating the Firefly Arts Festival, performing the ‘Hoodwinked’ musical, Colour-thon, Fete, Sports galore, Camps, discos and parent social occasions. Fingers crossed, we can get back to ‘normal’ without any COVID interruptions. We have plans for a new sign at the roundabout, a re-configuration of the Albany St pick up car park, a minor renovation of Year 3 rooms and a new undercover area attached to the hall, to provide shelter and better access at the Albany St entrance, which will be partly funded by the Parent Forum.
Thank you for your support with testing for COVID twice weekly. Nearly all grades have had positive cases while the children have been at school. Staffing has been impacted, and this causes interruptions for students but at this stage it is manageable.
There are a number of parent run Facebook groups in various grades which provide a valuable service in communication and harnessing the ‘wisdom of the group’. The Catholic Schools’ Office has released new guidelines for schools and associated parent run social media accounts which will necessitate some changes. I’ll outline these in a letter next week as it requires some further explanation.
Parent/school communication is a vital part of ensuring success at school for your child. We will have the official Parent-teacher meetings mid-March but if you are concerned about anything, don't hesitate to ring or email the teacher.
Grace and peace
Peter Watts
Principal
Faith and Mission News
Leaders Induction Mass
Next Thursday 17 February, our new Captains and Vice Captains will be inducted into their roles at a prayer service in front of Years 5 and 6 due to current COVID restrictions.
Sacramental Program 2022
Once again, students at our school have the opportunity to prepare for the reception of the Sacraments in class time, with additional support from their parents at home.
First Reconciliation- open to students in Year 4-6
Date to be confirmed: 29 March
First Eucharist- open to students in Year 4-6
Date to be confirmed : 18 & 19 June
Please complete this Google form to enrol your child in the preparation program for the Sacrament of First Reconciliation and First Eucharist by Friday 25 February. A letter containing further details will follow soon after.
Confirmation - open to students in Year 3-6
Date to be confirmed: 21 September
Details for the Sacramental Program for Confirmation will be sent home in Term 2.
Welcome, Fr Peter!
Unfortunately, due to health issues, our Parish Administrator, Fr Shabas has had to return to India. Fr Joe is now our Parish Administrator and we welcome Fr Peter Rebello, also a Carmelite Priest, to our parish. Fr Joy continues to be our school chaplain for 2022 and we look forward to sharing many wonderful celebrations of our faith with him.
Naomi Loader- Assistant Principal Mission
Dominique Montford - Leader of School Catechesis
Maria Woods - Leader of School Evangelisation
2021/2022 Upcoming Events
February 2022
| 13 | St Augustine's Golf Day |
| 18 | Swimming Program - Years 3 & 4 |
| 21-22 | School Photos |
| 22 | Chicken Burger Day |
| 23 | Kinder 101 Night 7:00-8:00pm - 2022 Kindergarten |
| 25 | St Augustine's Swimming Carnival - Years 3-6 |
March 2022
| 2 | Ash Wednesday |
| 4 | Swimming Program - Years 3 & 4 |
| 8 | Chicken Burger Day - Years 3 & 4 |
| 11 | Swimming Program - Years 5 & 6 |
| 18 | Swimming Program - Years 5 & 6 |
| 25 | Swimming Program - Years 5 & 6 |
Photo Day reminder: 21 & 22 Feb
Dear Parents and Carers
A reminder that our school photos are scheduled for Monday and Tuesday of Week 4 (21 and 22 February). Please complete the School Photo envelope order form and return it to school on or before Monday 21 February. Should you wish for your children to have a sibling photo, a sibling envelope can be collected from the school office.
The schedule requires flexibility however, we have classes allocated to the following days:
Monday 21 Feb - Years K-4 class and individual photos; sibling photos
Tuesday 22 Feb - Years 5-6 class and individual photos; sibling photos
Although late orders for individual and class photos will be accepted online at The School Photographer, there are no late orders accepted for sibling photos.
Kind regards
Naomi Loader
Assistant Principal - Mission
2022 Kinder Information Night - Wed 23 Feb
A big first week for our 2022 Kinders!
Sport News & Sport Calendar
ST AUGUSTINE’S SCHOOL SPORT - Term 1
Years K-2 - Catch, Cricket and Athletics (Thursdays - Weeks 1-10)
Our K-2 students are working hard on developing their catching skills with catch games, learning to bat and bowl with cricket and preparing for their athletics carnival with long jump, sprints and throws. Please ensure your child has their hat and drink bottle on Thursdays.
Years 3 and 4 - Swimming Program (Fridays - Weeks 1, 2, 3 & 5)
Students in Years 3 and 4 commenced their Swimming Program last week. It was wonderful to see lots of smiles and students enjoying fun and fitness in the water. A reminder that our Year 3-6 Swimming Carnival will be held in Week 4.
Years 5 and 6 - Athletics and Cross Country Training (Fridays - Weeks 1,2,3 & 5)
Year 5 and 6 students will be in training to kick off the term! Athletics and Cross Country are on the agenda. Students will be refining their long jump, shot put and sprinting skills as well as practicing Cross Country at Brelsford Park in preparation for the Cross Country Trials later in the term. Please ensure your child has a water bottle and hat on sport days.
LISMORE DIOCESE SUMMER SPORTS TRIALS - BASKETBALL
A big congratulations to our students who attended the Lismore Diocese Summer Sports Trials in basketball this week. Amy King, Layla Woodcock, Aribelle Dawes, Coco Chiswell and Max Roulstone were all selected for the Lismore Diocese team to attend the Polding Basketball Championships in Tamworth later this month. Well done!
CLARENCE ZONE SUMMER SPORTS TRIALS - CRICKET
Yesterday, seven St Augustine’s students attended the Zone Summer Sports Trials (Cricket) - Parker Swan, Eli Butcher, Eric Greenwood, Alex Greenwood, Riley Wood, Frankie Selmes and Khaleb Muir-Nicholls. All students are to be congratulated on their good sportsmanship and high level of cricket skills.
Congratulations to Riley Wood and Parker Swan who have been selected to attend the Lismore Diocese Summer Sports Trials (Cricket) to be held in Lismore 16 March.
CLARENCE ZONE REPRESENTATIVE SWIMMING TRIALS - 16 February
Good luck to our swim team who are competing at the Clarence Zone Representative Swimming Trials next week in Maclean. We wish you all fast times and a great day!
CLARENCE ZONE WINTER SPORTS TRIALS - 22 February
Soccer, Netball, Rugby League and Rugby Union
Nominations are open to students in Years 5 and 6 for the Clarence Zone Winter Sports Trials to be held in Grafton and Woolgoolga 22 February. Notes have been given to interested students. Please return the permission slips to the office ASAP.
ST AUGUSTINE’S YEAR 3-6 SWIMMING CARNIVAL - 25 February
The St Augustine’s Year 3-6 Swimming Carnival is being held on Friday 25 February 2022. The venue will be the Coffs Harbour War Memorial Olympic Pool. A note with detailed information for the carnival was sent home with students this week. Covid 19 restrictions apply to this carnival and will be detailed prior to the day.
Candice Butcher
St Augustine’s Sport Coordinator
SPORT CALENDAR - TERM 1 2022
| February 2022 | |
| 16 | Clarence Zone Representative Swimming Trials (Maclean) |
| 17 | Clarence Zone Summer Sports - Trials Touch Football (Yamba) |
| 18 | Lismore Diocesan AFL Trials (Grafton) |
| 22 | Clarence Zone Winter Sports Trials - Soccer (Grafton) Netball, Rugby League, Rugby Union (Woolgoolga) |
| 23 | Lismore Diocese Representative Swimming Trials (Murwillumbah) |
| 25 | St Augustine’s Year 3-6 Swimming Carnival (Coffs Harbour) |
| 25 | Polding Summer Sports Trials - Basketball (Tamworth) |
| March 2022 | |
| 1 | Mid North Coast Rugby Gala Day (Coffs Harbour) |
| 8 | Lismore Diocesan Summer Sports Trials - Touch Football (Lismore) |
| 10 | SAPS Rugby Training starts |
| 11 | Lismore Diocesan Winter Sports Trials (Grafton) |
| 16 | Netball NSW Schools Cup (Coffs Harbour) |
| 22 | NSW CPS Polding Swimming Championships (Homebush) |
| 25 | Polding Touch Football (Port Macquarie) |
| 31 | NSW PSSA Swimming Championships (Homebush) |
| 31 | Polding AFL (Newclastle) |
| April 2022 | |
| 4 | St Augustine’s Cross Country Trials (Brelsford Park) |
Lismore Diocese Summer Sports Trials - Basketball
Cricket - Year 2
Long Jump - Year 2
Parent Forum
On behalf of the Parent Forum a very big and warm welcome back to all our St Augustine’s families and a very special welcome to all those families joining us for the first time in 2022! It is wonderful to have you and we hope that you and your child’s start to the school year has been a good one.
Despite another tricky start to the year with the latest covid developments it’s great to see happy kids back at school amongst their friends and teachers and eager to learn and absorb all that school life has to offer. I have kids in year 4, year 1 and kindergarten and they were all busting to get to school...that speaks volumes of the community we have here!
As things hopefully settle into a new normal, the Parent Forum is looking forward to moving ahead with plans to have more face to face opportunities for families to meet and connect as well as some social and fundraising events for the new undercover/multipurpose space being planned for the Albany St area.
The new parent community on Facebook is kicking on and it’s great to see old and new families joining and participating in this group. If you haven’t joined yet just follow this link:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/staugustinesparents
As always we love to hear your feedback, questions and ideas. We hold our meetings twice a term and provide regular feedback to the parent body. Feel free to contact us via the the Facebook group or email us at sapsparentforum@outlook.com
God bless,
Fran Davis
Learning and Teaching
Mathematics: MAI Assessments
In the Diocese of Lismore Catholic schools, we believe that every student has the right to quality and equitable learning experiences that promote the communication of truth and abundance of life for all students. Our beliefs align closely with the core beliefs of the EMU (Extending Mathematical Understanding) whole school approach.
The core beliefs of the whole school approach are that:
- It is a fundamental right of every student to be numerate
- All students can achieve high standards given the right time, support and opportunity
- Early and on-going intervention are essential
- All teachers need to be able to articulate the instructional decisions based on their data and pedagogical content knowledge
This whole school approach emphasises quality classroom teaching and learning of Mathematics. To ensure the best outcomes and support for students the Mathematics Assessment Interview (MAI) is undertaken by every student in our diocesan primary schools at the beginning of each year. The MAI data provides valuable information for classroom teachers that allows their planned learning experiences to be targeted to the needs of their learners.
During Week’s 2 and 3 at St Augustine’s Year 1-6 students will participate in a mathematical assessment interview (MAI). Each child will have a 1-1 interview with their teacher who will ask them a series of questions. These questions and answers help us understand more deeply where each child’s learning is in Mathematics at the start of the year. The information gained from the interview helps us plot their growth point and understand how they solve mathematical problems. Kindergarten students complete the MAI as part of their Best Start interview at the beginning of the year. Each interview takes approximately 20 minutes to complete.
Save the date: Kindergarten 101 Night
Wednesday 23 February 7:00- 8:00pm
All 2022 Kindergarten parents are invited to an evening where you will find out more about what learning looks like in Kindergarten and how you can best support your child at home. The night will commence with a welcome and cuppa in the top assembly area (where students were dropped for kinder orientation), followed by a series of short sessions on learning, logistics and intervention. There will be lots of time to answer questions.
Digital Learning Portfolios
At St Augustine’s we know that parent engagement in learning leads to improved outcomes for students of all ages. We believe that parents play an essential role as the first educators of children, and ongoing, active engagement of parents, families and communities has a major impact on a child’s success at school. We understand that teachers and schools can support parent engagement in learning by building partnerships to connect learning at home and school.
This year we are continuing the use of Seesaw school-wide as a strategy for building partnerships between school and home. It is our intention that Seesaw will encourage conversations between students and families centred on learning. Our goal is to continue to build connections between families to student learning and celebrate student growth.
What is Seesaw?
Seesaw is a student driven digital portfolio; a simple way for students to record and share what's happening in the classroom. It gives students a place to document their learning, be creative and learn how to use technology. Each student gets their own journal and will add things to it, like photos, videos, drawings, or notes.
Seesaw is an exciting way to connect school and home. You can add a comment to your child’s work that they will be able to read. You can also record your comment too. It is important, however, to remember that if you need to contact your child’s teacher please email them rather than using Seesaw.
How will it work?
Students will typically post once a week, some may post more frequently so you may receive more frequent notifications.
Each post will inform you of learning at school from week to week. The choice of the work posted is made by the student and approved by the teacher. Learning posted may come from any learning area and can be written, drawn, recorded etc. Posts typically will be a student’s own work. However, where it is a group task, students must acknowledge this on the post and have it be approved by the teacher and others in the group.
For those parents not connected to their child’s journal, over the next week you will receive an email from your child’s class teacher via Seesaw with a link to register and access your child’s journal. The email will explain:
- How to access your child’s Seesaw Journal from various devices
- Parent Protocols ie Please do not send messages through Seesaw to the teacher. Please contact them via email or by phone.
- How to add comments to your child’s post
- Student Protocols for posting
- Following the St Augustine’s School Internet Code of Conduct at all times when posting to Seesaw.
- The importance of students asking permission from the teacher to post group photos as some students may not have permission to have their image published
- Who to contact if you need assistance
Canteen Roster
Week beginning 14 February
- Monday - V Wall
- Tuesday - M Black, M Black
- Wednesday - P Duffy, B Symons
- Thursday - C Williams - Help Needed !
- Friday - G Dodd, L Knight, W McLean - Help Needed !
Week beginning 21 February
- Monday - L Seccombe
- Tuesday - M Black, M Black, C Williams
- Wednesday - J Martin, N Flintoff
- Thursday - S Crawford, M Van Den Boom
- Friday - P Duffy, W McLean, D McNeill - Help Needed !
Week beginning 28 February
- Monday - M Mainey
- Tuesday - M Black, M Black,
- Wednesday - C Jones, A McCann
- Thursday - J Martin, C Williams
- Friday - W McLean, G Franklin - Help Needed !
Week beginning 7 March
- Monday - Help Needed !
- Tuesday - M Black, M Black, M Mainey
- Wednesday - C Jones - Help Needed !
- Thursday - L Horne
- Friday - P Duffy, W McLean - Help Needed !
Canteen News
Canteen helpers are always required, especially on Wednesdays as this is our sushi day, and on Fridays. Help is needed for three hours from 9:00 am until 12:00 noon once every four weeks. Grandparents are very welcome also. If you are able to help in the Canteen on any day please call us on 6652 1204.
Alicia Betland & Rosa Thomas - Canteen Managers
Rugby Union - St Augustine's
St Augustine’s Rugby Union
We are looking forward to another fun filled rugby season in 2022. If you are a returning player please make sure you are on the correct ‘What’s App’ group for the team you will be playing with this year. If you are a new player please contact me on 0438 427670 so I can put you in touch with your team manager. We are especially looking for players turning 7 or 8 this year to play in our Under 8’s side.
Some notes for the diary:
- Training starts Thursday 10 March at 3.15pm. Students walk down to fields straight after the bell. Parents to collect students by 4.30pm.
- First game is Friday 29th April. Most games are at Rugby Park, Toormina. Some away games are in Grafton and Dorrigo throughout the season.
Registration
Cost: $150
First 100 receive a Crusaders Jacket. (St Augustine’s Colours).
How to register:
1- download your active kids voucher
2- download the ‘rugby explorer’ app or visit the webpage
3- choose club ‘Coffs Harbour Crusaders Junior Rugby Union Club’
4- select ‘player’ then ‘XV’ then ‘season’.
Please contact us if you have any trouble registering.
Rugby Gear
- Headgear, mouthguard, boots
- SAPS rugby shorts and socks from Slick Sportswear
- Jerseys will be allocated at training
Candice Butcher
St Augustine’s Sport Coordinator
Seasons for Growth
This Term, we will be running the Seasons for Growth Program. Seasons is an innovative grief and loss program that uses the imagery of the seasons to illustrate the experience of grief. Mrs Eve Louden, School Chaplain, will be running the program. If you feel that your child would benefit from this program, please email naomi.loader@lism.catholic.
Prepare for Easter
School Fee Payment Reminder
Parenting Ideas
Community Notices
