Newsletter - 2024 Term 1 Week 3

Calendar

From the Leaders

Mark’s Gospel is bold and challenging. It doesn’t beat around the bush. In Sunday’s Gospel, a few lines tell us that Jesus went into the desert for 40 days and ‘was tempted by Satan.’ He was ‘with the wild beasts’, meaning he was vulnerable as he was immersed in the natural world. This was surely an experience of struggle and growth. Then suddenly Jesus discovers that John the Baptist has been arrested. In a few lines, Mark creates the impression of a challenging time.

How did Jesus respond? He seems to have been enlivened, to have decided to create change. He is full of energy and purpose. ‘The time has come,’ he says. In his vulnerability, he has discovered that ‘the kingdom of God is close at hand.’

Congratulations Year 6 Leaders

Congratulations to our Year 6 Student Leaders who were presented with their badges on Monday afternoon. 

Home Reading Is Ready To Begin For 2024!

All of the grades are preparing to send out home reading information and reading material. In Kindergarten, at present, the focus at home is on reading quality literature to and with your child, and Kindergarten will commence formal home reading later in the term or early Term 2. 

Beginning next week, we will be sending our home reading diaries as well as some optional homework activities that link to the current learning in English. Home reading is supposed to be easy, children should be developing their fluency, comprehension and love of stories. Our main message is that “number level books” do not matter. These books have all been pooled as resources for children to choose from, please disregard the old numbers as they are not intended for the same purpose that they were previously. You may also hear your child or teacher talking about “decodables”. These reading books have a series of words that are easy for children to “decode” or sound out all of the words using their taught strategies. These are used in Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 only until children are able to successfully blend and segment words and understand the alphabetic principle in order to read more independently. Children who can do this are able to choose their readers. Home reading should also always include quality literature. The vocabulary, comprehension and enjoyment that comes from these texts are essential for their little minds. 

Please be aware that some children in Year 3 and 4 may currently still require the use of decodable texts as their syllabus for learning to read has only just changed so they are getting used to a new way of learning that fits the most updated evidence base. During your family sharing times, we will provide all families in Stage 2 with a bookmark that will guide you on how to support your child if they are unsure of a word when reading.

K-2 will send home their reading diaries from Monday to Monday each week. This change was greatly received by our parents last year as it means you as a family have the flexibility to decide which nights suit you. Kindergarten classes will receive rich literature to read with your child and Years 1 and 2 will have 2 decodable readers and a rich literature text. As discussed earlier, re-reading each book for fluency practice will help your child to progress their reading skills.

Years 3-6 will also send home their reading diaries across a seven day period. Although the day may differ slightly depending on some timetables, your family will also have the same flexibility. We still require home reading for every child, we are simply responding to the feedback from families, that some nights are just too difficult, however, the weekend is often a positive time for families to engage with a book.

Student Messages

To help minimise disruptions during learning time, next week we will be implementing a new process for getting messages to students when afternoon arrangements have changed. Message slips will be delivered to the classrooms at 2:45pm daily. If you are needing to get a message to your child, please ensure you phone the office prior to this time. 

Aggies Connects: Stage 2 Years 3 and 4 Come Read and Spell With Me

We have been communicating lots of information about changes to the K-2 syllabus and we are excited to offer a series of short sessions in the library over the next few weeks that will help parents to learn about and understand some of the changes to reading and spelling, especially in the way that you can read with your child at home. You are welcome to bring your child to the morning session, or collect them from the classroom for the afternoon session, so that you can experience the activities with your child. All sessions will have the same information, so choose a time that works for you. We have tried to attach them to pick up and drop off times, to make it easier for families. If you come to a Monday session, you might even like to stay and join us for prayer!

Kindergarten families will then commence their learning about the changes to learning to read later this term or early next term, that came into effect in 2023. If you previously had a child at school, please be reassured the process of learning to read has significantly changed for the better, however, it is very different to your last experience as a parent. Do not worry, we will guide you through, every step of the way.

Years 1-2 will receive a refresher from last year’s learning in the form of a video on Seesaw. We were so grateful for the huge attendance at the Come Read with Me sessions last year and we look forward to providing further learning opportunities for your grades in the coming terms.

Years 5 and 6 are welcome to attend the Come Read and Spell with Me sessions if they wish, as it also provides great information into how to support your child according to the updated English Curriculum, as well as some strategies to help you if they are challenged by reading.

Kindergarten and Their Year 6 Buddies

Ash Wednesday

Staff, students and family members received ashes on their forehead during our Prayer Service on Tuesday morning. The ashes, burnt from last year's leftover blessed palms from Palm Sunday. 

Shrove Tuesday

Thank you to our amazing helpers who prepared pancakes for each of our students to enjoy on Tuesday,

Shrove Tuesday, often referred to as Pancake Day. This is a Christian tradition that marks the day before the start of Lent. It’s a day of preparation and feasting before the 40-day period of fasting and reflection leading up to Easter. On this day, traditionally people indulged in pancakes as a way to use up rich ingredients like eggs, milk, and sugar before the fasting period begins.

Family Sharing Time

We would love to encourage all families to book in to Family Sharing Time with your child’s teacher in Week 5, Monday 26 February - Friday 1 March. For those families who are new to our community, this is a short 5 minute opportunity for you to meet the teacher and share anything that you would like to ensure a successful partnership in 2024. As a school, we place great value on these conversations and it would be wonderful to have everyone join us if possible. Bookings for these time slots will open early next week on School Interviews. The information will be sent via Compass. We will have morning and afternoon times available, to best cater for all family situations. If you are unable to make any of the appointment times, just contact your class teacher to make a mutually convenient time.

Project Compassion

Mr Terry Timbs represented our parish in launching Project Compassion for our school community on Monday morning. At St Agnes’ we have chosen to help support with providing clean water for villages in Samoa.

This year, through Project Compassion, Caritas Australia will ask us to consider several stories of vulnerability and hope in action. Over the coming weeks, we will meet a number of extraordinary women: At St Agnes’ Primary, we are paying particular attention to Leaia from Samoa. In each of the stories there is a partnership involving Caritas Australia and local agencies which has led to new opportunities, not just for an individual but for families and communities. Together we can make a difference ensuring a better future for all generations.

The SRC Mission Team will be leading the Project Compassion fundraising this year which will focus on building a future for the next generations. TAP-ITAS will be the theme for this year's Project Compassion fundraising. Our aim is to help provide clean water for communities in Samoa. Each $5 raised will earn a ‘raindrop’ to be attached to a display in the office towards our TAP-ITAS fundraiser. Classrooms will also display the total amount of ‘raindrops’ they have accumulated towards our school total.

Last year our school was commended for its Chick-itas project and the generosity of our students is a topic of conversation in our parish. More learning about TAP-ITAS will be shared with our students and families in the coming weeks.

NAPLAN

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a point in time assessment of literacy and numeracy skills. Each year students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 participate in tests for writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.

From 2024, NAPLAN has moved to Term 1 and will take place from Wednesday 13 March to Monday 25 March. The reason for this change is so that results can be returned to schools earlier in the year which will support teachers to understand the learning needs of their students and plan accordingly.

NAPLAN tests are just one part of our school learning assessment program and questions are primarily based on knowledge, understanding and skills gained from the prior year of schooling.

In preparation for NAPLAN 2024, our school will undertake activities to help students to become familiar with the format and functionality of the online tests. These activities are not an assessment of student ability and will not be marked. At school we speak very positively about NAPLAN, reassuring and preparing the children for the assessments.

Students and parents can access the public demonstration site (https://www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/public-demonstration-site) to familiarise themselves with NAPLAN and the types of questions and tools available. Excessive preparation for NAPLAN is not required nor recommended. 

If you have any questions or concerns about NAPLAN or your child participating in the assessments, please contact your child’s teacher or Kate de Bressac.

Carpark Pick Up

A friendly reminder to all families using our Carpark Pick up that it is a requirement of using this service that cars are not to park across the pedestrian crossing and are to keep the traffic flowing along Boronia Street. This means vehicles should not deliberately ‘go slow’ at the top end of Boronia Street, nor stop before the school entrance waiting to enter the carpark.  Staff do not begin loading students into cars until 3:15pm as we need to wait for all students to be dismissed and assembled to make the process run smoothly.

Thanks to all families who are appreciative of this service.

School Counsellor

Sports News

Winter Sports Trials

Week 4 begins with approximately 80 Year 5 and 6 students attending the Winter Sports Trials on Monday. Students will compete for Zone selection for Diocesean trials in Grafton on Friday 8 March. Our students will be participating in Soccer, Netball and Rugby League. Students will travel by bus to the venues. League and Soccer is at St Joseph’s Regional College, and Netball is at the Port Macquarie Indoor Stadium. The bus will leave school at 8:15am. Please ensure your children are at school before this time and ready for the day with all needed protective equipment, hats, lunches and water bottles.

The Rugby Union trials will be held on Wednesday 28 February in Kempsey. Please note that there is no bus for the Rugby Union trials, and families will be required to organise transport for students. Students nominated for Hockey will be selected straight through to a Diocesean level. We wish all our students competing in the Winter Sports Trials the best of luck.

Zone Swimming Trials

On Monday, our Aggies swimmers took to the Wauchope pool to compete for selection at the Zone Swimming Carnival. Students competed in freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and the 4x50m individual medley events. There was some fast action in the water, and once again, the Aggies spirit of sport was a highlight of the day. Our students cheered their friends and clapped all swimmers as they completed their events. Congratulations to the students who gained selection and will compete against all other Catholic schools in the Hastings Zone at Macksville on Tuesday 20 February. Please note that the bus for Zone Swimming will leave school at 7:00am. 

Polding Basketball

Last Friday, Flynn Wehlow travelled to Coffs Harbour to compete in the Polding Basketball Trials. Flynn showed off his skills through different drill sessions before playing 4 games of Basketball. At this level of selection, Flynn is competing against the best basketball players in NSW Catholic schools. Congratulations Flynn on your achievements and making it to Polding selections.

KM Club

On Wednesday, students started their journey for the KM Club in Term 1. Our goal is visit the Western Plains Zoo, Canberra and Melbourne by running the total amount of 1,664 km. 58 students showed up on day one to get the tour started. KM Club is run by the Year 6 Leadership Team and provide students the opportunity for some physical activity on Monday, Wednesday and Friday Mornings. 

Future Dates - Term One

• Friday 23 February - Diocesan AFL Trials, Grafton
• Wednesday 28 February - Zone Rugby Union Trials, Kempsey
• Friday 1 March - Diocesan Swimming Carnival, Macksville
• Wednesday 6 March - Diocesan Hockey Trials, Grafton
• Friday 8 March - Diocesan Winter Sports Trials, Grafton (pupil free day)
• Tuesday 9 April - Polding AFL Trials, Newcastle
• Thursday 11 and Friday 12 March - NSW PSSA Swimming, Homebush Aquatic Centre

Student Awards

Congratulations to the following students who received an award at today's assembly:

Amber Sage N, Angus D, Archie M, Ardan B, Aubree S, Benjamin O, Cedar B, Charlotte F, Chelsea O, Chloe L, Eleanore M, Ella M, Grace B, Harper C, Isolde O, Jack D, Jackson L, Jala C, Jay N, Jonah A, Kai N, Kanata N, Keyana W, Khuong V, Lachlan C, Liam C, Mahli-Lee W, Marlie B, Matilda W, Mikayla O, Mike R, Narz M, Norah M, Oliver W, Patrick P, Poppy C, Raquel R, Sadie O, Sam B, Sophie C, Tara A, Xavier H and Xy C

Positive Behaviour Support

This week we have continued with our focus on learning about our whole school expectations by following the 4R’s at St Agnes’. Knowing where our calm down corner is in our classrooms and where we can find our Zones Toolbox to help us regulate our emotions.

Family Resources

Canteen News

Parish News

Community News