Dear Parents and Carers 

We have certainly hit Winter this week! The days and the mornings are now getting colder. All students should now be wearing the full winter uniform. Thank you to families who have provided feedback on the school uniform. The survey will be open until Friday 13 June. 

Congratulations to Declan, Andre, Rayne, and Byron who represented our school at the Cross Country in Sydney on Wednesday. Competing at this level is a fantastic achievement, and we are incredibly proud of their effort, determination, and team spirit. What a great experience to be part of such a competitive event. Well done to everyone.

 

We’re also excited to share that our new representative running singlets have arrived! They look excellent on the students and will be a great addition to our representative sport uniform. We look forward to seeing them worn at future events.

Teaching and Learning

At St Mary’s, we pride ourselves on delivering an excellent curriculum that meets the diverse needs of our students and prepares them for lifelong learning. We are deeply committed to creating a learning environment where every student can thrive, and we believe that every child can learn and grow with the right support.

To ensure our teaching is current, evidence-based, and engaging, our teachers are continuously supported through high-quality professional learning and access to rich curriculum resources. We are committed to investing in our teaching team so that all students benefit from outstanding learning experiences.

Our approach to teaching and learning is both practical and research-informed, ensuring that what we do in the classroom makes a meaningful difference. We focus on three key priorities to continuously strengthen our practice:

1. Improving the quality of curriculum resources available to teachers
2. Delivering high-quality professional learning opportunities for all staff
3. Implementing strong assessment protocols to inform teaching and support every learner

At St Mary’s, we believe that learning is innate, ongoing, and fundamental to being human. Each child brings their own unique cultural, emotional, spiritual, and social experiences into the classroom. It is our responsibility to engage, challenge, affirm, and support the development of the whole child.

We are especially proud of the support we provide to students who experience challenges in reading and writing. St Mary’s uses a range of high-quality literacy intervention programs to assist students with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and Specific Language Disorder (SLD). These programs are carefully selected to ensure that all students have access to the learning tools they need to succeed.

Our Classroom Support Team, led by Mrs Jessie White, works alongside teachers to provide targeted assistance in the classroom. This includes working with the whole class, small groups, or individual students, depending on their needs. Support is guided by each student’s Personal Plan and is delivered through a team-based approach that includes collaboration with families, teachers, and external specialists.

Our Classroom Support Assistants are highly skilled and exceptional at what they do. Their care, professionalism, and commitment to student learning make a significant difference in the lives of our students each day.

Our team consists of:

• Mrs Jessie White – Classroom Support Coordinator
• Mrs Janet Ryan
• Mrs Shellie Butler
• Mrs Brooke Connaughton
• Ms Afton Haultain
• Mrs Nikita Alves
• Mr Dominic Ziino
• Mrs Cathy Smith
• Mrs Hanna Llyod
• Mrs Michelle Zutt

Each member of our Classroom Support Team brings a wealth of experience. Whether working with individual students, small groups, or the whole class, they play a vital role in helping every child access learning and achieve success. We are grateful for the dedication and care they bring to our school community.

NSW Health influenza vaccination campaign
The NSW Health influenza vaccination campaign aims to raise awareness of the importance of flu vaccination during winter and help increase uptake of the flu vaccine in NSW, particularly for people who are at risk. Please see below the vaccination booking link and resources on the NSW Health website.

Links: Book your flu vaccination

2025 Respiratory illness campaign resources 

Healthy Eating Active Living campaign
NSW Health’s Healthy Eating Active Living campaign aims to provide budget-friendly and accessible ways for families to develop healthy habits.
Healthy Eating Active Living - Getting healthy starts with small steps 

Call Healthdirect 1800 022 222
Call Healthdirect is a NSW Health service that provides families with free, easy access to health advice, care and treatment for non-life-threatening conditions. NSW Health is running an awareness campaign to promote the use of this service.
Call healthdirect
Save the Healthdirect number now - get instant health advice and treatment when winter illness strikes

Blessings on the week ahead.

Warm regards
Jo

Johanna Wain
Principal

Dear Parents and Carers,

READING FLUENCY
At school, we often talk about the importance of reading, but one key part of learning to read well is something called reading fluency. So, what exactly is it—and why is it such a big deal?

What Is Reading Fluency?
Reading fluency is the ability to read a text smoothly, accurately, and with expression. It’s not just about reading quickly—it’s about reading in a way that sounds natural, like talking. A fluent reader:

• Recognises words automatically (without needing to sound them out)
• Reads aloud with appropriate speed and tone
• Understands what they’re reading as they go

Why Is It Important?
Fluency is a bridge between decoding words and comprehending text. When children read fluently, they can focus on what the text means rather than getting stuck on sounding out each word. This leads to a greater understanding of what they read, an increased confidence in reading aloud and independently, as well as improving performance not just in literacy but in all areas, as deeper comprehension leads to making stronger connections to all learning.

How Can Parents Help at Home?
Here are a few simple ways to help:

• Read aloud together – Take turns reading pages or sentences. Model expressive reading.
• Listen to audiobooks – Hearing fluent reading helps children develop a sense of rhythm and expression.
• Re-read favourite books – Repetition builds confidence and fluency.
• Talk about the story – Ask questions and chat about what’s happening to build comprehension.

Reading fluency is a skill that grows with time, practice, and encouragement. By supporting your child’s reading journey at home, you’re helping them build a strong foundation for lifelong learning. Keep an eye out in future newsletters as I unpack some of the different strategies we are using daily to teach, practice and improve our reading fluency at St Mary’s.

PUBLIC SPEAKING
As part of the English syllabus, the Oral Language and Communication outcomes focus on developing students’ skills in interacting, listening for understanding, and presenting. One key component supporting these outcomes is the preparation of speeches for the Southern Region Public Speaking event.

Stage 2 (Year 3 & 4) - Communicates with familiar audiences for social and learning purposes, by interacting, understanding and presenting.

• Plan and deliver spoken presentations using language and structure to suit purpose and audience

Stage 3 (Year 5 & 6) - Communicates to wide audiences with social and cultural awareness, by interacting and presenting, and by analysing and evaluating for understanding.

• Deliver presentations suited to purpose and audience
• Experiment with volume, pace and intonation to enhance meaning when presenting and reciting, and recognise the effects these have on audience understanding

This term, our Stage 2 and Stage 3 students have been working on their speeches in preparation for the Southern Region Public Speaking event, which will take place early in Term 3. Over the coming weeks, each student will present their speech to their class. Teachers will then select two finalists from each grade to represent their year level in the event.

The topics for this year are as follows:

Year 3 - If animals could talk, what would they say?

Year 4 - A much needed invention

Year 5 - What would I do with a time machine? 

Year 6 - What mistakes teach us?

We look forward to hearing our students present their speeches and sharing their ideas with confidence and creativity.

CARROLL COLLEGE MUSICAL
On Wednesday 25 June, all students from Year 4-6 will travel to Bay Pavilions, Batemans Bay to attend the Carroll College school musical ‘We Will Rock You: School Edition by Queen and Ben Elton.’. Parents are urged to complete the permission note which will be available via Compass on Monday.

Additional performances which families are invited to attend are scheduled for 6:30pm on Wednesday 25 June and Thursday 26 June. Tickets cost $20 for adults and $15 for children. You can purchase tickets using the following link

https://bpav.sales.ticketsearch.com/sales/salesevent/147478

AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY (ACU) CANBERRA
We welcome Miss Olivia Ritchie to St Mary’s Primary School. Olivia is studying a teaching degree at ACU in Canberra and is completing a 3 week practical in our Year 5 classroom alongside Megan Grant. We look forward to supporting Olivia and her growth on her learning journey to become a teacher.

ICAS ASSESSMENTS
These optional academic competitions test students’ higher-order thinking skills and develop critical thinking and problem solving through academic challenges. St Mary's is offering Maths, English, Science and Spelling Bee for Years 2-6 and Writing and Digital Technology for Year 3-6. 

Every student who participates is celebrated and recognised with a printed certificate in each subject area, and an online results report to track development each year. Top performers are eligible for one of the highly coveted ICAS medals.

To learn more about this year’s exciting ICAS competition, visit: (icasassessments.com/products-icas/)

How to participate in ICAS  
If you wish for your child to participate in ICAS this year, please:  

1. Read about ICAS subjects and prices here: (icasassessments.com/products-icas/)  
2. Read the Privacy Collection Statement below.
3. Read the terms and conditions here: (icasassessments.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2023-ICAS-Assessments-Schools-TsCs_S2023.V6-1.pdf) 
4. Go to the Parent Portal to sign up to chosen subject areas here: (shop.icasassessments.com/pages/pps)  
5. Enter our school’s access code – SJE888 
6. Enter your child’s details, select the subject areas your child would like to participate in, then proceed to payment.

ICAS results and certificates
All assessments will be conducted online, at school. We will notify you of the date(s) that we will run ICAS assessments, and when your child’s ICAS results are ready. Your child’s ICAS certificates will be delivered to school. Once we have received them, we will present them to your child to bring home. The back of the certificate will show your child’s ICAS results and the login details, “TAP ID and Pin”. - Use these to enter the Results Portal orti.icasassessments.com/ortiStudent

Privacy collection statement  
The following information is a privacy notification about how your child’s data is kept private and secure.

ICAS Assessment is owned by Janison Solutions Pty Ltd (We, Us, Our).

To deliver assessment products, Janison will require your child’s School to obtain your consent to provide Janison with certain personal information of students. Janison will collect, store, use, disclose and otherwise deal with such personal information in accordance with its privacy policy (below). We are aware of our responsibility to protect personal information related to children and students from being disclosed when we deliver an ICAS Assessments product. Unless you, as the child’s legal guardian consents, we will not:

• collect any personal information or data of children other than the information we need for the successful completion of an assessment, test, or exam. 

• transfer any personal information we obtain from a child in the delivery of assessments and tests to any jurisdiction outside of Australia. 

• share any personal information relating to children with any third parties (except for those third parties necessary for us to carry out our Services or provide our Products e.g., medal engraving). 

• use any personal information or data relating to children for marketing purposes. 

You can view our full privacy policy at https://www.janison.com/privacy-policy/. 

We may retain personal information and data relevant to a child for their future purposes or for research purposes by Janison for the duration of the school life cycle of the child. However, if you or your child at any time wish to have their personal information or data removed from our systems, they or you may opt out by simply contacting our Privacy Officer at privacy@janison.com or by contacting icasassessments@janison.com.

ICAS Assessments 2025

 Parent orders close Monday 28 July 2025

God bless and take care,

Mrs Sue Heffernan
Assistant Principal

 A day in the life of Year 2

Welcome to a day in the life of Year 2 at St Mary’s. Our days are jam-packed with learning and fun. Come inside our classroom and take a look …

English
We begin each day (Monday-Thursday) with our English block. Spelling is first. Recently, we have been focusing on reviewing Tricky Words, words spelled with the phonemes ‘ar’, ‘ey’ and ‘_y’, spelling rules for adding suffixes (-ing and ‘-ful’), and ‘r-controlled’ vowels. After Spelling, we move into our explicit Writing lessons where we have been learning about conjunctions (because, but, so, and, or) and most recently, we planned narratives using Story Grammar. We were very excited to learn about editing and to use ‘Power Pens’ to edit our writing. After Writing, we engage in Independent Learning time, where we practise the skills taught in Spelling and Writing, while Mrs Schofield works with individuals and small groups on targeted reading skills. Lastly, we practise Reading Fluency with a partner. On Thursdays and Fridays, we also engage in explicit Comprehension & Fluency lessons. 

Mathematics
After the first break, it’s time for Mathematics. We begin each lesson with a Daily Review. During this 10-20 minute session, we move quickly through the skills we have been taught so far, cementing our understanding and firmly planting the concepts in our long-term memory. Currently, our Daily Review includes skip counting (2s, 3s, 5s, 10s), multiplication using arrays, addition and subtraction using the bar model and an empty number line, features of 3D objects, time, number of days in each month/year, as well as chance and probability. We then move into our Explicit Lesson. Currently, we are learning about writing and solving 5 x multiplication equations, and clockwise/anti-clockwise turns. Just like in English, we frequently use mini whiteboards so Mrs. Schofield can quickly check for understanding and make corrections as needed.

Religion
After Mathematics, we enjoy calming our minds and bodies with daily Prayer & Christian Meditation.  When we pray, we talk to God and always begin with our School Prayer. Next, we listen to God through meditation. The students are very good at this practice, which they have been doing daily since Kindergarten. After we meditate, the students take turns saying a personal prayer, sharing with the group, or in their hearts. Currently in our Religion lessons, we are learning about The Dignity of the Human Person - how people seek to build and heal relationships through forgiveness and reconciliation. 

A big day so far! What happens next?
Depending on the timetable, in the lesson before and after second break, the students engage in Science, Geography, Performing Arts - Music, Visual Arts, Dhurga or PDHPE lessons:

In Science, we are learning how the properties of materials determine their use.

In Geography, we are learning about people’s connections to places (local and global).

In Performing Arts - Music, Mrs Shannon is teaching us about songs and music for different celebrations.

In PDHPE, we are learning about making healthy choices for our bodies. Mr Hill has been teaching us various athletics skills as we prepare for our first full Athletics Carnival. Exciting times!

In Dhurga, Mr Riley Nolan has been sharing dreamtime stories and teaching us names for land and sea animals. We have used ochre to create traditional artworks. We love to play ‘Riley Says’ (a version of Simon Says with Dhurga names for body parts) at the end of the lesson.

In Visual Arts, we have created a dazzling series of works this term. From delicate, glittery papier-mache birds for our beautiful mums, to Pop-Art inspired animals and glorious, swirling paintings inspired by Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night. Year 2 takes great pride and enjoyment in creating these mini masterpieces, and our colourful classroom is a testament to this!

Before we leave for the day, we gather to say our Farewell Prayer. 

In this classroom, here to pray
First, we thank you for the day
For our family and our friends
Gifts of grace that heaven lends
Living water, daily bread
Countless blessings our God sends
Amen.

On Fridays, we pause to reflect on the week that was - calling to mind something we are proud of, something that made us happy, and if there is anything we would like to leave behind …

Teaching this wonderful community of learners is a true pleasure. I am so proud of every one of them!

Mrs Gen Schofield
Year 2 Teacher

NSWPSSA Rugby League Championships
Last week, Xavier E in Year 5 competed at the NSWPSSA Rugby League Championships in Blacktown. Over the course of 3 days, Xavier played 6 games with students from Sydney, Parramatta. Canberra Goulburn, Wagga and Wollongong Dioceses to form the MacKillop Team. This in itself is a huge achievement! Xavier’s team then played against teams from Polding Diocese, including North Sydney

We were lucky enough to tune in via the live stream link so his classmates in Year 5 could celebrate and share in his football successes. Not long after switching on, we witnessed some great tackles, impressive tries and goal kicking on display for his newly found team. Not only are the students in Year 5 extremely proud of Xave, but as is the whole of St Mary’s. Congratulations Xave, we know you will take so much of what you learnt in Sydney at this competition and bring it back to improve your weekend game skills.

Xavier E: ‘I had a great week, I met new people, and a friend of Hugo’s family from Sydney which was good. I liked playing with my team but the best thing was scoring 3 tries and kicking the goals for the team.’

MacKillop Soccer Trials
On Friday, 30 May, Mackenzie H in Year 6 competed at the MacKillop Girls Soccer Trials in Sydney as part of The CECG team. Mackenzie played a total of 5 games, making it into the top 20 possible and probable selections. Again, it is such a wonderful achievement at this level, congratulations Mackenzie! Playing at this level with other talented girls is such an excellent opportunity and we will watch this space for Mackenzies future soccer experiences. 

NSWCPS Cross Country
On Wednesday, 4 students from St Mary’s travelled to Sydney as part of the CECG Cross Country team, competing at the NSWCPS Cross Country at the Sydney Equestrian Centre. Congratulations to Byron S (year 2), Rayne C (year 3), Andre L and Declan T (year 6) on representing both St Mary’s and the CECG Diocese at this very impressive level. Each of our students did an absolutely fantastic job at this event, competing against some fierce competition. The results are in and we are very proud of them all.

Andre came 10th in the 12/13 division which is an amazing accomplishment with being only 30 seconds behind the first place winner over 3km. A huge achievement - well done!

Declan ran a great race and scored himself a PB over the 3km coming in mid field. The 12/13 division times were very tight with only 3 minutes between 1st and final place with over 60 competitors. So a very tough race for both boys.

Rayne managed to come mid field in her 8/9 years age division with a PB, and just shy of a minute from the fastest runner. Pretty amazing for one of the youngest in her division as an 8yo.

Byron ran a fast race as one of the youngest competitors in his age division as only in Year 2, and he ran the course in 9 minutes. Well done everyone!

Tennis Clinics
Last Friday, students in stage 2 and 3 began a 3 week tennis program with Rob Frawley from Batemans Bay Tennis Academy. It was great to see the children hitting the mini courts at school and showing off their skills in the game of tennis. We look forward to continuing the program into week 8, before our K-2 students take over the courts in weeks 9 and week 1 term 3. All students need to wear their sports uniform to school each friday for the duration of the program.

St Mary’s Athletics Carnival
We warmly invite all families and friends to join us at Captain Oldrey Park in Broulee for our school athletics carnival next Wednesday, 18 June. Please ensure you have provided consent via the COMPASS portal for your child/ren to attend. A full schedule of events will be communicated with families once finalised. In exciting news, we will be holding high jump finals at the carnival. This is always a huge highlight to watch. Long jump finals will be held at school on Monday 23 June. We are still in need of volunteers to assist with timekeeping and a few other jobs throughout the day. If you are able to help, please be in touch with me at school or via email megan.grant@cg.catholic.edu.au.

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead.

Mrs Megan Grant
Sports Coordinator

Damian Gerber