ISSUE 15: 11th June 2021
Principal / Executive Leadership Team
Dear Parents, Guardians & Carers,
May my horizon this day, Lord, not be so foreshortened that I notice little. Instead, open my eyes that I may see afar and above as well as in front and beneath me. Lead me to keep my life in perspective and balance and discover that the thread of your presence is interwoven through the events and people of this day. Amen.
It has been great to see all students returning to school in a very enthusiastic and positive manner this week. Well done to all students. We hope that everyone enjoys the upcoming long weekend. The school will be closed on Monday for the Queen’s Birthday public holiday.
School Reports will be made available to parents next Friday morning from 8.15am via SIMON. Simply go onto your PAM account, click on your child’s profile and select Assessment Reports in the profile menu to view your child’s School Report.
Parent-Teacher meetings will be held in the last week of term on Tuesday, 22nd & Wednesday 23rd June. Bookings are now open on SIMON (PAM). Go to your PAM homepage and click on Parent-Teacher Interviews, select child's name, select year level, select an interview time and then click on Book Interview. Contact the school office if you have any questions or are having difficulty booking a meeting. We encourage all parents to attend these meetings to discuss your child’s achievements and areas for improvement.
Program Support Group Meetings (PSG) are being held at school this Tuesday, 15th June and the following week on Monday, 21st June. Parents will be notified of their child’s scheduled PSG meeting date/time via SIMON. Each student's PLP will be attached to an email noting the date/time of meeting. Meetings that are not scheduled on the 15th and 21st June will be held as part of the Parent/Teacher Interview process on 22nd & 23rd June. Parents are expected to attend these meetings.
A reminder that until further notice the following restrictions will be in place for parents and visitors:
- Whole School Assemblies and Liturgies will be for students and staff only.
- Afterschool Care will continue as normal for those children who attend Camp Australia.
- Face masks are mandatory when onsite.
- Any parent or visitor onsite for 15 minutes or longer must sign in using the QR CODE provided at front reception.
Our annual Sacred Heart Feast Day will be held on the last day of Term Two - Friday, 25th June. A more detailed outline of the day will be shared next week, however the basic details at this stage are: Feast Day Mass @ 9.30am, Family Group activities between recess & lunch, Feast Day lunch (hamburger & ice cream) & Assembly.
Parents of students who have qualified for the Region Cross Country please note that the date has changed again. This will now be held in the last week of Term Two on Tuesday, 22nd June. Please refer to SIMON Calendar (PAM) for all up to date events.
School Advisory Council members please note that next week’s scheduled meeting has been cancelled.
Thanks to Amaroo for hosting today’s Assembly. Cooinda will be hosting next week’s Assembly, which will be held in the Stadium at 2.30pm. Under current restrictions parents will be unable to attend however we will let families know if this changes. Assemblies can be viewed via our school’s Facebook page or newsletter.
In God we trust.
Ryan O’Callaghan (Deputy Principal)
Religious Education News
Cooinda, Wahroonga, Mrs O’Callaghan & Miss Sheridan will attend this Wednesday’s Parish Mass at the Church, beginning at 9.30am. Unfortunately due to COVID restrictions parents will be unable to attend.
Parish News - Under current COVID restrictions, Church numbers are capped at 75 for masses at Mildura, Red Cliffs & Merbein.
Ryan O'Callaghan (Religious Education Leader)
Learning Diversity & Wellbeing News
As per information in Principal/Leadership Team News, Program Support Group (PSG) meetings will go ahead on 15th and 21st June. Please notify either the office or Mrs Deacon to confirm your child’s meeting. Also notify the office or Mrs Deacon if you cannot attend. All meetings will be held in the school’s boardroom. Parents will need to sign in prior to the meeting via the office. Please click on the link below to access information to parents on PSG meetings.
Learning & Teaching News
Nothing to report this week.
General News
A reminder that Term Fees are now due and payable. Families who chose to pay Termly via Direct Credit, please ensure you do so prior to the end of Term. Thank you.
Canteen News
Please be advised that you can no longer cancel lunch orders online. This has come about due to parents running a continuous credit and not using this up on the next lunch order placed.
If you require to cancel an order, please phone the office (50231204) during school hours. Your label will be given to the canteen and you may use this order on another day, by phoning the school and placing that order. This will only be valid for one month.
If when logging onto your account you see that you have a credit, please use the credit and not pay with a Credit Card. All current credits will be valid until the end of this Term (25th June). If unused they will be not valid after that date.
To use a credit on your account you order your child’s lunch as normal. Once you have submitted your order, the option to use the credit on your account will come up in the payment section. Please be aware you cannot use Bank Transfer, only Credit Card to pay any balance owing after the credit has been used.
Prep Unit News
WOW! What a busy week we have had in the Prep Unit. On Monday we did two Science experiments that related to our Weather topic. The first experiment was ‘Rain in a Jar’ and the second experiment was ‘A Rain Cloud in a Jar’. On Tuesday morning we made paper bag kites, flew them outside and then we wrote about what we did. In the afternoon we had a special visitor come in to talk to us about the Sisters of Mercy and how our wonderful school began for our Religion Gratitude Unit. We would like to thank Raylee Schultz for the amazing photos she shared with us about the history of our school. We have also continued our work on patterns!
Next week we are doing our ‘Show and Tell’ Presentations. All students are to have their show and tell at school on Tuesday and it will be left at school until they have done their presentation. Remember to practise with your child at home, making sure they are confident with what they are going to say.
Prep Unit Team Contact Details
- Unit Leader: Mrs Rebecca O'Callaghan
- Cooinda (Year Prep): Mrs Rebecca O'Callaghan
- Wahroonga (Year Prep): Miss Courtney Sheridan
Junior Unit News
We would like to thank Isobel North for her valuable contribution to Barramunga over the past weeks and wish her all the very best with her future in Education.
All Junior Unit students have had work samples placed onto their SeeSaw account. Should you have difficulty accessing SeeSaw, please contact your child’s/ren’s teacher to ensure that you are able to see their growth and development.
Please remember that all diaries, take home nightly readers and library bags must come back to school each day.
Junior Unit Team Contact Details
Click on the teacher's name if you wish to email them.
- Unit Leader: Mrs Katrina Groves
- Karinya (Year 1): Mrs Chris Carmichael
- Barramunga (Year 1): Mrs Katrina Groves (Monday-Thursday) & Mrs Wendy Collins (Friday)
- Bundaleer (Year 1): Mrs Maree Irvin (Tuesday-Friday) & Mrs Wendy Collins (Monday)
- Waminda (Year 2): Miss Georgina Hewitt
- Kyema (Year 2): Mrs Kim Taylor
Middle Unit News
The Middle Unit is undertaking our Science Immersion Days on the topic of Beneath Our Feet in the coming weeks. Your child will have brought home a note entailing some items students are required to bring in for these days. Each student requires:
- About 1 cup of soil in a jar that can hold about 400mL of water (please label this with your child’s name, date of collection and where they found it.)
- Some different types of rocks (please label this with your child’s name, date of collection and where they found it.)
Year 3 need to have this at school no later than Monday the 26th of June.
Year 4 need to have this at school no later than Friday the 18th of June.
A reminder to students to please ensure they have brought their pencil case and Learning Journal back to school if they were taken home for Remote Learning.
Also don’t forget to check Seesaw for assessment pieces that we have been uploading over the term!
Middle Unit Team Contact Details
Click on the teacher's name if you wish to email them.
- Unit Leader: Miss Sophie Price
- Amaroo (Year 3): Mrs Xana Priestley
- Yongana (Year 3): Mrs Cathy Rowles
- Mootwingee (Year 3): Miss Sophie Price
- Minga (Year 4): Mrs Natalee Johnson
- Eumeralla (Year 4): Mrs Maria Beer
- Nangare (Year 4): Mrs Jacqui Willis (Monday-Wednesday) & Mrs Emma Kostiakis (Thursday-Friday)
Senior Unit News
Year Six Junior Neighbourhood Watch Program
On Tuesday, First Constable Toby McMillan worked with the Year Six students with a focus on road safety. As part of their session, students were given the challenge of creating a safety helmet to protect an egg when dropped from a height. They were given a limited number of materials and a short time frame to plan and make their creation. Students really enjoyed their lesson and learnt a great deal about bike safety and how to keep themselves safe around roads.
Police In School
Year Six Melbourne Camp
Year 6 camp 2021 was a blast! Our itinerary was jam packed with so many fun activities. Some of our favourite activities were Latitude, Ice Skating, and Sea Life.
At Sea Life we saw a lot of cool sea creatures like sharks, starfish, jellyfish, stingrays and many different fishes. There were also penguins. Our favourite penguin was a baby penguin named Dingo, this penguin was our favourite because he was small and fluffy. Another cool thing at Sea Life was the 4D movie. In the 4D movie there were smoke machines and your seat would punch you in the back.
At Latitude there were many cool things to do such as: rock climbing, jumping into a huge pillow, the sky walk, and the trampolines. At the rock climbing wall we were strapped to a harness and got to pick some rock climbing walls. Our favorite part of Latitude was the skywalk.
When we got to the ice skating rink we had 2 instructors who gave us a little lesson on how to ice skate. After our lesson we had free time on the rink, there were a lot of good ice skaters. However there were a few annoying skaters who kept cutting in front of everyone.
This was by far the best camp, and we are very happy we got the opportunity to go on it.
Written by Mollie, Lucy, Issy & Claudia
Senior Unit Team Contact Details
Click on the teacher's name if you wish to email them.
- Unit Leader: Mrs Jo Campbell
- Myalla (Year 5): Mrs Bianca Niutta
- Illawarra (Year 5): Miss Belinda Zappia
- Narooma (Year 6): Mrs Jo Campbell
- Dourim (Year 6): Mr Corey Barbary
Student Leadership Groups
Nothing to report this week.
Library News
LIBRARY TIMETABLE WEEK 9
Tuesday - Minga, Year 2
Wednesday - Nangare, Mootwingee, Year 5
Thursday - Preps, Amaroo, Yongana, Karinya, Eumeralla
Friday - Barramunga
Scholastic Book Club Issue #4 has been sent and should hopefully arrive during the week. Please be aware that Australia Post have recently had some delivery issues so orders may not arrive together.
Max and Jed’s nan) and my mother, Vicki McCarthy who have been volunteering their time to cover our beautiful new books. I really appreciate your assistance!
It is wonderful to see so many children enjoying our amazing library. Check out these library stats!
Juniors have borrowed 8741 fiction books since the start of the year. (Go juniors!!!)
Middle students have borrowed 2166 fiction books and 330 non fiction books so far this year.
Senior students have 1178 fiction books and 52 non fiction books.
What is your child currently reading????
Weekly Awards
Students of the Week
Congratulations to the following students on receiving a Student of the Week award this week.
My New Gallery
Ray White Award Positive Behaviour Award
Congratulations to the students below for receiving a Ray White award this week.
