Term 4, Week 9 2024

Principal's Message

Welcome to Week 10!

St Mary’s Warwick: Reflecting on a Remarkable Year

As we approach the end of 2024, it’s time to reflect on the incredible journey we’ve had at St Mary’s Warwick. This year has been filled with achievements, challenges, and countless moments of joy and learning. Let’s take a moment to celebrate our community’s resilience, growth, and accomplishments.

Academic Excellence Our students have once again worked hard to demonstrate grit and a positive mindset with their learning. We embarked upon professional learnings for the staff in relation to reading, writing and feedback.

Our aim was to demonstrate growth within the following areas for writing – punctuation, audience, sentence structure and paragraphing from Prep to Year 6 and we certainly have achieved this. To understand the data please read Jess Harper’s curriculum news. In relation to feedback our goal was for ‘glow and grows’ to be used within the classroom so that students could hear direct feedback in relation to their writing and make changes for improvement. This too has resulted in a growing culture of ‘talk’, where students are excited about showing their writing to their teachers or the leadership team and working hard to implement future changes to improve their writing. Our data from writing is a testament to this process and the impact that feedback is having for our students.

Finally, with reading we have spent a lot of time understanding the ‘reading rope’ and how to address these aspects within our balanced literacy blocks. This journey has allowed teachers to refine their practices to include ‘low variance routines’ into their daily practice to revise the relevant areas of the reading rope. Students have responded well to these changes and are excited each day to participate in their daily reviews. Our data has demonstrated growth throughout the year but as this is a new journey for us this year, we don’t have any pre data to compare to but next year we will certainly be able to do so.

Extracurricular Triumphs This year, we once again had a successful Arts Extravaganza and School Ball, showcasing the many talents of our students in the cultural arts arena. Throughout the year we have had many students excel with their sporting choices, moving as far as representing our state at Nationals. Rooney Red was once again triumphant at our Athletics Carnival, not discounting the fabulous team spirit and sportsmanship displayed by all of our students. Look out Rooney Red, Potter Blue is coming back in 2025!!!!

Community Engagement St Mary’s Warwick has always been committed to giving back to the community. This year, fundraising from our 150 years celebration allowed us to support charities that were important to each class. This was a huge success and couldn’t have been achieved without the support from our school and Warwick community, thank you! We have also represented SMW at ANZAC Day march, Rodeo Parade, Reading Cup Challenges, and Jumpers and Jazz. 

Our Parent Engagement Network (PEN) has had new executives this year and they have conducted a listening survey for parents and successfully implemented some changes within our school (i.e. school ball food option). Continued support for parent forums throughout the year have seen sessions on Cyber Safety, Reboot for Life and Learning – Quadrants of Engagement and Resilience. They too have also ensured that the Mother’s and Father’s Day stalls were a winning success, as well as the 150 years celebrations.

Innovation in Learning We embraced new pedagogical practices in the areas of reading, writing and feedback. Our staff have shared their practices with each other as models of expert teaching and presented professional development highlighting success strategies/stories from their classrooms. Additionally, we began a Writing Masterclass this year to work with identified students to expand their writing techniques at an enriched level. Auslan made its debut this year at SMW, led by Mrs Harper and has engaged our students significantly, where they are signing at prayer, assembly and other school events. Stay tuned for many more exciting opportunities next year!

Wellbeing and Support The wellbeing of our students and staff remains a top priority. This year, we continued to provide various ways to support students through our Wellbeing Tuesday activities and utilisation of our wellbeing officers. To keep consistency of messaging and language within our school we have also upskilled staff in Reboot for Life and Learning. Mr Armstrong and Ms Charles, our school counsellor and First Nations Support Officer have been wonderful additions to our staff and school this year, bringing a diverse and specialist lens to the unique needs of our students.

Looking Ahead As we look forward to 2025, we are excited about the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. We will continue to strive for excellence in all areas and remain dedicated to fostering a community where every individual can thrive.

We wish Anita Wright and Jen McCray all the best for the leave they are embarking upon next year and welcome Grace Twidale to our teaching staff. We will also have a few more additional changes with a new Teacher librarian and HPE Term 1 contract. We would like to farewell and acknowledge the contribution that Emma Al-Eidani has made over the past 2 years within our library and wish her the very best for the future.

Thank you to our students, staff, parents, and the wider community for your unwavering support and commitment. Together, we have made 2024 a year to remember.

Wishing you all a joyful holiday season and a prosperous New Year!

God Bless

Emma Timmins

Principal

Religious Life of the School

I said a Prayer for You at Christmas

I said a special prayer for you,
As Christmas Day drew near,
That God would bless you richly
Throughout the coming year.

I did not ask for Him to send
You gifts of worldly wealthy;
But prayed that He would fill your life
With peace and joy and health.

I asked that you would know His love;
Be comforted in strife;
Seek wisdom and His guidance,
And have abundant life.

God sent His Son at Christmas,
That happiest of days,
And most of all I pray that you
Will walk with Him always.

Author: B. Stuckwisch

Christmas Play & BBQ

• 5:30 Sausage Sizzle. All orders are through Flexischools. Orders will close in the morning at 10am (Monday). My apologies if you tried this afternoon and they had closed a little early. It should be back working now. We will be unable to accept late orders on the night. Please order for your family through one of your children's accounts (this will save separate charges and also allow for you to order for the adults as well). We would love some help with the BBQ and serving. Please let Mrs Young know if you are able to help.
• 6:00 Nativity Concert. All students have a part to play and are encouraged to come dressed as Christmas characters from the Christmas story or in Christmas colours - Mary, Joseph, Jesus, shepherd, angel, wiseman, barn animal or wear Christmas colours - red, green, white or gold. The Drama Club will also be performing their play and Mini Vinnies presenting the Christmas hampers. Students will sit with their class except the choir who will start the night with their song.
• Drama Club to please come at 5:15 for an early sausage sizzle and then have time to get dressed in their costumes.
  

Last Day of School - Friday 6th December

• All parents to complete last day arrangements form – https://forms.office.com/r/uu9jUe9YjP
• Year 6 parents to RSVP to morning tea and Graduation Mass - https://forms.office.com/r/dR2CDzUPpM
• 9:30 Year 6 Graduation Morning Tea in Assisi Place
• 10:30 Mass in the Church
• 12:30 Students collected from classrooms except for Grade 6 who leave from the Church. Minimal supervision is available at school from 12:30-3:00.
• Please note - OSHC will now only be operating from 3pm.

St Vincent de Paul Thank You

Our Mini Vinnies team have spent their lunch times preparing the Christmas Hampers and making an activity book for St Vincent de Paul conference to distribute leading up to Christmas.

The members of the St Vincent de Paul conference sincerely thank you the generous families who shared goodies for our Christmas appeal. These hampers will certainly make a difference to the disadvantaged in our community.

150th Celebrations Memorabilia

We have a few, limited items of 150th Memorabilia that would make great Christmas presents! These can be purchased from the school office.

• 150th bag - $10
• 150th pen - $5
• 150th stubby cooler - $10
• Sisters of Mercy Cross - $10
• Recipe Book - $15
  

Parish News

Advent Candles 

Our parish has a beautiful tradition of families carrying in the advent candles for each week of Advent (the four weeks of preparing for Christmas). It involves carrying the advent candle for that week in with the priest and waiting out the front while the special advent prayer is said. If your family would like to participate in this please contact Sharon Young on 0429 921 200. 

Christmas Eve 6pm Mass

Christmas Eve 6pm Mass is a special family Mass for our parish. Children dress as the characters of the Christmas Story and act out the Christmas story. The children also read, sing and carry in the offertory. All are welcome. If you will be attending the Mass and your child would like to participate please contact Sharon Young. Practice will be on Wednesday, 18th December in the Church at 4pm. Please come along if your child would like to participate. All are welcome.

Parish Sacramental Program for 2025

St Mary's Parish Warwick Sacramental Program will run:

• First Reconciliation - Term 1 for Year 3
• Confirmation - Term 2 for Year 4
• First Communion - Term 3 for Year 4

These year levels are only when the sacraments are usually celebrated but children of different ages can also join the preparation. If you wish to enrol your child/children in the 2025 Sacramental Program please contact the Parish Office on 4661 1033 or warwick@ctwb.org.au Enrolments will close by the end of business Friday, 13th December 2024.

Christmas Wish

Thank you for an amazing year! As we enter the Christmas season, my heartfelt wish for you is to experience the magic of hope, peace, joy, and love. May your Christmas be filled with warmth, laughter, and cherished moments. Have a very happy, holy, and safe Christmas! 🙏🎄✨

May peace be with you,

Sharon Young

Assistant Principal: Mission & Identity

'The tender mercy of God has given us one another.' - Catherine McAuley

Curriculum

Writing Data Success!

We are thrilled to share with you all the data of a year’s worth of growth in Writing at SMW. At the beginning of 2024, all SMW students were tasked with writing to the same stimulus idea. The output of writing certainly varied across the school, from our Preps who had just commenced their primary schooling, to our Year 6 students in their final year before the transition to high school.

When all writing samples were completed, the teaching staff worked together to grade each student’s writing against the NAPLAN Marking Guide. The reason we used this as a measurement was due to its usability for grading in students, from the very beginnings of writing right up to Year 9 NAPLAN level and beyond.

As a team, we then determined from the Pre-Test samples where the greatest areas of need or potential growth were throughout our school – for 2024 we selected ‘Sentence Structure’, ‘Paragraphing’, ‘Audience’ and ‘Punctuation’. Here is an example of the scoring criteria for Sentence Structure: 

Our ongoing goal for 2024 was to ‘grow students in their ability to confidently produce clear, task-responsive writing that is well-developed, precise in vocabulary, and correctly punctuated'. With this in mind, as well as the identified target areas above, we embarked on a year of trialling various pedagogical approaches to teaching writing, including the use of QUALITY FEEDBACK on students’ work. Through the use of ‘Glows and Grows’, teaching staff can help celebrate the ‘Glows’ in writing, and also support students’ areas for ‘Grows’. Classrooms are also featuring ‘Bump-it-Up’ walls, with exemplars of what writing looks like at different levels, and what is needed for students to improve their work to a higher standard. Through seeing what great writing looks, sounds and feels like displayed, students can take ownership over their learning and build their academic independence as their schooling progresses.

In the last few weeks, students again completed the same Writing task and the same marking process was followed; this time to determine the growth from beginning of year to end. The charts below show the difference between each year level from their Pre to Post test, with a Cohort Average score. The number next to the title indicates the total points available for that area in the NAPLAN Writing Guide (reminder, this is up to Year 9). Individual student results may vary, but it is fantastic to see growth in the entire year level as a whole. Teachers will now utilise the student data for 2025 to determine the learning needs of the cohort, but also for specific intervention or enrichment requirements for individual students. NB: Year 4 Post data has not yet been calculated, due to the classroom relocation. 

The chart below shows the SMW average (all students, Prep to Year 6) for each area of Writing, with the yellow indicating the Beginning of 2024 measure, then the green showing the End of 2024 measure. As a staff we have enthusiastically welcomed these results, showcasing the significant efforts of teachers, students, school officers and the rest of the school community in supporting our learners to reach their potential in Writing! We look forward to continuing this evidence-gathering practice further in 2025.  

Auslan/Drama in Year 5 and 6

Throughout this semester, Year 5 and 6 have been showcasing their dramatic flairs through the combination of Auslan and Drama in learning. Both being forms of communication, the students were challenged with the task of authentically and creatively combining the two areas into a single performance for their final assessment. The question posed was 'What is a situation where people may need to use Auslan or another form of sign language to communicate?'. These students did not disappoint with their final presentations! Take a look at some of the story plots we saw performed this fortnight: 

Isabel, Macey and Sophie - 'The Fire'
A fire threatens to burn a building down. Firefighters rush to the aid of the people inside, communicating in Auslan to support a deaf member of the group.

Riley, Declan, Grayson, Zane, Tom and Josh - 'In the Trenches'
Two countries battle it out between two trenches. The opposing sides communicate via Auslan to avoid sharing their tactical strategies with the other side. 

Georgia, Mila, Illiana and Emira - 'The Intruder'
An intruder to a house finds themselves arrested by the police, after the home's residents communicate via Auslan to keep themselves safe and hidden. 

Erin, Abby and Caitlyn - 'Surgery gone Wrong!'
A pregnant woman successfully undergoes a surgery to save her baby, assisted the entire way through the help of a nurse using Auslan to calm and soothe the woman's worries. 

Koabella, Aylisity and Clare - 'At the Shops'
A shopkeeper experiences difficulty when she is unable to understand a customer using Auslan. Through the assistance of another shopper who knows the language to translate, the shopkeeper is able to help the customer with their needs.

Charlotte, Katelyn, Rose, Maddie, Bobby-Lee - 'The Homeless'
A young girl learns from her mistakes, after she is seen being unkind to a homeless person. A group of kind girls teach her the error of her ways, and help her learn more positive ways to communicate with others in need. 

Asher, Macey, Kennley and Mackenzie - 'The Cafe'
A barista at a cafe loses her job after she is rude to a customer trying to communicate through Auslan. Another customer comes to the rescue, demanding to see the manager about the employee. Through a twist of events, the customer who helped ends up taking over the job of the barista (much to the barista's displeasure, after she sneaks back in for the interview wearing a disguise!)

It has been such an immense pleasure to bring the language of Auslan to SMW in 2024, along with continued learning about those around us in our community and beyond who have additional needs. We have certainly grown our brains around the importance of inclusivity in today's society - through our learning about the Paralympics, as well as the different types of sensory disabilities that people may have, such as blindness and mutism, and the strategies and successes that these extraordinary people achieve each day in their lives. We have observed different approaches to telling stories and communicating, both today and throughout history (such as Helen Keller, a 20th century author and educator who was blind and deaf). We have reflected upon and been thankful for the blessings and privileges that we have in our own lives, and developed resilience in persisting through struggle - much like the people we've learnt about who face challenge every day and still aspire to be their best selves. 

We are so excited to continue our learning of Auslan in 2025 and beyond, and we encourage families to keep practising their skills over the holidays! The Auslan Signbank is a wonderful resource for watching how individual signs are performed -  make sure to check the dialect on the map of Australia. At SMW we are using the Northern Dialect of Auslan. If your child has been learning Auslan this semester, ask them to share some of the recent signs we have learnt for Christmas!

I would like to sincerely thank the entire SMW community for their support in learning across 2024. It has been an incredible year, with what has felt like non-stop action at times! We conclude this school year with noteworthy growth in countless areas - here's to an even more fruitful 2025!

Wishing you all a wonderful, safe and happy holiday period!

Jess Harper
Middle Leader: Teaching and Learning

Positive School Culture

Class RISE UP Trophy

Congratulations to the three most recent winners of our Class RISE UP Trophy!

In Week 7, Miss Delisser was on the lookout for the class who best demonstrated listening and putting their hands up when the whistle went. Year 1 Hopkins took out this award.

In Week 8, Mrs Ryan's goal for the students was to wear their uniform corectly. Year 5/6 Dearden made a big effort to look very smart in their uniforms and to be awarded this week's prize.

In Week 9, we are sure you heard about Mrs Doyle's challenge of keeping our tinsel dinosaur safe! There was much enjoyment to be found throughout the school as the students checked on the whereabouts. Teachers also engaged in the fun by taking the dinosaur to their classrooms, even if but for a short time! 

In this last week, the Leadership Team has created a fun scavenger hunt to end the year with some fun and positive school culture.

Mystery Reader

Our inaugural year of Mystery Reader has been a massive success with the reading enjoyment of our Kindy students and also the joy of the mystery readers. 

Our last two mystery readers for the year were Cherylyn Cross and Michael Sullivan. Mrs Cross came back to provide a wonderful surprise for her other grandson Jack with the reading of "The Wonky Donkey". The students loved this book and also her little treat of some shared stickers.

Mr Sullivan was a big hit with his reading of “Ceremony” by Adam Goodes to coincide with the smoking ceremony & blessing of the Yarning Circle at Kindy.

Student Awards

Spotted Rising Up

Congratulations to all the students who have been 'Spotted Rising Up'. The prize winners were Alana P and Sylvia M which was announced at Assembly on Friday, 22nd November 2024.

Please celebrate with your child if they have brought home a Spotted Rising Up slip. It means that they were 'spotted' displaying one or more of the RISE UP positive behaviours. 

Administration

Thank You Morning Tea

We are so grateful to those parents and helpers who have helped our school in so many ways, including assisting in the Tuckshop, Library book covering, classroom help, attending excursions and volunteering at the 150th celebrations. We would like to invite you to a Thank you Morning Tea in the Staffroom, this Wednesday at 9;30am. This is our opportunity to say thank you to you - please join us for morning tea.

Tuckshop

Thank you to Kathy Moses and her team of exceptional helpers for another year of providing Tuckshop for our school. Tuckshop has finished for the year and we look forward to being able to provide this service again next year.

2025 Term Dates

2025 School Fee Schedule 

2025 Booklist Resources

On behalf of the administration team, we would like to extend our warmest wishes to our incredible staff, students, and parents. May your Christmas be filled with joy, love, and laughter, and may the New Year bring you happiness, health, and success.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Parent Engagement Network (PEN)

On behalf of Fiona Ah-Loy, Emily Cross and Mandy Moretto we would like to take this opportunity to thank our parent community for their support this year. We have had a very successful year with the 150 years celebration, 4 parent forums and the financial contribution to purchase hard-copy decodable readers for students. We look forward to another successful year with further parents' forums:

Term 1 - 4 February, Brett Lee Cyber Safety

Term 2 - 28 May, Strengthening kids and teens against anxiety, 6-7.30pm

Term 3 - TBA

Term 4 - Date TBA, Master Planning

In 2025, to kick off and welcome the year we invite all St Mary's families to the 'Welcome BBQ & Disco" on Friday, 7^th February at 5.30pm. We hope to have a bar and BBQ whilst the students rock on in the disco. 
Just a reminder that after our Parent Forums all parents are invited to stay and attend a Parent Engagement Network meeting as we want to hear your voices. Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year, see you back next year! 

Notices