Notre Dame Catholic Primary School
Foundations for Life Long Learning 5 December
Tomorrow evening we officially farewell our Year Six students as they celebrate their Graduation Mass followed by their celebration party in the school hall. This is always a bitter/sweet time of the year for all of us as we are so proud of the wonderful people that the students have become and, whilst we know they are certainly ready to move on to High School, it is very sad for us to be saying goodbye. Teaching is not just a job, it is far more than that, and good teachers are invested in the children’s development far more deeply than many would realize. We are so proud of our Year Sixes and look forward to hearing about their successes at High School and beyond.
STAFFING
You may have noticed when the Class lists were published yesterday afternoon that Mrs Julie Pirie is listed as teaching Year One for two days per week. This is because she will be taking over the Literacy Support role from Mrs Margaret Hennessy for the other three days each week in 2020.
Mrs Hennessy has decided to finish her teaching career at the end of this year to engage in more personal and family orientated pursuits. Margaret has been an outstanding member of the Notre Dame community for far too many years to mention and will be sadly missed by us all. During my five years at our school Margaret has constantly challenged both herself and others to offer the best possible support for all children, particularly in the Literacy area. She is an outstanding teacher in every sense of the term, going well beyond merely delivering what needs to be taught, to nurturing a love of learning and encouraging children to discover the joys of reading and writing. We are all very jealous of the wonderful things that lie ahead for Margaret and wish her and her husband, Richard, an abundance of good health and happiness as they embark on their new adventures.
You will also have noticed that the Teacher for the Year 2M class is still to be advised. We are still finalising this position and an announcement will be made next week. We apologise for this unavoidable delay.
REPORTS – 4.00pm TOMORROW
Parents of children from Pre-Primary to Year Six were sent details of how to access their children’s School Reports yesterday. Those details are repeated below for your information.
Student Report Access
Pre-Primary to Year 6 SEQTA Engage Parent Log-in
On Friday 28 June your child will be receiving their Semester One report. It is important that you check your log in for SEQTA Engage as early as possible so that you will be able to access your child's report.
Parents can access the SEQTA Engage app by following the steps below:
Step 1: Download the SEQTA Engage app
Step 2: Go to manual set up
Step 3: Type in the following URL:
https://nds.coneqt-p.cathednet.wa.edu.au/ and use your current username and password credentials.
If you have remembered your username but have forgotten your password, please click on the Forgot your password? link and an immediate email will be sent to you. The email will expire within one hour, so please action this immediately. If you have forgotten both of these, then please contact the school and we can assist you.
Parents who are new to using SEQTA Engage received an email earlier in the term to set up a new log in account.
If you have any issues, please contact Daniela Boyle who will be able to assist.
Daniela Boyle
Whilst no formal meetings are planned to discuss children’s Reports, I invite parents to contact Teachers through the school office if they would like to meet to have anything from the Report clarified.
COLOUR RUN
“Best school day ever”; “We should do this every week” These were just two of the many positive comments that I heard from the children last Friday afternoon. What an amazing time we all had and what a fantastic result with over $7000 being raised to date to put towards re-surfacing our school courts. Thank you to the P&F (Nicole Beresford and Dani Lawrie) and staff (Daniela Boyle and Stefanie Bradshaw) for all of their efforts in bringing together this great day. If your children loved the day please tell me, if you had trouble getting the colour out of everything please tell the P&F!
CAROLS AND PRESENTATION OF AWARDS
The classes are all ready to entertain their families on Tuesday 10 December at 6.00pm. Families are welcome to bring along a picnic dinner to enjoy before the concert begins. Please take note of the following so that we may all have an enjoyable evening:
- The children are to be in their classrooms by no later than 5.45pm so that the staff may get them organized before taking them to their allocated seating area.
- The children will be sitting along the pavement outside the hall and the Year One classrooms so please do not sit in these areas.
- There will be an area directly in front of the stage for the Kindergarten children to sit prior to their performance.
- Immediately after the Kindergarten performance parents are invited to take their children to either sit with them for the remainder of the concert or to go home if it is felt that they are tired.
- All other children are expected to stay with their teacher and class for the entire evening.
- After each class performance, before the children leave the stage, three awards will be presented for each class.
- After all class performances Awards will be presented for Science, Music, Library and Italian. Awards are not presented for Physical Education as children have already been acknowledged for their performance in this area at the various carnivals throughout the year.
- An area will be roped off and only those on blankets are to sit in front of this. Those who wish to sit on chairs will need to sit behind the roped off area and bring their own chairs as no school chairs will be available to use.
- For safety reasons the verandahs outside the upper Primary classes are not to be accessed during the concert.
- The concert should take approximately one and a half hours.
- At the end of the concert parents will be asked to collect their children from their seating area. No children will be permitted to leave unless a parent is there to collect them.
The current forecast for next Tuesday is sunny and hot weather with a maximum of 32° so I look forward to many “hot” performances from the children to match the weather.
THANKSGIVING MASS
Our final Mass for children from 4YO Kindergarten to Year Six will be held next Wednesday at 8.45am. This is a very fitting way to celebrate our year and I invite all parents to join us.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
Teachers are notorious for using jargon on children’s Reports. As we use terminology on a regular basis it tends to become very common to us. This is not the case for parents, though, and Mrs Hennessy has compiled a list of Terms that are regularly used in Literacy comments on children’s Reports to assist you in better understanding the Report.
Understanding Literacy Terms
Phoneme – this is a unit of sound that when put together makes a word. It is not to be confused with letters themselves, phonemes are only the sound made.
Graph one letter making one sound - a, b, c
Digraph two letters making one sound – ch, sh, wh, ee
Trigraph three letters making one sound – tch, eer, igh
Grapheme a particular way to spell a sound – ee,ea
Blends two or three letters that make two or three sounds but blend together quickly – tr, nd, str, spl. Blends do not have a vowel between them.
CVC Words Consonant Vowel Consonant – sit, can, bin.
Syllables A syllable is a part of a word that contains a single vowel sound and that is pronounced as a unit. So, for example, 'book' has one syllable, and 'reading' has two syllables.
Genre this is a category of literature. It is a way to organize and define various types of fiction. Examples are romance, mystery and action fiction.
Genre is also used by teachers to explain the different types of writing that the students write. Examples of these are narrative, procedure, report, poetry and persuasive text.
TERM 4 EVENTS
FRIDAY 5 DECEMBER
Class Transition Day
Yr 6 Graduation @ 6.00pm
Reports Online
TUESDAY 10 DECEMBER
Carols & Awards Evening @ 6.00pm
WEDNESDAY 11 DECEMBER
Thanksgiving Mass (Kindy - Yr 6) @ 8.45am
Yr 3-6 Excursion BCC "Witches" @ 12.15pm
THURSDAY 12 DECEMBER
Class Excursions
FRIDAY 13 DECEMBER
End of Term for Students
TERM 1 2020
FRIDAY 31 JANUARY: Pre-packed Book List pickup 2.45pm-3.45pm in the Multi Purpose Hall.
Uniform Shop open 2.00pm-3.45pm
MONDAY 3 FEBRUARY : Students commence Term 1
THURSDAY 9 APRIL: Term 1 ends
PARISH NEWS
2020 DATES
NOTRE DAME PRIMARY SCHOOL FACEBOOK
CLASS NEWS PRE PRIMARY
The Pre-Primary children have had a wonderful start to Term Four and we are eager to learn and discover more about the world around us. We have been learning about Fairy Tales and have thoroughly enjoyed reading many stories, including Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Jack and the Beanstalk.
We are very busy preparing for Year One. We have been refining our knowledge of the sounds of the English language, including single sounds and digraphs (like sh, ch, th). We have been making attempts to write independently and we are learning how to use punctuation when writing. We have been writing about the Fairy Tales which we have been reading.
In Mathematics we have continued practising our counting and we are starting to explore bigger numbers. We have been focusing on measurement the past couple of weeks. We have had the opportunity to measure our friends and have been looking at how much water different items hold. We are very ready for all the Year One Mathematics next year!
At the beginning of the Term we planted some more seedlings in the vegetables garden, and we have also started growing some magic beans from Jack and The Beanstalk. We look forward to nurturing the plants as they grow.
Last week we had an Ambulance come and visit us from the Lancelin Sub Centre. It was very exciting to learn more about Ambulances and we even got to go inside! Thank you to Barbara and Dave for volunteering your time.
We have experienced our first Liturgy which was a success. We reflected on our wonderful world and how lucky we are to be surrounded by beautiful plants and animals. Mr Winsor bought us in a strawberry plant which we are taking care of very well and hoping to pick some of the strawberries off it soon.
The rest of the term is going to be a busy one. We will be watching The Witches production at Belmont City College, finding out our new teacher for next year, singing our Christmas song at the carols evening and attending AQWA for our end of year excursion.
It has been a wonderful year in Pre Primary and we can't wait to be big Year Ones next year!
Miss Rognetta and Miss Smith
MUSIC NEWS
It has been a very fruitful and busy few weeks for the members of the School Choir. Yesterday the choir sang for the Senior Citizens of our parish and last week the choir visited Faulkner Park Retirement Village and the Little Sisters of the Poor. The children sang beautifully and brought a lot of Christmas cheer to so many people. They were also extremely well behaved. We all enjoyed our picnic lunch as well.
I have received so much positive feedback about the choir visits over the last couple of weeks. I cannot tell how joyful and uplifted I feel when I hear positive comments about the children’s singing and behaviour- it makes my day!
The choir’s work has not finished yet though. There is still the Graduation Mass tomorrow night, and the school concert and end of school year Mass next week.
Being in a choir is a team effort. It requires the commitment and cooperation of the children, parents and staff. Thank you to the choir members for their positive and enthusiastic work throughout the year. I am very proud of you all! Thank you also to your parents for the sacrifices they make to get you to choir rehearsals.
A huge thank you to Mrs Notte, Mrs Stapleton and Mrs Evans for their assistance with the choir throughout the year. These ladies have given of their time throughout the year and I am very grateful to them. We have had a host of other staff helpers throughout the year at various times and I am grateful to them as well. Thank you Fr Quynh for your support of the liturgical work the choir does.
I wish all choir members and their families a very happy and holy Christmas and look forward to seeing you all next year.
God bless,
Mr Alessio Loiacono
Music Specialist
LIBRARY NEWS
Please return all books to the library by Monday 9th December.
Overdue notices have been sent home so please bring back any outstanding items to the library. Thank you!
Students have been enjoying our Christmas tree in the library made of book covers. Lunchtimes have been extremely busy with students escaping the heat and playing some great games of Guess Who!, Chess, Twister, Uno, Jenga, Snakes and Ladders and making Christmas cards and decorations.
We wish you a merry Christmas!
Thanks for your support over the year,
Mrs Sarah Sarmardin
School Librarian
VOLUNTEER ROSTER
Monday 9 December: VOLUNTEER REQUIRED
Wednesday 11 December: VOLUNTEER REQUIRED
Friday 13 December: Ros Lovick
POT LUCK FRIDAY
FRIDAY 13 DECEMBER
Please check canteen notice board to see what food/drink lines are on sale.
Sorry no salad items available today.
I would like to thank all of the parents, staff and students who have helped in the canteen for 2019, without your help the canteen would not have run as smoothly, so once again THANK YOU.
If you are able to help in the canteen in 2020 please come and see me in the canteen on Monday, Wednesday or Friday, any time you can spare would be appreciated, even 10 minutes can make a difference.
Hope to see you at the canteen soon.
Kayleen McLean
Canteen coordinator
UNIFORM SHOP
The Uniform Shop will be open on Mondays and Wednesdays in Term 4.
Opening times : 1.30pm-3.30pm
All pre-orders are available for collection as of Monday 2 December during Uniform Shop opening hours.
UNIFORM SHOP WILL BE OPEN ON FRIDAY 31 JANUARY 2.00pm-3.45pm.
Danielle Lawrie
Uniform Shop Coordinator
SCHOOL BANKING
Every Wednesday 8.00am - 8.30am in the School Library.
Next year the school banking will change from Wednesday to Thursday. The first day for banking will be Thursday 6 February from 8.00am to 8.30am.
P & F NEWS
2020 NIGHT MARKET
The 2020 Notre Dame Night Market will be back again on Friday 14th February.
Are you interested in hosting a food stall on the night? If so, please express your interest to Nicole Beresford (Notre Dame P&F member) via email by Thursday 5th December.
COMMUNITY NEWS
MERCEDES COLLEGE 2020 ENROLMENTS
A sound education is an investment in the future of your daughter. Mercedes College is committed to providing an affordable education for those families seeking an all girls’ Catholic education in the Mercy tradition. For those families wishing to explore options, the Principal is always available to speak with you. Vacancies are still available for 2020; for more information please contact the Enrolment Officer on 93231323.