15th June 2023
Principal News
Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
Dear Families
Our Hunter communities are carrying heavy hearts this week following the bus tragedy. Our prayers are with the families and friends of those who have lost loved ones and with all those impacted by this tragedy. Please go gently.
Over the past few weeks we have had many visitors to our beautiful school and we have received affirming and encouraging feedback about the good manners of our students; how well they play together; the quality of their work; our colourful classrooms and of course our exciting playground spaces. We are currently meeting students seeking enrolment for Kindergarten 2024 and often when asked about how they heard about our school, their response is about the great reputation we have in the community. May I take this opportunity to thank you, our parents for sharing the good news stories with other families as it means our community is not only a welcoming faith community, but also a proud one.
We have farewelled two families who have relocated to other states/overseas these past few days. We thank Peter and his family and Abigail and her family for their support of our school. We wish both families al the very best in their new communities and thank them for their contribtions to ours.
Semester One Reports and Student Led Conferences
Today is the final day for booking in for your child's Student Led Conference which replaces the Parent-Teacher meeting. Our plans are to involve the children in the process of reflecting on their learning this past semester and their learning goals. This process puts your child at the centre of the conference and the conference will be "led by them". They are excited to have you coming along, it can be one or both parents/carers who accompanies your child. They do not need to wear their school uniform, that will be determined by the timing of your booking.
We have created a "game board" which the students will be familiar with having spent time preparinmg for their conference and each student will be guided by their teacher through this initial sharing process. Our hope is that parents will feel proud and amazed at their child's skills in sharing their work and efforts with their learning this semester. Each booking is for 15 minutes and we will try to adhere to the times closely.
Other schools also successfully conduct Student Led Conferences and please accept our thanks for embracing this initiative. Student Voice is important to us as is developing each child's positive learning mindset. We know the students are excited!
Semester One reports will be available on Compass today 15th June after 4.30pm. Please celebrate the achievements of your child with them!
A few reminders for Parents
Parents we strongly discourage the students at our K-2 school from wearing smart watches to school and hope that you can support this request please. Our students are also asked to not bring a mobile phone to school as they are too young to use them. If a student does bring one, we will have to keep it in the office for the day. This is the same policy as primary schools, so it is our preference that no student brings one along.
Recently there was an incident on the afternoon bus where two of our students found a vape on the floor of the bus. This then led to some silly and inappropriate behaviours which we have dealt with. It is however an opportunity to remind all our students that its not safe to pick up a vape or a needle or medication from the ground or from the floor of the bus, at any time. Just a conversation to keep them safe would be most helpful please. Thank you.
Attendance Reminder for all families
"Regular attendance at school is essential for students to achieve quality life outcomes. Schools, in partnership with parents, are responsible for promoting the regular attendance of students."
NSW Government 2022
Attendance at school for five days a week is compulsory for every child. This semester as we complete Semester Reports for our students we are concerned about the number of days that some students have been absent for across this first half of the year. Whilst illness is a legitimate reason for your child to be away, and a precaution we appreciate that you take to help keep our classrooms free of viruses and colds at this time of the year, there are numerous times when a child is absent and the reason is unexplained. Our class rolls are a legal document and we rely on parents/carers to be vigilant in keeping the school informed of your child's whereabouts on a designated school day.
Please read the flyer below regarding just how quickly missed minutes or days can add up and mean a substantial loss of learning time. Parents who have children with a concerning level of absences will be notified by letter next week. I urge parents to please prioritise your child's education as move forward to semester 2 and unless unwell or there are other personal circumstances, send them to school each day. They thrive when you do!
Term 2 Family Mass
All families are welcome to join with our Parishioners at St Francis Xavier Church Abermain this Sunday afternoon at 4.30pm. Thank you to the families who have offered for their child to undertake a reading or a special role in the mass. We hope you my be available to come and pray with us. Thanks to Miss L for her organisation of this mass in collaboration with our Parish family.
Hoping to see may of you across next week at our conferences,
Kind Regards
Diane Murphy
Assistant Principal News
Positive Behaviour for Learning
Our PBL focus for the last few weeks of Term 2 is part of our “I am a Learner” domain:
“I follow instructions.”
Following instructions is important in many contexts across our school. It’s important to follow instructions in the classroom as well as on the playground. Following instructions helps us to learn, to complete a task to the best of our ability and keeps us safe.
Sharing Our Faith
Snippets of Faith: Parables
In Kindergarten, and throughout Year 1 and Year 2, our students learn about types of stories called ‘Parables’. The Lost Sheep, The Good Samaritan, The Prodigal Son and The Mustard Seed are stories that you may have heard of. They are stories that Jesus told his friends and followers; however, they are not just stories. They convey important messages that Jesus wanted to teach us about through the use of metaphors.
This week our Kindergarten students learned about the Parable of the Lost Sheep. Perhaps some of our Kinder parents heard about this story when their child came home from school.
In the story, a shepherd has a flock of sheep he is looking after. One of them goes missing, so he leaves the group to go and search for the one. When he eventually finds the one, there is a celebration.
This is a metaphor for God (the shepherd) who watches over us as his followers (his flock). Unfortunately, one of these people decided to stray and not follow God (the lost sheep). God did everything he could to help and find the one lost person and help them to find God again. Once he did, both God and the community of followers celebrates them.
Term 2 Family Mass
This Sunday 18th June will be our next Family Mass where we will join together the school community and parish community to celebrate mass. We would love to see lots of families and have our students involved in various ministries. Thank you to those who have already volunteered for special jobs and readings. See you on Sunday!
Vinnies Winter Appeal - Comfy Dress & Movie Day
Thank you to all who participated in our Vinnies Winter Appeal Fundraiser this year. The children all enjoyed coming to school out of uniform in their 'comfy' clothes and watching Toy Story in the hall with a popcorn treat! From our fundraiser we raised $207.20 to go to those who are struggling this winter.
Parish Mass Times
Saturday 17th June
9:00am Mass - Holy Spirit, Kurri Kurri
6:00pm Mass – St. Joseph’s, Cessnock
Sunday 18th June
8:30am Mass – Holy Spirit, Kurri Kurri
10:30am Mass – St. Joseph’s, Cessnock
4:30pm Mass – St. Francis Xavier’s, Abermain (Family Mass – All Welcome)
Saturday 24th June
9:00am Mass – St. Joseph’s, Cessnock
6:00pm Mass – St. Joseph’s, Cessnock
Sunday 25th June
8:30am Mass – Holy Spirit, Kurri Kurri
10:30am Mass – St. Joseph’s, Cessnock
4:30pm Mass – St. Francis Xavier’s, Abermain
Yours in faith,
Miss Jessica Laczkowski
Religious Education Coordinator
Bishop Michael Visits Holy Spirit
On Friday 2nd June Bishop Michael Kennedy visited our school. Bishop Michael was recently inducted as the ninth Bishop of the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle. Our school leaders greeted him and proudly showed him around our classrooms and playground.
Spelling/Maths Bee
Spelling and Maths Bee Holy Spirit Infants
As the GEM at Holy Spirit Infants, I was able to organise and hold two very new and exciting experiences for our students. All students across the school completed in both a written spelling and maths bee. Then the top 6 students in each class completed class in both a mini spelling and maths bee orally answering questions to find the top two students in each class. The top two students from year 1 and year 2 then completed in the hall in front of the school and their parents.
Kinder classes completed their spelling and maths bees in their classrooms, the finalists for Kinder were:-
KB Super Spellers: - Pippa Johnson and Josiah Cowling
KW Super Spellers: - Carter Williams and Jak Carberry
KB Magical Mathematicians: - Maverick Welch and Henry Reeve
KW Magical Mathematicians: - Carter Williams and Scarlett Stoker
The spelling bee finalists were: -
1B: Brayton Thompson and Maxwell Weston
1W: Vivian Nguyen and Vinnie Palmer
2B: Emmett McLennan and Evie Schmiedel
2W: Grayson Ostermann and Wyatt Brooks
As we progressed through the rounds, so many spelling skills were evident. Finally, we had one winner, Emmett McLennan. Emmett was the Holy Spirit Super Speller.
The maths bee finalists were:-
1B: Charlotte Chapple and Harper Cowling
1W: Vivian Nguyen and Archer Paoletti
2B: Evelyn Wilesmith and Evie Schmiedel
2W: Grayson Ostermann and Ivie Radford (last minute replacement)
As we progressed through the rounds, so many mathematical skills were evident. Finally, we had one winner, Vivian Nguyen. Vivian attended Our Lady Of Lourdes to complete in the regional final, competing against students from 7 other schools. In the final round, Vivian and another student were left to answer a two-part mathematical question with a focus on multiplication. Vivian answered the question explaining her thinking and won the competition. On the 23rd of June, Vivian will compete in the round again against all the schools in our Diocese. Good luck Vivian!
Heather Porter-Kay
Gifted Education Mentor
Maths / Spelling Bee
Year 2 News
Maths is a Kahoot!
In Maths this term, Year 2 has been exploring a variety of different learning strategies which are hands on and exciting! The most exciting part of our Maths lessons this term has been the use of the program Kahoot! Kahoot not only makes Maths fun and engaging for students but it is also helping Year 2 develop their computer literacy as they practice their skills in logging into a computer, selecting a browser and using the browser correctly to locate our specific Kahoot game. Kahoot encourages collaboration between students as they problem solve the trivia questions in a small group before presenting an answer. It also encourages negotiation within teams as they need to discuss within their groups the different answers they might get and work out which answer is correct. It is a very exciting learning platform which has presented lots of opportunities to learn about different mathematical topics in a modern, digital world!
Unexpected and Expected Behaviours
Year 2 has continued their learning about the Zones of Regulation in their Health lessons this term. For their first lesson about ‘Expected and Unexpected’ behaviours, Year 2 was shocked when they walked into the classroom to see Mrs Kreutzer and Mr Flynn sitting backwards in their chairs! It took some time for Year 2 to convince their Teachers that they were sitting back to front, but provided an excellent example of an unexpected behaviour for students to explore themselves. Students then enjoyed role playing their own unexpected behaviours. Some of these plays included students sitting upside down in their chairs, students walking backwards to sit on the floor and students crying instead of laughing when a joke was told. We have lots of students in Year 2 with a great sense of humour which Mrs Kreutzer, Mrs Kearns and Mr Flynn love as it makes learning so much more exciting!
Year 1 Excursion - Shortland Wetlands
On Friday the 9th of June, our Year 1 students took a bus to the Wetlands Environmental Education Centre in Shortland, as a part of our ‘Living Things’ Science unit of work. When we arrived, we were greeted by very enthusiastic teachers who told our students about all the wonderful activities they would be participating in during the day.
Students were made honorary scientists, they needed to investigate the ‘biodiversity’ of the wetlands to see whether is was a healthy or unhealthy environment. To begin students participated in dip netting activities, where they caught all forms of insects, fishes, worms and bugs. Then students walked to the ‘science laboratories’ and examined all the water creatures under microscopes, identifying and tally the animals on a giant whiteboard. Students also completed hands-on activities in the learning centre, making nests for eggs, playing with puppets, and completing life cycles for various animals.
Finally, students were given their very own binoculars and taken on a bush walk to spot all the various wetlands birds.
It was a fantastic, ‘hands on’ day which all students and staff thoroughly enjoyed!
Mrs Porter-Kay, Miss Elias, Mrs Edwards, Mrs Bolam and Mrs Reid.
Office News - School Fees
Just a gentle reminder regarding annual payment of school fees. As the end of June fast approaches, fee payers are reminded that their one lump sum payment for school fees is due before 30th June.
Year 2 families are reminded that a fee clearance from our school is required before enrolment is processed/offered at Holy Spirit Primary School.
For any families experiencing genuine financial hardship, we encourage you to contact the school to discuss and develop a payment plan as appropriate.
Dot Seamer
Sporting Schools - Basketball
As our basketball lessons end, I would truly like to thank Fit4 Kids and our very special guest Daniel from Cessnock Basketball for their amazing, engaging and very energized PE lessons. Seeing the joy on students faces as they participate in their weekly basketball lesson has been a pleasure to watch. Listening to the laughing and competitive spirit has been uplifting and inspiring. Even better than that, has been observing students playing at lunch and recess showing off their newfound skills, dribbling, passing, and scoring hoops. Today Daniel and I were lucky enough to witness truly amazing growth, a young student has been unable to shoot a hoop for the past six weeks. Taking on feedback and having great resilience, she persevered and scored 6 in a row. The delight and amazement on her face was sensational. The school is very grateful for our Sporting School Grant to help fund such worthwhile opportunities.
Awards: Congratulations to....
Dates for your Diary
Online Safety
Throughout the colder months we often spend more time inside and online gaming can be a part
of our activities. The following site gives some wonderful tips about when children play online with other people. Players sometimes can be mean, rude or say some hurtful things and how to deal
with it can be confusing. Sadly, bullying can happen in games too. However, there is so much to
do, see and explore when playing a well-developed, educational and creative online game. It can
be fun to learn new things and to solve problems. The link below is a small clip that explains what
children can do should this occur to them while gaming.
Parents need to ensure children are playing age-appropriate games and are supervised at all times.
Community News
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