Term 1, Week 2 - 2nd February, 2023

From the Principal

Dear families,

Welcome back! 

What a terrific start to the year we have had. It was wonderful to welcome back so many smiling faces to school. I also extend a warm welcome to all our new families who have commenced their educational journey at St Maria Goretti school this year. We start the year with 38 students in Prep-Year 6 and three classrooms!

To our new families, your journey is just beginning, and we are so thrilled to have you join our school. Embrace the opportunity to become a part of our community. There are many ways you can connect, including parent volunteering in the classroom, the PPF and our school tuckshop

At the opposite end of the school, many of our Year 6 parents and caregivers are entering their 7^th and final year as part of our community. The final year of primary school is an exciting time for our senior students with lots of opportunities to grow and ready themselves for the next stage of their education. I encourage our Year 6 parents to also embrace being part of the community in the final year of their child’s primary schooling years and I thank the many parents who continue to give so much of their time to our school.

Staffing 2023

We welcome several new and returning staff to our school this year.

New Staff

P/1 Classroom Teacher – Miss Madison Spencer

LOTE (German) Teacher - Mrs Ina Winter

Returning staff

Principal/APRE/Middle Leader - Mrs Casey Robinson

Year 2/3/4 Classroom Teacher/s - Mrs Casey Robinson & Mrs Maree Twidale

5/6 Classroom Teacher - Miss Elizabeth Key

Administration & Finance Officer - Mrs Mandy Mead

Learning Support Teacher - Mrs Maree Twidale

Teacher Librarian - Mrs Anne Anderson

School Officers - Mrs Zalae Smith, Mrs Naomi Smith & Miss Imogen Bankes

Guidance Counsellor - Mr Paul Fomiatti

Library Assistant - Mrs Zalae Smith

WHS Officer - Mrs Naomi Smith

IT Suport - Mr Kirk Teo

Student Protection Contacts - Mrs Casey Robinson, Mrs Naomi Smith & Mr Paul Fomiatti

The vacant position for the 2/3/4 teacher has been re-advertised on SEEK, social media and internally with Toowoomba Catholic Schools. I will continue to keep our community updated throughout the recruitment process. I am sure that we will find a suitable teacher for the position. 

Communication

Our regular newsletter will be issued fortnightly on Thursdays via School Zine and will be sent to your email address. The next newsletter will be in Week 4. 

In between these newsletters being issued, you will likely receive updates from your child’s teachers via the Parent Portal. If there are any messages specific to your child’s class or year level, we will send these direct to the Parent Portal. Please see Mrs Mandy Mead in the school office if you haven't yet accessed the Parent Portal.

We are looking forward to a wonderful year ahead, thank you for your support in making the first few weeks of school so successful.

Yours in education,

Casey Robinson

Principal

"I can never think of God but as one of such tenderness that cannot be cast off." (Mary MacKillop 1890)

Curriculum News - NAPLAN 2023

NAPLAN 2023 Timetable

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a point in time assessment of literacy and numeracy skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life.

Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 participate in the annual NAPLAN tests in writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.

St Maria Goretti will be participating in NAPLAN Online between the 15^th and the 21^st of March.

Please see our NAPLAN Online schedule for Year 3 and Year 5 below.

If you have any questions, please contact Mrs Robinson at the school on 4652 1109.

Library News

Welcome to another year of learning and life in the library. Students enjoyed their browse and borrow time today and it was a joy to see students engaged with their book choices and library tasks. Everyone loved sitting on the new stools at our new tables!

Please assist your students to return their loans in their library bags each Thursday morning. This year, Thursday morning is the only time during the week that library staff have the opportunity to do this task. 

Thank you for supporting your student's reading and learning journey this year by sharing their library choices at home, reading aloud to them and with them. It is the simplest, most enjoyable thing adults can do to boost children's literacy! The following data shows the power of increased reading.

I look forward to sharing the great learning opportunities students enjoy during their library time across the year.

Happy Reading

Anne Anderson

Teacher Librarian 

Office News

The Sentral for Parents App is our main form of communication at St Maria Goretti. Features of the app:

• Newsfeed - contains news items from the school relating to your child. Some items may require you to take a specific action, others will be informational only.
• Absences - allows the parent to communicate absence information to the school. This includes past absences that require explanation. A 'future' absence occurs when a parent is aware a child will be away from school at a future date eg holidays or appointments.
• Messages - acts as a direct line of contact between staff and parents. Parents will only be able to message the staff designated as 'Teachers' of their children's classes.
• Calendar - allows parents to see all upcoming school events
• Interviews - relates to Parent and Teacher interviews. These will be scheduled towards the end of term 1.
  
• Resources - allows parents to download files and open folders to view files stored within.
• Links - contains links to the QuickCliq Tuckshop website, the SMG Facebook page, the school website and the newletter.

2/3/4 Class News

Maths

This week, our students have been very busy in Maths. We like to start our year off deepening each child's conceptual understanding in Number. Students in 2/3/4 have been learning how to recognise, order and represent numbers from zero - tens of thousands. 

We are also continuing to improve our ability to 'talk about our thinking' in Maths. We have been doing this through daily Number Talks. 

English

It is only Week 2 and our class have almost finished their first class novel - The Twits! What a hit The Twits has been with the 2/3/4 students. We have been learning about how descriptive language can paint a picture in our minds. Students have started to write character descriptions about the characters in the story, focusing on using a variety of adjectives to describe what the character looks like. 

- Mrs Robinson & Mrs Twidale (2/3/4 Teachers)

casey.robinson@twb.catholic.edu.au

maree.twidale@twb.catholic.edu.au 

Students of the Week - Week 2

Happy Birthday!

Welcome to our new faces at SMG in 2023!

Swimming lessons

Students will once again be receiving swimming coaching through the Inglewood Aquatic Centre. Due to funding received from Sporting Schools Australia there is no cost for the coaching. Parents are reminded to advise the office if their child is not swimming.

Students need to bring the following in a bag and all labelled with student's name. Please remember to also label the sports uniform, including underwear and socks:

• Togs
• Swim shirt
• Towel
• Goggles (optional)
• Swimming cap (optional), or long hair must be tied up

Meet the Teacher - Monday 6th February

Parent Partnership Forum

Notices

Our Lady of the Southern Cross Parish - Mass Times

Sunday 5th February- 9am Lay Lead Liturgy

Saturday 11th February - 5:30pm Mass

Friday 17th February - 9:30am SMG Year 6 Commissioning Mass

Sunday 19th February - 9am Lay Lead Liturgy

Sunday 26th February - 9am Mass

Sunday 5th March - 9am Lay Lead Liturgy