4 July 2024

From the Principals Desk

Reports and Goal Setting Meetings.

Reports have gone home and discussions with your child’s teacher will be during weeks 2 and 3 of next term. These meetings will reflect on student strengths and goal setting for semester 2. You will be able to book online from day 1 next term. If there are no times that suit, please contact your child’s teacher directly to schedule another time.

Further information:

DIOCESAN PRIMARY STUDENT REPORTS

Dear Parents and Carers,

The Diocesan Primary Student Report has been under a process of review to ensure it clearly communicates student information relating to achievement, academic strengths, areas for development and dispositions as a learner, as we continue to adopt the new NSW syllabuses. 

The following letter outlines the changes made to this year’s Primary Student Report.

1. INFORMATION FOR PARENTS / CARERS

• An explanation of grades for Commitment to Learning has been added.

2. NEW NSW SYLLABUSES

• From 2023, all NSW schools implemented new syllabuses for students in Years K-2 to guide their learning of English and Mathematics.
• This year, all NSW schools have implemented new syllabuses for students in Years 3-6 to guide their learning of English and Mathematics. These reports reflect that change.

Further revised and updated syllabuses for other Key Learning Areas will continue to be rolled out by the NSW Education Standards Authority in the coming years (through to 2027). Diocesan student reports will continue to be updated to accommodate the NSW government’s curriculum reform.

3. KEY LEARNING AREAS

• Descriptors for all Key Learning Areas (Years 3-6)

Detailed descriptors within the strands of each Key Learning Area have been included to provide parents with more information about what their child is learning and what the teacher is reporting against. They include content and/or skills within the strands, and when read with the grade given by the teacher, provide a clear picture for parents on how their child is tracking.

• Overall Achievement Grade

The Overall Achievement Grade is no longer part of the Key Learning Area grading. Grades are given against the more detailed descriptors within each Key learning Area. This change provides parents with a clear picture of their child’s achievement against the outcomes within each Key Learning Area.

Achievement against the standards in each Key Learning Area is now recorded using a five-point scale of words, rather than letters (A-E). 

• • Limited
  • Basic
  • Sound
  • Thorough
  • Extensive

An explanation of the five-point scale can be found in the ‘Information for Parents/carers section of the report.

• Areas of Strength and Development

Teacher comments on ‘Areas of Strength’ and ‘Areas for Development’ in Religious Education, English and Mathematics are an important aspect of student progress in these Key Learning Areas. Teachers will focus on two areas of strength and one area for development in each report. These comments provide an opportunity to celebrate what a student is doing well and to identify goals for the following semester of learning.

Comments have been developed from the outcomes of the NSW syllabus documents and are aligned to the Literacy and Numeracy Progressions used by all educators to support teaching and learning. Religious Education comments have been developed from Diocesan syllabus documents. These comments are selected by teachers to provide consistency of feedback and language across Diocesan schools and are tailored to the strengths and areas for development for each student.

These changes provide a comprehensive and holistic view of your child’s academic journey, promoting communication and collaboration between schools, parents, and students to enhance future learning and development.

Yours sincerely,

Stacey Mullin                         Mr Steven Lemos
Principal                                  Head of Catholic Schools
St Paul’s Rutherford                Catholic Schools Office, Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle

LOST PROPERTY

Please remember to check that your child’s jumpers, jackets, hats, lunch boxes etc. are all clearly marked with their name. Recently, large numbers of expensive school jumpers and belongings have been found discarded during playtimes- unfortunately unnamed. Please review your labels in the holidays and check the lost property boxes at school for missing items.

Staffing News

With Miss MacNamee on leave, Miss Jessica Irwin will be replacing her from next term. Jess has worked casually with us on a number of occasions and is looking forward to working in the KW classroom. She will begin on day 1 next term.

Mr Power’s ICT release time for 4,5 and 6 will be covered by Mr Jacob Adams on Wednesdays. Jacob will also be covering classes every second Thursday for RFF time.

Job sharing with Mrs King for term 3 and 4 will be Miss Maryanne Crawford. She will be on 4M every second Thursday and every Friday.

Miss Teagan Ross who has been a Learning Support Teacher for Yr. 1 and 2 has accepted a full-time position at St Dominic’s in Mayfield. This is a great opportunity for Teagan to use her strengths in additional needs to work in a specialised environment. We wish her every success for this transition.

During the holidays we will be seeking another LST to support Clare and Jessica in this important work at our school.

Happy Winter Holidays

With all the sickness around, we wish everyone a restful break. We hope that a lovely holiday is had by all, and we pray that you return safely for next term.

Thank you for the involvement you have in our school, Catholic Schools Week open days, Mother’s Day, St Paul’s feast day and athletics carnival were all wonderful community events that we could share with families and our wider parish community.

Religious Education Update 

THE FEAST OF SAINT PAUL – FRIDAY 28^th JUNE

Last Friday we celebrated Mass for the feast of St Peter and St Paul, (29^th June on our Liturgical Calendar).

We model our values of Learn, Love and Serve, just like St Paul did after his conversion 2000 years ago. His mission to spread the good news of Jesus was a dangerous one, but he also knew it was the right thing to do. In doing this, he showed many the message of Christ so they too could Learn, Love and Serve.

Thank you to Stage 2 for facilitating, Fr Priyantha for presiding, my wonderful liturgy team that always put in a huge effort to help, and to our wonderful families that came along to celebrate with us.

FAMILY MASS – SUNDAY 30^th JUNE

On Sunday our Parish celebrated the Feast of St Peter and Paul by having a delicious, cooked breakfast with members of the school and parish community. Even though the rain was a little bit of an inconvenience, it didn’t stop everyone from enjoying good conversation and food. Thank you to everyone that pitched in to help hold our family mass for this term.

PYJAMA DAY DONATIONS

Last week I dropped off our donations to the St Vincent De Paul shop in Maitland. My car was absolutely chock-a-block when we put it in, luckily, I had some assistance from Mini Vinnies members. The ladies down at the shop were blown away by your generosity for this cause, so thank you again St Paul’s, you have made someone’s winter a little bit warmer.

YEAR 4 FORMATION / RETREAT DAY

Thursday of Week 10, students in Year 4 will participate in a first for our school – a grade retreat/formation day. As you may have read in my many newsletter inserts, our current 3-year goal is to increase awareness of and participation in formation across all school levels. We look forward to the day where we will be learning about service and using our gifts for service. Parents are invited to come and join us from 1pm to hear about the day and enjoy a sausage sizzle.

SACRAMENTS OF INITIATION 2024

Below are the events to mark on the calendar for those completing their Sacraments of Initiation this year. For any information, please contact me through the school office.

Confirmation is complete for this year; our next meetings are at the end of July for First Holy Communion.

GOSPEL REFLECTION
TWELFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR B

Mark 6:1-6
No prophet gains honour in his native place.

Library News

Library

Borrowing Days
Infants borrow every week.
W classes borrow even weeks
M classes borrow odd weeks

Monday
Year 2

Tuesday
Kinder, Year 4, Year 5

Wednesday
Year 1, Year 3, Year 6 

OVERDUE NOTICES

All overdue notices were sent home last week on yellow paper, with a second overdue sent home again this week on blue. Please take the time over the holidays to be helping your child find their overdue books if these were not returned. We please require communication and these slips to be returned and signed. There is no cost for misplaced books. Thank you though to those parents who have purchased replacement copied of lost or damaged books it is unexpected, though greatly appreciated.

Congratulations to 6M for winning back the Library Cup and having the highest percentage of borrowers for the fortnight!

BOOK CLUB

All orders were sent home last week. Thank you to all our families who purchased this catalogue. We were able to use our points earned to purchase new books for the library.

BOOK FAIR

Next term we will host our annual Book Fair in Week 3 in the library. This year we will be returning with Scholastic to host the fair. Students will have opportunity to purchase during class times. The fair will be open before and after school for parents and carers to attend too! More information and details on how to purchase early next term.

Author In Residence
Term 3 Week 7 with Leila Rudge!

Story Box Library

Don’t forget parents and carers also have access to the schools Story Box Library account which can be utilised over the holidays. There are some great art activities to compliment the books too if you are looking for some ideas for activities in the holidays.

Username: Story Box Rutherford
Password: Rutherford

School Holiday Writing and Library Workshops

Follow the links to book tickets or register. Some events are free!

School Holidays Workshop

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact myself or Penny in the Library.

katrina.howard@mn.catholic.edu.au
penny.sneddon@mn.catholic.edu.au

Kind Regards,
Katrina Howard and Penny Sneddon

Aspire Production 2024

Do you want to feature in ASPIRE’s 2024 Production of Disconnected?
Just submit a 15sec video in the style of Tiktok or Fortnight dance.

• Video’s must not exceed 15 seconds in length, be filmed in portrait orientation, and must be appropriate in nature and for a student audience.
• All people featured in the video must have parental consent as outlined in submission form.
• All moves, actions and songs chosen must be appropriate.
• Files submitted should be MP4 format.
• Students must wear school uniform or appropriate casual clothing attire in the videos.

Term Dates for 2024

Term 1 Tuesday, 30 January - Friday, 12 April
Term 2 Monday, 29 April - Friday, 05 July
Term 3 Monday, 22 July - Friday, 27 September
Term 4 Monday, 14 October - Friday, 20 December

School Student Travel Passes 2024

Uniform Shop Hours 2023

TUESDAY AFTERNOON                      2.30PM – 3PM
WEDNESDAY MORING                       8.30AM – 9AM
THURSDAY AFTERNOON                    2.30PM – 3PM

When ordering Uniforms via QKR, don’t change the order date.

Orders will be sent the classrooms the days the uniform shop is opened.

If for some reason you need to exchange sizes, please ensure that the tags are still on the garment and the garment is in the original packing.

Christa Moylan
Uniform Shop Coordinator

Canteen

PLEASE UPDATE YOUR CHILDS CLASS ON QKR

Canteen Opening days.

Order via the QKR App, by 8.55am ON THE DAY.

Lunch orders will be sent to the classrooms in the class lunch tubs.

(IMPORTANT WHEN ORDERING LUNCHES – CHECK THE DATE OF ORDER)
In the past students haven’t received lunch due to the wrong order date entered.
Please discuss with your child if this happens, ask them to come to the office to see Mrs West or Mrs Mac, we will organise lunch for them through the canteen.  Only sandwiches will be on offer.

RECESS TIME:  10:30AM – 11:10AM
LUNCH TIME:  12:40PM – 1:20PM

St Nicholas OOSH

Guitar Lessons

Hunter Holiday Program