Author: CEO

Term 4 Week 8
Wednesday 5th December 2018
Website: www.stmarysrydalmere.catholic.edu.au

1 Myrtle Street, Rydalmere
Ph: 8844 5700 Fax: 8844 5799
Email: stmarysrydal@parra.catholic.edu.au

DIARY DATES

TERM 4	2018
Thursday / 6th Dec	Christmas Concert / 6:30pm
Friday / 7th Dec	Swimming Program / Concludes
Monday / 10th Dec	Kinder “Sharing our / Learning” Assembly / 2:30pm
Tuesday / 11th Dec	Parent Helper Morning Tea / 10:30am
Wednesday / 12th Dec	Swimming Carnival
Friday / 14th Dec	Year 6 End of Year / Celebration
Monday / 17th Dec	End of Year Awards / Assembly 9:00am
Monday / 17th Dec	New Children Yrs1-6 / Orientation Afternoon / 2:00pm
Tuesday / 18th Dec	End of Year Mass / 9:15am
Tuesday / 18th Dec	Year 6 Graduation Mass / 6:30pm
Wednesday / 19th Dec	School Concludes for / Children
Thursday / 20th Dec	Staff Development Day
Friday / 21st Dec	Staff Development Day

PRINCiPAL’S MESSAGE...

Dear Parents and Caregivers,
All members of our community are invited to our 2018 Christmas Celebrations. Our school’s Christmas concert is on TOMORROW NIGHT commencing at 6:30pm. All children are to be at school by 6:00pm. This is an opportunity to celebrate the reason for the season - The Birth of our Saviour, Jesus, through song and dance. It is a night to come together as a school community and to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. It will be held on the Marist site and we ask that you bring rugs to sit on. There will be room for picnic chairs. These will be located at the back of the rug area. In the event of wet weather, our Christmas concert will be held in the hall. It is expected that all children attend and perform in the concert
We look forward to seeing you here at school tomorrow evening to celebrate with us the Joy of this Christmas Season.
Richard Blissenden
PRINCIPAL

St Mary’s Newsletter…...

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SPORTING NEWS
Congratulations to Bianca Tandean
(Yr 6) for her excellence through the year in Judo. As a result of all her hard work she has won the Junior Girls Award recently at the NSW awards night dinner. Bianca was chosen to
receive this award out of a group of
exceptional Judokas. She has demonstrated exceptional judo skills in the 2018 Sydney International winning
silver in the Under 40’s and 44’s
combined category. Additionally, at
the 2018 Australian National championships she represented NSW winning silver in the individuals competition and in the Kata competition, a partners competition, she won gold in the Nata no Kata category and bronze in the Ju no Kata category. Congratulations and well done Bianca!
BABY NEWS
Congratulations to Mr Ben Horne and his wife, Talia on the recent safe arrival of their third child – Felix.
CHANGE OF HOME AND EMERGENCY
CONTACT DETAILS
If you have any changes to your home or emergency contact numbers, please contact the school office as soon as possible. In cases of sickness or emergency, it is important that we have the correct contact details for your child(ren). You can also update your details via the school’s skoolbag app under the Parent eForms tab.
LEAVING OR CHANGING SCHOOLS
If you know your child will not be returned to St Mary’s in 2019 (excluding Year 6), can you please write a letter or email to the school office advising them of this. This must include the name of the new school your child will be attending and also any change of address you may have so we can forward any correspondence. It is very important we get this information as soon as possible. Thank you.

4 QUESTIONS IN 4 WEEKS
For the remaining weeks of 2018 I have found 4 interesting questions that staff will be using to discuss learning and that parents can use to find out about their child’s school day. The first two questions have been:
“What Did You Create Today?”
and
“With Whom Did You Collaborate?”
Try asking these questions for a different conversation about ‘what did you do at school today?’
MAI TESTING
As in previous years we will be holding MAI testing on the 29th and 30th January 2019. We will send out information shortly on how to book these interviews. It is EXTREMELY important that every child participates in this testing. More information to follow.
IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER
Here are some very important dates to put in your diary:
19th Dec — Last day for students
29th Jan — MAI Testing
30th Jan — MAI Testing
31st Jan — School commences for Yrs 1-6
1st Feb — School commences for Kindy

BIRTHDAY
CELEBRATIONS
December 6 Matilda Casey
Ned Dowdell
Patrick Bayeh
December 7 Noah Zaouk
December 8 Sienna Trovato
December 10 Jireh Samuel
Nicholas Michail
December 11 Paradis Nikparvar
Isla Moyes
December 12 Aimon Liu
December 14 Nathaniel Nann
December 17 Nathan Dinesh
We would like to wish all of these
children a very happy birthday!!

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St Mary’s Newsletter….

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL

STRONG ENROLMENT NUMBERS FOR 2019
To date we have 11 students joining our school in 2019 in grades from Year 1-6, with more enrolment interviews booked in. The consistent comments from the families as they enrol are that they hear good things about our school from their family and friends – so the word in the community is very positive about the things happening in our school. While some families may be leaving us at the end of the year – due to moving out of the area and to new schools – we will have more students enrolled in 2019 compared to 2018. We wish those moving schools the very best and welcome our new families to the St Mary’s Community.
DATA VALIDATION
Having accurate, up-to-date information on our students is an important part of maintaining their safety and wellbeing, and supporting their learning. It also assists schools to make good decisions about how best to support and care for all students. To ensure that the data we currently hold is current and accurate, CEDP is conducting a data validation survey.
What does this involve? It is pretty straight forward. Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta (CEDP) will send you an email, SMS and/or letter with a link to the survey. Please note that in some cases you may need to confirm visa details, arrival and school starting dates in Australia, so please have this information with you before starting the survey.
The survey will ask you to confirm or change the information the school currently has about your child/children. This could include names, addresses, email addresses etc. In the majority of cases, the information will not have changed. If it has, it is important you record this in the survey. Letters sent to parents will include instructions on how to access the survey online.
Completing this survey helps to ensure that we have the right information about your child in the case of an emergency and for programs that best suit your child’s needs. Reminder emails and SMS will also be sent.
Questions? If you have any questions about this project, please contact your school. You can also contact the CEDP Helpdesk at enterpriseservicedesk@parra.catholic.edu.au or phone 9840 5620.
Thank you for your support of this important project.
HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES
With holidays just around the corner I am sure that your planning is well underway. In addition to the Executive Director's Summer Holiday Reading Challenge here are some suggestions for helping with Mathematics over the Summer Break…
1. Highlight the maths in everyday activities. When shopping, help children calculate change or discounts. When watching a sports game, talk about what players’ statistics mean. When cooking, try halving or doubling a recipe, and assist children in figuring out the new proportions.
2. Read short maths stories together. Reading maths-focused stories to children can help boost maths success at school.
3. Play maths games. Games like Yahtzee and Monopoly rely on skills necessary for maths, such as counting, categorising and building.
4. Playing with blocks and assembling jigsaw puzzles can help children learn spatial skills and recognise patterns.

St Mary’s Newsletter…..

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CHRISTMAS CONCERT COSTUMES...

WHAT TO WEAR REMINDER
In order to keep clothing to a minimal effort and cost, but to enhance performances, a suggestion for each grade’s clothing is outlined below. Some students/ grades will be provided with a costume.
DROP OFF AND COLLECTION SPACES
(If you require further clarification around the clothing, please see your child’s teacher.)
Drop off and collection spaces:
(If you require further clarification around the clothing, please see your child’s teacher.)
Drop off and collection spaces:

Part of Story	Grade	Costume Ideas
O Christmas Tree—Germany	Kindy	Girls— Dresses with flowers in hair / Boys— Checkered shirt and school / summer uniform shorts
Jingle Bell Rock—USA	Year 1	Girls & Boys— Denin shorts /jeans / White T-Shirt / Coloured Bandana
Nutcracker—Russia	Year 2	Girls— Red dress/skirt and top / Boys— White T-Shirt and black pants / Dancers / Girls—supplied by school
Ubunta—Africa	Year 2	Girls— Black tights with red or green T-Shirt / Boys— Black pants with red or green T-Shirt
Feliz Navidad—Spain	Year 4	Girls— White top and black tights / Boys— White top and black pants / Coloured sash to be supplied by the school / Dancers—supplied by school
Jingle Bells—China	Year 5	Girls & Boys— All white clothing
Nativity Scene	Year 6	See separate note depending on role

GRADE	DROP OFF AND COLLECTION SPACES
Kinder	Kindy Room
Year 1	Year 1 Room
Year 2 and Year 4	Year 2 Room
Year 3	Library
Year 4	Kindy Room
Year 6	Music Room

10am – 11am Sunday 28th October, 2012 Ted Horwood Reserve, Baulkham Hills Baulkham Hills Football Club
Bookings are essential and done via club website: www.bhfc.org.au Enquiries to: ladies@bhfc.org.au or 0412 956 301

Part of Story	Grade	Costume Ideas
O Christmas Tree - Germany	Kindy	Girls - Dresses and flowers in hair / Boys - Checkered shirt and school summer uniform shorts
Jingle Bell Rock - USA	Year 1	Girls & Boys - Blue Jeans/denim shorts / Plain white T-shirt / Coloured bandana
Nutcracker - Russia	Year 2	Girls - Red dress/ skirt and top / All Boys - White shirt and black pants / Dancers / Girls - Supplied by school
Ubuntu - Africa	Year 3	Girls - Black tights, red T-shirt or green T-shirt / Boys - Black pants, red or green T-shirt
Feliz Navidad - Spain	Year 4	Girls - White top and black tights / Boys - White top and black pants / Coloured sash to be supplied by school. / Dancers- supplied by school
Jingle Bells - China	Year 5	All white clothing.
Nativity Scene	Year 6	See separate note depending on role.

Part of Story	Grade	Costume Ideas
O Christmas Tree - Germany	Kindy	Girls - Dresses and flowers in hair / Boys - Checkered shirt and school summer uniform shorts
Jingle Bell Rock - USA	Year 1	Girls & Boys - Blue Jeans/denim shorts / Plain white T-shirt / Coloured bandana
Nutcracker - Russia	Year 2	Girls - Red dress/ skirt and top / All Boys - White shirt and black pants / Dancers / Girls - Supplied by school
Ubuntu - Africa	Year 3	Girls - Black tights, red T-shirt or green T-shirt / Boys - Black pants, red or green T-shirt
Feliz Navidad - Spain	Year 4	Girls - White top and black tights / Boys - White top and black pants / Coloured sash to be supplied by school. / Dancers- supplied by school
Jingle Bells - China	Year 5	All white clothing.
Nativity Scene	Year 6	See separate note depending on role.