Filter Content
- Principal's Report
- Religious Education
- Lacey Library News - BOOK WEEK
- Reading in the Sun!
- Paint like an Illustrator
- New Soccer Goal Nets
- Canteen News
- School Banking
- Student and Parent Survey Results
- Clare Barry spoke to Stage 3 Students about SAYG
- St Augustine's Youth Group
- Healthy Lunch Box Snippet
Dear Parents, Teachers and Students,
Book Week
Book Week has arrived and our Library is looking wonderful! Congratulations to all the students and teachers for their efforts in creating such beautiful Book Week displays and a very special thank you to Mrs Turner and Mrs Patmore for the many hours of work that it takes to transform our Library each year. A virtual tour of the Library is being built on the school website and will be ready for families to enjoy on Friday. Go to Book Week 2020 on the Parents tab.
On Friday, we will be holding our Book Week parade between Recess and Lunch, via Zoom. Parents and families can watch live from 11:45am (the link will be provided via SZapp on Friday morning), although we are unable to provide exact times for each class. If you miss the live parade, a recording will be posted in the afternoon. A reminder that each student will be provided with a sausage sandwich for lunch (dietary needs will be catered for) but will need to bring a drink and snacks to supplement this, if needed. The canteen will be open for counter-sales and lunch orders as usual.
World Teachers’ Day
Australia celebrates World Teachers’ Day next Friday 30 October. I am conscious of the cliché, but teaching truly is a noble profession and I am grateful every day for the generosity, talent, patience, commitment and, above all, love that our wonderful teachers bring to their work. I encourage every student at Mt Carmel to take the time to personally thank their teacher next Friday.
Departing Students
Schools are required to record destination schools for all departing students. I ask that all families of Year 6 students inform us as soon as possible of the high school your child will be attending. In the Forms & Documents tab on the school website and app is a Year 6 2021 Destination eForm. I also request that any K-5 families moving from Mt Carmel at the end of this year send me an email (michael.green@cg.catholic.edu.au) as soon as possible indicating your intentions along with your destination. Much of this term is spent preparing for next year and our student numbers need to be accurate. Thank you for assisting us with this information gathering.
Class Placements 2021
Parents are invited to email me with regard to any considerations you may have for your child’s class placement for 2021. These considerations should be important for the education and wellbeing of your child. Requests for a particular teacher, gender of a teacher, multiple friends etc, are usually not appropriate nor a priority. It is very important for parents to understand that creating classes is detailed and exacting work completed by the teachers to ensure that your child is placed in an appropriate class group each year. When considering class groupings, teachers will look specifically at your child’s educational and social needs and place them with a teacher and peers that will support their development. Requests are to be emailed to me at: michael.green@cg.catholic.edu.au by Friday 6 November 2020. Please be aware that each request will be considered separately and by no means are all requests met. Requests from previous years are not kept on file or considered, as situations change each year. If you would like a previous request to be considered again, you are asked to send in a new request for 2021.
Annual Satisfaction Surveys
At the end of last term, I received Mt Carmel School's annual satisfaction survey report. The parent and student surveys at Mt Carmel School were undertaken in August 2020. Invitations containing a link to the on-line survey instrument were sent to all parents and to students in Years 3 to 6. The survey remained open for 14 days. Parents who had not completed the survey were sent a reminder three days before the surveys closed. 74 of the 153 parents completed the survey (48% completion rate is considered very good). 147 of the 183 students completed the survey (80% completion rate is considered excellent).
Parents and students were asked to express their satisfaction in response to a number of statements. Parent and student responses were scored as follows:
Strongly DISAGREE — 0
DISAGREE — 1
AGREE — 2
Strongly AGREE — 3
The average score for each statement is colour coded for quick reference:
Whilst feedback from both parents and students is positive overall—students feel safe and happy at school and parents recognise that their children are being engaged and challenged in their learning—there are certainly areas in which the school has work to do, including in communication around differentiation, assessment and reporting. The information gathered from the parent and student surveys will help inform our 2021 Annual Improvement Plan. Executive summary reports of the parent and student surveys are attached to this newsletter, for your information.
Ooshie Swap Day
An OOSHIE Swap Day will be held in the PAC at Mt Carmel this Thursday 22 October at lunch time. Bring any OOSHIES you want to swap; do not bring along the ones you want to keep. Also, any DONATIONS of OOSHIES—both the current type as well as previous types—will be accepted as they will be given to some outback NSW schools where the students have not had access to a Woolies store. If you have any of the Woolies cards these will be collected as well for donating.
May God’s peace be in your families,
Welcome to Week 2! Year 1 and Year 2 students have started their Religious Education unit of work with a provocation. Provocations encourage students to think independently by encouraging their interests and the exploration of those interests. The following visual questions were used to provoke their interest: What do you see? What do you think is going on? What does it make you wonder?
Please click on the images below to view the description of what the children are participating in.
What do you see?
What do you think is going on?
What does it make you wonder?
Matthew 22:15-21
Then the Pharisees went away to work out between them how to trap him in what he said. And they sent their disciples to him, together with some Herodians, to say, 'Master, we know that you are an honest man and teach the way of God in all honesty, and that you are not afraid of anyone, because human rank means nothing to you. Give us your opinion, then. Is it permissible to pay taxes to Caesar or not?' But Jesus was aware of their malice and replied, 'You hypocrites! Why are you putting me to the test? Show me the money you pay the tax with.' They handed him a denarius, and he said, 'Whose portrait is this? Whose title?' They replied, 'Caesar's.' Then he said to them, 'Very well, pay Caesar what belongs to Caesar -- and God what belongs to God.'
World Behind the Text (Background of the text)
Scripture scholars think that the Gospel of Matthew was written in the last part of the first century CE sometime after 70 CE. Matthew’s intended audience was Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians who were familiar with Jewish culture, religious belief and religious practice. Matthew’s text has many Jewish references that take for granted an audience familiar with Judaism. Matthew’s Gospel was also written at a time of increasing tension between Jewish synagogue and Christian church over claims about truth and authenticity. On both sides there was a general hardening of attitudes.
Many Jews resented Roman occupation and the poll tax, and Judas, a Galilean, not the apostle, organised a resistance movement which was quickly suppressed. Foreign tax is never well received, but, at the time of Jesusʼ public ministry, the Pharisees accepted to pay the tax as a price for retaining their religious ʻfreedomʼ, and the Herodians supported it. The scene before us took place just before the feast of Passover. There were many Galileans among those gathering for the feast, and no doubt the Romans were prepared for any disturbance. What better way to get Jesus into trouble than to have him speak out against the tax? He would certainly (Michael Fallon, 2020).
This passage highlights and focuses on antagonism between Jesus and his own Jewish community. Jesus is shown in conflict with particular representatives of Judaism in the person of Pharisees and Herodians. Jesus exposes the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and Herodians.This text of paying taxes intends to make the point that those who promote and administer Jewish Law have failed to appreciate its authentic meaning and purpose (Michael Fallon, 2020).
World in front of the Text (What does this text mean today?)
What can I give to God, my family and friends?
How can I give God, my family and friends some quality time and attention?
Catholic Mission Month
Catholic Mission supports children, communities and Church leaders around the world, including remote Australia. Grassroots needs are identified by local Catholics to give all people the opportunity for a full, enriched life–physically and spiritually–regardless of race, religion, gender or stigma. As the Pope’s international mission agency, we respond to the call to love God and to love our neighbour by forming individuals and communities as missionary disciples of Jesus who share their faith in action and through prayer. We share in God’s mission to reach out, and give life by sharing our personal and financial resources to:
- proclaim the Gospel;
- serve people in need;
- act for peace, justice and creation; in partnership with local churches so that all may have life in Christ.
“Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” John 13:34.
Socktober invites schools to engage with mission in an holistic way within the head, heart, hands model: encouraging a learning mind, an open heart and hands for action. Children experience how their brothers and sisters around the world play the game of soccer, learn about life in Cambodia and other developing countries, and take concrete action with the support of their family and friends.
Next Friday, 30 October, Mt Carmel School will be called to serve to raise funds for those in need by hosting a fundraiser. Students are invited to come to school wearing crazy socks, their favourite sport/team jersey, and donate a gold coin.
So pull on your crazy socks, pull out your favourite sport/team jersey, and kick goals to 'Sock it to Poverty!
May peace be with you,
Eva Karakotas
Religious Education Coordinator (Acting)
Lacey Library News - BOOK WEEK
Book Week Theme: Curious Creatures Wild Minds!
Celebrating Book Week at Mt Carmel School is going to be a little different this year.
Each class has been given a shortlisted book, which were chosen by the Children’s Book Council of Australia, to study and prepare a display for the library.
Unfortunately, parents will not be allowed to visit the library to see all the fantastic class displays as done in previous years, instead we will be creating a Virtual Tour in the Library for you all to view.
As we can not have the usual Book Character Parade in the Playground, this Friday 23rd October, the children will still come dressed as a book character to parade in their class rooms. This will be recorded for parents to watch as a shared virtual event.
We will be providing a free sausage sizzle for all the students on Friday. The canteen will be open for lunch orders as usual if your child does not want a sausage sizzle, and of course they can bring their own lunch and snacks.
We are looking for to celebrating Book Week 2020 in a different way!
Regards,
Evelyn Turner
Teacher/Librarian
3EG, 4SS and 5/6TC participating in a ‘paint like an illustrator’ zoom meeting through the NSW state library as part of Book Week.
The school has brand new soccer goal nets which have seen lots of uses since arriving last week.
Lots of delighted students playing soccer!
Thank you to all the students who ordered sushi last Friday. It was a huge day with 230 portions of suchi made!
This Friday, the canteen will be operating as usual, but please note that all students will be recieving a sausage sizzle for lunch as part of the Book Week celebrations.
Dietary Requirments
The Banana muffins sold as a snack item is both gluten free and lactose free.
The butter (Nutlex) and mayonnaise used in the canteen is both gluten and lactose free.
Clare Barry spoke to Stage 3 Students about SAYG
The first afternoon of activities organised by SAYG for our Year 5 & 6 students starts this afternoon at Mt Carmel and will continue every 2 weeks on Wednesday afternoons.