Dear Parents,

This year in Year Three and Year Four we have been trialling a program called Spelling Mastery. Students were individually assessed at the end of the 2022 school year with new students assessed this year. Below is a rather technical explanation of the program.

‘Spelling Mastery is designed for all grade levels. It can also be used in multi-age classrooms, with English language learners, and with students with learning disabilities. Spelling Mastery instruction is delivered in daily 20-30 minute sessions.

The program has six levels (A through F). In each lesson, teachers present an exercise, listen to student responses, and provide immediate feedback. Following an instructional sequence, teachers introduce sound–spelling relationships, morphographs (the smallest unit of meaning in written language), rules, and principles. Teachers integrate concepts cumulatively, with all strategies used and practised over time. Students’ progress is assessed using regularly scheduled tests.

Teachers use three strategies. Using the phonemic strategy, teachers instruct beginning spellers on sound–symbol (phoneme–grapheme) relationships. This strategy is emphasised in Spelling Mastery levels A and B. Using the morphemic strategy, teachers instruct older students to spell and blend bases and affixes (morphographs) to form words. This strategy is most efficient for multisyllabic words that are not easy to spell phonemically. Finally, using the whole-word strategy, teachers teach common, irregularly spelled words using memorization procedures and drills.’ 

When looking at the levels, A is the lowest level while F is the highest. We have a few students in the bottom level, most in C and a few in E. Students are moved through the levels if they master the words in the level they are working on in the current level. As the name suggests they cannot progress until they master the words at their current level.

Initial feedback from the classroom teachers is very positive and at the end of this term we will look at student growth over the first two terms to see if it has had a positive impact.

Mortimer Shield

On Wednesday we had a number of tackle and league tag teams participating in the Mortimer Shield. From what I observed and what I have been told all students were a credit to St Mary’s. It was a great day in which fun was the focus. I thank the parents and staff that assisted on the day.

GOSPEL: John 20:19-23

In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, 'Peace be with you,' and, after saying this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy at seeing the Lord, and he said to them again, 'Peace be with you. 'As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.' After saying this he breathed on them and said: Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone's sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyone's sins, they are retained.

REFLECTION

This Gospel begins by describing how Jesus’ disciples had locked themselves in a room. They were afraid of the Jews. Imagine this scene! Here are eleven grown men locked in a fairly small room, fearful of what might happen to them. So much for Jesus’ “brave disciples.”

Then Jesus quietly appears in their midst. Did they rub their eyes wondering if something was wrong with their eyesight? Did they think they were going crazy when they saw Jesus? Did they immediately recognize that this apparition was Jesus, their beloved friend and teacher?

Jesus quietly and simply said to his beloved friends and disciples: “Peace be with you.” I suspect that the primary emotion the disciples experienced when they saw this apparition was not “peace.” Rather, I assume that they felt shock, fear, disbelief, astonishment and perhaps hope. Did they ask themselves: How could this be? Is this real? Is Jesus truly here with us?

Then Jesus showed his beloved friends his hands and his side. Did Jesus do this so they would know and believe that Jesus truly was in their midst? I suspect that the disciples needed some proof that this apparition truly was Jesus, their teacher and friend. Yet as they began to absorb the fact that Jesus truly was with them once again, they rejoiced. They were awed and amazed!

Jesus once again said to his disciples: “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Did the disciples experience peace envelop them when Jesus spoke these simple yet powerful words? Jesus then breathed on them and said: “Receive the Holy Spirit! Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained!”

Take a moment and hear Jesus say to you: “Peace be with you (your name)! Then quietly breathe in Jesus’ gift of peace for 3-4 minutes! Allow Jesus’ peace to envelop you, to fill you! (Do it, don’t just read the sentence and move on!)

What was your experience? Do you feel Jesus’ peace within you? Do you feel less stressed or worried? Jesus gives us the gift of peace every day! However, we have to consciously accept and absorb His peace! If we do this every day, we may find that we are more peaceful, relaxed and joyful! (Sr Kristine Anne Harpenau)

FIRST EUCHARIST

Please continue to pray for our First Eucharist candidates who are preparing for this special Sacrament. We will be celebrating their First Eucharist on Saturday 10th June at 6pm and Sunday 11th June at 10am.  Both masses will be followed by a cake cutting.

YEAR 4 FIRST EUCHARIST RETREAT DAY

On Thursday 8th June, all of Year 4 will be participating in a retreat day at St Mary’s Parish Centre. The day will commence at 9:30am and conclude at 2:30pm. Students can be dropped directly at the Parish Centre with supervision provided from 8:30am.  Those students who catch the bus are asked to get off at Hennessy Catholic College where a teacher will guide them to the Parish Centre. Students will need to be collected from the Parish Centre at the end of the day with supervision being provided until 3pm. Lunch will be provided for all students with allergies catered for. Students are to wear their sports uniform and bring water, fruit, recess and a hat. We look forward to an exciting day.

PRAYER SERVICES AND LITURGIES

This week, Years 5 celebrated a beautiful liturgy. We were so pleased to have those from our community who were able to join us.

Next Monday,  Year 4 will be leading the whole school in a Prayer Service celebrating The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity at 8:50am in the Hall. We extend a warm welcome to all members of our school community to join us.

MASS

A huge thank you to River and Indianna who represented St Mary’s at Sunday Mass last week. They read beautifully and we are very proud of them.

VINNIES WINTER APPEAL

Today we launched our Vinnies Winter Appeal. This year we are looking to support vulnerable women and children who are facing homelessness in our community. To raise funds to support the great works of Vinnies, we will be holding a special Winter Appeal Day on Friday 23rd June (Week 9). In exchange for a $5 donation, students will get to wear their pyjamas to school for the day, be provided with a hot chocolate and will participate in a marshmallow guessing contest and an ice-cream eating contest. It should be a fun day! Students are encouraged to start bringing in their $5 as of Monday. It can be given to the class teacher or handed in at the front office. If you wish to make an additional donation to the appeal, you are more than welcome to include it in the envelope.

God Bless,

Warren Ziebowski

(Religious Education Coordinator)

Mortimer Shield

A fantastic day for all students. We had a good mix of experienced and first time players and from all accounts a great experience was had by all!

A big thank you to our managers on the day - Hayley Coddington, Lucille Bruce, Liz Sheridan, Kent Woods and Donna Dal Molin. We really appreciate your expertise and time to help the students.

Well done to our players of the day - Knox Walker, Zander Ashton, Percy Bloor, Amelia McRae and Evelyn Sinclair!

Thank you also to the NRL and the referees for a well organised day.

MacKillop Soccer Trials

A huge apology to our superstar soccer player Pippa Smith who missed out on a mention in last week’s newsletter. Pippa also represented the Canberra-Goulburn Archdiocese at the MacKillop Soccer Trials last week. She played with great heart in what was a tough day of competition. The Canberra-Goulburn Archdiocese had one player chosen in the possible v probables team on the day. Fierce competition indeed!! Well done Pippa!

This week St Mary's commemorated Reconciliation Week. Reconciliation Week is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures and achievements and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.

The theme for National Reconciliation Week 2023 is Be a Voice for Generations. The theme encourages all Australians to be a voice for reconciliation in tangible ways in our everyday lives – where we live, work and socialise. At St Mary's we are encouraging kids to speak up and continue the work of those before them to bring about change. This is an opportunity for all Australians to reflect on how they can use their voice for good. It asks us all to think about everything we know about change and change makers and share our ideas about change loud and proud! 

This year we want to amplify the ideas of a generation by sharing their reconciliation messages in a sea of megaphones.