Term 3, Week 6 (22 August 2023)
FROM THE PRINCIPAL'S DESK
Dear Families,
Last Friday, during our Staff Professional Learning Day, we enjoyed presentations from staff who have participated in pilgrimages organised by Good Samaritan Education.
A pilgrimage is a journey for religious purposes, made to a sacred place as an act of devotion. Mrs Gorey shared with us her experience from earlier this year of her pilgrimage to places of significance in Rome, Subiaco and Monte Cassino to discover the life and times of St Benedict, joined by other staff from Good Samaritan schools. We viewed photos from various pilgrimage sites while Mrs Gorey explained the connections to the life of St Benedict and the Benedictine tradition. Ms Fahey and Mrs Tilden shared their experience of a pilgrimage closer to home as they walked in the footsteps of Archbishop Polding and the Good Samaritan Sisters, visiting places in Glebe, Sydney and Five Dock. They too were joined by pilgrims from Good Samaritan schools in NSW, Queensland and Victoria. The reflections that all 3 staff shared about their pilgrimage was inspiring to hear, including a true sense of journey, both physical and spiritual, walking in communio with God and others.
Our St Benedict Feast Day brought together the wider Mater Dei community of students, staff, family, friends and visitors from both our local and GSE schools. The Mass was a joyous occasion as we joined in a celebration of the Eucharist. In his homily, Fr John Ho, highlighted the importance of both acknowledging the importance of St Benedict to our school, and also the love that he had for Jesus in devoting his own life to him. We heard about our school values and were reminded that these too are a direct link to St Benedict and the Good Samaritan Sisters. The celebrations continued into the day with cupcakes, hot dogs, jumping castles, glitter and a disco. I thank our staff for the organisation, preparation and engagement in all Feast Day activities both in the lead up and throughout the day. How blessed we truly are.
I take this opportunity to wish all fathers, uncles, grandfathers, father figures and all special males in our lives, a very Happy Father’s Day on Sunday 3 September. Thank you for the love, laughter and influence you have in shaping the values, faith, traditions and rituals in families, and for the positive role models that you are in the lives of the children at Mater Dei.
Kind regards,
JENNIFER FOLDES
ACTING PRINCIPAL
SCHOOL NEWS
MISSION & VISION
The Year of the Neighbour continues to remind us that through the lens of conversatio and humility we are challenged to open and grow in relationship and awareness to explore what it looks like to be in a relationship with God and with all, including the Earth, as we respond to the call to be a neighbour.
GOOD SAMARITAN EDUCATION (GSE) MISSION FRAMEWORK
On the Staff Development Day, the staff explored the Good Samaritan Education (GSE) Mission Framework. Good Samaritan Education is responsible for ensuring not only that mission informs and influences relationships, decisions, structures and systems across all aspects of GSE life “in accordance with the beliefs, teachings and legislation of the Church” (GSE Statutes §5), but that mission is sustainable and future focused. Our mission focus areas sit behind three mission priorities: Community, Culture and Ethos, and Governance. These mission priorities hold and inform each of the mission focus areas, none of which exists in isolation, as they relate to the goal and challenge of communio.
The GSE Philosophy of Education, along with the Benedictine Values, sets out the guiding beliefs, values and attitudes that influence the practice, social norms and expectations for the community of Good Samaritan Education. The staff explored the nine Mission Focus Areas and how they apply to Mater Dei presently and how the Focus Areas could be applicable to Mater Dei in the future.
The Sisters of the Good Samaritan Foundation aims to provide a safe and respectful environment for all who are part of our work, or are touched by our programs. They are committed to protect all who enter our workplace, especially children and vulnerable adults. For Good Samaritans today, our neighbours are found next door, on the street and in the marketplaces and neighbourhoods of cities and rural communities in Australia, Kiribati, Timor Leste and the Philippines. Our neighbour might be an impoverished child from a squatter village, a young person seeking education, a refugee family or a woman escaping family violence. Whatever the circumstances, the wisdom of the Parable calls us to recognise the needs of the ‘other’ and reach out with compassion and love.
GOOD SAMS FOUNDATION EDUCATION GRANTS 2024
We are delighted to offer GSE Education Grants for students attending Good Samaritan Colleges in 2024. Please see attached flyer.
Applications for 2024 grants are now open and close at midnight on Thursday 28th September 2023. All applicants must complete the application form and provide a reference from our Relieving Principal, Ms Jenny Foldes. Please note applications will not be received after the closing date.
ST PATRICK'S AND ST GREG'S
Students from St Patrick’s College and St Gregory’s Junior School continue to visit and will be onsite this week. These visits provide insight and enjoyment for both students and staff from each school.
CURRICULUM
Stage 6 students have been offered the chance to actively participate in the exploration of agricultural enterprises. They've engaged in diverse activities focused on assessing agricultural products within the framework of an agricultural venture. These students have expanded upon their understanding of agriculture and its imperative role in generating sustenance, fibre, and other essential resources to address the demands of the worldwide population.
During this Term, Stage 6 students had the valuable opportunity to visit St. Gregory's College, where they observed the college's managed agriculture and livestock operations, overseen by both staff and students. This visit provided insight into farm management techniques and the technological innovations used on their agricultural field.
SPORT NEWS
AUSTRALIAN ALL SCHOOLS CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Good luck to Jack C and Lilly-Rose who will be representing New South Wales at the Australian All Schools Cross Country Championships in Canberra from the 25th - 28th August.
WOLLONGONG DIOCESE ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
On Thursday 24th August, two primary teams will be participating in the Wollongong Diocese Soccer Gala Day at Tahmoor Sport Complex. Our Mater Dei teams will be participating with other local schools including St Paul’s and St Anthony’s.
WELLBEING
ATTENDANCE
The department of Education expects student attendance rates will be above 90% (the state average is 93%).
When a child is unable to attend school it is the parent/carer’s responsibility to contact the school on that day to inform them and to provide the school with an explanation for their absence.
The following are generally acceptable explanations for student absence:
- Sickness or accident, where the child is not well enough to attend school.
- Medical and dental appointments, where out of hours appointments are not possible or not appropriate.
- Bereavement or attendance at the funeral.
- The child has an approved exemption.
HOW TO: ADD AN ATTENDANCE NOT FOR AN UPCOMING ABSENCE
- Click ‘Add Attendance Note (Approved Absence/Late)’.
- A Note screen will open. Select the applicable reason from the drop down list; add in any additional information if applicable in the Details/Comment box. Select the start and finish date/time of the absence and click ‘Save’.
HOW TO: ADD AN ATTENDANCE NOT FOR AN UNEXPLAINED ABSENCE
- If your child has been marked Not Present without an explanation, you will be required to add an Attendance Note. You will see an alert on your homescreen.
- Click the alert and it will take you to your child’s ‘Unexplained’ attendance tab where you will see any sessions listed for which they were marked as Not Present or Late.
- Select the session (or sessions) that you are adding a note for and then click ‘Explain with Attendance Note’. This will cause the Attendance Note screen to pop open.
Select the applicable reason for the absence and add in the relevant details/comment. Click ‘Save’. This will assign the attendance note to the sessions you selected and they will update to no longer show as unexplained absences.
PEDAGOGY
New South Wales Education Standards Authority (NESA) have released a range of new syllabuses across years Kindergarten to Year 10. These include:
- Kindergarten to Year 6: PDHPE, Creative Arts, Human Society and its Environment and Science and Technology
- Years 7 to 10: PDHPE, Geography, History and Visual Arts
These new syllabuses are currently in a phase where teachers are invited to review them and provide feedback to ensure they reflect the views of teachers. NESA are being led by the latest evidence and research with all new syllabuses and importantly drafts are developed by highly experienced classroom educators and academics. Mater Deil teachers will have two years to get to know K to 10 syllabuses before implementing them.
IMPORTANT REMINDERS
K-6 BOOK WEEK PARADE - Friday 25 August
Book Week this year is between 19-25th August. Our K-6 annual Book Week Parade will be held on Friday 25 August, at 11:30am in the Carmela Ritchie Hall! This event is a highlight in the Mater Dei calendar! The theme for this year is ‘Read, Grow Inspire’. Students are encouraged to wear outfits from characters in books, that are low maintenance and low cost. Everyone is welcome to attend!
Parents are reminded to please complete the Insight on Compass, for what costume your child will be dressed in for Book Week.
P&F FATHER'S DAY STALL
YEAR 7 & YEAR 10 VACCINATIONS
Public Health Unit Liverpool will be at the school on the 21st of September to administer any catch up vaccines to students in Year 7 and Year 10.
Vaccination will only be provided at school if consent has been received. To complete online consent for your child’s school vaccinations, visit: https://nswhealth.service-now.com/school
A step by step guide to how to consent can be found here: https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/immunisation/Pages/online-consent-school-vaccination.aspx
Any Year 10 students who did not receive a vaccination on the 14th of August would have received a paper-based consent which can be used instead of the online consent form.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact Mrs Christy Smith during school hours.
LABELLING UNIFORM ITEMS
Just a reminder to families to please label all items of clothing as this greatly helps us in finding the owner of any missing items.
COVID - CURRENT MEASURES IN PLACE
Given we are a high risk, disability setting, we wish to remind families of the mandatory 7 day isolation requirement remains in place at Mater Dei for all staff and students who test positive to COVID (including if you are a close contact).
Students should not attend Mater Dei if unwell or displaying COVID symptoms and only return after completing isolation and/or when symptom free.
2023 SCHOOL DROP OFF / PICK UP PROCEDURES
STUDENT BIRTHDAYS AND SPECIAL EVENTS
A reminder to families, we are currently not able to share any food at school including birthday cakes. If your child is celebrating a special event, we kindly ask families not to send in homemade treats or birthday cakes.
We understand these are important milestones and are more than happy to distribute individually wrapped, pre-packaged items such as lollipops, freddo frogs and cake bars.
MAISY'S CORNER
Maisy has been joining the primary classes at sport. She has been enjoying watching the students develop their soccer skills.
EVENTS
PAST EVENTS:
ST BENEDICT'S FEAST DAY
On Friday 11th August, our Mater Dei community celebrated “St Benedict’s Feast Day”. The day started with a lovely mass, followed by a celebration. Students from St Gregory’s College, St Patrick’s College, St Mary’s Star of the Sea, St Paul’s Catholic Primary School, Magdalene Catholic College and St Benedict’s Catholic College joined us to celebrate.
Students in years 5-12, had the opportunity to adventure on the inflatable obstacle course, kick a goal in the giant soccer target, make a superhero mask, decorate a cookie or get a temporary tattoo.
Students in Kindergarten to Year 4, had the opportunity to climb through the giant inflatable caterpillar, move through the monkey play gym, decorate a cookie, get a temporary tattoo or decorate a superhero mask.
The day finished with a disco and a movie.
IN-CLASS THERAPY
At a recent Professional Development afternoon our teachers were joined by NextPath In-Class Therapists. The time was spent reviewing the main goals for In-Class Therapy to ensure it operates in the most successful way to benefit our students with professional support through Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy. All classes now have access to specifically designed movement break videos created by the Occupational Therapists. Sometimes the students benefit from movement breaks that boost their alertness or help them regulate to a calm state ready for learning. Mater Dei’s In-Class Therapy model is a research-based practice that is running very smoothly and providing expert support for the students.
On Friday 18th August Mater Dei staff engaged in a busy full day Staff Development Day. Our Teacher Assistants self-selected from a range of online professional learning topics including Strategies to Support Students with Intellectual Disability, What is Executive Functioning, An Introduction to Digital Technologies and Tools and Strategies to Build Resilience. The Teachers increased their knowledge and skills about Reading Assessment through the delivery of professional learning from Nelson Cengage. Carmel from Nelson Cengage gave Teachers a review of the reading assessment process using PM Benchmark resources. She also focused on interpreting those assessments to target explicit instructional teaching for student’s level of reading and comprehension.
Mater Dei staff engage in regular professional learning both at Mater Dei and off-site through other professionals in their field. Miss Crawford shared feedback from attending an Autism workshop and Mrs Cane shared feedback from attending a Music workshop. Staff were also treated to an inspiring sharing session by both Mrs Gorey from her overseas pilgrimage as well as Ms Fahey and Cass Tilden on their Sydney pilgrimage. The day finished off with Mrs Gorey and Mrs Musso leading the whole staff into the journey of reflection and future direction of a Mission Framework for Mater Dei.
NATIONAL SCIENCE WEEK
The theme for National Science Week for 2023 was Innovation.
Kindergarten to Year 12 students enjoyed a session with Mrs Twine to learn more about innovation. Firstly the students learnt that innovation is about better ways of doing things and solving problems. Australia has played a key role in producing many innovations that have been shared across the world including the pacemaker, penicillin, Wi-Fi Technology, the inflatable escape slide, cochlear implant and polymer plastic money. The science presentation included opportunities for students to observe some original innovations that helped people to do things better, however most of these have since been improved with new innovations such as shearing sheep with hand sheers then the Australian invention of the mechanical sheers. The students also got to learn about how carpets were cleaned before the robot vacuum and what people used before the battery torch was invented. Other innovations displayed and tested were remote control cars, a drone, electric beaters and even an electric hair curler. The highlight was probably a visitor from Campbelltown Catholic Club, Bella Bot! What an innovation that is, a robot waiter instead of a person. This years National Science Week felt a bit more like a history lesson too.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
SECONDARY CELEBRATION OF LEARNING
On Friday 1st September, we have a Secondary Celebration of Learning. Our families will be invited to visit the classroom and engage in a learning experience with their child, followed by an assembly and picnic lunch with their child. To finish off the day, families who had not yet visited their child in the classroom will have this opportunity to do so.
FOUNDATION DINNER
NEXTPATH CONTINUOUS LEARNING HOLIDAY PROGRAM
IMPORTANT DATES
HELPFUL REMINDERS
PARENT FORMS AND SCHOOL DOCUMENTATION
School documentation and common forms are stored in Compass for parents to access at any time. Parent Forms can be found by following these steps on your Compass App:
(Steps 1-3 are for App users only)
- Click on the student
- Click on the 3 lines in top left corner
- Click Open in Browser
- Click on Community Icon (2 heads)
- Click on School Documentation
- Click Parent Forms
ATTENDANCE EXEMPTION FORMS
Any families who wish to apply for attendance exemptions to attend therapy services in 2023, please download the Application for Leave Exemption form on Compass, complete and return to schooladmin@materdei.org.au
2023 AFTERNOON ARRANGEMENTS
In the event of either of the following:
- Student needs to be collected by a different family member or family friend over 18 years of age
- Student needs to be collected by parent INSTEAD of usual taxi arrangement for a specified day
Parent/Guardian is required to advise the school of the change, and MUST include the full name of person collecting, PRIOR to 2:30pm on the day of the change. This may be done via one of the following options:
- Noting change in student diary
- Phoning School Reception on ph. 4655 7481
- Emailing schooladmin@materdei.org.au
If your child needs to be collected by a service provider - a Parent/Guardian is required to complete a Collection by a Service Provider form (available on Compass) and email it to schooladmin@materdei.org.au
This form must be received PRIOR to 2:30pm on the day before the new arrangement is to take place.
If unable to provide the full name of the staff member collecting, the Parent/ Guardian is required to arrange the Service Provider to notify the school via schooladmin@materdei.org.au email by 2:30pm on the day the student is to be collected.
JOIN US ON OUR SOCIALS
COMMUNITY NEWS
DISABILITY MACARTHUR
Disability Macarthur run a Peer Support Junior program that offers care for young people with low to high needs disabilities form 5 years old to 17 years old.
The program has three programs it runs which are:
- After School Care
- Saturday Programs
- School Holiday Vacation Care.