Week 1 Term 2 2021

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Welcome back to Term 2 of our academic year! For me, returning after taking leave during Term 1, it has been a very exciting week getting back into school life.  My sudden leave was on the back of family deaths, happening within an 18-month period. My role within the family, has significant responsibility to support and guide family members, so some reflection time was definitely required. During this time I was very appreciative and humbled by the words of support from many within our community - staff and families.

I was also very grateful for the wonderful welcome back from students as I moved about the school this week.  My favourite moment was a conversation with a Year 2 student who said she was sad to hear of my brother passing away.  After a bit of a life will go on conversation, her consoling words were, “……..Oh well, he will always be in your heart Mr Bartlett”.  So cute!

The extended leave was also a great perspective builder, as this year is 30 years in the work force, with 20 years in the role of principal.  I learnt more about what is important in life and what is just nice to have in life.  From this reflection, I have begun this term with a sense of appreciation of the excellent learning environment we have created at Mater Dei.  I am certainly looking forward to the rest of the school year.

FROM THE APA

Welcome back to Term Two. We trust you enjoyed a restful break enjoying time with family and friends and are ready for a new term full of exciting learning opportunities.

In June last year, education ministers agreed it was timely to review the Australian Prep-Year 10 curriculum, which has been in place since 2015. Since then the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) has been consulting with key education stakeholders and groups to prepare revisions to our present curriculum for implementation in 2022.

Last term, ACARA sought expressions of interest from schools across Australia to be part of the new curriculum implementation roll out. We have been selected as one of only 40 schools nationally to participate in an intensive engagement opportunity to test the manageability of the new ACARA curriculum. We are yet to receive details from ACARA but this is great recognition of the fantastic work that is happening in our school and the growth mindset that is evident in Learning the Mater Dei Way.

FROM THE APRE MIDDLE LEADER

Happy Easter

We hope you and your family have enjoyed a restful and refreshing holiday break with a special emphasis on the risen Jesus over the Easter weekend. 

Lord, the resurrection of Your Son has given us new life and renewed hope.
Help us to live as new people in pursuit of the Christian ideal.
Grant us wisdom to know what we must do,
the will to want to do it,
the courage to undertake it,
the perseverance to continue to do it,
and the strength to complete it.  Amen

Teachers Professional Learning – Learning with a Listening Heart

During the staff professional learning on Monday of this week, we focused on moving forward with the Illuminate RE strategy.   Our goal in the RE strategy is to ensure that we are implementing a vibrant RE curriculum that engages students and leads to increased dialogue and inquiry in their learning.  Teachers worked collaboratively to develop sequences of learning ensuring the rigour of their RE teaching around scripture and aligning priorities both from our SRIP and our Annual Action Plan. 

Have a look at this beautiful piece of art  by Jan Hyne who has recontextualised the story of the birth of Jesus in a modern day setting.  This artwork, entitled ‘Bonding Time: The Nativity in Townsville’ formed the basis of staff discussion in accessing resources that engage students in RE learning.  In connecting the message from scripture with our everyday lives, staff are developing sequences of learning using resources like this piece of art to support the bringing to life of stories from scripture.

As part of our day, staff joined with Fr Brian and the Parish team under the jacaranda tree for Mass to set the tone for a rich term of learning, collaboration and reflection. 

Catholic Identity Team

Our Catholic Identity team met twice during last term and will continue to meet regularly this term with a focus on how we can make our Good Samaritan charism more visible within our school community.  Our conversations include how we can bring our charism to the forefront in classrooms, in rituals and liturgies and in the whole school setting. 

Mother’s Day

On Friday morning 7 May, we will be honouring our mothers at Mater Dei with breakfast from 7.30am and a liturgy on the oval at 8.45am.  As part of our celebrations, we invite each family to send a photo of mum with her children into me to compile a display.  Photos can be emailed to Kathleen.doherty@twb.catholic.edu.au please.  Could photos be sent through prior to 3pm on Wednesday 5 May.   You are welcome to include grandmas and other women who act in a mother role in your family.   

ANZAC Day

This weekend, 2 Year 6 students – Sienna Logan and Vivienne Pearse – will represent Mater Dei at the Wreath Laying Ceremony at the Mothers Memorial on Sunday morning at 9am.  They will lay a wreath remembering the the sacrifice of all who have participated in wars and conflicts around the world.

As a school, we commemorated ANZAC Day with a ceremony at 10am today.  Thank you to the Year 4 classes who led this ceremony.

They shall grow not old,
As we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

200 Years of Catholic Education 

2021 makes 200 years of Catholic Education in Australia.  Millions of children have been educated in Catholic schools in that time including the generations who have attended Mater Dei.  To commemorate this occasion, the Diocese is making a video of the song ‘Walk Humbly with God’ which is our Diocesan vision.  Syra Barron will represent Mater Dei in the making of this video.

On Monday 24 May there is a national Mass will be celebrated across all states, territories and dioceses on the Feast of Our Lady Help of Christians to commemorate 200 years of Catholic education in Australia.  Mater Dei will be participating in this special celebration to remember our past and look to the future in faith.

Project Compassion

Because of the unusual finish to last term, we have extended our collection of donations for the Project Compassion appeal until the end of next week – Friday 30 April.  Any spare change you have can be added to the boxes in all classrooms.  The money raised goes to Caritas which is a Catholic organisation providing a hand up to people across the world including in Australia. 

SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

AITSL CONFERENCE

AITSL (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership) has invited Mater Dei to develop a presentation for the 2021 National Virtual Conference.  We have been asked to share our stories of how we are growing Highly Accomplished and Lead Teachers at our school, with a particular focus on Mrs Martlew attainment of Lead Teacher status in 2019.

STUDENT LEARNING CONFERENCES

Thank you for your flexibility regarding the rescheduling of our student learning conferences. We look forward to welcoming you back next week. A reminder that conferences will be held in classrooms and the school bell will be rung to signal interview intervals.

PREP PLACES 2022

We have started our interviews for Prep 2022 with our new families. Interviews for our existing families will occur later this term. Online bookings will be pushed out from our administration team for families to book in for interviews.

If you are a current family and you have a child eligible for Prep in 2022, please ensure you have submitted an enrolment form (on the website) to ensure you are captured in our process for next year.

NAPLAN

Years Three and Five will sit the NAPLAN tests in Week 4. This past week, classes have sat a practice test to build familiarity with the testing formats. The Public Demonstration site has useful information parents can access, including examples to build familiarity with types of questions.  

TOOWOOMBA CATHOLIC EDUCATION EXCELLENCE AWARDS

The Toowoomba Catholic Schools Excellence Awards are a great way to acknowledge and celebrate the outstanding contribution of members of our school team. 

We encourage you to nominate staff and volunteers from our school community for these prestigious awards.  The categories for the awards are as follows.

Excellence in teaching and learning

• Early career teacher (0-3 years teaching experience)
• Primary expert teacher
• Secondary expert teacher
• eLearning (individual or team) *NEW CATEGORY

Excellence in leadership

• School leadership (individual or team)
• Middle leadership (individual or team)
• Emerging leader

Excellence in education support

• Teaching and learning support
• Administration, finance and facilities support
• Volunteer support in a school setting

For more information about these awards, visit www.twb.catholic.edu.au and click on the Excellence Awards button on the home page.

TEACHER GOALS

Teacher goal meetings for Term 2 will occur next week, with a focus for teachers to enhance pedagogical practice that aligns with the Mater Dei Way of learning.  These goals connect with the school 2021 Annual Action Plan and the Mater Dei Strategic Plan 2021 – 2024.  Meetings will be facilitated by the school leadership team with each year level of teachers.

PRINCIPAL LEADERSHIP FORUM

Chris will be attending the termly Principal Leadership Forum in Stanthorpe during week three.  These meetings are valuable times for principals from every school in our diocese to gather together to build “system efficacy” and leadership capacity.  Ange Martlew will be acting principal during this time.

WINTER UNIFORMS

Please note the following information about Winter Uniforms:

• Students in Years 2 to 6 wear a Summer and Winter Uniform
• Summer: From day one of Term 1 until the Friday of Week 2 in Term 2.
• Winter: From Monday of Week 3 Term 2 until Friday of Week 8 Term 3.
• Summer: From Monday of Week 9 Term 3 until the last day of Term 4.

For Term Two this means winter uniforms can be transitioned in from week one term 2, with all students expected to be in Winter uniform by Monday 3^rd May.

The clothing pool will be open next Thursday 29^th April from 8am to 8.30am.  After this it will return to being open on Monday mornings.

SCHOOL PHOTOS

School Photo Day is Monday the 31st of May.  Year 2 – 6 will need to be in their formal uniform. Order forms will follow in the coming weeks.

MOTHER'S DAY STALLS

Raid your piggy banks (or Dad’s wallet!)
Mothers Day is next week on Thursday 6th of May🌸
All new stock & some lovely ‘pretties’ for mummy or that special mother figure in your life.
2 stalls, gifts range from $2-$5! 🛍
Any new helpers - please text Jac Healy on - 0429 394309.

DRAMA FESTIVAL

We are well and truly underway with preparation towards this year’s Drama Festival.  It is great to see so many students excited about their performance! Information about this annual event was sent out last term and can be found in DAILY NOTICES in Sentral. 

Here is a timeline for our performances:

WEEK 3 – All Year 1-6 students to be ready to perform in Week 3.  Performances will START in WEEK 3, during class time.  Please encourage your child to continue rehearsing their piece at home so they are ready to perform by Week 3.

WEEK 5 - Semi-finals will take place in Week 5 during normal drama lessons.  Any students who make it through to this round will receive more information.

WEEK 6 - The Drama Festival FINALS will be on Friday 28^th May.  This is when our Prep classes and finalists from Year 1-6 will perform. 

• 9:00am PREP students perform for parent/friends audience (limit of 3 guests per prep student).
• 9.30am Session 1: Prep – Year 2 (limit of 4 guests per finalist).
• 11.15am Session 2: Year 3-6 (limit of 2 guests per finalist).

AN UPDATE ON COVID RESTRICTIONS – Due to the current COVID restrictions, we are able to invite a limited number of adults to our performances.   These places will only be available for the guests of students who are performing in the Semi-finals and there will be a limited number available for guests of students performing in the Finals.  These guests will also need to sign in with the assigned QR code on the day.  Due to the number of students as an audience, the number of guests varies for each session.  Thank you for your understanding.

JUST FOR PREP

COSTUMES - Each class will be wearing some simple costumes for their performance.  Some items will be supplied by the school, however there are some items that will need to be brought in from home, please. 

Hopefully you will be able to easily find these items in your child’s wardrobe, or borrow from someone else.  Alternatively, most are available for a few dollars at a department store.  Please let me know if you have trouble finding what you need and we will help sort something out!

Please bring in the following items by Friday 21^st May.

Please label ALL items CLEARLY.  Drop to your classroom in a NAMED bag.

We are looking forward to seeing our budding performers on stage!  Please contact Mrs Holzheimer if you have any queries.

Amanda.Holzheimer@twb.catholic.edu.au

CHOIR

The Mater Dei School Choir will be performing at the Toowoomba Eisteddfod on Friday 14^th  May at the Empire Theatre - Main Auditorium. We will meet at 5.30pm beside Encoures Restaurant then make our way inside for a 6pm session start. We will be performing one song in the Modern choir section and hoping for the evening to conclude by 10pm. Winter Uniform to be worn on the night. Please confirm attendance by filling in the permission note.

Looking forward to a great night!

Mrs. Rosier & Mrs. Holzheimer.

SPORT WITH DANIELLE KING

Cross Country

We were lucky to have perfect weather conditions and the opening of the grounds for the running of our Cross Country this year. It was a privilege to witness the many displays of great sportsmanship and determination as the students competed over the 1, 2 & 3km distances. The athletes born 2009 – 2011 who finished in the top 6 will compete for Mater Dei at the Range Zone carnival on Friday 30^th of April. Congratulations to the following students who were awarded age champion: Edward Macmanus, Gemma Montgomery, Patrick Doherty, Sophie Coonan, Aidan Day, Annabelle Jones, Hamish Deuble and Ava Youngberry. Evangelina Pikramenos received the Commitment Trophy and Alexia Davey was awarded the Encouragement Trophy. The winning house for the day was McDonnell, Congratulations! In winning their races, both Edward MacManus and Gemma Montgomery broke records! Special thanks to the many parents who willingly gave their time to ‘man’ a checkpoint, we can’t conduct this carnival without your very kind assistance.

Year 3 Swimming

Information was sent to all families in Year 3 at the end of Term 1 with information regarding dates, times and items that the students will need to bring for swimming lessons each week. Swimming lessons will start on Thursday of Week 2.

Girls Colour Blast

Queensland Cricket will be hosting a Colour Run and Girls Cricket Event on Monday the 26^th of April, to raise money for Breast & Ovarian Cancer. 

Sport Save the Dates

• Range Cross Country (selected students): Friday 30^th of April
• MD Field events carnival (students born 2009 – 2012): Friday 11^th of June
• MD Athletics carnival (all students): Friday 18^th of June

FROM THE SCHOOL COUNSELLOR

Throughout Term 2 students are continuing to work through our Dispositions curriculum. This term our focus is Growing - when we persist to be successful, we ask questions, accept challenges and take risks with our learning and in our everyday lives. Growing encapsulates our willingness and preparedness to go into the Learning Pit, to challenge and deepen our learning, and to use strategies to know what to do when we don’t know what to do. 

Our Growing curriculum includes aspects of ‘Demonstrate a Growth Mindset’, ‘Move Beyond My Comfort Zone’ and ‘Persevere to Learn’. We are starting our Growing journey with ‘Demonstrate a Growth Mindset’. Having a growth mindset means you believe in yourself and especially in your ability to change, learn and develop. When we have a growth mindset, we see errors as a natural part of learning and opportunities for learning and growth, both socially and academically. The way we think and speak to ourselves changes – Sylvia Duckworth has published a great visual to help understand how we can move from a ‘fixed’ to a growth mindset: 

You can support the development of your child’s growth mindset through continued discussions at home. Here are some key questions you may find useful:

• How would you describe a ‘growth mindset’?
• How will you/did you challenge yourself today?
• What mistake did you make that taught you something?
• What strategy/strategies can you try?

TUCKSHOP

New specials - M and M Slice is back as well as our Spaghetti Bolognese. 

You can get your Spaghetti with Garlic Bread for $5.20

We need your help. Please sign up by clicking the link below!

Week 1 - Year 1
Week 2 - Year 2
Week 3 - Year 3
etc.

If you can't volunteer on the week allocated to your child's year level never fear we still want you here! 

You can sign up in any of the time slots! We are very grateful to have your help anytime!

P&F

Social Media Assistant Required

The P&F are seeking some volunteer support  in the area of social media. If you have some skills to share and are willing to give a bit of time to updating the school P&F Facebook page we would love to hear from you. Contact us - matpandf@twb.catholic.edu.au 

Can You Help?

The P&F are also looking for parents who may be willing to be buddied up with new families to the school to support the orientation process and help them feel part of the Mater Dei community. Contact us - matpandf@twb.catholic.edu.au 

Trivia Night

We are floating the idea of a trivia night fundraiser this term -  Sat night June 19th and are seeking a group of parents that might like to coordinate this. Contact us - matpandf@twb.catholic.edu.au 

COMMUNITY NOTICES