Principal: Mr Brad Williams principal.dimbulah@cns.catholic.edu.au Assistant Principal - Religious Education : Ms Rachelle De Iacovo rdeiacovo@cns.catholic.edu.au

Issue 3 Term 2

6th May, 2016

3 Hyde Street, Dimbulah Qld 4872 . PO Box 128, Dimbulah Qld 4872 . Ph: 4093 3519 . Fax: 4093 5413

Email: secretary.dimbulah@cns.catholic.edu.au . Web: www.sta.qld.edu.au

Mr Brad Williams Anzac Celebrations

District Cross Country

Yr34 Class Green Island Excursion

From the

Principal

Brad

Williams

From our Principal

Principals Report

Dear Parents,

Research suggests that outcomes for students improve when parents and teachers work in partnership. With this in mind we would like to thank all parents who at-tended the recent Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences. We have received a lot of positive feedback in relation to the students being present for the conferences. Most feedback has centred around the creation of a ‘Common Language’ between all involved, where all parties are aware of a student’s strengths, areas for growth and strategies for moving them along the learning continuum. Oth-er comments have highlighted the sense of pride and excitement felt by students when discussing aspects of education that they are excelling in, leading to improved confidence. The involvement of students in the conferences supports the work we are doing in ‘Visible Learning’ with one of the key themes being students taking on a much larger role in their education. As always, we would love to receive any feedback from parents with their thoughts around the conferences.

NAPLAN NAPLAN Tests begin next week with our Year 3 and Year 5 students taking part. NAPLAN tests a range of skills and capabilities in reading, language conventions, spelling, writing and numeracy. Below is a guide as to what tests are being conducted during the testing period.

Tuesday May 10th – Language Conventions & Writing

Wednesday May 11th – Reading

Thursday May 12th – Numeracy

All tests will begin at 8:55am so it is imperative that students are punctual.

The NAPLA.N tests can sometimes cause some stress and anxiety for those students sitting them. As parents, there are a few simple measures that can be taken to re-duce stress and anxiety, which in turn, will give students every chance for success:

Try and keep normal routines at home. The tests are quite mentally taxing, so provide an opportunity for rest and relaxa-

tion. Talk sensibly and calmly about the test. Always tell your child that all you ask is

that they try their best. Provide healthy and unprocessed foods and encourage drinking lots of water. Make sure your child is getting enough sleep at night.

At St Anthony’s we recognise that NAPLAN tests are ONE form of assessment and that NAPLAN results do not provide teachers and parents with a complete picture of each child’s learning. Our teachers use many forms of assessment and assess many aspects of each students learning and it is for this reason that the classroom teacher is the best source of information in relation to student progress.

From our Principal

School Fees Term 2 fees were issued in Week 2. Payment is now due unless alternative arrangements are in place. At St Anthony’s we offer a number of arrangements for payment of school fees including:

Regular debits from a bank or financial institution account. Seeking to defer payment until an agreed upon date. Consideration of genuine family financial hardship.

With each alternative arrangement, contact must be made with the school. Please be assured that your circumstances will be treated in the strictest confidence. The payment of school fees and levies is a vital component of the income of St Anthony’s School and contributes to the education enjoyed by your children. Together we give our students – your children – the best possible start to life and the prompt payment of fees is an important way in which you can contribute.

Student Success Well done to all students who took part in the Cross Country Carnival last week at DSS. We congrat-ulate Nate and Amber who have been selected in the Mareeba District Cross Country Team to compete in the Peninsula Carnival. We also congratulate those students who have achieved excellent results in their chosen sports recently. We have had students compete and be recognised in horse sports, swimming, netball and soccer.

Staff News We welcome Ms Lara Gill to St Anthony’s. Ms Gill is a 4th Year student from ACU who will be com-pleting her placement in the P-2 class under the supervision of Ms Grantley. Applications for the contract position to replace Mr Terry Wilcox in Terms 3 and 4 have closed. We hope to make an announcement in the next week or two as to who has been successful in winning this appointment.

ECSIP Survey Completion

St Anthony’s is commencing an intensive project to examine our sense of what it is to be a Catholic community and to provide some direction for future development in this vital area. We thank those par-ents who have already completed the surveys and encourage any parents who have not yet done so to take this opportunity to engage with them. On Monday 9th May, we will be hosting a Wine and Cheese afternoon at 3:00pm where parents can complete the surveys in a relaxed atmosphere with a glass or two of wine and some cheese and biscuits. Laptops will be provided.

For those wishing to complete the surveys at home please find below a quick access guide: 1. Go to the website – http://www.schoolidentity.net 2. Use the general ECSIP Website Password: Ghj654 3. Click on the TO THE SURVEY button 4. To access the surveys, go to NEW USER and enter the GROUP ENTRY CODE Xt97J5 5. You will be asked to identify if you are a Primary or Secondary Student of non-student participant.

Click on the appropriate button and you will then be asked to identify your specific group eg. Pri-mary student, parent, teacher etc. From there the surveys are completed.

Again, our sincere thanks to those parents in advance for your cooperation and participation. Your feedback is highly valued.

From our Principal

Absentees

If your child is absent for whatever reason, please inform the school either by telephone or email ex-plaining the absence. A note is also required if your child is unable to participate in any aspect of the school program (eg sports, physical education, etc). If your child is to be away for a number of days and requires school work, please give the class teacher at least overnight notice. We ask for your co-operation in this matter.

Mother’s Day

We would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our wonderful mother’s a very Happy Mother’s Day this Sunday. We hope you take some time for yourselves to relax and enjoy the company of loved ones. At St Anthony’s we are very blessed to have a very supportive, caring and hard-working group of mums and grandmas and we thank you for all that you do for our school. A reminder that at 2:00pm tomorrow all mums, aunties and grandmas are invited to school for some pampering from the students. Our thanks to Dimbulah Health and Beauty for donating some lovely lo-tions and creams for the day and to all of our staff for organising the event.

Playgroup

After an extended break due to public holidays the Dimbulah Ducklings Playgroup will resume on Mon-day 9th May at 9:00am. We look forward to seeing as many children as possible.

Next P&F Meeting: Monday 16th May 3:15pm

Next Newsletter: Thursday 19th May

Next Assembly: Monday 9th May (Prep-Year 2)

Monday 16th May (Year 5/6)

Yours in Catholic Education,

Brad Williams

Principal

Dear Parents/Carers,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the students and parents who attended the ANZAC day dawn service this year and like always our students represented our school with tremendous honour and reverence. I have received a multitude of compliments by members of our community, so it is clearly evi-dent that you did yourselves and our school community very proud. It is a wonderful way for our students to commemorate all the brave men and women who fought and died for our country and for all the men and women who continue their service for us.

Last week I completed my appraisal process for my role as APRE. The process of the day, involved inter-views with myself, staff members, parents and students, which looked at my areas of strength and ways that I could further develop in my position. Even though there were a few “butterflies” on my end, the ex-perience was extremely rewarding and I have come away from the reflection gaining extra knowledge and skills to which I can implement to my role. Thank you to all the parents who completed the online surveys, your input was valuable to my discussion and reflection and was greatly appreciated.

This Sunday is Mother’s Day—The Saint Anthony’s School community would like to wish all our beautiful mothers a very Happy Mother’s Day. We hope that you have a very special day filled with lots of love and happiness. We also hope that the wonderful ladies who came along to our pampering session on Friday afternoon, thoroughly enjoyed being treated to a love-ly hand massage by our very talented students.

May God’s Spirit be with you always

Rachelle De Iacovo

From our APRE

Parish Weekend Mass Times

St Anthony’s – Dimbulah – Sunday 8.00am

St Thomas of Villanova – Mareeba – Saturday 6.00pm & Sunday 10.00am

St Christopher’s – Kuranda – Sunday 6.00pm “Trust in the goodness of God”

Mary MacKillop 1873

Upcoming Mass Times

Term Two

Sunday 8th May—year 5/6 Class Mass (8:00am)

Wednesday 18th May—Year 3/4 Anointing Mass (9:00am)

All welcome to attend

A Mother's Love

There are mes when only a Mother's love

Can understand our tears, Can soothe our disappoints And calm all of our fears.

There are mes when only a Mother's love Can share the joy we feel

When something we've dreamed about Quite suddenly is real.

There are mes when only a Mother's faith Can help us on life's way

And inspire in us the confidence We need from day to day.

For a Mother's heart and a Mother's faith And a Mother's steadfast love Were fashioned by the Angels And sent from God above.

“Mothers hold their children's hands for a short while, but their hearts forever.”

Author Unknown

Sporting News

Cross Country

Congratulations to the following 9 students who competed at the District Cross Country at Dimbulah State School last week—we are all very proud of the way in which you represented our school. Well done!

Nate Mitchell (1st), Amber Jerome (5th), Marco Cappella (8th), Georgina Serafin (9th), Mia Cavanagh (10th), Corey Brown, Kaiden Anning, Neve Godfrey, Ryan Alley.

Nate and Amber have been selected in the Mareeba District Team and are already training in preparation for the Peninsula Cross Country in Cairns on 20 May.

Athletics

We have already commenced our training and preparation for our Inter-house and Walsh River Athletics Car-nivals which will take place in Weeks 8 and 10 of this term respectively. Kayla Montagner, (past student and current national athletics representative) will be sharing her expertise and passion for the sport with our stu-dents on a regular basis on a Thursday over the coming weeks. I thank Kayla in advance for giving of her time to motivate and prepare our students.

Week 8 (St Anthony’s Inter-house Athletics Carnival)

Wednesday 1 June—10,11,12 years—800m, 8,9 years—500m, 5,6,7 years—300m at St Anthony’s School

Thursday 2 June—All students—200m at Dimbulah State School

Friday 3 June—All students—sprints, high jump, long jump, shot put, tug-o-war, relays

Week 10 (Walsh River Athletics Carnival at St Anthony’s School)

Thursday 16 June—10,11,12 years 800m at Dimbulah State School

Friday 17 June—All students—sprints and relays, 10,11,12 years high jump, long, jump, shot put, 200m, 5,6,7,8,9,years—Junior Carnival Events

Volunteers Needed.

We will be looking for volunteers during those weeks to assist in the canteen, assist with setting up and taking down of equipment, assist with running events, ….. If you can help please let Mr Wilcox know.

Weekend Activities

It is great to see and hear about the many varied and healthy activities our students are involved in on week-ends—soccer, horse sports, gymnastics, athletics, swimming, dancing ……. I would encourage par-ents/students to send in photos/write ups of their events and we will display them around the school or in the newsletter.

Year 3/4 Green Island Excursion

From our Counsellor

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From our Counsellor

Sunday May 8th Yr5/6 Class -Mothers Day Sunday Mass

Monday May 9th ECSIP Survey—Wine & Cheese

May 10th, 11th, 12th Naplan Testing for year 3 and year 5 class

Friday May 13th Wheelbarrow Race Weekend

Monday May 16th P & F Meeting 3:15pm

Friday May 20th School Disco @ Dimbulah Soccer Club 6pm (Dress up as your favourite Animal)

Friday May 27th School Photos

Friday June 3rd Mulligan Vs Wolfram Sports Day

COMING EVENTS…...

School and Community News……..

School Disco @ Soccer Club All St Anthony's students invited!

Friday 20th May 6pm

Sausage sizzle & drinks available.

Dress-up as your favourite animal