St Mary's School, Charleville eNewsletter

Principal - Mrs Megan Pearce

HARMONY DAY PRAYER

Loving God, you created humanity in your image and likeness. We pray that we may open our eyes to see your face in our brothers and sisters of different cultures, races and religions. May we focus on what binds us as people rather that what separates us.

Just as you chose your apostles from all walks of life, we pray that we may follow your example and embrace the unique qualities that each of us possess, so that we may bring about harmony on this earth.

Amen

Dear St Mary’s families and friends,

As we approach the end of Term 1, I am pleased to share some exciting events happening at St Mary's over the coming weeks to celebrate their efforts and foster our school community spirit.

Our Harmony Day Disco is a wonderful opportunity for our students to celebrate diversity and inclusivity. Harmony Day is all about coming together to respect and appreciate the different cultures that make up our school community. We look forward to seeing everyone there tonight for some fun, music, and dancing!

Our annual Cross Country event is just around the corner! Scheduled for Monday, 31st March, the Cross Country will take place at Graham Andrews Park with different courses set up for various age groups. We encourage all students to participate and give their best effort. Parents and caregivers are welcome to come along and cheer on the runners. Please ensure your child wears appropriate sports attire and brings a water bottle to stay hydrated.

To wrap up the term with a splash of colour, we are excited to host our Colour Run in the afternoon of the 31^st March starting at 1:30 PM on the school oval. Please note that students should wear a white t-shirt and bring a towel for after the event.

We are grateful for the ongoing support from our school community and look forward to seeing you at these events.

Supporting Every Child at St Mary's

As part of our Annual Action Plan, next term we are introducing a framework called MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Supports). This initiative aims to provide targeted support to students in areas of academics, social-emotional development, and behaviour. By using data-driven decision-making and a tiered approach to intervention, we can address the diverse needs of our students and help them thrive in all aspects of their education. Simply put, MTSS helps us identify students who may need extra assistance early on, so we can put support in place before small struggles become bigger challenges.

To ensure we implement MTSS effectively, our teachers will be undergoing additional professional development on the pupil free day in term 2, Tuesday 22^nd April 2025. This training will help our staff learn new strategies, refine our support systems to ensure that every child receives the best possible education at St Mary’s.

Our St Mary’s Mercy Mindsets are inspired by our school’s Catholic heritage and the values of the Mercy tradition. They encourage students to develop strong character, make positive choices, and treat others with kindness and respect. These mindsets align beautifully with Multi-Tiered System of Supports by reinforcing a whole-school approach to behaviour, relationships, and learning. Just as MTSS provides tiered support for learning, we also use a tiered approach to behaviour and wellbeing that is grounded in the Mercy Mindsets:

Tier 1 – Whole School Expectations

All students are taught and encouraged to demonstrate Mercy values in their daily actions.
Positive behaviour is explicitly taught, modelled, and reinforced in the classroom and playground.

Tier 2 – Targeted Support

Some students may need extra guidance in understanding and practising positive behaviour.
Small group interventions or mentoring help reinforce expectations and provide additional support.

Tier 3 – Individual Support

For students who need more intensive support, we provide personalised strategies to help them develop social-emotional skills and self-regulation.

At St Mary’s, we use a variety of ways to acknowledge and encourage positive behaviour, including:

✔ Mercy Awards – Recognising students who demonstrate our Mercy Mindsets.

✔ Mercy Merits Rewards – Teachers and staff actively acknowledge students making good choices.

The great news, is that we are now able to access an electronic tool that will help us have a smooth transition from our previous STAR points system to Mercy Merits. Our teachers can now recognise positive behaviour from anywhere in the school using the mobile app or web portal. Students we be able to redeem their Mercy Merits for rewards that have been chosen by each class. Each class will share more information with families as it is introduced.

God Bless,

Megan

APMI - Miss Imogen Hunt

Dear School Community,

As we embark on this sacred season of Lent, I am pleased to announce the commencement of our Sacramental Program. This program is a cornerstone of our mission to nurture the spiritual growth of our students and community members.

Lenten Focus: A Time for Reflection and Renewal

Lent is a time for deep reflection, prayer, and renewal. It offers us an opportunity to pause and consider our relationship with God and with one another. This year, our Lenten theme is "We All Belong," encouraging us to walk together in faith, hope, and love.

Sacramental Program

Our Sacramental Program has begun and is guiding our students through the important milestones of their faith journey, including preparation of Reconciliation. Students are excited that this program has begun and are active members in the afternoon session. Its great to see students working together and discussing their ideas.

Holy Week

In Week 10 we will be holding Holy week liturgies and rituals, families are invited to come along to these. This will be communicated through parent portal and our school Facebook page regarding times.

Palm Sunday

Significance: Marks Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem.

Holy Thursday

Significance: Commemorates the Last Supper and the institution of the Eucharist.

Good Friday

Significance: Observes the crucifixion and death of Jesus.

Holy Saturday

Significance: A day of waiting and reflection on Jesus' burial.

Easter Sunday

Significance: Celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We look forward to journeying together through this holy season and strengthening our faith community. May this Lent be a time of spiritual growth and renewal for all.

Blessings,

Imogen Hunt

Curriculum Coordinator - Mr Tony Kim

Happy Week 9 St Mary’s family!

We are almost approaching the end of the term, and we have some great opportunities coming up for our students. Firstly, however, I would like personally to thank Mrs. Kirsty Lines and Ms. Katherine Spalding for a fantastic job administering the NAPLAN tests for our Years 5s and 3s. They have helped facilitate through technical problems, keeping our students calm and relaxed throughout the testing period and making sure all students feel supported so they can try their absolute best. I would also like to thank our Prep teacher Mrs. Bernice McPhee for providing our students with surprise gifts during our testing period as well!

While the national NAPLAN period does not officially end until Week 10 Tuesday, as a school, we have completed all official Tests along with catching up on students who were absent. So, I would like to pass on congratulations once more and thank you to students, parents, teachers, and support staff for making NAPLAN run as smoothly as possible.

TCS Chess Tournament

Diocese of Toowoomba Catholic School is hosting an interschool chess tournament. As we are a remote school, the tournament will be held online against our schools within our diocese. If your student has a keen interest in chess or would like to learn how to play chess, this is a fantastic opportunity to dip their feet in to the world of competitive chess.

If any student is interested in participating in the Interschool Chess Tournament, please ask them to find Mr. Kim to sign up.

While the tournament will not start until the 22^nd of May, sign-ups will close on Monday of Week 10 (1^st of April). So please encourage all interested students to sign up as soon as possible so they do not miss out!

Learning Support - Mrs Majella Lynch-Harlow

Dear families,

A wonderful part of my job is that I have the pleasure of reading with every child in our school. This helps me get to know each student and see how they are progressing towards their literacy goals for their grade level. With over 150 students, this could be a daunting and time-consuming task! The trick is to work smart by using a very quick and reliable screening tool. Each reading task takes only one minute to complete! The students enjoy the challenge of working against the stopwatch to read as quickly and accurately as they can.

The assessment that I am using is called DIBELS.

It’s a universal screener – this means it is designed to be used for all students.
It is also a progress monitoring tool – so I will repeat the same reading activities at the start, middle, and end of the year to check growth and whether learning support interventions have been helpful.
It is based on extensive research in the United States and Australia
It complements the reading assessments that classroom teachers already use when they listen to their students read.
It helps us to determine if students are on track or need additional help with reading.

The results from the DIBELS reading subtests are categorized according to the levels of support required for each student to meet end-of-year grade-level goals in reading. The levels of support required match well with our MTSS model or Multi-Tiered Systems of Support. This helps us to determine how we allocate our Learning Support staff and resources so that we can support all students to experience growth in their reading success.

The levels of support required are:

Minimal Support Required: Students with minimal support required are well on track for reading success and should continue to receive the whole class instruction that is provided to ALL students – sometimes referred to as Tier One instruction and support. Progress monitoring is important to check that they remain on track to achieving at or above benchmark expectations.
Some/Strategic support required: Students who require some strategic support may be struggling with one or more components of reading. They still require Tier One instruction, plus additional Tier Two instruction. This is often provided in a small group setting and focuses on the specific areas in reading that they are struggling with. Regular progress monitoring helps us to check whether this additional support is having an impact.
Intensive support required: A few students require frequent and intensive support as they are struggling with reading, either scoring well below the benchmark or needing to develop skills with more than one component of reading. To best understand their difficulties, diagnostic testing might be needed. These students require the Tier 1 support given to all students and may also receive Tier 2 supports. Tier 3 supports are individualised and provided in a very small group or one-on-one setting.

Please reach out if you have any questions or would like some information about how to support your child with their reading goals.

God bless,

Ms Majella

Library - Mrs Vanessa Alexander

Dear Families,

What a wonderful return to school I have had. It was so interesting to hear from your children about their favourite books and topics. They are so eager read!

Please see the flyer regarding our upcoming Scholastic Book Fair. This will be in operation from Tuesday 25^th – Thursday 27^th March. If you are interested in volunteering your time, please contact the office on (07) 4654 1638 or email me at vanessa.alexander@twb.catholic.edu.au

On the weekend I had the opportunity to attend the Words out West Readers and Writers Festival in Chinchilla. It was so wonderful to listen to so many amazing Australia authors. I was captivated by Christian White, Hayley Scrivenor, Nikki Motteram, Maya Linnell, Kell Woods, Sarah Todman and Matthew Condon. And these were just the few I was able to see. I purchased books and got them signed by their author. It was such a wonderful experience. I just finished reading Sarah Todman’s “New Years Eve” – if you haven’t read it yet, I urge you to pick up a copy! And now I have started Hayley Scrivenor’s “Girl Falling.” Obviously, these titles are for adults only!

Two recent children’s titles that I have read have been Craig Silvey’s “Runt” (all ages) which was such an uplifting read, and “Cop & Robber” (10+ some scary scenes) by Tristan Bancks which was a real page turner. I have started “The Wild Robot” (all ages) by Peter Brown but have not finished yet. If your child has a review of a book they have read (from our library or not) and they would like it featured in our school newsletter, please email their thoughts through to vanessa.alexander@twb.catholic.edu.au.

Wishing you a wonderful fortnight of reading!

Vanessa Alexander

Teacher Librarian

Prep - Mrs Bernie McPhee

2025 is flying by! Our Prep students are well on their way to being confident students at St Mary’s.

We have been learning so many things this term. Handwriting and Phonics is a big focus for us, so we can begin to read and write. Students are all having a go at sounding out and writing three letter words. Keep up the great practice at home!!

In science we have been learning about “the Needs of Living things.” We have been growing our own “Grass Heads” which have been doing very well. Students are looking forward to giving them a haircut soon.

We are still happy to receive any empty food boxes, egg cartons, scrap material etc you may have as we love creating things in Prep during Investigations.

Please continue to send students Homework folders to school each Friday, so we can glue in any new work for the following week.

Year 1 - Mrs Susan Holloway

Hi everyone,

Year One started off well and now as we near the end of the term, we are still busy. Below is a brief outline of what we have been learning Science and Technology during this term.

In Science we have been learning about the needs of plants and discovering how they grow. We have recently completed two experiments to learn what a plant needs to thrive and have been documenting our findings. We also learned how plants take up water by placing a celery stick into blue food.

dye. We were excited to see and discuss how the dye rose to the top of the celery stick and we could clearly see how this occurred.

In digital technology, we have been learning the difference between software and hardware and how devices can help us solve problems. We are learning the different actions apps can do and how these can use these safely and how they can help us. The students are busily making a model laptop to bring home and show you what they have learned.

Hope you enjoy the photos below!

The Year One Team

Year 2 - Miss Shauna Gallagher

As we wind down towards the end of term one, I am excited to share some of the amazing work and fun activities that Year 2 have been involved in. They have all been so wonderful in welcoming myself and Nicholas to the class and school community.

In literacy, we have been learning about imaginative texts. Year 2 made a ‘character quilt’ for our classroom in which they showcased their own imaginative text characters.

In maths, we have been working hard on all things place value and number amongst other topics. We made creative ‘expanding monsters’ to explore the different ways that we can show various number values.

In Science, we have been learning all about plants and animals. The students collaborated in displaying their knowledge of the butterfly life cycle through project word. They further researched other interesting facts about butterflies on the iPad’s and in books. In Religion, they have been learning all about relationships and how they can live in relationship with Jesus, God and with one another. We looked at some biblical stories showing kindness and forgiveness. We made beautiful artwork pieces to display our Lenten promises.

They have been superstar readers in the library and are flourishing in their reading ability.

It was great to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with the St. Mary’s community, we learned how to sing ‘ceann, guaileann, gliuin ‘s cos’ (head, shoulders, knees, and toes) as gaeilge (in Irish). We enjoyed making some shamrock art and learning all about St. Patrick’s story.