Dear Parents, Teachers and Students,


Reports and Open Classrooms
Semester 1 Reports will be published to families this Friday, and I would like to thank all teaching staff for the many hours of work outside of school hours that are required to prepare them. A final reminder that we are holding Open Classrooms between 3:30pm and 5:30pm this afternoon, so your child can show you through their classroom and share some of the work they have been doing this semester and provide some important context and insights into their report.

To help parents in understanding their child’s report, I’d like to share some information about what the grades represent, because there can be misunderstandings.

Grades are not allocated on individual test scores or assessment pieces, but are on-balance professional judgements based on the ‘Big Picture’ of each student’s work across the semester, including observations, ongoing anecdotal records, and other contextual information known by the teacher. An important part of this judgement is dialogue that occurs between teachers across Year and Stage levels, to enhance the level of consistency in our student reporting. Teachers are not limited to set numbers of each grade within their class and the full range of grades can be used at any point in time in relation to what has been taught. Therefore it’s possible for every student in a class to receive a grade of A for any given subject (or an E, for that matter), as long as they each demonstrated skills and understandings that met the appropriate criteria, as described above.

It is a common misconception that a B or an A means that a student is working a year (or two) above their year level, or the opposite for a D or an E; this is NOT the case. So a Year 3 student who achieves a D grade in Mathematics, for example, is not deemed to be working at a Year 2 level of achievement; rather, they have been assessed as demonstrating a basic knowledge and understanding of the Year 3 content covered in that semester.

Likewise, it is also not the case that a change from, for example, a B to a C from one semester to the next means that a student is going backwards in their learning, because they are not assessed on the same content from one semester to the next.

As always, whatever your child’s report looks like, take the opportunity to take time with your child to sit and talk about the learning they have undertaken so far this year. Celebrate their successes and help them work out strategies for the areas that may need further development. And although we are not holding formal parent-teacher interviews at this time, as they were held at the start of the term, please remember that parents are always welcome to make an appointment to speak with their child’s teacher whenever there is a need to discuss issues around learning, wellbeing, or any other aspect of school life.

There are some families who, sadly, will be moving on from Mt Carmel next term. Please remember to download your child’s report to your own computer, as you will no longer have access to their profile on Compass if you are not at another Catholic School in our Archdiocese.


Canteen Closed
Unfortunately, the school Canteen will not be operating this week; apologies for any inconvenience. We are aware that there are a number of outstanding lunch orders from over the last two weeks, these will be made available to the children next term. 


Colour My World Disco
This Friday, to help celebrate a wonderful semester of learning, the SRC will be hosting a ‘Colour My World’ daytime disco for K-2 students at recess and 3-6 students at lunch. All students are invited to wear bright, colourful clothes to school and bring some money to spend at the pop-up canteen that will be running.

NAIDOC Mass
NAIDOC Week is celebrated during the July school holidays, but in recognition of this important national celebration, a regional NAIDOC Mass will be held in Goulburn on Friday 26 July, Week 1. Usually, our. Year 6 student should attend this Mass, but this year there is a clash with a town-wide Touch-Football gala day that our Years 3-6 classes will be attending. Because the Year 2 classes have been preparing a school prayer assembly for NAIDOC Week, which will be presented on Thursday 25 July at 9am, we would like to reward them with an invitation to attend this special Mass instead, with a group of representatives from our Youth Ministry Team. We will travel by bus to the Old Cathedral in Goulburn, attend Mass and then have a picnic lunch in the park. We will be back at school in time for the normal end to the school day and there is no cost to families. A note with full details will be sent via Compass by the end of this week.

Community Council Trivia Night
If you haven’t put the date in your calendar yet, remember that the Trivia Night is happening on Saturday 3 August. We have a wonderful committee, who are working hard to organise great night to raise funds for a shade structure on the Infants Playground. Check out the flyer further in the newsletter for more information and stay tuned for details about how to book a table.

School Holiday eSafety
As a treat during the school holidays, many families are a bit more relaxed with their children’s screen-time rules (no judgement — it happens in my household, too), so it’s perhaps a good time to share some eSafety information. It can sometimes sound like a whole different language when we hear our children talk about the various games they and their friends are playing; the Office of the eSafety Commissioner has a very helpful guide to the popular and common games, apps and social media that your child may be accessing. Go to https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-issues/esafety-guide to find out about these apps and sites, including how to protect your personal information and how to report harmful content.

There has also been much attention in the media and politics recently about the risk of harm to children’s mental health caused by social media, and consequent calls to raise the age of access to 16 in Australia. As it is, most social media providers already have an age restriction of 13 so, in theory at least, it shouldn’t be an issue for primary school students. Having said that, I am aware that many of our students do have access to a variety of social-media applications (including various messaging apps), and that it’s very difficult to resist the ‘everyone-else-is-doing-it’ effect, feeling like the only parent who is saying no. 

I have no intention of lecturing parents about what technology they should or shouldn’t allow their children to access, but I would like to share some information about one of the ways that students’ use of technology outside of school has a direct impact of their experience at school: cyber-bullying. Bullying (whether face-to-face or online) is typically defined as repeatedly and intentionally using words or actions against someone or a group of people to cause distress and risk to their wellbeing. These actions are usually done by people who have more influence or power over someone else, or who want to make someone else feel less powerful or helpless. It is not the same as conflict between people (like having a fight, whether verbal or physical) or disliking someone, but even isolated occurrences of bullying-like behaviours (that is, one-off or occasional instances of some of such things) can still have a significant impact on someone’s wellbeing, even if they do not meet the frequency or power-imbalance criteria to be considered ‘bullying’.

Cyber-bullying can happen on a social media site, game, app or any other online or electronic service or platform. It can include posts, comments, texts, messages, chats, livestreams, memes, images, videos and emails. It may involve sending hurtful messages to or about someone, sharing embarrassing photos or videos of them, spreading gossip or passing on rumours, leaving them out of group chats or intentionally letting them know that there is another group they are not included in. These are all real examples of behaviours that have been brought to my attention as having been experienced by students at Mt Carmel.

I do not mean to suggest that we have a cyber-bullying problem at Mt Carmel – this is a universal concern at the moment. The fact is that children, quite simply (even the most sensible and angelic ones), do not have the capacity for reasoned decision-making and self-regulation to always behave and respond appropriately in what is a (more-or-less) unsupervised space. And this is magnified by the fact that online communication lacks the social cues, such as body language, tone of voice and facial expression, we have evolved to pay attention to, so that you cannot see and react in real-time to the effect your words are having.

The links below have some useful resources and interesting reading, if you would like to find out more about this issue. As always, if you have any concerns or personal experiences that the school needs to know about, please contact your child’s teacher or me directly as soon as possible.

https://www.esafety.gov.au/kids/i-want-help-with

https://blog.smilingmind.com.au/youth-social-media-ban

https://childmind.org/article/how-using-social-media-affects-teenagers/

https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/FFF-Guide/Social-Media-and-Teens-100.aspx

2024 NON GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS CENSUS COLLECTION DATA
On behalf of the Australian Government Department of Education, I would like to advise all staff, parents and guardians that it (the department) will collect certain information about Trinity Catholic College, its staff and student body as part of the 2024 Non-government schools census collection which will occur in August. Please refer to the attached document. for further information.

Happy Holidays
Please note that students return to school on Wednesday 24 July. Thank you to everyone for their wonderful work this term. Staff, students and parents have worked incredibly hard and these efforts are very much appreciated. I trust that everyone will have a restful and enjoyable mid-year break. Travel safely, if you are going away, stay warm, and I look forward to seeing everyone in Term 3. 

May God’s peace be in your families, 

Michael Green
Principal

Religious Education in the Classroom
Welcome to the last week of Term 2! It has been a wonderful term full of exciting learning experiences. I have enjoyed interacting with students during their Religion lessons and joining classes during Friday Parish Mass.

Year 4’s Religious Education unit of work focuses on Experiencing life in a harmonious community helps people flourish. 4Gold students examined the Decalogue, ten commandments, and how it tells us about living in a community. During my visit, students were asked to think and list their own commandments. I asked a few students how they might use these commandments in their lives:

Billy: I help my little brother, Jake, put his shoes on.
Vinnie: I help my brother and my mum.
Eddie: Sometimes I help my mum by cleaning my room and I am nice to my friends.
Evelyn: I go to church to learn about God.
Benji: I tell the truth to help others.

4 Blue students examined how the wisdom from St Paul and the Acts of the Apostles help us to live in a harmonious community and used scripture from The Acts of the Apostles to find out:

             What did the disciples do?  

             Where did they go?  

             What is the message of the scripture passage? 

Religious Life of Mt Carmel School

Mt Carmel’s Mini Vinnies News
Vinnies Winter Appeal
Thank you to all the families who have donated towards the Vinnies Winter Appeal. We have had so many donations! Mrs Debbie Valencic will be visiting Mt Carmel School tomorrow, Thursday 4 July, to thank our community for the donations.

Wear a Beanie and Year 6 Sleep Out Fundraiser 2024
Mt Carmel School students have raised $446 to support our local St Augustine’s Conference. 

Vinnies Winter Appeal- Thanks to Mt Carmel
On behalf of the members of the St Augustine’s Conference of St Vincent de Paul, I would like to thank the Mount Carmel school community for their very generous contributions to the Vinnies Winter Appeal.

The thoughtful donations of food will go a long way towards assisting us to support those in need in our community in a very practical way. The money raised from your “Wear a Beanie” fundraiser will aid us in helping out individuals and families who have fallen on hard times and for whom this time of the year poses extra challenges.

We particularly appreciate your contributions given the current economic climate. We extend our deepest gratitude to Mrs Karakotas and the Mini Vinnies members, the student body, parents, teachers and other members of your school community. You have all really contributed to our mission of giving a “hand up” to people in need.

Debbie Valencic
President, St Augustine’s Conference of SVDP Yass

St Augustine’s Parish New

The next one is on Sunday 7 July 2024. All children are invited to be part of the activities centred around the particular weekend’s Gospel. 

Parish Mass
Click on this link for further details http://staug-yass.org.au/wp/sacraments/. 

Enjoy your week!
Eva Karakotas
Religious Education Coordinator

Hail Mary, full of Grace,
the Lord is with thee.
Luke 1:26-28

Northern Region Athletics Carnival
Congratulations to all those students who participated in the Northern Region athletics carnival last Friday. Thank you to Mrs Field and Mrs Lees for looking after the squad and running long jump for the day. Congratulations also to the following students who all qualified to participate in the Canberra Goulburn Primary and Secondary Athletics Championships at the AIS on Tuesday 27th August: Lachlan Black, Alan McRae, Archie Gooley, Spencer Crocker, Henry Gooley, Jack Maher, Kaci Kitson, Logan Johnson, Neva Welsh, Esther Payne, Madeline Caldow, Mabel Adie, Reese Flynn, Chloe Caldow, Alicia Hardy and Lily Butt. Finally, congratulations to Esther Payne who was runner-up Junior Girls age champion, Reese Flynn who was Senior Girls age champion and Henry Gooley who was runner-up Senior Boys age champion. Participants in the event need to register as soon as possible through https://csnsw.sport/ if they have not already. If your child was selected and has not received a note about the event, please let me know and I can get one to them. If your child is unable to attend the carnival, please let me know so a replacement can be organised. 

Todd Woodbridge Cup
The Todd Woodbridge Cup is a primary school team tennis competition for Stage 2 (Years 3 & 4) and Stage 3 (Years 5 & 6) students that uses modified equipment, numeric scoring, and mixed gender teams. Events are designed to be fun and inclusive, meaning it is not just for experienced tennis players. Anyone who wants to give tennis a go is encouraged to come and have a go. 

The Todd Woodbridge Cup will be held in our region on 28/8/24 and 13/9/24 and Mt Carmel will be entering teams into this event. Hope to see you out on the court! 

Ted Dunstan
Sports Coordinator

NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge
Congratulations to the following students who have recently completed the 2024 NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge.

Madison McGurk
Ellie Carroll

The 2024 challenge will conclude on Friday 23 August 2024. The upcoming school holidays may be a good chance for participating students to complete the challenge.

If you have any questions about the Premier’s Reading Challenge please email me at natalie.broers@cg.catholic.edu.au

Mid-Week Movies
Every Wednesday, at lunchtime in the Library, students are invited to enjoy a movie. Last week, we watched Zog. Today, students watched Zog and the Flying Doctors. Both movies are adaptations of Julia Donaldson books.

Term 3 Dates
Book Week-Week 5-Monday 19 August - Friday 23 August

Kind regards,
Natalie Broers
Teacher Librarian

Congratulations to the recipients of the Week 8 Mt Carmel Awards.
These awards will be handed out this Friday, 5 July, at morning assembly.

K Blue Frankie Morris Charlotte Kunneke	K Gold Anna Leighton Rigel Barker
1 Green Winnie Smith Liam Coster Edward Dryburgh	1 Red Phoebe Platt Sophie Gannon Brax Howard
2 Blue Hugh Davaris Harry Agistino Cooper Sadlowski	2 Gold Ethan Kim Nicholas Da Deppo
3 Green Elsa Baptiste Adalyn Harvey Lachlan Miller	3 Red Elizabeth Kaveney Scott Tome Sebastian Dawes
4 Blue Claire Coster Jessica Hardy Cooper Moses	4 Gold Benji Carroll Jake McDonald
5 Green Alica Miller Alayla Dorris Amelia Hopper Jaxon Field Rory Doyle	5 Red Zara McEvoy Phoebe Reynolds KalonVu
6 Blue Lucas Marchei Phoenix Stretfeild	6 Gold Jessica Davis George Ballenger

Congratulations to the recipients of the Week 9 Mt Carmel Awards.
These awards will be handed out this Friday, 5 July, at morning assembly.

K Blue Naomi Matthew Peter Gorman	K Gold Emily Reynders Abigail Morris
1 Green Halle Davaris Maeve Mondragon	1 Red Sophie Aksenov Logan Hodgson Lewis Gianchou
2 Blue Florence Jervis Eli Driver Chevy Leahy Samuel Logue	2 Gold Evie Mitchell Zachary Pholi
3 Green Asher Gorman Dominic Rowland	3 Red Evelyn Platt Mackenzie Arnold Cody Drage
4 Blue Richard Jol Jasper Jones	4 Gold Charlie Jervis Atticus Gilchrist
5 Green Hugh McPherson William Drake	5 Red Isla Townsend Conor Guiney Lachlan Walker
6 Blue Charlie Field Ava Leighton Kaci Kitson	6 Gold Blake Foster Heath Wood Justice-Jay Elliott-Miners

Winning House - Mullungang
Winner: Louis Arnold

Unfortunately, the canteen will be closed this week.

All orders that have been placed over the last two weeks will be provided next term once the canteen is back in operation.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. 

Please note that the Clothing Pool will not be closed tomorrow, Thursday 4 June.
We apologiese for any inconvenience this may cause, but will open again in Term 3. 

The Mt Carmel Trivia Night team look forward to welcoming you to the Trivia Night. 

Please note the tables are set for a group of 6 people. Please don't be concerned if you do not have a group of 6, the trivia team will find you a seat while tickets last (as best we can). For aunty questions please email lizdadeppo@gmail.com.

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Children of Catholic Faith in Year 6 and above, who have not yet received the Sacrament of Confirmation, are invited to do so on Thursday 22 September 2024.

The sacrament timetable and Registration details can be found on the parish website http://staug-yass.org.au – information to be found under the Sacraments tab. Please read through all dates and information noting that registrations close on Friday 5 July 2024. There are a number of other compulsory dates during the preparation, make note of them in your calendar.

We look forward to meeting with you and helping to prepare your child for this beautiful sacrament. If you have any further queries please email the team at sacramentalteamyass@gmail.com.

Regards,
The Yass Sacramental Team
Anne Mattappallil, Amber Maher, Mandy Leahy & Linda Swadling

Throughout July, the National Film and Sound Archive are playing a number of family friendly movies at their Arc Cinema. If you are interested in attending, please look at their program at the following link - Movie Program Link.