Dear St Clare's Community,

What a wonderful start we have had after now experiencing two full weeks back at school. Everyone is settling into the routine of school and even with the rainy patches, it feels great to be back into it.
As always there is so much to squeeze into a term. We have just started our first games in the Chess Competition.  Our Enrichment Program is up and running under the guidance of Mrs Lang. Mrs Wall has already got us immersed in Art, with the Dream Car Competition open to all students and ongoing work on our mural. Mrs Chappel organised a beautiful celebration for our opening Mass, with a lot more in store with Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday and St. Patrick’s Day on the horizon. We have sports galore on offer thanks to the amazing talents of Mrs Mason, with Rugby & Netball coaching sessions, not to mention all the Peninsula tryouts she is coordinating. Mrs Vipiana and a group of volunteers have made sure that Friday Tuckshop is great as always. Mrs Irvine has been busy meeting all our students and introducing them to the world of resources in our digital library. You might wonder how we have time for learning! I cannot say this enough, it is thanks to our amazing teachers and school officers that put so much work into planning, preparing and delivering engaging lessons to our students, that we can fit it all in.

School Annual Improvement Plan (SAIP)

Each year we have key focus areas of improvement and the following are our  SMART goals for 2023:

1. By the end of 2023, 100% of staff can articulate the school’s revised mission and vision statements along with the school values and expectations.
2. By the end of 2023, 85% of students will achieve system reading level benchmark and 100% of students achieve positive growth through the building of teacher capacity and expectations in teaching of reading.
3. By the end of 2023, 80% of students will achieve at standard or above using the Writing Gain and 100% of students will achieve positive growth.
4. By the end of 2023, all class teachers participate in professional learning to implement the Maths curriculum 9.0 and 100% of students to show growth between pre and post testing in Essential Assessment and PatM.

Student Absences

We will be working on improving our attendance rates as one of our school wide goals this year. Our attendance goal is to have zero unexplained absences. If your student is away for any reason, please contact the office. If you do forget to let us know, you will receive a SMS notification that your child is absent. Please contact the school upon receiving these messages, as it lets us know your child is indeed safe at home and you are aware of their absence. Cairns Catholic Education has a system wide goal that 90% of our students attend school 90% of the time. Over the last few years this has been quite a difficult goal with the interruptions and restrictions we have been impacted by. Our attendance rate to date for 2023 is 89.8%.

Our Generous Community

We are so very blessed to live in this very giving community. Already this year, Ergon Energy Tully and the Joyful Foundation have provided us with student packs. These student resources include library bags, exercise books, pencil cases & stationery for students in need. We have also benefited from the IGA Community Chest with a cheque for $550 accepted by the school this week. 

Prep Enrolments for 2024

It seems early to be discussing enrolments for 2024 BUT if you have a child born between 1/7/2018 and 30/6/2019, your child is eligible to start Prep in 2024. Please go to our website to complete an online enrolment - https://www.stclares.qld.edu.au/enrolling/enrolment-application/. We already have a number of students registered and places are limited. Interviews will commence in Term 2.

Volunteer Training

Have you completed volunteer training?  All parents assisting with sport training, tuckshop, sport days, transport, excursions, classroom assistance etc need to complete the training found on the Catholic Education website. Go to: https://www.cns.catholic.edu.au/our-school-communities/parent-engagement/volunteer-training/

Important Safety Reminders

Children must not walk through the car park area unless accompanied by an adult.  Parents must meet children at the ramp to walk them to the car. Do not call your children to your car or into the carpark as this is unsafe. Please also note that children need to be accompanied by an adult when crossing Mars Street. Staff will not let children cross Mars St to a parked car on the opposite side of the school.

Parents using the pick-up zone on Mars St. are asked not to leave their cars to assist children. If your child requires assistance to get in the car, please park elsewhere and walk over to collect our child.

The street in front of the two schools in Mars Street has signs that indicate u-turns are prohibited. Please adhere to this as it is for the safety of everyone.

Cyclone Preparedness

It is the time of year that we may experience weather events. The Queensland Government has a lot of information and resources available to help your family plan and prepare for emergencies. Use this link for more information: https://www.getready.qld.gov.au/get-prepared/3-steps-get-ready

Blessings for the weeks ahead

Karran Burzacott
Principal

Welcome   Community   Hospitality

It was lovely to have so many friends and family join us to celebrate the start of the academic year with our Opening Mass. Next week, we once again extend the invitation to the St Clare’s community to join us as we recognise the beginning ofLent. Our first event will be on Shrove Tuesday (February 21) where our Year 6 leaders will cater for the school community with a pancake breakfast. Pancakes will be served from 8.00am - 8.30am in the eating area. The cost will be 50c each, with a limit of 4 per student, with a variety of toppings available. Small cups of orange juice will also be for sale for $1 each.

 

The second important event for our school will be Ash Wednesday. We plan to gather with the St Clare’s Parish community to signal the beginning of Lent with a mass at 9am on Wednesday February 22. Each student will also receive a small money box on this day to collect spare change for Project Compassion (through Caritas) which runs for the duration of Lent. Students are encouraged to bring in their change each Friday and empty it into their classroom money box. What may seem like a small donation for us can make a world of difference to others in our world. All proceeds from our pancake breakfast will also go towards Project Compassion.

Sharon Chappel

Happy Learning
Chris Edwards

School Calendar 2023

If anyone would like to sponsor the Cross Country trophies for the boys only,  please contact the school office (40659550) by the end of week.

Your contribution towards trophies will be greatly appreciated.

Term 1, 2023
Week 3

St. Clare’s Way Award

Front:  Drew, Brody
Back: Logan, Blair, Kace, Hanoor

 

Academic Award

  Conor and Isabelle

 

 Social & Emotional Learning Award

Front: Darius, Hannah
Back:  Christopher, Chloe

Southern Zone Representatives

Congratulations to the following sporting stars who were recently selected in the following Cassowary Coast Southern Zone sports teams:

Touch Football - Laine Spencer, Logan Jesse, Kade Murphy, Kelly Clifford, Chase Frumento, Saxon Solien, Eddie Brunello, Maisy Chappel, Leah Johnston, Indiana Grimaz, Allie Slattery, Layla Morris, Vanora Noonan and Eden Emmi.

Cricket - Laine Spencer, Nollie Uitenweerde, Chase Frumento, Kelly Clifford, William Robertson, Saxon Solien, Seb Di Mauro and Jonah Wilcox.

Cassowary Coast Representatives

Congratulations to our cricket stars William Robertson, Seb Di Mauro and Chase Frumento who were all selected in the Cassowary Coast District Cricket Team at the trial match on Friday afternoon. Congratulations also goes to Saxon Solien and Nollie Uitenweerde who were selected as shadows and will play in the Presidents 11 side. All of these boys will travel to Tolga this weekend to play at the Peninsula Championships. Good luck boys!

Peninsula Representative

Congratulations to Emily Quabba who recently travelled to Hervey Bay to compete at the Queensland Aquathlon Championships. An aquathlon involves competitors doing a 1km run, 200m swim in the ocean followed by a 1km run. Emily placed 45th of out 91 female competitors. This is such an outstanding accomplishment and we are very proud of you Emily.

Kind Regards,

Kate Mason

2023 Term 1 fees will be sent out this week

Invoices will be sent by email to all parents this week.
Due date for fees to be paid is Thursday, 23rd February.

Please contact the school office if you do not receive the invoice so we can check your email address, or if you require a hardcopy of fees to make payment.

                  Please check your junk or spam mail.

Families have the option of paying weekly or fortnightly. Internet banking, or direct debit can be arranged with your bank. 

Please note:-

There is NO EFTPOS available at the school office. 

• Preferrably no cash but if paying in cash, we appreciate that correct money be given as we do not carry any change in the school office.
• If paying by Bpay or EFT direct debit or internet banking, please use the school bank account details shown on the term one statement.
• IMPORTANT: Please use your Ref: 966000….....(under Biller Code). This number is to be used when paying by Bpay, or EFT -direct debit, internet banking.
• Remittance slip at the bottom of the school account to be returned to the school office with ALL payments. (cash, cheque, direct debit or internet banking).

Thank you.

The P&F had their AGM recently and the same committee as last year still stands; Johnny Clifford (President), Paul Grimaz (Vice President), Kelly Slattery (Treasurer) and Melissa Murphy (Secretary). Please contact these people or attend our monthly meetings with any ideas you may have. Our next meeting date is yet to be set and will be published on our FB page - St Clare’s School P&F.

The annual St Clare’s School fete date has been set for the 9th September. This year’s theme is Rock and Roll. We are looking for more families to join the fete committee along with our existing committee. Please contact Marie Vipiana if you would like to join the team on 0418 158 872. Our team so far consists of Marie Vipiana, Alice McNamara, Jess Kachel, Alicia Johnston and Tammy Clifford. Any extra members will be greatly appreciated.

Our Pie Drive is booked for this Term with Tully Bakery, for delivery in week 10. A note will come home in the next two weeks with more information and how you can order. This will be done on the Flexischools App as this worked really well for us last year.