Dear Parents

Recently I received an email from a distressed parent who had decided to withdraw a child from the school. The child had been, “subjected to taunts and nasty comments, while seemingly petty and pathetic” has destroyed the child’s confidence. Unfortunately, the family chose not to inform the school of the situation.

At McAuley Catholic Central School we:

• Are committed to providing a safe, caring and inclusive learning environment for everyone
• Maintain that everyone has the right to be free from all forms of bullying and harassment
• Encourage and positively reinforce behaviours, which show care, courtesy and consideration
• Empower students and parents about issues related to bullying through education programs
• Offer support to all students through its pastoral care system and the pastoral care role of all teachers.

Restorative Justice is a framework aimed at bringing about behavioural change for the individual while keeping schools and communities safe. The aim of restorative programs is to reintegrate those affected by wrongdoing back into the community as resilient and responsible members. Restorative justice is a form of conflict resolution and seeks to make it clear to the offender that the behaviour is not condoned, at the same time as being supportive and respectful of the individual.

Restorative Justice supports the Behaviour Management, Pastoral Care Policy and the Anti Bullying Policies of McAuley Catholic Central School. Restorative Justice is a process that provides an opportunity for students to accept responsibility for their behaviour and to repair harm or damage done to other people and/or property.

• It provides a positive shaming experience for the student who has harmed others through bullying or other inappropriate behaviour.
• It allows behaviour to be corrected in a positive way.
• The consequence for inappropriate behaviour is negotiated between the perpetrator and the victim with a support person present for each.
• Students are supported in their efforts to develop more appropriate behaviour, while understanding the seriousness of their actions.
• It allows the person/s harmed to talk about the impact of the perpetrators actions on them.
• The process rebuilds relationships and allows students and teachers to resolve conflict. These principles can be applied to a range of behaviours in schools.
• The core principles relating to bullying are: 1. Bullying and being bullied are ways of behaving that can be changed. 2. Addressing wrongdoing, such as bullying, concerns actions and should not involve the denigration of the whole person. 3. The harm done by bullying to self and others must be acknowledged. 4. Reparation for the harm done is essential; and 5. Both bullies and victims are valued members of the school community whose supportive ties with others should be strengthened through participation in communities of care.

Kind regards to you all,

Rodney Little. 

Keep an eye on all upcoming events with our calendar. Click on the link below:

A great family night out this Friday. It would be wonderful to see you all - bring along bean-bags, fold up chairs and relax and enjoy. Refreshments and popcorn available for purchase on the night.

If parents can't make it - drop the children off.

ALL students K-10 are invited to come to school for our ROCKING RED CHILSHOM DAY! 

Students are encouraged to come to school dressed in RED - use your imagination and creativity. Red hat, red socks, red beanie, red dress, red pants etc. 

Please ensure you are dressed to suit the weather conditions on the day.

Gold coin donation please - going towards our beautiul Blakeney Lodge community. 

Caroline Chisholm was born in England in 1808, coming to Australia in 1838 where she set up a home for other women who had come to live in Australia. She worked to improve life on the ships bringing people to Australia to start a new life and started a loans plan to bring poor children and families to Australia. She arranged free trips so that the families of convicts who were transported to Australia could come and join them. Caroline believed strongly that poor people should be able to buy farms cheaply.

Caroline was a champion of the poor and underprivileged and worked tirelessly to improve their conditions.

We are very proud to announce the results of the Inter-school Public Speaking competition between McAuley and St Pat's Gundagai on Wednesday morning in beautiful Gundagai. 

Year 3:  

Year 4:

Year 5:  

Year 6:  

Congratulations to all student representatives - you spoke very well and should be very proud of yourselves.

We would sincerely like to thank St Patricks School for hosting the speak offs and also Ms Trish Matthews and Ms Leonie Flint for their time and effort in coaching our students. Thank you ladies. 

What a great day was had on the Selwyn Ski Slopes last Friday. Conditions were absolutely perfect - with snow from top to bottom of the resort. 

Thanks to everyone for participating and for handing notes and money in so promptly. Thanks also to the teachers who put their hands up to attend this excursion. It's an early start and a big responsibility which they do happily, year after year.

Finally - thanks to Goodes Coaches for their support. 

Visitors could have been mistaken for thinking they had strolled onto the set of the latest Marvel movie as they entered McAuley CCS on Tuesday. 

Superheroes, Harry Potter characters, Mary Poppins and even plenty of Percy Jacksons and cowboys and girls swamped the playground as the school celebrated the annual Book Week. Under the 2019 theme of Reading is my Super Power, teachers transformed into their own super teacher league as students embraced the opportunity to dress up as book characters across numerous reading genres.

As part of the celebrations the K-6 students visited Blakeney Lodge and interacted with the residents who loved the creative costumes.

McAuley Teacher Librarian, Kirsty Roche, said visiting the elderly residents has huge benefits for all involved. 

“The students are very familiar with visiting the residents throughout the year so it made sense a couple of years ago to expand our Book Week parade to include the residents,” Ms Roche said. “The residents love seeing the children with many of them talking to the students about the costumes they used to dress their children in.

“It makes the parade more meaningful as students realise they are also dressing up to entertain others and giving something back to the community. 

“The costumes this year were amazing, I am very grateful to the parents for the effort they put into helping bring their children’s favourite literary characters to life.”

Following the Blakeney Lodge visit the students gathered on the primary oval to parade and dance for family members who clapped along as each class showcased their fantastic costumes.

See our facebook page for more great photos. 

A Judging Experience

Book Week celebrations didn’t end on Tuesday for McAuley CCS students with the Year five and six students attending a special presentation in the library on Wednesday. Manager Special Projects at Snowy Valleys Council and previous Librarian in Charge, Kristin Twomey, shared the lengthy journey of her role as a 2019 Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book of the Year Judge.

The students were enthralled with not only the amount of books she had to review but also with the process itself.

Ms Twomey who is also the 2017 winner of the Jean Arnot Memorial Fellowship for her paper, Libraries Building Communities: The need for Local Government to acknowledge the role of Public Libraries in Community Building and Engagement, was appointed in late 2017 to help decide which book would win the Eve Pownall Award.  

Ms Twomey explained to the students the books in this category have the prime intention of documenting factual material with consideration given to imaginative presentation, interpretation and variation of style. 

“Each month I would receive a box of books with between five and 15 books inside to read and work through the set criteria,” Ms Twomey said. “It was a lot of reading and sometimes hard to decide if the book was worthy of progressing to the next level.

“I read a lot of the books to my son Matthew and a couple of the books we really loved didn’t get through, which was disappointing, but in order for a book to make the shortlist and ultimately be named as the winning book or honourary books, all judges have to agree.”

Ms Twomey shared her thoughts on each of the six short-listed books for the students who then participated in a fun speed-book-dating activity in the restaurant themed library.

Teacher Librarian, Kirsty Roche said having a guest like Ms Twomey speak candidly with the students was an invaluable experience.

“It is not very often a person can capture the attention and imagination of 50 young students the way Ms Twomey did on Wednesday,” Ms Roche said. “Sharing her insight and hearing the explanations prompted the students to discuss what they perceived the merits of each book to be. 

“Anytime you can get young people, book lovers or not, to have meaningful discussions surrounding texts is a win. We were both impressed with how the students were actively engaged in being their own book judges.”

Whilst the CBCA Judges placed the inspirational book Sorry Day in first place, the definite winner for the students was the visually spectacular book, Make Believe: M. C. Escher for Kids. 

- Kirsty Roche, Librarian 

Kindergarten to Year 6 children have the wonderful opportunity to attend the acclaimed ‘Shekere Beats’ Performance next Friday 30^th August in the School Hall. There will be no cost for this performance as parents have previously paid via their school fee account. 

‘Shekere Beat’s’ is a musical, cultural and a physical look at Ghana. With audience participation, singing and drumming it leaves students feeling exhilarated, inspired and enlightened.

We are thrilled to bring this opportunity and experience to our school! 

Thanks to the families who have already sent in some wonderful donations for our annual Father's Day Stall next Friday.

Remember to send in salable items to the Primary Office by next Thursday. Items could include: Wrapped lollies, chocolates, cups, mugs, car cleaning products, gardening tools and seeds, playing cards, ties etc. 

Narissa Watts is coordinating this event and we thank her for her efforts and time. Please let her know if you can help her!

Thank you everyone for the amazing support of our Street Stall last week. Results were $1320.00. Thank you everyone for your support.

Raffle winners: Kay Knight - wood. Maree McRedmond - 'winter warmer pack'.

Special thanks to Anna Stubbs for coordinating this stall. 

Thank you to our wonderful volunteers who continue to support and keep our canteens operational.

Next week we have the following lovely ladies rostered on our Primary Canteen:

Monday 26th: Jessie Riethmuller, Wednesday 28th: Sam Phillips, Friday 30th: Michelle Crampton.

A great day in Penrith last week when our Junior Secondary Girls represented at the CCC Netball Championships. Well done girls! 

Participating Year 3/4 students had a wonderful day last week attending the annual Todd Woodbridge Cup with other students from all over the region.

All students played with great sportsmanship and effort, enjoying the friendly days competition.

We have one team progressing to the next round (as an independant school) and we had some students names put forward as 'Best on Field' - Cohen Keenan, Tyler Annetts, Alex Crowe, Rori Caffery and Angus Watts. 

Mosaic art has been around almost forever, starting back in the third millennium BC.

McAuley secondary students are finding the options are endless, enjoying creating mesmerising patterns and designs. Well done.

- Julie Greacen, Art Teacher. 

The following days have been allocated for Kindergarten Orientation:

Tuesday 29th October, Wednesday 6th November, Thursday 14th November from 9:30am to 3:00pm. Interviews are currently underway with Principal, parent and child. Please contact the school to make a suitable time for your interview if you have not already done so. 

Frank + Lin at the Movies! All K-6 students are invited to support their Franklin friends by attending their bi-annual performance on 25th Sept at the Montreal Theatre. Please send $4-00 to school if you would like your child to attend this walking excursion.

Don't forget the Tumut Performance Arts Society, featuring some of our own McAuley students, will present "Skeleton Crew" this weekend at the Montreal Theatre. 

This week in Peer Support the children will be participating in activities helping them to identify and accept difference in people. Children will also identify ways they can demonstrate being caring through their actions.

Parents are encourage to discuss with your child the importance of accepting differences in other people. Perhaps take the time to identify and discuss the various differences people may have eg; appearance, religion, culture or disabilities. As your child to share the qualities they appreciate in their friends. 

- Melissa Hotham, Coordinator