Newsletter Week 2, Term 4 2021
Principal's Message
Dear Families,
It is with great enthusiasm and pride that I announce that:
St Ambrose Pottsville has been recognised and named an
Apple Distinguished School
October, 2021- St Ambrose Catholic Primary School is pleased to announce that it has been recognised as an Apple Distinguished School for 2021-2024 for its professional learning culture that drives innovation across the school; focussed on high-quality instruction, digital learners and improved student outcomes. At St Ambrose, students are supported to build a broad range of technological competencies to achieve individualised goals that meet their learning needs.
Apple Distinguished Schools are centres of innovation, leadership, and educational excellence. They use Apple technology to connect students to the world, fuel creativity, deepen collaboration, and make learning personal.”
Since our school’s commencement in 2015, St Ambrose has always aspired to be a school that meaningfully embeds rich technological learning tasks into the day to day curriculum. This in turn fosters a high level of student engagement and develops appropriate core skills and an inquisitive approach to learning.”
“The selection of St Ambrose Catholic Primary School as an Apple Distinguished School highlights our success in creating an innovative and compelling learning environment that engages students and provides tangible evidence of academic achievement. Through the implementation of a 1:1 iPad program, learning experiences are crafted using Apple tools, to deepen students’ understanding in innovative ways. Students collaborate to create engaging stories, iMovie, Keynote, Apple Books, and record Podcasts designed to connect their learning with the world around them.”
Moving forward, St Ambrose will provide professional development and workshops for schools, parents and the wider community. The school will continue to forge networks with Apple Distinguished Schools and schools in the local area. We want our students to use their level of expertise to become responsible, independent and moral citizens in our digital world.
In Australia just over 50 schools are “Apple Distinguished Schools”. Across the world in 34 countries, 734 schools have this prestigious recognition! This is a true recognition of the quality of staff, quality of learning and the quality of the school environment.
I would like to personally thank and congratulate all of our staff on this outstanding achievement - both past and present:
In particular
- Nic Constable previous Assistant Principal
- Chelsea Fisher Assistant Principal
- Mike Lubans and Grace McMahon Apple IT reference teachers
The significance of this recognition cannot be underestimated and as a school community we should all be very, very proud of this achievement.
Warm Regards,
Brian Laybutt
Principal
AFTERNOON PICK UP
A number of families are instructing their children to walk to Elizabeth St and meet them there rather than wait in the Pick Up Zone.
This has presented us with a number of issues:
- Residents are complaining that cars are blocking their driveways.
- With increased cars, it is creating a hazardous situation for children riding bikes
- MOST IMPORTANTLY, we have a number of families who have run late or been delayed in picking their children up which has resulted in students waiting in Elizabeth St unsupervised.
Although it may take an additional 5/10 min, I would strongly suggested that all children be collected from the Pick Up Zone, which is supervised until every child is collected. Having children waiting on Elizabeth St without any supervision/support could prove unsafe. If for some reason you are delayed or in an unforeseen emergency, it may prove difficult to contact your child and relay any message - resulting in the child waiting by themselves - in one instance this year we discovered up until 4.30pm!
SCHOOL UPDATES
SPORT ELECTIVES: in Term 4 the school offers sport electives to our Year 3 - 6 students. This was to run for 5 weeks and included sports such as surfing, skateboard riding, kayaking, yoga, dance, tennis, games, etc. Unfortunately due to the current restrictions these cannot take place. Hopefully we can reschedule some events for later in the term.
SCHOOL CAMPS (Years 4, 5 & 6): At this point school camps cannot go ahead; however we have rescheduled Yr 4, 5 & 6 camps for November in the hope the students can still have this experience. Fingers crossed that the restrictions are listed and the school camps can proceed !!!
ADMIN NEWS: The school has just changed its operating system moving from SAS to COMPASS. You will now receive the majority of school correspondence via COMPASS. As we are still in the changeover period, we are still utilising Flexischools and SeeSaw. Eventually COMPASS will be a “one stop shop” for all communication/transactions. Eventually lunch orders placed through Flexischools will be replaced by Compass Canteen which will be located within COMPASS. SeeSaw will be retained as an electronic student portfolio only. Parent/Teacher/School communication will happen via COMPASS. No doubt there will be a few hiccups along the way, I ask for your patience and understanding (and keep our Office Ladies in your thoughts!). As changes occur you will be notified and given support in the transition.
If you would like to provide feedback, tjis would be welcomed:
SCHOOL IMPROVEMENTS: During the holidays the school had an awning attached to the outside of the drama room. This was constructed to provide additional shade and a barrier to the natural elements; rain and in particular from the morning sun, which caused the room to become exceptionally hot in the summer months.
The school took delivery of additional aluminium seating - fixed seating, portable bench seats and picnic style table seating will all be a welcomed addition.
BEFORE SCHOOL CARE:
- Starting Monday 25th October 2021.
- Breakfast included.
- Open 7.30am - if required earlier this can be accommodated.
- Fee $25 - your child care subsidy % can be applied for example if you CCS is 85%, fee is only $7.61
- Located in the School Hall
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT admin@grommetsooshc.com.au or 0411 199 049
JUSTICE OF THE PEACE
If you need the services of a Justice of the Peace please contact the Office to arrange a time , I am more than happy to assist in this matter.
Brian Laybutt - Justice of the Peace
THANK YOU!
A big thank you to Megan Mathews and her family (Brent, Ella, Morgan and Max) who donated an enormous amount of their free time to come into the school and reconfigure our hall storage room into a purpose built uniform room. This entailed removing existing shelving, chairs and storage containers and replacing this with storage cupboards, shelving and a centre island - all of which looks amazing and is highly functional.
The generosity of your family in donating your services and time to the school is truly appreciated!!
Religious Education and Parish News
Sacrament of Confirmation
The new date for our enrolled student candidates to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation will be on:
Monday 6th December 6:00pm at St Anthony’s Church, Kingscliff.
OCTOBER:THE MONTH OF THE HOLY ROSARY
National Rosary Day –Wed. 13th October.
By tradition, the Catholic Church dedicates the month of October to the holy Rosary, one of the best known of all Catholic devotions. October includes the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary (October 7).
The best way to celebrate the month is, of course, to pray the Rosary. Prayer is a way to help us get in touch with God and to develop a relationship with him. In prayer we not only talk with God, but God communicates with us, as we continue to pray, our relationship with God grows.
At school this week students had the opportunity to experience walking/praying the Rosary in an indoor or outdoor quiet, reflective atmosphere within the school grounds.
School News
Les Peterkin Portraits Prize Winners 2021
Parent Forum Info
A Note from Parent Forum....
Welcome back to the last term for the year - hasn't that gone quickly! We are looking forward to getting back to some kind of normal in 2022 and creating fun filled events for both students, teachers and families.
Community Fair: As you know our Spring Fair has been proposed to Saturday 2nd April. We are inviting all parents to please email us if they would like to be involved in the Fair in both planning and on the day. This is a fun community event for all and we would love as many people to be involved as possible. Email Parent Forum at stambrosepf@gmail.com
We will be having a School Community Fair meeting on 17/11/21 at 6pm at the Pottsville Sports Club for those who wish to come along - all welcome.
2022 Fundraising Events: The following is a suggestion of the 2022 Social Committee fundraising events.
Term 1, 2nd April - Community Spring Fair
Term 2 - Trivia Night
Term 3 - Kids Splash and Dash
If you have any suggestions about these events or have an event idea please email the Parent Forum at stambrosepf@gmail.com.
We are looking for suggestions on what you would like the money raised by the Parent Forum to be used for. What is important for the students and the school? We welcome your brilliant ideas.
School suggestions, ideas, concerns.
Please remember if you have any questions, concerns or ideas for the school please voice this via email to sapot@lism.catholic.edu.au
Looking forward to Term 4.
All the best,
Parent Forum.
Community News
“Registrations are still open and being accepted. The season is expected to commence on 24th October or 31st October pending NSW Health Order update.
We have another registration assistance, pool proficiency and ocean proficiency day this Saturday 9th October from 8.30am at the Cudgen Surf Club. All are welcome.
Like us on Facebook – ‘Cudgen Nippers’ for more information.”