2025 Newsletter Term 1 Week 6

Letter from the Principal - Brad Toole

Dear Parents,

Just a reminder that at the end of day pick up we require all adults who are collecting children to come into the school grounds and collect students from the basketball court. We ask all parents to leave the school grounds through the double gates to avoid congestion at the single bus gate. We are trying to make our end of day procedures safer for all students and ensure everyone gets home safely and in the correct manner. Bike raiders and students walking home by themselves will leave after the first wave of students has left and the traffic has eased. 

Thanks for your support with this.

Parent Teacher Meetings

We will be hosting Parent Teacher Meetings in Week 9 this term. Today you will receive a sheet with the times available for you to select. Please return them asap.  Teachers will then return a note to confirm the interview time next week. We will endeavour to get a time as close as possible to the time you indicated. If you were unable to return the note you will be allocated a time.

NAPLAN

NAPLAN testing commenced today for Years Three and Five.

Testing schedule: 

Wed 12th March - Writing and Reading

Thurs 13th March - Language Conventions

Fri 14th March - Numeracy

R.E. Matters

The theme for 2025 is…

All Hallows - People of Hope  
2025 is a Year of Jubilee!

A Prayer for Pope Francis

God our Father
Your love guides every moment of our lives.
Accept the prayers we offer for Pope Francis;
Restore him to health
and turn our concern for him into joy.
We ask this in the name of the Lord.

During LENT we are asked to find ways that we can work together to be people of hope. Showing love for all those in our life. May we not be afraid to ‘be the voice’ for those who may need to be heard.
A challenge for the week.
This week’s act is incredibly practical and simple: find a need and meet it. 
Now. Today.
Put the word out in your household or your friendship group today – ask what needs people have right now. It might be simple: picking up some shopping, fixing a leaky tap, or a quick lift somewhere. They might just need a hug or a listening ear. Whatever small thing you can do for someone else today, do it.

Let’s all Unite Against Poverty! There is no time like 2025!

Project Compassion 2025 shares three stories from around the world. We’ll meet Toefuata'iga - (Toy-foo-ah-tah-ing-ah) a young student from Samoa who faced severe water shortages at her school. We’ll get to know Lam from Vietnam. Born with short stature, Lam faced social exclusion and limited employment opportunities.  And we’ll meet Irene from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) who faced immense challenges after losing her father to war and raising her children in poverty.

Sport

Rugby League Dunedoo

The Yeo Rugby League competition will be held in Dunedoo this year on Wednesday 26th March. Notes went home last week and training will commence this week. This is always a great day. There will be a 21 seater bus available and  Mr Rogers and Mr Toole will accompany the students to Dunedoo for the day.

Cross Country

The School Cross Country will be held on Friday 21^st March, 2025 at Red Hill.  The students will need to wear SPORTS UNIFORM and bring an extra drink bottle of water.

The students and teachers will walk up to Red Hill at 11.20am.

Before the races we will all walk the course together, with the first race starting at 11.50am. The groups will run in the following order:

Yrs 5 & 6  - 3km ,  K & Yr 1 & Yr 2  - 1km,    Yr 3&4 -  2km

At the conclusion of events the students and teachers will walk back to school for lunch…. and a rest!   

Please join us to cheer on the children.

Following the School Cross Country a team will be selected from the Primary to represent All Hallows Catholic School at the Diocesan Cross Country in Coolah early next term.

Pupil Free Day

A reminder that we have a Pupil Free Day on Monday 24th March. No supervision will be available at school that day.

All Hands on Ukes - School Performance Tour

This will now be held on Friday 28th March at 2pm.

Kindergarten 2026 Parent Information Session

Lions Eye Health Program

Mudgee Lions Club will be visiting All Hallows on Wednesday 14th May to conduct their annual Lions Eye Health Program Free Vision Screening for children.

Members of the Lions Club have been specifically trained to perform 4 vision screening assessments including"

• Visual Acuity
• Colour Vision
• Depth Perception
• Spot Vision Screener

The individual screening takes minutes to perform and there is no physical contact made with the child and no eye drops are administered.  Individual reports will be sent to parents and if a vision problem is detected parents will be encouraged to seek a further eye assessment with an eye health professional.

Kindergarten students will receive a permission form today but if your child is in another grade and you would like them to participate in this program, please contact the school office and we will send a form home.

Scholastic Book Club

Term 1 Scholastic Book Club brochures came home last week.  If you would like to place an order, please complete the order form, including your child's name and class and return with payment to the school office by the  26th March. 

Orders can also be made through the LOOP system on the Scholastic website.  When ordering, the site may ask you to update your child's class.  Please just choose the 'Whole School'  option as all orders are processed at the office.  

P&F Updates

Our next P&F Meeting will be Monday 17th March at 3.30pm in the hall. 

The meeting will be held to discuss fundraising targets and P&F events for the year to bring the school community together. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Easter Hat Parade

Just giving you all some warning that we will be having an Easter Hat Parade this year on the last Friday of Term 1 , the 11th of April. We will be holding the hat parade at 9am as soon as the bell rings so families are able to watch. Children will make their own hats at home and bring them in on the day to wear. We will keep you updated with details as the end of the term draws closer. 

Reading at Home Tips

There is no magical formula for learning to read. Children learn in their own time according to their own pace. There is no critical age when all children should have mastered reading. When children are learning to walk and talk, we accept different levels of progress – it is the same with learning to read and write. Children need ongoing quality experiences with books. Providing a regular reading routine at home assists children in their quest for reading success.

Phonics is the relationship between letters and sounds and is not the only strategy children use when reading unfamiliar words. There are other effective ways to assist children identify unfamiliar words, which includes the practice of encouraging children to look for meaning. Prior to saying anything to assist the reader, allow sufficient wait time. Readers need to look around for clues. The aim is to move the reader towards independence as quickly as possible and that does mean getting out of the way. The reader has to look around to locate clues. Too often, their only clue is to look to the parent to fill the gap. Rescuing won’t help! Keep your eyes on the book and avoid eye contact. After waiting sufficient time, try saying:

• Read on and collect other clues.
• Go back to the beginning of the sentence and re-read what you read.
• Look at the illustration and see if there are clues there.
• What do you think would make sense here?

Healthy Lunchboxes

Research says that a child that is hungry will struggle to concentrate in the classroom. It is important to pack enough healthy and filling food to provide your child with the energy to last throughout the day. For a healthy lunchbox pick & mix something from each food group 1 - 6!

Pick and mix one tasty option from each of the five core food groups to create a healthy lunchbox every day:

1. Fruit (e.g. fresh, frozen, pureed and canned in natural juice
2. Vegetables, legumes and beans
3. Milk, yoghurt, cheese and alternatives
4. Lean meats and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu and legumes/beans
5. Grain (cereal) foods
6. Plain water 

A reminder that we are now a nut aware school.
Please no nuts or peanut butter to be packed. 

The Importance Of Sleep For Children

When we are sleeping, our brain is busy sorting and storing the information from the day, and our bodies are physically rejuvenating from the day. For children, who are constantly growing, running around, and learning new skills, getting enough sleep is essential for their development and for providing the energy they need to fully engage in their action-packed lives.

Without enough sleep, children have a particularly hard time with mental processing; they may experience difficulties with concentration, memory, regulating their emotions, organising tasks and creative thinking. As an occasional event this can result in a cranky child, in the long term, lack of sleep can severely affect their mood, result in poorer school performance or impair their immune system.

So exactly how much sleep do our children need?

Sleep requirements vary, depending on children’s developmental stages: a general guide is below.

Age and recommended sleep hours per 24-hour period

Infants: 4 to 12 months—12 to 16 hours (including naps)

Toddlers: 1 to 2 years—11 to 14 hours (including naps)

Pre-schoolers: 3 to 5 years—10 to 13 hours (including naps)

Grade-schoolers: 6 to 12 years—9 to 11 hours

Teens: 13 to 18 years—8 to 10 hours

Source: Children’s Health Queensland

According to Children’s Health Queensland- ‘The most effective way to encourage the correct amount of sleep is to establish a consistent bedtime routine and stick to it every night.’ The better the sleep the easier the school day is to navigate and the easier it is to concentrate. 

Merit Awards - Week 5 Term 1

Kinder:   Birdie, Clay, Zaya, 

Year 1:      Ryan, Jack, Maggie

Year 2:     Claire, Albert

Year 3:     Ruby, Jacob, Lennon

Year 4:   Ruby T, Hamish, Ned

Year 5:    Cambell, Issy Cl

Year 6:    Aliyah, Frank, Braxton

Halos:     Nathan, Bligh, Cooper, Lennon. Cambell, Charlotte, Hartley, Oliver, Charlotte, Joey

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