McAuley Catholic College Tumut eNewsletter

Dear McAuley Families

The weeks are flying! The calendar is full. The mornings are cool. Winter is coming!

There is a lot happening at the college at the moment. Please be sure to keep a good eye on communications, diaries, and due dates. This helps all of us (students included!) to lower anxiety and remain calm, successful and productive.

This week we began interviews for places in Year 7, 2025 and a smattering of places in other Secondary year levels. As you will know demand is very high for the limited places, we are able to offer next year. It is pleasing to meet young people and keen families who see McAuley as a place with:

Strong academics
Committed teachers
High expectations
Expanding facilities
Positive and caring community

We aim to have letters of offer out as soon as possible to give people certainty about their future directions in education.

Kinder enrolments are strong also. We look forward to hearing more about our Kindergarten offerings at the 2025 Information Session on 11 June at 5.00pm. Please watch our socials and Compass for reminders.

Establishment works for the Primary BGA project are about to start with the provision of electrical for the temporary classrooms and administration spaces. The timelines, so far, call for those buildings to be in operation at the start of Term 3. The existing admin, toilet and Kinder and Year 5/6 classrooms should be demolished during the term break.

Exciting times coming! I understand that there will be disruptions and patience needed over the coming weeks and months but know we will have 21^st century learning, library, admin, and amenities spaces for future generations of McAuley students ready to go from mid-2025. Please see the concept design for an idea of what is to come.

Congratulations to our various sporting teams and individuals who have enjoyed success at high levels. This success is a testament to the volunteers, coaches, trainers, and students who work to build their skills and capacity to a level of excellence.

Many teachers are assessing and testing in preparation for semester reports. Please encourage good study habits at home. In the past few years, we have learned a lot about the science of the brain. Our teachers employ science-based tools like explicit teaching and daily reviews to assist with recall and to move learning to long term memory.

The University of British Columbia (Canada) suggests these strategies to be a ‘savvy student’.

Space it out: multiple, short study sessions are the best way to absorb and retain information.
Test yourself in the same way you will be tested: use flashcards to list facts.
Lose the electronics: no phones, no computers. Pen and paper, handwritten notes cement facts better in the brain.
Don’t forget the great triad – Eat, sleep & exercise: it can be helpful to get up and walk for 5 minutes during study. Exercise fills the brain with growth hormones.

As parents we can assist and support these simple but very effective routines and ensure that our boys and girls are making the most of their revision and study time.

Mary our mother look after us.

Eamonn Moore

Principal

Congratulations to the Year 3 students who received the Sacrament of Reconciliation last week. Thank you to Father Joseph, Father Rofin and Miss Mason for making the evening so special.

Next Wednesday, 5th June is our annual Warm Woolly Winter Wednesday to support the St Vinnie’s Winter Appeal.

All donations of warm woolly goods (clothing, blankets, coats etc) will be collected and distributed locally.
It is an ideal opportunity to put into action the Mercy Values of the Spirit of Service and Compassion, and that through actions we express these values.

St Vinnies assist others, particularly at this time of the year.

Wednesday is a non-uniform day and students and staff can come dressed in their warm winter woolly clothes.There is no gold coin donation.

A reminder that applications for year 7, 2025 are closing TODAY Friday 31 May. We have limited places available and we will place any students we are unable to accommodate on our waitlist. For any enquiries please ring our office on 6947 2000 or to make an application go to our website mcauleytumut.nsw.edu.au.

As the weather turns cold, it has been noticed that some students are wearing Incorrect uniform. This includes:

Coloured long sleeve shirts or hoodies are not to be worn under the college shirt.
incorrect hats are being worn.
Tracksuit pants with coloured insignia (embroidered brand names)

Warm college jackets, hats, beanies and blue tracksuit pants are all available to be purchased from Wendellie on Wynyard.

We appreciate you ensuring that your children are wearing the correct uniform to school.

The Uniform Policy can be viewed on the college website, follow the link below.

Uniform Policy

Congratulations to Alfie Carney and Henry Piper on their selection for the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn Rugby Union team.

The boys will now represent Canberra Goulburn at the MacKillop Trials at Forbes on the 30th of June and 1st of July.

The Resilience Project is committed to teaching positive mental health strategies to prevent mental ill-health and build young people’s capacity to deal with adversity.

Each week, teachers and students engage in lessons and activities around the key principles of Gratitude, Empathy, Mindfulness (GEM), and Emotional Literacy to build resilience.

This week let's look at gratitude.

Working on gratitude helps us to be thankful and appreciate what we have in our lives, rather than focusing on what we don’t have or what we want. When we practise being grateful, we start to scan the world to look for positives – this only takes 21 days! Practising gratitude every day increases our levels of energy, and helps us to feel happier and more focused, determined and optimistic. It even helps us have better sleep, lowers levels of anxiety and depression and we are less likely to get sick. So many benefits – let’s all try to be grateful for the things and people in our lives every day!

Family Habit Builder:

Every night at dinner, have each person talk about their favourite thing about that day.

Year 3's Gratitude Wall

Teachers and students had a great day at the Athletics carnival yesterday with the novelty races a particular crowd favourite!

AGE CHAMPIONS AND RUNNERS UP

In Science this term Year 4 are learning about food production. Last week the class were excited and grateful to have a very special guest speaker. Hannah's Dad Mark Peacock came to speak to them about how to grow giant pumpkins. Each student was even given their very own pumpkin seed from the giant pumpkin that Mr Peacock grew earlier this year.

Year 4 then visited the school garden to plant their germinated bean seeds.

Our girls competed at the All School State Basketball Championships in Penrith this week. A huge congratulations to our girls for placing runners up in the under 16 age division. We are so proud of you!

Our year 5/6 students were at the Mortimer Shield in Gundagai last Thursday. The smiles on their faces in these group shots say it all!

The Year 1 and 2 First Nations students and Ms Morriss got together last week to talk about our pledge for National Reconciliation Week and the pledge card that we received from the Tumut Community Preschool to complete for a display that they are making for the Local at Learmonts Building front window.

The students came up with some great ideas but the one that they all thought most important was a flag pole so that we could display the Aboriginal Flag alongside the Australian Flag on our school grounds.

We also watched on online reading of the book 'Awesome Emu' and then created our own emu's (Dinawans). The kids had a great time.

Sunday was National Sorry Day which is celebrated on the 26th May every year. It leads into National Reconciliation Week which is also celebrated annually from the 27th May until the 3rd June.

Students on both the Primary and Secondary campuses have been completing activities throughout the week to commemorate both National Sorry Day and National Reconciliation Week.

Some of our year 3 students worked on a drawing task and were proud to show their finished pieces!

Kinder spent some time this week discussion what Reconciliation means to our First Nation's People and how we can play our part. Students completed a 'Now More Than Ever' activity where we have committed to making change. Children's responses included being kind to everyone, sharing, helping and saying sorry. Some of the artworks will be on display in our library.

STUDENT OF THE WEEK

RESILIENCE AWARD

BRONZE

Students from the secondary campus were offered the opportunity to attend White card training last week.

White card training, also known as “Prepare to Work Safely in the Construction Industry” course, is a general construction induction training that is mandatory for individuals who are 14 years or older and working on a construction site. Students who work on construction sites are required to have this for work experience. Once a person obtains their white card, it remains current when they leave school.

McAuley held a very successful Australia's Biggest Morning Tea at recess last Friday! With so much food on offer, the students decided to sell the delicious goodies at lunch too.

An enormous thankyou to all the families and children for getting so involved and helping raise money for this worthy cause.

Some of Year 5/6 students popped into the library last week to see some of our new books purchased from our Book Fair. We received these books as a result of the great sales! Thanks to all parents and students for their support. All money raised by the book fair goes towards new books for our ever growing library and towards an exciting author visit.

We are so lucky here at McAuley to have so many Indigenous books for people of all ages and interests. As it's National Reconciliation Week we have set up a display of some of our new and favourite books by and about our First Nation's people. Fabulous artworks completed by our kinder class have been added to the display. We hope all students drop in to take a look and even borrow a book.

Secondary Campus girls have been enjoying Lawn Bowls as a Friday afternoon activity. They have shown great improvement over the weeks. Thank you to Club Tumut for hosting us and supporting McAuley.

Great to see so many kids from our primary campus running around playing before the bell this morning. It sure was a frosty morning.

Subject Careers News Bulletin

Careers News Bulletin

We're reaching out to share some exciting updates about Harmony Hub. We've grown into a small, dedicated team of support workers serving the Snowy Valley, Gundagai, and surrounding areas. Our primary focus is on empowering our clients to achieve their goals, fostering healthy habits, and enjoying their journey with us.

At Harmony Hub, we offer a range of services designed to meet your needs:

Personalised 1:1 support tailored to your individual needs
Assistance with daily living tasks
Personal care at home
Support in accessing the community
Assistance in working towards your personal goals and developing social skills for enhanced independence

Our programs provide a supportive and engaging environment where participants can develop meaningful relationships and grow personally. Whether you're looking to build new friendships or improve in your daily routines, our day programs offer a blend of social interaction and skill-building activities.

We also provide engaging group activities, both within the community and at our hub. These activities are designed to cultivate social connections, enhance life skills, and promote personal growth.

Our current day programs:

Fun Fitness
Meal Prep
Art and Craft
EmpowerHER
Before and After School Adventures

They have been attached for some more information.

We're passionate about what we do and are committed to providing the best possible support for our clients. If you have any questions or would like to learn more about our services, please don't hesitate to reach out.

You can reach us and stay updated on our latest news and events through our social media channels:

Facebook: Harmony Hub
Instagram: Harmonyhub.ds

Please share our details to anyone who may benefit from our service.

Book your free meet and greet here:

https://calendly.com/tanaye-castles/30min

Kind regards,

Gabby Arragon

Before_and_after_School_adventures_Monday_to_Friday.pdf

EmpowerHER_1_1_.pdf

Fun_fitness_flyer_march_24_1_.pdf

March_Brochure_1_.pdf

meal_prep_monday_flyer_march_24_1_.pdf