9 August 2019

Newsletter Articles

Important dates

From the Principal

Dear families

We have had a great week this week celebrating NAIDOC Week. On Tuesday we opened the week with a flag raising ceremony where the Uluru Declaration from the Heart was read out and followed this with a Q and A style panel discussion with key indigenous voices in our community. In classes over the week there have been different learning activities connected to the NAIDOC theme of ‘Voice, Treaty, Truth’ and today we had a lunchtime concert and activities to close the week.

While our Cross Country Carnival was not technically a part of our NAIDOC celebrations, the event was a wonderful addition to the event. Yesterday the whole school travelled to the Telegraph Station for the Cross Country Carnival. Students completed a 4km lap of the Bradshaw Track before returning to the Telegraph Station for activities and sports. We don’t have photos yet for this newsletter so keep an eye on our Facebook page.

Last week we held our Learning Conferences. We focussed these conferences on the work samples in the student’s portfolio and the feedback from parents is that this really helped them to gain a clear understanding of where their young person is at and the goals that they are working on across Semester 2. If you were unable to attend our Learning Conferences, we invite you to call the school at any time to make an appointment to discuss your young person’s learning.

Attached to this newsletter you will find our Assessment Schedules for Term 3. These documents outline the topics that students will be studying and the key tasks and due dates relating to these topics. I encourage you to print it out and stick it on your fridge as this will make it easier to discuss the learning with your young person and understand when key moments are across the term.

On Monday 19th August, we are having a student free School Development Day. For the first time, we are combining with Centralian Senior College to attempt to create greater consistency of learning opportunities across the two sites. We appreciate that you need to make alternate arrangements for your young person for this day and thank you for doing so. The learning that we undertake on days like this is always really significant and impossible through any other mode.

We have been having a pattern of bikes being stolen from the school. None of the bikes stolen have been locked in our bike shed – some have been left unlocked outside of the shed and some locked outside of the shed. This week, someone used bolt cutters to steal two bikes. We urge students to lock their bikes in our bike shed. We are extending the time that the shed will be open in the morning to make this easier – we will now lock it at 8.45 (previously 8.25). If your young person comes in late please make sure that they come to the office so that we can open the bike shed for them.

Paul van Holsteyn
Principal

Assessment Schedules

Below are assessment schedules for each year level. Please refer to these to be informed about the key assessment tasks your young person will complete this term in each learning area, including key dates and time.

If you have any questions, please contact your young person’s teacher.

School news and updates

Polly Farmer Follow the Dream update

Over Term 2, Follow the Dream students at CMS have been very busy!! On the 29th May our annual Compact Signing evening at the Mercure was well attended. Students, families and all stakeholders involved Follow the Dream signed their commitment to the program. Our guest speaker for the evening was Alumni Louis Egger. Louis spoke of how the support and experiences as a student on Follow the Dream made his journey through school to university so achievable. Also in attendance were several other former Follow the Dream Alumni (now parents themselves!!) whose younger siblings we see now on the program.

In June we were treated to a Rocket Science Workshop, in conjunction with the Polly Farmer STEM program. Our young rocketeers created and controlled the launch of their very own water propelled rockets to incredible altitudes, and learned much about fair testing during the process.

Over several sessions during the term and working closely with the curator/palaeontologist of Megafauna Central (Museum of Central Australia), students enjoyed a unique hands-on experience to isolate and identify fossils from nearby Alcoota Scientific Reserve. Alcoota is an exceptionally rich fossil site located about 150 km north east of Alice Springs, in the centre of Australia.

Students treated blocks of limestone over 8 weeks and used preservation techniques to isolate and identify the larger fossils. Sieving techniques combined with microscopy were used with the aim of hopefully discovering some new species of animals from the era. The experience was a once in a lifetime opportunity to actively partake in some of the work of a palaeontologist, learn about Megafauna and fossils in general.

Follow the Dream has begun again for term 3. If you are a student keen to improve your grades, please see Virginia in the Follow the Dream room (near the library). Application forms can also be obtained from front office or your year level co-ordinators.

Clontarf Corner

Clontarf had a very successful visit to the Yeperenye shopping centre to volunteer and help out local shoppers last term.

Also a brief update on a few events that have taken place in Clontarf in the past two weeks

Cheyne Miles returns to CMS

At the start of term 3 we were lucky enough to welcome back Cheyne Miles, Cheyne has previously worked at CMS but more recently been mentoring the young men of CSC. It’s great to have him back and we’re already seeing the benefits of his return for the boys in our academy.

Welcome back Cheyne!

Student of the week

A new initiative this term is the introduction of a student of the week award for each year level. The prize is a cinema voucher, this is awarded to the student who has done good work, showed improvement or just really tried in class throughout the week. Last week’s winners were-

Year 7- Tyreece Forbes
Year 8- Lane Ellis
Year 9- Wayne Watts

Congratulations men and keep up the good work.

Morning Trainings

Morning trainings have recommenced with a focus being on Aussie rules football due to the upcoming northern carnival in Katherine in week 9. Attendance has been pretty good so far after the 3 week holiday, and the boys have enjoyed a mixture of fun games and skills sessions. Morning training are an important part of what we do here, as we try to prepare the boys for life after school.

After school activities

Our after school activities and competitions have been well attended, so far we’ve had a table tennis comp, that was played in awesome spirit, and a trip to the driving range to smash some balls.

Tuesday lunch

We’ll be continuing our traditional Tuesday lunch time feed for the boys, any staff are invited to come down to try out something off the BBQ, or, 1 of our delicious slow cooked beef brisket rolls with a secret flavour. Delicious!!

Health checks

As always we continue to take 2 boys a week for a health check-up, another vital thing we do at Clontarf. Each boy receives a deadly choices t-shirt.

COMING UP:

• Henley On Todd Regatta Volunteering
• Year 9 Clontarf camp to Tennant Creek ( Wednesday to Friday - Week 4)
• Year 7 & 8 Sleepover (Wednesday - Week 5)
• Bunning workplace visits for Yr 9’s (Friday Week 5)

Community Announcements

SafeTALK Workshop – Suicide alertness for everyone

SafeTALK would like to announce their next round of SafeTALK sessions. Please find the details below:

Meningococcal Vaccine

The Department of Health has provided the following important information about meningococcal vaccinations for schools to communicate to families:

Meningococcal disease is a rare but very serious bacterial disease. There are 5 main strains that cause meningococcal disease - A, B, C, W and Y. The most common strain currently in the Northern Territory is W.

The best way to protect your child or teenager from getting meningococcal disease is by vaccination. In the Northern Territory children aged 1 – 19 years are eligible to receive a FREE meningococcal ACWY vaccine. The meningococcal ACWY vaccine provides protection against 4 strains of meningococcal disease (ACWY) and is administered as a single dose.

Vaccines are available from your Community Care Centre, Health Clinic and GP practice (GP practice may charge for consultation).

If your child has already received a meningococcal ACWY vaccine (called Nimenrix®, Menveo®, or Menactra®) then they do not need another vaccine.

Meningococcal B is not covered by this vaccine but a course of meningococcal B vaccine is available from your GP with a private prescription.

If you require further information about vaccinations, contact the NT Immunisation Register: 8922 8315.

Sport Vouchers

Each semester students are eligible for a $100 sport voucher to go towards the cost of sport and cultural activities. In previous years, vouchers have been delivered to the school for all students.

This year, families have to apply for their vouchers.

Please use the link below to apply for sport vouchers for your young person.

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