St Mary's Catholic School Boyup Brook

Thank you to all who supported the Sandakan Catering. Your help and contributions made this event a wonderful success for our school.

Looking ahead, our next event is the School Disco – Thursday 25th September. We are seeking volunteers to assist in various roles on the night.

2-3 HELPERS required for disco set up 2.00-3.30pm

2-3 HELPERS required for selling of snacks and glow sticks on the night,

PLEASE NOTE: Mr Patrick Kindly asks that volunteers on the night need to be parents without children in Kindy/PP class (as these students leave the disco 1 hour earlier than yr. 1-6 students).

If you are able to help, please get in touch with Emma or Monique - it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you again for your continued support of our school community.

P&F Committee

I feel both honoured and extremely excited to teach Auslan at St Mary’s. Auslan (AUstralian Sign LAnguage) is the native sign language for Australian signing people and deaf communities. Auslan involves more than just a knowledge of signs, but the development of unique linguistic structures and grammar, in addition to facial expressions and body language.

Over several years of study with two amazing deaf tutors, (Aussie actress/entrepreneur and teacher/author) I have quicky learnt that incorrect orientation of the hands or a slight change in location/movement can result in a totally unintended word being signed!

All lessons from K-6 contain an interactive PowerPoint presentation, an animated story signed in Auslan (StoryBox Hub or Deaf Children Australia) and a craft/games to match the topic. Bingo, eye spy, scavenger hunts, word relays and charades have proved popular.The story of Helen Keller is currently being read to the older students. It is intended that a biography of a Deaf person will be introduced each term.

Students from Kindy to Year 2 have learnt many signs for both farm and Australian animals, with students being able to sign “My favourite animal what?” and to differentiate between two given animal signs. They then built upon the sentence by adding a colour and a number…….” I see seven white cockatoos/pink pigs/brown kangaroos looking at me.”

Colours and numbers were taught across the school with all classes signing “I can sing a rainbow.”  I am quite certain that all individuals will remember the sign for green. (ask your child!) Within one lesson older students were able to sign their age and month of birth and quickly recognised the handshape pattern for numbers 1-30. Students in Year 3-6 also tackled the alphabet in fingerspelling and have been practicing their receptive skills by asking and responding to who/what/where/when questions in addition to simple greetings and pleasantries. It has been heartwarming to see students hop off the bus and sign “Good Morning, how are you?” or “Have a lovely day Mrs Cailes.”   I encourage students to practise signing the alphabet whenever they have 2 minutes to spare.    

For any interested parents, I am more than happy to provide the signs taught each week so that you can sign along with your child.  It is wonderful for the memory whilst providing a small but pertinent glimpse into the deaf culture.

On a side note, I would like to thank our wonderful Educational Assistants for their enthusiasm and support during Auslan lessons.

Mrs Cailes 

This term in music we have been extremely lucky to receive new instruments from Grassroots Music. We now have a wonderful music area set up in the library with new guitars, ukuleles, keyboards and an electric drum kit. Over the last couple of weeks the children have been able to explore all these new instruments. With the year 5/6 students exploring the idea of making a band!

Mrs Nield

In Art over the last few weeks we have been working very hard to get our mosaics finished. They look great and we can't wait to share them with everyone at the Dinninup show.

Last week we welcomed Mrs Twigg as a special art visitor, she is helping us with our Dinninup Show entries and our fabulous fluro art that will be on display at the disco.

Look out for our 'Out of this World' creations.

Mrs Nield

We have explored different units of work in each classroom. 

Kindy/ PrePrimary's have looked at Farm to Family and learnt about plants and animals used for food, material, clothing and shelter. We also talked about our favourite foods and foods from different cultures. 

Year 1/2's have completed the unit 'Test Kitchen' where we looked at the importance of keeping our food safe and how a fridge/esky works to keep out food safe. We made out own esky's and experimented with how long our ice would stay frozen in our designs.

Year ¾ have learnt about 'Food and Fibre Production' and how kitchen equipment is used to prepare different foods. We made our own cottage cheese and watched how the process changed milk into cheese. We also looked at the changes in technology to make production easier.

Year 5/6 have explored 'Living off the Land' and investigated how different materials can be used to create a more sustainable world. Understanding how different soils can be used to grow food and fibres with the least amount of chemical to assit with growth. 

Mrs Nield

It has been a very busy start within sports lessons this term. Students in PP and Year 1/2 have been busy preparing for the athletics carnival next term. There are lots of games to prepare for. They have been practising their vortex throws and flag races, as well as their passball, tunnelball, leaderball, wheel relay, baton relay and flag relay. Last week the Year 3-6 students competed in their cross country. They had been practising for it by running laps of the oval in morning fitness. The track was a little wet, but that didn't deter the students, as they all completed the course. All students in Year 3-6 have been honing their hockey skills this term in preparation for today's Minkey Hockey Carnival at Greenbushes. We were lucky to have Mrs Mead come in last week to teach us some valuable hockey skills. Well done to all students on their efforts in Sport this term.

Mr Tweedie

The focus this term has been on Biological Science.  The Kindy/PP class have completed a unit of work called 'Living Things''. They understand whether something is living or non-living, and looked at what animals need to survive like air, water, food and shelter.  They have also discovered the needs of plants, such as sun, water and rich soil. The Year 1/2 class have become little scientists by completing the unit 'Living Things Change'. Using a variety of famous tales, such as the Ugly Duckling, Peter Pan and Jack and the Beanstalk, as scientists they have busted the myths surrounding the tales using their scientific knowledge. They have also looked at what livings thing exist in our school playground and gardens. The Year 3/4 class have been looking at the unit of work called 'Food Chains'. They have researched a variety of food chains and have created many of their own, which include a paper chain they have made on display in the library. They have developed an array of vocabulary and understand that a food chain has a producer, consumers and can end in a decomposer. The Year 5/6 class have looked at 'Living Things in Their Environments'.  They have researched extreme survivors, such as a tardigrade, and have researched animals that migrate in particular seasons. They have looked at the effect light pollution has on animals, and have discovered that bacteria can grow in almost every location in the house. All of the students enjoyed a variety of experiments they conducted in Week 4 for Science Week. To finish off the busy term of Science, each class will be treated to a Science Alive incursion next Thursday, where the students will engage in a spectacular show of Light and Sound.

Mr Tweedie