1 March 2019

Newsletter Articles

Important dates

Friday 8th March – Swimming Carnival
Thursday 14th to Friday 15th March – Clontarf Year 8/9 Camp
Friday 15th March – School Development Day – no school for students
5.00pm Thursday 21st March – School Council
Friday 22nd March – Battle of the School Bands
Thursday 11th April – Youth Health and Wellbeing Expo
Friday 12th April – last day of Term 1
Tuesday 23rd April – first day of Term 2

From the Principal

Dear families

Another busy fortnight has brought us to half way through the term. It has been positive to watch all of our new students settle in over the last 5 weeks – almost everyone has settled in to a year of learning and challenge.

We are very excited about our Swimming Carnival next Friday (8th March). This is the culmination of the Swimming and Water Safety program that students have been completing in Health/PE. We will be across at the Town Pool all day with a mixture of traditional competitive events and fun and novelty events. Consent forms were completed for the carnival alongside forms for the Swimming Program – if your young person has not returned their consent form they will not be coming to the pool. Students should wear house colours and need to bring their swimming gear, towel, hat, sunscreen and water bottle. The school canteen will be operating at the pool or students can bring their own food from home. Students will not be able to access the pool canteen.

Congratulations to our recently elected House Captains and Vice-Captains – photos below in the newsletter. They will have a big role at the Swimming Carnival and we are supporting them to discharge their responsibilities. We are currently electing our Student Representative Council members.

We have a staff learning day coming up on Friday 15th March which means there is no school for students. We will be joining with all of the other Middle Schools across the Territory for a conference which will help us learn new approaches and share ideas. We have six people travelling to Darwin for the event and the remainder of the staff will participate online through broadcast sessions. We appreciate you making other arrangements for your young person so we can undertake this important learning.

The National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) will run a little differently this year. The testing period is still in May and will still involve students in Year 7 and 9. The difference is that schools in Alice Springs are going online for the first time. Testing online allows a number of positive improvements – probably the biggest is that the testing will be adaptive. This means the test will get easier or harder depending on how well the student is going. Previously our students working at a higher level would have to trawl through a large number of very easy questions before getting to the questions that really challenge them. Similarly, our students working at a lower level would have a few questions that are at a good level of challenge for them but then a large number of questions that are too hard. Adaptive testing will mean that the question difficulty will change depending on whether the student is getting answers right or not, so we end up with much better information as to exactly where a student is at.

There is a lot of information available about NAPLAN Online and there is a website which allows you to try out NAPLAN questions in the same way our students will experience them.

To start, have a read of this flier:

Then you can head over to the website to try some questions:

As in other years, some students with disability will have adjustments or be exempted from NAPLAN testing. Families can also decide to withdraw their young person from the assessments. Please contact the school if this is relevant to you.

Warm regards
Paul van Holsteyn
Principal

2019 House Captains

Congratulations to our 2019 House Captains and Vice Captains.

School news and updates

Swimming Carnival

We are looking forward to our Swimming Carnival next Friday 8th March. Our students have been preparing for this through their Swimming and Water Safety program in Health and PE.

If you are available you are very welcome to join us!

Year 8 Disco

The year 8 disco was a lot of fun last week. There was plenty of pizza, glow sticks and music! Thank you to students who came along and to the teachers and support staff who helped out on the night.

Battle of the School Bands

The Battle of the School Bands is coming up with CMS delighted to host the Alice Springs heat. Entries Close Monday 11 March, the Alice Springs heat is Friday 22 March and the final is in Darwin on Friday 3 May.

News from Clontarf

The Clontarf Foundation exists to improve the education, discipline, self-esteem, life skills and employment prospects of young Aboriginal men and by doing so equips them to participate meaningfully in society. Since opening its first Academy for 25 boys in 2000 the Foundation has grown to cater for over 6,500 boys in 97 schools across Western Australia, Northern Territory, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. Any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander male enrolled at the school is eligible to participate in the Clontarf Academy.

The Centralian Middle School Clontarf Academy programme was established in 2007, catering for students from Years 7 to 9. The programme engages its members through activities which build leadership, well-being and self-esteem and has seen positive outcomes in many areas including increased attendance.

Academy activities are planned within the focus areas of education, leadership, employment, healthy lifestyles, life skills and football. In order to remain in the programme, participants must continue to work at school and embrace the objectives of the Foundation.

Should any of our families have any questions about the program or would like to arrange a meeting in person with the Director of the Academy, please feel free to contact Tom Clements on 0419 345 619.

With another fun filled week, with lots of laughs and excitement we started off with a massive early morning joint training with our Yirara academy. Our biggest attendance we have had in months with Yirara bringing 22 boys and CMS having 32 which as an academy achieved our goal. The guys were well rewarded with a nice bacon and egg brekkie and the off to the Gillen club for lunch.

Good Guys Sleepover

Thursday we had our Good Guy sleepover for good behaviour and attendance, where our boys were well treated with a nice dinner at Sporties and then off to the cinema. Our boys were respectful and well behaved out in the community. After the cinema we headed back to CMS as the fellas started to wind down for the night, and we enjoyed another movie before falling asleep before a big day at school the following day.

Good Bunch Lunch (GBL) 90 - 100% School Attendance

Over two weeks our academy has broken two records! Reaching 48 boys for GBL in week 3, we had 7 more this week with 55 students reaching 90-100% school attendance in week 4. Way to go boys! What an achievement!

Community Announcements

Sports vouchers

There is a change to how Sport Vouchers are being distributed this year. Schools are not being provided with vouchers for each student. Rather, families have to apply for vouchers online. Go to:

Free Home Energy Audits to Low Income Families

Upcoming Alice Springs Region Sports Trials

Please make note of the time change for the Football (Soccer) trials and a date change for the Australian Football. Be sun safe – bring a hat, sunscreen and water to the trials.

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