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Dear Families
We have had a productive start to Term 3. Last week was National Diabetes Week and the Mini Vinnies team organised a PJ fundraiser day. Asher and Addi came to school dressed in the same oodie as me. We visited the classrooms and talked all about the mathematical concepts that students could see. What is the same? What is different? What do you notice about the size of the oodies? We talked about triplets. We arranged ourselves in ascending order and then rearranged and talked about descending order. Who would have thought there could be so much maths in these oodies. Personally, I just think Asher and Addi were trying to be Mini Me's, but they both assured me that they were not!
New Student Leaders
This term we have elected our new student leaders, congratulations to John Gramlick and Jack Varley. We look forward to your leadership.
Grandparents Prayer
Dear God,
Please bless all Grandparents
Thank you for the life they gave
through our parents and ourselves
For the ways they help us and make us strong
We Give Thanks
For the ways they love us, no matter what
We Rejoice
For the ways they have paved the road that leads us here
We Are Grateful
Let them grow in wisdom and joy in life
Let them find peace and rest from their work
Let them be healed of every sickness and pain
And let them see with their own eyes,
the glory of your Son, Jesus,
in the love of their Children and Grandchildren
Bless them always
until they come to rest in you
We ask this through Christ our Lord
Amen
We explore and celebrate the church's Mission in lots of ways in our school and parish. One important way is that we prepare students for the Sacraments. Sacraments are special blessings, aimed to strengthen us along life's journey. There are seven Sacraments in our Church: Baptism, Reconciliation, Eucharist (First Holy Communion), Confirmation, Marriage, Holy Orders and Anointing. We prepare students for Reconciliation in Gr 3, Eucharist in Gr 4 and Confirmation in Gr 5/6.
Sometimes at these special celebration times, families can show interest in or ask questions about becoming Catholic. Sometimes I hear families say at enrolment time, that they want this faith journey for their children, but that they just haven't got around to it yet. Perhaps now might be the right time...
I'd like to extend a warm invitation to you and your children.
Interested in exploring the Catholic Faith journey? We warmly invite you to join us! We're here to answer any questions you may have and can host an information session if you'd like. The process starts with Baptism and this can be celebrated at any age. If your child is interested then we could arrange a chat with Fr Bernard first and then a session with Gail, our Parish's Baptism coordinator. If you are interested in exploring this option for yourself, please feel especially welcome to chat with myself or Taryn, and then we'll talk with Fr Bernard and we'll work out some faith sessions to support you in exploring this path. These faith sessions are informative and thought provoking and can be arranged at suitable times for you, there are about 6 sessions. For adults, this process usually involves asking a sponsor to join you as a support. Adults are usually welcomed into the church at Easter time. Please know this is a welcoming invitation, certainly not an expectation. There is no doubt in my mind that faith is a gift that enhances and gives life meaning, it is not something forced upon us.
Parents and Friends would like to welcome all families back to school for term three and hope everyone has had a fantastic school holiday break!
Father’s Day
Father’s Day Stall will be held on Thursday the 5th of September. Students will have the opportunity to purchase gifts for their Dad or special person for either $5, $10, $15 or $20. We are also offering Grandpa gifts for either $10 or $15. Families will be able to order via CDF pay soon.
We will be running a Father’s Day Breakfast on Monday the 9th of September from 8:30am. This was a great success last year. Thank you to all the wonderful volunteers who helped cook all the bacon and eggs and to all the Dads who came along to enjoy the morning. We will be looking for volunteers for this year’s Father’s Day Breakfast as the date gets closer.
Last Lunch Orders
Unfortunately we will no longer be offering a weekly lunch order due to consistently low orders. Sorry for any inconvenience this might cause. We will continue to pursue occasional special lunch days.
Thursday 25th July saw the whole school participating in a Stemzone science incursion.
Ash and Kathleen, our 2 teachers from Stemzone gave the students the challenge of designing
and creating a sailboat in 45 minutes, with 15 minutes left for the Regatta!
The students were in teams of 2 and each team raced their sailboat against another team's
sailboat. The two winning teams in each grade then raced against each other to find the
grade's winning sailboat.
The cheering was loud and enthusiastic as was the experimental learning.
Students were encouraged to test and modify their sailboats ready for the eventual
race.
The Stemzone company is running a fabulous science day at Lardner Park for families. There
will be 25 science stations for families to experience and enjoy.
See the flyer in this newsletter with booking details.
2024 School Advisory Committee Members are: Brett Hicks, Scott McCartin, Lauren Baldassa, Taryn Maxwell-Garratt, Fr Bernard Buckley, Kate Westbury, Megan Shiels and Trish Mulqueen. The Committee met on Wed July 24 and Church and Parish connection was discussed and staffing in Gr 3/4 was highlighted. The great work of the P&F was articulated, and the progress of the Masterplan was explained. The idea of before and after school care program was workshopped and the results of the survey discussed.
The group considered the question What can we affirm in our way of ‘being church together’ is working well? Ideas were discussed and people thought we were doing a great job in this space. It’s important to continue to welcome and invite people to our celebrations. Trish spoke about inviting people to learn about our faith.
More recently, the Committee met on Wed September 11.
The Committee workshopped the Father’s Group idea as a follow up to our Father’s Day celebrations. The Committee also talked about After School Care Program which we plan to have operational in term one 2025.
If you would like anything discussed at the School Advisory Committee, please see one of our members.
November
Tues 19 2. Interest Based Learning
Wed 20 Father's Group Parish Centre 5.30 to 6.30pm
Tues 26 3. Interest Based Learning
First Orientation Session for Foundation 2025
Fri 29 Gr 3/4 full day at Mill Valley Camp
December
Mon 2 to Fri 6 SWIMMING program
Tues 3 Second Orientation Session for Foundation 2025
Fri 6 3pm Advent Assembly and sending off Gr 6s
Tues 10 Third Orientation Session for Foundation 2025
Thurs 12 End of Year & Graduation Mass 2.15pm
Gr 6 Graduation
Fri 13 Gr 5 & 6 Fun Day
School Reports go out
Tues 17 Last day of school 1pm dismissal
Wed 18 to Fri 20 Planning days for 2025
2025
January
Tues 28 First day of school for teachers
Wed 29 & Thurs 30 Individual Testing Days
Fri 31 First day of school for all students
February
March
Fri 3 Student Free day (Staff Professional Learning in RE)