Term 2 Week 8 2023

Hello Friends,

As I write this newsletter piece, there are 15 school days remining of this semester. That’s nearly 100 days of school completed. It has been fantastic to witness the learning journeys that our students have been on and the progress they have made with their studies - from our youngest Reception students to our oldest Yr 6s and everyone in between.

School Tours
I am pleased to report that the school tour we held on 17 June was a great success. The feedback from attendees was excellent. We will be conducting another tour on 4 July at 9:30am and 6:00 pm. If you know of prospective families or families who are new to the area, please feel free to let them know about our school tour and direct them to the RSVP page on the school website.

Book a Tour Today

Catholic Schools Music Festival
Our Year 5 and Year 6 students are currently working with Matt Young to prepare themselves for the Catholic Schools Music Festival. Our Yr 5 and Yr 6 students will make up the 700 or so students who perform as the Catholic Schools Music Festival Choir. The Catholic Schools Music Festival runs from 26-29 September 2023. The choir, under Matt Young’s guidance is sounding fantastic.

Premiers Reading Challenge
I remind parents and families that the Premier’s Reading Challenge for 2023 finishes on the final day of Term 2, - 7 July. Please make sure that all reading records are complete and are returned to school by this day. We look forward to being able to award students who have completed the challenge later this year.

Parent Teacher Interviews cycle in 2024
We are now in the final stages of the parent teacher interviews for Semester 1, 2023. Looking ahead to 2024 for the parent teacher interview and reporting process will look as follows:

Term 1: Parent/Teacher interviews in the second half of Term 1

Term 2: Written reports at the end of term (and semester)

Term 3: Parent/Teacher interviews in the second half of Term 3 (optional for families)

Term 4: Written reports at the end of term (and semester)

Reports for Semester 1 2023
These documents will come out in the final week of this term, addressing the academic progress and learning dispositions of students. As written about in previous newsletters, we are using the CESA version of these reports via SEQTA. A point of difference regarding these reports from previous semesters is that they will come home via hardcopy rather than being emailed to families. Please be on the lookout for these reports in your child’s bag during Wk 10.

The ultimate victory in competition is derived from the inner satisfaction of knowing that you have done your best and that you have gotten the most out of what you had to give.

Howard Cosell

Thanks and blessings

Matt Perry

During the year we celebrate many big liturgical events and seasons. Many of us are aware of the big seasons of Lent, Advent, we celebrate easter and Christmas. If you visit classrooms at this time you will see that the classroom’s have green on their sacred spaces/prayer tables. Each season is denoted by a colour: purple, green, red, white/gold. Using the colours helps the church remember the significance or prayer life we are called to at that time. Our prayer spaces are not tied to these times and you may see the following colour: brown for Mary Mackillop, rainbow for school feast day, blue for a baptism theme etc.

Ordinary time is a little confusing because it does not mean ‘ordinary’ as we know the word today. It comes from the mathematical term-‘ordinal- order’. It is during Ordinary time that the church counts the weeks. This week is the 11th Week in Ordinary Time. Ordinary time is when we learn about, read and discuss the teachings of Jesus. Over the coming week at mass  you will hear parables, psalms, recounts and any number of the stories about Jesus that we know and love.

When visiting a classroom or the front office I encourage you to take a note of the predominate colour as they change though the year and thus learn the ebb  and flow of the seasons of the church.

Community Mass
We will gather as a community for mass on Friday 7th July 9am. The Yr 2s with Fr Michael will acknowledge the beginning of NAIDOC week through their prayers on the day. All members of our community are invited to join us.

Teresa Pascoe
Assistant Principal – Religious Identity and Mission)

PREMIERS READING CHALLENGE
The closing date is coming closer - 7th July (Last day of Term2). All finished forms need to be returned to the classroom - PLEASE do not return to the office as this is not as secure as returning to the classroom storage tub.

We have had a wonderful start to the year in PE with games, carnivals and sports to play. 

In our junior classes we have created open ended games and been rule makers and players. We also worked on developing our large and small ball skills and explored spatial awareness through invasion games.

Our middle and senior students played Lacrosse and Netball with a focus on game play and umpiring, and we enjoyed lots of invasion tag games for the fun of running around. 

We prepared for sports day and developed new events and enjoyed some regular favourites. Our winter terms are going be great for all types of football.

Thanks so much to our wonderful P and F for funding some incredible instruments, purchased through Winston Music for our music programme. We now have a full xylophone orchestra which will provide amazing learning and some lovely music. Thanks P and F!!!