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- National Reconciliation Week beginning Thursday 27th May to Thursday June 3rd 2021
- Catholic Education Week
- Old Gippstown Excursion
- Grade Six Morning Tea
- Open Day 2021
- Cross Country Competition
- New School Leaders
- Eucharist (First Holy Communion)
- Summary of School Advisory Committee Meeting
- End of Term Two
- Reminder to BYO Drink Bottles to school
- School Calendar
National Reconciliation Week beginning Thursday 27th May to Thursday June 3rd 2021
At its heart, reconciliation is about strengthening relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous peoples, for the benefit of all Australians.
Acknowledgement of the Land
As we gather to pray for Reconciliation may we remember that 27 May and 3 June are important dates in Australia’s history. May 27th marks the anniversary of the 1967 referendum when Australians voted to remove clauses in the Australian Constitution that discriminated against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. June 3rd marks the historic 1992 Mabo decision in which the High Court of Australia recognised native title—the recognition that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ rights over their lands did survive British colonisation; and so we acknowledge that we gather today on the land of the First Peoples, and pay our respects to their elders both past and present, for they hold the memories, the culture and the wisdom upon which our nation’s future will be built.
We acknowledge this important week in our school community and pray for continued reconciliation and inclusiveness in our wonderful country.
Dear Families
This week we are celebrating Catholic Education Week. The theme is ‘Faith In the Future’. “That they may have life and have it to the full.” John 10:10. During this week we celebrate all the great things that we do in our schools. On Monday, our Gr 6s went to the Young Leaders Day in Melbourne, together with thousands of other Gr 6 Victorian students. They had an incredible day. Thank you Will and Sabrina for taking the students and looking after them so well.
On Tuesday the F/1/2/3 students went to Old Gippstown for an excursion. They learnt about life in the ‘olden days’ and everyone had a great day.
Yesterday the staff put on a yummy morning tea for our Gr 6s. It was so much fun and the Gr 6s really appreciated the food and the effort that the staff went to.
Tomorrow we were to host our Open Day but due to Lock Down this will need to be postponed. We will advise you of the new date when it has been scheduled.
Stay tuned.
Last Tuesday a number of our students represented our school at the Interschool Cross Country Competition. Summer, Kirah, Tahlia, John and Tia represented us and Robert even left camp at Allambee to participate. I believe they all had a great time and represented us especially well. Thank you!
This week we announced our new student leaders for the next 5 weeks of school. Congratulations Erin Kondo, Micah Hicks and Owen Landmeter. We look forward to your work as student leaders in our school.
Eucharist (First Holy Communion)
One of the most important things we do each year at school is to prepare the students for the Sacraments. Sacraments are special blessings in our faith and aim to help us along our faith journey. In Gr 3 we prepare for and celebrate Reconciliation, in Gr 4 we prepare for and celebrate Eucharist and in Gr 6 we prepare for and celebrate Confirmation. This term a number of people ( Aidan Cathomen, Miranda Upston and Liza Marino) are preparing for their First Holy Communion (the Sacrament of Eucharist). There are a number of preparations:
Second Parent/Child Workshop St Joseph’s Church Warragul: Thurs 27th May 4pm or 7pm
(We ask all families to please arrive 15 mins before this time so we can start promptly at 7pm. If your family has not handed in your preferred Mass time, enrolment form or fee envelope with your payment details, please bring it along to this workshop. Your cooperation
is very much appreciated. For further information please contact Thérèse on 0499 116 428)
Teaching Mass 1: (Liturgy of the Word) Saturday 29th May, 6pm St John’s Church Trafalgar
Teaching Mass 2: (Liturgy of the Eucharist) Saturday 5th June 6pm St John’s Church Trafalgar
Reconciliation will happen at school on Thursday 10th June at 12.30pm
FIRST HOLY COMMUNION MASS will be celebrated on Saturday 12th June 6pm in St John’s Church, Trafalgar. Everyone is welcome to celebrate with us. We especially remember Aidan, Miranda and Liza in our prayers.
Summary of School Advisory Committee Meeting
On Monday May 10th our School Advisory Committee conducted the AGM where we thanked Michael Jacobs for his service on this Committee over the last two years and we welcomed Marja Jamieson as our new member. The 2021 School Advisory Committee includes Imelda Cathomen, Dan Towb, Ashley Treyvaud, Vanessa Donald, Marja Jamieson, Katie Balfour and myself, Trish Mulqueen. The Code of Ethics for the School Advisory Committee members was read and agreed to. The School Advisory Committee approved the inclusion of the green school Tshirt with the yellow panels as another option for families for school uniform. The uniform shop is presently sourcing these and when they become available we will advertise this. Hopefully this will happen in Term 3. The Committee talked about supporting the Church refurbishment project and the Go Fund Me page. The church has started a vigorous fundraising effort to raise $300,000 for much needed repairs. We talked about staffing changes: we welcome Clare Atkinson as our new school counsellor and we have employed Liza Marino and Michele Midgley to teach our tutoring program as a result of remote learning in 2020. We also talked about our school’s participation in the Review process. Our Japanese program is humming along nicely and Trish gave a brief report on the happenings of the P&F group. Child Safety is always on the agenda and we talked about the most preferred option for bus drop off and pick up: we aim for this to happen in the Parish Car Park. There is still some work to be done here to get the necessary approvals. Promotion of the school was talked about as well. This group operates to support the overall running of the school and is also used to gauge parent opinion. I am very grateful to the work of this Committee.
Please be advised that school reports will be available in the last week of term on Monday 21st June. You will be able to access your child’s report through PAM (Parent Access Module). We will not be printing hard copies of the reports. The last day for the term will be Wednesday June 23rd and dismissal will be at 3.30pm. The staff are engaging in two days of professional learning on Thursday 24th and Friday 25th June so the school will not be open for students on these days. Families get to start their holiday a little earlier.