“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

Matt 5:44

(from the Gospel for the seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time , Year A)

Dear parents and carers

Swimming Carnival Friday 21 February at Moss Vale Pool

We will be conducting our 2020 swimming carnival tomorrow Friday 21 February at Moss Vale Pool. Our Year 1 to Year 6 children will be participating in the carnival. Kinder are having a water play session at school between 11:30am and 1:30pm. The children are very excited and looking forward to the day.

Please be advised that children who have not returned nomination forms will be able to participate in Novelty events. A running order for the day has been again included with this newsletter for your information.

The swimming carnival is a school day and a school event. We would like the children to stay for the full duration of the carnival. We have organised regular novelty events to minimise children sitting in the stands waiting. Children who have been nominated to be considered as participants in the relays must stay at the carnival in order to be available to compete.  We would love to see all the primary children stay at the pool to support and cheer on their team mates.

We will conduct our swimming carnival Awards assembly on Thursday 27th February commencing at 2:15pm. Age champions and the winning colour house will be announced at that assembly.

Our swimming carnival selects the school swim team to participate in the western region carnival to be held on 3 March at Bradbury. From this event, a western region team will be selected to compete in the diocesan carnival on 9 March at Corrimal.

Parents and community members are of course most welcome to attend and support your child/ren at the swimming carnival. We ask that you remain on the other side of the pool to enable the efficient marshalling and organising of students. The canteen will not be available to our students on the day. Please refrain from purchasing items from the canteen for your child. If you wish to take your child home after their events have concluded, please let the classroom teacher know so the class roll can be adjusted.

We are looking forward to another great community event. The children will enjoy participating as much as I’m sure you will enjoy encouraging and supporting them.

Sacramental Program- Reconciliation enrolment opens this weekend

All sacramental programs are parish lead and school supported in the Diocese of Wollongong. The reconciliation program for baptised children enrolled in Year 3 or older will open this weekend. Enrolment packages can be collected and subsequently returned from any weekend Mass from 22 February until 8 March. Alternatively packages can be collected and returned from the parish office during the week. The parish office hours are 9:30am to 1:30pm Monday, Wednesday Thursday and Friday (closed on Tuesday). The sacrament of reconciliation will be celebrated with the candidates and their families on Friday 3 April.

Shrove Tuesday- MiniVinnies pancakes on Tuesday 25 February

Mini Vinnies are a group of children in the school who work to support social justice initiatives and St Vincent de Paul. Next Tuesday is Shrove Tuesday. Shrove Tuesday is the last day before Lent begins with Ash Wednesday. Traditionally, people used up their stores of flour, sugar and sweet things that they were not going to consume during the Lenten fasting period on Shrove Tuesday. Next Tuesday, our Mini Vinnies will be cooking and selling pancakes at school for $1 per pancake. The money raised will go to our local St Vincent de Paul chapter to support their important work within our local community.

Ash Wednesday Mass at 9:30am 26 February

Next Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the liturgical season of Lent. We will be celebrating Mass with the children at 9:30am. Everyone is welcome to join us. As has been our practice in past years, Father Richard visits the Kindergarten children in their classroom for a little paraliturgy at an age and stage appropriate level for Kindergarten. All the children in the school will receive ashes as is our Catholic tradition.

School Fees via COMPASS and setting up payment installments

Our diocesan system of schools now centrally manages school fees on behalf of all our schools. Your school fee accounts are now distributed electronically from CEDoW via COMPASS. Our diocesan system of schools no longer distributes paper accounts. Your school fees account for 2020 is now available in COMPASS for you to review.

If you had an fee payment by installment arrangement with the school in 2019, this arrangement should still be in place. If you are a new family to the school or you wish to vary your fee arrangements, you can set up installment payments to manage your fees by completing a “Diocesan Request to Pay School Fees by Instalment”. This is available on the school website under the “Fee Information” link on the home page. Once you have completed this form please email it to  instalments@dow.catholic.edu.au . We ask that you do this as a priority. Please be aware that the new diocesan system automatically generates reminder emails. Having the payment plan in place and being adhered to will avoid this happening.

If you require further information regarding fees, all details are available on the school website home page. Please follow the “Fee Information” link to access these documents. 

If you are having difficulty meeting your fees obligations, please make contact with me through the school office. We can discuss options together.

Southern Highlands Independent Primary School (SHIPS)

The three Catholic primary schools in the Southern Highlands will no longer be participating in the annual SHIPS sporting events (swimming, cross country, athletics) effective from the beginning of this year.

This decision was reached after consultation with our diocesan Catholic Education Office. Our Diocesan sport arrangement now  provides for many more sporting opportunities than was the case in previous years. Our Catholic schools are required to support these opportunities to ensure their continued viability. Therefore, our diocesan sporting schedule and participation obligations require precedence. We appreciate the independent schools in the local area allowing us to be involved over the years.

Photograph Permission- thank you for returning them asap

You have recently received the photo permission form for your children. We are required to seek this permission from you annually. The consent form allows for your child’s image to be used in the school newsletter, our school facebook page or by the diocese in their publications (print and digital). Thank you to the many families who have returned this permission form. If you haven’t yet returned the form, we ask that you do so at your earliest convenience.  If you need another form, they are available from the office.

Responsible User Agreements- thank you for returning them asap

Responsible User Agreement sets out the school’s expectation for the use of technology at school. The Responsible User Agreements are signed annually and placed on your child’s file. Thank you everyone who has already signed and returned your child’s Responsible User Agreement. We ask that you return these as a priority if you haven’t already done so.

All children have commenced a digital citizenship program with Mrs Cassidy. This will continue throughout Term 1.  These programs and lessons are developed for each of the stages within the school and are age appropriate. If there are any problems with technology, please let us know.

Gym on Fridays for all classes

We have engaged a specialist sports company, Gymnastrix, to conduct gymnastics lessons with all classes on Fridays. The company provides qualified teachers, who deliver the program and assess the children. They also provide all the necessary equipment. The cost of this program is included as part of your school fees. 

All children will need to wear their sport uniform on Fridays for Term 1. We have booked nine lessons to accommodate the swimming carnival to be held on Fri 21 February. You have not paid for a gym lesson on this day.

Assembly on Thursdays fortnightly

Due to Gym classes on Fridays, we have moved our fortnightly assembly to Thursday afternoons in odd weeks (Wk5, Wk7, Wk9). 

Please note that in Week 11, we will conduct a Holy Week liturgy in place of the assembly.

Interest Groups 

We conduct co-curricular interest groups with children on Thursday afternoons each even week. Interest groups are held on even weeks ( Wk 4, Wk 6, Wk 10). In Week 8, we are conducting the school cross-country on Thursday 19 March and thus will not hold interest groups on that day. 

The children in Year 2 to Year 6 had a choice to participate in drama, audio visual club, environment group, singing and choir, drawing and STEM. Most children were able to be accommodated in their first preference. The small number of children who were placed in their second choice will be given priority in receiving their first preference when we rearrange the interest groups for Semester 2. Our Kinder and Year 1 children are participating in art and craft activities.

Environment Interest Group- gardening gloves required

If your child is part of the Environment Interest group, we ask that you send some gardening gloves to school for your child’s use during the Thursday afternoon interest group. Gardening gloves are available at most supermarkets or variety stores. They are inexpensive but very helpful for the children who will be doing some gardening.

Sacramental Programme

First Reconciliation

Enrolment forms are now available for those who wish to participate in the Reconciliation Programme (students in Year 3 or older). These can be picked up and returned to the Parish office or at any of the weekend Masses.

• Enrolment period: 2nd February – 9th March
• Reconciliation Classes: 15th, 22nd and 29th March
• First Reconciliation: Friday 3rd April

Ash Wednesday

There will be a Whole School Ash Wednesday Mass on the 26^th of February, commencing at 9:30 at St Paul’s Parish. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a time of preparation for Easter. Kindergarten will hold a separate ceremony in their classroom at 11:45. All are welcome to attend the Whole School Mass.

Thank you

Catherine du Bois

Religious Education Coordinator

St Therese's relics will be visiting the Pauline Fathers Monastery on Tuesday 24th March and Wednesday 25th March, 2020.  Local parishes have been invited to be responsible for a section of the visit.  Bowral and Mittagong will organise prayers and readings from 3.00pm - 5.00pm on Wednesday 25th March.  Further details to follow, but please note the date and time in your diary.

SWIMMING CARNIVAL

We will be holding the school Swimming Carnival tomorrow - Friday 21 February 2020. It is a school community event and all students are expected to participate and will be given the opportunity to participate according to their level of capability.

Year 1

Year 1 children will come to the carnival after first break. If your Year 1 child did not nominate to swim in an event, they will join with their classmates in the water play events before returning to school.

Kindergarten

Kindergarten will not be attending the swimming carnival as they will have only been at school for three weeks. Kindergarten will remain at school and participate in water play activities.

Carnival Rules

Parents and community members are welcome to attend and support their child/ren at the swimming carnival. We ask that you remain on the other side of the pool to enable the efficient marshalling and organising of students. The canteen will not be available to our students on the day. Please refrain from purchasing items from the canteen for your child. If you wish to take your child home after their events have concluded, please let the classroom teacher know so the class roll can be adjusted.

We are looking forward to another great community event. The children will enjoy participating as much as I’m sure you will enjoy encouraging and supporting them.

Regards,

Katie Browne

Assistant Principal

We have had an incident of head lice recently in the school. To prevent the spread discourage your children from sharing hats and ensure that long hair is tied back. The only way to combat them is to be vigilant; by regularly checking the hair and treating immediately.

Attached is the NSW Government information from their website along with the recommended treatment plan: