“I have baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Mark 1: 8

(from the Gospel for the second Sunday of Advent, Year B)

Dear parents and carers

Our church has now entered the liturgical season of Advent. Advent marks the beginning of a new liturgical year. Advent is a time of waiting and anticipation of the great events of Christmas. The change of liturgical year is symbolic for this time when we contemplate the coming of newness and birth. The mystery and wonder of the Christmas story is that God is incarnated as fully human and fully divine in the person of Jesus. Belief in the incarnation is at the very heart of our faith as Christians. The Incarnation in the birth of Jesus was an act of utterly gratuitous love and is offered unconditionally to all humankind. As Christians we need merely to accept this great mystery into our hearts, minds and actions. During this season of Advent, we are invited to contemplate and anticipate the impending birth of Jesus and what that Holy Spirit means for our hearts, our lives, our relationships and our community.

YEAR 5 LEADERSHIP CAMP at TALLONG has been postponed until Thursday 10 December and Friday 11 December

Today our Year 5 class were to attend their leadership camp at Tallong. Unfortunately, Tallong was impacted by the brief but fierce storm on Tuesday evening.  The camp was still without power at the time of writing. A significant number of trees were blown over during the storm and needed clearing. Safety inspections of the trees and facilities are being undertaken before visitors will be allowed back on site. 

Year 5 will now attend Camp next week on Thursday 10 December and Friday 11 December. This means Year 5 will be at camp for two of three days Year 6 will be there. The outcomes of the Year 5 and Year 6 camp programs remain unchanged. The two classes will work separately on their programs. 

Year 5 will be working on leadership, collaboration and teamwork. Year 6 are reflecting on and celebrating their learning and the achievements of their primary education.

The accommodation also remains unchanged with Year 5 boys and girls being accommodated separately from each other and from Year 6. There is plenty of space at Tallong to make this possible.

We will be departing for Tallong at 9am on Wednesday for Year 6 and at 9am on Thursday for Year 5. Both classes depart from Tallong at 1:30pm on Friday and will be back at school in time for the normal afternoon dismissal procedures.

STUDENT LEADERSHIP ELECTIONS Monday 7 December

Our annual student elections will be held on Monday 7 December. Due to COVID-19 restrictions we will conduct the student leadership speeches via ZOOM at 10am on Monday. We will be electing two (2) school captains and three (3) colour house captains. I have attached a link to the student election procedure for your information. The student elections will be held immediately after the speeches. The elected candidates will be commissioned at the end of year assembly and Mass on Tuesday 8 December. 

SEMESTER 2 REPORTS

On Friday 11 December, you will receive your child’s Semester 2 Report. These reports are closer to our “normal” report format than the COVID-19 adjusted Semester 1 reports. There are still some variations. Your child will receive an overall A to E grade only in Religious Education, English and Mathematics. The other Key Learning Areas will be reported against what has been taught and will not have an overall grade assigned. We want to be confident in what we report as evidenced by the learning demonstrated by the children in the assessments administered by the teachers. The reports will be shared via COMPASS by 4pm on Friday 11 December.

TRANSITION TO 2021 GRADES

Our goal is to have the annual transition to the new class in the new year as smooth and seamless as possible for every child. We have begun to transition children to their new teachers with visits and lots of little jobs. We will have a grade promotion afternoon on Monday 14 December with children spending the afternoon with their new teacher. The purpose of this work is to have the children get to know their new teacher and to feel comfortable in moving into their new class in 2021. 

END OF YEAR ASSEMBLY AND MASS Tuesday 8 December

We will be conducting a COVID safe, modified end of year assembly and Mass on Tuesday 8 December. Regrettably, we are still unable to have parents and community members at these events. We will video the assembly which will, of course, include the announcement of student leaders for 2021. Kindergarten will offer their thanks and farewell gift to their Year 6 big buddies. Whilst these arrangements are not what we would ideally like to do, the fact we can be together as a school group and be able to celebrate with our parish priest is something to be grateful for.

YEAR 6 FAREWELL MASS Monday 14 December at 6pm

We will celebrate our Year 6 Farewell Mass in our school hall with Year 6 on the evening of 14 December at 6pm. Unfortunately, we will need to restrict visitor numbers to just two guests per Year 6 child. The guests are the families choice e.g. mum and dad; mum and sibling; dad and sibling etc. Again, this is not what we would ideally like to offer. It is all we can do at this time.

TUESDAY 15 DECEMBER LAST DAY FOR CHILDREN

The 2020 school year concludes for children at the end of the school day on Tuesday 15 December. We will conduct a modified “guard of honour” for Year 6 at the end of the day. We will video this event and post it to facebook given we are still not permitted to have parents and community members on site to witness it firsthand. 

CHECK THE CEDoW COVID-19 WEBSITE FOR UPDATES

Stay up to date with the latest information regarding COVID-19 and its implications for our school by visiting Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong (CEDoW) COVID-19 Information centre available here. This site has been created and regularly updated with COVID-19 specific advice for all our school diocesan communities. 

Thank you everyone for your ongoing understanding, patience and support as we move through time this together. As difficult and often inconvenient as it is, this is how we do our bit in keeping everyone safe and continuing to manage the pandemic. 

DAYS AND DATES FOR TERM 4

I would particularly draw your attention to the Week 10 arrangements with Tuesday 15 December being the last day of the year for the children. Staff will continue to work on site until Thursday 17 December.

 TERM DATES for 2021

Sacramental Program

A number of ceremonies were held this week in the Church as part of the sacramental program. Many of our students in Year 6 and Year 3 made their First Holy Communion or Confirmation. A huge congratulations to these students! Please continue to pray for these students and their families as they continue to nourish and deepen their relationship with God.

Thank you

Catherine du Bois

Religious Education Coordinator

Self awareness is the ability to understand one’s own emotions, thoughts and values and how they influence behaviour across contexts. Being self aware is the first step in developing our social and emotional skills which assist us in managing what life presents from day to day. It includes the capacity to recognise one's own strengths and limitations with a well rounded sense of confidence and purpose. Self aware people are able to:

• integrate personal and social identities, 
• identify personal, cultural and linguistic assets, 
• identify one’s own emotions, 
• demonstrate honesty and integrity, 
• link feelings values and thoughts, 
• examine prejudices and biases, 
• experience self efficacy, 
• have a growth mindset,
• develop interests with a sense of purpose.

Social and emotional learning is a key focus in the new Physical Development, Health and Physical Exercise (PDHPE) syllabus. This year teachers have been introducing the new syllabus and incorporating social and emotional learning into their lessons. Next year we will increase the focus on social emotional learning and teaching the first step in developing these skills which is learning to be self aware.

If you would like to read more about social and emotional learning click on this link which will take you to the Casel website.

https://casel.org/sel-framework/

This link will also be added to the Parent portal where you will also find a range of links under the wellbeing tab to a variety of websites that have a wealth of information on social and emotional learning and supporting young people in their development of these skills.

https://sites.google.com/dow.catholic.edu.au/st-pauls-moss-vale/wellbeing