“He took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them, and said, 

“Take; this is my body.”

Mark 14: 22

(from the Gospel for the solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Year B)

Dear Parents and Carers

Our farewell to Fr Richard last week was a fitting tribute to our parish priest who gave so generously of himself to our parish community and, not least of all, to our school. There was a wonderfully positive and grateful spirit at the dinner on Friday evening. The dinner was attended by a cross section of our community from the very young to the, let’s say, more experienced members of the parish. The nearly forty children who came to sing for Fr Richard did an excellent job. They were a highlight of the evening. Thank you to the families who were able to help us give the gift of song to Fr Richard by bringing the children to the event. You can see pictures of the evening on our school facebook page including a video of the children singing. Fr Richard visited the children one last time on Tuesday morning before leaving for Forbes. He will be missed. Please keep Fr Richard in your prayers.

Fr Marek has now taken up the position of Parish Administrator. Fr Marek has visited the school and has been introduced to the children. Fr Marek has worked in the St Paul’s parish in the past and is familiar with “how we do things around here”. Today Kindergarten, Year 5 and Year 6 attended Mass and Year 3 attended Reconciliation with Fr Marek. He was very impressed with the children’s reverent participation. Fr Marek will continue to say Masses for the children each week according to our roster. I know you will take every opportunity to welcome Fr Marek back into our community.  Welcome Fr Marek!

STAFF DEVELOPMENT DAY TOMORROW - no classes to be held FRIDAY 4 JUNE

We will be conducting a staff development day tomorrow (Friday 4 June). This means that there will be NO classes or supervision at school tomorrow. The staff will be working at Hatzer Park for the day and will not be on site. We are concluding a professional development and formation program called “Educating with a Mission Lens” that we have been working through since 2018. 

P & F WORKING BEE- Saturday 5 June between 1pm and 3pm

We will be holding a working bee this  Saturday afternoon. We have chosen a Saturday afternoon for the working bee which ought to be after Saturday morning sport for most people. If you are able to help, your time and energy would be greatly appreciated. Any time you can give will be appreciated. As the saying goes, “many hands make light work”.

We need to do some tidying up and getting ready for spring with our school veggie gardens. We need to weed, top up garden beds with mulch and get the chicken coop ready for the return of the chickens. The children will plant and manage the gardens in spring. 

We need to do some weeding in the garden bed adjacent to the school driveway.

We also have a need to do some repairs on the sandpit. Specifically, some of the logs on the retaining wall need replacing. We also need to install a shade sail. The materials and shade sail will be on hand. We need some skilled people to install them. We will organise to have a fresh sand delivery after the repairs have been completed.

We need to install a fence panel and pool gate between the wash basins and the Veritas Room. We have the fence panel and the pool gate. We need concrete, fixings and skilled people to install it. 

P&F MEETING TUESDAY 8 JUNE at 7pm in SCHOOL HALL

We will hold our next P&F meeting in the school hall next Tuesday evening. Everyone is welcome to attend. Our meeting usually takes around one hour. I promise we will have the heaters on and the hall warm for our winter meeting!

ATHLETICS CARNIVAL FRIDAY 11 JUNE at ST PAUL’S

Next Friday we will conduct our annual athletics carnival on the oval at school. This is the first time we have been able to hold a full athletics carnival since 2019. Last year, we did manage to hold a COVID-safe athletics carnival. Unfortunately, parents were not able to attend that event. This year we are delighted to be able to welcome parents and the community to join us to cheer and encourage the children. We are also able to reinstate our long standing tradition of team marching to the day. Parents are most welcome to join in by marching at the back of your child’s colour house!! 

We have been holding practice and training in the field events with the primary children over the past four weeks. The field events on the day will be the finals.  Heats for the field event were held yesterday with all children participating. The heats concluded the teaching and practice program. This approach is necessary because there is simply not enough time on carnival day to conduct field events in accordance with the selection rules for children to qualify for the school team to compete at the Western Region Athletics carnival on Friday 30 July. Hence, the need for a finals only approach on carnival day. 

We have organised a rotation of tabloid events for children who are not in finals. In this way all children are actively engaged and participating all day as is mandated by the PDHPE syllabus.

Similarly, the Kinder to Year 2 children have been practicing their rotation of events to be held in the hall and cola. Both the primary tabloid events and the Infants rotations will earn points for the team total for the day.

An outline of the running order of the day is attached to this newsletter. Please note a small variation with the 800 metre events starting at 9am before marching. This allows time for the Kinder to Year 2 to get organised before joining us for marching at around 9:30am. We will conduct the award assembly on Thursday 17 June. At this assembly, the children will receive their ribbons, age champions and the winning colour house will be announced.

KINDERGARTEN ENROLMENTS FOR 2022 ARE NOW OPEN

If you have a child who is ready for school in 2022 or you know someone who has, our enrolment period is now open. We have had strong demand for places in recent years for the limited spaces we have available. This year is no exception. Applications can be picked up from the school office or downloaded from the school website. The first round offers of enrolment will be made in writing at the end of Term 2.

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL APPRAISAL - surveys close tomorrow Friday 4 June

Mrs Browne, our wonderful, hardworking Assistant Principal is participating in our system’s appraisal and contract renewal process later this term. All school leaders in our system engage in this process every four years. The objective of this process is to affirm the great work Mrs Browne does in our community and to help her set goals for her professional growth into the future. You will have received an invitation to provide feedback via COMPASS. The link takes you to a brief SurveyMonkey survey where you can offer your feedback.  Please take some time to complete the brief survey which closes tomorrow 4 June. Katie will certainly appreciate your input.

COVID-19 safe reminders

With the recent developments in Melbourne, it is vital that we maintain our vigilance in the management of our response to the pandemic. CEDoW continues to work closely with NSW Health in monitoring COVID-19 and the necessary responses. The most recent advisory to schools was to maintain existing procedures and remain vigilant. 

We have been reminding the children of good hygiene practices (wash your hands; cover your cough/sneeze; wash your hands; stay at home if you are sick). We have maintained our regular, daily regime of hand washing. 

We are “all in this together” and I thank you for your patience, understanding and cooperation in helping to keep everyone safe. 

Please click here for the  current COVID- 19 guidelines for Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Wollongong. 

WINTER UNIFORM

The children look lovely in their winter school uniforms. We will wear the winter uniform throughout Term 2 and Term 3. If children would like to wear a navy beanie, navy gloves or a navy scarf, they are perfectly welcome to do so. We want the children to be warm and comfortable at school during the cold months ahead.

Sport Uniform days for Term 2

Sport uniforms are to be worn on the following days for each class:

Kindergarten - Wednesday and Friday

Year 1 - Wednesday and Friday

Year 2 - Wednesday and Friday

Year 3 - Wednesday and Friday

Year 4 - Wednesday and Friday

Year 5 - Wednesday and Friday

Year 6 - Wednesday and Friday

School Terms for 2021

Typical Developmental Behaviours in School Aged Children

Starting this week Year 5 and 6 will be covering topics on the reproductive system as part of the PDHPE syllabus. This is necessary learning in order for children to have a positive understanding about their bodies. Your child may wish to talk to you about it and will most likely have questions. If you would like some support in knowing how to have these conversations with your child you can access information on the Raising Children's Network site. https://raisingchildren.net.au/school-age/development

There are developmental sexual behaviours that are typical for school aged children. If you would like to know what these are and what to do when your child displays behaviors like this in the wrong places, there are suggestions on how to deal with these situations in sensitive ways on the Raising Children's network.  

An example of a behavior we can sometimes see at school, in our younger students, is the game ‘catch and kiss’. If this happens we talk to the children about respecting others, and that this is not appropriate behaviour at school. We follow up by contacting the parents or carers to let them know so the conversation can be continued at home. We also encourage children to speak up and say they don’t want that to happen to them and tell the teacher or their parents if it does. If your child comes home saying they have been kissed at school, please let their teacher know.

Katie Browne

Assistant Principal.

Farewell and Welcome

This week was Fr Richard’s last week as Parish Priest of St Paul’s Parish. I would like to take this moment to thank him for his guidance, ministry and service to our Parish over the last four and a half years. He will be sorely missed by us all and we wish him all the very best in his endeavours within his new Parish in Moama.

I would also like to welcome Fr Marek Dutkiewicz to St Paul’s Parish.

Catherine du Bois

Religious Education Coordinator

Bulletin_June_06_The_Most_Holy_BODY_and_BLOOD_of_CHRIST_2021_1_.pdf

CANTEEN ONLINE SERVICE ON THURSDAYS 

Our school canteen service operates on Thursdays each week. The service will be an online ordering service only. Please note that there is no canteen counter service at school. 

Orders for the canteen will need to be submitted each Wednesday before Thursday service. Our canteen supplier, Fresh Start Canteens, have moved to an online ordering system called QuickCliq. Your child’s ordered lunch will be delivered to the school in time for first break each Thursday. 

If there is a problem with your child’s order please let our canteen supplier Fresh Start Canteens know. They will be only too happy to assist. If a child misses a lunch order, the school will make sure that your child has something to eat! We don’t want any child being hungry or unhappy!

How this new system works:

1. Set up your QuickCliq account: you will need to set up a free account for your family with QuickCliq in order to place orders and pay. The instructions for how to set up this account are attached to this newsletter.
2. Order and pay for your child’s lunch on Wednesday through QuickCliq. 
3. Lunch will be delivered to your child in time for the first break on Thursday.

Sentral_QuickCliq_Family_Register_flyer_Canteen_1_.pdf