Term 3 Week 8 (13/9/2024)
What is On?
Tuesday 17th September– Sydney University Centre For Creativity Visiting
Wednesday 18th September -Little J's Parent Evening
Friday 20th September - Touch Football Gala Day S2 & S3
Monday 23rd September - Public Speaking Finals - Coffs Harbour
Tuesday 24th September - Pyjama Day (see flyer below)
Thursday 26th September - Awards Assembly
Thursday 26th September - Last day of Term 3 for students
Friday 27th September - REMINDER: There is no Little J's on this date.
Friday 27th September - Staff Development Day - Pupil Free Day
Term 4
Monday 14th October - Staff Development Day - Pupil Free Day
Tuesday 15th October - First Day Term 4 for students
Tuesday 29th October - S1 Class Mass in hall, 10:15 – 11am
Tuesday 29th October - Zone Summer Sport Trials- Tennis Coffs Harbour
Wednesday 30th October - Socktober- Crazy Sock Day
Thursday 31st October- Zone Summer Sport Trials- Touch Football- Yamba
Tuesday 5th November - S2 Class Mass in hall, 10:15 -11am
Friday 15th November - AFL Gala Day S2 and S3
Monday 18th November - Safe on Social
Tuesday 19th November -S3 Class Mass, in hall 10:15-11am
Friday 29th November - Little J's Graduation
Tuesday 3rd December -ES1 & S1 Class Mass, in hall 10:15 – 11am
END OF YEAR -
Wednesday 11th December 2024 - End of Year Awards at Yamba Bowling Club
Tuesday 17th December - Year 6 Graduation dinner at Yamba Golf Club
Tuesday 17th December - End or Year Mass
Wednesday 18th December - Last day Term 4
Dear Parents and Carers
Last week a very tired “me” did not write anything for the newsletter after a great 5 days away with Stage 3 on camp at Lake Ainsworth. The children received many compliments on their behaviour and not once did we need to encourage a student to join in an activity. We were on camp with Urunga Primary School, which was really pleasing, as the even numbers from both schools created an easy vibe in events and evening activities. It is more difficult being a small school with a big school as the children do get overwhelmed by very big groups and are not as confident to engage. Thank you Tash, Tracey and Rocco for the laughs, the encouragement and fun while we were away.
I did spend a bit of time saying “ You forget how good this is” because we have been unable to use our booking since 2018.
On Saturday the children in senior school received the Sacrament of Eucharist and it was a joyful celebration. See below for the full report.
This week we held a very successful Public Speaking Finals Day for S2 and S3 students. The thing I love most about this experience is that children take risks to put their ideas and thoughts into a presentation for others to judge and while this is daunting in itself, they remain supportive of one another. I also loved how much our children are improving as writers. The content of the speeches improves every year and if you keep reading, with the children’s permission we have published the Year 3 speeches which were funny, thoughtful and well presented.
Congratulations Dolly, Orson, Slater and Reevan who will compete in Coffs in Week 10.
Today, Ilya and Chase Towner competed at the Polding Athletics Championships in Newcastle. We await official results but mum reported that both children made finals and did really well.
Today we were visited by students from Notre Dame University who are embedded in diocesan schools as part of the “staffing strategy to combat the teacher shortage.” It was very easy to talk about who we are and what we do and the students loved their time with us.
Next Tuesday every class will be supported by casual staff as the Centre For Creativity at Sydney University work with students and staff on a professional learning day. At your enrolment tour you would have heard about this project which has been 11 years in the “work” and the Centre is meeting with Norpa on Wednesday but have offered this PL for the staff as a thank you for our engagement over the extended period. We are a bit excited to welcome back old friends and new who support us to make learning accessible to all children.
Keep an eye on Instagram next week for tennis and touch football carnivals.
What happened to the quiet Term3!
Ann
RE News
Last Saturday evening, our parish celebrated a truly joyous occasion with the First Holy Communion of 11 of our students. We are incredibly proud of each child who received this special sacrament. Fr Roland's heartfelt words during the ceremony were a profound reminder of the grace and significance of this sacred moment. The celebration extended beyond the church as families and the parish community gathered together, sharing in the joy and unity of this blessed event. It was a beautiful celebration of faith, family, and community, and we are grateful to everyone who made it so special. This concludes the Sacraments for this year.
Congratulations to Jack , Violet, Elsie, Miles, Ayva, Vivian, Sunny, Ella, Sienna, Jack and Ashton.
In Week 10, on Tuesday 24th September, we are excited to host our much-anticipated Pyjama Day at school. Students and staff are invited to come dressed in their favourite pyjamas and contribute a gold coin donation to St Vincent de Paul. Your generous contributions will help support their important work with the homeless and those in need within our community. Our School Captain, Lola, along with her fellow captains and school leaders, will be organising this fun event. For more details, please refer to the flyer below.
Renee Howland
Assistant Principal Mission
Pastoral Care News
Public Speaking Competition
Congratulations to all the students who participated in our annual Public Speaking competition on Tuesday! Your dedication and talent shone brightly, and we are especially proud of our four winners; Reevan, Slater, Orson, and Dolly who will represent our school in Coffs Harbour in Week 10. Your hard work is evident and we can't wait to see you showcase your skills on a larger stage. Well done to parents and teachers, who supported our speakers and made the event such a success!
Renee Howland
Coordinator
Maeve-
- Good afternoon. Welcome Teachers, Carers, Students and Miss Dawson. If you know me I love a competition especially speaking and because I’m the youngest in the family, I NEVER stop talking and I mean never stop.
- If I had three wishes they would be… to become a famous tennis player, so I could compete in the Olympics and win a gold medal for Australia. You may be wondering why gold medal? Well! Gold is a girl's best friend! And like I said before I love a competition.
- My second wish would be to visit Japan every snow season and go snowboarding every day. Because I love snowboarding and I get an AMAZING feeling when I’m at the top of the slopes and when I’m shredding down the mountain in a powder of snow I just want to do it to Infinity and beyond.
- My final wish would be to talk to animals imagine you talking to your pet, wouldn’t you want to know what it thinks or what id could say? And if you were at the zoo or you saw any animal you would be able to talk to it, wouldn’t that just be amazing. If you were at McDonalds with your pet frog do you know what it would order…French flies and croke-a-cola.
- And these are my three wishes for today. I better go and practice my tennis so I can make the 2028 Olympics and grab my snowboard ready to shred the snow. Well I guess I have to say sayonara and thank you.
Lola-
Hello, my name is Lola.
I would like to tell you my three wishes…
They would be,
Number 1 I wish that I could fly.
I would fly faster than a plane, as high as the moon and as quiet as a mouse.
Why would I like to fly?
If I could fly then I could fly over traffic jams and not get stuck. I could fly across oceans and to the top of Mount Everest. But the best reason is that I could fly to England so I could see my Granny and Granddad!!!! Without sitting on the plane for 24 HOURS!!!
Wish number Two
To have a time machine. If I had a time machine, I would do two things. Number One GO BACK IN TIME TO SEE THE DINOSAURS I WOULD LIKE TO DO THIS BECAUSE NO PERSON HAS EVER SEEN THE DINOSAURS, ONLY DINOSAUR SKELETONS.
The second thing would be to go back in time by about 5000 years to see the ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. I would like to do this because I want to know how the pyramids were made and what they loo9ked like when they were first built.
With number three I wish that I could own a Pet Shop. If I had a Pet Shop I would look after precious puppies, cuddly kittens, bouncy bunnies, chirpy birds and gigantic guineas pigs. My brother thinks he wants a rhino in my Pet shop I think it would be a disaster. I want to own a pet shop because my family only have catfish and I love animals.
Those are my Three wishes. Thank you Students and teachers.
Cleo-
Good afternoon. I’m Cleo. If you don’t already know, lets tell you a little bit about myself. Wait, not just you, all of you! So, I’m the youngest in my family and that means you talk a lot, are you the youngest in the family. I have a 16 year old brother and his name is Frazer and let me tell you a secret he’s annoying and my dad Tim he’s 44 but kind of 11. He’s born on a leap year. My mum Shannon cooks, cleans, does everything and she is 44 too.
My first wish is to be in the diamond netball team because I love netball. I play every Saturday and sometimes do to the Golf Club to sell raffle ticks with my team. There are several teams of the Breakers, we are the Breakers Dynamites. You might be wondering why do I love netball so much? Well first I love all the positions especially WA, you might be wondering why not shooter? Well it’s best to play in your strongest position and that’s WA for me. I Run down that court like a BLAZING LION RAWRRR.
My second wish for a billion trillion gazillion wishes. You might think why more wishes?
Well it’s just a smart wish.
My third wish is to go to Japan. MY BROTHER WENT TO TOKYO DISNEYLAND AND I AM SO JEALOUS. I know I have been to Disneyland in America, BUT Japan, my dram country and Disneyland, I need to go there!!
OH NO those were my 3 wishes they’re gone, noooooo. Well I think they are pretty good so all I can say Sayonara.
Dolly-
- My name I Dolly and I am the youngest in my family. My siblings are twins, their names are Clarry and Lola. My mum’s name is Belinda and my dad’s name is Joe. I also have a fluffy dog named Teddy bear.
- Today my topic is: If I had three wishes. Which is funny because my mother always says, be careful what you wish for. She’s very old and wise my mother.
- My first wish would be to ha a TWIN because I need someone to tell this joke to: Why do ducks have feathers? To cover their butt quack. And also because I need someone to play with, to talk to, be best friends with, and to have a sibling who is all mine.
- My second wish would be to have more than one dog. I do have a dog, Teddy, but I just love dogs so much, and want as many as I can get! But Daddy has told us that we have to pick…Him or another dog. Let me tell you, it’s a tough decision. (hand on chin).
- My third wish is to become a professional dance. I just love dancing and want heaps of people to watch me, so people know who I am. Because, I am already cute and I have sweet little dimples. (show dimples)
- OH, that was my last wish! NO NO NO! I could and would wish for so much more. I guess I have to say bye, and have a good day.
- Thank you for listening
Molly-
Good Morning, I am presenting to you all my speech about my three wishes so before I start, I want you to know that in the tow minutes this speech take, 4800 trees are cut down so that’s why my first wish is…
To stop deforestation
It hurts the environment and animals that live in forests. Let the forests thrive and the animals survive. It hurts the air and affects humans. Without trees we would not have lovely air to fill our lungs and that could cause serious illness. It’s stepping us backward. I’ve seen so many pictures of tree stumps, and know a lot of its human fault and it hurts even more to see.
On a slightly lighter note my second wish is to own my own jungle full of my favorite animals. I can play with my friends in the treetops and have my own treehouse full of baby animals to care for. I WOULD LOVE THAT EEEE!!! Do you know where to find any lamps I can rub? No? Ok. I can deal with that.
Ok, my third and final wish is for there to be more arts, crafts, and activities like this. I actually enjoyed writing this speech both at school and at home. I enjoyed it was fun and confusing but in the end I learnt a lot and laughed a lot and fell off my chair a couple of times (it hurt a little) but again I had a lot of fun and I hope it will be this exciting in year 5 (probably more exhilarating) Oh you can tell I’m excited – To all students, Staff and Teachers Please help stop deforestation and pollution and help animals. *bow*
Aiden-
If I had three wishes my first wish would be to have a million wishes but there is not enough daylight in the day to tell you all of them. So that’s why TODAY I am going to tell you just three of my million wishes. My first wish would be to have a time machine because I could change all the mistakes that I have made in the past so I could make the world a better place.
I would jump in the machine and go to the year 2021. This was when I was playing on the scooter on our ramp at home and I didn’t listen to my annoying big brother and hurt myself very badly.
My time machine would be the best going from place to place fixing all mistakes. But what would I do onece3 I fixed all the mistakes???
My second wish would be to have infinite amount of money not for ME but so I could help the people struggling in poverty in all kinds of countries like Afghanistan. Where thousands of people have no homes to live in and hardly any food or clean water. I could be happy when they finally had homes and food and clean water. But what would I do next?
My final wish is the one I would want the most and that would be to play in the WORLD CUP. But not only play in the world cup but to WIN the world cup. Imagine it, me as I joined the Socceroos and create history as the first Australian team to win a World Cup and the crowd goes crazy, and I might even get BEST player of the Year.
These three wishes are great, but you know I believe that what we have now is great too. Don’t YOU?
Pyjama Day
Little J's
Just a reminder that this Wednesday we have our Introductory Parent Evening where we begin to build a Community not Commodity for 2025 and beyond.
Stage 3 News
Lake Ainsworth- School Camp
Last week Stage 3 students headed to Lake Ainsworth for our school camp excursion- and what a week it was!!!
Our week was packed full of activities that included rock climbing, archery, canoeing, sailing, kayaking, beach games, swimming, archery tag, damper making and marine studies. Camp is all about stepping out of your comfort zone, taking risks, being with friends and above all to have fun. It was so great to see the students giving all of the activities a go and it was lovely to see the smiles on their faces- especially the teachers during ‘Archery Tag’- the last activity of the camp- we may have called it ‘Teachers Revenge!!.’
A huge thank you goes to Ms Dawson, Ms Aumuller and Rocco Perugini (Dean’s Dad) for being chaperones during our camp.
Science- Lava Lamps
This term in Science we have been focusing on ‘Material World’ which focuses on how the properties of a range of materials (solids, liquids and gases) and the way in which they are combined, determines their use and informs design solutions. This week students investigated the different properties of liquids and gases, by combining mixtures. We made ‘lava lamps’ by combining vegetable oil, water, food colouring and fizzing tablets. Did you know that water is heavier than oil? Did you know that food colouring is the same density as water? The fizzing tablets create Co2 which is lighter than water- creating coloured blobs! This Stage 3 unit introduces students to fundamental concepts of chemistry. Lava Lamps were a fun way to observe different liquids being combined and watching the reaction.
English- Characterisation
In English this term we have started our new unit ‘Characterisation’ and we are reading the text August & Jones. Students will explore the development of characters as depicted through their appearance, words, thoughts and actions. They will explore the models of behaviour presented and explore whether characters draw on stereotypes or archetypes. Students will create imaginative texts, drawing on Pip Harry’s characterisation of August & Jones. We look forward to sharing with you the final products
Vacation Care is on in just 2 weeks.
Bookings open
The program for Vacation Care is available. We are waiting on a bus quote for the Movie Day but everything else is ready to go. Booking forms are available upon request and we can send on via email if you let us know.
Movie Day, Lazer Tag, PjDay, Minute To Win It, Sports Gala Day , Fun Carnival, Pirate Day and Tournament Day have all been planned by Samira, Meghan and the children.
We are very pleased with how the new team have taken on all the challenges of invigorating the program and spaces in OSHC and after one term trading in the new structure, we thank you for your support and feedback.
Birthdays
Slater 14/9, Indie 14/9, Mack 20/9, Magnus 23/9, Billy 28/9, Mrs Commerford 28/9, Miles 30/9, Hayley 30/9