Dear Families,

As our Term 1 holidays come shortly upon us, we have been reflecting about all the wonderful things that have occurred this term.

To start, we have welcomed our new Kindergarten children and their families to our school. They have adapted to “big school” life  so well and have really enjoyed their start to school journey.. Thank you to Mrs Bourke-Nash, Mrs Webb and all the staff who work with Kinder along with the Kinder parents, for supporting this transition.

We have had some great community and fundraising events this term. 

Our Beginning of School Mass saw our Year 6 leaders receive their leadership roles and badges, watched on proudly by their parents. We have celebrated liturgical feast days and special days, such as Shrove Tuesday; Ash Wednesday, our St Joseph Feast Day Mass; St Patrick’s Day (Green Day); Caritas Launch, Holy Week Liturgy and Easter. A big thank you to Mrs Mitchell, our Religious Education Coordinator for preparing these events and to Year 6 for leading us in these liturgies with grace and enthusiasm. Thank you to Mr Pauperiss (Mr P) and the liturgy group, for preparing the music for many of these events. 

Other exciting events that have occurred this term have included, our Swimming Carnival, Cross Country Carnival, Diocesan Representative sporting trials, Dance-a-thon, Year 4 Camp Day, WEN day, Kindergarten Meet and Greet, Parent/Teacher meetings, First Aid Course for Year 5 and Year 6, Year 6 led Hot dog day, P&F Easter Raffle and the P&F Pizza Day yesterday. Thank you to our generous families who support our school through all these charitable and fundraising events. The children have had a very positive and happy start to the year.

Thank you to all our staff, students and parents for enabling this. I truly appreciate your support. 

SPIRITUALITY

Yesterday afternoon, staff from our three Southern Highlands Catholic Primary schools and CEDoW, gathered together for a very special prayer and spirituality session. The theme was Listening To The Heartbeat of God and a focus on the scripture from Jeremiah… The Potter. For our reflection time, we were able to make our own pinch pots. A big thank you to Suz Marden who prepared and led our prayer, to Mrs Mitchell who organised the gathering and to our own wonderful staff who provided hospitality for the combined staff. It truly was a wonderful experience. 

Below is the scripture that you might like to reflect upon……..

“This is the word that came to Jeremiah from God: 

 ‘Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.’ 

So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. 

The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, shaping it as seemed good to him. 

Then the Word of God came to me.”

Jeremiah 18: 1-5

A reflection that was given about this reading was presented to us:

The potter’s wheel and the water are symbolic of the daily challenges and changes that the wheel of life brings our way. Life has a way of softening the brittle parts of our lives! 

The right hand of the potter symbolises the outer pressures of life (the expectations of people, changes, transitions and deadlines.) If these external pressures exert more influence in our lives than God within us, our lives will collapse. 

However, if God within us (symbolised by the left hand) exerts more influence in our lives than these external pressures, then we can be moulded into whatever God wants us to become.

It is important to let God be within us and be open to the influence His love can have upon our lives.  What helps you be open to the presence and shaping of God in your life?

STAFF DEVELOPMENT DAY- MONDAY 29 APRIL

A reminder that MONDAY 29 APRIL is a Staff Development Day. Students will return to school on TUESDAY 30 APRIL. Our staff will be continuing to work with the new Mathematics Curriculum and planning for the next stages of our Annual Improvement Plan in Working Mathematics. 

WINTER UNIFORM

Next term we'll be wearing our winter uniform from Week 1 onwards. Can you please remind your child to keep a jacket in their bag, as many mornings have been very cold and there have been a number of students without jackets, as they have left them at home.

HATS

At the end of each term, we send the student’s hats home to be washed. Can you please check that their name is on the hat ready for Term 2. Sometimes names become hard to read after washing. Please also check that all jackets are labelled as well. We greatly appreciate your help with this

PARENT'S DAY 17 MAY

A reminder that on Friday 17th May, we will be holding a Parent's Day, like we did last year. Parents will be provided a lunch of either a BBQ sausage sandwich or pancakes at 11am, which you can have as a picnic with your child/children. Then there will be classroom visits involving Mathematics (which is our annual improvement goal for this year) and you can also visit Book Fair.

Further details will come next term, however, please add this date to your calendar if you haven't already, as it would be wonderful to see as many parents on this day as possible.

Our P&F are asking for volunteers to help with the food preparation on the day. A form will go out in Week 1 regarding this. If you can help, please contact either Michelle Bennett, Melissa Bartolo or the school office. 

ANZAC DAY MARCH

During the school holidays, we will be participating in the Mittagong ANZAC Day March. Last year we had over 60 students walk with our school and I know there were a lot of other students who were there representing their families or other community organisations. If you are able to march with our school, there will be a news feed message going out prior to the day with all of the details. Unless it is a very warm day predicted, the students will march in their winter school uniform. On our first day of Term 2, Year 6 will lead us in a special ANZAC liturgy at school. It is an important time to remember all those in our families and community who have served our country  over the past as well as the present and we truly honour their dedication and service as well as their support and care of others. We will remember them… Lest we forget

P&F MEETING AND MOTHER’S DAY STALL

Our next P&F meeting will be on Friday 10 May at 1:30pm in the school Library. All welcome to attend. The P&F will be holding a Mother’s Day stall in Week 2 on Wednesday 8 May. 

CONFIRMED CASE WHOOPING COUGH

During this week we have had two confirmed cases of whooping cough here at school.

Please keep your child home if they're experiencing any signs or symptoms if they are sick coming back to school next term. 

Refer to the fact sheet below:

https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/whoopingcough

PRINCIPAL LEAVE

I wanted to let you all know that next term from Week 4, I will be on extended sick leave until the end of term. I need to have a further operation on my oesophagus and a stomach hernia. It is not cancerous, however it requires a period of recuperation. The Catholic Education Office is currently sourcing a person to be our Acting Principal whilst I am on leave. I will let you know who is to replace me, as soon as I hear from them. I thank all of you for your ongoing well wishes.  

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

I wish all our families and staff a restful end of Term 1 holiday.

I am looking forward to sharing a fantastic Term Two with you all. 

God bless,
Mrs Katrina West
Principal