Last week was the feast of the Ascension. The Ascension of our Lord took place a long time ago but his parting words are still vibrant to us and must be carried out courageously to be his witnesses in the world of today, like the first Apostles. Hence the feast of the Ascension is not to commemorate a departure, but the celebration of the living and lasting presence of Jesus in the Church.  Jesus told the disciples to “make disciples” of people everywhere.  He introduced them to his mission as he passed on his own authority to his disciples. Pentecost was to be the confirmation of this. They were asked to do what he himself did. Jesus also promises us that like him we all will be raised and ascend to the Father. During the coming week, let us remember that Jesus, who has ascended into Heaven, is here with us, is present in our hearts, in his apostolic Church and in a special way present in the Holy Eucharist. As we live this Ascension of our Lord, let us look forward to experience him in our lives and be his messengers in the world of today.
 
School Visitors This Week
In every five-year cycle schools are required to participate in a cyclic review. This review is designed to affirm, challenge and endorse the effectiveness of the school’s improvement process. It helps us to reflect on work that has been carried out over the last cycle and affirms as well as help to set directions for our plans for the next cycle. Today we welcome visitors from CEO and other schools for this cycle’s review.

The Commonwealth Department of Education and Training is conducting a project to better understand how Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) is collected and reported, and how educational adjustments are provided to students that require extra assistance. A large number of non-government schools across the country are selected to assure the quality and accuracy of the collection. Our school is one of the schools in our Diocese that have been selected to participate in this project this year. PricewaterhouseCoopers has been engaged to undertake the project and will be visiting our school on Thursday and Friday this week.

Have a lovely week everyone,
Kayleen Petzer

Listed below are some important school dates.  The school calendar is updated regularly and can be accessed via the school website and Compass parent portal.

Wednesday is World Environment Day.  This is a United Nations-led event that is celebrated each year on 5th June.  It is a day for everyone around the world to take ownership of their environment and to actively engage in the protection of our earth.

“Beat Air Pollution” is the theme for World Environment Day 2019.  Approximately 7 million people worldwide die prematurely each year from air pollution, with about 4 million of these deaths occurring in Asia-Pacific. 

World Environment Day 2019 will urge governments, industry, communities and individuals to come together to explore renewable energy and green technologies, and improve air quality in cities and regions across the world. 

We are reminded of our call to mission in the care of and for God’s creation. In Laudato Si, Pope Francis calls us to remember that we should not abuse or take for granted that which God has gifted us. Rather, with contemplative action, we are called to care for the earth.

On Wednesday (weather permitting) our school community will gather together for an outside liturgy to celebrate World Environment Day and offer prayers for our stewardship of the earth.

More information can be found on the official website:

Loving God, who created the earth,
all that it contains,
and the universe and cosmos in which it is contained,
enliven, empower and energise us with your Spirit.
As you breathed life into the heavens, breathe into us your Spirit of love,
so that we may breathe out into the world the love of your Spirit.
May we, with you, be breathers of new life for the earth.

Mr Richard Tuckwell, REC

CeDOW Social Media Policy
Last week, 3 staff members and a parent representative from St Michael's, St Thomas Aquinas and St Paul's Moss Vale attended an inservice on the recently launched Catholic Education Office new Social Media Policy. The day was very informative and the policy will be useful in assisting us to navigate the complexities of this area of student and school life.  More details about this policy will follow over the course of the year.

SOCIAL_MEDIA_POLICY_INFORMATION_FOR_PARENTS_2019.pdf

SOCIAL_MEDIA_POLICY_INFORMATION_FOR_PARENTS_2019 _pdf 551.41 KB

P&F PJ Night
Last Friday the P&F hosted a PJ Night at the school. The event was a huge success with many students enjoying a fun night with friends in their pjs. 

Thank you to the P&F for putting on this event. Make sure you look out for the next P&F fundraising event.

Year 3 and 4 Excursion - Friday 7th June
A reminder for Year 3 and 4 parents, parental consent for the excursion is to be provided through the Compass Parent Portal.  Please see attached tip sheet for information. If you have any queries or are having difficulty accessing Compass and require a note to be sent home, please contact the office.

Reminder that if you are using a mobile device, you need to choose 'open in browser' from the menu on the left hand side which will take you to the full web version of Compass.

Please note that no online payment is required.  The cost of the excursion is included in the excursion levy. 

Students need to be at Mittagong train station at 7.50am and should be collected from the station at 5pm.

From now until June 25th 2019, you can collect stickers at Woolworths that go towards Earn & Learn points. For every $10 you spend at Woolworths you will receive a sticker. The more points we earn, the more we can redeem from a choice of over 10,000 educational resources including mathematics and English resources, art & crafts materials and much, much more!

We are grateful for your support. If you have any questions, please ask at school.​

Thank you to everyone who answered our call and offered to help out with the student banking in Term 3. 

THANK YOU everyone for supporting our P&F PJ Night Fundraiser.  Special thank you to Suzanne King and Linda Francis. They did a fantastic job. Also a big thank you to those parents who gave up their time to help supervise.  The sum of $527.50 profit was raised.  Thank you.

This week's canteen specials:-

Cheese burger (meat, cheese and sauce) $4.50
Snack Nacho Cup $1.00

CANTEEN CLOSED MONDAYS/TUESDAYS

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY- SEEKING CANTEEN ASSISTANTS
Fresh Start Canteens is looking for honest, reliable and hardworking ladies to work in the Mittagong and Mossvale primary schools. If you think you would like an opportunity to work in a canteen environment, please send your details to freshstartcanteens@gmail.com. Training will be provided. WWC is essential to working in this environment.

Thank you. Karen John 

Happy birthday to the following students who celebrate a birthday this week:

Willow P, Damon B, Sophia Davis-Welstead, Riley R, Zahary R and Nellie R.