Dear Parents, Guardians and Community,

The Jubilee Prayer

Father in heaven,
may the faith you have given us
in your son, Jesus Christ, our brother,
and the flame of charity enkindled
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,
reawaken in us the blessed hope
for the coming of your Kingdom.
May your grace transform us
into tireless cultivators of the
seeds of the Gospel.
May those seeds transform from within
both humanity and the whole cosmos
in the sure expectation
of a new heaven and a new earth,
when, with the powers of Evil vanquished,
your glory will shine eternally.
May the grace of the Jubilee
reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope,
a yearning for the treasures of heaven.
May that same grace spread
the joy and peace of our Redeemer
throughout the earth.
To you our God, eternally blessed,
be glory and praise for ever.
Amen.

What's on this Week.

- Fri Feb 7 Beginning of School Mass 9:15am

- Fri Feb 7 Father Greg's Father's Event at the Presbytery 6pm

Upcoming Events

- Tues Feb 11 Parent Meet and Greet Meetings 1.30pm to 6:30 pm

- Weds Feb 11 Year 2 Meet and Greet 9 to 11

- Weds Feb 12 Swimming Trials

- Weds Feb 19 District Swimming

- Tues Mar 4 Shrove Tuesday

- Weds Mar 5 Ash Wednesday

- Tues Mar 11 School Closure Day

We have had a wonderful start to the school year with new students and families settling in. The teachers are focusing teaching their students school and classroom routines to set high expectations throughout the year. Classes are already working hard at their Literacy and Numeracy. Thank you for your efforts.

Spelling Mastery: After our teacher training on our first day, our classes are now being introduced to our Spelling Mastery Program. Students have completed a  pre-assessment to see what level they are and they have been assigned a workbook. The teacher guides them through the lessons so they can master the skills to get to the next level. Each level has around 125 lessons, so the program will be complete some time in Term 4.

Tutoring During School Hours: We occasionally get asked about tutoring in school hours and whether a students can leave school to attend a tutor. To do this requires a Principal's permission, the same goes for attending a holiday during the school term. We have a very structured and sequential teaching program that requires students to be at school during Literacy and Numeracy and I will not be giving any students permission to attend tutoring during our Literacy and Numeracy time as lessons cannot be retaught to students who regularly miss lessons. Literacy and Numeracy is taught from 9 am until 1 pm and occasionally in the afternoons as well, depending on the classes specialist timetable. Our preference is for no students to attend tutoring during the school day as it is disruptive to a child's learning and the other students in the classroom.

New Furniture: Our new furniture has arrived and has been set up in our 3/4 classrooms. Our students are very excited to have a new desk and chair. The furniture style is also much more suitable for our teaching philosophy. It also means we have the old furniture to dispose of. If any family would like a table, they are currently in our hall until we find a way to dispose of them. If you would would like some you are more than welcome to take some home. We have looked at some of the options of sending the furniture overseas to poorer schools, but I am yet to find a viable option. If anyone else has an idea of where this old furniture can go, I would appreciate any suggestions.

Yellow Uniform Tops: Last Friday I took 3 bags of our old yellow uniform tops to a uniform recycling centre. We recycled 16kg of yellow tops rather than them going into landfill. Thanks you to all who returned their uniforms by the closing dates, we will be taking no more yellow uniforms.

I have been talking to some students about their uniform so that they get into the correct habit of wearing their uniform correctly. The main issue is usually wearing the wrong socks. Black socks and socks with branding are not part of our uniform. We would have around 95% of students in correct uniform which is a great effort. I am sure the other students will organise themselves soon

This Friday is our Beginning of Year Mass at 9:15 where we come together in Faith. A reminder that Father Greg also has an event for the Fathers on Friday night at the Presbytery which is a great chance to build community

Finally. Thank you to the many families who have made a donation of sandpit toys for our school sand pit. The students love it. Our sand pit is very well used.

God Bless

Anthony