Week 6 - Term 4

Dear families,

I am writing to you from our year 6 camp down at Finniss on the Fluerieu Peninsula. The weather is beautiful and the children are having a wonderful time kayaking, raft building and engaging in team building activities. School camps are a brilliant way of our children experiencing life outside of home and the family unit, and we are literally seeing our young people grow in confidence and experience before our eyes! My sincere thanks to Libby Thomas, Mary Louise Stoddart, Andrea Edwards and James Daley for their excellent leadership of the camp experience.

There are now only 3 weeks of the school year left, and they will be busy ones! Our building program is really ramping up now, and children and families will begin to experience more significant disruptions, commencing next week. Families will receive a separate communication from me early next week, outlining plans for the end of the year. While this disruption is inconvenient, I am very excited about what is beginning to happen as it means we are closer to realising our vision for our new building. I ask all families to be careful and vigilant in and around the school in the coming weeks, as the site experiences this general disruption.

As we approach the end of the year, other more ‘normal’ things will begin to happen. Teachers have been very busy preparing end of year reports, which will be sent home early in week 9. In addition to that, we have been finalising our class groupings for 2023. The children will gather together in their 2023 class groups, on Monday December 12. This can be both and exciting and stressful experience for children, however transitioning between year levels and teachers each year is an important part of growing up and developing new skills and resilience. It should be embraced as an exciting time!

Our wonderful and creative Arts teacher Olivia Bozzon has been working hard to bring together our end of year concert, which is to be held on the oval next Friday December 2. A note has already been sent home with all of the evening’s details-you might like to locate it in your szapp feed to remind you of times and expectations. Of significant importance will be your supervision of your children-teacher will only be responsible for supervising them while their performance is on. Before and after that, their supervision is your responsibility. With parts of the school now set aside as a building site, your active supervision of them is very important.

Last week, we celebrated the ‘Graduation’ of our transition groups, and their final visit is on Friday 25^th November. Our reception team, under the expert guidance of Leonie Fitzgerald has done an amazing job of delivering this program, and I am very grateful for their wisdom and professionalism. Next year, we will begin with 4 reception classes, which is an exciting development for our school!

Dear Families

Last Sunday we celebrated the feast of Christ the King.  The feast of Christ the King is always celebrated on the last Sunday of the liturgical year which means this Sunday will be the 1st Sunday of Advent.  The Advent season is full of joy as it looks forward to the coming of the Lord.  The word ‘Advent’ itself means ‘coming’.

This week I joined the year 4 classes for Religion where their work this term has been centred around the meaning of ‘Common Good’.  Through this theme, the students explored how scripture shows us that God values relationships and community. Yesterday, the students discussed and identified the ways that they and others reflect the ‘face of God’ in friendship and actions by reaching out to others in a variety of ways.

The responses from the year 4 students demonstrated their understanding of the importance of treating each other with kindness, dignity and respect and that they themselves can be the face of God each day. The candle for the first week of Advent is traditionally a candle of Hope.

In listening to the voices of the year 4 students, in their own way they are each a candle of hope who light the way for others.

This Sunday is the First Sunday of Advent.  Advent is a time of preparation for the coming of Christ and the beginning of the liturgical year in the Catholic Church.

“Each year, Advent inspires us to continually welcome Jesus into our lives, so that the Gospel, through the witness of our words and actions, reaches into our world with the Light of Life.

Specifically, we are committed to be communities:

• Who are consciously ‘schools of discipleship’ which form people deeply in prayer, love of scripture, and an appreciation of their charisms.
• Who celebrate the Eucharist in the best and most worthy ways for each of our particular communities.
• Where the Word is heard profoundly, proclaimed most effectively, and faithfully lived.
• Of compassionate welcome, especially for those who may feel tentative or unworthy, and in fact unwelcome.
• Who reach out, as Jesus did, to those most in need, in our communities, our neighbourhoods and world.
• Who reverence, and care for, God’s good creation.
• Who form, encourage and coordinate the variety of gifts and charisms the Spirit gives to each in most effective ways.
• Who support and preserve the life of every viable community of disciples, even if they are small.”

(Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide)

Christmas Hampers

Christmas is fast approaching and this year we will be coordinating Christmas hampers for the St Vincent de Paul Society.

Communication will be sent home regarding donations for our annual Christmas Hampers.  Outlined in the letter, will be examples of donations for non-perishable food items, Gifts for adult females, adult males, kids, 10-16 year old girls and 10-16 year old boys etc would be very much appreciated.