St Mary's School Newsletter Issue 22: Wednesday 24 July 2013

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1 St Mary's School Newsletter Issue 22: Wednesday 24 July 2013 HAPPY CATHOLIC EDUCATION WEEK Dear Parents/Caregivers Happy Catholic Education Week. What an amazing week of celebrations for our St Mary s Community. The Combined Assumption and St Mary s liturgy with BBQ is a beautiful highlight, as it brings together all of our shared siblings. It is always lovely to watch the families spending such joyous time in prayer and play together. The Michael Mangan Concert was filled with fun, laughter and spiritual singing, with the students raising the roof at the MacKillop Centre. On Tuesday, our amazing Jumpers and Jazz Trees brought creativity and fun to our students and the wider community. Then tomorrow, over 100 students will travel to the Diocesan Netball and Touch Competition. Finally, on Friday, our staff will join with over one thousand Catholic Education employees to listen to Bishop Robert McGuckin, attend spiritual workshops and celebrate with a combined schools Mass. I wish to offer my personal appreciation to our staff, for your tremendous teamwork and effort it took to beautifully organise the training of 5 netball teams and 5 touch teams, completion of our decorated trees, preparing 55 loaves of bread and 1000 sausages and preparation for the liturgy and concert. This staff commitment to students and the community clearly demonstrates Catholic vocation in practical action. It is also most appropriate to publish our PRAYER AND WORSHIP POLICY during Catholic Education Week. Prayer and Worship are rich and valued aspects of our Catholic Christian tradition and faith life at St Mary s School; they are closely linked to the liturgical life of the parish community. They allow a deepening of our relationship with God through an expression of faith and trust which connects us with our spiritual selves and develops oneness with God. This policy gives expression to our Catholic values, inherent in the creation of our school community of faith and life: respect, reverence, praise, inclusivity and thanksgiving. A copy is attached to this week s newsletter. I remain most appreciative to Fr Franco and our dedicated School Board for their commitment to the process and completion of this significant School Policy. SHELL CAMPBELL PRINCIPAL PUPIL FREE DAY WEEK 3 - FRIDAY 26 JULY 2013 BISHOP'S INSERVICE DAY

2 CONGRATULATIONS TO ANNE STANDING Congratulations to Mrs Anne Standing, who has been nominated for a highly prestigious SPIRIT OF CATHOLIC EDUCATION AWARD in Anne is a dedicated staff member and has worked tirelessly in our school community for over 27 years. During this time, Anne has worked in the role of Classroom teacher, Acting Principal and is presently the Assistant Principal for Religious Education (APRE). Her inter-personal relationships with parents, students, parish and wider community is very commendable and she is an endeared staff member and colleague. Anne encourages staff to work as a team with a shared vision. Anne has volunteered so much of her time over the years in working for Parish and has prepared hundreds of children for Sacraments and Masses. She coordinates all sporting events and encourages students to compete in fairness and to use their God given talents to the best of their ability. Her engagement in cultural endeavours, Parish Debutante Ball and musicals is highly valued. Anne truly does Make the Difference Inspired by Jesus. She is Jesus is Action in her day to day words and Actions. Catholic Education Long Service Awards Congratulations to Mrs Monica Hounslow who will receive a special award this week for her 25 years service to Catholic Education: RE NEWS PILGRIMS JOURNEY 2013 A sacred space, a place of reflection is waiting for you. Gift yourself and your family, valuable time for reflection and renewal. Pilgrims Journey 2013, St James Hall, Assumption College. Monday the 29 th of July 3:00pm 7:00pm Year Four Class Mass Year 4 Bourke and Year 4 Lancuba students will celebrate a Class Mass on Wednesday, 31 July commencing at 9.00am at the Church. Parents and families are most welcome to attend. ADMINISTRATION Term Three School Fees School Fee Accounts for Term 3 have been sent out. Due date is 16 August. We have also sent a statement for those who pay their fees by Direct Debit. Could you please check that this account agrees with your personal bank statement. There are still several families who have not paid their Term 2 account. Your payment is important to support everyone s children. If you are having financial difficulty, please make an appointment to see the Principal immediately, as we seek to recover overdue fees.

3 Parent/Teacher Interviews Parent/Teacher Interviews will be held for all classes (with the exception of 3K & 7R) in Week 4, Monday 30 July to Thursday 2 August. Information about these interviews has been sent home. All forms should have been returned so teachers can allocate times and let you know as soon as possible. Catholic Schools Touch Carnival Thursday 25 July Five teams of boys from our school will travel to Toowoomba this Thursday 25 July to compete in the annual Catholic Schools Touch Carnival to be held at Kearney Springs Touch Grounds, Ruthven St. All children must travel to Toowoomba by bus. The bus will be departing from the Upper Campus at 7.00 am and returning at approx pm. All extra information was included in the Touch note. Catholic Schools Netball Carnival Thursday 25 July Once again this year, our school will compete at the annual Catholic Schools Netball Carnival to be held at Nell E. Robinson courts, Ruthven St Toowoomba on Thursday 25 July. Five teams of girls will have been selected. All children must travel to Toowoomba by bus. The bus will depart from the Upper Campus at 7.00 am and return at approx pm. All extra information has been included in the Netball note. Sports Uniform Days Term Three Year 1 Year 2 & Year 3 Year 4 & Year 5 Year 6 & Year 7 Wednesday & Friday Tuesday & Thursday Tuesday & Friday Tuesday & Friday Save in Term 3 with School Banking! Win a CommBank Marquee for your school or an ipad mini for yourself just by depositing to your CommBank School Banking Account. The School with the highest percentage of active students making at least one school banking deposit in term 3 will win a marquee. Every student who completes a minimum of one school banking deposit in term 3 will be in the running to win a cool ipad mini or a Dollarmite Backpack! For you chance to win, students need to simply make one or more School Banking deposits during Term 3. To find out more, talk to your School Banking Co-ordinator or visit your local branch. Things to know before you Can: Competition opens 08/07/13 and closes 27/09/13. Competition is open to all Queensland School Banking Schools. The Promoter is Commonwealth Bank of Australia ABN Full terms and conditions available in Branch. Congratulations Congratulations to the following children who received school awards at last Friday's Assembly: PREP Dominic Kerle, Chantae Hetherington, Nicholas Hughes, Samantha Boal, Amy Cartwright, Wyatt Fretwell YEAR 1 Samuel Scheiwe, Jesse Scanlan, Cameron Martin, Luis Collman YEAR 2 Georgie Malone, Ryan Fischer, Gemma L Huiller, Ryleigh Matthews YEAR 3 Briana Baker, Rachel Anderson, Ginger Aranas, Sinclair Bourke YEAR 4 Lily Wacker, Kateesha Lawler

4 YEAR 5 Ella Murphy, Leila Wilson, Brooklyn Matthews, Dervilla Donohoe, Jack McElhone YEAR 6 Indyannah Kent, Rielly Byrne YEAR 7 Tiffany Vincent, Kate Jordan, Jye Barrett, Callum Black Revised Uniform Policy The Uniform Policy has been updated to include a scarf for the girls winter uniform either bottle green, navy or black. Library News Coming Events: BOOKWEEK: August Start thinking about what book character you are going to be dressed as. Must be a book character. Dress up day Friday August 23. BOOKFAIR: August To be held at the Upper Campus this year. PHOTO COMPETITION FOR BOOKWEEK Take a photo of youself reading your favourite book. The challenge is to distort the photo using a photo editing programme such as RIBBET ( The prize; winner will receive a bookfair voucher. the finished product to: WarwickLib@twb.catholic.edu.au Missing DVD One of our lower library books is missing a DVD. The title of the book is Brainy Baby I think the DVD is coloured blue. If anyone has it at home, could they please return it to the lower library as soon as possible? Readers Challenge St Mary s sent 2 teams to the Warwick High School readers challenge last Thursday evening. Other schools represented included Warwick - East, West & Central, Scots, Yangan and Allora. Allora was crowned champion for the second year in a row. A special guest speaker was Tristan Bancks (author of one of the books in the challenge First Kids in Space Tristan was an actor in Home and Away prior to becoming an author.) Kate Jordan, Holly Kelly, Gillian Morris, Taylah Clarke Darcy Tattam, Tarod Kirstenfeldt, Deveve Sorono, Rebecca Ball

5 MUSICAL NEWS FOR SENIOR PERFORMERS Our 1st full day rehearsal for term 3 was held today in the MacKillop Cerntre and went very well. Children are very excited about their costumes and I can't wait to see them. The following dates are important to note. WEDNESDAY 6 AUGUST: full day rehearsal at the MacKillop Centre from 9.00am until 2.30pm. SUNDAY 25 AUGUST: full day rehearsal at the Town Hall. Children need to come with makeup and costume on to be approved then they can change into ordinary clothes. THIS REHEARSAL IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY FOR THE ALLOCATION OF MICROPHONES AND LIGHTING. WEDNESDAY 28 AUGUST: Town Hall rehearsal from 8.30am until 3.00pm. Children are to be dropped at the rear of the Hall and picked up from there after the rehearsal. No costumes are necessary. THURSDAY 29 AUGUST: children need to be dropped at the Town Hall at 8.30am with their makeup on and carrying their costumes. They will have a rehearsal before the performance for the whole school. They need snacks and lunch as per a normal school day but no tuckshop will be available. Children will need to be picked up from the Town Hall at 3.00pm so they can go home and prepare to be back for the night performance at 6.15pm. They will be ready to be picked up at 8.15am. FRIDAY 30 AUGUST: children to be dropped at the rear of the Town Hall at 6.15pm for the final performance. They will be available for pickup at about 8.15am. Counting down! Erin Hilton. 50 / 50 RAFFLE A book of bright blue tickets was been sent home to all families last week. Tickets cost $10.00 each. More tickets are available from the school office and will also be available at the Trivia Night. Help support our school and perhaps be a very lucky winner too! All tickets must be returned to school by Wednesday 11 September Good luck and thank-you for your kind support of our students. PRIZE POOL UPDATE = $500 50% goes to the Ticket Winner and 50% goes to the School LOST A spray jacket with the name Lockhart in it was lost on Thursday 18 July at the Lower Campus. Please check that your child is wearing the correct jacket. A pair of prescription glasses, in a purple case, were lost at the Upper Campus last term. If found please hand into Year 7 Rutledge.

6 Tuckshop News Tuckshop Roster Thurs 25/7: Kristy Murphy, Trish Roche Fri 26/7: Pupil Free Day Mon 29/7: Kathy Moses Thurs 1/8: Suzanne Collman, Jane Radford, Tanya Roche Fri 2/8: Lara Farrell, Jo Swift, Tamme Ragh TERM THREE DATE CLAIMERS 2013 Weeks 3-6 Thursday 25 July... Catholic Schools Touch & Netball Comp. Friday 26 July... Pupil Free Day (Bishop s Inservice Day) Wednesday 31 July... Class Mass Year 4 (9.00am) Wednesday 31 July... ICAS English Assessment Thursday 01 August... Parish Mass Yr 7 Rutledge (9.00am) Friday 02 August... School Assembly (Yr 1 Doyle) Wednesday 07 August... Class Liturgy Yr 2 Byrne (9.00am) Thursday 08 August... Parish Mass Yr 7 Hamilton (9.00am) Friday 09 August... Assumption College Transition Year 7 Friday 09 August... School Assembly (Yr 1 Shooter) Monday 12 August... St Mary s Family Week Wednesday 14 August... ICAS Mathematics Assessment Thursday 15 August... St Mary s School Feast Day Mass Thursday 15 August... P & F Committee Meeting (7.00pm) Friday 16 August... SD Track & Field Trials CATHOLIC EDUCATION WEEK St Mary s School & Assumption College Liturgy

7 St. Mary's Primary School. PRAYER AND WORSHIP POLICY RATIONALE Prayer and Worship are rich and valued aspects of our Catholic Christian tradition and faith life at St Mary s School; they are closely linked to the liturgical life of the parish community. They allow a deepening of our relationship with God through an expression of faith and trust which connects us with our spiritual selves and develops oneness with God. This policy gives expression to the following values, inherent in the creation of a school community of faith and life: respect, reverence, praise, inclusivity and thanksgiving. POLICY STATEMENT Prayer and Worship have prime place in our Catholic school culture. All children enrolled at St Mary s School will participate in regular liturgies and prayer celebrations, recognising our relationship with God and the development of a sense of belonging to a worshipping community. Celebrations will include Class, Year Level and whole School experiences. Prayer and Worship opportunities should meet the pastoral needs of the students involved. Formal prayers that are part of our Catholic tradition will be taught to the children. CONSEQUENCES Ecumenical sensitivity and inclusive practices will be practised at all times to support all members of St Mary s School community. The APRE is responsible for monitoring liturgies, assemblies, Masses and R.E. Professional Development. The APRE will review all liturgy plans and attend these worship events when possible. The APRE is responsible for the Administration Sacred Space created with symbols, images and objects representing appropriate liturgical seasons and colours, showing a clear sign of the presence of Christ among us. The teacher of the class preparing the liturgy will ensure all planning is prepared and shared with the Priest prior to the celebration. After checking for any special feasts, commemorations or liturgical seasons, teachers should start with the Gospel from the Lectionary for Masses with Children. The class preparing the liturgy will invite parents and community to attend, using the internal communication system of the school, invitations and newsletters. Students not fully initiated into the Sacramental life of the Church will be encouraged to come forward to receive a blessing at the time of communion. Readers are expected to understand the text, believe what they read and have ability to proclaim it well. Those proclaiming the First / Second Reading should be fully initiated into the Sacramental life of the Church Altar servers are to be fully initiated into the Sacramental life of the Church. Prayer opportunities will include multiple expressions (vocal, meditative and contemplative) and forms (petition, intercession, thanksgiving and praise) to meet the needs of participants. Traditional prayers and Mass Responses outlined in the Diocesan Religious Education Program will be formally taught as part of the school Prayer and Worship Scope and Sequence. As Our Lady is our patron Saint, prayers and devotions to Mary, including the Rosary, will be highlighted.

8 LITURGICAL CELEBRATIONS DAILY Staff Prayer Upper Campus Morning Prayer Greeting All classrooms Meal Prayers All classrooms Final Afternoon Prayer All classrooms WEEKLY Tuesday Staff Prayer Staff Meeting Participants Wednesday Class Liturgy Prep Year 2 Wednesday or Year Level Mass Year 3 Year 7 Thursday Parish Mass Year 3 Year 7 Friday School Assembly Prep Year 7 ANNUAL Leadership Mass Whole School Prepared by APRE Beginning of Term Masses Whole School Prepared by APRE Ash Wednesday Liturgy / Mass Whole School Prepared by APRE Holy Week Liturgy Whole School Prepared by Upper Campus Anzac Day Liturgy Whole School Catholic Education Week Mass SMW & ACW CEW Team SMW/ACW Feast of the Assumption Mass Whole School Prepared by SMW/ACW APRE All Saints Day Mass Whole School Nativity Liturgy Whole School Prepared by Lower Campus End of Year Graduation Mass Final School Morning Prepared by Year 7 SACRAMENTAL PREPARATION Children aged 7 years and above will be invited to participate in the Parish sacramental program to prepare for the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Confirmation and First Eucharist. The Parish Sacramental Coordinator and APRE will work closely together to support parish families. PRAYER LIFE IN THE CLASSROOM Opportunities for classroom prayer are to be provided on a daily basis. Initiatives to promote children s prayer are highly commended. There will be a sacred space created in every classroom with symbols, images and colours showing a clear sign of the presence of Christ among us. There is usually a prayer table, Bible, appropriate prayer books, a candle and other Christian artefacts. Children pray together at the beginning and end of each day and at lunchtime. Opportunities for spontaneous prayer and individual reflection exist in both collective worship and in the classroom. There will be opportunities for students to create and facilitate prayer experiences. STAFF SPIRITUALITY OPPORTUNITIES All staff meetings will commence with staff prayer. All staff attend the annual Bishop s Inservice Day to broaden and deepen their understanding of the worship we share. Teachers participate in annual Professional Planning and Development Religious Sessions. All staff will be given the opportunity to attend Diocesan Retreats. PARENTAL SPIRITUALITY OPPORTUNITIES Parents will be invited to participate in the prayer life of the school in classrooms, assembly liturgy and other special liturgies and masses. Families are encouraged to commit to regular family prayer and worship and to follow up prayer classroom activities.

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