St Gabriel s Primary School

Transcription

1 St Gabriel s Primary School Principal: Mrs. Roslyn Joyner principal@stgtraralgon.catholic.edu.au Website: Newsletter 20 Term 4 Week 7 22nd November, 2018 Dear Parents and Carers, Prep transition began today and it was a joy to see so many happy little faces. We have one more transition day on December 3rd then Orientation Day for the whole school on December 11th. It is hard to believe that our current Preps have grown up so much and already been with us a whole year. At present they are enjoying swimming lessons and returning to school very tired! Our final whole school Mass will be held on December 6th at St Michael s Church and everyone is warmly invited to attend. The Annual General Meeting for the School Advisory Board was held on Tuesday evening. We welcome three new members to the Board-Ashley Crawford, Tony Morgan and Rebecca Frankland. Special thanks to our outgoing Board members-deanna Heenan, Paul Owler and Andrew Dibble. I can t thank them enough for the support they have given to the school and to me in my role as Principal, during their time on the School Advisory Board. Best wishes and many thanks from the whole school community. Year six students are getting ready for graduation and excitement is starting to build about the end of the year and of course, Christmas. Let us all stay calm and relaxed as we begin to welcome Advent as a time of preparation for the wonderful Christmas season, remembering the true meaning of the festival and the peace that it can bring. Parents of students who are leaving the school at the end of this year (other than Year 6 students ), are asked to advise the school of this in writing as soon as possible please. Best wishes Roslyn Joyner PRINCIPAL The Spirit of Christmas Gift Collection Each year, at Christmas, we endeavour to do some small community project to help provide for those who do not enjoy the same good fortune as ourselves. Building on successes of previous years, we are doing The Spirit of Christmas Gift Collection once again. Each class has been given a basket which we hope will be filled with gifts donated through your generous means. Gifts can consist of any new items including clothing, toys, books, beach towels, games etc, but please no guns or aerosol cans. These baskets will then be passed along to St Vincent De Paul for distribution to local families in need. A note was sent home with all students last week. Please support our efforts and in doing so help your own children develop a deeper appreciation of the meaning of Christmas. The collection of gifts closes on Thursday 6th December. The gits will be handed over at assembly on Friday 7th December. REFLECTION What could I do today that is an action of love? What could I do today that is an action of compassion? What can I do today that is an action of justice? What can I do today that is an action of mercy? Loving and merciful God, May we wear today the cloak of Christ woven with the threads of love, compassion, mercy and justice. May it become part of the fabric of our lives. Amen.

2 St Michael s Parish Traralgon Vision : Inspired by Jesus Christ, we are a welcoming Catholic community seeking to enrich lives. Come and join us! Mission: To provide opportunities for all to : Grow in holiness Discover and live out a personal and communal call to mission to live as Catholics who effectively transform society SMY@L St. Michael s Latitude ST. MICHAEL S PARISH YOUTH GROUP, TRARALGON FOR ALL YOUNG PEOPLE IN YEAR 5 LOWER SECONDARY (From any school) Coming up at SMY@L FRIDAY 23rd NOVEMBER TRARALGON S AMAZING RACE RALLY!! This will be a night of fun, mystery and competition. Where will the amazing race take you? Permission form needs to be signed on the night, Leaders/parents cars will be used to transport youth Start at St. Michael s Mackillop 6.30pm, Pick up Pax Hill Tennis 9pm. Pizza supper provided YOUTH MASS Saturday 17th Nov 6pm. & Sunday 16th Dec 6pm Mass Schedule AN INVITATION TO OUR SCHOOL MASSES Each week a Mass is celebrated in St. Gabriel s school Chapel which is prepared and attended by two to three classes of children. Sometimes the Mass of the Day is used and sometimes a theme being discussed in the classroom is celebrated. Parents and parishioners are always welcome and encouraged to attend these school Masses and celebrate with the children. It would be wonderful for your children to see that you value and enjoy this aspect of their Catholic education. Masses will be held at 9.30am in the chapel located off the main foyer at St. Gabriel s. Week Grade Masses 29/11 Prep Yellow & Green 6/12 12/12 Whole School Mass Graduation Mass Cost; New toys for TOY RUN Donation Phone Rachel on or Lou for info FINAL NIGHT FOR 2018! ADVENT On Sunday 2nd December, the Church will begin the season of Advent. Preparation for Christmas is an important theme for Advent, but more is involved. Advent gives us a vision of our lives as Christians and shows us the possibilities of life. The vision of life that Advent gives us is twofold; it looks back to the first coming of Christ at Bethlehem, and it looks to the future when Christ will come again. In the interval between these two events we find meaning for our life as a Christian. First we celebrate Christ-become-human. We view his life and experience his presence as a human being in our history. Christ came to show us what life can and should be. He gave us true and valid principles by which we can live true and valid lives. But Jesus knew that the human heart could not live in isolation. He formed the Church around the concept of a people held together by love. In that community we discover unlimited possibilities and meaning. Alone we can do nothing. Together we find real meaning. When Christ left this earth, he did not abandon us. He remains with us in his Spirit, the Church, the sacraments, the Scriptures and each other. He lives in community with us and keeps his vision of life before us. When Christ comes again, his presence will no longer be hidden behind the signs and symbols of the liturgy or the words of the Scriptures. His presence among us will be revealed in all its fullness, a presence that will never end, a presence that will perfect and complete our community. This is the "greater significance" of Advent. The season of Advent brings us the magnificent vision of life and hope for the future given to us by Christ. Advent is our time to become more involved, more caught up in the meaning and the possibilities of life as a Christian community. Thus we are preparing not only for Christmas but also for Christ's Second Coming. Let us pray that over the Advent season we can all explore our spirituality as a means of deepening our faith and bringing to mind the true meaning of Christmas

3 "It was great to see all the nannas and poppys, I didn't know there were so many in our school" remarked one of the prep children on Grandparent's Day. "It was fun and my nonna loved the "Roll a Grandma" game" added another child. "I love having my grandpa here". These thoughts echoed the sentiment of the whole school community on this wonderful occasion. It was heartening to see so many of our grandparents and special people here to celebrate. They came from places all around Victoria, as well as locally. We sang songs, played games and generally had a lovely, lovely time. Morning tea was delicious and the feeling in the room was happy. Thankyou to all those grandparents and special friends who shared some conversation and quality time with us. We look forward to having you back. Our value in focus for these next two weeks is strength. What is strength? Strength is using your willpower and energy in positive ways. You show strength when you genuinely strive to meet the challenges of everyday life. Strength is using your own willpower and focusing on what you know are the right choices. You need to take charge of yourself and the decisions you make. Strength is also about accepting responsibility for your actions. Why practice it? People admire, trust and look favourably upon those who practice strength. Courage gives us strength and helps us to do the things that are right to do. It is difficult for others to count on someone who shows no strength of character or commitment to tasks. How to practice it. You practice strength by sticking to the rules, especially when others may be tempting you to do the wrong thing. Sometimes this can be very challenging. Strength is when you stick to the task, no matter how difficult it may seem.

4 November Friday 23rd Friday 30th December Friday 7th Wednesday 12th Friday 14th Wednesday 19th January TERM 4 DATES Icy Pole Day Prep Swimming concludes Spirit of Christmas Collection Year 6 Graduation Icy Pole Day Term 4 concludes at 3.20pm Wednesday 30th First day of School for Year 1 6 Thursday 31st First day for Prep students BE SUN SMART! As the weather is heating up, we remind families about the importance of hats, sunscreen and shade. Please remember, any students who require sunscreen application at school are asked to pack and apply their own sunscreen due to allergies. SMS STUDENT ATTENDANCE NOTIFICATION Thankyou to families for helping with our smooth transition to the SMS Student Attendance notification procedure. We ask that absences be notified prior to the morning bell so that class rolls can accurately reflect attendance. To submit an absence form, please go to your Skoolbag app and lodge an e-form. St Gabriel s Primary School was proudly represented at the Remembrance Day Service by our school Captains. They are pictured here with Major Jeff Pikes.

5 Congratulations to the following students on achieving a Class Awards in Week 5 & 6 Term 4 WEEK 5 WEEK 6 Prep Blue Lisa Annells-Evans Cooper Zammit Prep Green Quinn Leslie Eve Hanratty Prep Red Charlie Harris Zane Thow Prep Yellow 1 Blue Audrey Heenan Lucas O Dowd 1 Green Ethan White Rosemaria Thomas 1 Red Olivia Thomson Billy Grimes 2 Blue Jakob Scott Isabelle Vitale 2 Green Jaxon Inglis-Paull Harlem Davis 2 Red Dylan Cruikshank Mia Varsaci 3/4 Blue Karla Murdoch Benjamin Frith 3/4 Green Sophie Fazioli Quinn Adams 3/4 Red Savannah McLure Becky Boers 3/4 Orange Alex Smith Jonathan Cullen 3/4 Purple Cooper Boyes Emily Reddick 3/4 Yellow Kyah Mackie Ella Meo 5 Blue Max Crawford Dash Bassi 5 Green Daulton Kanavan Kayla Carman 6 Blue Savannah Lapenta Sienna Doig 6 Green Elodie Thorley Blake Felmingham Congratulations to Dash Bassi from 5 Blue who recently received the Values Award for Congratulations to Karla Vella from Prep Green and Amelia Cattanach from 3/4 Orange on receiving the Aussie of the Month for October As a way of keeping the NED message of: Never give up (focus, persistence) Encourage others (kindness, shared learning) Do your best (diligence, excellence) alive in everything we do and say here at school, we have a weekly raffle. Congratulations Brodie Adams from 3/4 Yellow.

6 We are finally on Facebook! We will use Facebook as another avenue for communication. We have created a Facebook closed group which is a private group only for the parents/guardians of students at our school. The purpose of our Facebook group is to keep you up-to-date with school notices, reminders, events and of course celebrating the wonderful learning that takes place at St. Gabriel s. Please familiarise yourself with our Facebook Code of Conduct policy to ensure that our Facebook group remains a positive space for our school community. To join our Facebook group, please click on the logo above or click here. The Big Chop 5 year old Sienna Amalos, from Prep Green, decided she would like to cut her amazing hair into a short bob (that s 18 inches cut off!) so that she could donate it Her great grandmother passed away last week from Motor Neurone Disease (MND) and, watching how awful it was for her, Sienna s family decided to try and raise money to Cut out MND as well as Sienna donating her hair. Sienna had her hair cut last Saturday morning, but the fund raising will stay open until this Saturday 24th Nov. Melbourne Football Club have also offered to donate a jumper which will be auctioned off to contribute to the funds! Please help by donating anything, no matter how small, to support Sienna in this. The link for donations is below. fbclid=iwar2bcrmkhzvrozvlpjaktcd4oi- _lbxj-okamj_r5nkrgqjthhz3ertl5ww

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9 SCHOOL LUNCHES LUNCH ORDER ON MONDAY AND WEDNESDAY ONLY TO ORDER: PLEASE WRITE CLEARLY ON AN ENVELOPE THE CHILD S NAME AND GRADE AND THE ITEM THEY WISH TO ORDER. CORRECT MONEY ONLY WILL BE ACCEPTED. REMINDER THERE ARE NO CHIPS OR DONUTS ON THE MENU