St Gerard S CatHOLIC Primary School

Transcription

1 St Gerard S CatHOLIC Primary School 71 Gladstone Rd, North Dandenong 3175 Ph: NEWSLETTER 15 June 2018 DATES TO REMEMBER Wednesday, 20 June 2018 Ride To School Day Thursday, 21 June Refugee Week Assembly 2:30 pm Friday, 22 June Reports to go home Gala Day 2 Please ensure you notify the school if your child will be absent or late for school. This can be done by phoning, ing or using our Flexibuzz app. Monday, 25 June We will be holding a farewell assembly for Mr O Connell at 2:30 pm. We hope to see you there. REFLECTION St Luke in this Sundays Gospel describes the incident when Mary and Joseph find Jesus in the Temple after he had gone missing for three days. St Luke comments that Jesus returned to Nazareth with Mary and Joseph and lived under their authority. Jesus was about 12 at the time and he stayed at home till he was about 30. The Gospels don t mention how Jesus filled in his time during those 18 years. A common view is that he worked with Joseph in his carpenter s shop learning the trade and then practising it. I wonder whether Mary pleaded with Jesus not to leave home. He had a good job as a carpenter. She may have hoped he would meet the right girl, marry and have a family. Becoming a wandering preacher was an insecure proposition. It became even more apparent when Mary and his other relatives realised who Jesus new friends were. Some of them had been fishermen, one was a former tax collector and another had been a political agitator against Roman rule in Palestine. Not only that, Jesus was heading in a collision course against the Jewish religious authorities. No one could win a dispute against them. His family didn t want to see Jesus excluded from worshipping in the Temple and the synagogue. As well as that, Jesus was so busy with the demands of people that sometimes he and his followers had no time for a meal and a rest. His relatives would of thought he was losing it! Yet as we read through the Gospels, we come to see that Jesus was well aware of the demands of his chosen life style and ministry. He made time each day for prayer to his Father in heaven. He also made sure that now and then he and his disciples would go away on their own, away from the crowd, so that they could reflect on their lives and ministry, and rest. Jesus would say to them, Come away and rest awhile. Ask yourself: What does this mean to me today? How is it relevant to my life? What messages is there for me to hand onto my child?

2 PRINCIPAL Dear Parent, Congratulations to the children that received the Sacrament of Penance for the first time this week. Reconciliation with God and each other is so important. Without it we simply cannot be whole people. We truly must be grateful that we have this sacrament of forgiveness to restore our us to wholeness after times our human frailty sees us fail our self, others and God. Thank you to the parents that attended the community conversations this week. The winter weather was horrible and only a few parents attended, however we had great conversations and many ideas were thrown around. In particular we discussed how we could start a regular parent forum so that authentic two way conversations and decision making can be enhanced. It was also brought up that parents would like a consistent app for classroom communication. Next term you will hear more about this. Please,please use the walk way when entering the car park. This week many parents were leading their children into the car park and ignoring the school rules around car park safety. Please be a good model for your child and give them positive messages about rules and functioning as part of a community that cares for each others safety. Also please see this from the staff s perspective they enjoy chatting and farewelling families at the end of the day, but having to police parents is not only disappointing, but also an uncomfortable conversation that does not build a positive relationship. Again, your cooperation and understanding is crucial for safety and the common good of all in our community. Camp was a great success last week. Many thanks to Mrs Verhoosal for planning it and the staff that worked so very hard for the three days to make it such a wonderful experience for the children. I was really impressed by many of the children, as Camp gave them the opportunity to shine in other ways and show and develop different personal characteristics. Have a safe weekend and stay warm. God Bless, Chris.

3 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION NEWS Please see below for some important dates for this term. First Communion: Year 4 First Communion Parent Information Night: Thursday 26 July 7pm First Communion Reflection Day: Thursday 16 August First Communion: Sunday, 19 August at 2pm (for Year 4) First Communion Assembly: Friday, 24 August at 2:30 Other Important Dates Refugee Week Assembly Thursday 21 June (Lead by Social Justice team) Altar boy training Altar servers train at St Gerard s Church each Thursday from pm. The boys are trained by Frederick Maroun and supervised by Ron Maroun. Farewell Assembly to our Principal, Mr O Connell A special assembly has been planned for Monday 25 th June at 2:30 pm to bid farewell to our much-loved Principal, Mr Chris O Connell who will take up the position as Principal at St Joseph s, Springvale at the beginning of term 3. The assembly is a chance for our school community to thank Mr O Connell for helping to make St Gerard s the wonderful school it is today. All parents are sincerely invited to attend this special event.

4 WELLBEING NEWS Our Next Walk or Ride To School Wednesday, 20th June 2018 Wednesday, 20th June is a Ride to School Day. Students are encouraged to walk or ride to school from home or from a nearby drop off point. If your child doesn t normally walk to school, you could do this together. Students who ride are given a sticker and the class who has the most students riding or walking get to keep our Ride to School trophy in their classroom for that month. Students can ride bikes, skateboards or scooters. They must wear a helmet at all times. Upon arrival at school, students must hop off their bike, scooter or skateboard and lock up their bike or scooter in our bike parking area behind 1/2 BT classroom. A big thankyou to all of the families who participated in the Ride to School day on Wednesday 13 th June. Have a look at our results for the day. Well-done to 1/2F (1st), 5/6VL(2nd) and 5/6O(3 rd )! Don t forget we have another Ride to School day next Wednesday on the 20 th of June! Grade % of students who rode or walked Prep/One C 37% 1/2BT 30% 1/2F 63% 3/4P 26% 3/4L 36% 4/5S 33% 5/6VL 52% 5/6O 50%

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7 WEE K ST GERARD S PRIMARY SCHOOL TERM 2 Parent Calendar as at 18 May 2018 (changes will be advised when & if necessary) Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday 1 16/4 17/4 18/4 19/4 20/4 WELCOME BACK TO TERM 2 Easter Resurrection Paraliturgy 2:30pm Reconciliation Parent/ Child Information Night 7 pm Easter Bonnet Parade Assembly 2:30 & Easter Raffle Draw 2 23/4 24/4 25/4 26/4 27/4 ANZAC DAY School Closure 3 30/4 1/5 2/5 3/5 4/5 SCHOOL CLOSURE CURRICULUM DAY Responsible Pet Ownership Prep/1C, 1/2BT & 1/2F Family Maths Night 4 7/5 8/5 9/5 10/5 11/5 St Johns 1 st Aid Training for Students School Photos Ride to School Day Mother s Day Stall Mothers Day Raffle Assembly 2:30 pm 13/5 MOTHERS DAY 5 14/5 15/5 16/5 17/5 18/5 FAMILY WEEK Family week Breakfast Gala Day 1 NAPLAN NAPLAN NAPLAN 20/5 Pentecost Sunday 6 21/5 22/5 23/5 24/5 25/5 SECOND HAND UNIFORM SALE 8:30 9:30 in school hall Confirmation Reflection Day Our Lady Help of Christians Whole School Mass 9:00 am Sorry Day Assembly Division Cross Country 26/6 National Sorry Day 27/6 Confirmation 3pm 7 28/5 29/5 30/5 31/5 1/6 1 st Confirmation Assembly 8 4/6 5/6 6/6 7/6 8/6 Grade 5/6 Camp Grade 5/6 Camp Grade 5/6 Camp Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus whole 9 11/6 12/6 13/6 14/6 15/6 PUBLIC HOLIDAY Reconciliation Reflection Activity Day Grade 3 First Reconciliation 10:15 am First Reconciliation Assembly 2:30 pm 10 18/6 19/6 20/6 21/6 22/6 REFUGEE WEEK Ride to School World Refugee Day Refugee Week Assembly 2:30 pm Reports to go home Gala Day /6 26/6 27/6 28/6 29/6 3 Way Parent Conversations 3 Way Parent Conversations END OF TERM 2 Normal School Finish 3:30 pm TEACHER REFLECTION TEACHER REFLECTION