Volume 6 Week 7 Newsletter Date: 8th March 2016 St Mary s News The Educational Ministry of St Fergal s Catholic Parish Social Media The St Mary s Facebook page has been launched. The page offers information for parents on events happening in the school and to showcase teaching and learning activities in our classrooms. If any parents have any questions about the use of Social Media for publicity for the school please do not hesitate to come in and speak to me. Catholic Schools Week Catholic Schools Week is in full swing and a big thank you to all the families who braved the heat to join us today for our picnic and open classrooms. All family and friends are warmly invited to attend our Catholic Schools Week Mass at St Fergal s on Thursday at 10am and our Tabloid Sports on Friday at 12pm (bring your joggers!). P&F News Our Lady of Perpetual Help Patroness of the Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes. Thank you to the parents who attended our first meeting of the year last Wednesday what an impressive roll up! A special thank you to Darren Tapper (President), Tracey Learmonth (Vice-President), Melissa Hill (Secretary) and Tess Blair (Treasurer) for taking on roles in the Executive. Information can be found in the newsletter for the P&F Easter Raffle. Focus Award Winners Well done to Dan Jamieson (Respect for Self and For Others) and Cooper Learmonth (Great Work Habits) who were the recipients of the Week 6 School Focus Awards at last week s assembly. Pupil Free Day Inside this issue: Principal s Message 1 Religious Education News 2 St Fergal s News 3 General News 4 Award Winners 5 Sport 6 Catholic Schools Week 7 All parents are advised that the staff will be engaged in Professional Development on Tuesday April 26 (the first day of Term 2). This will be a Pupil Free Day for students, however the school office will be open as normal. ICAS 2016 Registrations A reminder to parents that the 2016 ICAS registrations are due back to school this Friday. These assessments are not compulsory and open only to students in Yr 3 to Yr 6. If you require another note, please see Mrs Cox. Children s Liturgy this Sunday An open invitation to all children at St Mary s to attend Children s Liturgy this Sunday at St Fergal s church Mass starting at 9am. Children s Liturgy offers our students the opportunity to hear the message of the Gospel and undertake activities to promote understanding for young people. It is hoped we can have Children s Liturgy on the first Sunday of each month from this point forward to coincide with the Parish cuppa. We would love to see many faces there! Mr Nick Baird Principal 436 Moppett St Hay NSW 2711 2711 Ph: 02 69931775 Fax: 02 69933073 admin.hay@wf.catholic.edu.au
Religious Education Catholic Schools Week This week St Mary s School will join with Catholic schools across NSW and the ACT to celebrate Catholic Schools Week (CSW). The theme for CSW 2016 is I Belong. You Belong. We Belong. which aligns with the Church s mission to support refugees and asylum seekers at a time in our world where vast numbers of people are fleeing war and poverty. The theme also ties in with the global Catholic Church celebration of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, which focuses on pardon, strength and love. Pope Francis sees the Year of Mercy as an opportunity for forgiveness and reconciliation, and is calling on all Catholic communities to extend mercy to those in need, particularly refugees. Catholic Schools Week is also about forging and strengthening relationships between everyone who has a stake in our schools students, staff, families, priests, parishioners, and members of the wider community by showcasing our activities and actions. During Catholic Schools Week, we take the opportunity to highlight not only the best of what we do, but also what happens in our schools every day. We will celebrate a whole school mass this Thursday at 10:00am. All family members are warmly invited to join us at St Fergal s Church as we pray together.
Dear parents, students and staff of St Mary s, St Fergal s Parish News How are you all doing in this academic year? I ve been away for my holidays spending Chinese New Year with my family and friends in Malaysia. It was wonderful and good to catch up with them whilst there. Now that I am back I look forward to journeying with you this year as your friend and pastor. So, just as I look forward to either making an occasional visit during class or being part of your educational trips or just simply playing on the grounds with you, my prayer for you is that you may make the best of this year. We in the Parish will soon introduce Children s Liturgy on the first Sunday of each month and we hope that you can join us. Information can be found in the newsletter about Children s Liturgy. So I look forward to seeing you either in school or in the church and may God bless you all! Yours Sincerely, Fr Chris Introduction What is Children s Liturgy? The term Children s Liturgy of the Word refers to the practice of children leaving the Sunday assembly during the Liturgy of the Word and gathering in our Parish Centre to celebrate a separate Liturgy of the Word that is more appropriate to their level of understanding. In this way, it enable them to take a more conscious and active part in liturgical celebrations. How often it is celebrated Our Parish, as we know, is made up of more than just adults. Therefore, it is essential to embody the children too in this community by helping them as well as encouraging them through this means. While it doesn t mean that they will be separated throughout the Mass from us, at Offertory, they are led back by their leaders to join us in the participation in the parish Sunday Mass. In the beginning stages, the Children s liturgy of the Word will be held on every 1 ST Sunday of the month coinciding with our Morning Tea, thus giving greater enhancement of the sense of community in this parish as well as providing our children an experience of God s Word in their own level. What is central? Two key principles in this celebration: Firstly, Children s Liturgy of the Word is liturgy, ritual prayer, and not catechesis (religious instruction) or child minding. Its purpose is not to give the children colouring-in-type activities to keep them busy so the adults can listen to the homily in peace! Because it is a liturgical celebration, all the principles of good liturgy (active participation, clear symbols, etc.) apply. Secondly, it is liturgy of the word, so it is ritual centred on the proclamation and breaking open of the scriptures. The children do what the rest of the community is doing at this point of the Mass. They listen to the scriptures proclaimed and applied to contemporary life and respond in various ways. It is an experience of prayer, of dialogue with God.
STUDENTS TERM DATES = 2016 Term 1 Yrs 1 6: 4/02/2016 Kinder: 8/02/2016 Term 2 26/04/2016 01/07/2016 Term 3 18/07/2016-23/09/2016 Term 4 10/10/2016 16/12/2016 MARCH School Calendar of Events Tuesday 8th Family Picnic Lunch @ School and Diocesan Winter Trials Thursday 10th Catholic Schools Week Mass Friday 11th Tabloid Sports Day Wednesday 16th Collingwood FC visit Thursday 17th St Patrick s Day Mass and Milo Cricket Competition We would like to wish the following people a very happy birthday Joseph Prochilo for 13th March Kyle Mitchell, Michael Tumolero & Daniel Wilson for 15th March LUNCH ORDERS Wed. 09/03 Chicken Parmi w/ Potato Bake $6.50 Thurs. 10/03 Chicken Wrap $4.50 Fri. 11/03 Homemade Sausage roll w/sauce $3.50 Mon. 14/03 1/4 Pounder with Cheese $4.50 Tues. 15/03 Egg & Bacon Roll with BBQ Sauce $5.00 Tuesday 22nd March Diocesan Touch Trials Thursday 24th March Stations of the Cross Easter raffle tickets went home today, they are due back at the office by Tuesday 22nd March VARIOUS EASTER EGG PRIZES WILL BE DRAWN ON THURSDAY 24TH MARCH. If you would like to make a contribution to the prizes we will kindly accept any Easter Egg donation. These donations can be left at the front office.
WEEKLY AWARD WINNERS Congratulations to the following students for being this weeks award winners Kinder: Andre Terblanche Year 1: Hilton Hargreaves Year 2: Charlotte Baird Year 3: Montana Buick Year 4: Emily Hill Year 5: Capri Tumolero Year 6: Alexander Haidy Principal s Award This week our Great Work Habits Award goes to Cooper Learmonth and our Respect for self & others goes to Dan Jamieson Congratulations on your excellent efforts! LUNCH ORDER VOLUNTEERS We are looking for a volunteer to collect the lunch orders on Wednesday and Friday. We are very lucky to be able to access the canteen from the High School for our daily lunch orders but without our volunteers it makes it hard to offer this service. We are very fortunate enough to have volunteers for Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and due to illness we are currently looking for volunteers for Wednesday and Friday. If you can help out on either of those days please contact Sharon at the front office. Many Hands Make Light Work
Congratulations to Bohden & Fergus who have been selected to participate in the Polding AFL trials in Newcastle! Good Luck to Joseph Prochilo who is in Parkes today trialing for the WF soccer team. MILO CRICKET T20 Next Thursday children in Years 3-6 will take part in the Milo Cricket T20 Blast Day at the Hay Oval starting at 9:30am. Notes will be sent home this week about this fun event.