Hello Everyone, Catholic Education Week 26 July - 1 August 2015 NEWSLETTER Issue 12 29 July 2015 Catholic Education Week will be celebrated across Queensland from 26 July - 1 August this year. This annual event is held to promote the special ethos of Catholic schools and to highlight the great things that take place in Catholic schools every day. The theme for this year s celebrations is: Engaging Minds. Igniting Hearts. Serving Others. Catholic education strives to make a difference in the lives of those in our schools and in the wider community by challenging young people to live out the message of Jesus and to reach their full potential as compassionate, contributing, life-giving members of society. During Catholic Education Week 2015, Catholic education communities across Queensland are invited to celebrate and share how they are Engaging Minds. Igniting Hearts. Serving Others. There are 299 Catholic schools in Queensland that educate around 147,000 students and employ almost 18,000 teachers and staff, and most will celebrate Catholic Education Week in some way. Our school is planning a number of activities during the week and we hope you are able to join in the celebrations with us. We will celebrate a whole school mass on Thursday at 9am. On Friday Year 3 will lead us in an assembly celebrating the feast day of St Ignatius Layola, in recognition of school s adoption of Ignatian Spirituality. Each class will perform an act of kindness to ensure they appreciate the importance of serving others and making our world a better place. Prep: Display at Rural View Porter s Year 1: Making cards to be sent to the children s ward at the Base Hospital Year 2: Collecting food items for the St Vincent De Paul Winter Warmers Appeal Year 3: Visit the Rural View C&K to read to the students Year 4/5: Visit the Kerrisdale Retirement Village Following Friday s Assembly, we will host two special events. Firstly, we will have a special Catholic Education Week Ceremony where we will present our inaugural St Brendan s Catholic Week Ambassador. Each year we will choose a worthy Ambassador who represents what we value here at St Brendan s. Secondly, please stay on for Coffee & Cake and a catch-up with Suzanne and Sheldon Gakowski. I thank you for your on-going support and look forward to seeing you during Catholic Education Week 2015 events. Parents and Friends During 2015 I have been working with Mrs Carmel Nash who is the Executive Director for the Queensland Parents and Friends Federation to develop a contemporary model for parent involvement within our school. This model allows parents to be involved in an area which interests them and also have a traditional executive for the administration of the group. We will have an information session in coming weeks when the draft constitution is completed. Mr David Paul Principal
ST BRENDAN S CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL PARENT COMMUNITY Organisational Model Community Interest Group Learning Interest Group Service Interest Group Executive Committee 2
17th Sun Year B Sunday 26th July 2015 Jn 6:1-15 Gospel Reflection Reflection is an essential element of our growth in Christ. As we reflect over what we have learnt and ponder it in our hearts, we come to recognise the presence of God in our lives. What do you want? These are the first words that Jesus speaks in the Gospel of John and the ones whom he questioned flounder for an answer. The first sign Jesus performs in this Gospel is the transformation of water into wine, indeed an abundance of fine wine. This sign witnesses to the extraordinary abundance that Jesus wants to give to fulfil our desires an abundance beyond what we could ask or imagine. This pattern will be repeated throughout this Gospel. When Jesus fulfils a desire what he offers is so far beyond the originally perceived need. Indeed, the nature of his miracles, his signs is that they point to something far greater than the miracles themselves. Through them, Jesus tries to redefine our desires, our hopes, our self-definition, indeed our relationship with God. In this Sunday s Gospel, the crowd see the signs and recognise something special in Jesus. They see him as a healer, a nourisher, a prophet and a king but their understanding of these roles is selfserving and limited to their human notions. So Jesus escapes from the crowd not because he rejects them but rather because he wants so much more for them. What Jesus is truly offering is hinted at in that last sentence. Jesus goes up the mountain to be alone, alone with God. Ultimately this is what Jesus is offering us: the power to live nourished by the life and love of God Source: Sr Kym Harris www.prayasyoucan.com Finding God in All Things Catholic Education Week is a unique opportunity for us to stop and celebrate our Catholic schools and colleges. There are 299 Catholic schools in Queensland that educate around 147,000 students and employ almost 18,000 teachers and staff, and most will celebrate Catholic Education Week in some way. Our school is planning a number of activities during the week and we hope you are able to join in the celebrations with us. www.catholiceducationweek.com.au Check out our St Brendan s Prep Display at Porter s Rural View on display till Sunday 2 nd August. Please support our Year 2 Mini Vinnies Winter Warmer Appeal. As their Catholic Education Week act of service, our Year 2 students are collecting canned and dried food items for St Vincent DePaul. You can drop these in to the Year 2 classroom, or at the school office by 3pm on Friday 31 st July. *new* ST BRENDAN S CLASS MASS Thursdays at 9am in the Church from Thursday 6 th August. CALENDAR Catholic Education Week 27-31 July Whole School Mass at St Brendan s For Catholic Education Week and Feast of St Ignatius Loyola 9am 30 July Feast of St Ignatius Loyola 31 July Year 3 Assembly ST JOSEPH S CATHOLIC PARISH OF NORTH MACKAY & NORTHERN BEACHES SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM 2015 / 2016 Preparation for the Sacraments of Reconciliation (First Confession), Confirmation First Eucharist (First Holy Communion) If you missed the Parent Information Night on 28 th July, please contact the Parish Office to register and arrange an interview time. Interviews will take place 17-19 August from 3:30 5:30pm 22/23 August Ritual of Remembering Baptism this will take place during your local parish mass. You will need to hand your registration form in at this mass. For further details, contact Parish Office 4957 4855 Monday to Friday 9:00am 12:00pm. 3 St Brendan s Parish Mass every Sunday at 7:30am
WOOLWORTHS EARN & LEARN A reminder to keep collecting the Woolworths Earn & Learn Stickers we have a collection box here in the Office. Through this program we will be able to get new educational resources for our school/early learning centre and all we need you to do is shop for your groceries at Woolworths. At the end of the promotion, we ll be able to get some great new equipment for our School. We are now accepting Prep enrolments for 2016. If you have a child who will be attending Prep next year or know someone who does, enrolment packs can be collected from the office or emailed. Please contact Mrs Faloon for any enquiries. St Brendan s Pre-Prep expressions of interest are still available at the school office for anyone wanting to book a place for 2016 and beyond. Pre-Prep and Kindy spots are filled in the order expressions of interest or applications are received. Enrolment packs will be sent out to families who have returned an expression of interest for 2016 in the near future. Applications for the position of Pre-Prep teacher will be advertised in the coming weeks. A reminder to parents we have now set up a closed parent group only for parents of enrolled students only to assist with sharing information in a secure way. The settings only allow information on this site to be seen and shared with others within the group. The page has also been renamed Parents of St Brendan s Mackay to avoid confusion. The link for the closed parent group is: https://www.facebook.com/groups/stbrendansmackaynorthernbeaches/ We will be re-establishing our public page to promote our school to the wider community. Your assistance with sharing posts will be greatly appreciated. The link for the public page is: https://www.facebook.com/pages/st-brendans-catholic-primary-school-mackay-northern- Beaches/638968652870460 A NOTE FROM YOUR SCHOOL PHOTOGRAPHER Recently on Photo day we took the following special group photos Swimming * Athletics * U/10 Rugby League * U/12 Rugby League * U/7 & U/9 Hockey These presentations are a group photo presentation with the children standing trogether with their children standing together with their individual portraits below. These special group photo presentations are available for purchase for only #$27 each by collecting a special group envelope from the school office. You have until Friday, 14 th August 2015 to purchase at this price (Orders placed after Friday, 14 th August 2015 will incur a $20 search fee as the images will then be archived.) Your school photo order will be delivered to the school in approximately 28 days. If you have any questions or wish to discuss any aspect of your photo day experience with us, we would love to hear your feedback on 4921 3355 or by email at schoolphotos.cq@msp.com.au. Keep smiling!! 4
There are some delicious Student Specials for Term 3 below that you may be interested in? MEALS $5.00 Curried Sausages, mash Potato & Peas Honey Soy Chicken & Fried Rice Chicken Noodle Soup & Bread Roll Meatlover pizza pocket with BBQ sauce SWEETS $3.00 Chocolate Mousse Cup (Gluten Free) Apple Crumble & Custard Are you are interested in becoming one of our Tuckshop Volunteers? Volunteering is a great way to meet new people and be an important part of your children s school. Leave your details at the Office or alternatively contact Sonya Raisbeck your Tuckshop Convener on0409 848092. Pop in for a coffee and chat anytime you are always WELCOME! Reminder: Following this Friday s Assembly please stay on for Coffee & Cake and a catch-up with Suzanne and Sheldon to celebrate Sheldon s Birthday Month. 5
STUDENTS OF THE WEEK 2015 Week 1 Term 3 LEVEL REASON NAME For the care you take when doing your work and for being such a kind Mia Burdon considerate member of our class. Adam Bank for the great way he is working in reading groups. Adam Banks For being such a caring friend to all of Christian Brachmann your classmates. Thank you Christian. For an outstanding start to Term 3. Keep up the great work Taylor. Taylor McKean What an outstanding start to Term 3 you have had. You have been ready to learn and have been using excellent listening William Russell skills. What a wonderful example you are setting for your peers. Well done! For putting in a lot of effort towards your work this week. You ve tried really hard to complete all tasks to the best of your Elias Filocamo ability. Well Done! For the enthusiasm and positive attitude Tully Dee you brought along to school all term. You have certainly brightened up our days. Prep V Prep D Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4/5 Year 4/5 6
STUDENTS OF THE WEEK 2015 Week 2 Term 3 LEVEL REASON NAME For coming up with some great ideas for our ice-cream shop and doing a Jarvis Leciej great job counting in two s. For the lovely manners he displays each and every day Jonathan Cowley For being super quick to create so many number patterns during Maddison McKean Mathematics this week. Well done Maddison! For an excellent start to Term 3, you have been trying so hard, keep up Declan Grady the great work Declan. I am so proud of the way you have been participating in Literacy games and rotations this week. Keep up the Jayden Crockett great work, Jayden! For how hard you have tried in literacy. You've contributed great Cana Zaloumis ideas around writing information texts, well done! Prep V Prep D Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4/5 7