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Term 1 Week 8 (22/3/2024)

What is On?

Monday 25th March - School Photo Day

Wednesday 27th March 2024 - School Cross Country (details below)

Thursday 28th March - Holy Thursday Liturgy

April

Wednesday 3rd April 2024 - Polding Swimming-Sydney

Tuesday 9th April - Zone Cross Country - McAuley Catholic College Grafton

Tuesday 9th April -McAuley Catholic College - Open Night (see details below)

Wednesday 10th April - Catholic Schools Week Liturgy in hall, 10am followed by open classrooms and morning tea.

Thursday 11^th April – Friday 12 April 2024 - PSSA Swimming

Thursday 11th April- Last day Term 1, 2024 for students

Friday 12th April 2024 - Staff Development Day - Pupil Free Day

Term 2

Monday 29th April - Staff Professional Learning Day - Pupil Free Day

Tuesday 30th April - First day for students Term 2

Friday 10th May - Mother's Day Morning (more details to come)

Tuesday 21st May 2024- Dio Cross Country - Grafton

Thursday 23rd May 2024 - Netball Schools Cup - Maclean

Thursday 30th May - Proclaim - Pupil Free Day

Wednesday 12th June 2024- Athletics Carnival - Yamba

Dear Parents and Carers (Guest contributors!)

Last night I received the following messages. I am leaving the community to tell the story.

Contributor 1

As I finally find myself in a quite house, with lunchboxes packed and kids in bed, I reflect back on a night I was privileged to witness.

Feel free to pass this on to any and all who need to hear or read this (but keep it anonymous please). I know on Fridays you have a lot to write for the newsletter and maybe this can take a bit of that pressure off you tomorrow if you do want to quote any of the following part. (Also, clearly grammar is not my strong point-so edit away).

For those parents who haven’t had children in school for long, or haven’t had the privilege to be part of such an amazing school: you may not have realised what it took to pull such a huge successful night off like we just experienced.

Did you look around the room and realise how many people showed up? How many mothers, weary from the day, with kids pulling on her pants, inches away from a meltdown or falling asleep did you see tonight? You showed up! You were there, despite the sacrifices you made, the pyjamas and cup of tea in one hand you would have much rather been seen with. To those parents who came despite the efforts, we see you. Thank you!

To the committee who would have spent hours if not days planning and communicating to pull such an amazing night off, thank you! You all made this night what it was! You would have had to ask for donations, emailed, brainstormed….and clearly you all worked together and pulled this off. Well done! Thank you for doing all of those things for us all to enjoy! What an amazing team you are!

To the parents who stayed home with little ones so the other half could attend and won’t even likely read this message, thank you The roles might be reversed next time. To those who worked although they would have loved to be there too, we see you.

To the businesses who sponsored so unbelievably generously, we see you! Those prizes were amazing and if ever a family was in doubt to make the effort to come, they were a pretty appealing carrot. Generosity is contagious. What you did and gave made tonight a success. Thank you! As a fellow business owner, I know we love supporting our community and know they support us right back. That is one of the things we should be proud of. Thank you for being generous tonight! We see you!

To all the children who go absolutely passionately involved, paid attention and learned when to repeat a phrase, well done. You guys rocked! Seeing so many of you there tonight was really delightful!

To the Golf Club who hosted, donated and had fabulous staff attend to the onslaught of hungry families, thank you! Many of these staff have families of their own they probably would have preferred being with, but they served us all with a smile. Thank you!

To our Bingo Man himself, thank you! You taught most novices to play a fun game together, and nobody ended up arguing or fighting (like most games in home life can end up in). Thank you for tolerating the noise and organised chaos at times.

We are so fortunate to be part of this St.James school community! Do we see what working together and having a common goal can achieve?

Seeing what businesses did, parents contributed and organised, the difference it made showing up in big numbers and having fun together is inspiring. Next time we get asked as parents to step up and help with a school event or carnival, I hope this made us all feel like we can’t wait to also help and be part of this team spirit next time! Let’s keep this momentum going….

So from one parent with happy children who love their school, thank you! We see you teachers, principal and management teams! We thank you!

Kind regards

Contributor 2

It was a great turn out and all feedback I have heard was it was a wonderful night.

Contributor 3

Just wanted to say congratulations on a fantastic games night last night.
It was so much fun, and the work that must have gone on behind the scenes to make it happen is very appreciated.
Well done to all involved.
It was great!

Contributor 4

Best school ever! I still can't believe we had so many people attended! What an achievement!!!

Have a lovely week

Ann

Maths Games we learnt at the Family Fun Night

Last night the children (and parents) learnt some great games!

Today Mrs Aumuller and Stage 3 children made some videos to support the great activities. If you missed out on a pack, send a message and we will give one to your child/ren.

Thanks parents who organised this.

We are grateful to our sponsors

RE News

Fifth Week of Lent

(Week beginning Monday 18 March)

Partnership in action

The work of Caritas Australia is only possible with the dedication, passion and tenacity of our local partners who implement the programs. They are the heroes on the ground, working tirelessly behind-the-scenes every day to create a better future for their communities.

Caritas Australia partners with the Faithful Companions of Jesus (FCJ) to support communities living in urban slums in the Philippines. FCJ runs a number of programs that include house renovating, food processing, basic literacy skills, urban gardening, upcycling and income generating activities. They also have a clinic visited weekly by a doctor and community nurse.

Caritas Australia partners with Caritas Samoa to assist communities to have increased access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene to ensure human health and well-being by providing water tanks and sanitation facilities.

Caritas Australia partners with the Catholic Development Commission in Malawi through the A+ program. Since 2016, the A+ program has helped 7,397 families across Malawi improve their food security, access to basic water and sanitation, boost women’s income generation and strengthen child protection.

Please donate to Project Compassion.

Together, we can help vulnerable communities face their challenges today and build a better tomorrow for all future generations.

Holy Week Liturgy

We will be holding our whole school Holy Week Liturgy on Holy Thursday (Thursday 28th March) at 10am in our school hall. This roving liturgy will involve each class presenting a part of Holy Week scripture. We warmly invite any parents or family members to join us for this liturgy at school.

SAVE THE DATE! Catholic Schools Week- Week 11

We will be celebrating Catholic Schools Week with a whole school liturgy on Wednesday 10th April at 10am in our school hall. We encourage any parents or family members to attend this special liturgy, which will be followed by open classrooms and a morning tea.

Please RSVP to email yamp@lism.catholic.edu.au if you will be attending for catering purposes.

Classrooms will be open to parents all week during Week 11 Catholic Schools Week. If you would like to “pop in” and your child can take you on a tour of their room and share their learning with you. We would love to see you!

2024 Sacrament Dates

Confirmation- Monday 17th June 2024, 5pm at St Mary’s Church, Maclean.

Reconciliation- Wednesday 4th September, 11:35 am at school.

First Holy Communion- Saturday 7th September, 5:30pm Mass at St James Church, Yamba

The order of Sacraments in the Lismore Diocese is:

Baptism, Confirmation (Year 3), Reconciliation (Year 4), First Eucharist (Year 4)

If you need more information regarding Baptism for your child, please contact the Parish Office in Maclean on 6645 1188 (Open Monday/ Wednesday/ Friday 9am-1:30pm).

If you would like your child to receive any other Sacraments, please contact Mrs Howland at school. For your child to receive any of these Sacraments they must first be Baptised.

If your child has received the Sacrament of Confirmation last year, they will be invited to receive Reconciliation and First Communion this year. All preparation is completed at school as part of Religion lessons.

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact me at school.

Renee Howland

Assistant Principal- Mission

Sport News - School Cross Country

Our School Cross Country will be held on Wednesday 27th March on the school grounds. Families are welcome to spectate this event. Students are to arrive at school as per normal. The first race will commence at 10am. Students will be seated in their house teams so that they can watch and cheer on their peers.

All students will participate in the event and can wear mufti in house colours. Students must have joggers (closed footwear) to run in. Please see below for the order of events-

6/7yr Boys/Girls - 1km (1 lap)

8/9yr Boys/Girls - 2km (2 laps)

10yr Boys/Girls - 2km (2 laps)

11yr Boys/Girls - 3km (2 laps + path)

12yr Boys/12yr Girls - 3km (2 laps + path)

Kinder Boys/Girls - 1km (1 lap)

We will be having a small pop-up canteen located on the back field for the day, selling icy poles, baked goods and cold drinks. Students and families will be able to purchase items from the canteen throughout the day (cash only). Lunch orders can also be placed via compass. These must be in by 9am Tuesday morning. Families are welcome to order lunch for themselves and eat with the children (lunch will be served after the last race approx 12.30pm). Make your order in your child's name and it will go out in their lunch basket. I hear that cheeseburgers are on the menu!

See you on Wednesday!

Tash Hancock

Sports Coordinator

Stage 3 News

Our unit this term in Religion is Prayer. We have been taking part in a variety of prayer styles (including a Walking Rosary last week) and creating our own prayers as well using the ACTS method:

Adoration (praise) Contrition (sorry) Thanksgiving Supplication (asking).

As a class we created a beautiful reflection prayer piece - check out our i-movie below.

https://youtu.be/fMu5-yPKWiM?si=eXfKdaXULc_kGyBs

In Creative Arts we are creating short films (i-movies, stop motion movies, action movies) and setting the mood with music. Soon we will have our very own short film festival.

In History we have been learning how Australian colonies developed over time. We are putting ourselves in the British convicts' shoes and seeing things from their perspective. This is culminating with us writing diary entries about our life in 1788.

In Science we have been learning about growth and survival of living things and how their adaptations over time suit their environment. Students have started investigating how changes to the physical environment impact on the growth and survival of plants. We have been using a computer programming app (MakeCode) to code and program microkits. The microkits act as a moisture sensor. We will be using these to monitor the growth of bean seedlings. By comparing ‘greenhouses’ during this scientific investigation students will compare 2 different environments (green houses) 1 is an uncovered greenhouse and the 1 is a covered greenhouse. Students will need to record their observations. Stay tuned to find out which environment was most suitable for our bean seedlings.

McAuley Catholic College - Open Night and Save the Dates

Birthdays

James – 24/3, Austin 26/3, Jackson 28/3, Dean 28/3, Sunny 29/3, Max 4/4, Sailor 4/4

Sport Dates 2024

Wednesday 27th March 2024 - School Cross Country