Newsletter 10 December 2021
- Principal's Message
- Faith and Mission News
- 2021/2022 Upcoming Events
- Sport News
- Learning and Teaching
- FARE-THE-WELL Mrs Hogan and Mr Kelly!
- School Leaders for 2022
- Canteen Roster
- THANK YOU from Mini Vinnies
- Year 6 BIG WEEK OUT!
- Year 5 BIG DAYS OUT!
- Out of School Hours Care - OSHC
- Amber Lockdown
- Community Notices
Principal's Message
CONGRATULATIONS to our School Leaders for 2022
Year 6 BIG WEEK OUT!!!
Friday 10 December 2021 - Term 4 Week 10
Dear Parents and Carers
Merry Christmas! I hope you’ve had a successful year and you all get a break over the holidays.
This week the Year 5 children voted for their student leaders for 2022. Congratulations to our captains Layla Woodcock and Eli Butcher and our vice captains Willow Budd and Ruben Simpson. The vote comes after an extended time of leadership preparation for the grade and discernment before voting. Only their peers (not staff) vote and our trust in the students has been rewarded in picking these fine leaders.
Next week promises to be a busy one.
On Monday our Annual Awards ceremony will be held to celebrate the achievement of children’s hard work in class and to present the Year 6 major awards. Unfortunately due to NSW Health COVID restrictions, no parents will be allowed onsite. If you would like to join us, you can view the Zoom broadcast. After the awards, we will have a Step Up session, where students will move to their new classroom with their new teacher from 11.40am -1.40pm. Monday evening will be our Year 6 Graduation, beginning with a liturgy and then heading to the Race Club for speeches and fun.
On Tuesday we will celebrate Christmas with a re-creation of the nativity, complete with soloist angels (unfortunately no group carols are allowed at school). After that time we will be packing, cleaning, moving furniture and putting the finishing touches on the Christmas craft before our last day on Wednesday. Phew!
Just a reminder to only purchase the correct shoes before we return. The guidelines are clear and on the website. Polishable black, no white highlights, no mesh, no boots, no exceptions. Unfortunately if your child doesn't come with the right shoes you will be asked to purchase a new pair, which is an unnecessary cost.
This year we say farewell to some wonderful staff: Annette Hogan, Ross Kelly, Bec Goodenough, Cate Zanetti, Kerri-Ann McLaughlin and our trainees Liam Berg and Ruby Lowery. We wish them all the best in their new adventures. Year 1-6 students will return on Tuesday 1 February and Kindergarten will start a week later after their Best Start assessments on Tuesday 8th February. The school office will be open on Friday 28 January and Monday 31 January for all enquiries, hats and sport shirts.
Next week I will be on leave as my eldest son is getting married. It promises to be a wonderful celebration but it means I will miss all the fabulous events listed above (and the staff Christmas party!). Thank you for a wonderful year and may all God’s blessings be upon you and your family over Christmas.
Grace and peace
Peter Watts
Principal
Faith and Mission News
Feast of The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin
Yesterday at noon, many students from all grades volunteered to celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary by joining other parishioners in prayer. The Blessed Sacrament (the real presence of Jesus) was exposed on the altar between some special candelabras and housed in a beautiful golden ‘monstrance’. The Angelus and the Rosary were some of the prayers that were given up at this service. Fr Shabas was very impressed by the reverence shown by the students and was overjoyed by their attendance.
Solemnity of Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Immaculate Conception is a doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church that states that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception.
There are many misconceptions amongst Catholics about this feast day. If you (or some older members of your family) would like an easy read to clarify, click HERE.
Advent at St Augustine’s Parish
Wow! What a great response to this school/church combined effort to celebrate the real meaning of Christmas; the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Many parishioners and students from our school have provided passersby and window viewers with beautiful religious Christmas to listen to.
It’s not too late to visit the Nativity window or to book a time slot to perform some carols. See below for more details.
Advent
Advent is the season for preparing for the coming of Jesus at Christmas. The St Augustine’s Parish Community is providing families with an opportunity to visit the church to experience some special Christmas signs and symbols and hear adults and children perform some Christmas carols.
From Monday 6 December, the church will be open before school (8:30am to 9:00am) and in the afternoon (2:30pm to 3:30pm) so families can visit during these times.
The things you can do on your visit are:
- Listen to Christmas carols being sung and played by children and adults from our parish while looking at the special Nativity display set up in the Pius Goods shop (on the northern side of the church).
- Take a close look at the enormous Advent Wreath that is set up in the church near the altar.
- Reflect on the Christmas story as you look at another beautiful nativity scene that is set up in the church near the Christmas tree.
- Light a candle in one of the shrines located on the side walls of the church and say a prayer for someone in need.
- Sit quietly for a while and look at the stained glass windows. Can you spot the Christmas star?
- Be still and rest a while in God’s presence. Take a break from the busyness of preparing for Christmas and make a small space for our Saviour in your heart.
We are looking for volunteers (children and/or adults) to perform some Christmas carols while people look at the nativity scene in the shop window (just outside the church). Ten minute time slots can be booked HERE, using SignUp. It doesn’t matter if you repeat the same Christmas carol over and over, or if you only play for a few minutes. Get a group of singers together, play the recorder, ukulele, keyboard....anything to join in the Christmas spirit!
If you require a backing track, Mrs O’Sullivan has offered to put these tracks onto an iPad or computer that will be at the performance site, along with a speaker system. You will need to contact Mrs O’Sullivan by email with your request as soon as possible.
If you have a track on your iPhone, a cord and an adaptor will be available to play your track through the speaker from there.
If you play the piano or keyboard, a school keyboard will also be set up in the performance space for you to use.
If you are joining with other friends to perform at the same time, only ONE entry can be made on the booking website on behalf of the entire group.
Students will need to be under parental supervision. Students who choose to perform during school hours will need to be collected from or delivered to school by their parents.
It will be an outdoor COVID safe event.
Nativity Play
Next Tuesday, students from Years 5 and 6 will re-enact the Christmas story for all of their peers. Although Covid restrictions prevent our student body from singing, soloists will sing the carols and some children will join in with actions that they have been practicing in class. During this special event, the gifts that have been bought for needy children in our community through the generosity of the families of St Augustine’s School will be presented to a member of St Vincent de Paul Society.
Come Lord Jesus
Fill our gift giving with generosity, making us aware of the true gifts we have to share with loved ones.
Deepen our sense of joy, making us ever grateful for the small gifts others bestow upon us.
Enlarge our capacity for compassion, making us mindful of how we might give to those in need of
sustenance and consolation.
Come into our hearts and homes this Christmas, Lord Jesus, making us people of joyful gratitude and generosity.
Amen
Naomi Loader- Assistant Principal Mission
Dominique Montford - Leader of School Catechesis
Maria Woods - Leader of School Evangelisation
2021/2022 Upcoming Events
December 2021
| 13 | Annual Speech/Awards Day |
| 13 | Year 6 Graduation (evening) |
| 15 | Last day Term 4 for students |
| 16-17 | Staff Development Days (No students) |
January 2022
| 28 | Staff Development Day (No students) |
| 31 | Staff Development Day (No students) |
February 2022
| 1 | Years 1-6 - First day Term 1 for students |
| 1-7 | Kindergarten Best Start Assessments |
| 8 | Kindergarten's First Day Term 1 |
Sport News
ST AUGUSTINE’S REPRESENTATIVE SWIMMING TRIALS 2021
The rain eased and our swimmers enjoyed a day in the pool at our Representative Swimming Trials. Great swimming and sportsmanship by all competitors! Congratulations to our age champions! And a big thank you to our parent volunteers and Coffs Harbour Swimming Club for helping to make the day such a success.
Age Champions:
Junior Boy - Billy Backhouse
Junior Girl - Coco Becker
11 Yrs Boy - Luke Wilson
11 Yrs Girl - Hannah Burton
Senior Boy - Alex Cabral-Barbosa
Senior Girl - Lily-Mei Wong
Learning and Teaching
Christmas art and craft activities have been high on the agenda in all classrooms. The creativity of our students is a celebration of the amazing gifts each child brings to our school. Here is a snapshot of the wonderful activities the students have been working on.
FARE-THE-WELL Mrs Hogan and Mr Kelly!
At a special assembly last week we bid an official farewell to retirees Ross Kelly and Annette Hogan. Ross has worked here for nearly 25 years and Annette is closing in on 34 years of service to the school and most importantly to our students.
Ross has worked tirelessly to clean, mow, garden, catch snakes, dogs, cats and rats and fix everything you can think of in that time. The high quality look of the school is in no small part due to his industry.
Annette has had a massive influence on her students and regularly teaches the children of her early pupils. In these years Annette has taken on a leading role within staff, nurturing early career teachers and always displaying a high degree of professionalism. Both of these very good people will be greatly missed.
Our farewell assembly included heartfelt speeches from beautiful students, a commemorative ringing of the original school bell (thank you Rowdy), The Irish Blessing led by soloists and a small ensemble as well as actions by the whole school and a 'charioted' and rose filled ovation to mark the amazing contribution that Mrs Hogan and Mr Kelly have made to St Augustine's.
We will miss you and fare-the-well!
School Leaders for 2022
Congratulations go to our 2022 School Captains (Layla & Eli) and Vice Captains (Willow & Ruben)! Year 5 had the tough task of voting for their captains on Tuesday December 7. Mr Watts and Mrs Loader were very pleased to announce our leaders for 2022 after they had called home to share their exciting news. We are looking forward to working with these wonderful students next year.
Eli Butcher (C), Ruben Simpson (VC), Layla Woodcock (C), Willow Budd (VC)
Canteen Roster
Week beginning 13 December
- Monday - L Seccombe
- Tuesday - C Williams, M Black
- Wednesday - J Martin, M Chau
- Thursday - Staff Development Day - no students
- Friday - Staff Development Day - no students
Canteen News
Canteen helpers are always required, especially on Wednesdays as this is our sushi day, and on Fridays. Help is needed for three hours from 9:00 am until 12:00 noon once every four weeks. Grandparents are very welcome also. If you are able to help in the Canteen on any day please call us on 6652 1204.
Alicia Betland & Rosa Thomas - Canteen Managers
THANK YOU from Mini Vinnies
A big thank you to all of our families who contributed to the Mini Vinnies Chrismas Giving Appeal. We really appreciate your generosity, knowing what a stretch it can be at this time of the year. Together we have helped make Christmas an enjoyable time for 28 children and their families in our community. The gifts will be presented to St Vincent de Paul at our Nativity liturgy on Tuesday.
Year 6 BIG WEEK OUT!
Year 5 BIG DAYS OUT!
Out of School Hours Care - OSHC
St Augustine’s Out of School Hours care is excited to disperse the Christmas/New Year Vacation Program.
This program has been designed with all children's interests in mind and will provide a fun, educational learning experience - which in turn will reduce your parental guilt as you spend your days at work.
In line with the service's COVID safe policy, all contractors will have a verified Working with Children Check, double COVID-19 Vaccination and be required to register their attendance on the COVID register using the QR code.
All excursions will be conducted under both the service and the designated locations COVID Safe Policy.
To book, please email: cofhp-oshc@lism.catholic.edu.au
We look forward to enjoying these experiences with your children and wish you all a safe and happy Christmas and New Year.
*Please note: The service will be non-operational from the 20th December - 3rd of January inclusive.
Amber Lockdown
Dear Parents and Carers
In the event that we have a positive COVID case at school, we have a plan for the immediate closing of the school, followed by deep cleaning, as directed by NSW Health. If we receive notice of any child or staff member testing positive we will place the school in an Amber Lockdown (Students will remain in their current classroom and will continue class until the safe and smooth exit of students takes place) and will ask you to come and pick up your child from school. This will be communicated via text message, Facebook and email. Staff will bring your child to your car as you line up, just like in the afternoons. The difference is that if your surname begins with A-K, you will be picked up at Gordon St drive-through and L-Z at Albany St drive-through. This will be indicated in the message sent at the time. If siblings have different surnames, go with the eldest. The welfare and safety of your children are at the forefront of this planning process and although it is quite unlikely that it will happen, we need to be prepared.
Naomi Loader
Assistant Principal Mission
Community Notices
