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- Reflection
- Principal's Message
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- Confirmation and First Eucharist reminders
- Mary MacKillop Feast Day - 8th August
- 2021 National Census
- NAIDOC Week 2021
- Art Comp - Postcards for school stickers
- G3/4 Saint mini-olympics!
- Have you welcomed a bundle of joy since October, 2020?
- Student Absences
- Parish Bulletin
- Community News
Feast of Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop
God’s saving justice
The Gospel reading for today is, at first glance, an odd choice to pair with the feast of St Mary of the Cross. Mary MacKillop faced more than a few financial challenges, after all, especially in her youth. The burden of supporting her poor family fell to Mary in her teenage years, and surely no one held it against her for worrying about money, food, or clothing.
But the pairing of saint and gospel makes sense in the context of Mary’s vocation. Rather than worrying about herself, she cared for others. In this, Mary MacKillop lived the gospel very effectively. First caring for her immediate family, then for wider relations, soon enough Mary was focused on meeting the many needs of the communities in which she and her fellow Sisters of St Joseph lived. Through aid, education, and example Mary offered her contemporaries and us an example of faith through works.
From quietly and unobtrusively teaching in a stable in 1866, to founding a religious order that spread throughout and beyond a continent, Mary’s spiritual journey was truly focused on “God’s saving justice”. Tending to Australia’s Aboriginal peoples, prisoners facing execution, children requiring education, the homeless, the orphaned, the sick, indeed anybody she saw in need, Mary shows us how God seeks to answer the day’s troubles: through us.
© Nick Brodie
Dear Families,
Next week we will be celebrating Catholic Education Week and on Sunday we celebrate the Feast of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, Australia’s first saint and the co-founder of the Sisters of St Joseph, the Sisters that established our school. This also coincides with National Families Week. As a Catholic school we are indebted to the continual support and partnerships our families provided over the past 200 years in Australia. Parents and families continue to support the growth and sustainability of Catholic schools through tuition fees, contributions to building levies, and through fundraising and volunteering in a host of ways. I would like to personally acknowledge and thank the parents who work closely with school, the members of our School Board, our Parents and Friends and our volunteers. Your work is invaluable and for this, we are extremely grateful. Make sure you take time to celebrate with your family.
Our P&F are really keen to try and hold a Fair this year, however, they do need help. Our Fair Committee has many small tasks they need assistance with. If you are able to help we are holding a Fair Meeting on Tuesday 17th August at 7pm at school. If you can't make the meeting, that's ok, call our office on 6337 7200, we'll take your details and one of our P&F Members will be in contact. Many hands make light work. The date for our Fair is Friday 5th November and although due to Covid Restrictions it will not be the same as past years, it still is expected to be a great evening.
I would like to thank everyone for your support over the past couple of weeks as we continue to navigate restrictions due to Covid outbreaks in other states. Fortunately, in Tasmania we have managed to remain Covid free, which is largely due to all of us following the advice we have been given. Also, thank you to all our parents who are not sending their child to school when they are sick, this helps stop the spread of illnesses and helps your child recover. I will continue to email out updates through Compass as they become available.
This week I have watched the traffic flow on Campbell Street a few times and I was pleased to see that most people were complying with the set procedures and the traffic was flowing safely. A reminder though to be mindful of our neighbours as someone today parked across a driveway on Abbott Street blocking them from leaving their driveway. Thank you for everyone supporting this, these procedures are put in place to ensure we maintain a high standard of safety for our children.
Over the past couple of weeks, I have noticed several students arriving at school before 8:30am. A reminder that we do not start supervision of students until 8:30am and any student on the school grounds before 8:30am must be seated in the piazza. Before School Care is available for students who need to be dropped off before 8:30am.
Kind Regards,
Shayne Kidd
PRINCIPAL
6th August 2020
Congratulations to Phoebe who has received 25 stickers in her Student Acknowledgement booklet. These stickers are given to students displaying positive and respectful behaviour in the playground. They are great role models for others. Well done!
Congratulations to those student who received awards today:
NAIDOC Week 2021
“Healing Country”
The theme for NAIDOC 2021 is ‘Healing Country’. The students were able to learn from Aboriginal community members about Traditional Fire Burning practices. They learnt the benefits these bring for our land and its inhabitants. Jason, Fiona and Geoff shared their knowledge on many aspects relating to the use of fire for traditional purposes. They shared the many uses of fire, how it was made and how it was kept. The children shared their experiences and knowledge and learnt about how fire can impact our country in a positive way, resulting in better land care for the future. We learnt "Healthy Land, Healthy People”. We also tried our hands at traditional fire making using soft and hard woods.
Art Comp - Postcards for school stickers
On Thursday 5th August, 2021, 3/4 Saint hosted the inaugural SAINT MINI OLYMPICS!
Our Olympic teams represented the colours of the Olympic rings. We had Blue Doritos, Green Kangaroos, Yellow All-Stars, Red Devils and Black Sugar-Rush.
The events included:
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Racing Sparrows (no animals were harmed in this event, they were paper planes called Sparrows). Yellow All-Stars had technical difficulties with their planes. Green Kangaroos had a good start but were overtaken by the Red Devils, then the Blue Doritos had a late surge, but were ultimately beaten by Black Sugar-Rush with a precise throw from George.
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Shoe Relay - We have had regular practice taking shoes on and off for our new carpet so we thought this race would be simple, but it wasn’t. Black Sugar-Rush were the winners again!
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Cup Stacking Relay - Cup stacking was really fun and we all wanted to win!
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Sock Wrestling - Some teams were a bit nervous but others dived right in and made it to the finals. Our final pairs were Lucy Me. vs. Ashley, Toby vs. Alex and Mikaela vs. Chloe R. The winner was Mikaela!
We have enjoyed the last two weeks of learning about the real Olympics and have noticed some great things, like always giving things a go, if you don’t win be a good sport to the winner, and Olympic athletes put in a huge effort to achieve their goals.
Some lessons we learned from our mini Olympics included how to be a good sport, how to avoid carpet burns, and how to encourage your teammates.
Have you welcomed a bundle of joy since October, 2020?
HAVE YOU WELCOMED A BUNDLE OF JOY SINCE OCTOBER, 2020?
We would like to celebrate your exciting new addition in our School Magazine this year. If you are happy to be included, could you please forward an image of your little bubba, their name, their sibling(s) at our school, and their date of birth to Miss O'Neill on cassie.oneill@catholic.tas.edu.au by 1 October, 2021. Thank you and congratulations!
If your child is absent from school, parents/caregives are requried to contact the school by using the Compass App, telephone (6337 7200), or email (stm@catholic.tas.edu.au) prior to 9.30am on the day of absence.
Please note the Absentee option on the SchoolZine (SZapp) is in the process of being phased out, and we ask you to familiarise yourself with the alternate notification options.
Please contact the office if you have any queries.
Please find attached our parish bulletin for Sunday, 8th August 2021 – Feast of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. Regards,
Fr Mark Freeman
Parish Priest
Junction Arts Festival for Families 2021: Junction is an intimate celebration of Tasmanian community and creativity, inspiring audiences through exciting and diverse performances of art, music and dance. Junction is a festival in which contemporary art and music break out of theatres and galleries into the streets, public spaces and extraordinary buildings that make Launceston so unique. Junction runs from the 1-5 SEPTEMBER and our Festival Hub is located in the beautiful Prince's Square.
Tony’s Imaginary Circus: $15 Roll up and witness Tasmanian circus royalty with a children’s show of classy conjuring, amazing acrobats, and lots and lots of fun. Not just for kids, Tony’s Imaginary Circus is one for the whole family to enjoy. Get your tickets to see this loveable circus troupe on Saturday or Sunday of Junction.