Aboriginal Acknowledgement

We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We commit ourselves to actively working alongside Aboriginal people for reconciliation and justice.

Dear Families,

It is with great excitement that we were able to share the latest Covid-19 updates with you. As you would have read in our email yesterday, we are able to welcome all visitors back on site from Monday, 28th February. This is fantastic news for our parents and carers who can now enter our school grounds. Staff will still be at the gates in the morning to assist parents with drop off if this is a better option for your child. We are looking forward to catching up with our parents and carers in the near future.

Staff and visitors are still required to wear a mask until Monday, 7th March. Students may continue to wear a mask if they choose to do so.

This news will enable us to plan our Parent/Teacher Meetings face to face. Further information will follow.

Ash Wednesday

Next Wednesday we celebrate Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of the season of Lent, when the entire Church throughout the world prepares for Easter. Many Christians think of the forty days of Lent as an opportunity to change
their daily lives and become closer to God. It is a time for refocusing and renewing our lives so that we more closely reflect our Baptismal promises. On Ash Wednesday our foreheads are marked with ashes to remind us that life passes away on earth: ‘Remember you are dust and unto dust you shall return’. The cross is also
a sign of hope that we will live by the Gospels - the good news - from now on.
During Lent we are encouraged to pray, fast and give alms to those in need.

As we all know, Jesus retreated into the desert for forty days to prepare for his ministry. It was for him, a time of reflection and contemplation. For us, to
pass time in the desert means to find occasions when we create a little emptiness and silence around us, rediscover the road to our heart, remove ourselves from the noise of external distractions and enter into contact with the deepest source of our being, Jesus Christ and our faith. In our busy lives, we may lose our way and let our priorities shift from God’s priorities to our own less important and sometimes self-serving ones. During Lent, God invites us to come back to him and to his way of love and service to others.

As a family you might choose to have a prayer time together, attend Mass together some weekends and make an effort to go without a treat and give the money saved to Project Compassion. When we focus on what we can do for Lent, we do it to remind ourselves that God and God’s way of love is more important than these things. Lent is a time for positive action so that the coming celebration of Easter will be more meaningful for us as individuals, families and our faith community.

Lions Citizenship Award
Congratulations to Kieran Dwyer who was announced as the Lions Citizenship award recipient at our Year Six Opening School prayer service last week. This award recognises school community, leadership amongst peers and school spirit.
We congratulate Kieran on this great achievement.

Parent Information Meetings

Thank you to the parents who joined us for our Parent Information Zoom Meetings last week. While we understand other events and time meant that some families could not join in we were grateful to those who did, as it gave our staff the opportunity to introduce themselves and let you know about the plans for our school in 2022.

Professional Learning Days for Staff – (Pupil free days)

Our first Professional Learning day will be on Friday 11th March 2022. 

Other Professional Learning days are;

• Monday 18th July Term 3 (First Day of Term 3)
• Friday 23rd September (Last Day of Term 3)

There is a possibility of one more Professional Learning Day due to School Review and Development in Term 3. This will be communicated as soon as we are informed.

Compass and Class Dojo

As you know we have moved to a new student management platform - Compass. Compass will be our main means of communication with our families when teachers are corresponding in the areas of teaching and learning, student wellbeing and welfare. Compass is our method of communicating and giving permissions for events. It is also through Compass that you will receive Students Reports. All events and school notes and forms will be sent through Compass. 

ClassDojo is a communication app for the classroom, which aims to connect staff, parents/caregivers and students through the ability to share photos, videos and messages. Class Dojo will be used to share and celebrate student's learning, remind parents and carers of upcoming events or changes to school routine eg wet weather. We hope that this will assist our families to feel more connected to our school.

What ClassDojo is not used for:

• Early pick up or change of arrangements requests. These still go through the office.
• A replacement for parent-teacher interviews.
• Inquiries about incidents. These should be dealt with via a phone call or Compass email.
• Complaints: These should be dealt with personally via a phone call to the teacher or Compass email.
• Daily or extensive information or updates relating to a child’s progress. Any communication relating to this should be done either face to face or by a phone interview.
• Instant return messaging of questions from parents. If there is a question that requires an immediate reply, parents are asked to contact the school office.
• Messaging during class time. Our teachers’ main priority is teaching their classes so they will not be checking messages during class times.

St Patrick’s Day

On Thursday, 17th March we will celebrate the Feast day of St. Patrick, Patron Saint of both our Lismore Diocese and our nation, Australia. The students are encouraged to wear green on this day and bring a gold coin donation.

School Logo

As you would have seen we have begun embedding our new school logo into our communications with our families. We are very happy with the the final result and we have started the process of changing our logo on all our school items, including our school uniform. This process will take quite some time and will be phased in.

Logo Symbols;

Our logo contains an open book. This represents learning and the Gospel Teachings. The cross sits at the centre of the logo and reminds us that Jesus Christ and our faith are at the centre of all that we do. Through learning and faith, our school community can let our light shine. This is represented through the white rays. The yellow semi circle represents a fresh beginning at the start of each day. The school motto Let your Light Shine sits underneath.                

School Photos

The envelopes to order school photos will be sent home when we receive them (hopefully next week). Our school photos will take place on Monday 14th and Tuesday 15th March 2022. Envelopes need to be returned to school by Monday 14th March. If you would like to have sibling photos envelopes for these can be collected from the Office once they arrive.

On Monday 14th March we ask that all students wear their full school uniform. Year Five and Year Six will not wear their Sports uniform on this day as per usual.

We encourage students to not be passive bystanders.

If they see a need, they are asked to 'look with the eyes of Jesus' and ACT to make their world a better place...

Year 6 Leadership - Prayer Service and Presentation of Badges

Last week we celebrated a very important event at our school – the Blessing and Presentation of Leadership Badges to our Year 6 Leaders.

Every Year 6 student is expected to be a Leader. However, the School Captains and Vice Captains and Colour House Captains have a very special public role. Their badge is an outward sign of the expectations upon them.

It was wonderful to have Fr Bing present to not only Bless the Badges but to present them, along with Mrs Heffernan, to the Leaders.

As a Catholic school, our faith brings a richness to everything we do. We ask Fr Bing to Bless our Badges before presenting them:

“God our Father, we bless these badges in Your Name and ask you to guide and bless the children who wear them. May they, like Jesus, be leaders who serve and may their example of discipleship also encourage younger students to also be disciples of Jesus. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

We also make connections for the students between the Light of our School Candle, the Scripture read and that each student is asked to LET THEIR LIGHT SHINE!

This is the Gospel Reading we shared:

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. Matthew, Chapter 5: 13-16

Our Year 6 Leaders have had a wonderful start to the year. We wish them all the very best as they act as leaders and follow in the footsteps of Jesus by letting their Light Shine each moment.

Next Wednesday is Ash Wednesday - commencing the Church Season of Lent.

Lent is a time when Christians are called to renew their lives - a springtime for the human soul. 

As Pope Francis says, "Lent invites us to conversion, to a change in mindset, so that life’s truth and beauty may be found not so much in possessing as in giving, not so much in accumulating as in sowing and sharing goodness."

Lent is...

A time to pray...

To time to give...

Please use this special time of Lent to pray for others and our own forgiveness and reconciliation with God and neighbour.

A practical way to give to others during Lent is to contribute to....

OUR FOOD FREEZER FOR FAMILIES WHICH IS EMPTY :(

Meals from this Freezer are provided to families who may need a meal to make things a little easier. If you can contribute we would be grateful. (Please bring to the School Office (please attach a list of ingredients and baking date).

St Patrick’s Day - Wear Green! 

On Thursday, 17th March we will celebrate the Feast day of St. Patrick, Patron Saint of both our Lismore Diocese and our nation, Australia. A gold coin donation on the day will be sent to Caritas - which is an Australian Charity and international aid agency of the Australian Catholic Church. Caritas Australia works to eradicate poverty and injustice. Thank you for your generosity during Lent.

Incitāre - Tuesday 1st March

Thank you to the students in Year 6 who applied to attend the annual Diocesan Incitāre Retreat.

This Retreat, sponsored by the Catholic Schools Office, is an opportunity for students to experience faith nurturing activities in support of their roles as faith leaders in their respective schools.

A day of group processes and student discussion led by the CSYMA student leaders from local secondary schools is a wonderful opportunity to meet students from other local Catholic schools who also value their faith.

Incitāre means to stir up, incite, urge, spur - when the Holy Spirit comes into our lives we are invited to spread the good news to all we encounter.

All students have the information needed - if you have any questions please contact the Office.

We wish the students a wonderful experience as they take a further step on their journey of faith. We will hear more from them after the day!

Trinity Open Night

Alstonville Plateau Physical Culture