Hi everyone,

Thank you to all our families who were able to come along to the P&F Burgers by the Billabong last Saturday. It was a lovely afternoon and a great opportunity to meet other parents and families. The kids had a ball and we even managed to get quite a few parents involved in three-legged races, sack races, egg & spoon races and numerous tug-of-war competitions. It was a very relaxed spirit on the day. The team who pulled this all together should be commended and I look forward to more options like this next year.

On Wednesday our teachers were able to have a walk-through of our new classrooms in the teal and yellow blocks and they have already started negotiating which room be whose. Very entertaining. We were however very pleased with the finished result and can’t wait til furniture starts arriving in the next few weeks.

We have almost completed our staffing for teachers next year and have allocated classes. We will be offering 4 additional classes to what we have had this year including two additional Year 2 classes, a Year 3 / 4 class (in addition to a Year 3 and a Year 4 class) and then we will have both a Year 5 class and a Year 5 /6 class. These additional classes do mean we get to start off the year with slightly smaller classes and they are a great opportunity to mix up some children. I do invite parents to contact me if you have a particular interest or concern about a multi-age class if your child is going into a year level where there is one. I personally believe they work fantastically well at engaging children in learning and provide opportunities for children to be challenged to a point that works well for them. We will still have a separate camp for Year 5 and for Year 6 students.

We will also be sorting class groups for 2020 so if you have any pressing concerns about your child’s placement, please let me know. Please note however, that I will not be considering teacher requests as all our teachers have the best interest of the students in their class at heart. Class groups and teacher allocations will be made known at a Step up/ Orientation day on Tuesday December 3. 

Cheers 

Penny

We’re certainly flying through the term!  We started this week with our Year 2 Curlews presenting assembly on Monday.  During their assembly they led the whole school in praying a ‘Decade of the Rosary’, to mark October, the month of Mary.  It’s wonderful to see how far our students have come when presenting in front of the whole school. It was also great to welcome the Kindy students to assembly, who will be joining us each week in preparation for ‘big school’ next week.

Last night Mrs Collins and I attended the Ordination into the Priesthood of Fr Emene Kelemete.  It was a very exciting event for our Diocese to welcome a new priest, especially one who has attended school within our Diocese.  The celebration itself was a wonderful event, presided over by Bishop Tim. Particularly beautiful was some of the singing from the Tokelauan community (of which Emene is a part of) in welcoming the Gospel.  It was a joyful celebration for our Diocese and we look forward to seeing the work of Fr Emene in the years to come.  

End of Year Events

As we near the end of the year, there are many events to look forward to.  Please see below a list of dates and times for some of these events.

Remembrance Day Liturgy

Lead by students from defence families.  Monday November 11, 8:45am, the Hall  

Swimming Lessons

Monday - Thursday next week (Week 5)

Swimming Carnival

Thursday November 14, from 9:00am, North Shore Swimming Pool

End of Year Liturgy

Monday December 2, 9:00am, the Hall

O Holy Night

Wednesday December 4, 6:00pm for a 6:30 start, the Hall

Have a great week and God bless,

Nick

Year 5 students Alannah and Zac presented the St Benedict's eProjects journey of stewardship and environmental commitment to the Sustainability Summit at St Patricks College on Tuesday 29th October 2019. Congratulations to both Alannah and Zac who did a wonderful job representing St Benedict's.