In the month of August the Church celebrate two special women in the life of Catholics. August 8th is the feast day of Saint Mary MacKillop who is Australia’s very first saint. She is known for her work in setting up Catholic Primary schools for the poor and needy and starting the Sister’s of St Joseph. Her humility, prayer life and hard work is an inspiration to all staff in catholic schools. Her motto was “never see a need without doing something about it”: a challenge to all Christians.

Today August 15th is the Feast of the Assumption which celebrates Mary, the mother of Jesus. As Catholics we believe that because Mary was a holy and worthy person she is now in heaven. People often pray to her to intercede with God to deepen their prayers. Mary Jesus’ mother is model of faith and unfailing belief in the power to perform miracles and inspire us. Both Mary’s examples over a great role model for us all.

STAFFING

Later in the term there will be a couple of staffing changes. Mrs Cathy McCarthy and Mr Roger Myers are going on long service leave, with Mrs Jennifer Hewitt taking 5/6 Blue from the beginning of Week 8 Term 3 until the beginning of Week 5 in Term 4. Miss Grace Cummins will be returning to our school to replace Mrs McCarthy from Week 6 until the end of Term 3. We hope they enjoy their break and welcome Grace & Jennifer.

Over the year we have and will host various University students doing the practical component of their teacher training. My thanks to staff who agreed to supervise these students. It involves many hours of extra work, however in the era of teacher shortages I thank staff for their work to grow our profession. I hope these university students learn a lot and enjoying working with our students.

BOOK WEEK PARADE

Thanks for your support of the parade last Friday. A fun time was had by all and I look forward to you supporting our School Musical on 13^th September with as much enthusiasm.

TELL THEM FROM ME SURVEY

In the coming weeks we will be inviting students, staff and parents to provide feedback on their experience of our school using an online survey. The surveys are an important part of our whole school evaluation and planning process.

We would like to invite you to complete the Tell Them From Me (TTFM) Partners in Learning survey. As we value the role of parents and carers within our school community we would greatly appreciate your feedback. The information you provide will be used to maintain our commitment to working together in partnership to further improve student learning and wellbeing

The survey is anonymous and will take approximately 20 minutes to complete.

You are able to access the parent survey on your computer or mobile device .

Confirmation 

Confirmation starts this week for our year 6 students. Please keep them all in your prayers and they participate in this important sacrament. If you would like further information please contact myself at cassandra.harris@cg.catholic.edu.au

The Assumption 

Today is the Assumption of Mary, Mother of Jesus. Students in years 3 to 6 went to Mass this morning to celebrate this important Feast day. 

This feast celebrates Mary going to heaven body and soul. Watch the video Why is Mary important?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7A-51u9ORro to help you understand this special feast.

NSW NETBALL SCHOOLS CUP

Thank you to Mrs Linda Hallam for coaching the 3/4 team and also to the Trinity umpires - Jade, Bobby, Skye & Carlie.

NR ATHLETICS AGE CHAMPION

Congratulations Zaide!

ARCHDIOCESE ATHLETICS TEAM

All the very best to our NR representatives! The Archdiocesan Carnival will be held on August 27th in Canberra.

INDIVIDUAL SPORT TRIALS

Individual sports trials are open through the CECG sports website. These trials are intended for Year 5 & 6 student's ONLY. Keep up to date with trial information for next year.

Last day for Tummy Warmers Thursday 15 August (week 4)

Canteen_Menu_Winter_2024.pdf

This year our school canteen will continue to operate Tuesday to Friday. Student's requiring lunch from the canteen need to submit a lunch order via the QKR app by 9am the day the order is to be received (remember you can order up to two weeks in advance). It will also be open during first break for over the counter snacks, ice creams and drinks. Miss Courtney Kozel will be our canteen manager while Mrs Bennett is on leave.

• We currently have no Size 8 black sport shorts in stock, and the supplier is out of stock also. If you need them urgently, please purchase plain black shorts elsewhere in town, and we will advise when the stock arrives.
  
• We are also out of stock in girls long sleeve shirts size 8.

Apologies for any inconvenience.

The uniform shop is run by parent volunteers and is open on a Wednesday morning 9-9.30am for fittings and sales. The best way to organise your child's uniform requirements is to order via Qkr. Orders need to be placed by 8.30am each Wednesday so that they are able to be sent home that day; orders placed after 8.30am will not be filled until the following week.

Congratulations to our Above and Beyond Award and Mercy Value Winners!

5/6 Green Assembly Week 2

Last Thursday 8 August Mr Greg Angus was the recipient of the Co-curricular and Specialist Teacher Award at the 2024 Catholic Education Awards. He was nominated for this award by our Principal Miss Neely.

On Monday 12 August Miss Kathy Neely herself received an award for Outstanding Service as the New South Wales and previously Nothern Territory representative on the Australian Catholic Primary Association Board. Miss Neely has been a Principal for over 25 years and has been a board member over many years.

Birthdays 8-31 August!

STUDENT MEDICATIONS

We are able to hold student medications in the office for those children who require either short term or ongoing medication. Any medication must be supplied to us in its original packaging, with the pharmacy label attached for prescription medicine. Our system has been updated by head office so please read the following carefully if this applies to your child.

Short term medication (pain relief, antibiotics, antihistamine etc) -

• Parent/carer must visit the office to sign medication administration authorisation form so that our staff are able to administer the medication.

Ongoing medication (asthma inhaler, antihistamine, ADHD medication, etc) -

• Parent/carer must visit the office to sign medication administration authorisation form so that our staff are able to administer the medication. 
• Parent/carer to ensure medication remains in date, and that there is sufficient supply for one term, each term.
• Parents/carers of students with asthma action plans or other official diagnosis must provide current paperwork from the doctor
• Asthma Inhalers - if your child is in year 5 or 6 or capable of self-administering their ventolin, they are able to keep their inhaler with them in their bag; if this is the case there is no need to complete the authorisation form.

DROP OFF/PICK UP INFORMATION

If you remember the following details school drop off and pick up should run smoothly. Please view the map below for parking restriction details:

Morning Drop off:

• Supervision at school starts at 8.30am. Students arriving earlier than this WILL NOT be under active adult supervision so please avoid dropping your children off before this time. Between 8.30am and 8.55am students are to take their bag to their classroom and then make their way to either the hall or basketball court where they are to wait in year groups until the morning play bell rings.
• Knox Street/Princes Avenue parking (front school entrance) - ideally families with students in Kindergarten only should be parking in this area. Please be aware of the bus zone, parking restrictions and keeping our neighbour's driveways clear. We also ask that you consider our staff when parking in the morning as there are limited all day parking zones where they are able to park.
• Hall gate (Knox Street) - Bus students are dropped off here. 
• Princes Avenue/Adam Street (back school entrance) - Parents are able to park on either side of Princes Avenue (outside car line) or in Adam Street if you need to walk your children into school (please note that this part of Princes Avenue is a one-way road). Be aware of parking restrictions and keeping our neighbour's driveways clear.
• Car Line (off Princes Avenue) -  Car line is a 'kiss & go' system where parents drop their children off without getting out of the car; please do not park and exit your car in car line as this creates major traffic issues. Car line is our preferred method of parent drop off as it ensures student safety.

Afternoon pick-up:

• Knox Street/Princes Avenue parking (front school entrance) - ideally families with students in Kindergarten only should be parking in this area. Please be aware of the bus zone, parking restrictions and keeping our neighbour's driveways clear. Kindergarten parents are welcome to park and wait for their child outside the classrom. Kinder students are also able catch the bus or get picked up from carline.
• Hall gate (Knox Street) - Bus students only are collected from here. A teacher is rostered on duty at this gate each afternoon and stays to supervise students until the last bus comes.
• Princes Avenue/Adam Street (back school entrance) - Parents are able to park on either side of Princes Avenue (outside car line) or in Adam Street if you need to walk into school to collect your children (please note that this part of Princes Avenue is a one-way road). Be aware of parking restrictions and keeping our neighbour's driveways clear.
• Car Line (off Princes Avenue) - Car line is available for parents to pick their children up without having to park and get out of the car; please do not park and exit your car in car line as this creates major traffic issues. Car line is our preferred method of parent pick up as it ensures student safety. Car line can be very congested in the afternoons. If the waiting line is outside of our driveway the advice from NSW police is that you should continue around the block via Adam Street until the line moves forward. Please consider arriving at 3.30pm or after to ease this congestion; your child will be safe and supervised until you arrive. Two teachers are rostered on and supervicion at car line is until 3.45pm. After this time your child will be taken to the office and a call will be made to parents to arrange pick up ASAP.

Before & After School Care

Our newsletter, The SPP Chronicle, is normally published fortnightly (odd weeks) on a Thursday afternoon at around 5.30pm.

Each fortnight we include anything and everything that has happened in the preceding two weeks such as excursions, assemblies, sporting results and photos, liturgies, etc. We also provide information about upcoming school activities and events, student birthdays and important information and correspondence for families. We love to give shoutouts to our students and school community like thankyou's, baby announcements, special achievements and EOI's for sporting & other school or community group involvement, so if you have news that you think we could include just email it through to office.sppg@cg.catholic.edu.au.