Filter Content
- Principal's Report
- Religious Education
- Sport News
- Lacey Library News - Save The Dates!
- Canteen News
- Playgroup - Commences Week 2
- Reconciliation - Registrations Closes This Friday
- Healthy Lunch Box - Nutrition Snippet
- Piano Lessons - Spaces Available for 2023
- Guitar Lessons - Spaces Now Available
- Free Cricket Clinic - Sunday 19 February
- Yass Minor Rugby League - 2023 Registrations Now Open
- Premier's Back To School Letter
- Collection Notice for Parents/Guardians
Dear Parents, Teachers and Students,
Welcome, everyone, to the 2023 school year. I hope that the school holidays were a restful and rejuvenating break for all our students and staff and that everyone is looking forward to a joy-filled year of learning. A very special welcome to Mt Carmel’s new Kindergarten students and to all students and families who are joining the Mt Carmel community this year. I hope you and your children will soon feel very at home here at Mt Carmel School. A special welcome also to Mrs Sheree Shoring, Mrs Ashlee Hogan and Mrs Emily Rhodes who are joining our staff this year; we are thrilled to have you as part of our teaching team! As always, there has been much going on around our buildings and grounds over the Christmas break in preparation for the new school year. I am very grateful to all staff for their preparation of classrooms and learning spaces throughout the school over the holidays; they look very welcoming. Thanks to Robbie Shepherd for preparing the school grounds; he has spent many hours making our school look beautiful.
It is wonderful to be commencing the new school year without the restrictions in place that, in previous years, have prevented many of our regular start-of-year events from being held as usual. This year I’m pleased to be able to let you all know that our Opening School Mass and Leadership Induction Ceremony will be held tomorrow, Thursday 2 February, at 9:30am in St Augustine’s Church; our Welcome BBQ and Open Classroom Evening will be held next Thursday 9 February between 5pm and 6:30pm; our school Swimming Carnival will be held in Week 3 on Tuesday 14 February; and we will be holding our traditional Pancake Breakfast on Shrove Tuesday, 21 February, from 7:30am. Details and reminders of these important community-building events will follow in future newsletters.
Communication
Open, honest and timely communication is a very important part of our relationship with parents. If you have any concerns about any aspect of your child’s progress, your first point of contact should always be your child’s teacher. Please email them directly or phone the school office to leave a message and they will be able to organise a mutually convenient time for a meeting or conversation. Likewise, please do not hesitate to make contact with me directly if you have any concerns, questions or feedback about any aspect of school life at Mt Carmel. You can make contact via the school office or send an email to me directly at michael.green@cg.catholic.edu.au. Please remember, though, that staff may not respond to emails or return phone calls after 4:30pm and before 8:30am during the week and not at all on weekends. We hope you support our endeavour to promote a healthy work-life balance for our staff.
Remember, too, that Compass is the main channel that we use to communicate with the school community, so please ensure that you can access your Compass account and have notifications enabled from the app, and that your contact details, including email address, are current. If you have any difficulty accessing Compass, please contact the school office for assistance.
Opening Mass and School Theme
Tomorrow at 9:30am Fr Peter will help or school to welcome the new year by celebrating Mass with us in St Augustine’s Church and blessing our new student leaders. Families are welcome to attend Mass to celebrate with us. Our theme for 2023 is Love One Another, taken from John 15:12. As a school we will be exploring the many ways each of us can actively model God’s love to all in our community, as Jesus taught us. I would like to publicly acknowledge the talented work of Jake Wullaert, Year 6 2022, who designed the symbolic representation of our school theme.
Welcome BBQ and Open Classrooms
Next Thursday 9 February we will be holding a welcome BBQ and Open Classrooms. The BBQ will commence at 5pm on the schoolplayground, and the classrooms will be open between 5:30pm and 6:30pm. To help plan our catering, we will be sending an RSVP link via Compass later this week – please respond if your family will be coming. The open classrooms are an opportunity for your child to show you their classroom and introduce you to their teacher. Each class will have information for parents to familiarise you with routines for the year and topics of study for Term 1.
Canteen Commencing Week 2
The school canteen will commence operation next Thursday 9 February. All orders are requested to be made via Qkr! before 9am each Thursday and Friday.
Swimming Carnival
Weather permitting, our school swimming carnival will be held in Week 3, Tuesday 14 February. The event is a Primary (Year 3-6) carnival; however, students in Year 2 who will be turning 8 in 2023 are able to attend if they are competitive swimmers. Further information about the carnival, including enrolling in events and volunteering, will be coming from Mr Dunstan shortly.
Kindergarten Rest Days and Assessment
I hope that everyone’s first day of ‘Big School’ yesterday was filled with excitement and fun. Kindergarten Rest Days commence today and will continue on Wednesdays until Week 5. The final rest day will be on March 1, with full weeks commencing in Week 6. The Kindergarten Assessment Program commences next week, and families are asked to contact the school office to book an appointment time with their child’s teacher. A separate letter containing details about Kindergarten Assessment was sent to Kinder parents yesterday.
Food Allergies
Although Mt Carmel does not declare ourselves to be a nut-free school, we do encourage all our students and families to be allergy aware. This week, if your child is sharing a classroom with another student who suffers from a food or contact allergy, you will receive a letter outlining precautions that we ask you to consider. Please also have a conversation with your child about the importance of not sharing food or canteen money at school, as it contributes to our Stay Safe rule.
Road Safety
The start of the year is a good time to give a reminder about traffic safety around the school. I ask all parents to model safe behaviour when driving, parking and crossing roads around the school. Also please be mindful that the length of Dutton St from the school office to the Meehan St intersection is a no parking zone before and after school, so you can use these spaces to drop-off or pick up, but if you leave your vehicle, you may be booked.
Playgroup
The Mt Carmel Playgroup will commence in Week 2, each Thursday between 9 and 11am. All families with pre-school aged children are welcome, so please spread the word if you have a family friend who may enjoy attending. The cost of $3 for the first child and $1 for each subsequent child in the family covers morning tea and art/craft supplies. Thanks to Amber Maher for leading our Playgroup.
Reconciliation
A reminder to families of students in Year 3 and above that registrations for the Sacrament of Reconciliation are due by this Friday 3 February. The registration form can be downloaded from the parish website (http://staug-yass.org.au/wp/sacraments/first-reconciliation-eucharist-2019/) and returned as a PDF via email to the parish sacramental team (sacramentalteamyass@gmail.com) or dropped off as a hard-copy to either the school or parish office.
Back to School Vouchers
Attached to this newsletter is a copy of a letter from the NSW Premier about the back to School Voucher scheme. Our uniform shop is accepting the vouchers, and they are valid until 30 June, so if you have already paid for summer uniform items you will still be able to use them for winter purchases. My sincere thanks to Mrs Emma McEvoy for the many hours of work over the busiest time of year in our uniform shop.
2023 Student Residential Address and Other Information Collection
The Australian Government Department of Education (DoE) will collect student residential addresses for all non-government schools between 15 February and 15 March 2023.
This is a regular part of procedures for determining levels of non-government school funding and occurs each year around this time. Attached is a letter from the Department of Education with information about this data collection for families.
Gecko Sports
This term, Years 4 to 6 will be attending a visiting softball clinic for sport; however, the limited availability of a coach means that Year 4, 5 and 6 will be having sport on Thursday, not Friday, in Weeks 2, 3, 4 and 5. So, for these year levels it will be sports uniform on Thursday, academic uniform on Friday. All other year levels will continue to wear their sports uniform on Friday.
May God’s peace be in your families,
Welcome to Term 1! It is fantastic to see everyone after the holidays refreshed and ready for Term 1. Our school theme for 2023 is:
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” John 15:12
Gospel: John 15:1-17
Reflection
Love One Another
2023’s theme continues the theme of walking together and focusing on Jesus’ command: Love each other as I have loved you. Walking together and loving each other is foundational to a synodal culture and a strong community.
Archbishop Prowse has launched 2023 as the Year of Walking Together and he encourages all staff, students and parents to move forward together as a community.
The idea of community comes from the sense of responsibility we have for each other. In the Bible, God encourages us to take care of our brothers and sisters - whether friends or enemies! We must remember the importance of maintaining the connection with each other and focusing on building a community of love in word and actions.
This text is about the practice of Christian charity. Jesus makes the connection between relationship and responsibility: friendship with Jesus requires that we live by the law of love. This means developing peaceful and caring relationships with others. Further, friends of Jesus are called to continue his mission to share God’s love with all those we meet. Bringing ‘joy to the world’ is characteristically Christian, but not without working for peace and justice.
What must I do in my life in 2023 to strengthen my relationships with God and with one another?
How can I implement Jesus’ command in my personal and work life?
Let us all pray and seek the power of the Holy Spirit to make disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ by loving one another.
Opening School Mass
The whole school will be attending our Opening School Mass on Thursday 2 February, 9.30 am, at St Augustine’s Church, to celebrate the new academic year and the induction of our new student leaders. We invite our Mt Carmel community and St Augustine’s parishioners to celebrate this special event with us. Mt Carmel School wishes all students a successful start to 2023.
Enjoy your week!
Eva Karakotas
Religious Education Coordinator
Gecko Sports
This term, grades 4 - 6 will be participating in softball clinics run by Gecko Sports. The clinics will run from Week 2 - 5 every Thursday. To accommodate this, Sports days for Years 4 - 6 from weeks 2 -5 will be Tuesdays and Thursdays. From Week 6 onwards, sports days will revert to the normal Tuesdays and Fridays. If that makes no sense, below is a table that might clear things up for you:
Sports Days for Years 4 - 6 |
|
Week 1 |
Tuesday & Friday |
Week 2 - 5 |
Tuesday & Thursday |
Week 6-10 |
Tuesday & Friday |
Swimming Carnival
Our school swimming carnival will be held at the Yass Pool on 14th February (Tuesday Week 3). The Northern Region carnival will also be held at the Yass pool on Thursday 23rd February (Thursday Week 4). We will require lots of parent volunteers for both events so please save the date!
Ted Dunstan
Sports Coordinator
Lacey Library News - Save The Dates!
Friday 24 February
Bookaneer Book Fair: Where books are the treasure!
ALIA National Simultaneous Storytime
Wednesday 24 May
The Speedy Sloth by Rebecca Young and Heath McKenzie
CBCA 2023 Book Week
Monday 19 August - Friday 25 August
Theme: Read Grow Inspire
Book Week Parade: Friday 25 August
Nat Browers
Teacher/Librarian
Reconciliation - Registrations Closes This Friday
Please complete the form and return a PDF copy via email to sacramentalteamyass@gmail.com or hardcopy to Mt Carmel School Office or St Augustine's Parish Office. Payment to be made via bank transfer and receipt to be sent via email as above.
Click here to access the Reconciliation forms on the Parish website.
The team will be in touch after registration closes with a timetable and a pack to be collected.
Registrations close this Friday, 3 February.
Piano Lessons - Spaces Available for 2023
Has your child ever thought about learning piano?
Margaret Hanson teaches lessons from the school Monday to Friday during school terms.
Please contact Margaret on 0407 285 420 if you have any questions or would like to secure a space for your child this year.
Guitar Lessons - Spaces Now Available