Newsletter 26 August 2022
- Principal's Message
- 2022 Upcoming Events
- Faith and Mission News
- Learning and Teaching
- Sport News & Sport Calendar
- Father's Day Breakfast Friday 2 September
- Hoodwinked Musical - Tickets Selling FAST!
- COLOURTHON - Friday 14 October
- Grandparent's Day - Save the Date - 7 Nov
- 2023 Kindergarten Preschool Borrowing Program
- Canteen Menu for 2022
- Canteen Roster
- Lunchtime Clubs 2022
- Parenting Ideas
- Community Notices
Principal's Message
BOOK WEEK PARADE
NSW Regional Netball Grand Finalists - Sydney bound!
Friday 26 August 2022 - Term 3 Week 6
Dear Parents and Carers
Today we celebrated the feast day of our patron, St Augustine with a liturgy and cross-cohort groups participated in a variety of activities. It was the first time we have been able to complete this celebration in such a way because of COVID and so it was not only fun but built school spirit and connections across the school. The actual feast day is celebrated on Sunday and everyone is welcome to celebrate at the parish Mass - google ‘Coffs Catholic’ for details.
Book Week was also celebrated over the last few days and the dress up parade was a hit. There were many great costumes and staff and students really enjoyed themselves. During their library time, children have been reading all the shortlisted books and all have their favourites. The winner for this year was Jetty Jumping by Andrea Rowe for early years and A Glasshouse of Stars by Shirley Marr for readers age 7-12.
The ‘Tell Them From Me’ survey sent out closes on Wednesday 31st August and I would encourage all parents to have their say and give us some feedback. We’re looking to improve and having some information from home can help us to make plans.
Last week we participated in a rigorous review process from an external panel to examine why, when, how we teach and ensure learning for all. The great news is we have come out with an excellent report, affirming our approach, use of resources, pastoral care, pedagogy and very good academic results. Education is a complex business and inevitably there are areas to improve on and the information in the report, together with the staff, parent and student surveys will give us a good picture so we can map out our next steps as a school community.
A couple of reminders. A few children have been ripping the band off their hats for an unknown reason - I’m assuming it’s to look ‘cool’ (grumpy dad speaking!). Unfortunately parents will need to replace damaged hats so that their children are neatly in uniform, which is undesirable and expensive. If you can remind your children, it would be appreciated. On another note, please do not bring your children to school early - there is no supervision until 8.15am and with the earlier sunrise and (soon to be) warmer weather children will get up earlier.
Sport, Sport. Sport! Coco Becker has excelled at the recent Australian Championships, with an amazing tally of medals - three gold, one silver and two bronze medals, making her one of the fastest girls in the country!! An exceptional achievement, only completed with hard work (and lots of talent and supportive parents). We’re all very proud of Coco. Congratulations also to the Netball girls who won the Regional Championships against all schools, held in Port Macquarie. They are off to Sydney in November with super-coach Ms Batey. Finally, well done to all the students in the local rugby competition and especially to the coaches and supporters. The grand finals will be held tonight, with St Augustine’s featuring in most age divisions. Go, you good things!
Grace and peace
Peter Watts
Principal
2022 Upcoming Events
August 2022
| 31 | ICAS Mathematics - Years 3-6 |
| 31 | Year 2 Excursion Aquarium/Jetty Beach |
September 2022
| 2 | Father's Day Stall |
| 2 | Father's Day Liturgy - 9:00am |
| 6 | Yrs K-2 Chicken Burger Day |
| 13-15 | HOODWINKED Musical |
| 16 | Whole School Assembly - 2:00pm |
| 19 | Year 4 Accendere Spiritual Retreat |
| 21 | Sacrament of Confirmation - 4:30 pm and 6:15pm |
| 22 | Last Day Term 3 for Students |
| 23 | Staff Development Day - No Students |
Faith and Mission News
St Augustine’s Feast Day
Today we came together as a school community to celebrate the Feast of St Augustine. St Augustine struggled with his faith for many years before finally embracing it and becoming a faithful follower of Jesus. St Augustine teaches us that no matter how far you may stray from God’s love, God will always love us and call us back.
After our whole school liturgy, students went into cross cohort groups where they were able to get to know students from other grades and work together to learn more about St Augustine.
Sacrament of Confirmation
Preparation for students in Years 3-6 who will be receiving the sacrament of Confirmation on 21 September has begun.
Please keep these children and their families in your prayers.
Prayer for Confirmation Candidates:
Lord, You send out Your Spirit to touch the hearts of all people, so that they may believe in You and in Jesus whom You sent.
Look kindly on all candidates for Confirmation as they listen to Your voice.
Open their hearts to Your Spirit and bring to fulfilment the good work that You have begun in them.
As we prepare these children for Confirmation, make each of us an instrument of Your love.
Teach us to appreciate what is holy in others, and to be patient with what we do not understand.
Deepen our faith in the Gospel and help us to pass it on by our example.
We pray that You will continue to guide us and sustain us. We ask this: through Christ our Lord,
Amen.
Are you looking for a gift to buy for your Confirmation candidate?
The Piety Shop (outside the church) is open each weekend after Saturday night 5:30pm Mass and also after Sunday morning 8am Mass. The shop will also be open for Confirmation Gifts between 2:30pm-3:30pm on Thursday 15 September.
Spotlight on Religious Education: Year 3
This term the Year 3 students have looked closely at the story of Pentecost and identified the qualities of the early Christian community. Pentecost is a great solemnity in the Catholic Church. It celebrates the presence of the Holy Spirit. It is with the grace of the Holy Spirit that the Church community discerns how to live as Christians. Just like the disciples, we too need the strength of the Holy Spirit.
Students have gained a deeper understanding of how the presence of the Spirit helps us to be people of love and service, bringing the hope-filled message of Jesus into our world. The presence of the Holy Spirit encourages us to identify our gifts and see how we can contribute to our community – as a community that tries to follow the actions of Jesus. This learning is helping prepare our Confirmation candidates to receive the gift of the Sacrament of Confirmation.
A visit from Fr Peter
Fr Peter Wood was Assistant Priest at St Augustine’s, here in Coffs Harbour some years ago and is now is in the Murwillumbah Parish in the Tweed Valley. Fr Peter came to Coffs Harbour to participate in Shine, a special religious day event at St John Paul College for the Yr 9 & 10 students in the Diocese. He also was kind enough to accept our invitation to visit 3M to talk to the children about his wonderful vocation as a priest. The children were very eager to hear from him, asking many questions about his life and work in the Church. Thanks Fr Peter!
Parish Playgroup is back
9am Tuesdays (during school term) at the Curran Centre (Parish Office), 12 Gordon St, Coffs Harbour.
We warmly invite families with babies, toddlers, pre-school age children/grandchildren to join our parish playgroup.
If you are interested in becoming a Playgroup helper, to offer assistance with set-up or leading a craft or music activity, please contact the parish office on 6651 0000.
Naomi Loader- Assistant Principal Mission
Dominique Montford - Leader of School Catechesis
Maria Woods - Leader of School Evangelisation
Learning and Teaching
Hoodwinked the Musical: A few facts and figures
Student Participation | Key Staff |
130 students from Year 5 and 6 This includes the cast, crew, and technical team 65% of Stage 3 | 9 staff Wendy O’Sullivan, Leonie Hewitt, Tracey Backhouse, Maria Woods, Alesha Turner, Emma Nolan, Dustin Kerr, Kelly O’Carroll and Julie Galvin |
Being part of a musical primes the brain for learning. Here are some key things you should know that students learn from being part of such a production.
Students learn:
- Drama skills
- Musical skills: singing solo and being part of a chorus
- Dance choregorgahy
- To be part of a team
- Persistance: seeing a project through to the end
- To think on their feet
- Confidence in themselves
- To remember lines
- Patience
- Technical skills including how to manage stage lighting and sound equipment
- The importance of timing
- To listen to each other
- Follow instructions (often multi step)
Most importantly, students learn the joyful connection between learning and being creative. Something to certainly celebrate. We wish the cast, crew, and staff team all the best in these final weeks of preparation.
LARC News
BOOK WEEK PARADE 2022
What a fantastic turn out of staff, students and parents for our 2022 Book Week Parade. Many thanks to all those who assisted in or dressed up for the occasion. We hope you all enjoyed the parade and winning announcement. Please see our photo gallery below.
Jetty Jumping was the winning book in the Early Childhood section with Walk of the Whales and Amira’s Suitcase both receiving honours.
The graph shows how the students in Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 voted for the book they thought would win.
Book Week Parade 2022
Early Childhood Shortlist Books
Congratulations to our random draw winners. These students submitted reading minutes this term.
NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge
The Premier’s Reading Challenge closed last week for students to add to their reading log. We still have until Friday 2nd September to complete the admin side of this challenge.
If your student has been unable to complete their lists they are able to come see Mrs Catling in the LARC.
Sport News & Sport Calendar
SCHOOL SPORTS AUSTRALIA SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
This week our ‘Super Fish’ Coco Becker represented NSW in the School Sports Australia Swimming Championships in Brisbane. To make it to this level is an outstanding achievement in its own right, however Coco was determined to show what an amazing competitor she can be even on a national level, bringing home a medal in all but one of her 7 events. At only 10 years old Coco has a very bright future ahead of her in swimming and we feel very humbled to have such a decorated champion attend our school. Congratulations Coco!!!!
50m Butterfly - Bronze
4 x 50m Medley Relay- Gold
Individual Medley- Gold
50m Backstroke- Bronze
50m Freestyle- Silver
50m Breastroke- 4th
4 x 50m Freestyle- Gold
NETBALL NSW SCHOOLS CUP
On Wednesday, our Year 5/6 netball team travelled to Port Macquarie to compete in the regional finals of the Netball NSW Schools Cup. The girls played extremely well against some high quality opponents and were undefeated in their pool. The team then played in the Grand Final and WON!!!! We would like to thank Ms Maddie Batey for all her hard work preparing the girls and coaching them on the day. The girls will now progress through to Sydney in the State Finals in November.
Congratulations to all students: Charli Warren, Sienna Harrison, Jennifer Martin, Sway Butler, Skye Critten, Zoe Funston, Mia Henry, Grace Bjorksten, Claire O’Rorke and Cora Dujin.
BARNEY BARSELAAR CUP
Yesterday saw our soccer team compete at the annual Barney Barselaar Cup at St Francis Xavier Primary School, Woolgoolga. We would like to thank coach Brett Hodgekiss for helping to prepare the side and coach them on the day. It is a wonderful gala day held in honour of Barney Barselaar, who was a student at St Francis Xavier. The games are played in great spirit and we are grateful to St Francis Xavier for the opportunity to play against other schools in our local area. Our team had many close games and ended up 3rd place overall. Fantastic work!
Congratulations to all students: Riley Wood, Carter Crowley, Ruben Simpson, Jack Cardow, Taj Gray, Pippa Dodd, Liana Montgomery, Maikal Maikal, Harlow Smith, Coco Chiswell, Willem Rowbotham, Max Crowley, Ashton Deans and Rory Aherne.
CIS RUGBY UNION CHAMPIONSHIPS
Jed Cruikshanks represented Polding and attended the CIS Rugby Union Championships in Mudgee this week. Jed was chosen to captain his side and played extremely well as scrum half in a tough rugby tournament. The Polding side went on to win the Grand Final! Congratulations on your continued success on the rugby field Jed!
POLDING CRICKET TRIALS
Today Riley Wood will compete in Tamworth at the Polding Cricket Trials. Cricket is one of many sports Riley has shown great talent in. We wish him all the best and look forward to hearing how he goes.
ST AUGUSTINE’S RUGBY UNION
Tonight wraps up the rugby season and we are proud to announce that it has been another very successful year with St Augustine’s fielding two U12 sides, two U10 sides and one U8 side. Both U10 sides have made it through to the Grand Final which promises to be a very close match between two very talented sides. Our U12 Maroon side unfortunately went down in a very close semi-final but will play off for 3rd/4th. U8’s don’t play finals but will battle it out in their last game of the season for fun!
We would like to thank Paul Butcher for all his hard work organising St Augustine’s Rugby, coaching the U10’s and making the junior competition such a success. Thanks also to coaches Kevin Simpson, Chris Webb, Jamie Cruickshanks, Graeme Doyle, Matt Rowbotham, Andy Armstrong, Matt Joyce, Dan Backhouse, Peter Readett and Neil Harrigan.
COFFS HARBOUR RUNNING FESTIVAL - SUNDAY 11 SEPTEMBER
We are excited to announce that the Schools Challenge is back for this event! St Augustine’s have previously been proud winners of this event thanks to the large number of students coming along to show their support. We’d love to see even more students join us in 2022 and help us win a very healthy prize of $2 000 towards sporting equipment!
To register simply click on the link below. You don’t need to be an experienced runner. All ability levels are encouraged to run! ENTER HERE
NEWCASTLE JETS SOCCER TEAM
A huge thank you to the Newcastle Jets who came to visit us on Wednesday 24 August 2022.
Sport Calendar
| September 2022 | |
| 6 | Soccer and Netball Clarence Zone Gala Day |
| 9 | Polding Athletics (Newcastle) |
| 11 | Coffs Harbour Running Festival |
| 21 | Soccer and Netball Lismore Diocese Gala Day |
Father's Day Breakfast Friday 2 September
Hoodwinked Musical - Tickets Selling FAST!
HOODWINKED tickets went ON SALE online on Monday night
and are selling FAST!
Don't miss out!
Click on the link below to purchase your seats from Sticky Tickets:
https://www.stickytickets.com.au/ov090/
Please note that there are 2 sessions on Thursday 15 Sept - be sure to select your preferred time!
Please note that patrons are to be seated by the ticketed time,
with doors opening 30 mins before the show commences.
COLOURTHON - Friday 14 October
We are excited to launch our Colour-Thon today. The Colour-Thon will be held on Friday, 14 October and is a major fundraiser for our St Augustine's Parent Forum. The funds raised help to improve the school's facilities. This year we have pledged to donate 10% of our profits to St Joseph's Woodburn who have been displaced from their school due to the floods earlier in the year.
The attached documents outline details of the event and how each child signs up for the Colour-Thon. Next Thursday, 1 September, any student who has signed up will receive an icy pole. Following that, each week, there will be class prizes for the class/team that raises the most in that week. There will be overall prizes awarded at the Colour-Thon for the highest fundraising team and individuals.
Further details about the day will be provided closer to the event, however, we are excited that our families will be able to join us this year for all the fun!
Please follow the following steps to sign your child/ren up for the Colour-Thon:
1. Go to https://chuffed.org/project/st-augustines-colourthon-2022/signup
2. Enter the student's details etc
3. You can use your child's school email address or a home email address, whichever you'd prefer.
4. Create a password
5. Choose a profile picture - we suggest that this is NOT a photo of your child, rather choose another appropriate image.
6. Select your CLASS TEAM - it is important to do this as all your donations will go towards the weekly class tally.
7. Click submit
8. A link to your personal sponsorship page will be emailed to you - share this link with family and friends to start collecting sponsors.
Thank you. We look forward to a great day for our 2022 Colour-Thon.
Naomi Loader
Assistant Principal Mission on behalf of the St Augustine's Parent Forum
Grandparent's Day - Save the Date - 7 Nov
2023 Kindergarten Preschool Borrowing Program
Canteen Menu for 2022
- SUSHI WEDNESDAYS
A reminder that we cannot accept sushi orders on Wednesdays - please order by the Tuesday prior - by 2pm for a paper bag order or 8pm for an online order. Thank you. - CANTEEN VOLUNTEERS
We really need help with our SPECIAL LUNCH DAYS which fall on alternate Tuesdays and the last day of every term. Helping in the canteen is a great way to meet other parents, support your child and our school. Please contact the school if you can spare a few hours on these busy days. Thank you. - CANCELLATION OF CANTEEN ORDERS
Please remember to cancel online canteen orders if your child is away or sick prior to 7:30 am on the day of the order. Thank you - Alicia and Rosa
Canteen Roster
Week beginning 29 August
- Monday - V Wall
- Tuesday - J Ward
- Wednesday - P Duffy, B Symons
- Thursday - C Williams - Help Needed !
- Friday - G Dodd, L Knight, W McLean - Help Needed !
Week beginning 5 September
- Monday - L Seccombe
- Tuesday - C Williams
- Wednesday - J Martin, N Flintoff
- Thursday - S Crawford, M Van Den Boom
- Friday - P Duffy, W McLean, K Cochran
Week beginning 12 September
- Monday -N Williams
- Tuesday - Help Needed !
- Wednesday - C Jones, E Taylor
- Thursday - J Martin, C Williams
- Friday - W McLean, H Butler - Help Needed !
Week beginning 19 September
- Monday - N Williams
- Tuesday - M Mainey, Help Needed !
- Wednesday - C Jones - Help Needed !
- Thursday - L Horne, C Burbridge
- Friday - P Duffy, W McLean, K Cochran
Canteen News
Canteen helpers are always required, especially on Wednesdays as this is our sushi day, and on Fridays. Help is needed for three hours from 9:00 am until 12:00 noon once every four weeks. Grandparents are very welcome also. If you are able to help in the Canteen on any day please call us on 6652 1204.
Alicia Betland & Rosa Thomas - Canteen Managers
Lunchtime Clubs 2022
Parenting Ideas
Community Notices
