Newsletter 30 June 2023
Principal's Message
Friday 30 June 2023 - Term 2 Week 10
Dear Parents and Carers,
We are delighted to share that today we marked the celebration of NAIDOC Day here at St Augustine's. We hosted a special breakfast for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, elders, and friends to kick off the festivities. The morning was filled with community spirit as One Mob radio broadcasted live from our school premises. Following this, the entire school gathered for a NAIDOC assembly.
These events were organised to honour and commemorate the rich history, vibrant culture, and remarkable achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC Week serves as a unique opportunity for all Australians to actively participate in educational activities centred around the cultures and histories of First Nations. It allows us to join together in celebrating the world's oldest and most enduring living cultures.
We are grateful for our school community's enthusiastic participation and support in making NAIDOC Day a meaningful and memorable experience. We foster understanding, appreciation, and unity by coming together and embracing diversity.
We are pleased to announce the launch of our new website today. While the overall appearance of the site remains largely unchanged, there are a few minor differences worth noting. One significant change is that the School notices, Cohort Pages, and our Parent Page on the school intranet can now be accessed through the 'user' icon, conveniently located in the same spot as the "I" on the existing website.
Parent-teacher meetings will take place during Week 3 next Term. We strongly encourage all families to make time for this meeting, as we firmly believe that establishing strong family-school connections greatly impacts a student's learning and overall well-being. The online booking system will be available on Compass starting Monday, July 17.
I sincerely appreciate your support throughout the term as I have navigated the Acting Principal role. We have yet to receive confirmation of Mr Watts' return date, however, he says hello to everyone.
We will embark on Term 3 enthusiastically and eagerly and look forward to another term filled with fun experiences and valuable learning opportunities. Please refer to the school website and Compass calendar for key events, including St Augustine's Day/Colour-Thon, the Book Week parade, Father's Day breakfast and liturgy, and K-6 socials. Stay tuned!
Thank you once again for your continued support.
Kind regards,
Naomi Loader
Acting Principal
Faith and Mission News
Sacramental Program 2023
Sacrament of Confirmation
On Wednesday 19 and Thursday 20 July, Bishop Greg will administer the sacrament of Confirmation on the candidates pictured below. He will lay his hands over them, calling on the Holy Spirit to seal and strengthen in the the gifts that they received at their Baptism. He will then anoint them with the oil of Holy Chrism to strengthen them for their mission of spreading the Good News of God’s love through their words and actions.
Please keep these candidates in your prayers as they make their final preparations.
Year 4 Accendere Retreat
Last Friday, the Year 4 students participated in a spirituality retreat day called 'Accendere' (meaning to ignite or to spark the flame). The retreat's theme was centred around friendship and the variety of activities promoted a positive atmosphere for students to share their faith. Song, dance, drama, pizza, games, a graffiti wall and prayer all contributed to the students gaining new insights into friendship and having a fun day.
Year 4 Accendere
Year 2’s Connection to Catholic Social Teaching
As Year 2 explored the characters in the story, ‘Gangster Granny’ they made connections to the Catholic Social Teaching that all people should be treated with dignity. They invited grandparents in to share their wisdom with the children and everyone enjoyed spending time together.
Gangsta Granny Day
RE Spotlight - Year 1
For the past 5 weeks, Year One’s Religious Education lessons have focused on God’s Creation. To celebrate their learning, they held ‘Creation Week’ where the children participated in a variety of activities based on the theme of God’s wonderful gift of creation.
Here is 1 yellow having a special prayer to thank God for his gift of creation.
1 Blue Prayer Service
1 Red explored the meaning of ‘Sabbath’, a day of rest.
Divine Mercy Chaplet
After the 9:15am Friday morning Mass a group of parishioners will be staying back to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet each week. They have been going for 2 weeks now. They will start as soon as the students leave the Church. Teachers, student, parents etc are all very warmly invited to join in if they wish to stay back after Mass. Laminated booklets will be available to help people follow along with the prayers. Regular Rosary beads are used and it takes approximately 20 minutes.
Reconciliation Times in our Parish are as follows:
Coffs Harbour, St Augustine’s Church : Saturday 9:30am-10:30am and 4:30pm -5:30pm
Woolgoolga, St Francis Xavier’s Church : Sunday 8:15am - 8:45am
Dominique Montford - Acting Assistant Principal Mission
Maria Woods - Leader of School Evangelisation
Learning and Teaching
Book Parade Save the Date:
It’s time to get those creative thinking hats out and begin planning for the St Augustine's Book Week parade. This exciting K-6 event will be held on Wednesday, August 23 (Week 6, Term 3).
The Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Book Week theme for 2023 is ….
K-2 Parent Storytelling Dates Term 3 & 4
Save the Dates: K-2 Parent Storytelling dates for Term 3 and Term 4
Click on the Google Form to let us know you will be there.
Term 3 | Term 4 | ||||
Kindergarten | Week 2: July 28 | Week 8: Sept 8 | Kindergarten | Week 2: Oct 20 | Week 6: Nov 17 |
Year 1 | Week 4: Aug 11 | Week 9: Sept 15 | Year 1 | Week 3: Oct 27 | Week 8: Dec 1 |
Year 2 | Week 1: July 21 | Week 5: Aug 18 | Year 2 | Week 4: Nov 3 | Week 7: Nov 24 |
K-2 Christmas Parent Storytelling
Term 4, Week 9
Friday, December 8
Everyone is welcome!!!!
Parent Teacher Meetings
Semester Two Parent/Teacher meetings have been scheduled for Week 3 (31 July to 04 August 2023). Online bookings will be open from Monday, 17 July at 12.00pm and close on Friday, 28 July at 12.00pm with interviews commencing on Monday, 31 July 2023 and go to Friday, 04 August 2023. Some teachers may have some additional time available in Week 4.
The Parent/Teacher meetings can be booked via your Compass app or desktop in the Conference tab. The Parent/Teacher meetings will be face-to-face. However, if you are unable to attend in person, don’t hesitate to get in touch with your child’s teacher to arrange another time or to have the meeting via another platform, such as Zoom or phone.
We encourage all families to make time to meet with their child's teacher as we know that building strong family-school connections makes a big difference to a student's learning and well-being.
Mini Vinnies 2023 Winter Appeal
Mini Vinnies are collecting quality washed winter clothing and blankets to help local families in need this Winter. Find some time in the holidays to go through the kid's cupboards - SVDP has a shortage of children's sizes, however all donations will be gratefully received! Please bring any donations to your class teacher early next term.
SJPC Sleepout
Students and staff from SJPC will be spending a night out in the cold on Thursday 17th August to raise awareness and much needed funds for people in our community experiencing homelessness. Their fundraising goal is $10,000!
Please support them by making a donation via the following website:
https://my.fundraise.
COLOURTHON - Save the date - 25 August
WATCH THIS SPACE for sponsorship information
coming early in Term 3!
Sport News & Sport Calendar
July 2023
| 21 July | Elective Sports Commences (Years 3-6) |
August 2023
| 2 August | NSWCPS Girl's Rugby Union 7's |
| 7 August | NSWCPS Golf |
| 14 August | NSWCPS Rugby 10s Chris Gangemi Cup (Hunters Hill) |
| 15 August | Lismore Diocesan Athletics (Coffs Harbour) |
| 15-18 August | NSWPSSA Soccer (Nelsons Bay) |
| 22-24 August | NSWPSSA Rugby Union (Camden) |
| 12 September | Rugby 7s State Final (Shore School, North Sydney) |
Rugby 10s Gala Day
On Friday 16th June, our U12’s Rugby 10s side competed in a tough knockout tournament against some high quality sides from our Lismore Diocese. Despite losing their first game, the team found their feet, winning the rest of their round games and finding themselves in a final against the only team that had beaten them earlier in the day. The final was declared a draw at full time, however as St Augustine’s scored first, they were crowned the Lismore Diocesan Champions! The team will now travel to St Joseph’s, Sydney to compete in the Chris Gangemi Cup. A big thank you to Chris Webb for coaching the side.
Rugby 7s Regional Finals
On Monday 19th June St Augustine’s took an Under 10’s and U12’s side to the Rugby 7’s Regional Finals in Port Maquarie after winning both divisions at the local 7’s competition back in Term 1. The U10’s had the opportunity to play against some new teams from the Kempsey and Port Maquarie region and were very excited to come away undefeated for the day. The U12’s worked hard in their round games to secure a plaice in the final. While they were unfortunately defeated in the final, they have been invited to the State Cup Final held in Sydney in September as runners up. This is an amazing and achievement and will be an incredible experience for the team.
Polding Rugby Union
Well done to our students, Preston Burbridge, Zack Harris, Mitchell McKenzie, Willem Rowbotham, and Luke Welsh who attended the Polding Rugby Union Selection trials in Forbes on Monday.
The boys all displayed very good skills and talents in all games on the day and Lismore were undefeated in the round robin games. Well done boys!
Clarence Zone Athletics Carnival
Yesterday our team of athletes from Year 2 through to Year 6 attended the Clarence Zone Athletics Carnival at the C.ex Coffs International Stadium. St Augustine’s had great success across a variety of events and as always were wonderful in their support for each other as a team. We are proud to announce that St Augustine’s once again was awarded the Clarence Zone Athletics Carnival Champion Shield! A full team report will be posted in the next newsletter. Congratulations to the following students who were awarded Clarence Zone Age Champions.
Junior Boy: Nate Butcher
11 Year Girls: Grace Duede
11 Year Boys: Cohen Straw
Senior Girls: Pippa Dodd
Elective Sports (Years 3-6)
We are looking forward to offering our students a variety of sports next term.
Term 3 Elective Sports for students in Years 3-6 will commence in Week 1 of Term 3 - Friday 31 July. Please note, students will not be allowed to attend their sport if full payment has not been made. Payments are made through Compass and were due on 23 June.
Canteen News
Canteen Roster
Week beginning 17 July
- Monday - M Mainey
- Tuesday - C Williams , C Burbridge
- Wednesday - C Jones
- Thursday - J Murphy, D Kelly
- Friday - W McLean, K Cochran, L Horne
Week beginning 24 July
- Monday - V Wall
- Tuesday - J Ward, G Lee
- Wednesday - P Duffy, B Symons
- Thursday - C Williams
- Friday - L Knight, W McLean, G Dodd
Notices
