Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back to Semester 2. I trust that you had a great school term break, and the start of the new term has been smooth sailing. Term break probably seems like a distant memory, given how busy the start to the term has been. Staff were very fortunate to have had a professional learning opportunity on the first day back which was held for all Manning employees in Taree. The day highlighted the aspects of culture that are very important to our first nation’s people of the Manning area, as well as walking us through provocative artwork portraying the hidden history since colonisation and the impacts on the Indigenous people of this land. All participants were fully engaged and appreciative of the opportunity. Local elders spoke to us of their experiences, and we were able to discuss at our table groups our understanding of the different historical events and cultural significance of sacred places.

Following on from this day staff were charged with the responsibility to provide meaningful and thought-provoking learning activities to their classes leading up to Naidoc celebrations on Friday 26 July.

Klahra Ridgeway gave our acknowledgement to Country and we were pleased to see so many parents join us. We welcomed special guests Desmond Donnelly, Michelle Donnelly and Tanya Thompson to our celebration. After our flag raising ceremony, we had a shared morning tea for our guests followed by an assembly and a sausage sizzle lunch for all students. Teachers explored various topics, perspectives and experiences with students and shared some of those at the assembly.

Congratulations to the following students on receiving Deadly Awards:

Kinder

KM Nyjah Sparke. He is so proud of his Aboriginal culture and loved sharing his knowledge with his peers.

KT Malachi Davis. For his improved attendance and application to school life.

Year 1

1N Deadly Award-Jaala Roberts because she is so enthusiastic during Cultural lessons, and always looks after the environment and those around her.

1M Deadly Award- Jaxson Treasure because of his enthusiasm and engagement in Cultural lessons.

Year 2

2L- Jarmarni Davis - Her award is for taking on everything with a smile and demonstrating great resilience.

2S- Jarley Went- Since coming to Holy Name he has blown me away with his appreciation, understanding, connection and celebration of local aboriginal culture. I remember a Yolngu Elder once said to me, "Country is not just a place you can visit. It's also something you carry around inside of you."

This quote reminds me of Jarley. He lives, breathes culture and that is one of the things we love about him.

Year 3

3W Dakota Hooper to be awarded the Deadly Award- for her curiosity to learn more.

3M- Tyrese Simon- I love the pride he shows in his heritage and culture.

Year 4

4Q-Callen Ridgeway for his exceptional talent and creativity in visual arts.

4H- Arlo Haywood for Deadly award

Year 5

5H Amaya Pucci - For consistent enthusiasm and effort across all subject areas

5S Dakota Bowen - For always approaching learning in a positive manner and being proud of her cultural heritage.

Year 6M

Tarickai Smith - For his efforts in applying himself to learning and his great achievements in Rugby League this year.

PRINCIPAL'S Deadly Awards

Infants - Armalia Rose Lily-Donovan

Primary - Airlia Coulton - Donelly

                                                                                                                          The theme for this year’s Naidoc week is Keep the Fire Burning! Blak, Loud and Proud (7-14 July 2024).

The national Naidoc committee selected this theme to celebrate not only the survival but also the relentless spirit of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. ‘Keep the fire burning’ is a nod to the vitality and endurance of culture, the connection with country and community, while ‘Blak, loud and proud’ represents an unapologetic celebration of identity.

Naidoc history spans 86 years with its roots tracing back to a protest in 1938 mourning the 150 year anniversary of the First Fleet arrival.

Artist, Deb Belyea who created the marvellous artwork to represent this years’ theme describes culture as ‘The fire burning within’ and sees it as essential to aboriginal people, identity and culture. She says, culture shows the roads to one another and how to belong to place or country. She believes it is a lifelong responsibility to learn, teach and practice culture. 

Aunty Lynette Riley, Co-Chair of the National Naidoc Committee reflects on the theme and her training as a teacher and says that as educators it is important that all sides of history are taught and that all our students are reflected in what is taught. Staff at Holy Name were very fortunate to have spent Monday of last week with the Aboriginal education team from the diocese and local elders reflecting and learning.  It has given us a fresh perspective on the inter-generational trauma that exists for many of our students and families. Naidoc is a special time to celebrate Aboriginal and Torres strait Islander achievements and deepen the understanding of culture and history and the enduring strength of First nations culture. I would like to thank Desmond Donnelly for playing the didgeridoo and performing a smoking ceremony for us. I would also like to thank Lara Went our Aboriginal education orker for her organisation and coordination of the day.

Watch this space – we have the installation of the yarning circle to take place in the near future. I look forward to seeing this special place come to fruition and having our students use the space.

This week we were fortunate to have students travel to the Civic Theatre in Newcastle to see the Aspire production. Nanma Joy in Year 5 is a member of the cast and sings a solo which I am looking forward to hearing tonight when I attend. The staff and student's feedback from the excursion was very positive.

Our renewed focus on separating our rubbish, recycling and food scraps is going very well. Please encourage your child to recycle paper, cardboard and foil into the yellow bin at home, as well as separate green waste and food scraps into the green bin so that they are better equipped to do this at school. Our fruit scraps are going to go into our school compost for the benefit of the garden beds which provide much needed food for the community kitchen. Thank you to Mrs Harrison for initiating the return and earn recycling of poppers and bottles in exchange for sport equipment. Students have filled 2 tubs already this week.     

Today, you could have mistaken our youngest students for our oldest students. Kindergarten celebrated their 100^th day at school with dress ups, cupcakes, buddy activities and lots of learning fun. Please enjoy the photos on face book when they go up.

Father John Vo is soon to go on a month’s holiday and we wish him a happy and relaxing time away. Whilst Father is away we will postpone all Masses for our students. Parish celebrations of eucharist will continue. I also would like to wish our REC Genevieve all the best on her aMeN caMiNo walk over the next 5 days. Having done the walk on two previous occasions I am confident she will have an amazing pilgrimage experience but ask that you keep her in your thoughts as it is a tough walk over the varying terrains from Cessnock to Newcastle.

I would like to say a huge thank you to the students who attend OOSH. I was treated to a special card and the best cupcakes I have ever eaten, when I was given a special presentation yesterday afternoon in honour of Primary Principal’s Day which falls today. It was a lovely gesture and very much appreciated.

I will be on long service leave next week to attend to an annual community event that I take part in each year. Mary MacKillop Feast Day will be celebrated on Thursday so please read the details about that further in the newsletter. The following week we focus on the National Week of Action – Bullying No Way! The data from our Tell Them from Me survey tells us that we have to work on giving students the tools and strategies to seek assistance and help if they find themselves dealing with undesirable or bullying behaviours. Our data was very strong, but it is still important to highlight what bullying is and isn’t and how to manage situations should they arise. We will always work with you as primary educators of your children should you have any concerns in this area.

Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the sunshine when it arrives again.

Best Wishes,

Niamh

As part of our NAIDOC celebration, an Aboriginal student in each class was awarded a Deadly Award for reasons nominated by their class teacher. Mrs Marzol then spoke with the staff to choose a Principal Deadly Award for Infants and a Primary student. The recipients of these awards were:

Kinder

KM deadly award to go to Nyjah Sparke.

He is so proud of his Aboriginal culture and loved sharing his knowledge with his peers.

Year 1

1N Deadly Award-Jaala Roberts because she is so enthusiastic during Cultural lessons, and always looks after the environment and those around her.

1M Deadly Award- Jaxson Treasure because of his enthusiasm and engagement in Cultural lessons.

Year 2

2L- Jarmarni Davis - Her award is for taking on everything with a smile and demonstrating great resilience.

2S- Jarley Went- Since coming to Holy Name he has blown me away with his appreciation, understanding, connection and celebration of local aboriginal culture. I remember a Yolngu Elder once said to me, "Country is not just a place you can visit. It's also something you carry around inside of you."

This quote reminds me of Jarley. He lives, breathes culture and that is one of the things we love about him.

Year 3

3W Dakota Hooper to be awarded the Deadly Award- for her curiosity to learn more.

3M- Tyrese Simon- I love the pride he shows in his heritage and culture.

Year 4

4Q-Callen Ridgeway for his exceptional talent and creativity in visual arts.

4H- Arlo Haywood for Deadly award

Year 5

5H Amaya Pucci - For consistent enthusiasm and effort across all subject areas

5S Dakota Bowen - 

Year 6M

Tarickai Smith - 

PRINCIPAL'S Deadly Awards

Infants - Armalia Rose Lily-Donovan

Primary - Airlia Coulton - Donelly

ASPIRE

Yesterday, Ms Reynolds and myself took a busload of Primary students to the Civic Theatre in Newcastle to see the annual Diocesan ASPIRE musical performance. This year’s spectacular was titled “Disconnected” and the theme was around how technology and social media can intrude in our lives and the need to really connect with people. Again, the musical was directed by the wonderfully talented Anna Kerrigan and featured one of Holy Name’s own Year 5 students, Nanma Joy! Nanma appeared several times during the show and we were all very proud when she sang a solo performance of a verse of John Farnham’s The Voice. Congratulations to Nanma and her family for the hard work and dedication!

Auditions for the 2025 performance will come up in Term 4 and Ms Reynolds will send information out as it comes to hand.

Book Week invite and videos

During Week 5, we will celebrate Book Week at HNS. Our annual book character parade will be on Thursday, August 22^nd. Students are invited to come dressed as a favourite book character and all families are invited to attend.

Mrs Arrow has been do some amazing digital work with the Primary students around this year’s short listed books. Students used mixed media to create an artwork inspired from one of the nominated books for this years CBCA Book awards. They then wrote a short script, recorded themselves using an iPad and inserted their video into the poster using Canva. Check out our Facebook page to see these wonderful and entertaining creations.

National Week of Action Against Bullying

In week 4 students will take part in  anti bullying and cybersafety lessons as part of The National Week of Action Against Bullying. Classes will participate in daily learning activities and our PB4L behaviour focus will be Using Kind Words. 

Uniform

The cool weather continues, however, students are expected  to adhere to our uniform policy. There are options for Winter uniform and children can also add layers underneath to keep warm. If students are wearing Winter accessories such as beanies, scarfs and gloves, they must be in school colours. Jewellry is to be sleepers only for earrings, a signet ring and a watch. If your child’s hat has graffiti on the outside, please replace it as it does not fit with our policy. Please ensure all belongings are labelled. We have a huge amount of stray clothing around the school at the end of each day.

Smart watches and phones are against our technology policy at HNS. If you insist that your child brings these items to school, they must be handed in at the office where they will be kept until dismissal time. Smart watches are not to be worn in classrooms due to privacy reasons.

PB4L

Our PB4L framework is undergoing a revival. We have formed a new committee to begin work next week and our first job will be aligning our core values with our school vision of Belonging, Learning and Serving in His Holy Name. We will then rework our expected behaviour matrix and create a list of expected behaviours.

This week, several children received Principal's Awards:

ICAS

ICAS tests will commence next week for those students whose parents have entered them. The Digital Technologies test will take place on Thursday and the Writing test on Friday.

Mary MacKillop’s Feast Day

On Thursday 8^th August at 11:30am our whole school will be celebrating the feast day of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, our school Patron Saint, and Australia’s first saint. Our liturgy will be led by Year 4 students, Mrs Quilter and Mrs Harrison. All of our school community and friends are warmly welcome to join us.

This day is very important to Holy Name because our school was founded by the Sisters of Saint Joseph, the religious order Mary MacKillop initially founded in Adeliade, South Australia. Mary lived by the rule and which we too are called to follow- “Never see a need without doing something about it.”

Three sisters of St Joseph, Sisters Francesca, Hilda and Florence Mary were the first teachers at Holy Name School, with an enrolment of 30 pupils in 1958, called to live among the Forster Tuncurry community and run a parish school, where local children could learn about God and Jesus and their school work as well.

Today, Holy Name carries on the work of St Mary MacKillop. At Holy Name, together with Mary Mackillop as our charism and school motto ‘Concern for Others’ , action to serve comes to life everyday through the support of our staff, students and families who are always looking for ways to help others in our school and local community.  

A prayer this week for Mary MacKillop’s Feast

Loving God, we thank you for your unending love. May we be filled with your Spirit and, like St Mary MacKillop, may we welcome those who feel unloved, uncared for and unaccepted. Help us to reach out to others who need our help and support. We ask this prayer in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Grandparents' Day Liturgy

We are celebrating our Grandparents' Day Liturgy on Friday 16th August. Our clever Kindergarten friends will be leading the special celebration.

We are inviting families to send in photos of their children's grandparents for a slideshow, the photos can be with the children or just of grandparents. Please email the photos to: admin@forster.catholic.edu.au by Monday 12 August.

Catholic Social Teaching is Alive in Term 3

Year 4 Pantry Drive “Never see a need without doing something about it”

In the lead up to St. Mary Mackillop feast day, Year 4 have initiated a whole-school Pantry Drive as their Catholic Social Teachings action. Liaising with the Community Kitchen, they identified products the kitchen needs to help deliver their breakfast program and hot meals to families in need. Early this week, Year 4 visited each class to give a short talk about pantry products that would be gratefully received if families are in a position to donate, and how those products would help. They all did amazingly well, delivering each class a poster they had created, speaking with confidence and answering questions. If your family is in a position to donate just 1 item it would be most appreciated. To make it easier and help share the load, Year 4 decided to allocate specific items to each grade;

Kinder & Yr 4 -Breakfast Program- Muesli bars, Juice poppers, Pancake Mix, Maple syrup.

Yr 1-Staples Rice, Pasta.

Yr 2-Sauces Cooking sauces, Tomato paste.

Yr 3- Longlife milk, Coconut cream, Coconut milk.

Yr 4 Spices-Soy sauce, Gravy powder, Crushed garlic, Curry paste.

Yr 6 Cooking oil, Foil, Cling wrap.

All items collected will be given to the Community Kitchen on Thursday 8th August following the St Mary MacKillop liturgy. Therefore, if you can give, we ask that all donations be brought to school by Thursday 8th August. The liturgy will be presented by Year 4 and all families are welcome to attend.

Here are some photos of Year 4 creating their posters.

Thank you,

Mrs Michelle Quilter and Mrs Ellarna Harrison

Kindergarten's Reading Buddies and Grandparent's Day

In our last newsletter I shared with you how Kindergarten are reaching out to the elderly in our community to enact their catholic social teaching focus The Dignity of the Human Person. Reading with their "reading buddies" at the Forster Library is becoming a much loved activity between our Kindergarten children and the elderly of our parish.

Did you know in 2021, Pope Francis decreed that a World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly be observed each year? This year, we let the theme from Psalm 71:9 "Do not cast me off in my old age" resonate with us and in our actions to show dignity to the human person.

In a world where the elderly often face neglect, loneliness and marginalisation it calls attention to the inherent dignity and wisdom that older generations possess, reminding society of their invaluable contributions to families, communities, and the world at large.

Kindergarten will lead our Grandparent's Liturgy celebration to acknowledge the elderly in our school community but to also reaffirm our committment to care for and honour them. The work Kindergarten are doing in this space over the year with their teachers Mrs Monks, Mrs Tull and Mrs Allport acknowledges they hear the call to bridge generational gaps, to foster mutual respect and understanding between younger and older members of society.

Who was Mary MacKillop

Mary was born on the 15^th of January 1842 in Melbourne and grew up in Sevenhill. At an early age of 12, her mother Flora became unwell, so Mary took it upon herself to care for her sick mother along with supervising and helping her younger 3 sisters and 4 brothers with their school lessons. Mary learnt much about the Catholic faith and the works of Jesus from her father. He also taught her how to stand up for what was right. Growing up Mary worked in the local school of Portland, where her parents and pupils loved her. Later as a governess at Penola Station, she met Fr Julian Tenison Woods. Mary felt her calling was to live among the people and run a parish school, where local children could learn about God and Jesus and their school work as well. From this Mary went on to found the Sisters of St Joseph.

Mary was a person of action and didn’t wait for someone to knock on her door. She loved the poor and worked hard to care for them in any way that she could. Mary shows us how to open our eyes and ears, our hearts and our minds to the needs of others. She shows us how to serve others with kindness, love and understanding.

Mary died on the 8^th of August 1909. Her burial place now is the tomb in the Mary MacKillop Memorial Chapel, Mount Street, North Sydney, Australia. On the 17^{th of} October Pope Benedict XVI named her Saint Mary MacKillop.

Staff Formation

Mr Fin MacKay embarks next week on the 3rd of a 3 part retreat called Go and Do. During this 3 day retreat, Mr Mackay will explore the importance of the person of the teacher. It assists each educator to explore what the Church asks of you in this role and how she blesses your vocation. It links the civic, educational and ecclesial context, assisting each person to develop a personal theology of teaching. 

Mrs Genevieve Williamson is participaing in a 5 day walk called the aMeN caMiNo begining tomorrow Saturday 3rd August. The pilgrimage starts at St John's Chapel Maitland and concludes at the Sacred Heart Cathedral, Hamilton. It is an opportunity for Mrs Williamson to pause from routine, immerse herself in reflection, contemplation and to provide a moment of space for her to be conscious of God's gift of Grace.

It has been wonderful to visit classrooms this fortnight and see some great learning in action. The students have returned from the holiday break refreshed and ready to learn, which is great to see.

Spotlight on 6M

This fortnight I have enlisted the help of some of our clever Year 6 friends, to report to you about what they have been learning over the past two weeks. It was so lovely to see the enthusiasm at which they jumped at the idea to share their Year 6 learning experiences.

From Amna and Zoya in 6M.

Reading

So far this term we have been focusing on an article that outlines the History of the Olympics. This has helped build our excitement as lots of us are watching the Olympics at home and following the stories of the amazing athletes. In reading we focus on a wide variety of topics such as: skimming and scanning, finding the purpose of a text/paragraph, and perspective. We have really enjoyed learning about the history of the Olympics and the past star athletes.

Writing

This term we have been exploring one of the 32 sports in the Olympics. Each student has chosen a sport to their interest to research and write about. So far we have written three paragraphs which are: Description (facts about the sport), Cause and effect, and compare and contrast (comparing your sport to another/similar sport, and finding the similarities and differences). One of the students in our class has discovered that the youngest Australian Olympic swimmer was Sandra Morgan at just the age of 14.

Maths

We have been learning about decimals, and how to add, subtract and multiply them. Using expanded notation with exponents and fractions. We have also been learning how to convert fractions to percentages and decimals to percentages. We have also been introduced to division of decimals and square root.

Science

In Science, we have been studying about the different types of electricity. Such as: solar, light, heat, sound, and electric energy. It has been fun learning about how these different types of energy help us in our daily lives. Did you know that if a whale in Australia starts singing it takes three days for it to travel underwater to America, and that’s how whales communicate to each other throughout the seven seas?

Thanks girls! Well done Year 6 it is obvious how engaged you are with your learning. Keep up the great work.

100 Days of Kindergarten

Today our Kindergarten students celebrated ‘100 Days of Kindergarten’. As a grade we have been adding a sticker to our tens frames each day to work out how many days we have been at big school. We decided at the beginning of this term that 100 days of learning is a great achievement and deserving of a celebration! To make the day even more special the students all dressed up as 100 year olds which prompted quite a giggle from the rest of the school! Check out some of the photos of our clever little 100 year olds.

The special day was based around the number 100 and students were spilt into groups and rotated around many different activities. These activities included: making 100 paper chains, writing 100 words, making a tower using 100 cups, doing 100 different fitness moves, dot painting and counting different objects to add to the wall titled, ‘What does 100 look like?’. It has been wonderful over the past 2 weeks to see that the students in Kindergarten working hard on their counting skills to prove that each collection of items had 100 in them. Check out these photos of our awesome mathematicians in action!

The highlight for most of the Kindergarten students was being able to decorate one of the 100 cupcakes with their Year 6 buddies. The bond our Kinder students have with their buddies is so very special and it was nice that they were able to celebrate with us today. We were able to have a lovely afternoon tea with our Kinder parents who were excited to join the celebration with their children. The day was a huge success and was only made possible due to the wonderful support from Mrs Banham, Mrs Barlow and lots of our Year 5 Mini Vinnies team who gave up their time to join in the fun and help run activities.

Mrs Monks, Mrs Tull and Mrs Allport