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- Principal's message
- P&F Fun Facts about our upcoming Twilight Bazaar
- Eucharist Retreat
- Nigerian Priests
- Kindergarten Liturgy
- Youth Mass
- Colour Run
- NSW Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Education Conference
- Spring Ball
- Year 2 News
- STEM Workshop at the University of Newcastle
- Catholic Care Positive Parenting Workshop
- Woolworths Donation
- Lakeside Living Museum
- Forster Aquatic Club
Last weekend’s Spring Ball was a fabulous night of entertainment and a great time for staff, parents and members of our parish and community to relax and enjoy one another’s company. The organising team, including Kellie Spinks, Kyla Loring, Kristie Banham and Lara McCarthy did an awesome job. Thank you to our community for your generosity in both attending and in donating prizes towards the evening.
This weekend, we celebrate Eucharist, the First Communion for a group of our students and members of our community. You are invited to support these young people as they begin the next part of their sacramental life on Sunday at 5.30pm in the Holy Name of Jesus Church.
Playground Improvements
Following the holidays, you may notice some big changes in our playground. Each year, all Catholic schools in the Maitland Newcastle Diocese require a Level 5 Arborist Report and this year’s report indicated that many of our trees were unsafe and at an age where branches dropped consistently. The report deemed it necessary to remove some of the trees for safety reasons and this work will happen during the holidays. We will replace the trees with more suitable options for our playground and will use the opportunity to reimage some of the other areas for student play.
Parent-Teacher Interviews
A reminder that on Wednesday 25th September, our Term 3 Parent Teacher Interviews are planned. Year 3 students and teachers are modelling Student-Led Conferences for Yr 3 parents to participate and for teachers to observe. These conversations occur between the students and their parents in their classrooms with the teacher present as an observer. In preparation for these conversations, the Yr 3 teachers develop a script for the Yr 3 students to follow and to share the experiences and samples of work with parents that demonstrate their learning and progress at school. All other interviews will be delayed for 15mins so that our teachers can observe this process in action. Please use the following link to book a time with your child's teacher. Yr 3 parents, you are invited to attend with your child in the Yr 3 rooms anytime between 3.15pm - 5.45pm. It is not necessary for you to book a spot.
Mr Haire has taken leave in the final days of this term and Yr 5G parent interviews will be held on Thursday 17th October between 3.45 - 6.00pm. If you previously made an appointment for Wednesday 25th September, we have copied your time across to the new day. If you have any questions, can no longer attend the previous time or would like a new time, please contact the school office.
https://holynameps.schoolzineplus.com/view-session/1
P&F Fun Facts about our upcoming Twilight Bazaar
We’re heading into that wonderful time of the year when we commence our planning for our school fete. This year, we’re are going to ‘mix things up’ a little, and break the mould of the traditional fete arrangements. Here are some things you might like to know about the exciting arrangements planned so far:
- We are going to call it the ‘Twilight Bazaar’
- It’s going to be held after school on Friday 8 November (from 4pm) – everyone in the community is welcome
- The focus will be on delicious food and fun activities for the kids
- Families will be encouraged to bring a picnic rug, relax and enjoy an evening together
- We’re hoping to get some live music happening to add to the vibe
- We’d love to hear from you if you would like to participate in any way (including running a stall, cooking a dish or making a donation)
- Good quality second-hand goods (books, toys and clothes) are being sought – you can start delivering them to the school stage in the hall
- Only 8 weeks to go – make sure you put it in the calendar and spread the word
- If you can assist, please make contact with someone from the P&F team, drop a note in to the school office or email Allison.anthony@midcoast.nsw.gov.au
Allison Anthony
Last Tuesday the eucharist communicants went on retreat together to deepen their understanding of the Sacrament of Eucharist with Fr Greg and Mrs Williamson. Congratulations to all our candidates.
Over the next few weekends these children will receive their First Holy Communion. Bishop Bill will be celebrating Mass on Sunday night at 5:30pm in the Holy Name Church. Please join us!
This week Fr Greg introduced our school community to Fr Collins, Fr Christian and Fr Christogonus, who are visiting our parish for the next three weeks.
On Thursday, Kindergarten had a special Liturgy in the classroom to celebrate friendships. It was lovely to have Fr Greg lead the Liturgy and have so many parents join us in prayer.
The next Youth Mass at Forster is on Sunday, 22 September at 5:30pm in Holy Name Church. Any students who would like to be part of this mass are welcome. All families are most welcome to join us celebrate this mass.
Only two weeks to go until the students have the time of their life with the School Run4Fun Colour Explosion. We are tracking towards our fundraising goal of $8000 with David Drummond (Kinder) being our highest fundraiser for this fortnight, raising $1100 so far! Great work David! How are you tracking towards your fundraising goal?
Hopefully, students have been raising funds using their Sponsorship Form together with online fundraising through the www.myprofilepage.com.au. Don’t forget, the more sponsorship donations you receive the better prize you can choose.
We are looking for volunteers to assist on the day. If you have a few hours available, your support would be greatly appreciated. Simply contact Kellie Spinks on 6554 6504 to register your interest or return the volunteer nomination form. Remember that you need to have your volunteer Working with Children Check and this number needs to be registered with our Diocese.
HOW TO ORDER YOUR PRIZE? EASY!
You have two options to order your prizes – either by completing and returning the back page of the Sponsorship Form to the HNS School Office or log in or create a Profile Page at www.myprofilepage.com.au. You have 7 days from 27 September to order your prize.
@austalianfundraising #colourexplosion #schoolrun4run #colourblast #schoolcolourexplosion #schoolfunrun #australianfundraising
NSW Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Education Conference
In the true spirit of reconciliation, the 2019 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Conference was proudly hosted by the Diocese of Maitland Newcastle on the 11th and 12th September in the Hunter Valley. Three of our Aboriginal Education team Crystal Simon, Lee Townsend and Simone Maloney came together with over 500 other Catholic School educators from across the state to be immersed in opportunities to learn about incorporating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content, perspectives, culture and pedagogy in the context of Catholic Education. Mr Gerard Mowbray, the Director of the Maitland Newcastle Catholic Schools Office, encouraged us to create a culture of high expectations and learning growth for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. He asked all schools to commit to deepening cultural awareness and to strengthen avenues to collaborate and celebrate the work of our colleagues and students. Author Anita Heiss who is a proud member of the Wiradjuri nation, Kurt Fearnley three-time Paralympic Gold Medallist and journalist Jeff McMullen were all keynote speakers. All shared inspirational stories, promoting the connection between knowledge and well-being, asking us to respect our students by giving them the dignity of expectation.
Last Saturday night we hosted our Spring Ball Kitchen Garden Fundraiser. The night was a rousing success and everyone who attended had a great time. The Glen Mead trio provided our music for the night and they received many compliments for their range of tunes.
Our lovely meal was followed by choices from the Dessert Bar. These lovely treats were made by 2 of our wonderful mums – Christeen Matta and Gigi Botros. We thank you so much for your wonderful effort!
Thank you also to Kristie Banham and Lara McCarthy for organising the decorations, the team who helped set up on Saturday afternoon, our SAKG Committee and a huge Thank you to Kellie Spinks for doing a huge amount of work behind the scenes. To all our families and local businesses you supported us with prizes to raffle or auction and to Club Forster for being so accommodating.
Gordon Cooper Photography took photos on the night and these will be available for purchase through the school office in the near future.
Finally a huge thank you to all who came along and supported our fundraiser for our Kitchen Garden!
Over last couple of weeks Year Two have been on an excursion to look at the Bridge for our Significant Sites history unit, soccer with Jeff, and our last maths lesson where we did data collection by tallying passing vehicles, and then representing the results as column graphs in the hall.
STEM Workshop at the University of Newcastle
Catholic Care Positive Parenting Workshop
Last week we had a visit from Bronwyn Freyler and her colleague from Woolworths Forster. They kindly donated a Discovery garden kit to Holy Name School. We are hoping that our Infants classes will plant the seeds and look after the seedlings until they are ready to plant into our main school garden.