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On Wednesday last week, our school and Parish community paused from the busyness of our work and lives, to celebrate the life of our previous Principal, Mr Chris Waters. As many of you would know, Mr Waters was diagnosed with lymphoma midway through 2016 after only 18months in our school. He fought hard and remained positive but lost his battle early last Saturday morning. Chris had moved his family up to Murwillumbah last year to be closer to family and friends. Along with Miss Redding and Mrs Nicholls, I attended Chris's funeral in Murwillumbah last surrounded by his family, friends and colleagues. It was a time to celebrate all that Chris had accomplished in his life and very special to hear from his wife Julie and each of his four children who prepared an audio message previously.
I thought you might like to read the following excerpt from my introduction to Wednesday's Mass with our students.
...We are remembering all of the good things about Mr Waters and praying for his family who will no doubt be missing him and will be looking for the support and love of family and friends.
Mr Waters came to Holy Name Catholic Primary School in 2015 and immediately began working to improve the physical school site. Staff, parents and students would see Mr Waters out in the playground each morning picking up the rubbish, tidying different areas and taking notice of things that needed fixing. He once told me that he would love to be the school groundsman but knowing him as I do now, I think this job may have driven him crazy because of all the mess, all of the time. It was great to see students in Yr 5 this week, collecting the rubbish from the playground and noticing just how much rubbish there was left lying around. I think it would be a lovely gesture and way of remembering Mr Waters, to make sure that each and every one of us is taking care of our classroom and school environments by being tidy and putting our rubbish in the bins.
Mr Waters was new to our community and therefore made sure he got to know staff, parents and students. Relationships were important to him and he understood that when the staff had good relationships with one another, with students and with parents, the school would be the type of place where students would learn and achieve great things. Today we will remember the importance of our relationships with one another – the relationships we have with our friends and students have with one another, the relationships we have with the people we work with and the relationships with and between our parents.
Today we also remember Mr Waters wife Julie and his children – Marc, Jacky, Lisa and Nathan, their husbands, wives, partners. We remember Chris’s grandchildren and pray that they all continue to remember the good times with their husband, father and grandfather and that these memories help to sustain them in the years to come...
PARENT BEHAVIOUR SUPPORT
We're currently seeing an increase in student behaviour choices that are damaging to the self-esteem of others or to peer relationships. Staff are consistently speaking with students who are not following the rules of games or 'taking it' when they get in or out. Students are complaining of 'dogging' which is where one or more students focus on getting a particular child in or out, leaving the student feeling targeted. Name-calling is also very common at present and we're even experiencing students teasing others about their differences. At school, we are implementing the behaviour management procedures and are proactively teaching students the social skills they need to get along with others. I am hoping that if parents and school staff work together to reinforce positive behaviour choices and an understanding of the impact of our choices on others, we will see an improved response from our students. Please have a conversation with your child or children to see what they see or hear on the playground and talk with them about your expectations.
STUDENT LED CONFERENCES and PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS
Thank you to everyone who attended last Wednesday afternoon to meet with their child's teacher/s. There has been a stack of positive feedback about the trial of the student-led conferences in Yr 3. Thank you to Miss Spinks and Miss Meers for leading this concept with their classes. We will undertake further discussions as a staff and collect feedback from students and parents as we make a decision about how our P-T interviews may look into the future.
CHANGES FOR 2020
Next year will see some changes across our school. Some of these changes have come about due to issues of governance such as health and safety or finance, and others because we are starting a new strategic period and have targeted areas for development. All changes that occur are focused on improving the educational outcomes for students. Over the coming weeks, I will introduce our families to some of these changes. Read on for the first of these changes.
FUNDRAISING CULTURE
Fundraising by our Parents & Friends Association and/or staff for school projects has increasingly become part of the Holy Name School culture. I've had a growing awareness of the demands this places on our families and staff in a time when commitments and finances are challenging. I would like to shift our thinking slightly to focus on building stronger connections within our school and local community through good deeds. We will, of course, continue to support Caritas and the Missions, but will limit other requests for money to fund school projects. Our aim over the next 3 years is to become a community who understands the reality of the needs within our school and/or wider community and to look for ways that our students can do something to support. I would like to see this reflection of our Mary Mackillop charism of 'never seeing a need without doing something about it' in the 'every day' and 'every week' of school life. It would be awesome for Holy Name to develop this part of our Catholic Identity in our community.
SCHOOL CANTEEN
Over the last few years, the P&F have struggled to financially maintain the school canteen. There have just not been enough orders to sustain the wages for our canteen manager, Mrs Williams. Last year, the school took over the management of the canteen as a gesture of goodwill so that our parents were not trying to fit the management of the canteen into their busy family lives. In liaising with our Head of Finance at the Catholic Schools Office, Steven Shaw, and our Assistant Director, Barbara Myors, we have come to the conclusion that the school canteen will close at the end of 2019 in its current form. Both Steven and Barbara said that this is not uncommon across schools in the Newcastle region, with many schools beginning to outsource for lunches. Between now and the end of the year, I will develop a simple menu and put this out to local businesses for tender. The number of days these orders are available will depend on the negotiations with business that wins the tender. For the start of 2020, we will have online orders available from an outside source for students that will be delivered daily to our school.
KITCHEN GARDEN
Since 2012, our school has engaged with the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden program for Yrs 3-6 students. The garden project has involved many volunteers, hard work, funding and generous donations from community groups and parents. In 2020, the kitchen garden program will begin a process of transformation as we review how we can embed a program for students K-6 that is led by teachers and focused on student outcomes. If possible, our aim is also to link the garden program with our work to meet needs within our community.
I look forward to engaging with staff, parents and students as we continue to evolve and build a positive learning community.
Enjoy the holidays
Brooke Stephens
Presentation to Community for Baptism
On Sunday evening Charlotte, Sienna and Brabham Cooper were presented to the Holy Name of Jesus parish at the beginning of Mass. Fr Greg welcomed these children into our parish as they prepare for the Sacrament of Baptism. Early next term Charlotte, Sienna and Brabam will be baptised by Fr Greg, with their family, school community and parish there to support them.
Last Sunday our musicians from St Clares, Holy Name and parish community played many uplifting and balanced songs to celebrate Mass with Fr Greg. Carmel Brown always leads this Youth Mass beautifully and we thank her sincerely for all the work she does behind the scenes preparing for the Mass and then supporting and guiding the children through the songs during the mass.
Dates for Term 4 Youth masses to put in your calendar are:
- Sunday October 20 (Week 1)
- Sunday November 17
Keep this date free Term 4 Week 4 Friday 8 November and come join our community as we celebrate our grandparents. The day will begin with an assembly at 9am under Kirkangina. Grandparents will be invited into classrooms for coding and STEM activities with their grandchildren for 45 minutes. At 10am all grandparents and children will move to the hall for at Liturgy commencing at 10:15am, led by Year 3 and Fr Greg. Following this, we invite grandparents to stay and join us for a cuppa and time on the playground with their grandchildren. This date also coincides with our school twilight bazaar which begins that afternoon at 4pm till 7pm.
**Please send any grandparent photos to the office for a power point we are creating**