Filter Content
Dear Parents and Carers,
Today we farewelled Mary Therese Micua in a beautiful celebration of her life. Mary was such a happy and bright young student, whose smile brigthened our school and resilience shone through as a model for others. For Mary's family, it was such an important part of their journey to hear the thoughts and stories about Mary and her life here at Holy Name. I continue to be amazed by Mary Jane and Jose's strength of faith that continues to carry them through this unimagineable time. I am grateful for the love and support our community is offering as they walk with the family during this time.
'Eternal rest grant unto Mary, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon her. May she rest in peace.'
Marie Power retires after 41 years of educating in Primary schools!
Today was Marie Power's last day in the classroom with her Yr 4 students. Although her official date of retrement is not until 10th February 2021, in her 42nd year, Marie has chosen to take her Long Service Leave from now. We celebrated Marie's career yesterday in a beautiful liturgy, acknowledging the wonderful gift Marie has been to so many students and their families. As with Miss Teasey's send-off, it has had to be 'COVID style' but we hope Marie felt the love of her community as she moves into this next stage of her life. I know Marie is going to spend time with her children and grand-daughter, and may even consider a move up north into the future. We wish Marie well and thank her again for her knowledge and skills that she has shared with our community over the years.
Miss Deidre (pronounced 'Deer-dra) Nolan will commence on 4P on Monday and we plan to hold a zoom meetng with parents as soon as Miss Nolan settles in.
COVID-19 Update - Lockdown & Evacuation planning
We continue to adapt to the guidelines to keep us safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. This week, our staff and students rehearsed the lockdown and evacuation procedure planned in the event of COVID-19 contact with our shcool. As mentioned in previous communication via Compass, each family will receive a laminated 'surname' of the students that should be placed on the back of the visor or on the dash of the car picking up if/when families are directed to pick-up their children. An outline of the process will be similar to the following:
- NSW Health makes contact with the school, advising of a closure due to a close contact with COVID-19.
- Students and/or staff directly impacted are isolated as per NSW Health instructions. Interviews and contact tracing by NSW Health takes place - the people affected are contacted and advised of the appropriate actions.
- A process of lockdown and evacuation of students and staff commences. Students move to their classrooms until they can be picked up by parents/carers.
- The front gate to the school is locked to maintain security and all communication about the situation will come through Compass and/or emails.
- A Compass Newsfeed is pushed out to all families advising of the situation, the need to pick-up students and the times for pick-up. These times will be for K-2 students and siblings followed by Yrs 3-6 students and siblings. It is okay to come after this time, this is just one way of trying to manage the numbers.
- All parents/carers must come from the Cross Street end of Carawa St and stop at the 'Stop' sign held by a member of staff near the back of the hall, until being directed towards the Kiss n' Ride' zone for pick-up. Parents/Carers must have the 'surname' card on the dash or under the visor and must not get out of their cars.
- Students will be called from the classrooms and meet parents at the regular back gate on Carawa Street.
- Students will be signed out by teachers as they leave the classroom and checked off by the gate teacher.
- Students will remain in classrooms with teachers until their parents arrive.
- Parents will receive information via Compass in regard to school closure and the plan for re-opening.
We have been advised that it is really important for families to wait for the direct communication from the school and not to engage with any speculation about who or what is happening. At times, the school will have to wait for information from NSW Health and this may mean our community has to wait as well. We will, of course, update our families with information as soon as we know.
Road safety@Holy Name
We are continuing to have safety concerns around the drop off and pick-up times at school and need your help to make our procedures safe for students. A couple of points for your consideration:
- The Kiss n' Ride Zone on Carawa Street is not for parking and longer drop-off times
- Students need to remain inside the gates at the front and back of the school until teachers can send students one at a time to parents.
- Parents/Carers need to socially distance when dropping off and picking up students
- Parents/Carers are not to enter the school grounds unless they have business to attend to in the office. They are not to walk students to classrooms or across the playground.
- Parents/Carers are not to stand on the road or the traffic islands as this is unsafe.
- Parents/Carers are not to call children to cross the road to meet them.
Thank you for supporting our staff to keep your children safe by following the rules.
School Photos next week
As school photos are next Thursday 20th August, we are asking families to make sure students are in their winter uniform and not their sports uniform for class photos. This year there will only be individual photos taken. The class photos will be a combination of the individual images like they do in high school. Unfortunately, there will be no sport photos taken. Hopefully, later in the year, we can get some good photos of our sport representatives.
Positive behaviour reminder
This week our staff were dealing with some very unsettled behaviours across the school. The range of concerns were from Kindergarten right through to Year 6. Some of the behaviours have been so concerning that our Leadership Team will take some time next week to consider the current situation. One of our first thoughts was around the possibility of a cumulative build-up of anxiety within our community as a result of the natural and man-made disasters, and tragic events that have impacted the lives of so many within our community directly or indirectly. I wonder if you would take some time this weekend to consider whether your family or children might need some support during this time and whether there is anything our community could do to assist. Please also remind your children of the importance of showing respect for their peers and teachers by their words and actions at school.
St Clare's High School Taree
This link will take you to the St Clare's Newsletter. This is a great way to become familiar with the happenings at St Clare's.
It has been a big week at Holy Name and I am sure you are all looking forward to a restful weekend ahead.
Take care,
Brooke Stephens
Mary MacKillop’s Feast Day
Last week we celebrated the Feast of St Mary of the Cross and her contribution to Australia and, our school through the work of the Sisters of St Joseph. Her charism is embedded into Holy Name’s history through the Sisters of St Joseph. I congratulate the contribution of our Yr 6 teachers and children in preparing and celebrating our Liturgy with Fr Greg and to all other classes who led their own Liturgy in their rooms due to COVID restrictions.
Fond farewell to a treasured teacher after a wonderful 41 year career
Mrs Power was bid a fond farewell from Year 4 in the hall yesterday. Mrs Stephens shared with our students what we all certainly know about Mrs Power, her love of teaching, her ability to keep up with change in education and her dedication to those she taught. Mrs Power agreed that she had seen much change in her 41 years and that she had enjoyed all the friendships with children and their families over the years. Good luck Mrs Power as you journey forward to new surprises and adventures with your family. We are going to miss you!
Grade Mission Liturgy
This term grades will join together in prayer for the poor of our community. We are called as Christians to go out and serve others, and in doing this we are building God’s Kingdom. We show our love of God by loving others, good works and prayer. We are asking that as each grade participates in their grade Mission Liturgy, that they bring to the liturgy a pantry item to be offered up in the liturgy to help feed the poor in our community through the good works of Catholic Care’s food kitchen. Teachers will notify parents by email or Class Dojo when their class is participating in the Mission Liturgy.
Throughout Term 2, Holy Name had ten students in Years 4, 5 and 6 complete History Extension Projects. The extension projects were offered as an option for students who would benefit from the academic challenge these would provide in our schools during the period of online learning during Covid.
Last Wednesday Jocelyn, Lylah, Georgia and Baran presented their research via Zoom to students at Warners Bay and Denman who also completed similar projects. This was a wonderful opportunity for these students to connect with like-minded peers from diverse locations across the diocese.
The students in Year 6 researched the question ‘Does prejudice have to be experienced in order to understand it?” To complete this project students had to research an Australian and an international person and compare their actions in the fight against prejudice and discrimination. Some of the research focused on Mary Mackillop who strived for education for the poor, Malala Yousafzai who is an activist for women’s rights and Ruther Bader Ginsburg who is a lawyer and activist for women’s rights.
It is amazing to see students becoming confident to share their passions and areas of interest with others, particularly with students that they are not familiar with. The technology is fantastic to allow opportunities like this to happen and this is something the children are excited about doing again in the future!
Art Club has been a hive of creating over the past few weeks. A very big THANK YOU to all the wonderful families who have sent in wool for the students to weave with. We have been creating Ojo de Dios (God’s Eye Weaving) and paper plate weaving. This has been challenging to get the hang of but then so very rewarding as students master such a therapeutic activity. It’s been beautiful to watch them sit with each other weave, chat and teach other students who may be still learning.
We’ve sent off some more boxes of ‘word rainbows’ to Kularoo Gardens in Forster, St.Vincents Hospital in Melbourne and some ‘words birds’ to some teachers in the Philippines. These little creations are made as Random Acts of Kindness to brighten someone else’s day. The children love making and paying it forward to make our world a little brighter and kinder.
Mini Vinnies will launch ‘5c Fridays’ next week. A jar will be delivered to each class and anyone can add 5c to it, monies will be collected by Mini Vinnies each week and funds raised will go to help others in need at the moment. We wanted to effect change in a small change way.
Breakfast Club is available to all students and a lovely way to start the week. It’s open Monday mornings from 8.15am outside the canteen and with the help of Mini Vinnies we serve warm milo and toast. It’s always nice to here friends chatting and catching up on Monday mornings and everyone is welcome to come along.
Kristie Banham