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Dear Parents and Carers,
I am hopeful the beautiful weather continues over the weekend so we can get outside and enjoy the magnificent outdoor spaces we are surrounded by in the Manning Great Lakes region. What a beautiful way to celebrate with our Mother's over the weekend - Happy Mother's day to all our mothers, grandmothers, aunts and all who mother our students in some way. We love and apprecaite you! It was so nice to hear all of the Mother's Day songs traditionally played at our liturgy, sung throughout our community today as classes were rostered to celebrate with their mothers via zoom. This was a great initiative by our Religious Education Coordinator, Mrs Genevieve Williamson - we hope you enjoyed it too.
All members of our community have truly risen to the challenges presented in education over recent weeks and I am very grateful for the support provided by your families to our staff and your children. In a time that is quite stressful in varying degrees for different families, the positive way we have interacted is a true indicator of the strength of the partnership between home and school. Well done to everyone!
As you know, the State government requested we begin to transition students back to school from next week. At Holy Name, the graduated return of students to face-to-face teaching in the classroom will include:
- Monday and Tuesday - All Kinder, Yr 1 and Yr 2 students return to regular lessons in class. Siblings, children of essential workers and children who need to be at school are also welcome.
- Wednesday and Thursday - All Yr 3, Yr 4, Yr 5 and Yr 6 students return to regular lessons in class. Siblings, children of essential workers and children who need to be at school are also welcome.
- Friday - Children of essential workers and those students who need to attend school are welcome each day.
Friday is a day for teachers to prepare, monitor and upload learning, continuing to provide for both modes of learning – class and home. There will be minimum supervision on Fridays and we need the continued support of our families to ensure that only those students who need to be at school on this day are at school.
The learning program for home and in class will be the same and all students are expected to continue to engage in the online learning on Friday and any day they do not physically attend school. If your child is not able to do this then I would advise they need to attend school each day. Your teacher may make contact with you if this is the case.
It is our hope that the processes the school has had in place to support our students during the pandemic, minimise the negative impact on student learning growth overall. Our success in achieving this goal depends on the commitment of our teachers, students and parents to collaborate and ensure the best practice is in place for each child. Please make contact with your child’s teacher or myself if you need support.
Yesterday you received a letter from the Director regarding the safety measures in place at our Diocesan schools. Holy Name School is following these guidelines and will be stepping this up to align with the increased numbers of students attending from next week.
- Parents will drop-off and pick-up at the gate – preferably the back gate on Carawa Street.
- Hand washing and hygiene practices will continue to be reinforced and used at school.
- Additional cleaning of desktops and surfaces, including door handles & bathrooms will occur.
- Most parent meetings will occur via phone or in a Zoom meeting.
- Parents are welcome to the office to speak with our Clerical staff, purchase uniforms etc.
- Both playgrounds will be in use to balance the number of students in each area.
- All students and staff must be in good health to attend school. If a student develops flu like symptoms, they will be isolated and the child’s parent or carer contacted to collect them.
The end of an era - farewell Miss Teasey!
This week our staff held a special socially distanced lunch to celebrate and honour Miss Teasey, who drew the curtain on 40 years of teaching in the Manning Region. It was beautiful to hear the recorded words from past colleagues and to hear repeatedly the gift that Miss Teasey was to so many of our students, families and colleagues. Liz was one of our gifted educators, who for the last part of her career supported students with English as an Additional Language or Dialect. Prior to this, Liz Teasey was the Religious Education Coordinator and at times acted in the role of Principal and Assistant Principal. Throughout her career, Liz exemplified the importance of positive relationships with students and the impact of tangible experiences to engage students in the learing process. Liz always tapped into student interests, current issues and helped students to discover their own talents and gifts along the learning pathway. As one of our ex-parents said in an email, 'I would always hope that my children were in Liz's class...our children... all loved Liz as a teacher and developed close bonds with her. They all flourished under her guidance academically and socially...she gave the children a sturdy rudder they could trust". What beautiful words to say out loud to Liz as she moves into the next stage of her life. Our staff are looking forward to farewelling Liz with our parent and student body in the future. We wish Liz well and look forward to hearing stories of travel and farm life as she sets off on a new adventure. (The celebration also acknowledged a special birthday of one of our staff...hence the reference to 50...you'll have to guess who!)
Our staff are keen to encourage families to minimise the need to use the Lake Street entrance to school for pick-up and drop-off. We would like Lake Street to be used for the arrival of buses and walkers/riders only. In more recent times, the traffic has escalated and due to the safety concerns we have about the crossing and general busyness of the intersections around the entrance, we are looking for new procedures that will support the safety of our students, their families and our staff. We will discuss this at our online P&F meeting this coming Tuesday from 6pm.
At a recent staff meeting, we discussed introducing two waves for pick-up in the afternoon from Carawa Street. The first wave from 3:00-3:10pm would be for those parents who needed to pick-up at this time. Parents could park and we would meet parents at the back gate as we are doing now. Parents would need to leave promptly to ensure space for the second wave of pick-ups. If we can manage to get into a good pattern, we were wondering how parents felt about the second wave of pick-ups commencing from 3:10pm. Please join our P&F meeting this Tuesday if you have some good ideas to discuss in regard to pick-ups and drop-offs.
I hope you all have a wonderful day with your mothers on Sunday.
Regards
Brooke Stephens
The current pandemic has slowed down the process for enrolment but it is now really important that we try to catch up to ensure we are guaranteed our 2 classes for 2021. Please follow the attached link to request an enrolment pack. If you already have the enrolment pack, please return the form so that we can secure your place at Holy Name for Kinder 2021! Interviews for Kinder places will commence this term.
A warm welcome back to all parents, carers and students working from school and home with online learning. In this unchartered time it is even more important that we remain connected to our school community. Holy Name is committed to providing opportunities for children, parents and carers to be connected through prayer and service to our community.
This week we have been preparing for Mother’s Day. Each grade held a Mother’s Day Liturgy in their classrooms and zoomed in our mums so they were included in our prayer celebration and remain connected to our school community. Children shared thoughts about their mums, thanked and blessed them for all they do each day and every day. During the blessing each child held up a flower which they made and would later gave to their mum. A big thank you to Kristie Banham and the Mini Vinnies team for preparing the flowers and then supporting the children to make these in the classrooms this week.
Our Year 6 SRC are preparing to distribute plants to all grades this week as we commence our Autumn/Winter planting. This is very exciting because Holy Name wish to support Catholic Care by donating produce from our garden. This goes toward them preparing meals for those in need. Last week a crop of tomatoes were harvested along with egg plant. Mrs Loring cooked them up to create a tasty ratatouille sauce. This was delivered to the Taree office this week. Holy Name’ Motto is “Concern for Others” we are striving to grow and harvest produce this term and our service will be to offer this to people in need. As we walk in the footsteps of Mary MacKillop….“Never see a need without doing something about it”.
Speaking of service, we farewelled Miss Teasey on Thursday. Miss Teasey has given 40 years of teaching service to Catholic Education in the Maitland/Newcastle Diocese. We have been most fortunate to have Miss Teasey on the teaching staff at Holy Name. Miss Teasey has been a classroom teacher of all grades and was the Religious Education Coordinator for many years. Miss Teasey’s current role as EALD Teacher has been one she has truly enjoyed. Thank you, Miss Teasey for the commitment and passion you have given to teaching at Holy Name, for the being a role model and inspiration to us all. We will miss you but wish you happiness and good luck in your retirement years.
Each Friday I will email all families with the Parish Bridgeside Bulletin and Family Prayer Week by Week. This will keep you informed on what is happening in our local parish and the Weekly prayer guides your family to hear the gospel of the week and gives opportunities to reflect on the word of God and support you to see what that looks like in your relationships with others- living your faith.
This Tuesday you are all invited to participate in an online P&F Meeting. All you have to do is email admin@forster.catholic.edu.au and let them know you would like to participate and you will be forwarded a link to attend. No pressure if it doesn't work out for you on the day but to have the invite will give you the option to attend. The meeting will commence at 6pm and parents and carers can join and leave as they please. We will be discussing our response and your needs in relation to the pandemic and gathering your feedback about a proposal for the morning and afternoon drop-off and pick-up procedures. We look forward to joining with as many of you as possible!
Hello and welcome to Term 2!
My name is Mrs Morse and I am replacing Miss Teasey as the EALD Teacher at Holy Name School. Miss Teasey has retired after over 40 dedicated years of teaching in Catholic Education and she will be terribly missed. This term we welcomed Nicole Ibrahim into our school community. Nicole is in Year 1 and her family have come all the way from Egypt to join our community. Welcome Nicole.
I already know some of our EALD pupils and can’t wait to meet all of our EALD students and families - so you will be hearing from me soon!
Wishing everyone good health and happiness.
Mrs Morse
It was important for us that the students from Holy Name School celebrated Anzac Day this year as is it always a significant day on our school calendar and we are striving to preserve our sense of community, tradition and belonging during the Covid19 pandemic whilst many of our students are learning from home.
We always hope that our students are able to understand and appreciate the extent of Australia's wartime history and the impact it has had on many generations of Australian families, often including their own family. Most importantly we try and nurture a sense of gratitude and respect for our servicemen and women, praying particularly for those who have given their lives in active service.
We remember the courage, endurance and self-sacrifice of the fallen through prayer and traditions and acknowledge those who gave their lives so that we may live in peace and freedom.
In the days leading up to Anzac Day this year, our staff and school student leaders began sharing instructional videos on our school social media site, showing our community ways to craft red poppies, paint beautiful Anzac themed artworks and bake delicious Anzac biscuits.
On the day itself it was apparent very quickly that the school community was immersed and felt connected in commemorations as we began to be flooded with photos of Holy Name families and staff standing at their driveway at dawn, some students even playing the Last Post for the neighbours. Families and staff members lit candles, said quiet prayers and stood together in the spirit of the Anzacs at dawn. Other families encouraged their children to participate in the #chalkyourwalk movement, creating beautiful Anzac Day drawings on the footpath outside their home. Our two school captains Jack Thacker and Lylah Darcy accompanied Principal Brooke Stephens and Parish Priest Greg Barker to the Tuncurry War Memorial in Lone Pine Park to lay an Anzac wreath. Usually a large contingent of our school community would participate in the Forster/Tuncurry community march.
Usually, for Mother's Day we would be celebrating with an early morning breakfast and liturgy. Here are a few photos of our beautiful mums who ordinarily would feature in a PowerPoint display at the liturgy.
We wish all of our Holy Name mums, mother type figures, nans, grandmothers and special women in our world a very happy Mother’s Day !
