God of joy, 

it is in your love that we find lasting joy. 

Keep us from seeking happiness in things that will not last, 

for we brought nothing into this world and can take nothing out of it. 

Teach us instead to find joy in the gift of your Son, 

who came into this world with nothing, yet gave us everything. 

May his joy bubble up in our hearts and overflow to all we meet this Advent season. 

Farewell 

Mr Frank Timpano

Yesterday we held a special assembly to farewell Mr Frank Timpano as he moves into retirement from the end of this year. Frank has had a long career spanning 39 years in a number of schools but mostly teaching Senior Primary here at St Therese. Over the course of his career, Frank has been a Middle Leader 1, Middle Leader 2, Religious Education Coordinator and Acting Assistant Principal. Frank has been a dedicated classroom teacher but has also devoted time to his other passions by being Sports Coordinator and Gardening Guru for many years.  On a personal note, I met Frank during our first year at Wollongong University 42 years ago. Over this time I have always found Frank to be approachable, willing to help out in any way and quite resourceful in solving problems. I have greatly valued my friendship with Frank over this years and wish him well as he dedicates more time to improving his golf and watching his beloved Parramatta Eels and, dare I say it …, the Hawthorn Hawks! While we are farewelling Frank from full time work, we will see him popping up from time to time as a casual teacher.

Mrs Gail Crane

Gail, like Frank, has been a stalwart here at St Therese. Gail started her career in pre-schools and went on to being a pre-school director before undergoing further training to become a primary school teacher. As you would know, Gail has dedicated her work to supporting the youngest within our school community. Each year, Gail would be the first to welcome our ‘little people’ into the school and see the enormous personal and academic growth they make over the course of their first year at school. Any one who knows Gail, knows that this is a real passion of hers. Gail is taking 12 months leave so that she can spend more time with family, especially now that she is going to be a grandmother in just a few months time. Gail will also pop up occasionally as a casual teacher over the next 12 months.

Other Staff Who Are Leaving

Mrs Patricia Staff - Trish has accepted the position of Middle Leader 2 at St Paul’s, Albion Park for 12 months. This is a great opportunity for Trish to be closer to home, closer to her girls who attend this school and to learn more by being part of another leadership team.

Miss Olivia Niceski - Olivia came to us early in Term 3 and jumped at the chance to teach Year 4. Olivia is a fantastic young teacher who, unfortunately for us, has been snapped up with a permanent position at St Justin’s, Oran Park. This is a big step in her career but we have every confidence that she will continue to do an awesome job teaching whatever class she is offered.

Mrs Diann Sharman - Diann has worked in a team teaching role at St Therese as well as many casual teaching days. Diann has brought a wealth of knowledge to the school along with a beautiful way in which she cares for our children. While not having any set days in 2024, Diann will still be very visible across the school as a casual teacher.

Mrs Karlie Ottaway - Karlie was picked up quite a lot of work as a School Support Officer here at St Therese this year. Karlie has a great work ethic where nothing is too much trouble. Karlie has developed quite a strong bond with many children as she moves from room to room as well as upskilling herself by attending Professional Development courses. Karlie was offered a position at Nazareth Primary School in Shellharbour for 2024. Like Trish, this keeps Karlie mch closer to home and closer to her own kids.

While it is sad to be losing some of our staff, it is comforting to know that they are leaving knowing that this is the right thing for them at this point in their lives. It would be selfish of us to try to stop any of these staff members from making the decisions they have. We will definitely miss them but send them off with God’s blessing for the next exciting phase in their life / career.

HISTORY MAKERS SCHOOL VIDEO CHALLENGE

On Friday the 8th of December, Halle and Marli travelled to the National Museum of Australia. The girls entered the History Makers competition, in which they created a short clip about a defining moment in history. The moment the girls chose was the discovery of Mungo Lady, which revealed that our Indigenous people were here in Australia a lot longer than previously thought. The girls won for their entry under the category of collaboration, winning $2000 for our school. It is a fantastic achievement and Halle and Marli are to be congratulated on their outstanding efforts.

Thank you

To all the staff: Last Friday was another great gathering for our school community as we celebrated the Christmas Story. Every teacher took responsibility for some aspect of the day whether it be preparing students for their item or offering to be involved in the task of setting up and packing up. It was a great celebration that we were so excited to share with the wider community. Special thank you to Mrs Kirra Calvert for her overall organisation and to Mrs Jenna Hogan for working with the school band and singers to bring the celebration to life.

Mrs Michelle Devine: At the end of this year, Michelle steps down from her position of Middle Leader 1 (Technology) at St Therese. This position is appointed on a year by year basis based on the need of the school. In 2024, this position will be filled by Mrs Dominique Hogarth with the focus being on Sport.

End of Year Assembly + Year 6 Farewell

Our end of year assembly will commence at 11.30am in  the school hall. Besides the usual End of Term Awards, there are a few other awards and recognitions on the agenda. Ms Alison Byrnes, Federal Member for the Seat of Cunningham, will be attending. At the conclusion of all the awards, Year 6 and their Kinder buddies will perform a special song. This will then be followed by a Guard of Honour formed by students from Kinder to Year 5 which will see Year 6 exit from the hall down to the church gates. (Exact timing is difficult to predict however I would expect the Guard of Honour to be around 1pm.) After this, students from Kinder to Year 5 will return to their classrooms where they can be picked up if they are leaving early. Students will not be allowed to leave with another family unless we have received a note, email or phone call from the parents to authorise this.

Christmas Eve Family Mass

This will be held at 6pm in the TIGS Hall. This is a great opportunity for families to celebrate Christmas together and for students to see their friends on such an exciting evening. Sinh Le (seminarian) had a practice with some children on Monday for a couple of Christmas hymns which will be sung after communion however all children present will be invited to join in at this time.

Other Christmas Masses are in the church at 9pm on Christmas Eve and 10am on Christmas Day.

Final Thank You

Another year has come and gone and while it has been fantastic to get back to ‘normal’ with community events, it has also been the busiest year for juggling staff. I thank the parents for your support in acknowledging that while not ideal, staff are entitled to their leave and no one can predict illness and/or injury. I am excited about 2024 in that we have quite a few new staff and nearly every teacher changing the class they have been teaching. This is healthy for the school community and encourages staff to refer back to the syllabus document to ensure we are doing our very best for the students in our care.

As mentioned at the Christmas celebration, we are continuing to get a lot of interest from new families wanting to send their children to St Therese. In the past 12 months, we have had nearly 30 new enrolments, not including our new Kinders. For most of the families, their motivation for enrolling at St Therese has been ‘word-of-mouth’  recommendations from existing families. There is no better advertising than this!

Finally, I wish all of our students and families a very relaxed, peaceful and re-energising break over the Christmas Season. If travelling, travel safe. If staying home, enjoy all the beauty that the Illawarra has to offer. I highly recommend getting children away from screens as much as possible so they can build ‘real’ relationships and see the beauty in the world around them. 

While trying to contact the school, for any issues or concerns, in person or by phone will be hit and miss, I encourage parents to use email as the most reliable source of communication and we will respond to you as soon as possible.