Newsletter Week 3

This Sunday is the Feast of Pentecost, marking 50 days since the Resurrection of Christ. When Jesus ascended to heaven, he promised to send a helper and guide. This came in the form of the Holy Spirit. The Disciples of Jesus were filled with the Gifts of the Holy Spirit allowing them to go out and preach the Good News both locally and to many foreign lands. This was the start of the Church as we know it. To celebrate this marvellous gift, Fr Duane has arranged for Sunday’s 10am Mass to be a very special, and memorable, one … …

 

Multicultural Mass - Sunday, 19 May at 10am

After the success of our celebration of Harmony Day last term, it would be great to have our children (and extended families where possible) join the parish in national costume to celebrate the many cultures that make our St Therese community special.

 

An invitation also exists for volunteers to read prayers in their cultural language or to prepare food to share after the Mass in the Parish Centre. This event was very successful last year and Fr Duane is keen to include more cultures in any way you may feel comfortable.

 

Please contact the school to let us know you would like to actively participate in the Mass, otherwise just turn up in your national costume.

 

Mothers’ Day

Huge thank you to the parents (mums!) who purchased, wrapped, organised and sold Mothers’ Day gifts last Wednesday. To see children come in without guidance (although some were given a few instructions eg “Mummy has enough coffee cups” ?) to purchase a gift is priceless. The children are proud of themselves and generally can’t wait to pass on the gift to their mum.

Once again, thank you to those (mums!) who set up the Mothers’ Day morning tea so beautifully. I know if it was left to me, there wouldn’t have been table flowers!! Thanks also to all those who were able to attend mums, grandmothers, aunties & a couple of dads. There was a great atmosphere in which to celebrate together.

Thank you to our beautiful Kinders and their teachers who led a simple, but very moving liturgy to celebrate mothers. There were a few tears of love and joy to see the Kinders, after only 12 weeks of school, reading, presenting and using the microphone to make their liturgy meaningful and special.

 

Tell Them From Me Survey

All teachers as well as students in Years 4-6 have completed this survey. We encourage parents to do the same which will provide valuable insight into the parent perspective of St Therese and provide guidance as to how we can improve. Currently we have had only 20% response which obviously doesn’t reflect the majority of parents.

 

Survey link: tellthemfromme.com/sts24

WHO DO WE CONTACT? 

To assist with the leading of initiatives and the general running of school activities each stage is allocated a leader.  For 2024 the following staff have been allocated to the four stages:

Early Stage 1 (Kindergarten) Mrs Kristy South & Mrs Vezinias

Stage 1 (Year 1 and Year 2) Mrs Kristy South & Mrs Vezinias

Stage 2 (Year 3 and Year 4) Mrs Amy Runko

Stage 3 (Year 5 and Year 6) Ms Bethany Tirchett

SPORT- Miss Jazmin Tikkeros

Should you have any questions or concerns, your first port of call should always be your child's teacher.  Should you require further clarification you can make contact with the Stage Leader.

Uniform (transition period)

Once again we enter this time of year where the weather seems to fluctuate quite a bit. Therefore over the next few weeks, students can choose to wear either their Winter or Summer uniform. Sports days remain the same. The official changeover where all students are expected in their Winter uniform will be from Monday, 27 May (Week 5).

P & F POSITION VACANT

P & F Social Media Role

Currently, the P & F are looking for an interested parent who has some available time to take over their Social Media role. The only experience is an ability to access and update our FaceBook presence (this rules me out!). If you are interested, please contact Louise in the office or one of the P & F executive listed below:

President: Michelle Ristov

Vice President: Rachael Dimitrievski

Treasurer: Christina Anastasiadis

Secretary: Carly Leighton

FaceBook / Social Media:

Upcoming Teacher Professional Learning Development 

Throughout the year teachers have access to a variety of quality professional development opportunities. Casual teachers are employed to cover classes with the teacher ensuring the teaching program and routines are followed.

Week	Date	Staff Member/s	Purpose
3	14/5/24	Mrs Kristy South	Instructional Coach Professional Development
3	15/5/24	Mrs Di Pietro, Mrs Devine, Mrs Walsh, Ms Tirchett and Mr Bunder	3-6 Maths Syllabus planning day
3	15/5/24	Mrs South and Mrs Runko	Maths Intervention PD
3	15/5/24	Mr Thorne	Clergy and Principals' Day
3	14/5/24	Miss Shalala and Mrs Milner	AEDC Census data Collection

Maths Explorer and Maths Olympiad.

Congratulations to our Stage 2 Maths Explorer team and our Stage 3 Maths Olympiad team who completed the first round of the Australasian Problem Solving Mathematical Olympiads (APSMO) competition last week.  All students were highly engaged and enjoyed the challenge of problem solving using a variety of strategies.   Round 2 is scheduled for Week 7 this term.

Parent-School Partnership Framework

“We must take note of the changes that have affected both the family and the school, and renew the commitment to constructive collaboration – for the benefit of children and young people” — Pope Francis  

Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong (CEDoW) strives to create vibrant Catholic communities of faith and learning and believes this is best achieved when there is a genuine partnership between home and school.

The Lighting the Way Together Parent-School Partnership Framework has been developed to support the creation and maintenance of this partnership. It outlines for parents* and school the principles and expectations of the parent-school partnership so that together we can create:

• identifiably Catholic communities, inspired by the person and teaching of Jesus Christ, where all strive to act with hope, integrity, justice and compassion; and
• effective schools which enhance student learning and wellbeing.

The Parent-School Partnership Framework is available in six additional languages to help support you and your family.

The Framework is available in Vietnamese, Hindi, Nepali, Malayalam, Tagalog and Arabic. They are all available for download from the below link:

www.dow.catholic.edu.au/partnershipframework

TO VIEW OUR PARENT PARTNERSHIP PRINCIPLES ONLY, CLICK HERE  

SEL

St Therese Catholic School Core Values

Collaboration - Community - Excellence - Inclusion - Respect

Principal's Awards

Ester L - 6B

Silver Medallion

Jacob T - 6B

 

St Therese School Facebook Page

www.facebook.com/westwollongong.sttherese

School Vision Statement

“Immersed in faith, pursuing excellence in learning

and the positive wellbeing of all”

Religious Education News

Reconciliation / First Communion Registration

Registration meetings to receive these Sacraments in 2024 are on the following dates:

• Tuesday 18 June
• Thursday, 20 June

These meetings will be held at 7pm in the St Therese Parish Centre. Attendance at one of these sessions is compulsory.

SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION

A reminder to complete Confirmation Registrations before the Easter break, using the QR code given out at the parent meeting. Thank you to those parents and students who have already completed their registration. 

Athletics Carnival

In less than ideal conditions, we managed to get through all the track events for the school athletics carnival. Thank you to Maurice Bernardi, Jazmin Tikkeros and the parents who volunteered as judges regardless of the persistent rain. As stated last week, Beaton Park is fully booked all the way up to, and possibly beyond, our South Coast Representative Carnival in August. Making use of the all weather track meant we could form a school team. Although getting wet, students seemed to enjoy the conditions especially as it was one of those times when they would usually be told they can’t go out in the rain.

Congratulations Jessica McL (6B)

On Friday, Jessica and Indee (6G) represented the Wollongong Diocese at the Mackillop Netball Trials. From all accounts both girls performed very well. At the end of the day, Jessica was named in the Mackillop team and will now compete in the State Netball Carnival coming up later in the year. We are very proud of the skills and sportsmanship shown by both Indee and Jess.

Paul Kelly Cup

Unfortunately, the new date chosen for the Paul Kelly Cup is also the date for School Photos. Therefore I have informed the organisers that we will be unavailable. If circumstances change again, I will keep parents informed.

NUTRITION

This week St Therese is participating in the ‘The Big Veggie Crunch & Vegetable’ Week. We have been promoting healthy eating habits and encouraging all students to simultaneously crunch on vegetables!

Try to include a rainbow of fruits and vegetables in your child’s lunchbox this week! It might even be a great opportunity to expose your child to a new type of fruit or vegetable.

Happy crunching and munching! 

SWAP IT!

Take a look at this week’s reminder for the ‘Swap It’ Initiative. Check out the tips and tricks below to bust those lunchbox myths:

Birthdays

15 May 2024 - 21 May 2024

Sophia T - 5G, Elijah c - 1G, Mason K - 2G, Lila S - 1B, Jessica J - 4G, Alessia J - 1B.

BAPTISMS

 For any new requests please contact Kathy at the Parish Office (email: westwollongong@dow.org.au any time or call 4243 9610 on Tuesdays 9am-3pm).

God bless you all,
Fr Duane

2024

May 2024

17 - Year 6 Blue Liturgy 11.20am in the HALL

19 - 26 Laudato Si' Week - Seeds of Hope

24 - Our Lady Help of Christians Liturgy 11.20am in Church

26 - National Sorry Day 

27 to 2 June - Reconciliation Week

27 to 29 - Year 6 Camp to Stanwell Tops

30 - School Photos - WINTER UNIFORM

June 2024

5 - World Environment Day

7 - Year 1 Assembly 2.10pm in Hall

10 - Public Holiday - King's Birthday

11 - Sacrament of Confirmation 5.00pm and 7.00pm

13 to 14 - Year 5 Excursion to Cockatoo Island

14 - Year 4 Assembly 2.10pm in Hall

17 - Refugee Week

21 - Year 5 Gold Assembly 2.10pm in Hall

July 2024

3 to 10 - NAIDOC Week

5 - Year 1 Gold Liturgy 10.15am in the Church 

     Last Day of Term 2

22 - Term 3 Commences - Students Return

29 - Environmental Staff Development Day

 ST THERESE CANTEEN 

WEDNESDAYS, THURSDAYS & FRIDAYS ONLY