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Staffing Announcement
This year we will be farewelling Mrs Claire Dekuyer who will be moving interstate with her family. Whilst it has only been one year, Claire has contributed so much to the growth of our students in Year 2 and through her role as PE teacher. We are pleased to announce that Mrs Benita Fagan will be taking on the role of PE teacher in 2024. Benita will be moving to us from South Australia where she has been a PE specialist teacher for a number of year.
We also welcome Andrew Owen to our staff in 2024 as our Grounds Maintenance Manager. The Grounds Renewal Project highlighted the value in having our grounds neat and presentable and Andrew will be able to ensure this continues in addition to providing support to our community garden beds.
In addition to welcoming Benita and Andrew we would also like to announce that Miss Ariana Strmota has accepted the new role of Parent Engagement Coordinator. Ariana has been given time to support parent engagement across our community by liaising with Parent Contacts, supporting whole school events and celebrating our community through social media and the newsletter. Ariana brings all of her experience as our School Chaplain to this additional role.
Community Council and Parent Contacts
We are currently calling for new members of our community council and parents who are interested in taking on the role of Parent Contact for their child's class. Our Parent Contacts will work with Ariana to bring the class together for social occasions and lead an event within our calendar year. Our Parent Contacts will also form the Parent Engagement Working Party which will attend 3 Community Council meetings to discuss how our community is progressing with our initiatives. If you are interested in either of these roles please email Luke Donnelly. Parent Contacts for multiage classes will be allocated based on class groupings.
Community Council Thankyou
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the School Community Council for all their support of the community this year. Narelle Luchetii, Fr Emil, Simon Needham, Michael Kelly, Ben Lentini, Simon Benson, Leah Hanley, Skye Keatinge, Nicole Mikkonen, Samantha Mance and Christine Washington have been strong advocates for continuous improvement in student learning and community engagement at STM. Special thanks to Narelle, Simon, Ben and Simon who are vacating their positions at the end of the year. We appreciate and value their dedication and commitment to our community.
Affirmations
With our End of Year Mass taking place this Friday we have decided to move our final affirmations for the year to next Thursday at 8:50am. We will acknowledge 3 weeks' worth of affirmations at this gathering.
Principal
Advent
On Sunday we marked the beginning of Advent which starts this Sunday in the Catholic Church. We learnt at Year One’s Centred in Faith Gathering earlier in the term, the word “Advent” comes from the Latin word adventus, meaning “coming”. Advent is the season of new beginnings and covers the four Sundays before Christmas Day.
Week by week, candles are lit on the Advent wreath signifying our longing for the light of Christ, as the time of his birth draws near.
The first candle lit on the first week of Advent is a purple candle, this candle represents hope. This candle was lit at our Kindergarten Nativity Performance on Friday. In the first week of Advent, we recall that the Prophet Isaiah anticipated the birth of Jesus. This first candle also represents the anticipation of the arrival of Jesus our Saviour.
End of Year Mass
On Friday 8th December at 9:30am we will celebrate our end of year Mass. We would like to extend the invitation to all members of our community to attend. At the end of the Mass, we will present to a member of St Vincent de Paul, the Christmas Hampers that have been put together by our Mini Vinnie’s team. Over the last few weeks, we have been collecting items for these hampers. Each year we love helping out those in our community by doing something as simple as bringing in some food. We thank Vinnies for all they do and hope that this small gesture helps them in their work.
Yours in Christ,
Samantha Mance
Religious Education Coordinator
Library Books
Library books are due for return this week please.
Pop Up Christmas Bookshop
Need a gift? Why not gift someone a book to curl up and relax with over the festive season? Come to the library next Monday and Tuesday (see flier below for opening times) to browse the selection available for every member of the family- adults and children.
A percentage of the sales will allow us to buy new titles for the library, ready to borrow in 2024.
Eftpos only. No cash sales.
Thank you.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Christmas craft has started in Defence club with headbands last week and card making today. Next week Wednesday 13th we warmly invite all parents of Defence students to come along to our Defence club party and enjoy a bring your own picnic lunch in the school grounds and participate in our fun activity. We will join Mini Vinnies for this celebration. BYO-lunch will start at 1pm on 13th December and following we will be decorating Christmas Cookies.
We hope to see you there. Kate, Jess and Ariana