Newsletter - Term 3 Week 7

Calendar

From The Leaders

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

This continues from last Sunday’s Gospel where Jesus acknowledged Peter as leader of the Church. Peter does not yet fully understand that we can only be disciples of Jesus only when we want to do so. Every day, we have opportunities to give our time, talents, and treasure, and sometimes this is not as easy as putting money in the collection basket at Mass or racking up our service hours. Jesus is telling us that there is a price to pay when we follow him. The important thing to remember is that God will take care of us and that we just have to trust him.

Father's Day

Father’s Day has become a day of celebration and remembering in almost all countries around the world. It has become a day not to only honour our fathers, but all men who act as a father figure. Stepfathers, uncles, grandfathers, and other significant adult males are honoured on Father’s Day. Make someone’s day special this Father's Day.  Whoever the father figure in your life is, it's time to spoil them.

Today we were excited to celebrate the father figures in the St Agnes’ Community.

Thank you to all volunteers who made sure this was a fantastic celebration.

Front Yard Makeover

So many comments have been made about the work being carried out at the front of the school. We are in the process of artificially turfing areas where the grass will not grow, and widening the cement path from the front gate to the hall. 

The other highlight has been the decorating of our first tree. Kim Post, Sharon Hugo, Eloise Toombs and Lyndsay Wallace have been involved in 'Knitting Club' at lunch times, teaching students a variety of crafts. Make sure you check out the tree at the entrance to our school and watch this space for further developments. We invite any interested knitters to join the club on Mondays or Wednesdays at Lunch 1, from 11:00am to 11:40am. Alternatively if you have any family members who live near or far, who would be interested in contributing knitting or crochet to covering more trees, or in donating wool to be used by the students, it would be most welcome.

Catholic Schools Week

'Walking Together in Faith' is the theme for next week’s Catholic Schools Week. We welcome families to join us on Monday for Whole School Prayer, on Wednesday for Grandparents and Special Persons Day and on Thursday for Creative Arts Spectacular night, for a celebration of our students, staff and families.

Creative Arts Spectacular

Staff Spirituality Day - Friday 8 September

Don’t forget there will be no staff on site next Friday as we will be participating in our Staff Spirituality Day. Each year staff in all Catholic Schools in the Lismore Diocese participate in staff development completing modules written by Bishop Greg Homeming. This year's units focus on our relationships with ourselves, with others and with God through our work. 

Staff Professional Learning Day - Monday 11 September

On Monday 11 September staff will be participating in a Professional Learning Day here at school. Child minding will be available on this day if required. The canteen will also be open. Please either click on the link or scan the QR code to book your child/ren in.

https://www.schoolinterviews.com.au/code/vzj3z

As of Monday students will start the process of taking home their class prayer box to share with families. In these boxes are resources and suggestions for ways to pray in your home. Please take time to sit with your child as this resource is brought home for 2 or 3 nights to each family. We hope as many families as possible have this opportunity throughout the rest of the 2023 school year. Students are asked to record their experience through writing or drawing and for families to upload photos of them using these resources on seesaw.

Our StemMAD Entries are in!

We would like to wish our students who have been busily preparing their entries for the StemMAD competition all the very best. The two teams have worked so hard, under the organisation of Mrs Eloise Wilson. Our entries are in and the children are very excited about the possibility of being able to go to Melbourne if they win. Take a look at some photos of their hard work. If you would like to know more about StemMAD please see the link.https://stemnational.cna.catholic.edu.au/

Car Park Pick Up

Thank you to those families who follow the car park pick up agreement guidelines, agreed on when you received your sign for the car. This includes driving around the block when asked by the adult on duty to prevent cars being backed up and not blocking neighbours driveways. In order to keep the traffic flowing, please be respectful of all who use this service. Parking on the pedestrian crossing is also not allowed. If you have another family member collecting your child, can you please pass this information on to them to avoid confusion. 

Pastoral Care

Family Device Agreement

To support your children at home, we recommend that families create a Family Device Agreement. An online family device agreement is a great way to start a conversation so that everyone in your family stays safe and behaves responsibly online.

A family agreement can help you to:

●  Have conversations about online safety.
●  Set clear and realistic expectations and boundaries.
●  Teach and model responsible and upstanding online behaviour.
● Provide consistent guidelines for all family members, promoting fairness and understanding of the rules and expectations surrounding device and internet usage.
● Prevent issues such as cyberbullying, exposure to inappropriate content, online harassment, and excessive screen time by establishing proactive measures and guidelines.
●  Family Bonding: It encourages family members to work together, discuss, and mutually agree on the rules, strengthening family bonds and fostering a sense of collective responsibility.

Use this Family Agreement Template and read more about these helpful tools at esafety.
Remember, the agreement is for the entire family, so involve everyone and keep it visible for reference.

Sports News

Primary All Schools Cup and Hasting Zone Soccer and Netball Gala Day

Our Year 6 students attended the Hasting Zone Soccer and Netball Gala Day in Laurieton on Thursday. Students had the opportunity to select which sport they wished to play. Four netball teams and three soccer teams participated in the gala day. Hearing all the stories from the matches about goals was awesome. It was a busy day with games running continuously. Thank you to Mrs Stewart, Mr Lund, Miss Kershaw and Mr Farrell for coaching the teams

The Paul Wilson Cup soccer team lost their first two games by narrow margins. They then went on to win their next three games and finish Runner Up. Congratulations on some skillful football, showing resilience in defeat and humility in victory.

Our Netballers had a big day, with some huge victories throughout the morning. They remained in control for the rest of the day and finished as competition champions, winning the final 6-3. Congratulations to the squad, Mrs McEntyre and Mrs Brown for coaching the students. The team will travel to Grafton to compete in the Diocesan finals later in the term.

NRL All Schools Cup and League Tag Gala Day

On Tuesday, about 70 students travelled to Stuarts Park for the NRL All Schools Cup and League Tag Gala Day. Each team played three games to showcase their skills. The under Under 10’s team had a mix of results with some big wins and losses. The Aggies Two team in the Under 10’s progressed to the semi-final, where they went down by two points. The two Under 12’s teams played hard and all games were decided by small margins. All the boys that participated in the day should be proud of their efforts and sportsmanship. Win or lose, they cheered the other schools and walked from the field with their heads high. A big thank you to Mr Brazel, Mr Evans and Mrs White for their help on the day.

The Under 12's girls league tag was a new addition to the day. Many of our players had not played before and got off to a slow start, losing their first game. But from there, they went on to win the remaining two games. Congratulations girls. Thank you to Mrs Stewart for organising the league tag team on the day.

NSWTA Touch Football Gala Day

We are finalising teams for the NSW Touch Association (NSWTA) gala day. The gala day is for any student in Years 3 to 6 who wants to experience playing touch football. Notes will be issued shortly to students nominated to play. The event is at the Tuffins Lane fields on Thursday 14 September. Travel to and from the venue will be by bus, leaving school at 9:ooam and returning in the afternoon for regular hometime dismissal.

Postive Behaviour Support

Our PBS focus for this week is if I am Responsible, Resilient, Resolute and Respectful I can say no to bullying. In our lesson this week the students have learnt about what bullying is. 

Bullying involves EVERYONE - bully, victim and bystander. Bullying is:

1. Deliberate—a bully’s intention is to hurt someone 
2. Repeated—a bully often targets the same victim again and again 
3. Power Imbalanced—a bully chooses victims he or she perceives as vulnerable

Bullying occurs in many different forms, with varying levels of severity. It may involve: 

• Physical Bullying—poking, pushing, hitting, kicking, beating up 
• Verbal Bullying—yelling, teasing, name-calling, insulting, threatening to harm 
• Indirect Bullying—ignoring, excluding, spreading rumors, telling lies, getting others to hurt someone

Family resources: 

• Bullying is Never OK!
• Week 7 & 8 PBS Focus

Student Awards

Congratulations to the following students who have reached 400 Dojos:

Mikayla O

Congratulations to the following students who have reached 300 Dojos:

Clare M, Harry M, Archie M, Eliza W and Lexi C

Congratulations to the following students who have reached 200 Dojos:

Louis S, Bracen S, Lachlan F, Layla M, Alexa M, Narz M, Bella R, Phebe C, Scarlett F, Ciaran D, Alexander M, Dominic R, Catherine F, Claudia F and Sylvia L

Congratulations to the following students who have reached 100 Dojos:

Melissa M, Parker B, Mila M, Lucas V, Sophie W, Archie M and Noah U

Canteen News

Parish News

General Information