Newsletter - 2024 Term 2 Week 4

Calendar

From the Leaders

The Most Holy Trinity 

We are now back in Ordinary Time after finishing Easter Time with the celebration of Pentecost last week. We begin by celebrating the mystery of God as Trinity; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Ordinary Time gives us time to learn about God and the ways in which we can grow as disciples. In this Sunday’s Gospel from Mark, Jesus sends out the disciples asking them to baptise others and know he is with us till the end of time. Jesus' famous words here are the ones we say when we make the sign of the cross.

Eucharist Reflection Day

On Monday, Year 4 students attended the Youth Hub for their Eucharist Reflection Day. During the day students learnt more about the sacrament and prepared for receiving either the Eucharist for our catholic students or a blessing for those who are non catholic. Congratulations to Flynn Ackroyd, Mia Brazel, Miles Gardiner, Ivy Gleeson, Hazel Le Guen, Archie Millard, Archie Miller, Mikayla Orme and Lucas Van Boxtel who received this sacrament for the first time on Tuesday night. 

Year 4 Mass

Year 4 continued their busy week with a grade mass at Christ the King Chapel on Thursday. Father Paul reinforced the message of when we are modelling ourselves on the actions of Jesus, the key thing is to ‘try’ to be our best. Whilst we all make mistakes, it is important to try!!

Come Read With Me Kindergarten and Year 1

Next week brings the beginning of the Kindergarten and Year 1 families Come Read with Me Sessions. These are going to be a wonderful hands on experience that will help families get the most out of reading at home with their child. We strongly encourage you to attend one of the sessions. Please know that the multiple time slots mean that the sessions are repeated, to allow families to plan a time that suits them. We have included them close to pick up time, to make it easier for many families. Please contact your class teacher if you are unable to attend and we will try and share the information on Seesaw.

Family Mass

It was so lovely to have so many of the St Agnes’ School community members celebrate with Father Paul at the mass we hosted on Sunday night. Thank you to our wonderful choir, all who participated in our mass and those who brought supper to share afterwards.  With over 50 children attending the Children’s Liturgy, this was one of our biggest groups ever. One of the absolute highlights were the children who stayed to join in the games run by Zac Parnell and other Youth Ministry leaders after mass. Despite the cold weather, it was difficult for some families to get their children to go home. 

Kindergarten 2025 Information Morning

Last Saturday, we had the pleasure of welcoming our prospective Kindergarten 2025 students to the school for an information session and a chance to answer questions in the Kindergarten classrooms. There was a wonderful vibe in the school as the families enjoyed their visit. There was certainly a lot of excitement from the pre-school children when they got to have a turn at being under the ocean using our school VR Kit. We would like to thank Trish Todd, Lisa James, Mel McAnally and Eloise Wilson for joining us on the morning. We look forward to welcoming the families back again for the tours very soon!

Whole School Mass

Our next whole school mass will be held in the school hall on Friday 7 June at 12:30pm. We would love our family and friends to join us. We will be celebrating Reconciliation Week and praying that each of us works towards unity and respect in our wonderful country.

Reporting to Families

We hope that you have all found our recent learning conversations a valuable tool in understanding how your child is progressing in their learning journey. We will soon move into our report writing period. As a parent, if your child is working below the grade outcomes and you would like to remove them from receiving a graded report, please send an email as soon as possible to kate.debressac@lism.catholic.edu.au .

National Sorry Day

National Sorry Day, officially the National Day of Healing, is an event held annually in Australia on 26 May commemorating the Stolen Generations. It is part of the ongoing efforts towards reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. 

National Reconciliation Week

National Reconciliation Week (NRW) is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.

Now more than ever, the work continues. In treaty making, in truth-telling, in understanding our history, in education, and in tackling racism. We need connection. We need respect. We need action. And we need change.  Thank you to Aunty Sharon and Aunty April who have been providing education for us on the history and meaning of this important week.

Vinnies Winter Appeal

Vinnies NSW supports tens of thousands of individuals and families each year who are experiencing financial and housing insecurity. This year, the Winter Appeal focuses on the Working Homeless, an emerging group of people who are experiencing housing hardship and disadvantage despite being in employment.

The Vinnies Winter Appeal plays a major role in ensuring we continue to provide support to the people in our community in need. Material donations of non perishable food items, warm clothes and bedding can be left at the front office and will be distributed to St Vincent de Paul, ‘Our Place’ at the Youth Hub and to Sr Marjorie’s Soup Kitchen. Thank you for your support of those less fortunate in our local community. 

MultiLit Visit

Our MultiLit Visit was a huge success last week. We had a wonderful time visiting the infants classrooms and received some helpful feedback regarding the amazing work of our staff and students. This partnership continues to help us strengthen our implementation of the K-2 English Syllabus. We are so proud of our students and the results they are achieving.

Sentence Goal

We are working so hard as a whole school on our sentence work as part of the K-6 English Syllabus. As a parent, you may be hearing about lots of different vocabulary related to sentences, so we will be sharing snippets of our learning over the weeks. We welcome any feedback or suggestions for these newsletter items.

Our Year 1 students came to show us how they are learning to compose a compound sentence to describe the crab at the beach.

Mr Clean

Last Friday the SRC launched their new Mr Clean initiative in ‘Keeping Aggies Clean.’

Mr Clean has made an impact on the internet. At Aggies we have our very own Mr ‘Flynn Wehlow’ Clean. Each week student leaders will be conducting spot checks around the school and in classrooms to see which class has the cleanest area. A Mr Clean trophy will be awarded to that class after prayer on Wednesday mornings. Good luck to all classes.

Indigenous Art Groups

Aunty April has been working with a group of volunteers at lunch times with Indigenous Art.

Here are some of their creations.

A4 Art Touring Exhibition visits Aggies

We were so excited to view the touring A4 Art Exhibition this week at school! It was fantastic to see the artworks of those Aggies students who are finalists in this years competition, and seeing the creativity and communication of ideas in their artworks. We are so proud of you all!

All of our classes had an opportunity to talk about the artworks showcased, and to vote for their favourite.

Please take the opportunity to view the 428 artworks that have also been shortlisted and are now available for viewing online. Community members can cast their votes for the Community Choice Award at  www.artsnest.com.au/submission_2024/ 

Furthermore, the artworks will be showcased at ArtWalk 2024 on Friday 7 June in the Creative Arts Nest Tent at Port Macquarie Town Green.

Category and award winners will be announced at the Finalist Awards Night on 17 June, with all winners having their pieces displayed at the Wauchope Creative Hub Art Gallery post-event.

Sports News

Diocesan Cross Country

On Tuesday 21 May, seven students travelled to Grafton for the Diocesan Cross Country Carnival. At this level, our students competed against Catholic school students between Laurieton and Tweed Heads. These seven students have done exceptionally well to make it to this level. Here is what Ardan, Nicholas and Sienna had to say about competing at Diocesan Cross Country:

“Hello guys. This is Ardan and Nick, and we are talking about our experience at the Diocesan Cross Country Carnival. It was a sunny day, and it was hot. The track was farmland, and it was very hilly and muddy with lots of cow poo. Nick came 12th in his race, and Ardan came 19th. Nick was in the ten years, and Ardan was in the nines. It was a great experience. Let's hope we make it next year. We got the day off school and had a good car drive. We ate good food like sausage sandwiches and sour worms.”

Ardan Byrne and Nicholas Doyle (Year 4)

“On Tuesday, I went to Grafton to run at Diocesan Cross Country. My race was last in the day, at 12:25pm. The course was hard, it had lots of hills and was very wet. Coming down one of the hills, I tripped over in a ditch, but I still kept going and finished my race. I didn’t get selected for the next level, but I had a great time.”

Sienna Harrison (Year 6)

Congratulations to the following students for their accomplishments:

Asha Galbraith-Robertson: 15th - 8/9 years girls 
Ardan Byrne: 19th - 8/9 years boys
Nicholas Doyle: 12th - 10 years boys
Kasper Sjolund: 18th -11 years boys
Kitt Quirk: 21st - 11 years boys
Sienna Harrison: 29th - 12 years girls
Lachlan Dunn: 21st - 12 years boys

Coached Basketball

This week students in Kindergarten, Year 1, Year 2 and Year 5 had the opportunity to work with basketball coaches from the Port Macquarie Basketball Association. The students enjoyed dribbling, passing, and shooting with the coaches. This ties into the Fundamental Movement Skills taught in Physical Education through the second half of Term 2.

The coaching will continue for the next five weeks and include all grades. Sessions with coaches are 40 minutes long, and the Australian Sports Commission has allocated funding through the Sporting Schools Grants. 

Athletics

This week, the rain and weather eased enough for the bottom field to be mowed and lane marking completed. Our Athletics preparation is now in full swing for the carnival on Friday 21 June. Over the next four weeks, classes will hold trials for the 100m, 200m, 800m, 1500m, long jump, discus and shot put events.

The carnival day is aimed at inclusion with competitive and non-competitive events for all students. Our Infants students will attend the carnival between 9:00am and 11:00am, and Primary students will attend for the duration of the day. Throughout the day, grades will have the opportunity to participate in novelty events. We invite all visiting families to get involved and have fun with their children on the day. A schedule of events will be posted in next week’s newsletter.

Along with the carnival, the school will host Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea between 11:00am and 11:40am. More details will be announced in the coming weeks.

A huge thank you to one of our school parents, Adam Mendes for coming in on his days off to mark and paint the lanes. We appreciate your work in getting our athletics carnival back on track.

Lismore Diocese Rugby Union Challenge

Wednesday 12 June is the Lismore Diocese Rugby Union Challenge. Held in Coffs Harbour, it is a competitive opportunity for our rugby union players to show their skills on the field. Mr Brazel has been working on team selections, and just this week, we were granted permission by the Lismore Diocese to nominate two teams to create an even number of teams competing in the Challenge. This gives some of our Year 5 students a valuable opportunity to gain experience for next year. The competition is full contact, and students require a mouth guard and proper footwear; headgear is recommended. The gala day is an opportunity for progression and the successful team moving on to play against other NSW Dioceses. 

Netball NSW Schools Cup (Years 5 and 6)

This week, we've sent permission notes for the highly anticipated Netball NSW School Cup. This event offers competitive and non-competitive leagues, catering to seasoned players and those new to netball. 

We need to finalise numbers and register teams. All notes and payments must be finalised by Wednesday 29 May. Please check the Compass events for further details.

A Year 3 and 4 netball gala day is scheduled for Term 3, Wednesday 11 September.

NSW PSSA AFL Championships

This week, Henry Fryer and Flynn Wehlow have been competing at the NSW PSSA Championship for AFL in Albury. Congratulations to both students, and we look forward to a full report next week.

Future Dates

Term 2

• Friday 7 June - Diocesan Rugby Union Gala Day, Coffs Harbour
• Tuesday 18 June - NSW Netball School’s Cup Years 5 and 6 Gala Day
• Friday 21 June - School Athletics Carnival
• Wednesday 24 July - Zone Athletics at St Joseph’s Regional College, Port Macquarie

Positive Behaviour Support

This week we continue with our PBS focus on being Respectful.  I am respectful of others’ in their personal space. I keep my hands and feet to myself. The purpose of this lesson is to review expectations set as a whole class on how to ‘take care of each other and keep our bodies safe”. This week we are going to practice impulse control in a calm and playful way so students can draw from this skill when they need it. Students will also learn about perspective taking and how it feels when our physical space is not respected.

PBS Focus: Respectful I am respectful of others’ in their personal space. I keep my hands and feet to myself (No Physical Contact or Aggression).

Catholic School Teaching: Human dignity 
We are all made in the image of God. We are all valuable and worthy of respect and fairness because we are all human.

Family Resources:

Primary Students

Infants

St Agnes' Primary School Community Forum

Canteen News

Parish News

Key Enrolment Dates For 2025

Primary School Tour for Kindergarten

• St Agnes’ Primary School – Saturday 1 June 2024 – 2:00pm
• St Peter’s Primary School – Saturday 1 June 2024 – 2:00pm
  
• St Joseph’s Primary School – Saturday 1 June 2024 – 2:00pm

Emmaus Village Open Day

St Agnes’ Catholic Parish is hosting an ‘Open Day’ at the new Emmaus Village (co-located with Emmaus Home at 16 Colonel Barney Drive, Port Macquarie) on Saturday 1 June, 10:00am-2:00pm. 

There will be info sessions, tours, stalls, live performances, face painting for the kids, sausage sizzle, and more - the onsite café ‘Breaking Bread Café’ will also be open for those who love a good coffee. Everyone is welcome to come along to join in the Open Day celebrations.

Find out more by joining the event page https://bit.ly/3y9tS6T or visiting the Emmaus Village website https://bit.ly/3wHGS36.

Community News