T4 W8 Newsletter 2024

From The Principal

The Joy of Giving

As the festive season approaches, we often find ourselves focused on the joy of receiving gifts. However, the true spirit of Christmas lies in the act of giving. By sharing our blessings with others, we not only bring joy to their lives but also enrich our own.

Inspired by the parable of the Good Samaritan, we are called to be compassionate neighbours, reaching out to those in need.  This Christmas season, let's embrace the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others.

Supporting Our Community – Our school community is committed to living out the Gospel message through acts of service.  We encourage you to join us in supporting St Vincent de Paul and Mackay Seafarers through our annual giving liturgy at St Michael's Church on Thursday, 5 December 2024 at 9:00am.

By donating generously, we can help those less fortunate in our community. Let's teach our children the importance of giving back and making a positive impact on the world.

In the lead up to Advent and then Christmas I pray that the spirit of generosity fills your heart with love, peace, and joy.

Yours in Faith

John Ballinger-Oches

Principal's Messages

Issues with Student Lunches and Fruit Break  |  A reminder to all parents to please ensure that your child has sufficient food each day for both lunches and that a piece of fruit is also supplied each day for fruit break. Even if a student has tuckshop for one or both lunches fruit break must still be supplied. We are getting a lot of students coming to the office asking for food, particularly for second lunch or fruit breaks. We ask every parent to  please have a conversation with your child to ensure that they have enough food for all 3 breaks and that they are saving something for second lunch. Your help with this matter is greatly appreciated. 

NEWS FROM THE LIBRARY  |  As the end of year approaches, we would like all library books to be returned to the library.  To assist in the end of year audit, student borrowing will finish 8 November 2024.  If all items have not been returned by 22 November, the cost to replace the lost resources will be charged to your school account.  As a school community we can’t afford to have resources go missing so your assistance in this matter is greatly appreciated.

Spread Christmas Spirit: A Community Initiative

As part of our commitment to fostering community spirit, we're launching a heart warming initiative to bring joy to our local seniors.  We invite all families to write a heartfelt Christmas card or letter to residents of local aged care facilities.

How to participate:

1. Create a plan with your family, include children in the planning:  Purchase or handmake a series of Christmas cards or letters.
2. Create a personalised message:  Write a warm and uplifting message, sharing a Christmas greeting, a kind word, or a funny anecdote.
3. Sign your name:  Include your first name or family name on the card.  If the card is from a child, please only include their first name and age.
4. Drop off your card:  Please deliver your cards to the school office by Wednesday 4 December 2024.

Your simple act of kindness will bring smiles to the faces of our elderly neighbours and brighten their Christmas season.  Let's come together as a caring community to spread joy and make a positive impact.

Thank you for your participation!

Prep Enrolments for 2025

PREP 2025  |  Do you have a Prep student beginning in 2025?

We are now taking enrolments via the online system.  We encourage both existing and new families who have a child starting Prep in 2025 to lodge their enrolment application as soon as possible.  Applications are to be made via our online enrolment application available on our website via this link: https://www.sasrok.catholic.edu.au/   

Interviews being conducted now. 

Please contact the school office for further information or if any assistance is required.

Date Saver - St Anne's Centenary Week 2025

St Anne's 99 Years in Education

COVID Requirements

Student Protection News

Across The Curriculum

WHICH ONE DOESN'T BELONG

The goal for ‘Which One Doesn’t Belong?’ is to improve mathematical reasoning.

There can be more than one reason why one image, shape, number or object doesn’t belong — the focus is on explaining the reasoning. All  answers are accepted as long as the reasoning is true. Look at the following picture. 

Which one out of the four doesn’t belong? 

How do you know this? Can you find more than one way of explaining this?

WASTE AUDIT

Last Thursday, year 2 and 5 had a visit from the waste management team at Envirocom and Reef Catchments. The team spoke to the students about what we are putting into the bins at St Anne's. 

Students used tongs and gloves to sort one bin into recyclable and not recyclable items. They learnt that 800 wheelie bins fit into one garbage truck!

As a school, a goal we will take the following goals into 2025:

- to improve putting our rubbish into the correct bins.

- to put paper into the yellow lid bin

- to add a fruit scrap bucket to the undercover area

- remind students to put their poppers in the bucket not the bin

- to take home uneaten food and not throw it out.

POLICE VISIT

On Monday the 18th of November, three officers from the Sarina Police Station visited students from Years 4-6 to discuss internet safety and cyberbullying.

This presentation covered content such as:

• Online safety: How to stay safe while using the internet, including social media and online gaming, and people to report to when you don’t feel safe.
• Cyberbullying: Understanding what cyberbullying is, its impact, and how to prevent it.

The goal of this visit was to repeat messages that students hear at home and school, and to further develop the skills to stay safe online.

The eSafety Commissioner is Australia's independent regulator for online safety. This site is a valuable resource with various videos, handouts and discussion prompts:

- https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/resources/online-safety-for-every-family

- https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/resources

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the office. Thank you for your ongoing support in your child’s safety.

The Good News

From the Assistant Principal: Religious Education

Ms Georgia Moloney

Prep Prayer Celebration

This Friday, Prep will be leading the school in their Prayer Celebration at the beginning of Assembly. Please join us in the Hall from 8.40am.

St Anne’s family Mass at St Michael’s

We warmly invite you to join us for our Family Mass this Sunday, 9:00 AM at St Michael’s Church. 

We are seeking volunteers from our Prep students and their parents to assist with the readings and prayers during the Mass. If your child or you would like to participate in this meaningful way, please reach out to Ms. Moloney via email at georgia_moloney@rok.catholic.edu.au 

Vinnies Christmas Appeal

Term 4 marks the start of the Christmas Appeal for St Vincent de Paul Society and we invite you once again to join us in making a difference to people’s lives. Christmas can often be a stressful time of year for individuals and families, especially with the added financial pressures associated with the festive season. Every year the Society, with your support, helps families across Queensland celebrate Christmas. This Christmas, your support can help to alleviate some of the pressures families and individuals may be facing during this season.

The St Vincent de Paul Society Queensland is thankful and appreciative of the ongoing support your school community has provided throughout 2024, and you have helped us raise awareness around the issues of homelessness and poverty. Once again, thank you for a fantastic year. We look forward to another great Christmas Appeal!

The St Vincent de Paul Society is asking for volunteers to come and sort or pack hampers at their Office in Mackay. The dates and times are as follows:

 Saturday 7th December            Sorting of the donations                          8.30am – 12.30pm

Saturday 14th December         Packing of the Christmas Hampers   8.30am – 12.30pm

 Volunteers will need to contact the office and leave their name and contact details by email: office.mackay@svdpqld.org.au or phone on 4957 3955 (Mon, Wed & Friday 8.30am – 1.30pm). Someone from the Mackay office will then contact them to confirm the dates and times. Even if volunteers cannot spend the whole time, they are more than welcome to come for an hour or two. Every little bit helps.

Donations or tinned and non-perishable foods (e.g. cordial, tinned fruit, pasta, coffee, tea etc) can be placed in the basket in each classroom and will be presented to a member from St Vincent de Paul at our End of Year Mass.

 Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like more information.

Seafarers

Each year, we collect toiletries to support the Seafarers in Mackay, offering them comfort and care while they are away from home. If you would like to contribute, we welcome donations of toiletries and/or empty shoe boxes, which can be sent to school with your child and given to their teacher for collection. Your generosity helps brighten the lives of those working at sea, and we greatly appreciate your support in this meaningful cause.

Finance News

Important Information regarding how School fee payments show on the Parent Orbit App  |  With the introduction of the new Parent Orbit App, parents are now able to easily see where they are up to with their school fee payments. However, an important thing to note is that any payments that have been made in the past 2 weeks may not show in the App, as they need to be processed to your account after the repayment is received and this is done in bulk every week or two. If it is longer than 2 weeks since you have made a payment and it is still not showing on the Orbit App, please contact the Finance Officer, Sandra Adams for it to be looked into. Sorry for any confusion this has caused.  

School Fees |  Term 4 School Fees are now overdue date. If you have not paid these in full, and do not already have a payment plan in place, please contact our Finance Officer Sandra Adams to discuss options. 

Tuckshop

If you order Tuckshop for your child, please remember to still supply fruit for fruit break for that day, as well as second lunch if you only order first lunch Tuckshop. 

If you can volunteer to help in the tuckshop from 8:30 -10:30am on Thursday or Friday on the week your child's class is rostered, please contact the office. 

Mercy Awards

Congratulations To Our Mercy Award Recipients Of The Week |  Freya S, Jaxson T, Grace S, Summer P, Mia S, Chet R, Hamish M, Grace M, Millie T, Cohen D, Hadley W, Lincoln F, Payton H, Paige E, Xander BJ, Jayde C, Memphis-Belle D, Addison W

Year 6 Camp

In week 7, the Year 6 students ventured down to the Sunshine Coast for a week of fun filled activities. Here is a little snapshot of what we they got up too.  

 The plane ride was so fun. Mostly because we traded lollies through the gaps of the seats. Although it was a little boring, we made the most of it!  

 We took photos in front of the entrance of Australia Zoo at the Crickey sign. We walked in and got a bag of ‘roo food’ each to feed the kangaroos. We took a photo with a big crocodile. We split up into three groups and explored the zoo. We had a delicious lunch. We saw Chandler and Bindi feeding the crocs! We then went on the playground and the giant pillow. It was lots of fun!  

 The pool was lots of fun. We did chicken fights. There was a mini pool, and people were making it into a whirlpool.  

 As we walked into Sea Life there were so many cool animals like sea horses, leafy sea dragons and seals. My favourite parts about Sea Life were the seal show. There were also some very cute little penguins, and they made weird sounds but were super adorable.  

 Rock climbing was very fun and very high. It looked very scary but when we were up it got a bit better. Everyone had a great try getting as high as they could. On camp we did archery.  

 Archery was fun. At first, we tried to shoot a target, and a lot of people hit the target. Next, we played a game like dodge ball but with the bow and foam arrows. We got to shoot the other team, and it was really fun.  

 Bowling was a fun way to use our energy. We liked having a challenge with our teachers.  

 We went canoeing and had a race from one side of the riverbank to the other side. It was very fun. We also played a game where we had Coolock on one canoe and McAuley on another. We had to get the whole team in the canoe without it capsizing.  

 When we did raft building, we had to use teamwork, wooden beams, barrels and rope. The boys won the race, but the girls had the better raft. It was a good challenge. 

 During body boarding the waves were very big, bigger than us but they were good to surf on. There was this one sand bank where the little waves went big. It was loads of fun! 

 We played minute-to-win-it games that included team building activities, challenging games that needed lots of concentration. We also enjoyed skipping with the big rope. We made our own marble run using pipes cut in half. We split up into girl’s vs boys. It took a lot of hard work, teamwork and communication. 

 During our stay at Alexandra Park conference centre we ate lots of yummy food. Some of our favourites were: butter chicken, chicken schnitzels and potato bake, nachos, sausages and mash potatoes and fish and chips.  

 On the last night of camp, we watched the first Harry Potter movie. We only got about halfway through the movie until we had to go back to our cabins because over half the students and Mrs Rutland were asleep! 

 Aussie world is full on fun and exciting activities. There are not only rides, but mazes, bumper cars, a giant slide and delicious food. The rides were terrifying and enjoyable. The SX360 ride was the craziest ride, we went 10 stories high and hung upside down! 

 We got Maccas at the airport and it was fun. Some people bought Krispy crème donuts or Brooki cookies.  

General Information

Parent Orbit App Setup Guide

Community News