Mother Teresa School 40 Wimmera Street Harrison ACT 2914 Telephone: 6241 5604 Email: [email protected]Newsletter No 5/2011 10 March 2011 Harrison Herald Newsletter Harrison Herald Newsletter Harrison Herald Newsletter DATES TO REMEMBER Week 6 Assembly: Blue Kingfishers TODAY Thursday, 10 March Community Council Meeting Monday, 14 March Canberra Day Holiday Wednesday, 23 March School Photos P - 3 Friday, 8 April Cross Country Carnival (Further details at a later date) Just For Fun What did baby corn say to mummy corn? Where’s pop corn? Dear Parents and Carers, It has been another busy and productive week at Mother Teresa School. Mick Lowe is currently away on the annual Archdiocesan Principal’s Retreat and we pray that this time is relaxing and renewing for him. Happenings A huge thank you to Brendon Pye for his fabulous organization of our very first school swimming carnival. Thank you also to the many parents, family and friends who came along and supported in so many ways – it would not have been such a successful community day without you. The children had opportunities to participate in many events and they were very ready to devour sausages and ice blocks by lunch time. Some of those who participated in our competitive events received ribbons during this week. Congratulations to RED house – the winners of the swimming carnival. Last Friday was indeed a big day as we also held our beginning of the school year picnic and BBQ. Thanks to all the families who came along. It was quite impressive to see our oval filled with picnics and activities and it was a great opportunity to meet people and to take a little ‘time out.’ A thank you to Janet Bruce for organizing and presenting sessions on literacy for parent helpers over the last two weeks. The parents who attended were able to get a sense of the way we approach reading at Mother Teresa, the language we use when working with children and how they can assist children both in the classroom and their own children at home. The big message was about setting children up for success and celebrating learning! The Community Council will hold its first meeting of the year tonight. Attached is information from the Community Council regarding the activities of sub committees, school events and ways you can be involved and stay informed. School Photos will take place on Wednesday 23 rd March. Children are asked to wear their usual Wednesday uniform – the Pre School shirts for the ELC children and Sports uniform for Primary children. Mother Teresa School will again be taking part in the ‘Marketplace Rewards’ program. Last year we worked very hard and came first. The winnings being directed straight into learning resources for our children. Dockets can be taken to the Marketplace directly or you may like to drop them to the office. We will take advantage of the ‘double rewards days’ – 14 March, 18 March and 22 March. Lent Begins Our Journey to Easter has begun. Shrove Tuesday was remembered when Master Chefs Mr Lowe and Mrs Von Bischoffshausen cooked pancakes for all the children in K-3. In the ELC each class made and shared pancakes together. Ash Wednesday was remembered and celebrated in each classroom with a short liturgy and the marking of a cross on each person’s forehead. Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent. We now journey for 40 days until Easter. We are called to reflect and prepare for Easter through prayer and often the giving up of something for this time. Our Year 3 students travelled to Holy Spirit Church at Good Shepherd and represented Mother Teresa School at a Parish and three schools Ash Wednesday Mass. It was a wonderful sight to see so many children come together. Thank you to the parents who assisted Mr Pye, Mrs Leet and myself in transporting the children to Amaroo.
Harrison Herald Newsletter Harrison Herald Newsletter Harrison Herald Newsletter
DATES TO REMEMBER
2011 Enrolment Period 27 April—28 May 2010 Friday, 7 May Mothers Day Celebration (info on page 2) Tuesday, 11 May 9-11am and 4-6pm Open Day for School and Early Learning Centre Tuesday, 11 May 7.00pm Information Evening for current preschool parents seeking enrolment for Kinder 2011 Thursday, 20 May 7.00pm Community Council Meeting Friday, 11 June Grandparents Day (Make the calendar. More info to follow) Monday, 14 June Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday Friday, 2 July Term 2 ends
DATES TO REMEMBER
Week 6 Assembly:
Blue Kingfishers TODAY Thursday, 10 March Community Council Meeting Monday, 14 March Canberra Day Holiday Wednesday, 23 March School Photos P - 3
Friday, 8 April Cross Country Carnival (Further details at a later date)
Just For Fun
What did baby corn say to mummy corn? Where’s pop corn?
Dear Parents and Carers, It has been another busy and productive week at Mother Teresa School. Mick Lowe is currently away on the annual Archdiocesan Principal’s Retreat and we pray that this time is relaxing and renewing for him. Happenings A huge thank you to Brendon Pye for his fabulous organization of our very first school swimming carnival. Thank you also to the many parents, family and friends who came along and supported in so many ways – it would not have been such a successful community day without you. The children had opportunities to participate in many events and they were very ready to devour sausages and ice blocks by lunch time. Some of those who participated in our competitive events received ribbons during this week. Congratulations to RED house – the winners of the swimming carnival. Last Friday was indeed a big day as we also held our beginning of the school year picnic and BBQ. Thanks to all the families who came along. It was quite impressive to see our oval filled with picnics and activities and it was a great opportunity to meet people and to take a little ‘time out.’ A thank you to Janet Bruce for organizing and presenting sessions on literacy for parent helpers over the last two weeks. The parents who attended were able to get a sense of the way we approach reading at Mother Teresa, the language we use when working with children and how they can assist children both in the classroom and their own children at home. The big message was about setting children up for success and celebrating learning! The Community Council will hold its first meeting of the year tonight. Attached is
information from the Community Council regarding the activities of sub committees, school events and ways you can be involved and stay informed. School Photos will take place on Wednesday 23rd March. Children are asked to wear their usual Wednesday uniform – the Pre School shirts for the ELC children and Sports uniform for Primary children. Mother Teresa School will again be taking part in the ‘Marketplace Rewards’ program. Last year we worked very hard and came first. The winnings being directed straight into learning resources for our children. Dockets can be taken to the Marketplace directly or you may like to drop them to the office. We will take advantage of the ‘double rewards days’ – 14 March, 18 March and 22 March. Lent Begins Our Journey to Easter has begun. Shrove Tuesday was remembered when Master Chefs Mr Lowe and Mrs Von Bischoffshausen cooked pancakes for all the children in K-3. In the ELC each class made and shared pancakes together. Ash Wednesday was remembered and celebrated in each classroom with a short liturgy and the marking of a cross on each person’s forehead. Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent. We now journey for 40 days until Easter. We are called to reflect and prepare for Easter through prayer and often the giving up of something for this time. Our Year 3 students travelled to Holy Spirit Church at Good Shepherd and represented Mother Teresa School at a Parish and three schools Ash Wednesday Mass. It was a wonderful sight to see so many children come together. Thank you to the parents who assisted Mr Pye, Mrs Leet and myself in transporting the children to Amaroo.
Tileah Gordon-Cooke, Sofia Carton, Cynthia Lee, Saesha Kaur and Adella Caruso. Happy birthday everyone.
Preschool: Michael Thomas, Amelia Fleming, Ty Kelly, Dante Comacchio and Grace O’Mahoney Kinder: Lucian Comacchio, Tileah Gordon-Cooke, Matteo Vardanega and Chloe Priestly Year One: Nikola Jagodic, Isobelle Toohey, Gabrielle Comacchio and Tiana Gamma Year Two: Taliyah Newton and Michael McAviney Year Three: Emma Howse
KINDER HOME READING Weeks 6
A few things to remember as we begin home reading this year: Readers should be easy! Memorising the words in the book is a crucial part of the reading process Celebrate your child’s success in reading
Project Compassion Caritas works towards the support of the missions and those less fortunate than ourselves. ‘Project Compassion’ is the fundraiser Caritas run during lent. Each class will have a large Project Compassion Box in their room and children are encouraged to do little jobs around the house to earn money that can then be donated to this worthy cause. Building Progress The building continues to progress well and we hope to be in out library very soon. Many thanks for the thoughtful way the carparks are being used. A reminder to parents of children in K-3 that you can pick up your children from 3.05 to 3.20 from the carpark and that the rush is usually over if you choose to come a little after class finishing time. Your child will remain with the teacher on duty during this time. This is one way we can reduce congestion and waiting time at
the end of the day pick up time. Principal’s Awards From next week we will be using a new system with Principal’s Awards. The names of the children who will receive awards the following week will be published in the newsletter. The following Wednesday at assembly time these children will receive awards eg: the children whose names appear this week will receive their award next week (16 March). We hope this system will allow parents who would like to be present for their child’s award to do so. Every blessing for the week ahead. Cherie Kelly Assistant Principal
WHOLE SCHOOL FOCUS:
This term our focus is:
Help Us Grow in responsibility to ourselves
Our value for the this week is: PEACE
LIGHTHOUSE LENT
Situated around the coastline of Australia there are about 172 lighthouses of various shapes and sizes. Generally, light-houses were designed and built to help those who put to sea to avoid rocks, shoals and treacherous channels and so re-turn safely to shore. There is something comforting about a lighthouse and its beam that flashes out into the darkness and gives a sense of security to those who are passing far out on the waters. Such an image might have evoked this spiri-tual verse:
“Brightly beams our Father’s love From His lighthouse ever more, But to us he gives the keeping Of the lights along the shore.”
-P.Bliss.
So how are we going with the “keeping of our light”? We all search for meaning, purpose, fulfilment and happiness. We all want our life to be worthwhile, we want to feel wanted and appreciated. We long for genuine relationships, to love and to be loved.
However, even if we are able to achieve all these human de-sires, everything is still not quite right because we are not body only, but body and soul – God’s Spirit is dwelling within us. Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that, “We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary.”
God loves all of us and He gave us the freedom to choose how to believe in Him. The Christian avenue for seeking God is in His Son, Jesus. His story is recorded in the Gospels, His teachings still apply to our daily living: “As I cross on life’s tumultuous seas, Sailing from earth to heaven’s shore, Christ is like a mighty lighthouse Helping me navigate my course.” –Author Unknown.
Anchoring our soul by faith in Jesus is the foundation for our spiritual journey which will go hand in hand with our human desires for meaning, purpose, fulfilment and happiness. St Paul in his letter to the people of Philippi tells of the influ-ence of Jesus in his life when he writes: “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want, through Him who gives me strength.” –Phil. 4:11-13.
Lighthouses, over time, have undergone many changes. Gone are the families who lived nearby and tended them daily, even hourly. Most lighthouses are automatically con-trolled and are solar powered or mains powered. However, their purpose remains unchanged. Likewise, each of us in our lifetime has grown through many changes to our ap-pearance, financial circumstance, our occupation and many other externals. But how have we grown internally in our soul, our spiritual relationship with God through Jesus.
Maybe we’re in need of a “Lighthouse Lent” during which we can search for a relationship with Jesus that is more in tune with the maturity we have in other aspects of our life. Maybe Easter could bring a personal resurrection of the life of Jesus within us.
“Jesus, our needs are many, but too often our wants out-number them. May the example of Your life, help us to discern one from the other. May the example of Your life direct our attention towards those things that promote goodness, truth and justice in our daily lives. May we truly live for the good of all.” Amen.
PROJECT COMPASSION Caritas Australia is our official Catholic agency for interna-tional aid and development. Caritas Australia works in more than 30 countries worldwide and helps people in desperate need regardless of race, gender or religion.
During Lent, we make a special effort to think more about Jesus and how he lived his life. We can look at ways we can become more thoughtful and generous. Christian people try to make Lent a holy season and a time for prayer, reflection, and perhaps going with ‘less’.
At Mother Teresa School we are trying to be peacemakers by being kind and compassionate to each other and bring hope to those who are less fortunate than ourselves during this time of Lent. Last year we raised over $500 for our Lenten giving. Each class has a Project Compassion box available for the children’s donations throughout Lent. This could include - donations from parents, pocket money or even money from the back of the lounge . Please talk to your child/ren about this important project and aspect of Lent.
Peace and Best Wishes Anne Leet Religious Co-Ordinator
Blue Kingfishers Week 5 in the Blue Kingfishers started at a very hectic pace. On Monday we talked about ‘gathering’ and about when we gathered, particularly with our family. The most popular time that we gathered together with our family was for birthday parties! As such we decided to have our own pretend birthday party. We planned what we should have at a birthday party and what we should do, and we decided to hold our party on Friday. Hopefully it should be good fun! Staying with the birthday theme, if you have any pictures of family gatherings particularly birthdays it would be great if the children could bring them in and show the rest of the class. We have also celebrated Shrove Tuesday and discussed the meaning of Lent. The children have talked about Project Compassion and we have started our ‘Good Turn’ poster. Finally, we also managed to squeeze in making dinosaurs using clay. The children had a fantastic time and produced some brilliant results. Thanks for a great week.
Clare Addinell and Jacqui Watts
Yellow Cockatoos Week 5 has been quite creative; the children have started off drawing our tree onto large pieces of paper, sticking it together and then painting it. For the next step the children have started making leaves to go on the branches. This tree is part of or plant study and will represent photosynthesis. The children have been learning how important trees are, they give us oxygen and we give them carbon dioxide. We also looked into the types of gardens that are located around school on one of our walks. The children noticed that the gardens were all green and we needed to plant
colours. Inside we have started a “Pot Garden” with children planting strawberries and sunflowers. We have celebrated Shrove Tuesday with pancakes (made from scratch by the children) and have started an “Acts of kindness” poster to mark the beginning of lent. We talked about giving to others and helping our school, community and friends. These will be recorded on the poster. We have started participating in drama. Children have been acting out the story “We’re Going On a Bear Hunt” in front of an audience and also videoing it to watch during group time. Children have taken a shining to their roles and will continue with costumes to make it more real. What a fun and exciting week Thank you
Janene Sadler and Sirima Jinadasa
PURPLE PELICANS
We have had a very busy week this week. The children continued the investigation into our puppets. Some of our children started the week with making sock puppets, deciding sewing on button eyes was a much better idea than simply sticking the eyes on with glue. This lead to sewing onto hessian. We have some very creative Purple Pelicans! Mr Lowe came over to visit our sock puppets but was a little nervous with the ear eating one; we need to be very careful not to lose our ears! Tuesday we made yummy honey pancakes for Shrove Tuesday and on Wednesday we went to the assembly; wonderful again! During lent we are on the lookout for all the children who are showing care and concern for others. ‘Doing small things with great love.’
Thank you for another wonderful week Purple Pelicans
Bronwyn Newth and Angela Kelley
Red Rosellas The Red Rosellas learnt all about Shrove Tuesday this week. We sang a pancake rhyme, made our own pancakes and chose the fillings we wanted to go inside our pancakes. Our pancakes were delicious! On Wednesday we went to our first assembly. We listened to Kinder Aqua lead assembly and joined in with the singing. We were given a special sunflower to bring back to our classroom. Continuing our colour mixing investigations we made a large rainbow together. We listened to the story of
Noah and the ark and how God gave the rainbow as a sign he would never flood the whole world again.
Green Rosellas
The Green Rosellas stewed apples last week and the children tried to think of all the things we could make with the apple. We decided we would make apple pies! We made a beautiful display with our symmetrical butterflies and are now printing caterpillars to add to the display. Our favourite story at the moment is ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’. The children are really enjoying colour mixing and investigating colour through science
experiments.
We hope you’ve had a great week.
Hazel Haydon and Robyn Raward
Since the last Community Council (CC) newsletter the sub committee chairs have started forming their sub committees. Building/Facilities Chair – Tony Fabrizio [email protected]
Members – Mike Whyte
Objectives – 2 working bees for the year to be advertised at a later time.
Fund Raising Chair – Trudy Thorpe [email protected] Members – Simone Sharples, Toni Pfeiffer, Susan Christie and Paul Simos
Objectives – Term 1 Gelato Fundraiser Easter raffle Term 2 Disco Mother’s Day raffle Magnet Mart BBQ Term 3 Parent’s evening Father’s Day raffle Magnet Mart BBQ Term 4 Parish Fete Toy catalogue and ‘Stuck On You’ fundraiser
Objectives - ACT Health Promotion Sponsorship Funding Round
Coles Junior Landcare School Garden Grant Telstra Foundation – Telstra Kids Fund
Parent Liaison Chair – Louise Steinman – also Year 1 Amber Parent Rep) [email protected]) Members – Charmaine Whyte – Year 3 Parent Rep Nora Mears-Smith – Year 2 Parent Rep Meagan Fitzharris – Kinder Lime Parent Rep
IMPORTANT: If you notice that your child’s class does not have a parent rep please contact Louise and she will be able to offer you more information so you can decide if you would like to assist.
Over the beginning of this year and during last year we have received a lot of positive feedback from parents who say they would love to assist the Community Council in some manner. Well here is your chance. As you can see from the above list of members of sub committees there is still quite a lot of room for people to get involved. If you feel you would like to help out with any of the sub committees please contact the relevant sub committee chair or me for more details. All contact details of the community council members can be found on the MT Website under Parents. Finally, I would like to re-iterate Mick’s comments from the newsletter over the last few weeks regarding the car park and dogs on the premises. It is a commitment of MT’s Community Council to ensure that MT is a safe place for ALL children to attend. Therefore, please do not bring dogs onto the MT school grounds at all. Even if your dog is gentle and on a lead there may be children who do not know your dog and may be frightened by it or any dog. When dropping off or picking up your children please remember that ‘No Parking’ means exactly the same within the school grounds as it does in the general public. It means no parking. This means if you need to get out of your vehicle you cannot use the area sign posted as ‘No Parking’. Thank you for your efforts in making MT a safer school for all our children to attend.
Mike Whyte Chairman Mother Teresa School Community Council 0488 083 064
It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving
Do small things with great love
Dates to Remember – CC Open meetings for 2011 (ALL Parents welcome) – Thursday 23rd June Thursday 15th Sept AGM Thursday 8th Dec (to be confirmed)
