P.O. Box 7, Cowra 2794 Email: [email protected] Tel: 6342.2940 School Website: www.straphaelscowra.catholic.edu.au
Dear Parents
Excursions abound: Our School Choir sang at the
Albert Hall at Canberra for the United Nations on
Thursday, Year 4 travelled to the Bathurst Goldfields
on Friday, Year 10 leaders spent Friday at the
Diocesan Leadership Day at Orange, rep cricketers
are in Canberra tomorrow at the NSW Milo T20 School
Cup final and on Saturday week a band of Year 9
students are setting off on the 2014 Outward Bound
expedition.
Students preparing for the transition to secondary
school and their parents have a couple of information
and orientation type of events this week. This evening
is an Information session for parents to come along to
the school and see how learning happens and meet
with staff. On Thursday Nov 13 Year 6 students from
St Raphael’s as well as from our feeder schools will
spend the day together in the secondary department,
getting a feel for the changed routine and greater
responsibility.
Student Leadership roles for Year 9 and Year 5
students are being considered in detail Nominees will
be named and ballots soon conducted. Although this
process may seem early, the timing enables the new
student leadership team to take up this role as the
current Year 10 students move onto their Graduation.
The Book Fair wrapped-up on Friday. Thanks to the
hundreds who have been through and have made their
selections. Thank you to Mrs Kerrie Skinner for
bringing this exciting event to the families of St Raph’s.
Year 9 students and their accompanying teacher (Mrs
Inel Date) are readying themselves for the annual
Outward Bound expedition beginning on Saturday for
seven day in the mountains at Tharwa. I am thrilled
that students of St Raph’s have the chance to access
such a life-changing experience.
Planning for 2015 dominates the administration
agenda at the moment. Composition of classes,
staffing, budget, supplies, resources, room allocations
and timetabling all crowd in during term 4. If you are
making plans that will impact on the school, please
notify the school office promptly.
Christmas Fair preparations are racing along at the
moment. The collective benefits we receive from this
event are enormous – therefore your participation in both
the preparations and the event are a direct support for our
children. To nominate as a volunteer, please visit the P&F
website accessible through the school website at
www.straphaelscowra.catholic.edu.au
Michael Gallagher Principal
Matthew 5:1-12
The beatitudes are eight statements taught by Jesus. They are concerned with virtue and how a believer in Jesus Christ can achieve that virtue.
The Beatitudes are a map of life, a series of directives helping us on our journey to be with
God. They also designate the actual condition of people who follow God's guidelines.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
St Raphael’s Catholic School
Term 4, Week 4/B Newsletter
27th October 2014
P.O. Box 7, Cowra 2794 Email: [email protected] Tel: 6342.2940 School Website: www.straphaelscowra.catholic.edu.au
Monday 27
Happy birthday to Yoi Yap. Year 7 2015 Parent Information Evening from 6:30pm.
Stage 5 Exams Week .
Tuesday 28 Happy birthday to Ben Azzopardi, Kaitlyn Rutledge
and Codie Thompson. NSW Milo T20 School Cricket in ACT.
Wednesday 29
Thursday 30 Kindy Start.
Friday 31
Happy birthday to Pyper Muddle. Primary Assembly led by 6S.
Saturday 1 November
Year 9 Outward Bound Students depart for Tharwa.
Happy birthday to Elia Murray and Amelia Trudgen for 2
nd November.
Altar Servers’ Roster Sat 25
th: Julia Cains, Jeremy Cains, Eloise Cains.
Sun 26th: Katherine Johnston, Sophie Johnston.
School Readers for Weekend Parish Masses: Sat 25
th: St Raphael’s School Leaders.
School Eucharistic Ministers for Weekend Parish Masses: Sun 26
th: Mrs Bischof.
School Computer Roster Sat 25
th: St Raphael’s School Leaders.
Sun 26th: Mrs McMurtrie.
Primary Assembly
The next primary assembly will be held this Friday, 31st
October. It will be led by Ms Slaven’s class, Year 6S. If your son / daughter is to receive a class award a note will be sent home early this week. Parents are always most welcome to attend any primary assembly.
Secondary Mathematics Certificates
UNSW Mathematics Competitions
Congratulations to these secondary students on being
awarded special acknowledgement awards due to their
very good results in the Mathematics tests organised
by the University of New South Wales. The distribution
of certificates is based on: Distinctions (top 10%),
Credits (top 35%) and Merits (top 50%).
Distinction: Richmond Bush
Credit: Jaimee Nixon, Madeleine Cain, Julia Cains,
Mackenna Cusack, Amy Grant, Patrick Heilman,
Darcee Nixon
Year 7 (2015) Orientation Organisation This evening, 27
th October parents and students are
invited to a Year 7 Information Evening, organised for students enrolling in Year 7 at St Raphael’s in 2015. The necessary details regarding tonight are below. Important details for the Information Evening. Attendance For both parents and students Date: Monday, 27
th October
Venue: Initial meeting in School Chapel Times: - 6.30pm: Commencing in School Chapel
- 7.00pm: Walk through the secondary classrooms - 8.00pm: Gathering, with a cup of tea, in St Brigid’s Hall
This information evening will be followed by an orientation day for the students on Thursday, 13
th
November. LIBRARY NEWS Thank you parents, students and teachers for the wonderful support you gave during our annual Book Fair. Students have selected the books they want for our library and enjoyed looking at the book selection. Thank you also to the monitors who assisted during the fair; especially with helping the younger students. Re-orders will be given to students as they arrive from Scholastic. Happy Reading. Kerri Skinner – Librarian Important K-2 dates to dates to mark in your diary
Kindergarten A date to remember! Kindergarten Christmas Liturgy Tuesday 2nd December.
Kindergarten, Year One and Year Two will be participating in a Swimsafe programme from Monday 17th November to Friday 21st November.
Netball – Schools Cup State Finals
On Tuesday 16th September, our Stage 4 netball team
competed in the state finals of the Netball NSW
Schools Cup at the Anne Clarke Netball Centre in
Lidcombe. The girls were competing for a spot in the
top 8 of all NSW schools.
The pool matches saw the girls come up against
Carroll College Broulee, Narrabri High School and The
Hills Sports High. The girls had convincing wins over
both Carroll College and Narrabri High and were
defeated by a very skilful Hills Sports High in their third
pool game. After finishing second in their pool, the girls
progressed to the semi-finals where they played St
John’s Woodlawn. A close and hard-fought game saw
the girls narrowly defeated 14-9. They then played
Wadalba Community School in the play-off for third
P.O. Box 7, Cowra 2794 Email: [email protected] Tel: 6342.2940 School Website: www.straphaelscowra.catholic.edu.au
and fourth. The girls ended the day with a placing of
fourth in the state. A fantastic achievement!
A big thank you to Liz Pattingale and Bron Johnson for
their extra assistance and time. Thank you also to the
large number of parents who travelled to Sydney to
support the girls. They were excellent representatives
for our school and should be very proud of their
achievement!
Primary Physical Education Lessons
Wednesdays
This Wednesday, 29th October students from Years 2,
5 and 6 will need their sports uniforms. Next
Wednesday, 5th November students in Years 1, 3 and
4 will need to wear their sports uniforms.
Sporting Events
Primary
Oct 28 Stage 3 Cricket teams (State Cup in Canberra)
Nov 18 Summer Sports Trials (Dubbo)
School Magazine Orders – The CROCUS If the old adage of "a picture is worth a thousand words" is true then this year's THE CROCUS school magazine would have in excess of 900,000 words or would be over 4,500 pages in size. Invest in your child's history. Order a copy of this year's magazine by week 7 of this term. Please complete the order form at the end of the newsletter with your numbers wanted.
If 100 copies are ordered the cost will be $34.50 per copy
If 200 copies are ordered then the per copy cost drops to only $23.50
Orders to date ONLY 18 Outward Bound 2014 has arrived! Outward Bound students leave this Saturday for their 7 day adventure hike in the National Park near Tharwa, ACT. We look forward to this experience with
excitement and trepidation. Our hiking boots have been "walked in" and we are ready for what lies ahead! It has been a busy year of activities and fundraising. Congratulations to the students and their parents for all their hard work and taking on the fundraising activities. We would like to thank the school community for supporting our cupcake drive, sausage sizzle, school social, pie drive, wood raffle, subway lunches, "monster raffle" and the movie night! We could not have raised the large sum of money without the support and sponsorship from the following businesses and professionals in our community. A BIG THANK YOU to the following: Cowra Medical Centre, Lachlan Furniture, Cowra Community Chest, Cowra Council, Cowra Services Club, St Raphael’s Presbytery, Cowra Rotary, Grant Chamberlain, John Langlands, Breakout River Meats, Geronimo Farm Equipment, Cowra Tyre and Brake, Elders, Coles and French's Store. Many thanks! Ms Inel Date and the Year 9 Outward Bound students.
Photo of year 9 Outward Bound (missing Darcee Nixon and Riley
Barron)
TIME TO GROW with the "KINDIGARDEN" The first step begins this Tuesday 28th October in the development of a productive food garden area within the playground. A small step in what we hope to be the development of our playground into something spectacular! The first stage of this project is a "Kindigarden", situated
in a courtyard area outside the kindergarten rooms. Two
upcycled mobile pallet beds have been sourced with the
aid of the Cowra Mens Shed, along with some old tyres
which will be utilized as containers for herb
plantings. Through this educational experience of
planting, nurturing and harvesting produce, children will
learn how produce is derived and the resources required
to produce it will be learned.
This Tuesday will be the first day of gardening, we
welcome any parents or grandparents with green or
even brown thumbs to come along during lunch
break and help with this project.
Please have a chat with your children to see if they
would like to help during the lunch break this
Tuesday.
It may be their one opportunity to get out of the face
of an electronic gadget and get down and get
grubby.....
P.O. Box 7, Cowra 2794 Email: [email protected] Tel: 6342.2940 School Website: www.straphaelscowra.catholic.edu.au
Afternoon Collection of Children
After consulting with parents and staff members it has
been decided to keep the afternoon collection for
children at the school gate in the Rose Garden. The
greatest benefit of this location is that the exits on the
western and southern boundaries are both supervised.
Memorial
We remember and are immensely grateful for the
dedicated work of the Josephite, sisters, the Brigidine
sisters and lay teachers of St Brigid’s and St Raphael’s
Schools. The memorial blessed by the Bishop earlier
this month in the Convent Courtyard is a lovely
recognition of our predecessors.
Canteen Update This week’s roster is as follows:
Tues 28
Wed 29
Thurs 30
Fri 31
Mon 3
Raelene Nelligan
Sky
Muddle
CLOSED
Sharon Groves
Lisa
Robertson
Laura Proctor
Mal Bird
Nicky
Hudson
Angela Kollas
Sally
Bruncher
It is a little over 4 weeks to the St Raph's Christmas Fair which is to be held on the 28th November so please save the date. We will be asking for families again to help us with the Jazzy Jars, raffle prizes and Pick a Box donations as well as people to help coordinate stalls and events so please watch this space for information in the newsletter each week.
ITEMS FOR CHRISTMAS HAMPER RAFFLE For the next 4 weeks, we will be requesting donations for the Christmas Raffles. Each week we will give you a theme and would be very grateful if you could purchase an appropriate item and send it to school with your child. This week’s theme is “something for the kitchen” The themes over the following three weeks will be: something for the laundry, something for Christmas, and finally something of your own choosing. Some parents have indicated knowing this in advance means they can purchase everything in one go and not scramble madly each week to buy each item. A special thank you to Jamiesons Joinery who again kindly donated a wheelbarrow for this hamper The Book Stall Annie Henchman and Therese Johnston are again running this year’s book stall. They both did a fantastic job with 'Got Books' last term. They have graciously volunteered to run the book stall and are requesting donations of Young Adult Books and Fiction/ Non Fiction for adults. If kids give them to their homeroom teachers or leave them at the front office, they will be collected each week. Call for Volunteers As always we are looking for volunteers to provide help with the many facets of the fair. If you are interested please contact Ona Lawrence at [email protected] or on her mobile phone 0409 608 118 Log onto our website: www.straphaelspnf.wordpress.com
WELL DONE Congratulations to the following students who have achieved the
next level on the Behaviour Management Programme.
Level 6 Joe Sullivan 6C Erin Vale K1 Level 7 Amy Grant K1
Your Teachers are very Proud of You!
P.O. Box 7, Cowra 2794 Email: [email protected] Tel: 6342.2940 School Website: www.straphaelscowra.catholic.edu.au
St John’s Anglican Church Book Fair Extended over 2 weeks with bargains galore! Dates: Friday 14
th Nov and Saturday 15
th Nov
Friday 21st Nov and Saturday 18
th May
Doors open at 8:30am For donations please contact Bruce Pietsch on 0427 722810 or email [email protected]
School Magazine Order Form
Name: _____________________________________
Phone: _____________________________________
Child: ______________________________________
Class: _____________________________________
Number ordered: _____________________________
School website: www.straphaelscowra.catholic.edu.au
Cowra Swimming Club will be holding a “Go Swim Day”
On Tuesday 4th
November at 6pm at the Cowra Aquatic Centre.
Come along and give Swimming Club a go for free!
Parents can find out more about what swimming club involves with our Club information session.
Further enquiries call 0428 600 450
Fantastic website with coming events, surveys, parent support, photo gallery and many other useful items
Bookings for Parent/Teacher Discussions.
All school events with up-to-the-minute details of what when and where
P.O. Box 7, Cowra 2794 Email: [email protected] Tel: 6342.2940 School Website: www.straphaelscowra.catholic.edu.au
Pictures tell a thousand words…
School memories documented
forever in the 2014 school year
book.
For more information or to place an order, contact the school office
or complete the order sheet in the school newsletter