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Dear families,
What a busy, creative and all-round wonderful couple of weeks we have enjoyed at Catherine McAuley School.
Thank you to Ms Philip for engaging and challenging us with plenty of fun and interesting science activities last week. You can see some of the photos later in the newsletter.
Our big Campus Dress Up Day on Wednesday was a huge success - thank you to all the parents and guardians who helped the students tap into another world. Our Campus library team outdid themselves again and we are so blessed to have them in our Resource Centre.
In this newsletter, you will also see information about a Parent/Caregiver Survey. You would have received a notification about this a few weeks ago and we strongly urge all our families to take a few minutes to complete it. The survey lets us know what we are doing right and where we can make improvements from a parent point-of-view. It is confidential and we appreciate your input into improving Catherine McAuley School.
Yours in Faith Growth and Unity,
Angela, Michelle, Linda and Courtney
We certainly went to 'Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds' this week thanks to Book Week 2021.
Our combined campus dress up day was a fantastic success with students and staff getting into the spirit of the day. While we could not include all our wonderful characters who visited school, please enjoy these pictures of some of our students and staff.
Thank you to all the parents for their effort in helping the students dress up!
St Vincent de Paul Can Drive Appeal:
Please keep the donations coming in. Remember to mark donations with your child’s House Colour: - White = ‘WH’, Navy = ‘N’, Gold = ‘G’ and Maroon = ‘M’.
Diocesan Assembly:
A huge thank you to our community for getting involved with our Adelaide Diocesan Assembly questions. It’s easy to feel unheard or to feel like maybe your opinion doesn’t matter, but at Catholic Education SA we welcome your voice understanding that you help shape the future of our educational sector in South Australia, Church and its mission. The aim of the questions is to better understand the hopes, fears and realities of our Catholic faith and Church exploring the attitudes around Church and expectations. Getting involved is a way to make a difference in today’s Church and without your feedback and observations how can we possibly start to make progressions towards a brighter future?
Feedback submitted, as suggest by school staff and community (all feedback was analysed and collated):
- More lay persons involved in the governance of the Church and its policies and processes.
- 21st century relevance especially toward integrating younger members.
- Excludes many.
- Teaching RE in a community that is mostly non-Catholic or non-Church going.
- Non-Catholic educators lack ‘expertise’ of Catholic traditions, charism and knowledge. RE taught at surface level.
- Sacramental Program – families using Church to suit their own agenda as candidates inevitable do not return to Church or Church services once program has ceased.
- If families are serious about initiating their child into the Catholic Faith, all Sacramental workshops for candidate, sponsor and family should be attended.
As the Adelaide Diocesan Assembly start to unpack received feedback from all stakeholders, no doubt we will receive a synopsis of their findings which will become apparent CESA wide.
Sacramental Candidates:
Our Sacramental Program has continued despite Covid, albeit much has had to be adjusted to adhere with government restrictions. Due to the diligent effort of all involved, our candidates, Jacob, Chae, Luka, Ella-Grace, Matilda, Abbey, Angelina and Liam, have reached the stage where they will be celebrating their Confirmation and Eucharist in the first couple of weeks in September. As this most significant stage in our candidates’ journey of faith draws closer, I would like to invite you all to keep these families in your thoughts and prayers as the candidates are being fully initiated into our Catholic family, the family of God.
I would personally like to take this opportunity in thanking everyone associated with the Sacramental Program: families, candidates, teachers, APRIMs, Church coordinators and Fr Pat. Please know that your support and encouragement, which has manifested in a number of rich and unique ways, has been warmly received and very much appreciated. The heartening community impact has been immeasurable.
Lunch with Leadership:
On Friday 13 August 2021 we had our first ‘Lunch with Leadership’ session with students from R-2. It was an absolute joy to sit and talk with the students that attended. Many stayed to eat and play games for the entire lunch break. Week 8 will be Years 3-7’s turn to have lunch with leadership.
Relationships in schools are crucial and vital to the well-being of everyone associated with a school. The teacher-student relationship is the most important relationship in school – it’s probably the most important anything in school. But other school relationships are also important, and together, they all contribute to a relational culture within a school.
The relationships leadership have with students help keep them connected to the life of the school. When leadership know students on a personal level, they are in a much better position to understand how school decisions might impact students. In fact, if leadership have positive relationships with students, students are going to be much more willing to approach leadership for anything. Furthermore, positive relationships with students also reinforce what the leadership values.
Father’s Day Prayer:
Father’s Day is fast approaching. So on behalf of our Catherine McAuley community, we wish all the father figures in the lives of our students a relaxing day. A day filled with much love and appreciation. Know you are special in so many ways, within your family unit, and you mean more than words could ever express.
Dear God,
Bless all the significant males in the lives of our Catherine McAuley students.
Please continue to guide them to be good role models and loving. We ask You to help them to be the father figure like You are.
Give them the grace and patience to handle any situation in a controlled loving way.
AMEN.
Mrs. Caldinez
APRIM
Week 5 was National Science Week and we celebrated with this year’s theme Food: Different by Design!
Reception through Year 7 we experimented, tested, and explored nutritional learning accompanied with learning about from paddock-to-plate! Various year levels made ice cream, frozen yoghurt, baked bread, completed yeast experiments, churned butter, explored our tastes, discovered food production, and learnt about Vitamins A, B, C and D!
What a fun week it was – and very tasty!
Miss Philip
Catholic Schools Cross Country Carnival
On Wednesday 18 August, Catherine McAuley School participated in the Catholic Schools Cross Country carnival at PAC oval in Adelaide. After many weeks of training, a team of forty-five year three to seven students participated in the challenging two-kilometre run.
On a beautiful Winter’s Day, students were able to complete the challenging 2km course successfully. Runners were able to achieve some great times with each race containing more than 100 competitors. The students showed great enthusiasm, competed to the best of their abilities, and work through pain barriers to complete the gruelling 2km course.
I was extremely proud of all the runners and the effort they put in to complete the course. The majority of students finished between 20th and 50th which was an exceptional effort. We had a couple of top 10 finishes, congratulations to Indy Bromilow (7th) and Jaxson Durdin (10th).
Thank you to Rebecca Philip, Nick Guidolin, Marry-Anne Hayward and Maxine Warren for their assistance and support on the day!
Well done everyone on a great performance!
Yours in Faith, Growth & Unity
Fabian Chevalier
PE Teacher/Coordinator
Photo Day-Wednesday September 1, 2021.
A friendly reminder that it is School Photo Day on Wednesday 1 September and Winter Uniform is to be worn.
Each child needs to have their own envelope on the day. You can pay online before photo day or please bring money and envelope on the day. You can pay for all children in one envelope. Please enclose correct money, as no change is given. Family envelopes are available at the school office upon request.
Please note we are unable to provide change at the School Front Office for photo envelopes.
Reminder to all familes to please complete the Parent / Caregiver Survey to help us access the school's performance. We conduct these surveys annually and all responses are confidential and will be used for school improvement purposes.
Completion of the survey is on a voluntary basis.
Your confidentiality
To protect your confidentiality all surveys are anonymous. All answers go directly to the National School Improvement Partnerships, where the results are analysed for your school. Answers from individual surveys will NOT be reported back to the school. National School Improvement Partnerships staff are bound by a Code of Ethics and follow strict professional conduct.
Use of the data
National School Improvement Partnerships will report the results to the school in an aggregated format so that individuals cannot be identified. To enable drill-down reporting, the information provided to the school will contain data based on background information. This anonymous data will be provided to CESA for reporting and consideration of support for schools.
How to complete the survey
For each statement, you are asked to rate how well you think the school is performing by circling one of six responses. The responses are numbered 1 to 6, with number 1 being the lowest or worst rating and number 6 being the highest or best rating.
There are no 'right' or 'wrong' answers. Your opinion is what is wanted.
Please be sure to answer all questions.
Some statements may be fairly similar to other statements. Don't worry about this. Simply give your opinion about all statements.
To get started
- Go to www.NSIPartnerships.com.au
- Enter the Catherine McAuley School access code LLLPCM in the Start Questionnaire field.
If you require more information or have any feedback, please contact Belinda Hurcombe. Email: Belinda.Hurcombe@cardijn.catholic.edu.au
Your time and consideration are much appreciated.
A reminder to families with younger siblings yet to start school. Places in Rececption are filled based upon return of completed Application for Enrolment forms. Siblings are not automatically enrolled based on an older child's attendance at the school and each child requires their own Enrolment Application to be lodged. As places for 2022 are filling rapidly, all families who have not returned completed Application for Enrolments are strongly urged to return as soon as possible.