Dear parents and caregivers,

This week started with the Feast of Mary of the Cross MacKillop. Mary MacKillop Feast Day is held every year on August 8th, in honour of the revered Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop. She was the first Saint of Australia, and her influence in the country has spread far and wide. She is recognised for her commitment to the poor, helping those who needed it the most in any way she could and providing an education to all children. On Thursday, we celebrated MacKillop House Day with a sea of green! The Year Six MacKillop students led a wonderful reflective assembly honouring St Mary MacKillop and all students participated in various activities with their buddy class. To honour St Mary Mackillop's love of education and helping the less fortunate, students were asked to donate pre-loved books in good condition or stationery (pencils, crayons, sharpeners, textas etc) to distribute to various charities. Again, the support from our school community was astounding with boxes overflowing with donations. Thank you to the MacKillop House staff for organising a great day.

Last Friday, our Pre-Primary classroom was transformed into a bright learning environment as they celebrated 100 days of school. All of the students celebrated being ‘100 days brighter’ by wearing bright clothes to school and completing 100 activities throughout the day. The energy and excited in the room was contagious! Well done to Miss Edwards and Miss Nguyen for organising this great day!

A reminder that next week is our Whole School Photos Day. Students need to be looking their absolute best, with a focus on personal presentation/appearance and also wearing the correct school uniform with pride. Please make sure that the photo envelopes are returned on the day.

Next Thursday, we will be welcoming a number of special guests to the school to formally open and bless the Library and Undercover Area. Representatives from the Archdiocese of Perth, Executive Directors from CEWA, State and Local Members of Government and a members of our school community will be joining our students to celebrate our fabulous facilities.

Next Friday will be a Staff Professional Development Day followed by our Catholic Day on Monday. The school will be closed on both of these days as staff participate in professional learning around the CEWA Vision for Learning on Friday. Catholic Day is given to all staff members who work in a Catholic school as a recognition of all the extra-curricular activities they do throughout the year for our students. The school will be closed on this day as staff enjoy a well-deserved break.

Finally, I would like to share and celebrate some exciting staff news. Our wonderful Year One teacher, Miss Jade Baxter has been nominated by our P&F for a Catholic School Parents WA Award of Excellence in the Agnes Weymouth Category. This award recognises a member of the school community who actively supports the school by working in partnership for the best outcome for students and families. The official awards night will be held tonight at the Guildford Hotel where the winners will be announced. Secondly, our fabulous Year Three teacher, Mrs Nadia Golding has been nominated for a 2023 National Excellence in Teaching Award by a parent at her previous school, St Joseph’s. This award celebrates and rewards remarkable teachers who have gone above and beyond for their students. The 2023 NEiTA Awards will be announced in October. I wish both of them all the best!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

God bless

Rebecca Clarke

Principal

Religious Education News!

Our students receiving the Sacrament of Holy Communion attended a Parent/ Child Workshop on Tuesday night at the St Antony’s Parish Hall. 24:7 Ministry facilitated the workshop and was a great way of bringing our religious community together with our parish to begin the preparations for their upcoming Sacrament.

Today, our students are attended the Holy Communion Retreat Day at St Anthony’s Parish Hall where Mario, from 24:7 Ministry along with Father Peter will enrich our communion candidates understanding of the sacrament with fun and exciting activities.

This is a very special time for our students, and we keep our Holy Communion candidates in our prayers, as they prepare for their upcoming sacrament.

All things Science and STEM!

This week Mr Harman our Science Specialist has organised a STEM Challenge to take place on Wednesday, 16 August at lunch time. All students from Year 1- 6 are welcome to attend!

Science Week Fun -Wednesday, 23 August

To celebrate Science Week next week Mr Harman has organised SciTech to visit with their Spacedome program, including a show and workshop for all students. Please see below for further information about the fun workshops.

Spacedome – Show & Workshop (Kindy to Year 3)

Learn how our sky changes from day to night in our portable Spacedome!

Day and Night Show (30 minutes): Journey through our daytime sky as it makes the exciting change into night. What’s different? Why do we have day and night? What can we observe and learn about together?

Day and Night Workshop: Tinker and experiment in building a shelter from the weather – we’ll make our own wild, windy day to test it out!

Spacedome – Show & Workshop (Years 4-6)

Discover how astronomers explored the night sky throughout history!

Our Solar System Show: Learn how astronomers searched the night skies and discovered our solar system throughout history. You’ll learn about the solar system, our nearest neighbours and why our home is so special!

Our Solar System Workshop: Put your engineering skills to the test as you design, build and test a way to land a fragile robot rover on the surface of another planet!

Pre Kindergarten Photographs - These will be in the hall on Monday at 8:45am - If you attend Pre Kindergarten on a Friday, please do come along on Monday. We would love to have a whole Pre-Kindergarten class photograph!

A reminder that if you are paying your school fees termly your instalment is now due.Please ensure your payments are up to date to avoid a lump sum at the end of the year. All school fees are to be paid in full by the 31 October 2023. If you have any queries please email me on melissa.dimond@cewa.edu.au. To make a payment over the phone with credit card please phone the office on 9303 7600.

Thank you!

Mel Dimond

We are selling tickets for $5 each (plus fees) & the prizes will be drawn at the Father's Day breakfast before school on Thursday 31 August 2023 using the commentpicker.com tool. All Dads will automatically go into the draw to win (not dependent on whether they can attend the breakfast event in person) & any extra tickets are $5 each (plus fees).

Kirrily Macri from Harcourts Alliance has kindly sponsored the breakfast & donated the following generous prizes:

FIRST PRIZE: 1x Ozito cordless 3 piece tool set

SECOND PRIZE: 1x $200 JBHifi voucher

THIRD PRIZE: 1x Ryobi Home essentials kit

FOURTH PRIZE: 2x $100 BCF voucher

FIFTH PRIZE: 2x Dad cheese boards with bottle opener

Please RSVP and order raffle tickets by clicking the above link!

Term 1 Start Date Wednesday 1 February

Term 1 End Date Thursday 6 April

Term 2 Start Date Wednesday 26 April
Term 2 End Date Friday 30 June

Term 3 Start Date Monday 17 July
Term 3 End Date Friday 22 September

Term 4 Start Date Tuesday 10 October

Term 4 End Date Friday 8 December

Friday 3 March

Monday 24 April
Friday 18 August
Monday 21 August

Monday, 9 October

Please note, these dates are subject to change. If these dates for Professional Learning do require amending, parents will be notified well in advance.

Confirmation

Candidate Commitment Mass

Saturday 25th March 6.00pm

Sunday 26th March 7.30am

Sunday 26th March 9.00am

Parent/Child Workshop

Tuesday 16th May 5.00pm

Candidate Retreat

Friday 19th May

Sacrament

Saturday 27th May 6.00pm

Sunday 28th May 11.00am

Saturday 10th June 6.00pm

Certificate Weekend

Sunday 11th June

First Holy Communion

Candidate Commitment Mass

Saturday 24th June 6.00pm

Sunday 25th June 7.30am

Sunday 25th June 9.00am

Sunday 25th June 6.00pm

Parent/Child Workshop

Tuesday 8th August 5.00pm

Candidate Retreat

Friday 11th August

Sacrament

Saturday 19th August 6.00pm

Sunday 20th August 9.00am

Sunday 20th August 6.00pm

Saturday 26th August 6.00pm

Sunday 27th August 9.00am

Sunday 27th August 6.00pm

Certificate Weekend

Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd September

Reconciliation

Commitment Mass

Saturday 16th September 6.00pm

Sunday 17th September 7.30am

Sunday 17th September 9.00am

Sunday 17th September 6.00pm

Parent Workshop

Wednesday 25th October 5.00pm

Candidate Retreat

Friday 3rd November

Sacrament

Tuesday 7th November 5.00pm

Wednesday 8th November 5.00pm

Thursday 9th November 5.00pm

Certificate Weekend

Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th November