Dear Families

We are nearing the pointy end of the year and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our parent helpers who have assisted us during the school year. To the breakfast helpers who assist in the mornings we thank you, to all those parents and grandparents who assist by helping in the classroom with reading and assisting with publishing stories we thank you, and to those parents who assist with fund raising and give of their time on the Community Council we thank you and finally to those who assist in the canteen and with maintenance we thank you. We had a special morning tea to say thanks yesterday and the choir sang for our helpers providing a wonderful touch for Christmas.

SCHOOL PERFORMANCE Tomorrow at 11.00am the Red Door Theatre will present their performance of Peter Pan in our school hall. The children will have a break at 10.30am and lunch will be moved to the second break. The show is a full dress rehearsal and should last for about 60 mins. The cricket team will need to slip out before the end of the show.

BUSY WEEK AHEAD Next week is the final week of the school year. School finishes on Friday 15th December. On Monday the SRC are holding a disco in the PAC. This will be a non-uniform day with the theme of Christmas so the children can dress up. To cover the cost of the disco, the children are asked to bring in $2.00.

On Wednesday the Year 6 Farewell Mass and presentation of prizes will be held at 9.15am in the Church. At this Mass we will congratulate our Year 6 students for what has been a wonderful year. The leaders for 2018 will be announced and the light of leadership will be handed on from Year 6 to our 2018 Year 6 children.

On Thursday at 5.30pm all families are invited to the PAC for Christmas Carol singing and the Nativity play as presented by Kindergarten. Following the singing and play, there will be the family fun night for St Mary’s families on the oval accompanied by a sausage sizzle. Families are encouraged to bring along a picnic rug. The jumping castles, slide and zorb balls are free for the children and some children have earned green cards that enable them to go to the front of the queue.

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Issue # 9 Term 4 Thursday 7 December 2017 Weekend Masses Moruya: Vigil Mass – Saturday 6pm

Tuross: Sunday 8am Moruya: Sunday 10am

Friday 8 December Stage 1 Class Mass

Peter Pan Performance 11am Cricket Game 12pm

Choir singing at Woolworths 2pm Reports posted home

WEEK 9

Monday 11 December Christmas themed Disco

Infants 12-1pm Primary 2-3pm

Tuesday 12 December Sports Clothes K-6

Sport Rotations 2-3pm

Wednesday 13 December End of Year Mass and Awards

9:15am Year 6 Farewell Dinner 6pm

Thursday 14 December Year 6 Movie Excursion Kinder Nativity Play and

Family Fun Night

Friday 8 December Last Day of Term 4

Student classes announced for 2018

Just for Fun What did the big bucket say to the

little bucket? You look a little pail!

CHOIR The children in the choir have represented our school with distinction over the last few days. The children have sung at the hospital and the nursing home and tomorrow will go to Woolworths and next Monday to the Dr McKay centre. We have had chil-dren sing solos and write songs as part of this talented group. Thanks to all. REPORTS All reports have now been finalised and will be in the post tomorrow. Should you wish to discuss any aspect of your child’s report

please contact your child’s teacher to make a suitable time for discussion.

STAFFING 2018 Principal: Mr Michael Lowe Religious Education Coordinator: Mrs Marg Croese Assistant Principal: Mrs Catrina Niddrie Learning Support: Mrs Jo Matthews LSAs: Mrs Shellie Butler, Mrs Janet Ryan, Mrs Julie Wiggins School Officer: Mrs Annette Hazell Admin Support: Mrs Gen Schofield Performing Arts: Mrs Fran Devonald Library: Mrs Claire Burrows Aboriginal Education: Mrs Kerry Boyenga Class Teachers: Kindergarten: Mrs Marg Croese, Mrs Alicia Hampson, Mrs Sophie Kenny Stage 1: Mrs Carla Durnan, Mrs Jacqueline Stephen, Mrs Annie Johnsen Year 3: Mr Justin Bateman, Mrs Jessica White, Mrs Jessica Afflick Year 4: Mr Jeff Prow, Mr Matthew Harpley Year 5: Mr John Harnett Year 6: Mrs Rebecca Keough, Mrs Megan Grant, Mr Andrew Craft Best wishes Mick Lowe Principal

BIRTHDAYS

Happy Birthday to our student who will celebrate their birthday in the coming week:

Tom S

Mini Vinnies News On Friday 17 November, 11 members of our Mini Vinnies group were fortunate enough to attend a leadership Social Justice Day at Marist College in Canberra with 11 other schools in the Canberra and Goulburn Diocese. All students must be commended for their excellent behaviour and each student represented St Mary’s with pride. A huge thank you must go to Mr Harpley and the wonderful parent volunteers for driving the students to Canberra for the day.

Alicia Hampson

Today’s Gospel is taken from the beginning of Mark. Unlike Luke and Matthew, Mark does not include any details of

Jesus’ birth. Instead Mark begins with the appearance of John the Baptist in the desert. On this the Second Sunday of

Advent, we are invited to reflect upon the role of John the Baptist, who prepared the way for Jesus and the salvation that

he would bring to us. The people of Judea and Jerusalem flock to John the Baptist, listening to his message of repentance

and forgiveness; they also come to him to be baptised. Mark’s Gospel is clear, however, that John the Baptist’s role is

only to prepare the way for another who will come, one who is greater than John. Many scholars believe that the Gospels

reflect the tension that likely existed between followers of John the Baptist and disciples of Jesus. Each of the four

Evangelists report on John’s preaching and baptizing, and they each emphasise the importance of Jesus’ baptism by John.

The four Gospels also explain that John was sent to preach in preparation for another. In today’s Gospel, John speaks

quite explicitly that the Messiah was to come after him. We hear John the Baptist contrast his baptism of repentance

with the baptism that Jesus will inaugurate. John says that he has baptised with water, but that the one who is to come

will baptise with the Holy Spirit. John’s baptism was not yet a Christian baptism, but a preparation for the Sacrament of

Baptism through which sins are forgiven and the gift of the Holy Spirit is received. John the Baptist is presented to us as a

model during Advent. We, too, are called upon to prepare a way for the Lord. Like John the Baptist, we are messengers in

service to one who is greater than we are. Our Baptism commissions us to call others to life as disciples of Jesus.

First Sunday of Advent

Thank you to all those who helped at our school Mass last Sunday. It was wonderful to see so many families attend with their children. Thanks also to the students who participated in the Mass so reverently and prayerfully as we prepare our hearts and minds for the birth of Jesus at Christmas.

Baptism

One of our Kinder students, Lilly M will be Baptised at the 6pm Mass this Saturday 9 December. Lilly decided for herself that she would like to be Baptised and we wish her every prayer and blessing always.

Graduation Mass

We warmly invite all families, friends and parishioners to our final school Mass for this year next Wednesday 13 December at 9.15am. This is the Graduation Mass for our Year 6 students as we say farewell to them. It is also the St Vincent de Paul Giving Mass when we present our gifts during the Offertory Procession. The Kinder children and their Year 6 buddies will join together for the Andrew Chinn song “May God Be In My Heart” during reflection time.

St Mary’s Choir

The Choir students continued to be very busy this week despite the heavy rain. We especially thank Mr Lowe and all the

wonderful parents who gave their time to drive the students to the various places to bring the message of Christmas to

others. We also thank Mrs Leanne Ta who gave us the loan of the Courtesy Bus on behalf of the Golf Club. After the

children sang at the Retirement Village, they went around and spoke to the residents, wishing them a happy Christmas.

Some comments from the residents were “hearing the children sing made me cry because they brought back my

happiest childhood memories.” Another lady remarked that hearing the children sing “made her hardships go away”.

Have a happy and safe weekend Marg Croese Religious Education Coordinator In all things may God be glorified

Religion News

Communication Corner Special Assembly: Our last Assembly of the year was a special one that started with Christmas songs from our fabulous school choir. Congratulations to Mrs Croese and Mrs Devonald for all their hard work to creating such an amazing school choir! This was followed by many students in our school receiving well deserved awards. Thank you to Mr Andrew Constance MP for visiting St Mary’s and presenting School Spirit and Encouragement Awards. Congratulations to Year 6 for receiving their First Aid Awards. What an accomplishment.

Numeracy Day: We had a visit by our Numeracy Guru and critical friend Leonie Anstey. She started the day with a learning walk through each classroom and engaging with students during their learning. She was incredibly impressed with the knowledge and movement we have made as a school in becoming Inquiry Numeracy facilitators and learners. The attached picture collage gives you an idea of the fabulous day we had! She then conducted group sessions for the teachers in stages and concluded with a very enriching staff meeting. We were sad that we did not get the numbers to host a Parent Numeracy night but aim to provide this opportunity again next year with a more positive outcome.

Helpers Morning Tea: Thank you to everyone who came to our morning tea. We have loved having you assist in our school and heartily say a BIG Thank you for your time, energy and effort in making our school such a lovely community/ parish school in such an authentic way. We appreciate that you make us a better place to learn and work in!

Semester Two Reports: A big thank you to all our amazing and hardworking teachers that have had a hectic few weeks finalising assessments, collaborating data and writing reports. Your work ethic is amazing! Well done to you all. Reports will be posted home tomorrow.

St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal: Please don’t forget to bring in items of food or unwrapped Christmas presents for children. Each class will be giving their baskets to St Vinnies at our end of year Mass next week. We would love to have each basket overflowing with donations.

2018 Year 6 Leadership Announcements: All School, Vice, House and Christian leaders will be announced at the End of Year Mass on Wednesday 13 December. All families are invited to join us for this very special occasion.

Wishing God’s best for you, Catrina Niddrie

Assistant Principal

St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal Christmas is one of the peak times of the year where many individuals and families experiencing hardship turn to Vinnies for support. At Christmas Vinnies members and volunteers, through the generosity of supporters, spread a little magic at this special time of year by providing families in crisis with Christmas gifts and necessities. St Mary’s Mini Vinnies are asking children in each class to kindly donate an item for the giving mass on Wednesday 13 December. Items could include cakes, small toys, biscuits, Christmas foods, hygiene products etc. Thank you in advance.

Alicia Hampson

Leonie Anstey visits St Mary’s On Tuesday we welcomed educational consultant Leonie Anstey back to St Mary’s to continue to work with our

staff and students in the area of mathematics. Leonie conducted “learning walks” through our classrooms and

witnessed first hand the amazing numeracy inquiries that are taking place from kindergarten through to year

six. Leonie worked with the teaching staff throughout the day and shared wonderful hands on activities to assist

with the development on multiplicative thinking, visualisation and the importance of asking the students the

right questions to extrapolate their knowledge. As a school in 2018 we are going to be asking our students

“what are you doing”, “why are you doing it” and “how does it help you?” throughout the numeracy block. We

look forward to continuing to work with Leonie in the future.

SRC Sport Day Two members of the SRC will take each class for a game that they have planned and organised. WHERE: Oval

WHEN: Tuesday 12 December

TIME: 2-3pm

SRC NEWS The fun is about to begin… The SRC are hosting the

When: Monday 11 December Theme: Christmas! Cost: $2 Time: Kinder – Year 2 (12:00-1:00pm) Years 3 – 6 (2:00-3:00pm) DJ Matt Brown will be taking control of the music and providing us with an hour full of entertainment. The SRC

will be running fun games and prizes will be awarded. We’re looking forward to a groovy time!

Sophie Kenny

Year 5 Merinda Cruise

Dear Parents & Guardians, With a new year approaching this is a timely reminder regarding the School Student Transport Scheme. Please note the free travel scheme is from the home address to school and back. If you have a student in the following categories and live in the area covered by Marshall’s, you need to go online and complete an application form or change of details form. • Student starting school,

• Student advancing from Year 2 to Year 3,

• Student advancing from Year 6 to Year 7,

• Student needs to up their details e.g. home address, school or joint custody. All information can be found online at - www.transportnsw.info/school-students or by calling 131 500. If you do not have access to the internet, please contact your school for assistance. A printable form can be found online if necessary. Marshall’s is allowing a grace period of 5 weeks. If students do not have a Marshall’s bus pass after 5 weeks into the first school term of 2018 then they must pay a fee of $1 on the morning run and $1 on the afternoon run until free travel is approved and the pass is provided to the student. After successful application of student traveling from home to school and school to home address a Marshall’s bus pass will be issued and students can travel on any of our buses. This is a Marshall’s Bus & Coach Policy, not a government policy. The pass entitles the student to board any Marshall’s bus for travel to and from school or after school care, after school swimming lessons or the Farmers market. Students who do not have a Marshall’s bus pass must pay a fee of $1 on the morning run and $1 on the afternoon run. This fee covers the child on our insurance if anything were to go wrong. When the child pays the driver, they will be issued with a ticket. The child is required to hold on to the ticket for the duration of the trip as proof of payment for travel. We do offer term passes of $75 per term or $32.50 for an afternoon term pass. Students are asked to have the $1 ready, or their Marshall’s bus pass if it is not their regular bus run or bus driver, as they board the bus to provide to the driver. It has become a major problem on the Town bus with students trying to get a free ride claiming they have lost the money given to them by their parents/guardians. This is not a free service. Students are required to show their Mar-shall’s bus pass or provide a $1. If neither is provided, then travel on the bus may be denied. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. Regards Peter Marshall