In the Gospel reading last Sunday Jesus continued in his public ministry in and around Galilee. He found a stretch of level ground, perhaps along the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee, where a large crowd of people had gathered. The 'level place' beatitudes in the Gospel of Luke differs slightly from the Sermon on the Mount beatitudes found in Matthew’s Gospel. The differences between the two versions come because Jesus is preaching in two different locations to two different crowds. At this level place Jesus is among the poor, the hungry, and the oppressed. These people have little in life to bring them joy, but Jesus tells them that they are blessed and loved by God.

The crowd that day includes men and women who are hopelessly poor, hungry, oppressed and excluded by society. They hear that there is a place for them in the kingdom of God! They are blessed! They are honoured! Jesus invites them to respond to his message and to be transformed.

How do you respond to these beatitudes? Do you ever find yourself poor? Hungry? Oppressed? Rejected? If so, you are in good company. You are blessed too, and you can lean into the messages preached by Jesus.

Just like the people on the level ground at the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee two thousand years ago, our faith can provide many reasons to rejoice and be joyful. 

Lord, send me the grace of trust, so that I can trust you in the

 midst of all the challenges I face and let Christ guide my way and life.

Tina Murray

Principal

PARENT INFORMATION SESSIONS

Gratitude is extended to the many parents from Year 5 and 6 who have been able to attend the Parent Sessions that have already been held via Zoom this week. Class teachers will provide a term overview via Compass to all parents. This document references much of the information communicated during these meetings.

CHANGED ARRANGEMENTS

WALKING HOME

Parents who wish their child to walk home at the end of the school day are asked to write a note to the classroom teacher to confirm these arrangements. Teachers will inform the Leadership Member at the Emerald Drive / Aquamarine Dr gate about this arrangement.

Students walking home will remain in their class until the 2.25 pm dismissal time and will need to check in with the supervising teacher at the appropriate gate prior to leaving the school site. This will help to confirm student movement from the school site.

PICK UP /OOSH

Any changes to home arrangements should be communicated to the school either via a note to the class teacher or a phone call to the Office. This includes occasions when students will be collected by someone else or when there are changes to OOSH/After School Care arrangements.

Sadly no classes have yet earned Gold Stars – a Gold Star is awarded to the class when everyone remembers to bring their Library Bag.We have had quite a few students in each class who have forgotten to bring their bags! Tomorrow is Library for Kinder and below is a reminder of Library days for next week when each student needs to bring a Library Bag, and return the books borrowed the previous lesson: 

Tuesday – Year 6

Wednesday – Year 5

Thursday – Year 3

Friday – Year 2

Library day is the same day as Sport so that might help as a reminder! 

The Library bag is important for transporting the books to and from school because it helps protect them while in the school bag. We regularly have books which have to be disposed because they get wet. 

Premiers' Reading Challenge

All students in Years 3 - 6 will be registered, Year 2 will be participating as a grade, and we ask parents of students in Kinder and Year 1 to please notify us in writing if your children would like to take part. It is an easy challenge – students in Years 3 - 6 only need to read 20 books from the PRC list, and students in K, 1 and 2 are required to read 30. The booklists are found at:

https://products.schools.nsw.edu.au/prc/booklist/home.html

You can search our Library catalogue to see all the available books on the list – go to:  oliver.dow.catholic.edu.au/miev, and type ‘premier’ in the search box. You can then select the required level, either K - 2, 3 - 4 or 5 - 6. 

All those students who participated in the PRC in previous years are able to use the same User name and password to login this year, but you cannot login until registration is completed in early March. If you have lost your login details you need to let us know in the Library – we will not send out letters to last year’s participants with login details unless we are notified that they need a reminder. Registration can only be done through the school. Thank you. 

Scholastic Book Club

Just a reminder that no orders or money are able to be accepted at school. If you have any problems, please don’t hesitate to contact us in the Library before or after school. Orders  have now closed for this issue, as soon as the books arrive they will be distributed to the students. Thank you for your support. 

Technology

As mentioned in last week’s newsletter it is an expectation from the Catholic Education Office that every student in our school is to read with their parents the CEDoW Student Acceptable Use of Technology Agreement at the beginning of each year. This agreement outlines the expectations regarding appropriate and safe use of technology in the education of our students. All students except for Kinder should by now have received a copy of this agreement. Parents and students are asked to read and sign the agreement and return it to their teacher as soon as possible before they will be able to use the laptops or iPads at school.

Daily Reading

Our lives are very busy but it is important to try to read with your children for at least ten minutes a day.

 "Children are made readers on the laps of their parents."         

 Emilie Buchwald, Children's Author

Mrs Sue Bryant

Teacher-Librarian

Catholic Schools Week

‘Faith, Excellence, Service’

This year we will be celebrating Catholic Schools Week during Week 6 of our school term (28 February - 4 March 2022). 

During this week, which coincides with the start of Lent, we will have a range of special events occurring: 

Monday 28 February

• What makes our School Special?  The Year 6 Faith Team will investigate what makes our school a special community. Their short  iMovie will be shared on our website. 

Tuesday 1 March

• Shrove Tuesday - This will be a mufti day where students may wear school colours. The P&F will be providing pancakes on this day at a cost of $2.00.
• Year 5 & 6 will be attending the Zoom Launch for Project Compassion. 

Wednesday 2 March

• Ash Wednesday Liturgies will occur in classrooms this year.
• Teachers will distribute ashes by sprinkling them on the children’s heads. The Mini Vinnies team will be launching Project Compassion across the school. 

Thursday 3 March

• Leadership Induction Mass 11.30 am.  This week invitations will be sent to parents whose children are receiving their badges. Year 5 and 6 will be attending this Mass. 

Friday 4 March

• Kindergarten Welcome Liturgy 11.00 am. Kindergarten parents are invited to our Welcome LIturgy for the newest members of our school community. Invitations will be sent out this week.

Mrs Kirsty Simpson

Religious Education Co-Ordinator

LITERACY NEWS

This year one of our school improvement goals is centred around improving writing at Mary Immaculate. For the past two weeks the students have been engaged in a school wide writing stimulus focused on ‘The Jungle’. Here at Mary Immaculate, we have created our very own jungle called the Manda Jungle. The word ‘Manda’ means forest or woodland and was given the name to make connections with the land of our Dharawal community. 

Teachers have also been transforming their classrooms into interesting and engaging learning spaces that replicate what you would see, hear and feel if you were to visit the jungle. Students have been engaging in a teaching and learning cycle where students have been immersed in quality literature that not only focuses on our theme of the jungle, but demonstrates what authors do when they write an imaginative text. 

This week each class had the opportunity to visit the Manda Jungle. This interactive experience allowed students to explore, plan and discuss an imaginative story they would write that was prompted by their visit to our jungle. There were lots of things to look at and explore and write about. Some of the things students were wondering were, where did the giant eggs come from? Why was there a crate in the jungle? What was in the crate? Whose eyes were peering through the foliage? Was there evidence of human interaction with the jungle? They then used these wonderings to write their imaginative text. It has been wonderful to see the interest and enthusiasm this writing stimulus has sparked and the fantastic writing produced by the students.

The Manda Jungle

THE SECOND HAND UNIFORM ROOM WILL BE OPEN ADDITIONAL DAYS AND TIMES FOR ANYONE WISHING TO GET READY FOR THE TRANSITION TO WINTER UNIFORM:

NORMAL TIME - EACH MONDAY FROM 8:30 A.M. TO 9:00 A.M.

ADDITIONAL - MONDAY 21 FEBRUARY 2022 FROM 8:30 A.M. TO 9:00 A.M. AND 2:30 P.M. TO 3:00 P.M.

FRIDAY 25 FEBRUARY 2022 FROM 2:30 P.M. TO 3:00 P.M.