Easter is the greatest feast in the Christian calendar. Just as a family will gather round on important occasions and tell and retell family stories, so too the Church keeps its
‘best stories’ for this most significant celebration. These are our family faith stories that shape our identity as Christians: they tell us where we have come from, who we are and where we are going according to God’s saving
plan. Through class lessons the students at Mary Immaculate will come to know these stories. During this week our students will reflect upon the events of Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday and Good Friday.

These reflective sessions will help them to walk with Jesus on his way to Calvary. Through these reflections we are able in a simple way to share in the emotions experienced by the disciples at the foot washing and the sharing of bread. We can share the mixture of emotions that the disciples experienced when they witnessed the death of their friend. This week, that we call Holy Week, challenges us to enter into the experience of Jesus’ suffering. The theologian Karl Rahner suggested that we do this by bearing the burdens of our life with courage and without pretense.  We can share through our faith in the passion of Christ precisely by realising that our life, with all its joys and sorrows, is a participation in the same destiny Jesus also experienced. Holy Week is also about the ongoing passion of humankind.

For our Mary Immaculate community, Easter is much more than just Easter eggs. During this week of passion—passionate suffering, passionate grace, passionate love and passionate forgiving - each of us is called to remember the Christ of Calvary and then to embrace and lighten the burden of the Christ whose passion continues to be experienced by the hungry, the poor, the sick, the homeless, the lonely, the rejected and the outcast. It is a time when the Christian story is an opportunity for us to reflect with hope on a positive future and a new beginning in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We would like to wish you all a safe, happy and meaningful Easter vacation and we look forward to working together in Term 2 as we continue to attempt to live out the Easter messages of faith, hope and love!

Let the messages of the Risen Christ continue to guide our way and our life. Easter blessings to you all.

Tina Murray

It is with great sadness, but also much pride that we congratulate Michelle Petruzzelli who will be leaving our school community to commence a new role next term, after successfully completing a Bachelor of Social Work.

We are very grateful for Michelle’s contributions to our school community during the last 20 years of dedicated service as a School Support Officer. We wish her every blessing as she commences her new appointment in the coming weeks.

We also wish Mrs Jaimie Mammone all the best and every blessing as she commences Maternity Leave.  

ANZAC DAY MARCH, 25 APRIL 2023

The Mary Immaculate community will have the opportunity to participate in the Campbelltown RSL commemoration of ANZAC Day March and Service at Mawson Park on Tuesday April 25. 

Students are invited to join in the ANZAC Day celebrations and march with the Mary Immaculate group.

Students attending are requested to wear Full Summer Uniform including their hat and will need to meet at the corner of Queen and Dumaresq Streets at 8:15am. 

We will then proceed as a school group to Mawson Park for the commemorative service. Students will be accompanied during the march by Mrs Murray. 

Parents are also most welcome to join our school group. 

Participating students will need to be collected at the conclusion of the commemorative service at approximately at 9:45am at Mawson Park.

Please register your child’s participation via the following link.

https://forms.gle/5VrYJ86aaJUFAmEK9 

The Bishop of Wollongong, Most Rev. Brian Mascord DD, has published a new document on the nature and purpose of Catholic schools in our diocese. Titled Bearers of Christ’s Love — Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Wollongong, this document is the first of its type in our diocese since the 1970s.  

In it, Bishop Brian explores the purpose of Catholic schools as an expression of the Church experience, as well as the vital connection between schools, parents/carers, parishes, and the diocese itself. 

Throughout the document, Bishop Brian reiterates:

• The significant role Catholic schools play in the evangelising mission of the Church and the nurturing of students’ faith.
• The commitment of Catholic educators to complement and support the educational rights and duties of parents as their child’s first educator.
• The essential requirement for Catholic schools to be places of educational excellence, where learning, wellbeing and actions of outreach and service are integrated in a holistic educational vision and practice. 
• That Catholic schools are places where those seeking a Catholic education are welcome, reflecting the diverse mix of cultures, nationalities and religious traditions that currently make up our school communities.

I encourage you to take the time to watch the short video from Bishop Brian and read this important document on the Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong website.

P&F UPDATE

Unfortunately, we have been unable to fill all positions on the P&F Executive Committee.

As a result, this will mean that alternative options will need to be considered and the P&F will not be able to operate in the present context. 

Please join us for this important meeting where the continuation of the P&F Association at Mary Immaculate will be decided.

The link below provides an opportunity to register to attend this meeting, and to add items to the meeting agenda. 

https://forms.gle/U2Q1xhxZnWiis9eBA

All parents who have registered to attend will receive zoom details and additional documentation on the day of the meeting. Registration will close on Friday 28 April at 3.00pm.

 

The official date for the changeover to Winter Uniform is Monday 15 May 2023 (Week 4 Term 2).

Due to the unpredictability of the weather, students may wear either Full Summer or Full Winter Uniform for the first 3 weeks of Term 2 ~ NOT A MIXTURE OF BOTH.

 

NSW K-2 English and Mathematics Syllabuses

As mentioned in previous newsletters, all schools in NSW are implementing the reformed NSW English and Mathematics K-2 syllabuses. These syllabuses highlight foundational literacy and numeracy skills. Please find below suggestions about what you can do as a parent or carer to support your child in Early Stage 1 and Stage 1 in the area of English.

Helping your Early Stage 1 child at home with English

Creating Written Texts

Creating written texts focuses on writing texts using simple sentences.

You can help your Kindergarten child at home by:

•   encouraging them to first draw what they want to write about to gather their ideas
•   asking them to read their writing to you and talk about their thoughts and pictures
•   writing new stories together
•   using a writing journal to write and draw in every day.

Spelling

Spelling focuses on using different strategies to spell high-frequency words.

You can help your Kindergarten child at home by:

*   cutting out individual letters from magazines to make high-frequency words. Glue the letters in the correct order to make the words

*   talking about how some words can be made plural by adding the letter ‘s’ at the end. For example, dog/dogs, car/cars

*   making word jumbles for high-frequency or sight words for your child to rearrange the letters to find the word. This could be done using fridge magnet letters. For example, present your child with the letters a- t- c which they then re-arrange into c- a- t. Help them with a clue if they are having trouble, like it purrs when it’s happy

*   investigating words which sound the same but have different spellings and meaning (homophones). For example, great/grate, stare/stair, wood/would, knight/night

*   investigating words which look and sound the same but have different meanings (homonyms). For example, bark on a tree / bark the sound a dog makes, rose a flower in a garden / rose went upwards, right to be correct / right the opposite of left.

Helping your Stage 1 child at home with English

Handwriting

Handwriting focuses on using a clear and fluent handwriting style to confidently form all upper-case and lower-case letters in NSW Foundation Style. Keyboard skills are also developed using digital technology and word-processing applications.

You can help your Year 1 or Year 2 child at home by:

*   encouraging them to leave a finger space between words as well as placing letters on the line

*   helping to reinforce consistent letter height formations for tall letters, such as t, b and k, tail letters, such as g, y and j as well as short letters such as a, c and v

*   assisting them to become familiar with a computer keyboard to type familiar words and simple sentences using punctuation such as full stops.

Understand and Respond to Literature

Understand and respond to literature focuses on the reactions, thoughts, opinions and ideas that are inspired by fiction (imaginative) and nonfiction (informative) books and texts.

You can help your Year 1 or Year 2 child at home by:

*   comparing characters in texts and discussing similarities and differences

*   discussing different cultures that are represented in literature

*   engaging with the same narrative in different ways

*   discussing how particular events in texts make you feel and why

Mrs Lillian Del Giudice

Assistant Principal

Holy Week 

This week is Holy Week. It is a very special week in our Church’s calendar where we remember the events leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. Yesterday our students started their Holy Week journey with Palm Sunday. They shared in scripture and prayer – this will continue throughout the rest of the week with Holy Thursday and Good Friday.

 

Please be advised that due to changing canteen operators next term, the current Canteen will be closed on Thursday 6 April 2023.  Thank you for your support.