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Dear Parents and Carers,
This week we celebrate the Feast Day of our parish and school and patron St Eugene de Mazenod, founder of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. Eugene was born on 1 August 1782 at Aix-en-Provence, France. He was the only son of Charles and Marie Rose de Mazenod. Despite seemingly having the world at his feet due to his father being a member of the nobility and his mother coming from a wealthy family, Eugene’s world changed dramatically within seven years of his birth.
The French Revolution meant that his father was forced to go into exile to avoid the
guillotine. Eugene was sent to join him in 1791 and he lived in exile in Nice, Turin, Venice, Naples and Palermo till 1802. He was educated in various places, mainly by tutors.
The French Revolution made Eugene and his family political refugees for twelve years. His family fled France, his parents separated, and his inheritance disappeared. Upon his return to his homeland at the age of twenty, he sought to find his place in the new France. This was a time of growing disillusionment, but Eugene's gaze was drawn more and more away from himself to the pressing needs of the spiritually and materially needy around him and the needs of the Church. He decided to do something about it. He became a priest.
Fr. de Mazenod set about rebuilding a world based of Christian values. From village to village, he went preaching, bringing the Word of God and the Sacraments to all. He visited prisons and offered the poor a renewed sense of their own dignity. Others, inspired by his vision and energy, joined him and in 1826 a new religious order - to be called the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate - came into being.
Even while he was the Bishop of Marseilles, Eugene cared for his Oblate family. He sent his men on missions throughout Europe, to the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa, and Sri Lanka. Today the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate serve in every continent, working in over 65 countries.
His life of virtue was recognised by the Church and on 3 December 1995, Pope John Paul II declared him a Saint. St Eugene is the patron saint of dysfunctional or troubled families, as he came from one himself.
As a parish community we are blessed to have St Eugene’s continued presence with us made real through the vocation of our Oblate priests. We give thanks for all the priests who have contributed to making our parish and school community the vibrant community that it is today.
Inspired by the life of St Eugene we continue to strive to make our motto ~ Christ Our Way and Life ~ a lived reality each day.
Mrs Tina Murray
Principal
APPLICATIONS FOR LEAVE DURING THE SCHOOL TERM
Holidays / travel during school time that exceeds 10 days requires the completion of an application for leave form. The application for leave must be completed prior to the travel dates.
Requests for leave should normally fall into one of the following categories
· misadventure or unforeseen event;
· participation in special events not related to the school;
· domestic necessity such as serious illness of an immediate family member;
· attendance at funerals; and,
· recognised religious festivals or ceremonial occasions
Approval of leave needs to be secured prior to departure and applications must provide enough time for the school office to process the approval for leave. All travel documentation should be provided as part of the leave application process.
It is important to note that school attendance data is taken into consideration during the approval process.
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 Measurement and Space in Mathematics.
Helping your Early Stage 1 child at home with Mathematics
Measurement and Space
Geometric measure
Geometric measure focuses on:
* position and direction
* measuring length.
You can help your Kindergarten child at home by:
* reading 'Going on a Bear Hunt' by Michael Rosen. Act out the positional language or sing the song using the actions
* playing time-measured or distance-measured races using toy cars, marbles or paper aeroplanes. Use the language of 1st, 2nd and 3rd to describe their positions at the end of the race
* singing, dancing and playing left and right games and songs. For example, singing and dancing The Hokey Pokey
* comparing lengths of socks from toe to top while matching pairs from the washing pile.
Helping your Stage 1 child at home with Mathematics
Measurement and Space
Geometric measure
Geometric measure focuses on:
* describing the position of objects
* measuring and recording lengths
* halves, quarters and eighths to measure lengths.
You can help your Year 1 and Year 2 child at home by:
* practising kicking a ball to each other’s left foot. Then change feet and kick the ball to each other’s right foot. This helps understanding the perception of their left / right and your left / right when you are facing each other
* taking turns hiding an object in the house and giving directions to the find the object
* measuring the length of objects around the house and backyard using informal units of measurement. Examples include, How many dominoes long is the table? How many of my feet long is the bedroom? or How many pencils long is my bicycle? Make sure when using informal measurements the chosen units are placed touching end to end
* measuring your child’s height vertically on a wall with both formal and informal units to compare results. For example, stacking and counting plastic connector blocks, using a ruler to measure in centimetres and using a tape measure to measure in metres and centimetres
* measuring the length of household items with a piece of string or a strip of paper. Find half the length by folding the paper or string in half.
MRS LILLIAN DEL GIUDICE
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL
Important Dates
St Eugene Liturgy
We will be celebrating the Feast of St Eugene on Friday 19 May at 10:00 am.
You are warmly invited to share this special celebration with us in the Church. St Eugene is the founder of the ‘Oblates of Mary Immaculate’.
We are extremely blessed to have these religious men leading our parish.
Christian Meditation
Christian Mediation is one way that our school joins together to pray. We will be praying everyday after Lunch 2 as a whole school. Yesterday, our Year 6 Faith Team trained all of our Class Leaders how to lead this special prayer.
- All staff will be involved in professional learning on this day.
- Students are not required to attend School on this day.