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Dear Parents and Caregivers,
As we continue to work together to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, the health and safety of our school community remains our top priority. While Mary Immaculate remains open for students who need to attend, the gradual return of other students to the classroom for one scheduled day started on Tuesday this week. All students have been rostered for one scheduled day per week. Information about each student’s scheduled day was emailed individually to all parents by class teachers. These lists were constructed to ensure siblings across the school attend on the same day.
We will continue to be guided by the health advice provided by the NSW Government and our system of schools and any changes to these plans will be communicated as they become available. Many families have expressed concerns about their children returning to school and of course, the decision to continue to keep children at home is one that needs to be made at an individual family level. I acknowledge the tremendous amount of time and effort our staff have put into planning for the delivery of learning that students are able to access whether they are at school or at home. In saying this, it is important to acknowledge that there is no substitute for all that school attendance can offer. I am aware that many students are very eager to return to school to reconnect with friends and familiar routines. However, during this very delicate time in our COVID-19 journey we have an obligation to avoid complacency and accept personal responsibility to make thoughtful, and sometimes difficult choices in order for our pre-COVID life to return to some semblance of the way things used to be. We are continually reminded by our government leaders to remain vigilant and to not be lulled into a false sense of security, especially as restrictions are slowly being eased. To some degree we all feel the temptation to push these limits, but we must remember that the sacrifices we continue to make as individuals will help to protect the common good and potentially reduce the long-term effects of this terrible global pandemic. This is why the self-leadership of every individual community member must go hand-in-hand with government / organisational action.
As a lover of ancient history, I am reminded of the ancient Greek story of Odysseus in Homer’s famous poem The Odyssey. The hero Odysseus is warned about monsters, who pretend to be beautiful women with amazing voices, who try to lure sailors, as they pass by their island. But, what they really want to do, is to kill them.
In the same way, if we choose to confine our own freedoms as much as possible for the time required, we can each play our part in reducing the impact of COVID-19.
In the words of our school prayer,
We ask for wisdom, guidance and courage as we continue to travel the difficult path ahead. We continue to keep all our families in our prayers.
Let Christ be our Way and Life
Tina Murray
Principal
As the school is not operating as normal, grade allocated sport days are not occurring. Parents may choose to send students to school in either their Full Winter Uniform or Full Sport Uniform on their scheduled day.
For those new to our school we use the Compass app as the quickest and most effective way of communicating with our community. We encourage all families to have at least one device with Compass installed and with notifications turned on.
Our main method of communicating with parents is via Compass. This app sends messages directly to the app if installed on your phone and to all parent emails. This is the method for delivery of the weekly newsletter, event details, reminders, student reports, attendance concerns and emergency alerts.
It is essential that parents keep up to date with information provided by the school, especially in our current situation where procedures are frequently changing.
If you have changed your residential address, email address or phone numbers please update these through Compass or contact the office as soon as possible. It is vital that ALL contact details are up to date so that we can contact parents when necessary, especially in an emergency.
Happy Birthday to the following children who will be celebrating their birthday this week:
Ethan M 2 Gold, Sienna-Rose C 4 Blue, Alonzo M 1 Green,
Giuseppe I 4 Green, Abigail G 1 Blue
Prayer Reflection:
Holy God,
and to care for those who are our companions,
not only with words of comfort, but with acts of love.
Seeking to be true friends of all,
we offer our prayers on behalf of the church and the world.
Upcoming Events
Feast of St Eugene Prayer / Liturgy 21 May 2020
Feast of St Eugene
What do these two men have in common?
You guessed it ….
They are Oblate priests. Next week we will be celebrating the Feast of St Eugene.
St Eugene (pictured on the right) is the founder of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. His overwhelming desire to serve God as a missionary priest inspired Father Slawek, Father Basti and many like him to join the priesthood.
The Feast Day of St Eugene is coming up on the 21 May 2020 - we would like to extend a warm invitation to view our prayer that will be uploaded to Compass on this day
In our Catholic faith, the month of May is traditionally devoted to Mary.
Pope Francis has asked Catholics to make a special effort in May to pray the rosary, knowing that by doing so they will be united with believers around the world asking for Mary’s intercession in stopping the coronavirus pandemic.
In have included a link you may like to use.
https://teachingcatholickids.com/how-to-pray-the-rosary/
Mrs Kirsty Simpson
Religious Education Co-ordinator
Welcome to another week of our unusual learning schedule! Congratulations again to all those making time to read, it is relaxing as well as being an activity which is good for us! Lots of us are still using Sora to access either Ebooks or audiobooks, and some are also using the International Children’s Digital Library, where you will find books from around the world, and in many different languages. http://en.childrenslibrary.org/
Remember too that the Children’s Book Council of Australia is helping out with access to good stories with a daily story time at 12noon. https://www.cbcansw.org.au/storytime
Some great authors are each day reading a story for us all to enjoy. Thursday this week is Sue Whiting, a local author reading her story Good Question: A Tale Told Backwards. All fox wants is a tasty meal, but he keeps wandering in to the wrong stories!
Don’t forget to take a look at our Oliver Library Home page which has links to many interesting sites and activities. Remember to keep a reading log of all the books you are reading, titles and authors, and we can register these later on for the Premiers' Reading Challenge. Explore your book further with some of these writing activities. Print out the sheet and colour in the icon when you complete the activity.
Scholastic Book Club - The current catalogue closes next Monday 18 May 2020 you can still access the catalogue online. Browse the catalogue, and if there is anything you would like to purchase you just go ahead and order through LOOP as you have been doing. The items you order will be delivered to school as usual, and will be distributed to the students on the days they are in attendance.
https://issuu.com/scholastic_australia/docs/aus_issue_3?fr=sMTQ2ZTExOTgzNjE
Tall Tales and Short Stories - The Daily Telegraph has launched its Annual Writing Competition for students from Kinder to Year 9. All budding writers are encouraged to sharpen their pencils and find some paper to capture the fabulous stories lurking in their wildest imaginations. First prize winners in each category will have their story turned into a book! Go to the website for all the details, as well as some useful tips from one of our favourite authors, Jackie French, who is on the judging panel.
Daily Reading - As parents you are your child's most influential teacher with an important part to play in helping your child to learn to read. There is more to being a good reader than just being able to read the words accurately. Just as important is being able to understand what has been read. Always talk to your child about the book; about the pictures, the characters, how they think the story will end, their favourite part. You will then be able to see how well they have understood and you will help them to develop good comprehension skills. Take time not only to hear them read but to read aloud to them too – they love hearing you read to them!
“Read aloud every day because you just love being with your child, not because it's the right thing to do. This is as important for fathers as it is for mothers!”
~ Mem Fox
Happy reading!
Mrs Sue Bryant
Teacher Librarian