Term 1, Issue #3 2023

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From The Leadership Team
Welcome Board Members
Welcome New Staff
Year 6
Harmony Week
Harmony Piano Update
Transition to Secondary School
Drinks at School
Children's University
From The APRIM
The Mercy Leaders Fun Run
Holy Week
Teaching and Celebrating the Liturgical Year – Pentecost
From The Year 3 Unit
From The Year 4 Unit

From The Leadership Team

Dear Families

As our first Term is drawing to a close we reflect upon the many highlights, events and learning that has occurred over the last 9 weeks and give thanks for the opportunities that we have been given. As we prepare for the Easter Season we are reminded to stay aware of others and what they may be going through. By being aware of those around us we are able to more fully understand their situation and respond in ways that enables them to flourish, feel connected and grow emotionally, socially, academically and spiritually. As a Mercy school, our values of Respect, Justice and Dignity underpins our work and our interactions as we continue to build a community that is focused on relationships and restoration.

Welcome Board Members

We extend a warm welcome to our newly elected board members to our School Community: – Chloe (Chairperson), Sarah (Deputy Chair), Chris Chairperson of Finance Committee), Bindee (Deputy Finance Chair), Jen and Amy.

We anticipate that your skills and experience will be an asset to our Board and we look forward to working in partnership with you.

Welcome New Staff

As the term comes to a close we welcome three new curriculum Education Support Staff to our CMS Community: Mrs Raj Kaur, Mr Alan Curry and Ms Paula Clarke. These new staff members will be supporting students in the classrooms along with providing social and emotional support to our students through mentoring and social and emotional programs we offer.

Year 6

Year 6 Leaders Jackets

This week, we have had some very excited Year 6 students as they have been waiting with great anticipation in receiving their Leaders Jackets, At the end of last year, the Year 5s gathered as a large to work with their Year 5 class Teachers and Mrs Lee-anne Vandenberg in designing their Year 6 2023 Leaders Jumper / Jacket. The brief the students were given was to included our Mercy Cross, our School Motto of: Faith ~ Growth ~ Unity and to include all the names of the students and teachers in Year 6.

The Year 6s are proudly wearing their Jackets this week as leaders of our community.

Year 6 Woodhouse Camp

It is with great joy to acknowledge the Year 6 students Camp experience at Woodhouse Activity Centre for the 2023 school year. The Year 6 students truly had a wonderful time last week where they bonded with each other over the course of the 2 day experience.

The 7 staff who attended, commented on how proud they were to see all the children have a go at all the different activities. Often trying things for the very first time and, at times, overcoming their fears with lots of courage and giving things ago.

Our children were involved in Challenge Hill, Tube Sliding, Ice Blocking, Laser Tag and Lightweight Cooking (Cooperative team activities).

These activities provided our children with lots of opportunities to work in teams, collaborate, problem solve and face challenges they may not have faced before.

We would just like to take this opportunity to thank all the parents for their work in preparing the children for the camp and for entrusting your children to our staff. These are often anxious times for parents, but your trust in this event means that you are providing opportunities for your child to experience something very unique, creating lifetime memories and greater confidence and independence.

We would also want to thank the staff who attended the camp – Miss Georgia Connelly, Miss Emily Komjljnovic, Ms Samara Offen, Mr Fabian Chevalier, Mrs Rebecca Thorvaldsson, Mrs Lee-anne Vandenberg and Mrs Linda Caldinez for their tremendous effort in caringly looking after each student and encouraging them to participate so positively.

Harmony Week

Australia is a vibrant and multicultural country — from the oldest continuous culture of our first Australians to the cultures of our newest arrivals from around the world. Our cultural diversity is one of our greatest strengths and is at the heart of who we are. It makes Australia a great place to live.

An integrated multicultural Australia is an integral part of our national identity. All people who migrate to Australia bring with them some of their own cultural and religious traditions, as well as taking on many new traditions. Collectively, these traditions have enriched our nation.

Harmony Week is about inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians, regardless of cultural or linguistic background, united by a set of core Australian values. This year, we celebrated Harmony Day by wearing orange (Harmony colour) or wearing a traditional cultural outfit. We created a whole school art display in the JHPAC where each student traced and decorated their hands to form two large coloured murals of hands united in unity and it is displayed on the wall with the sign ‘Everyone Belongs’ in our community.

Harmony Piano Update

Transition to Secondary School

The planning, preparing and transition to Secondary Schooling can often be stressful for families as they seek to continue to provide an education in a setting that promotes the faith, learning and social/emotional wellbeing experienced in primary school. Catherine McAuley School is a direct feeder school to Xavier College, St Columba College and Thomas More College. Our schools liaise together to ensure a successful transition from primary to secondary throughout the second semester of Year 6.

While we are often aware of where our students may be moving on to, we remind families that they must still complete the appropriate enrolment form for their school of preference. Each of the schools have an Open Day each year, and I draw your attention to the parent letter that was send to all Year 3-6 families on the 23rd March; you must lodge an enrolment form with your secondary school of choice a minimum of 2 years prior to commencing in Year 7.

Drinks at School

PRIME Energy Drinks

A gentle reminder that any energy drinks are banned and cannot be consumed at school by students.

Recently, we have had older students use the PRIME bottle as a water drink bottle and younger students are thinking they are drinking an energy drink. Parents, we would really appreciate your support with this matter and reminder your child to use a normal drink bottle instead of a PRIME bottle with advertising on it.

Children's University

It is wonderful to hear that 22 children have joined Children’s University in the 2023 school year. Children's University is a program funded by Adelaide University to promote learning outside of the classroom, recognising that learning is happening all the time. Mrs Megan Pollard is our Children’s University Coordinator and she is looking forward to supporting this year’s group of children. If you wish to find out more or speak to Mrs Pollard please contact via email: mpollard@cms.catholic.edu.au.

From The APRIM

Mercy Leaders

On Monday 27 March 2023 (Week 9) our Mercy Leaders were invited to take part in the 2023 Caritas Fun Run/Walk. Starting at Angus Neil Reserve the run and walk took our leaders along the beach front of Brighton and Seacliff. Participants could choose to participate in a 6km run or a 3km walk, we had one runner while the rest of us walked. This was a great opportunity for our leaders to challenge themselves while at the same time raising funds for Project Compassion.

During Lent our students across the school are asked to raise money in their Project Compassion Money boxes. If you have done so, please bring the box into school before the end of Term 1. If you would like to donate, you will find a box in the foyer. Thanking you in advance.

The Mercy Leaders Fun Run

Holy Week

Week 10 (next week) marks one of the most important weeks in our Catholic liturgical calendar. During Holy Week we will see every Catholic school remembering the events leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion. This commemoration looks different from school to school. At Catherine McAuley School, we will gather as a school / class community each morning to present, and celebrate, the Holy Week stories.

We will begin with 3E Miss Crompton presenting Palm Sunday on Monday 3rd April at 9am in the JHPAC. This will be a joyous occasion. On Tuesday we will move into a more sombre mood celebrating Maundy Thursday as we re-enact Jesus’ Last Supper in our classes. Maundy simple means wash hence Jesus engaging in a ceremony of washing the feet of the poor on Maundy Thursday before His last supper. This mood continues into Wednesday through the Stations of the Cross. Each class will visit the stations and when doing so are invited to take a quiet moment at each and reflect on what is being honoured and how each station’s message may relate to us as an individual on a more person / community scale.

The celebration of Jesus’ Resurrection will take place during Week 11 (Tuesday 11th April) with RR’s class (Mrs. Mynhardt) hosting prayer at 9am in JHPAC. In commemorating the Resurrection of Jesus, we also celebrate the defeat of death and the hope of salvation. Our Catholic tradition holds that the sins of humanity were paid for by the death of Jesus and that His Resurrection represents the anticipation believers can have in their own resurrection. This celebration will be delivered in a child friendly manner appropriate to their understanding.

As we celebrate these remarkable events each year, the story is never tiresome and never gets old and the message is timeless and is as relevant today as it was back then. God loves us all – more than we can ever know. Jesus is alive, living in and through each of us, in our thoughts, heart, words, and actions.

Pray together “Jesus, please remember me when you come into Your kingdom.” Amen

Teaching and Celebrating the Liturgical Year – Pentecost

As we approach Week 11, in the first instance we will celebrate Jesus’ Resurrection. But then after, as we engage in stories about Jesus, Pentecost will soon be upon us. Another wonderful celebration of the Lord. So, what happens from Resurrection to Pentecost? Jesus promised the apostles, as He ascended into heaven, that He would send the Holy Spirit to empower them. The Catholic Church celebrates this with the feast of Pentecost, 50 days after Easter. The colour for Pentecost is red. Red is also the colour of the feasts of all apostles except John and for the feasts of the martyrs of the church.

Do you know the difference between an ‘apostle’ and a ‘disciple’?

Although both apostles and disciples were followers of Jesus, there is a distinction between the two that is primarily based on authority. While disciples followed Jesus and learned from him, the apostles were in charge of continuing Jesus' ministry, spreading the gospel, and creating worship communities.

And Finally

Thank you for a wonderful Term, full of poise, patience, and hope. May this Easter break give you all the time needed to recoup, regather, and reconnect by the way of quality family time, cherished time, with loved ones.

You can celebrate Easter with delicious baskets of treats and hearts filled with the love of God (I will be!!). And whilst Easter does not require elaborate prayers, you are invited to pray one of these simple prayers with your children to keep Jesus at the center of Easter:

Jellybean Prayer: Red is for the blood you gave, and black is for the empty grave. Yellow is for the shining sun; white is for the new life begun. Green is for the grass and trees and purple is for your majesty. Orange is for the edge of night, and pink is for the morning light. Amen.

Mary Prayer: Blessed are you, O Mary, silent witness of Easter! You, O Mother of the Crucified One now risen, who at the hour of pain and death kept the flame of hope burning, teach us also to be, amongst the incongruities of passing time, convinced and joyful witnesses of the eternal message of life and love brought to the world by the Risen Redeemer. Amen (Pope John Paul II, 2004).

God Bless.
Mrs. Caldinez
APRIM

From The Year 3 Unit

The Year 3 Unit have had a great start to 2023! Term 1 began with a focus on Beginning and Belonging and being part of the Year 3 team. As the term progressed, we moved into our Science Unit on the Solar System.

In 3M we completed some fair test experiments to investigate the power of the sun. Not all our predictions came true, and we learnt so much! This week we celebrated Harmony Week. We have learnt about the various places in the world that our class families come from, and we wore orange as a sign of support and acceptance of all cultures.

In 3E, we have been learning about Lent and the importance that it plays within the Catholic faith. Students have decorated and written an act of kindness for each day on their Lenten calendars for the lead up to Easter. Just like 3M and 3R, we also celebrated Harmony Day by wearing the colour orange and coming together to appreciate the diverse cultures within our classroom.

3R have started learning coding skills with the help of Ozobots. We are planning a trip for the Ozobots to travel around Australia visiting each state, territory, and capital city along the way.

From The Year 4 Unit

The Year 4s have had a very busy, but successful start to Term 1. We began the term with a few weeks of beginning and belonging, focusing on getting to know our new class while forming new friendships and further developing our social emotional skills.

We’ve begun learning about how to identify and write exciting narratives that draw in the reader’s attention in Literacy and basic number skills including place value and the four operations in Numeracy through a range of hands-on activities. In Science we’ve been learning about the water cycle through both theory and practical activities.

We have already enjoyed a lot of fun activities including a pancake relay on Shrove Tuesday and celebrating our diverse community on Harmony Day where we discussed the importance of everyone belonging. Through 'What’s the Buzz' we’ve been learning about coping strategies to use when we’re feeling in a negative mindset and how we can change negative thoughts into positive thoughts!

Most excitingly, our unit have been the first classes to use the Makers Empire program. Using Makers Empire, we’ve been learning about sustainability and how we can keep single use plastics out of the ocean. We’re currently working hard to design our own inventions that will hopefully come to life using the 3D printer towards the end of the term.