Term 4, Issue #12 2023

Dear Families

The year is passing by so quickly and to think we only have a few weeks of our 2023 School year left is amazing. The last few weeks have seen a hive of activity across the school with our School Concert, Campus Remembrance Service, Small Mercies - Transition for Receptions, Athletics Carnival, Children’s University, Catherine McAuley Feast Day and our usual Liturgical and learning activities. The children have worked extremely hard throughout the year and the coming holidays will be welcomed by all! All these occasions have been fabulous opportunities for us to gather as a community and we are very thankful to all the families who have joined us along the way.

Since our last newsletter, we congratulate Mrs Pollard on the outstanding School Concert – ‘You Can’t Stop the Music’ we experienced last week. The children provided us with a magnificent night of entertainment reminiscing a medley of songs from the various decades of the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. From the cutest little safari explorers through to our spies and secret agents, dancers and groovers and finally Elvis Presley also making an appearance. It was truly a groovy night, bopping away in our seats to a time warp of melodies watching the delightful appearances by our talented students! A special mention must be made to our Year 6 students who led the night with incredible confidence in showcasing their performance skills. A great deal of work and many months and hours goes into a School Concert, that’s why we only put on these performances every two years. We are extremely grateful for the creativity and commitment of

Mrs Megan Pollard, who writes the script and directs the whole show every time.

A show like this takes an enormous amount of work and we would like to thank our entire CMS community: staff, students and families for your support and assistance in bringing our 2023 performance to life. We hope you enjoy the snap shots enclosed in this newsletter.

As we celebrated the Feast of Catherine McAuley and spread out our Charities Day initiatives during lunch times rather than the planned day due to the hot weather the other week, it is timely to reflect on our school mission and our values. Our School’s foundations built in faith and the Mercy Charism calls us to be a place of welcome to all. This means that relationships are at the heart of who we are and how we interact and learn with and from one another. Our School motto of ‘FAITH, GROWTH and UNITY’, can be witnessed in the following way: FAITH as in RELATIONSHIPS, GROWTH as in LEARNING, UNITY as in COMMUNITY. 

We are blessed with a dynamic and highly dedicated staff who seek to witness our faith in their daily work with our children, guiding them academically, socially and emotionally. They, along-side you, see the beauty in each child, their qualities, struggles and successes. Each child is Made in the Image of God and our work as teachers is to allow each to grow and develop at their own pace and within their own time. A school is made up of many faces and each is a unique gift and we give thanks for the faces that make up Catherine McAuley School. Catherine herself never excluded another, she showed respect and kindness in her words, thoughts and actions and is a role model for us still today.

Over the last two weeks we have had the pleasure of meeting and welcoming our new Reception students and their families during the school transition, ‘Small Mercies’ visits. Our little people did a great job of joining in the activities and meeting their new school friends. We look forward to welcoming them fully into our school community at the start of 2024. A very special thank you to our Year 5 and 6 buddies, , Isla, Jack, Jaxson, Kai, Matilda and Sienna and who helped out during the visits and made the children very welcome.

Over the past few weeks, we have been reflecting on the church Season of Advent. Advent is the beginning of the New Year in our Church and is a time of preparation for the arrival of Jesus at Christmas. Over the next few weeks of Advent, we will light a candle on the Advent Wreath and reflected on the words of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. How do I bring Hope to the world? Where do I find Peace in my world? How do I share Joy with others? How do I share Love with those around me? As you prepare for Christmas as a family, remember these words and be a light for the world. 

During Term 4, children often begin to feel anxious about change and moving into the next year level. While we understand this, it is important that families reassure and support their child through the change process allowing them to develop skills of resilience and optimism. This procedure occurs every year and children do manage the change. All Teachers are aware of the need for children to feel safe and secure. Teachers understand about students’ learning and friendships, parent’s requests, staffing requirements and class maxima which are all taken into consideration when placing each child in their new class. In Week 8 students will meet their new Teachers and classmates and will begin to journey towards 2024.

The term is passing by very quickly and we remind families to refer to the school calendar for upcoming events and recommend all families connect to our SZapp app to receive updates and reminders regularly.

We wish you all a wonderful last few weeks of the 2023 school year.

The CMS Leadership Team
Marc, Eleni, Linda

Fortnightly we celebrate Mass at Church. 

Celebrating Mass fortnightly on a Friday morning has proven to be a success not only for our students and staff but for the broader community. It’s wonderful to see the number of families supporting their child, especially if performing a task during Mass. When we attend church regularly, we become better worshippers and gain a broader understanding of faith. It helps us learn to focus more on God and perhaps others, and less on ourselves. It also encourages us to ponder and engage with the awe and wonder that faith has to offer. When we attend services, we receive spiritual nourishment from the Lord. Many of our students simply ask for a blessing during Communion. This nourishment strengthens us spiritually and helps us grow in faith. 

During Week 6 and Week 8 of Term 4, our three Year 3 students will be hosting Mass. You are warmly invited and welcomed to join us, to support our students, and to witness a unique opportunity to encounter calmness that is not available in any other place. 

Next Mass dates: 

Friday 24th November 2023 (Week 6) at 9am and Friday 8th December 2023 (Week 8) at 9am. All Masses are held at St Ann’s Catholic Church, 30 Midway Road, Elizabeth East SA 5112. 

Mrs. Caldinez 
APRIM 

As we are coming to the end of our Year 5 journey, there is so much left to do. However, we would like to take a minute to highlight the incredible work that our Year 5 cohort have been a part of recently. Our Year 5’s hit the stage with enthusiasm and confidence last week for their last CMS concert performance. The students have worked so hard during their lesson times and made the commitment to giving their best performance on stage, and they did not disappoint. We even had a surprise visitor! We have also begun to use our critical thinking skills this week in preparation for our transition into Year 6 leaders. Our Year 5 cohort has engaged in several leadership discussions and activities, where we have learnt what it means to be a leader and hold certain responsibilities here at Catherine McAuley School. They had the pleasure of working amongst students from both classes in order to create a design to put forward for their Year 6 jumpers for 2024. The students were required to have certain symbols present in their designs, and they really committed to coming up with some well thought out ideas. We look forward to the remainder of the year and what is to come for the Year 6 leaders of 2024.   

Miss Edwards and Mr Zoccali
Year 5 Teachers

On 10th November Catherine McAuley held our combined Remembrance Day Assembly with Playford. We were very lucky to have members of the Australian Defence Force and the National Military Motor Museum in attendance. We learnt about some of the vehicles and even got to hop in some of them.

Our assembly was run by our campus defence students who did a wonderful job, as did our campus choir. Thankyou to all guests, visitors, teachers and students for making our assembly special.  

Being almost the end of our school year, some of our defence families will be packing up their homes in readiness for their next adventure. We wish you all the best for your next posting and hope that your time at Catherine McAuley is full of many fun memories.

The Premier’s Reading Challenge continues to be a great success for Catherine McAuley School students. This year 385 students completed the challenge by reading and recording at least 12 books. Awards including medals and certificates have been handed out this week which include:

• First year = Certificate
• Second year = Bronze medal
• Third year = Silver medal
• Fourth year = Gold medal
• Fifth year Champion = medal on yellow ribbon
• Sixth year Legend = medal on red ribbon
• Seventh year Hall of Fame = medal on blue ribbon (Students can elect to have their name appear on the Premier’s Reading Challenge Hall of Fame Honour Roll)
• Eighth year = Reader for Life award (R4L)

This year marks 20 years of the Premier’s Reading Challenge in South Australia! To celebrate this momentous occasion, we offered students the opportunity to receive a special, 20th Anniversary certificate in addition to their usual PRC award this year. To qualify for the certificate, students had to read 20 books in 2023, and fill out the ‘20 Years, 20 Books’ student reading record. We had 43 students complete the extra challenge. A special mention to Mrs Kenyon and her Year 3 class, who had her entire class read an additional 20 books. Well done to all those who took on the extra challenge.

Year 3: Amelia A, Brodie C, Caleb, Davide, Harvey, Hirwa, Indee, Jordon , Joshua, Lucious, Mateo, Mckenzie, Muku, Parker, Ryder M, Santino, Savannah, Sienna, Tarrah, Tia, Tyler, Youssouf, Zara

Year 4: Ella, Hollee

Year 5: Abiel, Alessio, Acacia, Arabella, Chloe, Grace, Indy, Jacinta, Jack M, Jaxson, Lachlan, Matilda, Natouma, Zachary

Year 6: Bethany, Chae, Matilda

A huge congratulations to our four Year 6 students, Lachlan, Chae, Matilida and Luca who received their Reader for Life Certificate.

Congratulations to all the students for their persistent focus on reading, and the adults who read with them. The PRC is just one way that children can explore new stories in their journey to becoming an independent reader.

At this time of year, we kindly ask that you start looking everywhere at home for any overdue library books or take-home books that might be lurking in your children’s bedrooms, bookcases, under beds or possibly in the car. All schoolbooks are barcoded with Playford McAuley Campus stickers. If you receive an overdue notice email in the coming weeks, please return the books or make a suitable replacement donation of a preloved book. Unfortunately, we still have around 500 overdue loans. You will understand that this is an expensive loss to the library. We would be grateful for their return, so we don't have to go through the process of ordering replacements, cataloguing and covering the books again. Thank you for your cooperation.

Catholic Schools Athletics Carnival

Two Individual Age Champion Awards

Year 5 Girls - Age Champions

On Tuesday 7th November Catherine McAuley School participated in the Catholic Schools Athletics Carnival at Santos Stadium, Mile End. Thirty-eight Year 3-6 students represented the school extremely well and produced some amazing results. After a successful 2022, we were promoted from Section 8 to Section 4 which is an extremely large jump. Congratulations to the boy’s team who finished second and the girl’s team who finished seventh out of the nine schools participating in Section 4.

Congratulations to Ryder McConnell and Indiahna Coplestone on winning individual age champion awards. The athletes achieved many 1st places and were announced as the best athletes in their section. The athletes were presented their awards by Dr. Neil McGoran, the Executive Director of Catholic Education. Super effort!!

Throughout the day there were many outstanding individual performances, and the students should feel proud of their efforts against quality opposition.

Also, well done to the Year Five girls on winning an age champion award. As a group, they scored the most points in their age group in our section at the carnival.

Thank you to all of the students for their efforts throughout the day and during training leading up to the carnival. I would also like to thank Katrina Timmins, Adrian Zoccali, Anna Rossitano, Mitchell Wood, and the many parents who attended the carnival for their help and support.

Fantastic effort team!

Fabian Chevalier
P.E. Co-ordinator

Christmas School Holidays. 

Click HERE to view the vacation care program

The Service will be closed from Friday 22 December to Friday 5 January and the Service will reopen on Monday 8 January, 6:30am.

Please note that we will be closed on Friday 26 January for the Australia Day Public Holiday.