Dear Families,

It's another very busy week. Next Tuesday 26th November, is the Feast Day of St. Leonard. We invite everyone to join us at our feast day mass, beginning at 9:15. Our Year P-2's are welcome to our Junior School Advent Family Faith Night - Let's Get Ready at 6pm.

The students will have the opportunity to enjoy a Sushi Lunch the next day, Wednesday, 27th November. Also next week we have our Twilight Sports Day and we thank the PFA for organising a sausage sizzle for the community. See PFA page for more details.

Early dismissal of all students 1:30pm Camp Australia OHSC Open

Twilight Sports (Students seated 4:15) 4:30-6:30pm

St. Leonard’s Feast Day

November 26th is the feast day of our Parish Patron, St. Leonard of Port Maurice. To celebrate, we will be having a whole-school Mass at 9:15 AM.

St. Leonard was born on the 20th December 1676 at Port Maurice, a seaport near the Italian city of Genoa. Originally intending to enter the medical profession, he joined the Franciscan Order and completed his studies at the Monastery of St. Bonaventure in Rome. He was ordained a priest in 1703.

Following an illness, he began his 40 year career of preaching Missions, Lenten retreats and Parish Missions throughout Italy and Corsica. He became well known and loved through the missions which he preached and he had the gift of winning his way into the most indifferent of hearts.

He was noted for his strong devotion to the Passion of Our Lord through the Stations of the Cross and his missions were centred around this devotion. St. Leonard died on 26th November, 1751 at the Monastery where he had completed his studies and was canonised more than a century later by Pope Pius IX in 1867.

Lord,

St. Leonard of Port Maurice devoted his life to spreading devotion to your Sacred Heart. May we, like him, be filled with your love and mercy.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Twilight Sports 29 November

A reminder to all families that the Twilight Sports will be held at Central Reserve on 29 November. The event will be held on the grass athletics track at Central Reserve between 4:30pm – 6:30pm. The events will start at 4:30pm sharp and should conclude by approximately 6:30pm. All students are expected to be seated by 4:15pm at the latest to ensure we can start on time.

School will finish at 1:30 pm on the day to allow staff adequate time to set up for the event and to enable families to be at the reserve at 4:15pm for a 4:30 pm start. Camp Australia outside hours school care will be available.

Please make sure your child has had lunch and adequate food for them to last until 6:30pm. Parents are welcome to BYO picnic blankets and the PFA are planning a sausage sizzle for parents and toddlers to enjoy during the sports and for students to enjoy after the sports. (Refer to the PFA page.) Please make sure your child has used the bathroom at home and that they are dressed appropriately.

Please make sure your child has a cold water bottle, sun hat and that you have applied sunscreen before leaving home.

Child Safety

Upon arrival the students will need to sit in lines in front of their teacher to be marked off the roll. Again at the end of the competition, the students will be asked to sit in lines in front of their teachers, where the students will be dismissed one at a time, when they have been collected by their parents.

School staff will be responsible for taking the students to the toilets throughout the Twilight Sports.

Parents are reminded to sit on the outside of the track whilst the students are seated on the inside grassy area under the school marquees, provided by funds raised by the PFA.

This year there will be a new format to the sports, with the aim of engaging more students in activity for more time. This will see the students and staff rotating from station to station to complete their events. This is shown by letters A to E on the map. The final parent, toddlers and ex-student races, the final relays and presentations will be held in front of the coloured marquees.

I request that parents remain on the outside and do not cross the track to see their child during the athletics carnival.

St Leonard’s Performing Arts and Choir

Thank you to the PFA for raising money for a digital screen for the Performing Arts room. Students will benefit from watching performances, musicals, musicians and orchestras and we will save on photocopy for song lyrics for choir.

Thank you to Avila College for the great new furniture in our space.

Thank You – Performing Arts Captains, Flynn, Xavier and Izac for all their help to set up the Performing Arts space and all the new equipment.

Year 5 and Year 6 students

It has been very pleasing to see many Year 5 and 6 students choose to perform an item at our Christmas concert. I am looking forward to see their planning and rehearsals come together. There are a variety of items with instrumental pieces, singing, dancing and acting. Students who have chosen not to be involved in the Christmas concert are working on Music stylesthrough the ages, song or script writing.

Concert 2025

Planning has begun for 2025. Next year our whole school concert will be an original story using songs and ideas from Wonka, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Junior and SeniorChoir will run throughout the year. Unfortunately there will be no Wakakirri in 2025.

Upcoming Performances

Choir Performance: Junior & Senior Choir

Performance for elderly residents from “Home Instead” who will visit St Leonard’s

Date: Thursday 5 December

Time: 11.30 – 1.30pm

11.30 – 12.00: Rehearsal

12.00 – 12.30: Choir Sings

12.30 – 1.00: Meet with visitors and give out Christmas cards and gifts Place: Function rooms in the Community Centre

Wear: School uniform with choir vest and hat

(to be handed out at school)

Families welcome

Christmas Concert: Prep – Yr 4,

Junior & Senior Choir, Yr 5 & 6 (optional)

Performance for the school community

Date: Friday 13 December

Time: 11.30 – 1.30pm

Place: Sports hall in the Community Centre

Wear: School uniform with Christmas decorations, t-shirts, head bands, hats

Families welcome

To read more about the wonderful and creative learning in Performing Arts and to see more photos, please read the attatched letter from Cathy Ellis. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Sh07RoRzAAdwxDeiO2pGcHT6ECJE8hzV/view?usp=sharing

Briefly

We thank everyone for making the swimming program so successful. We congratulate the students on their enthusiasm and for challenging themselves to learn new skills. We thank the parent helpers, who walked with us to the pool and we thank all parents for the extra washing of towels and bathers!

Our school closure day on 15th November, focussed on Cross Cultural Education- Aboriginal Spirituality was run by Sherry Balcombe: Olkola/Djabugay. Sherry spoke from her heart and from her extensive experience over many years. Our staff feel more knowledgable about Aboriginal spirituality. We will continue to walk alongside Sherry and the Australian people for a better future.
Nude Food Day: Sierrah and Abby in Year 3/4 have made this wonderful video to promote Nude Food day on Monday. The students will be shown this video in class at some point before Monday. Also the Guardians will be going to speak to every class about Monday. They will provide each class with a poster and a slip of paper for each teacher to use to tally how many children have nude food on the day. Please use these and then send them back up to me. We're hoping that 100% of our students will take part Remember, our aim is to become a completely 'NUDE FOOD SCHOOL' by the end of 2025.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mnTu3EwxXDXhzi3h0yzgUD9YYsjiLjNP/view?usp=drive_link

My best wishes for a wonderful week ahead.

Robert Horwood

Principal