Dear Parents,

I am so glad to be back in the wonderful environment of St. Finbar's School! Please see further down of my recollections of the South Central Principal's Network Conference.

We have a lot to finish off before the end of term with the P & F School Disco next Friday 16th June as well as the Interschool Lightning Premierships for Football, Netball and Soccer for our Year 5 & 6 Students. The last week of Term will see our Mid Year reports go out to families as well as the Mid Year Conferences happening on Tuesday and Thursday. Please note that student dismissal times on these days is still 3:30pm. My sincere thanks to all class teachers and specialist staff for their amazing efforts in producing the Mid Year reports.

Mid-Year Conferences

Our mid-year conferences will be held on Tuesday 20th June and Thursday 22nd June. Please click here for the booking link or use the QR code. We encourage in-person meetings, however, if you do require a video conference, please contact your child's class teacher for the online link. Our Year 3 to 6 students are involved in these conferences and will need to attend with you.

Specialist teachers will be available between 2:30pm and 5pm on Tuesday. Please email these teachers if you would like to book a time to speak with any of them.

Principal's Conference

Over the past 2 weeks I had the privilege to participate in the South Central Principals' Conference in The Northern Territory and then some Long Service Leave where I visited Yirrkala Bilingual School in East Arnhem.

Below is a summary of my experiences:

Kakadu

We began our day with a hands-on learning experience at Pudakul Aboriginal Cultural Tours on Limilngan-Wulna land. We learned about bush tucker and bush medicine, and had conversations around Aboriginal culture, tradition and history. We then journeyed on to Ubirr rock, home to some of the oldest (10,000 years) and best-preserved rock art galleries in the world. Climbing to the top of Ubirr rock and knowing that people had done so for 10,000 years was an incredible feeling. On the way home we visited Cahills Crossing in search of crocodiles (sadly, we did not see any).

Catholic Education Northern Territory

We were fortunate enough to spend some time at the Catholic Education Northern Territory offices, participating in the Cultural Enrichment program they offer. Anyone who wants to work in Catholic schools in the NT must participate in this program and we were lucky to meet with 2 of the staff who run the program for aspiring teachers, school staff, Principals and Priests. They talked to us about Aboriginal culture, history, ways of living, the stolen generation and the formal apology from the Rudd Government in 2008. We also discussed the Voice Referendum and what it means for Aboriginal people, now and in the future. The time we spent at Catholic Education was the anchor point for the entire week and helped us all understand so much more. We are incredibly thankful to the staff for facilitating this program for us, as this is not something that they regularly offer to interstate Principals.

Tiwi Islands

We caught the ferry over to Tiwi Island (which was an experience in itself, it was not at all smooth sailing!) where we were met by our local guide. We spent time with some Tiwi locals while they worked on their weaving and painting, as our guides also demonstrated their Totem dances and performed a smoking ceremony. Our group was taken on a journey through the Aboriginal community of Wurrumiyanga before we visited the Museum, which had beautiful displays of traditional art and depictions of the Tiwi dreamtime stories. A visit to the Tiwi Islands would not be complete without a healthy discussion about AFL! We then stopped off at the Early Mission Precinct, which had the most amazing Tiwi style Catholic Church - the art inside was stunning. We learnt about the history of the early mission days and how the Tiwi people have blended their culture with Christianity, as there is still a strong Catholic culture on the island.

Visiting and sight seeing

Once the conference concluded on the Friday I spent some time visiting the City centre where I had a closer look at Parliament, the High Court and the Diesel Storage tunnels under the city itself. I definitely recommend visiting these sites as the information regarding Darwin and the World War 2 makes for an interesting history lesson. I also got to visit Miss Chow at her new school in Darwin.

Yirrkala School

The final part of my journey was to East Arnhem where I stayed in Nhulunbuy before visiting our friends at Yirrkala School. We have been meeting online with the Year 5 & 6 Students at Yirrkala over the past 12 months and it was really nice to be present with them during their daily activities. I was lucky enough to be with the students as they visited their traditional Fishing Traps down on the beach. Spending the day with these students has been a very special life event for me and one that I will always treasure.

Awesome Readers in Year 1

Well done to Gus, Marco and Ellis for their awesome reading efforts this Term. I really enjoy chatting with the students, sharing their many success throughout the year.

School Google Calendar

Please use the following Google Calendar link HERE to stay up to date with all school events. You'll never miss another school event again!

End of Term 2 Dismissal Time - 1pm

Please note that the end of term dismissal time will now be 1pm. Out of Hours care is available from 1pm in the Hall.

God Bless,

Pat Berlingeri

Principal

Parish Bulletin

Sunday 11th June, 2023