Where everyone knows your name!

Calendar Dates- What's on.

DECEMBER

7th 2024 Prep Orientation Day - Session 3

11th 2024 Semester 2 Reports issued via PAM

12th Yr 6 Graduation

13th Whole School Orientation 11.30am

13th Yr 5/6 Water Safety Program

14th Yr 6 Big Day Out

15th Last Day of School - 1.00pm Dismissal

PLEASE NOTE: SUPERVISION OF STUDENTS IS BETWEEN 8.40AM TO 3.45PM ON SCHOOL DAYS.

PRAYER

God of hope, who brought love into this world,

be the love that dwells between us.

God of hope, who brought peace into this world,

be the peace that dwells between us.

God of hope, who brought joy into this world,

be the joy that dwells between us.

God of hope, the rock we stand upon,

be the centre, the focus of our lives

always, and particularly this Advent time.

Amen

From the Principal

Dear Families,

The season of Advent has begun. With the focus of hope being the theme for this first week we are reminded to reflect not just on the historical events of this time, but to prepare our hearts to receive Jesus into the world.

During Religious Education, the students are learning that Advent is a time of waiting and preparing as they engage in the texts of the Old Testament. They are learning about the symbolism of God’s presence revealed in story. The season of Advent will be the focus of our final assemblies for the year, as indicated in the timetable below. As always, everyone is invited to our assemblies. I highlight the additional one we have planned for Tuesday which will be presented by the 1/2 class.

Information Sessions

This week’s information sessions were well attended and I thank all who were there for sharing their thoughts and ideas about the school moving forward. I also appreciate the interest in our new Master Plan that was presented. The Master Plan evidences our vision for the future and ensures effective stewardship. As I emphasised during the sessions, our students are at the centre of all that we do. Working in partnership with families in our endeavours to create opportunities for every one of them to thrive and achieve potential underpins our mission.

Teaching and Learning

During the year we have had a strong focus on developing students’ ability to see themselves as learners. The teachers work with students to help them identify their learning needs and set goals accordingly. We have also focused on empowering students by developing a feedback culture that involves teacher to student feedback and student to student feedback. These strategies help our students to become independent, resilient and empowered learners.

School Fees

As the 2023 school year draws to a close I ask that all fees be finalised. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions regarding your school fees.

School Assembly

The schedule for our Advent assemblies follows. Please note that all assemblies commence at 9.00am.

Date	Class
01.12.23	Advent –5/6
08.12.23	Advent – 3/4 Music Performance
14.12.23	Advent – 1/2
15.12.23	Nativity - Prep Final School Assembly

Warm Regards,

Michelle Worcester

Principal

Adam Wallace - Author Incursion

Author Adam Wallace recently visited our school for an Incursion. The children wrote about

the incursion and what they learned from Adam.

Last Friday Adam Wallace, the children's book author, taught us to draw a pig. He also gave us a challenge like drawing with our eyes closed.

-By Matilda

On Friday 17th November we had an incursion with Adam Wallace, the children's book author. Adam was very funny because he did the oowie dance. He also told us that any story can become a book.

-By Francis.

On Friday 17th November we had an incursion with Adam Wallace. He taught us how to draw a pig. He read some of his books to us without looking at the words. He gave us a challenge like holding our pencil with our fist and closing our eyes and drawing in 40 seconds, it was tricky. He taught us that an interesting story can come from anything, it could be just eating your lunch, or playing or any other everyday thing could be turned into a book.

-By Agnes.

On Friday 17th November we had Adam Wallace come and he taught us how to draw a pig. He showed us how to make the ear and the eyes. He was a funny man, he also made challenges for us at the end and we took pictures. The challenges were to draw with your eyes closed and with your left hand. He taught us that stories can come from everyday events.

-By Aria

On Friday 17th November we had an incursion with Adam Wallace, he was very funny. He did the oowie dance and he read us a book and showed us the rhymes with sketching. He gave us a pig and it was a toilet pig and it was funny. He gave us a challenge, he told us that whatever topic you pick you can make it into a story.

-By Christopher

Adam Wallace came to our school to teach us how to write a book. He was hilarious because he did the oowie dance. Everyone could do the oowie dance which was fun. He taught us how to draw a pig. I drew a pig with two horns and a 'fourteen pack'. Adam Wallace read us Dinosaur Party which was whacky and silly.

-By Ricky

Italian Day

Last Friday we celebrated Italian Day! The day was lots of fun with Puppet Making, Bocce and Pizza making and eating and Gelato. Thank you to Senora Bennett for a great day of activities.

Collecting Bread Tags

Thanks to everyone for your wonderful response in collecting bread tags! In the short time we have been collecting we have already amassed a large bag which will be donated to the plastic recycling company, Transmutation. Please keep collecting bread tags and place them in the collection box at the office.

Thank you

Recycling -Medicine Foil Blister Packs

We are also going to start collecting medicine blister packs, (eg. the foil packaging for headache tablets) Unfortunately these blister packs are unable to go in the regular recycling bins and end up in landfill. However, a company called Pharmacycle has created a special way to recycle these products by separating the foil and aluminium. We will have another collection box at the office for medicine blister packs which we will donate to Pharmacycle, please start collecting these too.

Thank you.

Shoeboxes

The Prep and Grade 1/2 classes are collecting shoe boxes with lids for a special Christmas art activity. If you have any shoeboxes that you no longer need, we would love to use them please. Shoeboxes can be left in the Prep or Grade 1/2 classrooms.

Thank you for your help.

PARENTS & FRIENDS

Can you believe it's already week 9 of term 4!!? With only 2 weeks left of the 2023 schoolyear it's time to begin looking ahead and plan for 2024! Part of this forward planning is taking stock of how this year has gone. With this in mind we ask you for a minute of your time to tell how you think P&F is going? We would love feedback from all families. See below for the P&F Survey. For our 2024 families, we ask that you take time to consider what role you’d like to play in the P&F next year. Watch this space for more information about ways to volunteer and support the school in 2024.

Thank you for your continued support of the school and the P&F.

Ashley Mitcham

pandf@stphilipbbn.catholic.edu.au

See below for important P&F notices:

P&F Survey

We'd like to collect some feedback from you all about how P&F is going- what is working well and what needs improvement. We invite all families, including those graduating and moving on, to participate in the survey about how the school’s Parents and Friends Committee (P&F)will function in 2024!Please respond in a manner that suits the needs of your family.

https://forms.gle/PuFxDjy3yBdyp3Eq8

Christmas Raffle

Thank you to Maria Andrews for organising an amazing range of prizes for our annual Christmas raffle! These prizes are on display in the

Father Arnold Hall. Raffle tickets have been sent home via the blue wallets for you to sell to your family and friends (or buy yourself!) Raffle will be drawn at the final assembly.

Cake Raffle

We have 3 Fridays left of term and 3 Cake slots to fill!!! Here is the sign up sheet

volunteersignup.org/4HXEC

Cakes need to be delivered to the school office on Friday morning. Please include your family name and ingredients.

Tuck Shop

Tuckshop is Open Tomorrow 1st December.

Thank you to Nicole and the tuck-shop team for running tuck-shop this year.

Looking to get involved? Please contact:

Clara and Angi will be taking over the tuckshop in 2024 - please reach out to the new team if you’d like to join the tuck shop fun next year!

Clara: 0449 767 020 and Angi: 0431 021 711

Entertainment books are another piece to our fundraising puzzle. When you sign up you receive 12 months of discounts and offers - and our school benefits - 20% of every membership purchased goes to support our school!

https://subscribe.entertainment.com.au/fundraiser/9a27151