Focus of the Week:

Week 3 - NAIDOC Week – We Act With Respect Towards Everyone: Last week we celebrate NAIDOC Week in Orange. The theme this year for NAIDOC Week was ‘For Our Elders’. Our cultural and family backgrounds gives us all special qualities which makes us all unique. Last week our focus on "BEING RESPECTFUL." Each of us brings their own gifts and talents and makes our world a better place in which to be a part. Treating people with respect means being aware of how our words and actions affect others, listening and responding to others and valuing other people’s thoughts and opinions. Last Monday our Year 2, Year 5 and School Leaders joined our Indigenous students to be part of the NAIDOC March down Summer Street and into Robertson Park. It was wonderful to see how many people in Orange came along to be part of these celebrations! On Wednesday we were very proud to be part of the NAIROC Eisteddfod, with a group of students, under the clever direction of Mrs Becky Hughes, performing at the Orange Function Centre. Thank you to Mrs Hughes for her time and direction, and to our students who were a credit McAuley. Thank you also to Mrs Bec Rolton for her time and talents in painting the students' faces in preperation for their performance. It was once again an honour to show our respect to our First Nations’ people during NAIDOC week.

Week 4 - We Show Respect to our School Environment.

This week we are revising our focus on looking after our School environment. We need to be more mindful of how we can reduce our rubbish, and how we can recycle the rubbish we do create. Extra packaging in our lunch-boxes contributes both to landfill as well as a mess in our eating areas. Minimising our waste and putting it in the correct bins is a "win - win" for everyone! And keeping our ‘return and earn’ items separate will bring in money that we can spend on our playground equipment!

Melbourne Cup Fund Raiser Trifecta Tickets: Our major fund raiser for the year is our Melbourne Cup Trifecta Tickets. This fundraiser has enabled us in the past to upgrade our play equipment, lay new astro-turf across most of the playground, and provide great resources for classrooms. With the Melbourne Cup only a week away, we still have tickets for our Trifecta Fund Raiser available at the Front Office. Tickets are only $1 each! Sell them to your neighbours, friends and family.

If you get the winning horse numbers in the correct order, you will win first prize valued at $2500! If you have the correct horse numbers, but in a different order, then you have still won $50! If you would like even more chances of winning the $2500 first prize, you can purchase more tickets at the Front Office. The Office ladies are very happy send home extra tickets to help you increase your chances of winning!

Life Education Van: Over the past two weeks we have had the Life Education Van visiting McAuley. This is a wonderful service, with each child in the school having a lesson in the van which relates to their personal health safety. 'Healthy Harold' and our Educator, Maree, lead the students through an age appropriate lesson on keeping their bodies healthy. These lessons are carefully designed to meet the Health Syllabus requirements and compliment what is taught in the classroom. We thank Maree and 'Harold' for their visit and look forward to them returning in 2024.

Pre-Service Teachers: We have been blessed at McAuley this term to have two pre-service teachers working in our Year 3 area. Mrs Renee Collett has been working with Mrs Agresta and Year 3B for the past few weeks, while Miss Paris Donnelly has begun working with Mr Hudson, Mrs Follent and Year 3M this week. We wish them well throughout this practicum and thank them for all they bring to McAuley with their enthusiasm for teaching and learning.

Wishing you a great week!

Robyn Petty

Sports News