St Raphael’s Catholic School Term2, Week 4/B Newsletter 11 May 2015
bathurstcatholicyouth.org
Dear Parents Our prayer at this time is for our mothers and for those in motherhood roles – prayers of gratitude, prayers seeking strength and guidance and prayers of support. Yesterday was one opportunity to focus our thoughts, words and actions on these wonderful people who sustain us all. Let’s enable our gratitude run for the next 365 days too.
As Catholics we are called to Be Aware – to pay attention to what is occurring in our midst; to recognise Jesus in every single person we encounter; and to be alert to God’s call in our lives.
Items are being performed at the annual Cowra eisteddfod and I want to acknowledge the dedication, perseverance and teamwork of all those involved. On Friday our 2015 campaign begins with the choir competing.
God of insight and awareness, You know your people’s needs even before we can voice them. Help us to be more like you as we seek to be aware of those around us. Give us your wisdom to see to the heart of a matter.
Our school website has a P&F Association link. Go to it and you’ll find an excellent presentation of school life from your parenting point of view. Twelve months ago the website was established as a result of active collaboration that included parents, students, school leadership team and parish priest. A year on, the website continues to record and promote the works of the P&F Association – list it on your favourites.
We ask this in the name of Jesus, the compassionate one. Amen
Best wishes to primary student leaders on the leadership course at Bathurst. Best wishes to students in Years 3, 5, 7 & 9 for the NAPLAN assessments on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Congratulations to our sporting representatives of last week – they represented at various venues in Rugby League, Rugby Union and Netball. Congratulations to all the class representatives who competed so strongly in the Spelling Bee finals. As a result we have strong school representatives for the Diocesan Spelling Bee at Wellington in week 7. It’s a source of immense pride to see these children of ours participating so well across such a broad range of activities.
Michael Gallagher Principal Term 2 Week 4
P.O. Box 7, Cowra 2794 Tel: 6342.2940
Be More: Aware
Monday 11 Tuesday 12 Happy birthday to Soneita Cotter, Drew Langfield and Madeline Roe. NAPLAN. Wednesday 13 Happy birthday to Breanna Burton. NAPLAN. Thursday 14 Happy birthday to Rebecca Lynch and Henry Sant. NAPLAN. Friday 15 Happy birthday to Luke Britten, Matthew Mallon and Coralea Tapp. Eisteddfod – Central and Secondary Choirs performing. th
Happy birthday to Anthony Liang for the 16 and Cooper Hurst, Jamara Lambshead and Aiden Roberts th for the 17 . Email: straphaels@bth.catholic.edu.au School Website: www.straphaelscowra.catholic.edu.au
Altar Servers’ Roster Sat 16th May: Tom and Elizabeth Heilman, Eppie Emseis. Sun 17th May: Bernadette Zarb, Mikelli Garratt. Gooloogong: Flynn Bennett, Emily Beath-Pearce. School Readers for Weekend Parish Masses: Sun 17th May: Mr M Gallagher. School Eucharistic Ministers for Weekend Parish Masses: Sat 16th May: Miss R Downes. Sun 17th May: Miss L Pratt.
Facilities: Tender process proceeding from mid May to mid June Current building design: on display in the school foyer and website. Evacuation of current classrooms will occur on May 22 and the new room allocation will be in place from Week 6 (May 25). News from the Art Department Our new "chalkboard" mural is in place in the Primary playground. Thank you to Year 8 and Elective art students who assisted with the painting. How wonderful to see the primary students excited about getting 'creative'.
School Computer Roster Sat 16th May: Richard Scott.
St Raphael’s Catholic School: A Professional Learning Community Refocusing our focus At St Raphael’s our school is divided into Professional Learning Teams (PLTs) throughout K-10. We believe we must shift our approach towards the ideas listed below: From A focus on teaching What is taught Teachers in isolation “These are MY students” Decisions made on the basis of individual preference Infrequent end of course assessments Assessments used to reward and punish students
To A focus on learning What is learned Teachers collaborating “These are OUR students” Decisions made collectively by building shared knowledge and best practices Frequent informal, formative assessments Assessments used to inform and motivate students
Stage 6 Expansion Update Personnel: Initial recruitment for Leadership Team positions this term. KLA Coordinators appointments in Term 3. Curriculum: Course Selection Booklet and process are virtually complete. Professional Learning and partnerships continue to flourish among staff. Course selection timeline: June 2: Stage 6 Course Information Meeting, June 19/20: individual family interviews July 20-24: Courses & lines finalised. Resources: 90 x HP Notebooks arrived, now for configuration & rollout in Week 6. Liaison: Proposed uniform display at the Stage 6 Course Information evening Prospectus and pamphlet circulation is about to begin. P.O. Box 7, Cowra 2794 Tel: 6342.2940
RECYCLED ART for COWRA AWARDS Students from St Raphael’s entered the RAFCA awards. Congratulations and well done to all students who entered. We had many winners! The Council is coming to St Raphael's secondary assembly on Tuesday 19 May to hand out the prizes. The following students in Cowra were awarded prizes: st
Preschool Individual 1 : Erin Rutledge st nd Preschool Group 1 : Canowindra Preschool, 2 : CECS, rd 3 : CECS st Primary Individual 1 : Jack Chamberlain, Highly Commended: Kaitlyn Rutledge st Primary Group 1 : CECS st nd High School 7-9 Individual 1 : Oliver Groves; 2 : Kyle rd O’Brien, 3 : Sophie McKillop, Highly Commended: Lucy Jones st High School 10-12 Individual 1 : Max Duff, Highly Commended: Mitchell Beer, Emily Daley st TAFE Individual 1 : Ben Price Best In Show –Oliver Groves People’s Choice Ben Price
Ms Inel Date - Secondary Visual Art Eisteddfod 2015 Choir sections will be held on th Friday 15 of May at the Civic Centre. It will commence at 9.30am. Our students will be performing in the Secondary and Central school sections. Please check with your child if they are involved in these performances. All students will be walking from school to the Civic Centre and returning with the school following their performance. Full winter uniform (jumpers, not jackets) is to be worn for the performances. Thank you, Grazyna Swansborough - Music Teacher Email: straphaels@bth.catholic.edu.au School Website: www.straphaelscowra.catholic.edu.au
Sports Uniform Year 3 and 4 Year 3 and 4 will be wearing sports uniform this Wednesday for Physical Activity. They will still wear sports uniform for normal Sport on Thursday. Under 13s Small Schools Rugby League The under 13's Rugby League team had mixed success on Wednesday in Dubbo at the Small Schools competition coming 3rd out of six teams. Nyngan were unstoppable throughout the day coming first. Our boys played a very strong combined team from Oberon High School and St Joseph's first and went down. It was a quick wakeup call and Coach Thomas quickly identified some opportunities which lead to a strong game against Trangie/Peak Hill and St. Matthew's from Mudgee. Some great performances on the day and a lot of future potential in the team. Well Done boys.
Under 16s Small Schools Rugby League Last Wednesday, the Small Schools Rugby League Day was held in Dubbo. Our Under 16s team was made up from students in Years 8, 9 and 10. A team of 14 was selected to compete in this competition, with a number of players stepping up two age divisions to enable us to field a team. Many schools in the competition were in the same boat here. The day before the match, sickness brought a premature end to one of our star recruits, meaning that the boys would have to do it tough with no reserves. 4 matches awaited us upon arrival; however more dramas followed with one player not fronting on the day without a word as to why! Leaving his team-mates down to 12 on the field made it just a tad more difficult for the boys in green and gold, but they were up for the challenge. I would love to report that the boys came away with hard fought victories, but alas, 4 losses were the end result. That is not to say that they didn't give their all. No siree! Wearing the school colours into battle brings out the best in our players, with the opposition knowing they had been in a battle. Our six Year 10 students lead from the front. Only two of them actually play weekend footy, but the others put in when asked. Mitchell "Peats" Beer was super at hooker, clearing the ball out well from dummy half. Riley "Sandow" Barron was elusive at halfback. Zach "Radradra" Ashton and P.O. Box 7, Cowra 2794 Tel: 6342.2940
Brandon "Morgan" Budden were giving their all on the wings. Our Rugby League mainstays, Tom "Mannah" Statham and Anthony "Lussick" Day worked well together as our bookend props. Four Year 9 students stepped up to take on the bigger boys with Patrick "Gower" Heilman tackling anything that moved, Ben "Wicks" Statham charging the ball up the middle, Joe "Norman" Waters steering the backline from five-eight and Aiden "Robinson" Roberts safe as churches at fullback. Our two Year 8 players were Cameron "Paulo" Trengove and Tom "Hopoate" Thuaux who both chimed in with big performances. No wins on the day, but good mateship was very evident and wanting to step up and support your fellow classmates on the playing field were highlights for this spectator. Well done boys for representing your school with class and distinction.
Outward Bound We had delicious and 'creative' cupcakes from our Outward Bound students- thank you students and parents! A big thanks to all those students who brought in money to support us. Our wood raffle will be drawn at our secondary assembly on 19 May. We have an Outward Bound Year 7-10 social on Thursday 21 May. The theme is "Beauty and the Geek". Tickets are $10-00, time is 6.30 - 9.30. Venue: St Raphael’s Hall. Thank you for your continued support. Ms Inel Date - Outward Bound 2015
Email: straphaels@bth.catholic.edu.au School Website: www.straphaelscowra.catholic.edu.au
Canteen Update This week’s roster is as follows: Tues 12 Nicky Savage
Wed 13 CLOSED
Lisa Day
Thurs 14 Tracey Gunnyon
Fri 15 Cindy Langfield
Mon 18 Jacqui CCusack
Nikki Howden
Liz Cruickshank
Sally Bruncher
Kylie Kollas
Hello Fellow Parents of St Raphael’s, I’m the new president of your Parents & Friends Association. I apologise for not putting more details about what we are doing lately in the newsletter. The committee is predominantly new members and we are all feeling our way. We are a vibrant, hardworking group and we’re keen to get things moving. Our aim is to reconnect with you, the parents, because we represent you and the goals and aspirations you have for the education of your children. You may have noticed that we are promoting the P & F website, as it’s been recently updated with an improved layout, navigation and information. You’ll find the link, “St Raphael’s P & F”, on the right side of the school website, or go to www.straphaelspnf.wordpress.com. I ask that you do one thing. Go to the P & F website and click on “Follow” and enter your email address so you receive an email when we put up new information. You can also add the website address to your “Favourites”. This way you can keep up to date with what’s going on with your school and your parent representative group. You can comment on posts, meet your committee members, check out photos of school events, read the minutes of our meetings and much more. You can also send us information, news, photos and events to post on the website. We admit that the website is a work in progress and we are working hard to get it up to scratch. At night, when you are having your “me” time, grab a quiet drink and keep up to date. We hope you’ll find the website helpful and interesting. Your feedback and suggestions would be much appreciated. We will continue to promote the P & F website so please move your mouse! We are also working on a Facebook page, researching and developing guidelines on how to make it safe, effective and informative. We hope to have a P & F Facebook page up very soon so please be patient.
WELL DONE Congratulations to the following students who have achieved the next level on the Behaviour Management Programme. Level 5 Braith Amos Jyedon Goard Maddison Tremble Ellie Thompson William Harris Marcus Mullins Lily Vardy Madyson Webb Noah Keen Thomas Treasure Isaak Dawes Tristan Anthony Olivia Edwards Level 6 Reece Ryan Emily Reynolds Ellie Garlick Samuel Fraser
3 Green 3 Green 3 Green 3 Gold 5 Gold 5 Gold 5 Gold 5 Gold 6 Gold 7 Gold 7 Green 7 Green 10 Green
Zander De Wet 3 Green Natasha Smaluck 3 Green Charlie Stephenson 3 Gold Morris Brown 5 Gold Jackson McLeish 5 Gold Depp Ryan-Lukasiak 5 Gold Madyson Webb 5 Gold Digby Williams 5 Gold Madeline Roe 6 Gold James Gregory 7 Green Nicholas Budden 7 Gold Jessica McLeish 9 Green Jessie Irvine 10 Green
8 Gold 8 Gold 8 Gold 8 Gold
Brianna Roberts 8 Gold Brandon Mutch 8 Gold Samantha MacCabe 8 Green Haley Amos 8 Gold
Your Teachers are very Proud of You!
Your chance to win a BRAND NEW CAR and support the Cathedral Restoration Appeal The Cathedral Restoration Committee wishes to advise that the draw date for the Art Union No.2 has st been extended to Sunday 21 June 2015, as part of th the 150 Anniversary celebrations of the Catholic Diocese of Bathurst. The draw will take place after 10am Mass at the Cathedral Parish Centre. This means there’s more time to buy your tickets which you can purchase at the Chancery Office, at the Cathedral Gift Shop or online at bathurst.catholic.org.au For more information about the Cathedral Restoration Appeal or the Art Union, please visit Bathurst.catholic.org.au or call 1800 451 760
By the way…we require a secretary to join the P & F team. It’s not necessarily a female role so I implore any gentlemen to put their hand up. It’s a very rewarding and integral part of our committee. I would be forever indebted to a male secretary, so look out because I will be finding you and asking the question. I’m outnumbered! Don’t try and avoid me! Damien Stephenson President presidentstraphspnf@gmail.com
P.O. Box 7, Cowra 2794 Tel: 6342.2940
Email: straphaels@bth.catholic.edu.au School Website: www.straphaelscowra.catholic.edu.au