Dear Parents, Staff and Students

We look forward to our swimming carnival this Friday. With the weather getting hotter please ensure all students bring water bottles and sunscreen with them on Friday. Sunscreen should also be applied before leaving home.  Thank you to all parents assisting on Friday with carnival jobs or in the tuckshop. Your assistance allows our day to run smoothly so that our students have a wonderful carnival. I would also like to acknowledge in advance the planning and preparation of our upcoming carnival by Cherie Jenkins. Thank you Cherie for your dedication and skills in always preparing our sporting events to such a high standard!

2020 Booklists

These will be sent home with students this week. We will also make them available on our school website during the school holidays.

2020 School Captain and House Captain positions

This Thursday we will be having speeches and voting for the School Captain and House Captain positions for 2020.  School Captain speeches will commence at 11:45am in the hall and voting will be completed by students in Yrs 3-6 after that.  We will then regather in Cooby and Woomera teams at 2pm to hear speeches from potential House Captains. Students will then vote within their own house team.  Parents are welcome to come along to listen to speeches and support the Yr 5 students. 

Final Assembly and Awards - Dec 4

Next Wednesday December 4th we will be holding our Awards Assembly at 9am where we will recognise the contribution of students who have served in special roles for our school and the Catholic community.  Thank you to our sponsors for our end of year awards. Your support is much appreciated!

The following will be announced at our Awards Assembly:

• 2019 School Captains and House Captains
• St Clare’s Spirit Award
• St Clare’s Academic Achievement Award
• St Clare’s Outstanding Sports Award
• St Clare’s Outstanding Progress Award
• St Clare’s Character Award (Prep – Year 5)
• 2018 House Cup

We will also formally farewell staff who will be leaving us at the end of the school year.

Parents and families are most welcome to join us for our final assembly for 2019.

Thank you Morning Tea - Dec 4

After our final assembly next Wednesday Dec 4, we will be hosting a thank you morning tea for all parents and volunteers. This will be held outside the tuckshop area.  This is open to all parents and volunteers and we hope that many of you are able to join us.

Christmas Concert and End of Year BBQ - Dec 4

Next Wednesday night, Dec 4, at 6pm we will gather for our End of Year BBQ and children will perform our Christmas concert. Thanks to the teachers, Mrs Marsilio and Mrs Kennedy for their preparation and coordination for the event.  We anticipate it being a joyous occasion, full of colour, energy and song – a terrific way to get in the season of Advent, the four weeks leading up to Christmas. We appreciate parents/carers making time to join us in celebrating our school year and gathering in community together.

Semester Two Report Cards

On Thursday Dec 5 all students’ report cards reflecting their second semester work will be available on the Parent Portal by 4pm.  I trust this is an accurate appraisal of your children’s work and I thank the teachers for their commitment in preparing the reports. Now is the time to check your access to the parent portal. If you need assistance please contact Chris Edwards via cedwards@cns.catholic.edu.au to organise a time to meet. Links can be found on both our school website and through the Skoolbag app. It is always suggested that you save your children’s reports in your personal files for future use.

Waterslide Day Thursday - Dec 5

Students are reminded to pack swimmers, sun-shirt, sunscreen and towel next Thursday for the Inflatable Water-slide proudly provided by the P&F to reward our students with some fun for all their great work throughout the school year!  Remember NO jewellery and zips allowed on the water slide. Classes will be rostered to use the slide throughout the day. Please contact your class teacher with any concerns.

The school year has almost come to a close and we have much for which to be thankful. On behalf of the staff I wish to thank all the parents for your support throughout 2019, especially those who have been involved in school and class activities. Enjoy your special family gatherings over the holiday period.

Staffing Update

May God’s grace be with you and yours during the holiday period.

Narelle Harney

Welcome   Community   Hospitality

The Vinnies Christmas Hampers Appeal for 2019 was launched on assembly last Friday by Bob McIlroy and Fr. Hilary. The contents of these hampers will help families who are experiencing hardship in this coming Christmas season.

Each class was presented with a Christmas decorated box which students are asked to fill with a gift of non-perishable goods. The hampers will be presented to a representative from the St. Vincent de Paul Society at our Thanksgiving Mass on Friday, 6^th December.

This appeal offers our school community an opportunity to help support families in our local community celebrate the festive season.

Some ideas for non-perishable goods are shown below:

Important: Please ensure all goods are within use-by dates:

Prep: Tinned/packet soup, puddings, cake or pancake mix, custards.

Year 1: Tinned fruits/meals including spaghetti, baked beans etc.

Year 2: Breakfast cereals, pasta, grains (e.g. rice, cous cous, spaghetti etc)

Year 3: Biscuits (sweet or savoury), muesli bars, fruit mince pies.

Year 4: Lollies, candy canes, Christmas Cake, Christmas puddings, bon bons.

Year 5: Tinned vegetables (e.g. corn, peas, carrots, 3 bean mix, beetroot).

Year 6: Drinks (e.g. soft drinks, juice, tea, coffee, long-life milk, cordial).

Children may bring these items to their classroom and place them in their hamper any time from now until  Thursday, 5^th December.

We thank you for your very generous support of all fundraising events conducted throughout 2019.

Morning Tea of Thanks

We will be hosting a morning tea on Wednesday, 4^th December following the Awards Presentation to thank all parent, grandparent and other volunteers who have assisted our school community in any way throughout the year. The staff at St Clare’s look forward to showing our appreciation by sharing the many happy memories created throughout 2019 over a cuppa. Invitations will be sent out this week.

Altar Servers for 2020

We thank the dedicated Altar Servers who have continued to help Fr Hilary serve during the Masses throughout this year.  We would like to invite you to continue your role next year. We are very much in need of additional volunteers who have made their sacraments and who would like to become Altar Servers. A note was given out to existing and interested Altar Servers last week. Thank you to those who have returned them. A roster will be put together early in 2020.

 Farewell to our 2019 Year 6 Class

Next Monday 2^nd December at 5:30pm, the Year 6 class will be farewelled at their Liturgy to be held in St Clare’s Church, which will be followed by their dinner. May the Grace of God be with them all as they continue on their learning journey to High School.

Yr 5 Leadership Retreat

The Yr 5 leadership retreat day last Thursday, Nov 21^st was a day held to assist students with their understanding of student leadership in Yr 6.  

All students in Yr 6 in 2020 will be a Student Leader and demands of representation, welcoming visitors, functions, mass/liturgies etc will be shared amongst all students during the year.  This will be a much more inclusive model and allow all students to be leaders for St Clare’s School.

As the end of this school year draws near, we thank you all for your support throughout 2019 and pray that each member of our school and parish community has the strength to face the challenges in our daily lives with a heart of love and peace.

We are most grateful for your presence within our community.  We wish you a very Holy Christmas and Happy New Year.  May our Blessed Mother Mary, the Mother of Jesus, watch over you and your loved ones this sacred season. 

In closing, I leave you with an Irish Christmas Blessing…

 

Lady Love, whose maternal affection for us is revealed in Mary the Mother of Jesus, bring us with the shepherds to Bethlehem so that we can see in the image of the Madonna and Child, the passionate gentleness of your affection for us and in that image gain strength and hope for all our lives.  We ask this in the name of the Baby born at Bethlehem and his mother.  Amen.

 

May the Grace of God be with you,

Kath Kennedy

St. Clare’s School Swimming Carnival

We are very excited to be hosting out swimming carnival this Friday.  The program for our swimming carnival is attached to this newsletter.  Please note that times are approximate as it is very difficult to put a definitive time-line in place in a school carnival setting.

Children are required to arrive at school in the morning dressed in their swimmers, with their sport uniform over the top.  The rolls will be marked at school and then the children will make their way over to the pool.  Children are not required to wear their sun-shirt while competing, but are required to put it, or their team shirt back on immediately after their race.  Hats and sunscreen will be necessary.

We are very appreciative to the Tully Swim Club for allowing us to use their kitchen and other facilities and a special thanks goes to Leona Bradley for her assistance in running the ‘Meet Manager’ software which allows us to run a smooth well-organised event.

Please remember that tuckshop needs to be pre-ordered.  Children born in 2013 and 2014 will return to school before the lunch break so their orders will be transported back (best not to order frozen snacks).

We really appreciate parent help throughout the day!  If you can assist in the tuckshop please email mvipiana@cns.catholic.edu.au or if you can assist by time-keeping please email cjenkins@cns.catholic.edu.au

The parent relay is always a fun novelty event, enjoyed by parents and students alike.  Remember to pack your swimmers if you are keen for a lap!

Looking forward to a fabulous day!

2019 Sport Wrap-up

Our students have enjoyed a great year of sporting experiences in 2019.   In addition to our regular PE program, we have enjoyed and benefitted from morning running for fitness, specialist coaching for rugby league, netball, tennis and swimming and training for upcoming carnivals.

We have represented our school with pride and displayed great sportsmanship and spirit while enjoying a great deal of success and we congratulate our students for always putting forward their best effort.  Most importantly, our students have gained an understanding of sport and skills that they carry with them wherever they may go to join groups and stay healthy.

We thank our amazingly supportive parent body.  We are so fortunate to have such an excellent group of families willing to provide assistance by transporting, coaching and managing teams, working in tuckshops and being involved at all of our sporting events.

2020 Cassowary Coast Sport Calendar

This week the Cassowary Coast Sport Committee will meet to create a draft calendar for the sporting events of 2020.  If you have children interested in representative sport in 2020 please email cjenkins@cns.catholic.edu.au next week.

School Calendar

SEL Awards Term 4 Week 6

Back row: Makayla Kleinhans, Dean Giardina, Riley Emmi, Layla Jenkins, Brooke Dimmock;

Front row: Patrick Clifford, Johnas Briggs, William Robertson, Aiden Morris, Indiana Grimaz, Nollie Uitenweerde, Pheobe Hansen-Polzin, Noah La Fauci.

 

SEL Awards Term 4 Week 7

Back row: Jessica Briggs, Mia Uitenweerde (on behalf of Year 6 class), Seth Borgna, George McAvoy, Jayden Lloyd

Front Row: Oliver Barra, Maisy Chappel, Madeleine Devereaux, Blair Hodgson, Harnoor Kaur, Declan Lizzio, Jonah Wilcox

OUTSTANDING SCHOOL FEES - Important!

Thank you to all families who have made their payment or are paying by direct debit or bpay. Please continue with payments over the holidays so your school fee balance will be paid by the start of next year. Any continue payments you make will credit your account ready for 2020 term 1 school fees. 

NON STATE SCHOOL TRANSPORT ASSISTANCE SCHEME

2020 Bus forms were sent out last week to those families who use the bus transport for their child/ren. The two forms were due yesterday. Please make sure you return these forms to the office as soon as possible. 

HEALTH CARE CARD - Discount Scheme

Reminder - For 2019 families a letter was given to your eldest child last week regarding HCC. 

All families (existing or new) applying for the HCC Discount must complete a new form for 2020 and present their current valid Health Care Care or Pension Card which needs to be sighted and copied for our 2020 records. Families are asked to come into the school office to complete the form and present their card as soon as possible.

Families who are waiting for a renewal card are responsible to bring their new card to the school office on the first day of term 1 2020. A new form can be completed now but will not be completed for the discount until the new card is given to the school office. 

IMPORTANT: Once the Fees are generated, unfortunately we are unable to process any claims for the respective term.

BOOKLISTS 2020

Booklists will be given to all students tomorrow. Please check with your child. For all prep children starting in 2020 a letter and their booklist was emailed yesterday.

LOST PROPERTY BASKET

If your child is missing any lost property please come and check the red bin outside of the staff room. Any items left in this bin will be taken to St Vinnies. 

Reminder for Uniforms

If you have any school uniforms that you may like to pass onto the school, please drop off to the office end of next week. Thank you

New School Phone Number

St Clare’s phone number is now 07 40659550. 

SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR

A Huge THANKYOU to all parents and children who supported our School bookfair a fortnight ago.  The school was the recipient of $1006.00 of free books from the fair. Reorders are due to come in this week.

Many thanks to the following families, Calleja, Condon, Dore, Giardina, Grimaz, Langdon, Slattery, Quabba and Vipiana families who generously donated books to the library. These have been most welcome additions to our library shelves.

I would also like to thank staff and Year 6 students for their help during the fair, which is greatly appreciated.

Winners of free books from the book fair were Brydie O’Kane and Liam Quabba.

ALL LIBRARY BOOKS to be returned by this week

TUCKSHOP ROSTER - Term 4  

Friday 29/11/19 - Swimming Carnival

Friday 6/12/19 - Last day of school - No Tuckshop

SWIMMING CARNIVAL TUCKSHOP

A REMINDER THAT THE SWIMMING CARNIVAL IS ON THIS FRIDAY SO TUCKSHOP WILL BE RUN FROM THE POOL KITCHEN.

The menu for the day is attached, all orders are to be in on Thursday as normal and parent orders are welcome.

Thank you to those who have volunteered to help. If you can pop into the pool kitchen to lend a hand that would be great. Please bring baked goodies to the pool kitchen as no  one will be at the school tuckshop.

THANK YOU

Thank You to everyone who has generously given up time to help this year in the Tuckshop whether it be baking, volunteering or helping out on Sports Days. Without your help we would not be able to run the tuckshop so smoothly.

To those families leaving the school this year, we say a HUGE THANK YOU for all your help and time that you have given over the many years. As families leave the school, we hope that we have some new families that can step up and help out to keep our tuckshop running in our school for our children.

At the beginning of next year a note will go home asking for help. If you can help out again or are a new mum wanting to help, please let me know then or beforehand.

Thank you again and have a safe and Happy Christmas.

Marie Vipiana

YEAR 6 CLASS

FAMILIES LEAVING 

We farewell the following families (as school parents) and wish them all the best in the future.

Crema, Giardina, Haines, Liddle, Maifredi, Mann, Richtsfeld, Smith, Wilkinson, Zonta and Kaur M.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT OVER THE PAST YEARS.

SCHOOL will resume on Tuesday, 28th January and office will be reopen Monday, 13th January.

SCHOOL TIMES -  2020  School hours Prep—Yr 6 

Warning Bell   8.40am     
Start of Class  8.45am     

LUNCH BREAKS
Our lunch hours are as follows:

Lunch  –    11:00am – 11:40am
Afternoon tea  –    1:40pm – 2:00pm

School Finishes  3pm 

SCHOOL OFFICE HOURS        8.15am - 3.20pm