LEADERSHIP REPORT - Ginaya Yarnold, Donna Sprague and Kate de Bressac

A Prayer for the First Sunday of Advent

Father, let your hope arise in our hearts! Lift our eyes up to see that you alone are where our hope comes from. Help us to shake off the anxiety, discouragements, and distractions that have filled this year. May we pause to remember that we have hope in you. Give us the grace we need to wrap up this year joyfully.

We invite your Spirit into this beautiful Advent season. Renew our sense of holy anticipation! Let us be those who are waiting eagerly for Jesus to come again.
More than anything, we ask that you be glorified in this season of expectation. Amen

Father Peter Wood left our parish this week on loan to the Catholic Parish in Murwillumbah. Father Peter has been asked to be a caretaker of that parish as Father Anthony Lemon undergoes surgery and recuperation. Father Peter has been a valued member of the St Agnes’ School and Parish communities for the past seven years. He will be remembered within our school community for the masses and sacraments he has shared with us. More importantly his fame has arisen from his renditions of some of his favourite songs at Year 6 Graduation Ceremonies, for his perseverance at making palm crosses with our students in previous years and his valuable insights into a Year 6 Mathematics lesson on Chance and Data, in which he was able to draw on his passion for betting on the horses.

Mrs Alli O'Donnell: Alli joins our team in the leadership role of Leader of Literacy and Numeracy. Alli currently holds the Instructional Leader (Literacy and Numeracy) position at St Joseph's Primary School, Kempsey.

Mr Stephen (Steve) Behan: Stephen comes to us from Pittwater House School in Collaroy, Sydney. Stephen previously held positions in the Broken Bay Diocese at Corpus Christi, St Ives and Sacred Heart, Mona Vale. Stephen is passionate about technology and has previously held coordinator roles in this area.

Mrs Georgina (Georgie) Fuller: Georgie comes to us as a previous Middle School Teacher at Holy Family Catholic School in Northern Idaho, USA. Georgie has also previously taught in Queensland. Georgie relocated to Port Macquarie with her family earlier this year. Her two daughters Andrea (Year 5) and Catie (Year 1) are current students at Aggies.

Mrs Sharni Geary: Sharni comes to us with a large amount of experience in the ASD field as previous Manager of Rockpool (Aspect Port Macquarie). Sharni is currently working as Classroom Teacher at St Peter's Primary School, Port Macquarie. Sharni has accepted the role of ASD Support Teacher for Kindergarten.

Mr Nathanael Spannari: Nathanael is currently employed at St Joseph's Primary School, Port Macquarie. Nathanael has extensive experience (11 years) in the Early Childhood area before moving into the school setting and is a passionate musician (guitar).

Mr Kye Maurer: Kye is currently working for PMPA and Sprockets. Kye will be joining the school as part of an exciting Pilot Project for 2022. Kye will be supporting the children in Dance and Sport opportunities. 

2022 Staffing News - Grade Allocation

We are excited to announce the following 2022 Staffing Appointments:

Kindergarten Team: Sharni Geary, Emma Kelly, Nathanael Spannari, Lucy Welsh, Anne-Marie McWhirter and Rachael Nosworthy.

Year One Team: Emily Brazel, Lisa James, Daniella O’Brien, Larissa Toohey and Di Warren.

Year Two Team: Lindsy Miller, Alli O’Donnell, Kim Post, Kristie Walker and Annie Bligh-Jones.

Year Three Team: Angelique Alchin, Tatiana Bye, Trish Todd, Eloise Toombs and Bruce McConnell.

Year Four Team: Craig Brazel, Cynthia Nosworthy, Holly Sallustio and Simone Tydd.

Year Five Team: Daniel Evans, Georgina Fuller, Jessica Stewart and Chris Farrell.

Year Six Team: Stephen Behan, Kym Condon, Tahlia Watts and Lucy Brown.

Release Teachers: Monique McEntyre, Kiera McMillan and Drew Wilson.

Additional Reading Support: Robyn McCartney, Pam Burns and Colleen McQueen. 

Students in Year 5 are continuing with the Sports Leadership nomination and voting process. Speeches are being filmed at the moment. We look forward to finding out who the leaders for our sports houses will be for 2022 early next week.

Yesterday, staff and students farewelled Miss Ellie Wade as she takes leave to prepare for her Wedding and Honeymoon. We wish her and Josh every blessing and happiness for their upcoming special day. Ellie has been a valued member of our school community and in particular 5W. Mrs Anne Halloran, a very familiar face within our community will be teaching 5W for the remainder of the school year. Anne is a previous staff member and casual teacher and is well know to the children. 

Members of the SRC continued their great work in 2021 by packing the shoe boxes for recipients of Operation Christmas Child. These boxes will be collected next week and shipped to those children who would not experience the joy of receiving gifts without the support of this organisation. Money raised within our school community through Craft for Service was used to purchase items to fill the boxes. We hope the children receiving the gifts are as excited as our Year 6 leaders who packed them.

We are excited to be continuing our Kindergarten transition process tomorrow morning. We are loving the opportunity to get to know our new students for Kinder next year. Our Orientation process continues on Wednesday 1 December, Friday 3 December and the following week, Tuesday 7 December. Being able to spend time with these little people assists in building relationships between staff and students, and will enhance their transition and class placement for 2022.

Outdoor Education Day - Help Please!

• Magazines
• Newspapers
• Natural materials (small rocks, feathers, bark, gumnuts, acorns, leaves, dried grass, etc)
• Biodegradable Plastic bags
• Sticks (long enough for kite making)
• Natural twine

For safety reasons, please do not send sticks in with children, we ask you to please bring them to the front office or gate. We thank you for your support of this exciting day.

In the lead up to the busy holiday season, we remind all families of road safety. The following Safety Town resource has some fantastic interactive activities to support you. Please visit Safety Town.