AGGIES ARTICLES - Term 4 Week 8 - Friday 26 November 2021

This Sunday is the first Sunday in the Liturgical Year C and the First Sunday of Advent, which helps focus our thoughts on hope, which is particularly relevant for us as the 2021 year draws to a close. The liturgical colour for this season is purple (violet) and we concentrate more on the Gospel of Luke. You will notice that the colours in the church and our school prayer spaces will change from green (Ordinary Time) to purple which signifies preparing our homes hearts and lives to welcome Jesus at Christmas. The colour violet dominates the environment with the rose coloured candle featuring on the third Sunday in Advent to symbolise joy. The Advent wreath draws our attention and forms a centre of our prayer. One candle is lit per week to express our longing for Jesus’ coming.

Dear Parents and Carers

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.

2022 Staffing News - New Appointments

We are excited to welcome a few new people to our the Aggies’ team in 2022.

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!

We are so excited for outdoor education day and are saying many prayers for a break in the weather. We are asking any families who may have any of the items listed below laying around their house and garden to please drop them into the office before Thursday. We are not encouraging anyone to go into bushland to collect anything, it is purely if you have anything in your own yard or a family member’s yard. The following items would assist us:

• 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.

Assembly Awards

Congratulations to the following students who received an award at today's assembly:

KE - Jaxson Field and Lachlan Cullen
KJ - Rocky Walker and Nicholas Bushe
KW - Scarlett Evans and Maddilyn Elliott
1B - Mila Marsh and Mia Brazel
1O - Norah McIntosh and Ciaran Ducat
1TB - Jake Collins and Sam Brooks
2JW - Rose Rockstroh and Thomas Everson
2M - Konnor Bender and Tabitha Brooke
2W - Macy Cooper and Braxton Henson
3P - Elloise Gleeson and Max Browning
4NS - Beau Graham and Maddison Evans
4T - Max Seckold and Chloe Chilko
5M - Lucas Blair and Jamie Lombardo
5W - Baxter Allison and Emily Cook
6B - Arliah Morris and Luke Stevens
6E - Jayla Nixon and Sheyleace Stevens
6W - Eddie Gleeson and Tallulah Jones

Centred In Christ and With Love For One Another, St Agnes’ Learners are:

PBS Focus

This week we have continued with our focus on following the 4R's and being responsible at lunch times.

Next week will be an exciting week as we celebrate our students who have received 400 Dojos with a pizza lunch. We have over 158 students which is amazing.

House Cup Winner

This week's House Cup winner is: FLINDERS

600 Dojo Awards:

Congratulations to the following students who have received 600 dojos this week for following our 4R’s at St Agnes'. 

1B - Aria Schneider, Ashton Moon and Skylah Neale
2M - Jada Ustariz
2W - Elise Galbraith-Robertson

500 Dojo Awards:

Congratulations to the following students who have received 500 dojos this week for following our 4R’s at St Agnes'. 

KE - Banjo Timewell and Lukas Martin
KJ - Nicholas Bushe and Savannah Ralph
KW - Arham Anwaar
1B - Mila Marsh
1O - Dominic Ritchie and Hunter Favaloro
2JW - Emily Krizanec
2M - Cody Newell and Kallan Ford
5C - Aaron Cotovich

400 Dojo Awards:

Congratulations to the following students who have received 400 dojos this week for following our 4R’s at St Agnes'. 

KE - Ally Sines, Casey Campbell and Dotti Kemp
KJ - Arlow Fuller, Charlotte Mullen, Kade Wilson, Mia Cochrane, Sharni Dunn and Stella Sprague
KW - Gaurika Bhandari, Jett Lindsay and Saxon Keep
1O - Ciaran Ducat
1TB - Amelia Sales, Bella Richards, Georgia Baker, Hudson Mynott, Kalari Donovan, Liam O'Reilly, Miles Gardiner and Thomas Buckley
2JW - Grace Lombardo, Sunday Allison and Thomas Everson
2M - Konnor Bender and Michael Thompson
2W - Enzo Waind, Kitt Quirk, Noah English and Sienna Taylor
3P - Arthur Hough, Henry Fryer, Max Browning, Nathan Cavallaro and Nevaeh Tiller
3TM - Benjamin O'Brien and Ethan Favaloro
4NS - Maddison Evans
5W - Adam Johnson

300 Dojo Awards:

Congratulations to the following students who have received 300 dojos this week for following our 4R’s at St Agnes'. 

1TB - Rachael Dunn
2JW - Harrison Joyce and Jai Davis
2M - Charlotte Hartmann, Lilyana Packer, Maxwell Sprague, Reagan Clark and Tabitha Brooke
2W - Chase McIntosh, Chase Owen, Dean Cunningham and Oliver Wainwright
3O - Ethan Burdoe and Flynn Wehlow
3TM - Lucas Constantine
4A - Brady Keane
5M - Lucas Blair and Tilly Watson
6B - Jesse Gluyas, Makara Brown-Rafter and Rafferty Gordon
6W - Corbin Robinson and Leah Hanson

200 Dojo Awards:

Congratulations to the following students who have received 200 dojos this week for following our 4R’s at St Agnes'. 

4T - Henry Edenborough and Sam Clifton
5W - Andrea Fuller
6E - Ava Fryer, Dawson Taylor, Ellie Nunn and Jordan Casey

100 Dojo Awards:

This week at Aggies:

Premier's Reading Challenge

This week students who have completed the Challenge received their certificates in class. The Challenge aimed to encourage a love of reading for leisure and pleasure in students, and to enable them to experience quality literature. It is not a competition but a challenge to each student to read, to read more and to read more widely. The Premier's Reading Challenge (PRC) is open to all NSW students in Kindergarten to Year 9, in Government, Independent, Catholic and Home Schools. If you missed out this year, we encourage your child to become involved next year.

Students who have been involved in the Challenge for a number of years might be awaiting a silver, gold or platinum award. We have been assured these are in the post and on their way!

Drama News

In Drama this term the students have been working on Players Theatre scripts. They have all had the chance to rehearse and perform their scripts to their peers. It has been a very entertaining process and the students have enjoyed giving and receiving feedback on their performances.

Mrs Clifton and Mrs Lipscombe

Indigenous Activities

Art with Mrs McMillan

Library News

Many thanks from Year 4 for your assistance in finding their Lost Things. Congratulations especially to the Year 2 students who found twice as many Lost Things as the other grades combined!

Reminder: the Library will be closed in Week 9 in preparation for the Week 10 Book Giveaway. There will be tubs at the door of the Library for any early returns. All books should be returned to the Library by the end of Week 10.

Book Club

Book Club brochure #8 went home this week. If you wish to place an order, this needs to be returned to school or completed ONLINE by Wednesday 1 December.

Swimming Carnival

We would like to thank those parents that have provided feedback around the new format of our swimming carnival. We are carefully considering all of this as we continue to plan the big day.

We decided to pursue a more inclusive carnival this year for several reasons. Firstly, our data has shown us that in recent years, less than half of eligible students participate in the competitive events which take up the majority of the day. Time in the pool for non-competitive swimmers has always been allocated, but this is minimal. We also felt that some of the longer and more technical events did not have a high participation rate, and races with only two or three competitors were not uncommon.

Results from this carnival do not affect representative pathways. Another event will be held in early February for swimmers who would like to trial for our zone team. All traditional races will be included in this event. We hold this event early in the new year to give all of our serious swimmers a whole summer to prepare. This is especially important for our swimmers who are turning 8 in 2022 and can qualify for our zone team.

The last two years have been challenging for our students. Excursions, camps, and many sporting events have been taken away from them during the pandemic. They have had to endure disappointment after disappointment. The 2021 swimming carnival provides us with a unique opportunity to come together as a school to celebrate all the things that make St Agnes’ great. We want all of our students to enjoy themselves and to finish this challenging time on a high.

Whatever format our carnival takes this year, we will again seek out feedback from parents, staff, and most importantly students and this will influence the direction our future carnivals take. Please forward all feedback to craig.brazel@lism.catholic.edu.au

Zone Swimming Trials and Zone Swimming Carnival

Our 2022 sporting calendar has begun to fill up, and we will be diving into the action with our trials for our school swimming team being held at Wauchope Pool on Friday 11 February 2022. This event is for all students aged 8 and over who would like to represent St Agnes’ in the Hastings Zone Carnival. We will have a very short turn around for this next year, with the Zone Carnival being held on Tuesday 15 February at Macksville. Transport to both of these events will be by bus and will be organised by the school. We will send notes for this event home shortly.

Summer Sports Trials

Children who have put their name down for Tennis and Basketball will be receiving a communication shortly about their trials which will now be held in Lismore,  Tuesday 8 February 2022. We will also be asking students form Years 4 and 5 to express interest in trialling for Touch Football, Cricket, and Softball. A decision about when these trials will be held has still not been made at zone level.

House Leaders 2022

It has been wonderful to watch those Year 5 students who have nominated themselves for house leaders prepare this week. It is a very strong field and we know that whoever is elected will do a great job. We wish them all the best of luck!

Dear Families,

Thank you to the parents that joined us for our P&F Meeting on Monday 15 November. Please find our minutes below.

November 2021 P&F Agenda

November 2021 P&F Agenda 1.07 MB

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Leasa Harris and Erin Elliott

0409 467 898

pandfstagnes@gmail.com

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