AGGIES ARTICLES - Term 2 Week 7 - Friday 4 June 2021

Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ - Corpus Christi
Mark 14:12-16, 22-26

The festival of Corpus Christi celebrates the Eucharist as the body of Christ. The name 'Corpus Christi' is Latin for 'the body of Christ'.

This feast day commemorates the Eucharist, the meal in which we partake of the Body and Blood of Christ. The Eucharist is at the heart of our Catholic faith and traditionally, holds a special place among the sacraments.

Dear Parents and Carers

Congratulations to all of our students who made the Sacrament of Penance over the past two weeks. Each of the ceremonies allowed the students time to reflect on their choices in life and the opportunity to ask for forgiveness and healing. We appreciate the contribution made by families, staff and students in preparing for this sacrament and are grateful to all of our amazing priests who so kindly supported the candidates in the evenings.

We congratulate: Olivia Abdelnour, Laya Maria Abraham, Lucas Blair, Francis Borja, Oliver Brazel, Alyra Buckley, Christopher Bullock, Savannah Campbell, Javier Carle, Georgie Carlton, Chloe Chilko, Sam Clifton, Kendall Collins, Kane Collins, Jessinia Collins, Harley Cooper, Aaron Dalton, Xavier Dare, Olivia Edwards, Addison English, Benjamin Evans, Maddison Evans, Isabelle Familar, Talani Fuller, Spencer Galafassi-Barnes, Anna Gardiner, Mitchell Hagenbach, Jenson Henderson, Jack Howard, Brady Keane, Nathan Keane, Amelia Konstantas, Olivia Larkan, Charlize Leicht, Ruby Magnus, Abby Moloney, Antonia McEntyre, Julius McNee, Georgie Mulder, Joshua Mullen, Montana Newell, Hunter Noble, Mason Nowak, Dominic O’Brien, Eamon O’Sullivan, Kaiden Ovington, Lotte Paterson, Maya Perry, Chloe Ribot de Bressac, Hayden Ribot de Bressac, James Rohr, Max Schneider, Alraya-Rose Stevenson, Koby Stewart, Darcy Todd, Oliver Walters, Lachlan Walters, Georgia White and Maya Williams.

Year 2 Pizza Shop

This week I had the pleasure of visiting the Year 2 Pizza Shop. It was wonderful to experience the children interacting in their learning. We had milkshakes, pizzas and a soft drink. We had to learn to use our money wisely, our manners and to order and serve each other as part of our speaking and listening activities. What a fun way to learn!

A Drawing Competition with Purpose!

Port Macquarie-Hastings Council is inviting students to draw their big idea for water play at the proposed new aquatic facility! Competition entry forms will be coming home with your child next week and are due back to their classroom teacher by Thursday 17 June. The winner of each age category (4-7yrs; 8-12yrs) will win a swimming prize pack to the value of $100. Terms and conditions are on the entry form. You can have your say too, by completing an online survey at pmhc.nsw.gov.au/aquatic-facility or by attending a community workshop on 10 June. Head to Council’s website to submit your feedback and find out more.

School Reports

Report writing is in its final stages. Staff have been working tirelessly to provide a representation of each child’s Semester One learning. We look forward to sharing these with families in Week 9.

World Environment Day

Tomorrow is World Environment Day. The theme of World Environment Day 2021 is 'Reimagine. Recreate. Restore.' In keeping with this theme, the Year Six Stewardship Team is setting a challenge in recognition of this event. Over the next two weeks students are invited to let their creativity shine through planning and constructing sculptures or artworks using preloved or recycled objects from home. We encourage them to ask for parent permission before using any household items. Feel free to create these works as a family project. The projects will be displayed during the last week of school. We are excited about the finished products. Below are a couple of examples.

As a school community we will also be working on ensuring our own learning and playground areas are as tidy as they can be.

Attendance

Attending school regularly is legally required for all children of school age. If your child is habitually absent they miss important learning as well as opportunities to connect with their peers. Even being 5-10 minutes late regularly adds up to a lot of missed days. Please see the table below for more information. If for any reason you are having difficulty getting your child to school, please contact their class teacher or Kate, Donna or Ginaya for assistance. We wish to work in partnership with you to support regular attendance. Please be aware that if your child is habitually absent we are required to take action to ensure that this does not continue. We thank you for your support in this matter.

Upcoming Sporting Events

Polding Touch Football Stars

Oliver Bryant, Rafferty Gordon, Darcie Gleeson, Eddie Gleeson and Lachlan Walters all attended the Polding Touch Football trials last Friday. To get to this level, they had to be selected to represent their school, then their zone (the Hastings Zone comprises 8 schools from Laurieton to Macksville), then the Diocese of Lismore. It is a very impressive achievement to get this far, and we congratulate all of our trialists. Extra congratulations go to Rafferty Gordon, Lachlan Walters and Darcie Gleeson who have been selected in the Polding Touch Football teams to attend NSWPSSA State Championships later this year.

Golf

Our first golf sessions were a success this week. We thank James Single from Port Macquarie Golf Club for his expertise and time.

Diocese of Lismore Rugby Union Gala Day

The scrum was packed, the opposition had the feed, and St Agnes’ had their defensive line set. The ball came out and went straight to the biggest player on the opposition team, a player who was so big that he had earlier been mistaken for one of the adult coaches. He charged forward at speed, only to be met by Luke Everson, the smallest player on the St Agnes’ team. With extraordinary bravery and commitment, Luke flung himself at his opponent with little self-regard and slowed him down enough for his team mates to bring the player down. This particular act exemplified our day at the Diocesan Rugby Gala Day in Coffs Harbour yesterday. Whether it was Jack McGrath, Hunter Clarke or Tim James with their damaging runs up the middle, or the clever play of Baxter Allison jumping on loose balls and Jamie Lombardo making incisive runs in broken play, each player gave their all. Nathaniel ‘Bruiser’ Nichols tackled everything that moved, and Alex Saunders proved a handful for the opposition defence. Rafferty Gordon and Lachlan Walters were dangerous in attack and committed in defence. Slayde Daley and Cooper Pascoe were invaluable with their versatility; Slayde appeared to be everywhere, and Cooper was seen tackling opponents who dwarfed him. Darcy Middleton showed vision and precision and put his kicking skills on full display. Noah Joyce was incredible in the ruck, putting the opposition under pressure and forcing turnover after turnover. Henry Wooton lead the team from the front and even earned a try for his efforts.

St Agnes’ can be incredibly proud of our rugby team. Half of our team had never played the game before the day and we were facing teams that play together in weekend competitions and were stacked with representative players. This didn’t phase our boys, who got stuck in, and the improvement from game one to game six was impressive. While we didn’t win many games, we were never dominated, and every team we faced had to work hard to overcome our boys.

Perhaps more importantly, we were singled out for some special mentions. One referee made a point of commenting on our sportsmanship and manners. As we were winding down after our fifth and last game, battered, bruised, and tired, we were approached by St Carthages of Lismore. There had been a communications mix up, and the team they were meant to face in their last game had already gone home. Would we be interested in playing one more game? Our boys were unanimous in their response and they filed back onto the field minus a few key players who had succumbed to injury. This act of sportsmanship earned them a special mention at the presentation.

The school would like to thank all the families who arranged to get their children to this event. A huge thank you needs to go to Adrian Lombardo who acted as a touch judge for all of our games and to Shane Joyce for his commitment to coaching the team. Shane showed up to school a few days a week to help whip the boys into shape and we appreciate his time and efforts.

We will enter this event next year. Could we also perhaps see a St Agnes’ team make a return to Friday night Rugby in the U10s and U12s next year? Watch this space….

Athletics Carnival

Our athletics Carnival draws nearer. This is a big event in the school’s sporting calendar and we look forward to welcoming parents to this event. We will release details around Covid-19 Protocols closer to the event.

Discus trials will be held at the MacKillop College oval discus pits on Thursday 17 June at 3:45pm. 1500m trials will be held in weeks 8 and 9 during school lunchtimes.

Notes for all of these events will be sent home soon.

If you are interested in helping out with any of our sporting pursuits, please contact craig.brazel@lism.catholic.edu.au. Parental involvement is a wonderful way to build school and family connections, and we encourage partnerships of this nature. We have a wonderful parent community that has a wealth of expertise that we could use to increase our students participation in physical activities. However, expertise is not a prerequisite for getting involved; an extra set of hands is always useful!

Is your child interested in playing soccer? Port Macquarie Football Club has vacancies in the mixed u7s, u10s, u12 and U14s. Contact can be made via the club's Facebook site or email secretary@portmacquariefc.com

Does your child want to play Rugby Union? All Port Macquarie Junior Rugby Union clubs (Hastings Valley Vikings, Port Pirates and Port Macquarie Hogs) are looking for players in the U10s (children turning 9 and 10 this year) and the U12s (Children turning 11 and 12 this year). This is open to both boys and girls. Games are held at the same time at Stuart Park on a Friday night. Contact craig.brazel@lism.catholic.edu.au if you have any questions.

Do you have a junior sporting team that requires players? Are you part of a sporting club that is looking to increase numbers and promote your organisation? Do you have a child that wants to join a team or play a sport, but don’t know where to start? Do you have an adult team that requires players and want to put the word out to our parent community? If the answer is ‘yes’ to any of these questions, then please send an email to craig.brazel@lism.catholic.edu.au explaining what you require.

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

Congratulations to the following students who have received 100 dojos this week for following our 4 R’s at St Agnes'. 

2M - Jenson Trumper
3O - Grace Jessen, Lara Blackmore, Mahli Forster and Nevaeh Wilson
3TM - Sophie Cook
4NS - Penny Burt and Poppi-May McGarrity
4T - Charlotte Cook, Esther Evenden and Xanthiah Galea
6B - Lionel Carney and Rafferty Gordon
6E - Jordan Casey

Guudi Yiigu,

Yesterday marked the end of the 20th Anniversary of Reconciliation Week in Australia. All the students of St Agnes’ Primary have spent the week reflecting and learning about the significance and history of this week to our First Nations Peoples.

Our Reconciliation Week began with a beautiful Sorry Day Prayer hosted by our wonderful CAPA Team, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island flags were flown and classes were busy creating beautiful window displays to compliment their learning of this important week.

As a whole school activity, the students created a garden of beautifully decorated feet to signify “Steps towards Reconciliation”.

This learning has been a wonderful opportunity for our students to gain a greater understanding of our history as we next will celebrate our unique Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island cultures during NAIDOC Week, held early in Term 3.

Marumbu,

Sharon Hugo

Dear families,

We hope you're having a fabulous week.

Further to the Meeting Minutes from our last P&F Meeting in May, the Monkey Bars in the Primary playground are not currently for the Year 3 and 4 students. The School has made an inquiry about the height as they are unsure why this decision has been made. The company said they are a standard height. Jess measured and they are a little higher. The school has not had any injuries on the equipment. P&F all agreed and are happy for all Year 3 and 4 children to use. We ask that parents notify the office if they have any concerns with your child playing on them.

The shoemaker's elves have been busy at school. So if you need any second hand and or nearly new shoes, come into the uniform shop and help yourself! Also, if you have any that are still in good condition, please feel free to drop off.

#aggieskids #recycle

Don’t forget the Queen's birthday long weekend - Monday 14 June therefore a public holiday.

Leasa Harris and Erin Elliott

0409 467 898

pandfstagnes@gmail.com

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