Term 4, Week 4 Newsletter - Monday 31 October 2022

Principal's Report

Dear Parents and Carers

What an amazing week last week for our students! The Lion King has provided life long memories for our students, and throughout rehearsals, many students have grown in confidence and new friendships. The community are buzzing with positive feedback and resounding joy from seeing our talented students on stage. 

Thank you to each staff member and parent for supporting our production. Your efforts were mirrored in the total enthusiasm, dedication and enjoyment from all cast members. 

The Chapel renovations which have been delayed, are finally almost ready to commence. Due to the heritage listing of the building, the hurdles during planning are time consuming. The Chapel should have a grand re-opening early next year. 

The front fence will have security locks on them in the coming weeks. This will ensure that our students are always safe within school grounds. There will be an intercom placed at the front of the school for visitor entry. 

All primary classrooms will have blinds put in today. The blinds will be placed inside classrooms facing the corridor and will assist students to take adequate precautions in the event of a lockdown.  A whole school lockdown drill was conducted this afternoon, and we congratulate all students for their behaviour and for the calm way they followed their teachers instructions.

Staff professional learning last Monday evening with educational expert Michael McDowell, provided the final steps towards our staff learning journey. All K-12 staff will continue working together in 2023 to embed teacher clarity strategies and explore inquiry learning strategies across subjects. As I have communicated in previous newsletters, the strategies are high yield and equate to more than one years growth in learning. Therefore the learning journey staff are undertaking will ensure our students have consistency, common practice and continuity across their learning journey. 

The Police Liaison Officer had great discussions with our Year 6 and junior secondary students last week. It was great for students to have clarity regarding social media and the responsibility they have for their actions, as well as associated actions should the law become involved. It would be great for parents to continue the conversation at home. 

I would like to congratulate Miss Gabrielle Bischof for her appointment as REC for 2023 and Mrs Nicole Twohill-Scott for her appointment as Assistant REC. Both ladies are hoping to have an energetic year working with our new Parish Priest in 2023. 

God Bless

Michelle Deschamps - Principal

Faith & Life

The Angelus

As a school we are pausing or interrupting our day to pray the Angelus, both students and staff.

What is the Angelus?

This ancient Marian devotion is traditionally recited together by Catholics all over the world – at 6am, at noon, and at 6pm and is accompanied by the ringing of the Angelus bell. The name comes from the Latin word for Angel and the prayer itself reminds us of how Jesus assumed our human nature through the Mystery of the Incarnation.

This prayer commemorates the Resurrection of Jesus.

Origins

The Angelus is generally thought to have began some 700 years ago when monks would pray three Hail Marys during the evening bell. Short, introductory phrases from the Bible which were associated with the Hail Mary were gradually added, and these form the Angelus prayer that we know today.

Altar Servers at St Raphael's Parish

Saturday 5 November - Ryan Clarke & Jacob Wydmuch

Sunday 6 November - Oscar McGill & Leuwin McGill

Saturday 12 November - Ben Pearce & Anna Pearce

Sunday 13 November - Wiliam Allan & Kaiden Bischof

What's On This Week

Lion King Jnr Musical

WOW!!!! The Lion King Jr Musical was a huge success!!! Four sold-out shows and the whole town is talking about how wonderful it was. Incredible cast, amazing dancers, awesome Indigenous dancers, sensational Drumming Ensemble and great singing by our Kindergarten to Year 6 students!!! A huge thank you to all the Staff, students and parents who helped over the last few months to make the show the incredible success it was. The performance would not have been possible without everyone's support and hard work. Everyone involved should be very proud of the amazing performances, they were simply incredible.

A special thank you to Mr Embroidery and the St Raphael's P & F for the awesome Lion King Jr T-Shirts. Thank you to Jonathan and his team at the Cowra Civic Centre for their amazing venue and incredible assistance with our production!!!! Thank you to Kristy White for your amazing photos. Also thank you to Louis Carson for your work during the performances.

The Lion King Jr Production enabled our entire St Raphael's School community to come together and present incredible performances.Congratulations and thank you to absolutely everyone involved, we appreciate your support.

Musical Team

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Administration

Pupil Free Days

As part of our staff professional learning program for 2022, two pupil free days have been scheduled for Term 4;

• Wednesday 16^th November
• Friday 16^th December

Wednesday’s learning focuses on relationships and connection to faith.  We will explore the school's charisms, history and how this is used to build relationships and connections to faith with ourselves and students.  We will also be exploring Aboriginal spirituality.

Friday’s learning will consist of two sessions with the upskilling of staff in CPR and basic first aid. We will also be looking at using the learnings from our inquiring learning focus and plan to further develop strategies to implement into our classrooms which increase teacher clarity and learning clarity.

As a result, there will be no classes or supervision of students on Wednesday 15th November and Friday 16th December.

The last day for students for 2022 will be Thursday 15th December.

Please do not hesitate to contact the school if you have any questions in relation to this matter.

2023 Term 1 Start Dates

The following Term 1 start dates have been confirmed for 2023:

• Friday 27 January - PUPIL FREE DAY
• Monday 30 January - Years 1-6, 7 & 11 Students and Year 12 Leaders return
• Tuesday 31 January - Kindergarten Students start and Years 8, 9, 10 & 12 Students return 

Canteen

Please find attached our Summer Canteen Menu for Term 4. Please note that toasted sandwiches and wraps are not available on the summer menu - all sandwiches and wraps come fresh.  Parents are also reminded that chicken dino's (nuggets) are no longer available at the school canteen. (A gluten free option is provided only for those students with known wheat allergies). 

Curriculum News

Mimmi Birrang

Miimi Birrang, our girls cultural engagement program for years 7-10, will continue this term with Mrs Kiri Hubber and Beatrice Murray. Sessions will be from lunch through to and including period 5 on Thursdays in an A week and Fridays in a B week. 

Cows Create Careers

Last month marked the end of the Cows Create Careers program for the Stage 5 Agriculture class. This was marked with a Zoom activity day with other schools across NSW and one school in South Australia, and pizza lunch. Our students came second in the design a milk carton competition and the song and dance competition. 

Sport Spot

K-6 Swim Safe 2022

All Infants and Primary families are reminded to please complete the K-6 Swimsafe event questions and consent by logging into Compass.  Consent is required by this Thursday 3 November.

St Raphael’s primary students in Kindergarten to Year 6 will be participating in our annual Swim Safe Program this term. The swimming lessons will start on Monday 28 November (Week 8) and conclude Friday 9 December (Week 9). Swimming is part of the national curriculum therefore your child’s attendance is compulsory, unless it prevents him/her from swimming. Competent Stage three swimmers will be participating in a Royal Life Saving skills program. 

Start Date: Monday 28 November, 2022

End Date: Friday 9 December, 2022

Cost: $20 per child ($2 per day) OR free if you have a current season ticket from Cowra Aquatic Centre. Please provide your child/children’s season ticket number at the time of giving Compass consent.  Families that don't have a season pass will be contacted via Compass next week for online payment.

Uniform: Sunsafe Swimwear, rash shirt, school hat

Transportation: Students in Years 3-6 will walk to and from the pool. Students in K-2 will be transported via bus.

Swim Safe Essentials: Labelled swimmers, labelled towel, labelled sunscreen, labelled rash top or t-shirt, labelled goggles and/or ear plugs (if required), labelled school hat, plastic bag for wet swimming attire, labelled dry shirt/jumper to wear back to school. Please have socks and underwear labelled as well.

Summer Sport Trials 

Nick Green (Cricket), Finn Sheehy (Touch Football), Angus Anning (Tennis), David Kang (Tennis) and Tom Stephenson(Tennis) represented St Raphael’s at the Primary Diocesan Summer Sport Trials in Dubbo this year. A lot of green and gold pride was on display as they gave it their all. We are extremely proud of their efforts. 

David and Finn were selected to attend the Polding trials!!! We look forward to reporting their efforts representing the Bathurst Diocese. 

Secondary Schools Netball 

After many cancellations Netball NSW selected the St Raphael’s Stage 4 girls Netball team to attend the State Final at Netball Central in Sydney this Wednesday. Mr Phelan and the girls will leave on the school bus Tuesday afternoon so they are ready for their games to start early Wednesday morning. Good luck girls! 

Upcoming Events 

Todd Woodbridge Cup State Final - November 14

Stage 3 Tennis Competition - November 18

NSWCCC Girls Cricket Selections - Monday 21 - Tuesday 22 November 

Yr 4, 5 and 6 AFL Development - December 14

Positive Learning Behaviour - Primary

Congratulations to our primary students who have achieved the next level on our  Behaviour Management Program. 

Level 7

Lexie Kennedy - 3 Green

William Buik - 3 Green

Ruban Fitzsimmons - 3 Green

Cooper Allard - 5 Gold

Angus Anning - 5 Gold

Harry Frazer - 5 Gold

Kaiden Bischof - 5 Green

Braith Charnock - 5 Green

Level 8

Olivia Edwards - 3 Gold

Beau Tremble - 3 Gold

Samuel Launders - 3 Green

Rory Rue - 3 Green

Melanie Davies - 4 Green

Jack Graham - 5 Gold

Ned Osborne - 5 Gold

Felicity Bowen-Chambers - 6 Gold

Colton Cartwright - 6 Gold

Koby Dluzniak - 6 Gold

Demmi Flannery - 6 Gold

Level 9

Ava Allan - 3 Gold

Joshua Launders - 3 Gold

Harriet McColl - 3 Gold

William O’Reilly - 3 Gold

David Kang - 4 Gold

Evie Smith - 4 Gold

Sienna Launders - 5 Green

Erin Rutledge - 5 Green

Your Teachers are very Proud of You!

Community Connections

Scouts for Cowra – Building Character, Leadership and Resilience

Scouts provides a great opportunity for young people, girls and boys, to join a worldwide movement of 50 million members, focussed on building character, resilience and leadership opportunities for young people through a system of badgework where members progress at their own rate in areas of interest for them, with the support of highly trained leaders.

 In addition to the tradition Scouting activities of bushcraft, hiking, canoeing and sailing, youth members can develop skills in science, engineering, technology and cultural areas. We have groups focusing on environment and another called “Messengers of Peace”, something very relevant to Cowra. We focus on giving all youth members the chance of building their leadership skills.

This year a number of Scouts from Western NSW will attend the World Jamboree in Korea, joining thousands of other Scouts from around the world, for an experience they will never forget!

Our sections include: Joey Scout – 5-8 years, Cub Scouts 8-11 years, Scout 11-14 years and Venturers, 14 -18 Years.

Check out our display at the Cowra Show where you can meet our leaders and find further information.  You can also contact David Scott, Region Commissioner, 0438612874, or email David.Scott@nsw.scouts.com.au