Dear Parents,

This will be the final newsletter of the year; it is amazing how quickly the year has gone. As a staff we are sincerely grateful for your support and for allowing us to work with you for the education of your children.

I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all of the staff for the effort they have put in over the course of the year. They continually go over and above what is required of them for the benefit of the students.

I would like to acknowledge Mrs Holly Hatch who is moving on at the end of the year and thank her for her wonderful contribution to St Angela’s and wish Miss Meg Lambell well as she takes leave in 2023 to travel. We look forward to welcoming her back in 2024.

I hope everyone has a safe, holy and happy Christmas and New Year and I look forward to working with you again next year.

Outlined below are some of the key dates as we head towards the end of the school year.

Key Dates

First Holy Communion

We congratulate and pray for Joshua, Billy, Oliver and Alex who will be making their First Holy Communion over the next fortnight.

Meet Your 2023 Teacher | Tuesday 13th December

On Tuesday 13^th December, we will be holding our ‘Meet Your 2023 Teacher’ sessions.  Students will find out who their 2023 teacher/s are and spend time with their new teachers and classmates.

End of Year Mass and Graduation | Wednesday 14th December

Fr. Confidence will celebrate our End of Year and Graduation Mass starting at 9:30am at St Joseph’s Church Warragul. At this Mass we will have special presentations for our year 6 Graduates Frankie, Liam, Jaiden and Hordii.

Last Day of School and Christmas Concert | Thursday 15th December

School will conclude for all children on Thursday 15^th December. We will have a short Christmas Concert and assembly on this day beginning at 2:30pm in the outdoor undercover area.

2022 Semester 2 Reports | Thursday 15th December

School reports will be sent to all parents via your Parent Access Module (PAM) account on Thursday 15^th December.

2023 Begins!

School for all students will begin on Monday 30^th January, 2023.

Congratulations

We wish Miss Meg Lambell and her partner Jesse all the best as they get married next weekend, may they have a lifetime of happiness together.

Regards,

Justin Greenwood
Principal

2023 Tuition Fee forms are now overdue.

Please return to the office at your earliest convenience.

Spare forms can be collected from Administration.

Our final day of lunch orders for 2022 will be on Friday 9^th December.

In 2023 lunch orders will now be on Monday's & Fridays.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Alimentos Catering for their wonderful lunch order service during 2022.

We look forward to having lunch orders return next year from Monday 30^th January, 2023.

St Angela of the Cross Primary School has a long tradition of supporting our local St Vincent de Paul Society. 

Leading up to the festive season, St Vincent de Paul make Christmas Hampers for families in our local community who are in need of support, particularly at this time of year.

To assist St Vinnies, we ask our school families to donate items that could bring joy to a child or teenager during this special time of year. 

Any support you can offer at this time would be greatly appreciated. We ask that donations be at school before Friday 9th December.

Thank you for your continuous spirit of giving. 

Next week is our last week of Icy Pole Thursdays!

Saturday December 24th
7.00pm Marist Sion Hall Warragul (Carols 6.30pm)
9.00pm St. Joseph’s Church Warragul (Bell ringing 8.30pm–8.50pm)

Sunday December 25 th
9.00am St. Ignatius Church Neerim South
9.00am St. Joseph’s Church Warragul
10.30am St. Ita’s Church Drouin

2ND RITE OF RECONCILIATION BEFORE CHRISTMAS
As well as regular times there is to be a communal service for Reconciliation at St. Ita’s Church on Tuesday 20 th December at 7.30pm.
All parishioners are welcome.

God’s Kingdom is Here!

We have just started a year of Matthew’s gospel and we look forward to his and Luke’s familiar nativity stories of angels and shepherds etc. It can seem incongruous in this Advent season that we flip to this gospel of John the Baptist crying in the wilderness, “repent” (Matt 3:1-12). But it is not so odd. Actually the Advent season and the birth of Jesus which we eagerly anticipate, themselves signal the nearness of the Kingdom of Heaven. Looking like a “Survivor” contestant, the Baptist, with his camel-hair shirt, wild hair and leather belt, urges us to steady and focus; to get our lives prepared to be swept up in this Kingdom. He is the “gateway to Christmas”.

Advent is about more than the advertising hype, more than planning family gatherings (wonderful though they are), more even than excitement at the approaching nativity. Advent is an opportunity to go into the wilderness (for a few moments of reflection), to hear the Baptist’s call for repentance and to reflect honestly on our own lives.

How would we respond to him? Do we really need to listen to John carrying on about repentance? In today’s language he would call us out for our poor relationships, for hurting one another with our words and actions, for ignoring hunger, poverty and injustice in our world, for being too busy to engage fruitfully with our world. Yep, maybe we aren’t the worst of sinners. We mean well to the world but to tell the truth we’re overly comfortable. We need to honestly face up to John’s admonishing, to our deep selves and to Jesus who is coming.

John’s blunt messages urge us to bring our better selves to the fore. We are loved rather than dismissively condemned. God’s kingdom is upon us and we need to focus on preparing our little part of it.

Deacon Mark Kelly

Feedback from parents in the school community has indicated that many are confused and worried about different apps and games that their children may be accessing or may request to access in the near future. To help parents to gain some information about these apps and games and how to keep their children safe while using them, we will be focusing on one app/game per newsletter for the next few weeks.The information is intended for informational purposes only. Parents and Guardians need to weigh the risks and benefits and make their own decisions about what is right for their family and child/ren. 

This week we will be looking at “Fortnite and Tik Tok”.

https://cybersafetyproject.com.au/game-insights-fortnite/

https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-issues/esafety-guide/fortnite-battle-royale

https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-issues/esafety-guide/tiktok

https://www.digitalfamiliescounselling.com.au/blog/Kidsontiktok

Whether it is starting school for the first time, moving up to a higher grade or embarking on a journey through secondary school, there is no doubt that any school transition is a very exciting time for children and parents. Please click on the link for more information about how to help minimize your child's anxieties around transition and how to make this a more exciting and enjoyable time.

https://stangelawarragul.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/school-transitions 

Religion

During our Religion lessons this term, our Junior students have been exploring the Scripture passage, ‘The Visit of the Wise Men’, from Matthew’s Gospel. We have engaged with the passage in a variety of ways. Some of our favourite experiences have been; role play, using concrete and visual materials such as scripture dolls and listening to the passage and visualising what it looks like to us. Students have enjoyed exploring and learning a different version of the Christmas story to the one that we are most familiar with. What a wonderful way to lead students into the upcoming season of Advent!

Religion

Homegroup L and TP have been busy learning about and creating their own Jesse Tree. 

The Jesse Tree is a way of preparing for Advent by journeying through the stories of Jesus’ family tree. The students have each created a branch for the tree and a bauble that represent one of the stories. Each day of Advent, we will read a Bible story about someone on Jesus’s family tree and hang an ornament symbolising the story on our Jesse Tree. As we decorate our tree, we’ll learn how God prepared for Jesus to be born through many generations. 

The students also reflected upon how they have gifts within them that they can share with the world. They then wrote about their gifts and placed this description as a ‘gift’ under the Jesse Tree. 

Our Jesse tree is on display for all to see.