Term 1 2012 FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK Date Claimers Dear Parents Well, we finally have access to the second half of our car park! Hooray! It is nice to MARCH finally have space for everyone to park, but as the school continues to grow, so will Friday 9th competition for available spaces, so make the most of this opportunity while we Book Club due back have it! I would remind you all, that all car park traffic is ONE WAY. To access the Thursday 15th new area, you must first drive past the admin in a clockwise direction and enter Liturgy (Prep) from the eastern end (near the car park exit to Eggersdorf Road). To exit the new Tuesday 20th area, you must drive out the ‘Ormeau end” (near the entry from Eggersdorf Road) Gold Coast Suns visit 3.30 – and circle back via the administration block again. Your cooperation is vital if we are 5.00pm going to make this system work effectively. If in doubt, you could always follow the P&F Meeting 7.00pm brightly painted arrows on the road surface! Wednesday 21st Prep Excursion to Logan The Fundraising Committee has a small fun activity going until the end of term. We Entertainment Centre have a jar full of chocolate eggs, and if you guess the correct number of eggs in the th jar, then you can win the jar (and the chocolates inside it!). We are asking for $1 per Tuesday 27 guess or 4 guesses for $3. The jar will be on display at the Tuckshop at each school Navy excursion to assembly. Curumbin Wildlife Sanctuary We have an exciting opportunity coming up NEXT TUESDAY 20th March with the th Thursday 29 Gold Coast Suns AFL team coming to visit. There will be current AFL players in Liturgy (Year One) attendance, who will talk to the children about healthy eating and lifestyles before th Friday 30 doing some sill work. At the end there will be photograph and autograph School Cross Country opportunities with the players. This is a rare opportunity to meet with elite Carnival sportspeople at such a personal level, and whatever your sporting persuasion may End of Term be, I hope you can come along and share in a fun afternoon. More details are attached with this newsletter. You will remember the chaos of last year, with everyone collecting Coles vouchers, Woollies vouchers, milk bottle caps and so on. We traded our Woollies vouchers for classroom resources, which have finally arrived and been put into use. This has been great for our school, because it has helped provide the ‘non-essentials’ of classroom resources, but those which really have the capacity to enrich our learning environment. Some of these resources are pictured below. I will be attending a Workplace Health and Safety course tomorrow, and will be unable to join you at our prep led liturgy, but I am sure will be a great experience as usual! On Tuesday I was asked to be part of a panel addressing our fellow principals regarding the use of techology in our learning environment. The one very positive thing to come out of the day was the clear realisation that we are on the right path indicated by the success stories coming from other parts of Australia and the world who adopted a similar approach earlier to ours. Another positive that clearly stood out, as that we are blessed with an absolutely fantastic combination of talented, committed and enthusiastic students, teachers and parents, who have made this work so well. A reminder that next Tuesday (20th) at 7.00pm we have our first ordinary meeting of our newly formed Parents and Friends Association. At this meeting we will be presenting our constitution and hopefully setting a calendar of events for the year. If you have items that you would like to address at the P&F meeting, and agenda sheet will be available on the counter of the school office. To ensure efficient running of meetings and time to prepare information is available, only those items on the agenda will be open for discussion, unless an urgent matter arises, which would need to be brought to the attention of the Executive prior to the commencement of the meeting. Have a great week, everyone! Peter APRE News Liturgy of the Word Tomorrow morning at 9am, our Prep classes will host our Liturgy of the Word Celebration in the undercover area. We hope to see you there. Sacramental Preparation A reminder to those families who are preparing for the Rite of Reconciliation that Interviews are being conducted on Mon/Tues next week and the children will participate in the Rite of Reconciliation on Wed 21st/Thurs 22nd March. Please contact St Patrick’s Parish Office on 3287 2282 for further information about each session. We continue to keep these children in our prayers as they take this important step in their faith journey. St Patrick’s Day Each year on the 17th March, we celebrate St Patrick’s Day. As our parish is named after this popular saint, we invite everyone to get into the ‘Irish’ spirit this Friday the 16th March, by wearing green accessories to school. Children will need to wear their usual school shirt and shorts and sun safe hat, however, can wear green socks, ribbons, bows, hairclips etc. Please also remember that the festivities continue with a Parish celebration on Saturday (details below). Kathleen Come and join our celebrations for St Patrick’s Day Saturday, March 17th The celebrations will begin with a special St Patrick’s Mass at 9am in the Church followed by more fun than you could poke a shamrock at down in the St Joseph’s Shelter Shed 10am – 2pm Barbecue, run by the St Joseph’s P & F Drink and cake stalls (Youth Group) Craft and gift items Free tea and coffee Car Rally Games (with an Irish flavour) Trash and Treasure Face Painting Leprechaun Lotto, and an Irish sing-along! Plus a prize for the ‘most green’ person The Car Rally will head off at 11am and be back for lunch (if you don’t get too lost!) For more info, offers of assistance, or to register for the Car Rally, just give Cathy a call on 0400 494 943, or at home 3287 4298. HPE News Get your running shoes ready! The School Cross Country will be held on the last day of term, Friday 30th March! The events will begin at about 8.45am, and conclude mid morning with a special Hot Dog and Fruit Juice pack for lunch. I encourage all the students (and parents) to wear a shirt in their House Team colours on the day to support their team. Please remember to wear good supportive running shoes, sunscreen, and a sports cap that does not fall off when you run. Although we are doing some training within our HPE lessons, it is also a great idea to head outside and be active with your child before the event so that they are super fit and ready to go. The Prep children will be running 500m, Year 1 800m, Years 2 & 3 1km and Year 4 2kms. We will be asking for some parent helpers to be Course Marshalls on the day to help cheer the children along and make sure they are going in the right direction. A note will be coming home later this week with more details about preordering your Hot Dog and drink pack, and there will also be water and soft drinks available for sale on the day. It will be a super fun day, and I can't wait to see you all there! Yours in Health and Fitness, Mrs Coutts 1st March2012 GOLD COAST SUNS AFTER SCHOOL COMMUNITY VISIT Dear Teacher, Congratulations!! Your school has been selected by a random draw by the Gold Coast SUNS to have players come to your school on the 20th March between 3pm and 5.30pm to promote Junior Sport in the Community. The Gold Coast SUNS, AFL Queensland and your local Junior AFL Club will be in attendance on your school oval after school hours in an open to all ages promotion/clinic. The Gold Coast SUNS will engage with all students, parents and teachers that come down to greet the players for this once only chance to see the players in their only school visit for the year. This visit will include autograph/photo sessions, information talk about the importance of Sport and basic skills of AFL. Where: Your School Oval When: 3pm -5.30pm Date: 20th March 2012 To help gain interest in this great opportunity for your school community we ask that you put this information in your schools newsletter and information boards at the front of your schools to help gain interest amongst parents to bring their children along to meet the Gold Coast SUNS. Please confirm your schools interest in having this fantastic opportunity by completing the form below to secure this opportunity. Kind Regards Adam Dunning Schools Development Officer GOLD COAST SUNS AFTER SCHOOL JUNIOR SPORT COMMUNITY VISIT SCHOOL: ___________________________________________________________________ CONTACT NAME: ____________________________________________________________ PHONE: _________________________ MOBILE: ___________________________________ EMAIL: _____________________________________________________________________ PARADE TIME/DATE TO PROMOTE TO FULL SCHOOL:________________________________ Confirmation that _______________________________________ school would like to have the Gold Coast SUNS, AFL Queensland and local AFL Club on the 20th March between 3pm and 5.30pm for a promotional clinic of the importance of Sport in the Community with the students for this school. Please fax or email this form back to: Adam Dunning (Schools Development Officer) 55945722 or 0414 402 701 [email protected] or fax 55 945 126 Please submit this form ASAP to secure your visit, by the 16th March latest .