Good Samaritan Catholic Primary School Fairy Meadow eNewsletter

From the Principal's Desk :

Pray for India:

Pope Francis has begun a Prayer Campaign as people across the world stand in solidarity with all people in India who face the devastating health crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This recent Instagram post was on @goodsameducation as a reflection of the experience of India:

Over the last few weeks, India has been facing an utterly devastating and heartbreaking surge of coronavirus. In India, when someone passes away, there is a common tradition to go for a ‘besnu’, which quite literally translates to ‘sitting’. No words are spoken but the community members simply sit in silence with a wordless whisper in their hearts: “We are in this together.” While we can’t wipe away others’ suffering, kinship certainly creates a field of resiliency and reminds us of the grace that lies in between the dance of embrace and release.

Together, we awaken not only to help “walk each other home,” but also to ignite our innate #compassion to support others. (ServiceSpace.org)

May compassion be on our lips and in our actions as our hearts go out to our Indian friends and companions...

At Good Samaritan we will pray the Hail Mary each day throughout the month of May as our act of hope and solidarity.

Hail Mary, Full of Grace, The Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of death.

Amen

Good Samaritan Athletics Carnival:

Next Monday is the Athletics Carnival. The carnival will be held at Beaton Park Athletic Track. We are very grateful to all our Parent Volunteers for helping to make the day a success. Under the COVID-19 safety plan, all adults attending must check into the grounds using the school COVID QR code. Please note that there are no Canteen facilities and the grandstand is undergoing renovations so students will be seated in different areas to previous years.

Students, staff and parents are not to access any fenced off area.

Students are to be supervised at the toilets. Toilets are to be accessed from the back of the grandstand.

Students and parents are not to be at the finish line and recording table.

All students must wear sunscreen, bring wet weather gear and have their school hat on the day. Students also need to bring adequate water & food for the day. Students can wear their house colour T-shirt & should also have warm clothing such as their school jacket.

Students are to remain with their age group group throughout the entire day in order to ensure active school supervision can take place.

In the event of poor weather an announcement will be made through Compass.

The carnival will continue for competetive students only. This means students who are likely to progress to the Diocesan level carnival.

Following is the proposed schedule for the day.

Please note that all times are approximate.

8:45am	Parent Helpers Meeting at Beaton Park Athletics Track
8:50am	800m runners arrive at Beaton Park Athletics Track with their parents
9:00am	800m races begin
9:00am	Buses begin to depart from school grounds
9:20am	Arrival of student to Beaton Park Athletics Track begins
From 9:30am	Kinder, Year 1 and 7 year old students assemble on southern grass area for their Mini Olympics events
From 9:30am	8-12 year old students assemble on the grass in the centre of the track
9:45am	Events/Rotations start. Munch & Crunch, Recess and Lunch will be during the athletics rotations determined by the supervising staff
12:30pm	All students assemble assemble on the grass in the centre of the track
12:35pm	8-12 year old 100m & 200m Finals
1:45pm	Clean Up
2:00pm	Parents to take their students home after having name marked off the roll
2:00pm	Buses departs from Beaton Park Athletics Track
2:15pm	Bus arrives back at school
3:00pm	End of day dismissal as usual

8-12 year old events	Shot Put	100m Heats	High Jump	Long Jump	Rest / Eating (grass area)
9:45am	8 years	12 years	11 years	10 years	9 years
10:15am	9 years	8 years	12 years	11 years	10 years
10:45am	10 years	9 years	8 years	12 years	11 years
11:15am	11 years	10 years	9 years	8 years	12 years
11:45am	12 years	11 years	10 years	9 years	8 years

Please note that all times are approximate and are subject to change. Competitive field events may occur at different times throughout the day.

School Assemblies:

Our whole school assemblies are scheduled for every Friday afternoon (weather permitting) under the Primary shade sails. Assemblies begin shortly after lunch at 2pm. Parents are most welcome to attend the assemblies.

Our Year 6 students host the assembly each week. Assemblies include our School Prayer, Acknowledgement of Country, School Song and the National Anthem. The assembly is our weekly opportunity to be together as a whole school and to celebrate the learning and achievements of all students.

NAPLAN:

This week students in Years 3&5 have begun the NAPLAN assessments. NAPLAN is a point in time assessment of literacy and numeracy skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life. Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 participate in the annual NAPLAN tests in writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.

As a school we look forward to receiving the results of NAPLAN as they allow us to analyse whole school trends of student learning therefore informing our approach to improvement.

Celebrating Reconciliation Week at Good Samaritan:

This year we will be celebrating Reconciliation Week with a performance by Christine Anu. Christine will perform for Good Samaritan on Tuesday 1 June. This performance was the suggestion of one of our Year 6 students, Amalia, who is a proud Torres Strait Islander girl and wanted to share the traditions and customs of her people in a unique way.

How blessed we are to have students who offer their ideas forward so that we can work together like this and bring them to fruition.