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Dear Parents and Carers of Good Samaritan,
As we begin to enter another season of Lent today marking Ash Wednesday, I am reminded of a Lenten message given to us by Emeritus Bishop Peter Ingham where he challenged us with the question - Is Lent a millstone around our necks or a milestone to remember?
In this message, Bishop Peter reminds us of the death and resurrection of Jesus which occurred at the heart of christianity in what we now know as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Mrs Shelley & I were fortunate enough to visit the Sepulchre during a Holy Land pilgrimage. It is a place with many layers of meaning for individuals as well as the history of the Church. As you walk up the steep narrow steps to pray at the rock upon which Jesus was crucified the light becomes dark and sombre, yet as you leave this space you come upon a marble slab which marks the area where they lay Jesus as he was taken from the cross.
Not far away from here is the tomb where they took Jesus only to discover three days later that the tomb was empty. This site is one of great jubilation and gladness and you cannot but have an overwhelming sense of joy - of being drawn closer to God.
Many of us are physically healthy - we do go to the gym, run or walk to maintain fitness but what are we doing to ‘workout’ spiritually? Are we allowing time of retreat for ourselves? Time to be drawn closer to God? Time to forgive one another - or even ourselves?
Lent is what we make of it. It can be a burden of almsgiving, fasting and prayer or we can choose for it to be filled with spirit as we look to the benefit of to whom we give, from what we fast or the significance of our prayer. Because God is, and wants to be, present in all of us all of the time.
So what will this Lent be for you - a millstone around your neck or a milestone to remember?
Long Service Leave
I will be taking Long Service Leave from 9 March through to 10 May. My daughter will be married on 17 March and then I will be travelling with my husband to London where he will participate in the London Marathon. Whilst I am excited to be able to take leave, I know I will miss Good Samaritan whilst I am away.
Kindergarten and Year 6 BBQ
One of the great traditions of Good Samaritan is the Kindergarten and Year 6 Welcome BBQ. This is an opportunity for all Kindergarten parents to come along and meet more friends whilst also meeting their child’s Year 6 buddy and parents.
The BBQ will be held on Monday 20th March 5:30pm -7:00pm.
From the eSafety Commissioner
Join one of the eSafety Commissioner’s free webinars for parents and carers.
These live webinars give parents and carers the knowledge, skills and tools to support their children to have safe online experiences.
The 2023 webinars include a broad range of topics that will be delivered by the eSafety Commissioner’s expert education and training team.
Emergency Drills
As part of our regular safety compliance it is important that we carry out evacuation and lock down drills regularly. The normal practice in schools is to complete these drills once within the school year. We will be completing the lockdown and evacuation drills over the coming weeks. These drills will allow us to refine our practices in ensuring that the children and staff are safe in the event of an emergency.
Seesaw Review
Recently, a review was conducted around the use of Seesaw across the school, particularly in Kindergarten - Year 3. Seesaw gave us great advantages during remote learning as a platform for parents and teachers to build learning together during a very difficult time.
The review found that the use of Seesaw across the school was very inconsistent and also places an additional workload on staff. Therefore, the decision has been made to only use Seesaw in Kindergarten and Amaroo Gold as a transition tool from preschool into the primary school setting.
The review recognised that we have many forms of communication with parents including the newsletters, assemblies and social media platforms of Facebook and Instagram.
We will continue to strive to frequently communicate with parents regarding student learning.
Enjoy the week ahead,
Toni Sillis
Principal
PIVOT Information
Good Samaritan has a strong focus on supporting the wellbeing of our students. This year all classes will be participating in Mindful Minutes each Monday, a period of time to be reflect on how they are feeling. Students in K-2 will engage in class activities to reflect, pause and focus on breathing and relaxation.
Students in 3-6 have the opportunity to participate in a weekly survey using the PIVOT Wellbeing for Learning survey. This survey aims to help schools better support student wellbeing and to give students more voice and agency in their learning communities.
The Pivot Wellbeing for Learning framework measures student wellbeing in the domains of safety, belonging, and resilience. Robust research evidence links these domains to learning. More information about the tool is available here.
Students are asked 5 different questions each week. Some of the questions students may include: How have you been feeling this week?
I believe things will work out for the best.
I can talk to an adult at my school when have a problem.
I feel safe online from bullying.
How are you going this week with sleep?
How are you going this week with schoolwork?
How are you going this week with friends?
Students will also have the option to request a confidential in-person wellbeing check-in with a staff member. The data collected from this survey will assist school staff to confidentially follow up any areas of concern with individual students, and de-identified data will inform ongoing support, programs and interventions needed at a school level.
Participation is voluntary and if you choose to have your child participate, you are free to withdraw them at any point. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Toni Sillis or Catherine Hailstone at info@gsfmdow.catholic.edu.au.
For students in Year 3-6.
Please contact the office if you do not wish for your child to participate in PIVOT.
What is Wellbeing?
Kindergarten Information Evening
ASH WEDNESDAY
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Ash Wednesday – 22 February 2023 (Week beginning Monday 20 February)
This week, the season of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, which also marks the beginning of the annual Caritas Australia Project Compassion Appeal. Donations to Project Compassion allow Caritas Australia, the Catholic Agency for International Aid and Development, to work with local communities around the world to end poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity. The theme of Project Compassion 2023 is ‘For All Future Generations’ and reminds us that the good we do today extends to impact the lives of generations to come. It invites us to make the world a better place by working together now and finding long-term solutions to global issues. We encourage you to put your compassion into action this Lent through prayer, fasting and almsgiving in support of Project Compassion. Each classroom will receive a Project Compassion box for their donations or you can donate online via the Caritas Australia website at: www.caritas.org.au/project-compassion
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Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Tuesday - What's it all about?
SHROVE TUESDAY/PANCAKE TUESDAY- WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?
1) Shrove Tuesday is a Christian festival celebrated in many countries across the globe. It falls on the Tuesday before the beginning of Lent – a period of around six weeks leading up to Easter. During Lent, Christians give up luxuries to remember when Jesus went into the desert for 40 days to fast and pray.
2) The exact date of Shrove Tuesday changes from year to year. But one thing stays the same — it’s always 47 days before Easter Sunday. And yes, you guessed it, it’s always on a Tuesday!
Parents, students and staff enjoyed a morning tea of lovely pancakes with various toppings. We would like to thank the wonderful parents that were able to assist in making this possible and Mrs De Santis and our Year 6 Leaders for assisting. Thanks also to the parent community for supporting our Caritas fundraiser with your generous gold coin donations.
We are pleased to announce that the “Mission Cup” winning house was Mackilliop house.
Mackilliop house (green) will be able to wear a green top and crazy socks on Thursday.
Our Parish
PARISH CONTACT DETAILS:
General enquires
Lumen Christi Catholic Parish, Wollongong
Diocese of Wollonong - PO Box 874 Wollongong - 36 Harbour St Wollongong NSW 2500
Phone - 02 42211 0500
Email - wollongong@dow.org.au
Office Hours : Monday to Friday (9:00am - 1:00 pm)
Update from Amaroo Blue
This week in Amaroo Blue, we have enthusiastically continued our Sport Ready program. During our English lessons students have been focusing on reading and writing narratives, and in our Math lessons, place value for numbers. In Science we are testing the hardness of our rock samples and exploring soils. This semester we are studying History, focusing on First Contacts to Australia. We started our unit by piecing together the map of Australia, identifying the states and territories and their capital cities. We then identified the Indigenous Country we attend school on - Dharawal nation. We visited the church for the Year 6 Liturgy, where our Year 6 class members received their Leader’s badges - they were very excited!
Update from Amaroo Gold
Amaroo Gold have had a wonderful and very settled start to the new school year. Throughout Term 1, we have been very busy practising new routines, revising our school rules and participating in lots of fun social and emotional learning (SEL).
We have learnt about our school emblem which is made up of the Cross, the Heart and the road. The Cross: Reminds us of the love Jesus has for each of us.
The Heart: reminds us to love and care for others. The Road: reminds us that we are all learning about God together, and we can show our love of God through our thoughts, actions and words.
Amaroo Gold really enjoys our OT time during the day to develop our fine motor and gross motor skills.
We have had lots of fun during our Literacy and Numeracy groups. We have been engaging in many activities which include making and breaking words, story writing, rhyming games and Word Bingo. In Numeracy we have been writing and ordering numbers, bundling to make two digit numbers and using tens frames to represent numbers.
One highlight of our year so far has been taking part in the Sports Ready Program. We love learning new skills and games.
We have lots of fun in Amaroo gold!
Update from Learning Support Centre
Students in the Learning Support Centre have had a fantastic start to the school year! Everyone has been so enthusiastic to learn new things!
Throughout Term 1, we have been busy revising our school rules and getting to know the people in our class. In English, we have been focusing on reading fluently and accurately. In Maths, we have enjoyed maths games focusing on reading, writing and ordering numbers, partitioning numbers and representing numbers with Base 10 materials.
Everyone is enjoying the LSC space and using the calm room during brain breaks. The Investigation Station has been a hit and we are looking forward to a great year, full of successes!
Swimming Trials Results
The GSFM swimming trials were held earlier in the term at UOW pool. They were a great success with an enormous display of school spirit from our Good Samaritan swimmers. The students tried their best across all of the swimming events and enjoyed a great morning. Thank you very much to our parent volunteers. Your help during our sporting events is greatly appreciated.
Congratulations to the following place getters who came 1st, 2nd or 3rd overall in their event:
Swimming Trials Results 2023
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Female 100m Freestyle All Age
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Male 100m Freestyle All Age
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Female 12 years 50m Freestyle
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Male 12 years 50m Freestyle
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Male Senior 50m Freestyle Multi Class
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Female 11 years 50m Freestyle
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Male 11 years 50m Freestyle
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Female 10 years 50m Freestyle
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Male 10 years 50m Freestyle
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Female 9 years 50m Freestyle
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Male 9 years 50m Freestyle
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Female 8 years 50m Freestyle
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Male 8 years 50m Freestyle
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Female Senior 50m Backstroke
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Male Senior 50m Backstroke
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Female 11 years 50m Backstroke
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Male 11 years 50m Backstroke
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Female Junior 50m Backstroke
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Male Junior 50m Backstroke
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Female Senior 50m Breaststroke
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Male Senior 50m Breaststroke
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Male Senior 50m Breaststroke Multi Class
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Female 11 years 50m Breaststroke
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Male 11 years 50m Breaststroke
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Female Junior 50m Breaststroke
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Male Junior 50m Breaststroke
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Female Senior 50m Butterfly
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Male Senior 50m Butterfly
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Female 11 years 50m Butterfly |
Male 11 years 50m Butterfly
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Female Junior 50m Butterfly
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Male Junior 50m Butterfly
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Female Individual Senior Medley 200m
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Male Individual Senior Medley 200m
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Female Individual Junior Medley 200m
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Male Individual Junior Medley 200m
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Congratulations to our Age Champions!
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Junior Female Age Champion
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Junior Male Age Champion
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11 years Female Age Champion
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11 years Male Age Champion
11 years Male Multi Class Athlete Champion
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Senior Female Age Champion
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Senior Male Age Champion
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The recognition and awarding of our swimmers will occur at the school assembly in Week 6 - Friday 3 March at 2:10pm. Please note the change of date!
Congratulations to the Good Samaritan Swimming team who will represent our school community at the Diocesan South Coast Trials in March.
Evelyn B, Sophie B, Macy E, Milla E, Holly L, Ellie M, Amelia P, Madeleine S, Ruby S, Maya S, Piper T, Evie W, Darcie W, Angus B, Lachlan B, Kage B, Madix B, Callum C,
Bradley C, Flynn C, Jaxon D, Henry G, Max L, Lucas M, Aiden M, Jensen N, Edward P, Nash T, Ashton W, Chase W M.
Good luck team GSFM!
Representative Sports News
Change in Sports Uniform
Please note the change of sport uniform for students in Year 1 and Year 3. We apologise for this change and thank you for your flexibility. This timetable starts from this week. If your child is not in sports uniform on the allocated day below this will not be an issue this week.
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GSFM PHYSICAL EDUCATION (PE) & SPORT CLASSES Students are to wear full sports uniform on these days. |
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Monday |
Year 1 Year 2 Year 4 |
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Tuesday |
Kindergarten Year 5 Amaroo Gold Amaroo Blue |
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Wednesday |
Year 3 Year 4 Year 2B (Mr Novak’s Class) Year 6 |
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Thursday |
Year 1 Year 2G (Mrs McRobert’s Class) Year 5 |
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Friday |
Kindergarten Year 3 Year 6 |
School Photos
Library - HELP NEEDED
Once again, our school is asking for help in covering small new books (Decodables) to be used by our Infants students.
If you are able to spare a few minutes covering some books at home (they come in bundles of 6 plus 6 pieces of contact), please let our office or library staff know and we’ll organise a couple of bags ready for you to take home.
Canteen News
Reminder Canteen is only open Wednesday - Friday.
PB4L - Positive Behaviours for Learning
Car Park Safety
Safety within the Parish car park is everyone’s business. Students, parents and staff can only be kept safe if everyone is vigilant about their actions when using this space. It is every parent/carer’s responsibility to exercise safe actions within the carpark. This includes using the car park as indicated below:
- Parents are not to park on school or Parish grounds during drop off (8:20am-8:50am) or pick up (2:30pm-3:20pm) times
- When arriving prior to dismissal at Car Line Pick Up parents are asked to turn engines off once the car is stationary
- A safe speed of 10km/h when driving into the car park
- Do not exit your vehicle when dropping off or picking up students
- Ensure that children are well within the school gate when dropping off before moving off
- Children only exit vehicles when the vehicle is at the front of the queue
- Ensure students have safely entered the car and closed the door when picking up
- There is no pedestrian access to the carpark when car lines have begun in both the morning and afternoon
- Gates into the school are closed and locked from the Parish car park following the morning bell at 8:50am.
Thank you to those parents who continually exercise the utmost care when accessing the school via the Parish car park. Every child’s safety is everyone’s concern.Diary Dates and Reminders for the week ahead
Dates to Remember
News from P & F Committee
