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Lighting the Way
Earlier this term Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong launched the newest version of their strategic plan known as Lighting the Way 2023+. This plan will be implemented through a focus on Continuous Catholic School Improvement. This improvement process has been designed to focus on growth and improvement in faith, learning and wellbeing outcomes for all students.
This plan has been co created following extensive consultation with a range of key groups, including students, parents, staff, members of school leadership teams and personnel from the Catholic Education Office Diocese of Wollongong. It has been a truly collaborative process and one which aims to see our community of schools continue to improve and become highly effective places where each student is challenged to grow in their faith, their learning and their wellbeing. I strongly encourage every parent to take a few moments to read the document that is available through the attached link to become better informed about the newest iteration of Lighting the Way.
Click here to visit the Lighting the Way website
Welcome BBQ
Monday night we had a wonderful evening with our new Kindergarten students and their Year Six student buddies and families. The P&F hosted a BBQ which was enjoyed by all.
It was great to see such a vibrant school community and families commented on the opportunity to gather and connect with each other.
Harmony Day
Harmony Day was celebrated on 22 March. Many thanks to the students who were able to share with us their cultural dress/costume. What a celebration of colour it was! A special thank you to Mrs Stackhouse our EALD Teacher for organising the students and Mr Ambrosi for a lovely liturgy
Harmony Day is a celebration of our cultural diversity – a day of cultural respect for everyone who calls Australia home.
Fourth Week of Lent
Fourth Week of Lent
(Week beginning Monday 20th March)
This week through Project Compassion we learn about Thu, who lives in Vietnam. When Thu was 12 years old, he stepped on an unexploded land mine and lost his leg.
Living with a disability in rural Vietnam presented many challenges for Thu, who worked mainly as a rice farmer. Thu also took on the role of caring for his wife, Linh, after she suffered a stroke.
Determined to turn their lives around, Thu and Linh joined the Empowerment of People with Disabilities program, run by Caritas Australia’s local partner in Vietnam, the Centre for Sustainable Rural Development (SRD).
For Thu, the greatest impact the program has had is enabling the change in Linh’s physical and mental wellbeing. With the support of a physiotherapist, Linh can now walk short distances with the aid of a walking stick.
Watch a short film about Thu’s story here.
Please support Project Compassion: www.caritas.org.au/project-compassion
Preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation with Fr James
Year 6 students have been attending mass and reconciliation every Tuesday at the Parish mass. Father James has then been coming into the classrooms and co teaching to prepare us for the Sacrament of Confirmation. Thanks Father James for spending the time with us on our journey with Jesus.
We Pray for Year 6 as they prepare for the Sacrament of Confirmation:
God of Love, thank you for all the gifts you give to us,
especially the gift of learning about you and growing in faith here at Good Samaritan.
We pray for the Year 6 students preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation.
Help them to know and love you more and more, and to reflect your love in the way they treat others.
Amen
Have An Ethical Easter in 2023
With Easter almost upon us, supermarket shelves are full with delicious chocolatey treats. The challenge for us as consumers is finding a “good egg” - one that is ethically sourced and manufactured. The chocolate industry has long been tainted by reports of forced labour and slavery, with estimates of 1.56 million children involved in hazardous work in cocoa production in West Africa (which produces most of the world’s cocoa), with many forced to work long hours, use dangerous equipment, and endure physical and emotional abuse.
“Every person ought to have the awareness that purchasing is always a moral –
and not simply an economic – act.” Pope Francis
Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans (ACRATH) this year is encouraging Australians to join the campaign for Slavery Free Easter eggs and Chocolate. View the link below for tips and further information - How Sweet Is My Chocolate?
Also, consider not buying something that is overly packaged. Lots of Easter eggs come encased in several layers of foil, cardboard and plastic - each of which come with an environmental and often human cost of their own. Remember to recycle your foil…
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 Year 1
In the recent hot weather we have experienced, year 1 has really appreciated the refurbishment of our verandah. As you can see from the photos below, the synthetic grass area with the addition of toys and games has been well utilised by many year 1 students. Thank you to our wonderful parent helpers who put this together for our enjoyment.
In Mathematics, 1 Gold is learning to identify and create AB, AAB and ABC patterns with a variety of hands on manipulatives.
On St Patrick's Day, 1 Gold experimented with various shades of green paint while manipulating techniques to apply paint so as to develop their fine motor skills and improve their hand eye coordination.
In Year 1 Blue we have been focusing on informative texts. We have viewed documentaries and listened to information about a variety of animals. We have developed the skill of labelling an elephant using nouns and adjectives. We have written factual sentences about the elephant, meerkat and spider. We are developing the knowledge and skills to begin to recognise and create an informative text. We are consolidating the skill of writing meaningful simple sentences that start with a capital letter and end with a full stop. We have been introduced to the concept of a compound sentence and we have used the conjunctions and, so or because to join two ideas together.
On Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, we went to the church and received ash on our forehead. We are now preparing for Easter by trying to care for others and our world.
It has been a big term of settling into Year 1 and learning lots of new things. We are looking forward to learning about Holy Week and celebrating Easter with our families. After a restful and fun filled holiday we will be ready to learn more new things in all Key Learning Areas in Term 2.
Update from Year 2
In Mathematics, we have been learning about sorting collections using attributes and properties, naming two-dimensional shapes, investigating growing and shrinking patterns, and measuring objects.
In English, we have been learning about circular narrative texts, sentence types and how to use commas and conjunctions in our writing. Year 2 have also loved creating puppets for our narrative retell of the picture book ‘Where The Wild Things Are’.
GSFM Cross Country Carnival - Thursday 30th March
Your child/children will need to be at school by 8:50am.
Children can wear their house colour t-shirt with their PE uniform.
Please ensure your child has their hat, sunscreen, two water bottles and bring recess and lunch. They may also like to bring a towel or rug to sit on.
Thank you to the parents who have volunteered. Please meet Mrs Olima at the venue on Thursday morning. Please bring a camp chair or picnic rug.
The carnival venue is Kembla Joggers (If you need help finding the venue, type Integral Energy Park or Australian Motorlife Museum, Darkes Road, Kembla Grange into your maps).
Please see attached running order of the day. These times are subject to change and are an approximate time only.
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RACES - Age Groups |
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10:00 |
12 yrs Boys |
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10:15 |
12 yrs Girls |
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10:30 |
11 yrs Boys |
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10:45 |
11 yrs Girls |
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11:00 |
House War Cries |
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11:10 |
10 yrs Boys |
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11:20 |
10 yrs Girls |
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11:30 |
8/9 yrs Boys |
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11:40 |
8/9 yrs Girls |
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11.50 |
Infants non competitive run 5+6 yrs Boys (Kinder) |
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12:00 |
Infants non competitive run 5+6 yrs Girls (Kinder) |
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12:10 |
Infants non-competitive 1km run 7+8 yrs Boys (Year 1&2) |
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12:20 |
Infants non competitive 1km run 7+8 yrs Girls (Year 1&2) |
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12:30 |
Primary non-competitive 1km run (Year 3-6 boys) |
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12:40 |
Primary non-competitive 1km run (Year 3-6 girls) |
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1:00 - 1:30 |
* Carnival ends * Buses to return to school (or students can be signed out with parents, please see your child’s class teacher) |
AFL - Sporting Schools
At Good Samaritan over the last few weeks, Years 1 - 6 participated in an AFL program in PE with some great coaches and development officers. We learnt lots of skills including how to handball and kick a goal. Year 3 were fortunate to have a visit and skills session with two Sydney Swans players. They had a great time learning new skills and had a Q&A with the players getting to see what a day looks like as a professional AFL player, discussing training schedules, nutrition and what happens on game day.
Competition Time
Football Australia and Summit Sport are very excited to launch the ‘Decorate your own Football competition’ ahead of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup!
This competition is open for all Australian primary school students to enter, with entries open from the 7th of March 2023 until the 18th of August 2023, with the winner selected on the 21st of August, 2023.
Three winners will be selected on the best and most creative design voted by Summit Sport and Football Australia
- 1st prize – Signed Matildas jersey & 50 soccer training balls with the winning design printed
- 2nd prize - 10 x CommBank Matilda’s footballs and ball bag
- 3rd prize – 2 x Football Australia tear drop goals.
For all the details on how to enter, Summit Sport has a landing page on their website that includes all the details for entry submission
https://summitsport.com.au/pages/football-design-comp
Looking forward to seeing all your awesome designs!
Whole School Expectation - Weekly Focus for Students
Stop-Drop-Turn
This week we continued our end of break transition process of STOP-DROP-TURN. The children have responded really well to this new routine, and it is ensuring all students are safe, they are being respectful to teachers and each other and that our equipment is being managed responsibly.
Good Samaritan Award
The Good Samaritan Award is the formal recognition of a student’s commitment to Catholic learning, belonging, celebration, hope, respect and justice. This includes achievement, appropriate behaviour and consistently doing their best. The award is based upon the school vision statement embedding the Rule of St Benedict:
We are a Catholic community, inclusive and compassionate, promoting quality learning, journeying with Jesus, drawing all into the heart of God.
One student from each class will receive this award once a term (students in our specialist setting are able to receive this once a semester). Parents will be notified and invited to attend our end of term Liturgy.
Book Club
School Photos
Premiers Reading Challenge 2023
Year 1 and 2 Parent Reading Evening
News from Holy Spirit
Reading Workshop - Year 1 & 2 Parents and Carers
You are invited to join us for a Reading Information Session on:
Date: Monday March 27
Time: 5-6pm
Location: Library
Please complete the following form to indicate any questions you may have and to RSVP to the event.
Kind Regards
Year 1 and Year 2 Teachers
A reminder that Parents/carers are welcome to pick students up using our carlines via the Cabbage Tree Lane church car park. Students will be accompanied to their car by staff members. Students are to enter the vehicle by the left hand side. Please note that staff are unable to assist students into the car or do up seatbelts. Parents/carers should not leave their vehicle at this time. If your child is unable to open the door, get their bag up into the car or do up their seat belt independently, please consider the parent pickup option.
Please ensure that your name card is clearly displayed so staff can organise children. The cards should display your family name. If you require a replacement card, you can pick one up from Reception.
Parents arriving in the car pick up line prior to the 3:00 pm dismissal bell are required to turn their engines off.
Free webinar: Dr Justin Coulson PhD on Anxiety and Resilence
Run by the Council of Catholic School Parents NSW/ACT, Anxiety and Resilience with Dr Justin Coulson PhD is a free, 60 minute webinar for parents, carers and staff in CEDoW schools to assist them in supporting the children in their care.
Dr Coulson is the co-host and parenting expert on Channel 9's Parental Guidance and holds a PhD in positive psychology.
Date: Wednesday 29 March 2023 at 7:00 pm
Register at https://www.ccsp.catholic.edu.au/event/52
Diary Dates and Reminders for the week ahead
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DATE: |
REMINDER: |
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Wednesday 22 March |
HARMONY DAY LITURGY |
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Thursday 23 March |
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Friday 24 March |
School Assembly in School Hall commencing at 2:10pm |
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Saturday 25 March |
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Sunday 26 March |
Fourth Sunday of Lent |
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Monday 27 March |
Year 1 and 2 Reading Information Evening 5pm in the School Libary
Year Six Leadership Program |
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Tuesday 28 March |
Mass and Reconciliation with Year Six |
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Wednesday 29 March |
School Photos - Full Summer Uniform |
Upcoming P&F Events
Easter Raffle and Easter Eggs
The Good Samaritan Easter Raffle is back. This year we are asking for school families to donate Easter Eggs. One donation per family.We ask that all donations are sent into school by Wednesday 29 March 2023, this will allow P & F to wrap these into bundles to be drawn Monday 3 April 2023.
Each family will receive a book of Easter raffle tickets to be sold at $1.00 per ticket. Extra books are available at the office if required.
Please return tickets and money by Friday 31 March 2023 to ensure your ticket is entered into the raffle.
The raffle will be drawn on Monday 3 April 2023 with the Easter hat parade this will commence at 1pm.
All funds raised will be donated back to the school. The GSFM P&F are grateful for your support.