A Message from Bishop Brian:

The Blessing of Ash Wednesday Ashes 

My Sisters and Brothers in Christ

In early January, I wrote to the faithful of the diocese at a time when many within our communities were still fighting the bushfires or trying to come to terms with the feelings of loss and grief associated with the bushfires. Since that time, I have had the opportunity to visit a number of communities throughout our diocese in the Shoalhaven, Wingecarribee and Wollondilly regions, seeing the destruction firsthand. Importantly, these trips gave me the chance to simply be with, pray with and listen to the many stories from shocked, impacted, overwhelmed and brave people.

There have been incredible outpourings of support for the communities impacted by these fires. I continue to be heartened by the stories of unity and generosity that continue to bring people together in the aftermath of the fires, from within the impacted communities, from our diocesan agencies, our parishes and wider communities who have sought to generously donate money, time, goods and services to help those impacted and to help communities rebuild.

As a way of continuing to prayerfully show solidarity with each other, we have collected ashes from areas representing the diocesan regions ravaged by fire. I have blessed them this morning at St Francis Xavier Cathedral and have invited my clergy to add them to the ashes of their own community to be used in Ash Wednesday celebrations.

I trust that they will be, as always, a powerful symbol of the start of our Lenten journey, but particularly this year, a powerful symbol of our journeying with others in our diocese, especially those amongst us in the recovery phase.

Yours in Christ

Most Rev Brian G Mascord DD

Catholic Schools Week (CSW) will be held from 1 -7 March. Our theme this year is ‘Embracing our future together’.

CSW is about celebrating the diversity and uniqueness of Catholic education and is a wonderful opportunity to acknowledge the achievements of our school community. CSW also marks the beginning of the Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong enrolment period. 

Please click here to access a CEDoW school enrolment package.

The week is designed to be a lively celebration and shared with members of our parish and the wider Catholic community.

Construction of Shade Sails on Infants Playground

You may be wondering what the construction fencing is for on the Infants playground. At  the end of 2019 Good Samaritan applied for a Local Schools Community Fund grant. We have been successful in gaining $20 000 in funds that will go towards the construction of some much needed shade sails on the Infants playground. The gap in the cost of the shade sails  is provided through funding from Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong.

Work is scheduled throughout this week so there will be some disruption to accessing the Year 1&2 building including Reading Recovery. This is a short term disruption for a long term gain.

The Value for this week is: 

COLLABORATION

We do this by:

• Being a willing and consistent helper
• Working well with others
• Contributing one's talents to the welfare of the group

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 assembly.

ACTION: Students are only to enter the school grounds on foot via the pedestrian gates on Cabbage Tree Lane and McGrath Street.

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.

The eSafety Commissioner’s most recent blog post outlines the risks associated with dangerous online challenges. Such challenges put young people at a safety risk both physically and psychologically. The challenges include children being encouraged to trip an unsuspecting friend or classmate in a specific way that makes them slam against the ground. 

The social media platform used for these challenges is TikTok. Parents and carers are encouraged to read further about this dangerous online activity here.

LIBRARY NEWS - 

PREMIER’S READING CHALLENGE 2020

The Premier’s Reading Challenge officially starts on Monday, 2nd March and we will be encouraging our students to participate.  All it takes is 20 minutes of reading every night, silent reading at school and any other time they might like to pick up a book to read.  

We have three ways that students participate:

• Kinder to Year 2 students read books from the K-2 official booklist in their classrooms with their teachers and all students will be awarded a participation certificate for their efforts.
• Year 3 will be given a Reading Log and will be required to fill this in throughout the challenge and bring their completed list of books back to school by August 19th.  The link to the official booklist for Years 3-4 is here: Books by Title / Books by author
• Years 4-6 will be filling in their reading log online and will be given their login details over the next two weeks during their library time.  They will be shown how to fill in their reading log and it will be their responsibility to keep it updated. Year 4 can read from the official Year 3-4 Booklist or the Year 5&6 booklist.  Year 5 & 6 can only read from the Year 5 & 6 booklist.

If you would like to have a look at the site and read through the rules and booklists it is here.Certificates are awarded for every student who is successful in completing the challenge.  If a student has completed the challenge for four years then they will be awarded a Gold certificate and if students complete the challenge for 7 years they will receive a Platinum Certificate.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP YEARS 4 -6

As part of our Digital Citizenship lessons, we will be using an app called Flipgrid. 

We have the opportunity to form a 21st Century pen pal relationship using this app and connecting to a school in Chicago. We will be applying our learning about Digital Citizenship and we will also be learning to create and communicate to meet our Speaking & Listening English outcomes. We will be creating book reviews, persuasive texts, reading from books available in the library and of course getting to know our gridpals and what their culture is like.

 I am encouraging you to sit and view the various efforts by students from both schools with your child when the activity is up and running.  Here is a quick overview that students will be shown in their library lessons to prepare them for this learning. Alternate activities will be made for students who do not have permission to have their photos taken.

If you have any questions about this learning, please feel free to contact me.

Thank you to the mums who read last week’s newsletter and have already popped in to take a box of books home for covering.  There will be other books throughout the year and all help is greatly accepted and appreciated.

We would also like to acknowledge and thank two of our students who have never been asked to help and took it upon themselves to volunteer to empty our library bins for us.  These students are now in their second / third year of helping us out and we think this is so marvellous to have students who are so capable of showing initiative and thinking about others.  Thank you Emmerson and Calli we are so proud of you and know your parents must be too.

When is the next P&F meeting?

The P&F Annual General Meeting will be held on

Wednesday 11 March at 7pm 

in the School Library. Entry is via the St John Vianney Parish carpark. 

All are welcome

Term 1:

• Feb 28
• March 13

Term 2:

• May 15
• June 5
• June 26

 Term 3:

• August 7
• August 28
• September 18

Term 4:

• October 30
• November 20
• December 11

Mark your calender!  

• Friday 26 February: Ash Wednesday Mass 10am
• Friday 28 February: Clean up Australia day ( bring gloves)
• Monday 2 March: Catholic Schools Week -Whole School Liturgy 9.30am
• Thursday 5 March: South Coast Swimming Trials
• Saturday 7 March: Good Samaritan Enrolment School Open Day 10am-12noon
• Tuesday 10 March: Year 3 attending Parish Mass 9.30am
• Tuesday 17 March: Year 2 attending Parish Mass 9.30am
• Tuesday 24 March: Year 1 attending Parish Mass 9.30am
• Tuesday 31 March: Year 6 & Kindergarten attending Parish Mass 9.30am
• Thursday 2 April: Cross Country Carnival
• Friday 3 April: Pupil Free Day ( Staff Spirituality Day)
• Thursday 9 April: School Photos 
• Monday 27 April: Pupil Free Day (Staff Development Day)
• Thursday 7 May: Mother's Day Liturgy and Morning Tea 
• Friday 4 September: Father's Day Breakfast BBQ and Prayer 
• Friday 6 November: Grandparent's & Great Friends Day,Liturgy & Open Day