Dear Parents and Carers,

This week, we celebrate the contribution that Catholic schools make to the lives of students and families around Australia. Catholic schools educate over 805,000 students (one in five Australian students) and employ over 109,000 staff. For over 200 years, Catholic schools in Australia have provided a choice to Australian families for the education of their children, that reflects their own beliefs and values.  

Our Diocesan theme for Catholic Schools Week this year is “Follow me” (Matthew 4:19). In this story from the Gospel of Mathew, Jesus invites Simon, Peter and Andrew to place their trust and confidence in Him and to follow Him on a journey as His disciples (followers or students). For disciples, to ‘follow-me’ meant that they became like an apprentice to Jesus, to learn His ways, to love like He does, and to serve the poor and outsider like He does. To ‘be’ Good news to all the earth!  

This invitation continues to this day as Catholic schools help fulfill the mission given by Jesus, to “Follow me!” Working alongside our parishes and other agencies to love and serve those in our communities. This attitude of service and caring for the whole person, flavours our Catholic schools’ approach to everything! From striving for excellence in learning, to dedicated pastoral care and wellbeing, to faith formation opportunities for every child, we work hard to help each child to flourish in life.  

Thank you for trusting our Catholic school with the care and education of your child.

Outdoor Learning Area Update 

The weather has been much kinder to us and has allowed for the final pour of concrete.  

There has been much speculation about the hole in the ground with many students requesting this become a swimming pool! I can assure you that this will become a multi levelled deck area which will provide a new outdoor learning space for our students and teachers. 

The construction of the decking will start this week and we are on track to be able to open the space in June. 

Attendance Matters 

Attendance at school is important, when your children are away, they miss out on important learning and concepts that they need to be successful learners. If your child is away for one day a fortnight, they will miss four weeks of schooling in a year. This is a substantial amount of time to miss and can have a negative impact on your child’s learning. 

Cooking with Mrs Hunt 

Last week Nathan and Eli chose cooking with Mrs Hunt as a PBS reward. The boys enjoyed making chocolate spiders to share with their class. 

This week The Tell Them From Me Survey opens for our students, staff, and parents. I encourage you to take the time to fill this survey out, it should only take 15 minutes of your time. It provides us with valuable feedback as a school, so we can continue to provide a high-quality Catholic learning environment for our students and continue to improve as a school. To access our survey please use the following link

http://tellthemfromme.com/b2g4p

Welcome Back Gabriella 

Welcome back to Gabriella Blanco who rejoins her classmates in Year 4. It was lovely to see how excited the class were to welcome her back. 

Mother’s Day 

We had an enormous turnout for our Mother’s Day Liturgy and open classrooms. Thank you to all of parents/carers and other special people who came along to celebrate with us. It was such a wonderful day, and the students enjoyed the opportunity to share their learning and lunch with you. Thank you also to the parents who helped in the Mother’s Day Stall, and to Mrs Lapi-an for coordinating such beautiful presents. Thanks also to Mr B and Year 6 and Kinder who created a beautiful liturgy for us. 

God Bless 

Mel Hunt 

Prime Minister Award

‘Being a steward of creation’, ‘Trying your best’, ‘Speaking with kindness’ and ‘Being a responsible learner’ are some of the qualities that teachers consider when awarding ‘Prime Minister’ at our weekly assembly. It is an acknowledgement of the student’s efforts and they have the privilege of wearing the badge with honour, of suggesting a focus the school can work on, award Gotchas to other students at lunch time as well as earning Gotchas for themselves. Congratulations goes to Mia Nash (Week 2).

MJR Awards

As part of our MJR system ,we acknowledge that the following student, Willow Eijkman who has reached 200 Gotchas.  Well Done!

Mother's Day Raffle

Thank you for supporting the Mother's Day Stall and Raffle. The stall, raffle and canteen from the day raised $2300!

Thank you to Jane Murray for the generous donation of plants to sell at the stall. Thank you to the following parents who helped run the stall: 

Teagan Eggins, Jodie Raison, Anna Macmillan, Kristy Campbell, Michaela O'Toole and Sheree Ungaro.

Congratulations to our raffle winners: 

Ist Prize: Christian Borserio (Year 3)
2^nd Prize: Jodie Smoothy (Alyssandra Drew Year 4) 
3^rd Prize: Evie Paris-Everingham (Year 1)
Lucky Door Prize: Mia Nash (Year 4)

Baby Congratulations 

Congratulations to Tim and Sally Gaudron on the safe arrival of "Anna Charlotte" another sister for Zoe (Yr 1), Eliza and Lucy. 

Dio Cross Country

On Wednesday, 16 students travelled to Maitland for the 2024 Diocesan Cross Country Carnival.  This is Wingham's biggest ever student representative number at this event.  

The weather was beautiful and competition in all age catergories was extremely high amongst the 44 Catholic school's representatives.  All Wingham students who attended tried their best and should be proud of their achievement. 

Congratulations to Eleanor Healy who came 2nd in the U11's girls 3km race.  Eleanor progresses to the Polding Cross Country Carnival.  We wish her all the best at the next level. 

Mr Knoke
Yr 2 teacher/Sports Co-Ordinator

Arlo Fitness turning 6 and William Davis turning 6!!