Dear McAuley Families

Thank you all for your support as we continue to work to return to normal. Our staff and students have embraced the improved hygiene measures and are taking good care of themselves and one another. Please be sure that you are looking out for mental health. It is important you contact your child’s teacher/s if you notice unusual or challenging behaviours.

Being able to enjoy more freedom over the coming long weekend and looking forward to the school holidays in July will provide a great boost for many.

Uniform Sub-Committee:  This week you will receive a link to a survey attempting to gain the family view on our school uniform. Some items are becoming hard to source and it has been a wish of the Community Council to refine the current Uniform. Having a good deal of responses will help the subcommittee inform their next steps and look at possibilities. We aim to survey the school families, staff and students in separate surveys.

Community Council AGM: Please also watch out for the invitation to attend the Annual General Meeting of the Community Council. This meeting will be held on Thursday 18 June in the Secondary Staffroom.

Semester Reports:  Even with the interruptions to our learning and teaching programs, teachers are busy gathering assessment data and information for Semester 1 Reports. These will be sent home on Thursday Week 10 (02 July).  Secondary Reports will provide results on all Subject areas with an A-E grade with no comments.  Primary Reports will grade the subjects of Religion, English and Mathematics on and A-E scale and will have no comments.

Opportunity will be provided to discuss grades and results with your child’s classroom/subject teachers at interviews. Times and dates will be provided closer to the time.  We are grateful to all our families for their amazing support and interaction through the Remote Learning time. McAuley really led the way with this program being able to put into practice the work already completed through our BYOD and Google Platform initiatives.

Enrol Now:  We are working on our 2021 Enrolment campaign in the local press and radio. Afternoon Open Tours are being offered for families to tour the school and find out more about what McAuley can offer. Please encourage family and friends to contact the school to book.

Kindergarten 2021/Primary School Open Tours:

Wednesday and Thursday 24 & 25 June: 3.30pm - 4.00pm & 4.00pm – 4.30pm.

Year 7, 2021/Secondary School Open Tours:

Wednesday & Thursday 01 & 02 July: 3.30pm – 4.00pm & 4.00pm – 4.30pm.

Year 7, 2021 Orientation Day (Try a Day at McAuley):

Wednesday 01 July.

The school website has more details and online applications are encouraged.  Information and Application Packs are available at the School office/s. https://mcauleytumut.nsw.edu.au/

Enjoy your long weekend everyone. Public holiday on Monday.

Mary our Mother… Look After Us.

Eamonn Moore

Principal

Staff Spiritual Formation

"Making time for God need not be a complicated process. On the contrary, it can be as simple as taking a moment to gaze at the world, to see it with God's eyes".— Margaret Silf.

The staff met this week to reflect on and nourish their individual prayer life through faith formation experiences.

Each teacher chose a reading from “Landscapes of Prayer: Finding God in your World and your Life,” by Margaret Silf  (2011, Lion Hudson) These were all based on environments within Australia with beautiful photographs to enhance the readings. Each reading included a bible passage and a series of thought-provoking questions. The landscapes of garden, the mountaintop, the seashore, the river and the forest, are all fertile areas to stimulate a relationship with God.

The staff then shared their insights about the readings and their perspective and understanding of prayer. In reflections from the readings the staff discovered that the "Garden" is a sacred space where the heart can be cultivated. In the garden people take care of plants and give God the glory for creation.

“Consider our hearts as gardens, with beauty and nourishment to offer others, with weeds that need tending, with pruning to be done. It is work to keep a garden paradise. “The Mountain" involved a journey to the top of a mountain which can be viewed as a metaphor for our own spiritual journey. Walking on the “Seashore” enables us to sense the beauty of creation "The seashore is a moving boundary between the predictability of dry land and the restless mystery of the ocean. To walk the seashore is to allow the mystery to touch the edges of our everyday world." The “River” was compared to prayer life as it is constantly moving and flowing within our everyday lives.

Brain Breaks for Staff

After such an intense beginning to Term 2 staff enjoyed a well- earned ‘brain break’ during their staff meeting. The teachers had fun, enjoying a quick game of ‘Clothes Peg Samurai.’ There was lots of laughter and a little bit of cheating....but not by Mr Moore of course!

Kindergarten 2021/Primary School Open Tours:

Wednesday and Thursday 24 & 25 June: 3.30pm - 4.00pm & 4.00pm – 4.30pm

Year 7, 2021/Secondary School Open Tours:

Wednesday & Thursday 01 & 02 July: 3.30pm – 4.00pm & 4.00pm – 4.30pm.

Year 7, 2021 Orientation Day (Try a Day at McAuley):

Wednesday 01 July.

We continue to enforce higher-level hygiene and cleaning standards. As our movies on social media remind us, “Not sharing is caring at McAuley” for the present time.

Please remember:

• If your child displays any signs of illness, cold or flu like symptoms they should stay at home.
• If they are referred to the school office/s their temperature will be checked and you will be asked to collect them.
• Physical distancing measures are not necessary amongst pupils but will be maintained in staffrooms and common areas for school staff and other adults.
• Hard copy assignments and teacher feedback processes are modified.
• Students are to bring their own drink bottle and fill it from the cold tap – no access to bubblers.
• Parents are discouraged from attending the school office/s and school common areas if at all possible.
• Parents are discouraged from congregating outside the school (Primary Pick Up Area) etc.
• There will be no school assemblies/masses or excursions this term.
• We are working on minimal movement for high school and primary school classes between rooms and areas.
• Increased hygiene and hand washing will be encouraged – each classroom with anti-bacterial hand wash.
• Cleaning of environmental spaces (Primary Equipment) and shared materials will be increased.
• Increased cleaning of school bathrooms and shared areas will take place.

During Year 8 Spanish Lessons, the students have been exploring the Virtual Reality (VR) world this week. Using the Expedition App, the virtual travellers looked in to the broader world with the aim of eventually undertaking tours around famous landmarks in Spain without leaving the classroom. The year has recently joined the world of ImmerseMe and is looking forward to ordering food in virtual cafes and negotiating travel within Spain through this interactive program. 

We provide the following information regarding Archdiocesan Athletics representation.

If you need further clarification, please contact Lyn Bathgate or Maree Stewart our Sports Coordinators: maree.stewart@cg.catholic.edu.au or lyn.bathgate@cg.catholic.edu.au 

Secondary Photo and Digital Media Elective students have been looking at the photographer Adde Adesokan and the triptych (a picture on 3 panels) portraits he takes.

The students then used that idea to take portraits of each other. It was a very interesting and enjoyable task, the students did very well and came up with some interesting images. Well done everyone. 

- Ms Clarke

Year 8 Mandatory Digital Technology students have been designing an ideal pet. 

They had to interview a partner and ask them questions about their ideal pet. The students made the pet out of recycling bits and pieces. They then had to code their micro-bit to go onto the facial area of the pet.

The students were asked to reflect on their design process - some very interesting pets were created. We hope you enjoy our gallery. 

Reconciliation Week at McAuley 27th May - 3rd June

Sadly we were unable to come together as a whole McAuley Community to acknowledge Reconciliation Week. We prayed together as a staff, and within our classes and complete activities and discuss the significance of Reconciliation Week. The anniversary dates which mark National Reconciliation Week are significant milestones for reconciliation: 27 May - the 1967 Refreendum and 3 June - the High Court Mabo Decision. Like other important dates we commemorate, the purpose remains the same even if the way we mark it is different.

The theme for Reconciliation Week in 2020 was “In This Together” is now resonating in ways the committee could not have foreseen when they announced this theme last year, but it reminds us all whether in a crisis or in reconciliation we are all in this together.

Our McAuley Community has a role to play when it comes to reconciliation, and in playing our part we collectively build relationships and communities that value Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, histories, cultures and futures.

Reconciliation is a journey for all Australians - as individuals, families, communities, organisations and importantly as a nation. At the heart of this journey are relationships between the broader Australian community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

Amelia was asked to organise some Year 6 students to 'create' a newsletter article about our school garden. Working in collaboration and without encouragement or assistance, they wrote, photographed and organised the following fabulous feature article. I am very proud of their efforts!

Vegetable/Garden Report

In the middle of Term One this year, as part of our Science unit, we researched what plants were suitable to grow in our school garden. Some of the factors that we had to include were: What plants are good for the climate that we have now, what their germination and harvesting times were. 

Once we had chosen the vegetable we were going to plant and made sure it was suitable for our climate, the next step was to make a greenhouse out of re-used and re-cyclable materials. Some of the things that our class used were Chinese containers, cordial bottles and even old straws.

After weeks of preparation, we were finally ready to start planting. We planted one of the seedlings in our greenhouse and one in the soil. We did this because we wanted to compare what plant would grow the fastest and if having a greenhouse changed the size and growth of the plant.

We watered the plants every second day, and once the plants out grew the greenhouses, we transferred them to the soil. After months of waiting, our plants have finally started to produce flowers and even some baby vegetables. Although most plants have started to produce, some still haven't bloomed.

Written by: Amelia and Georgie 

Pictures taken by: Amelia, Georgie, Aliviah, Tia, Ethan and Jeremy

We have students with confirmed life-threatening allergies to nut and eggs at McAuley. Please do not bring nut products or egg sandwiches to school. Thank you for your support.

Thanks to our faithful volunteers who continue to help keep our Primary Canteen operational and open for business!

Next week's roster is as follows 12:55pm to 1:30pm:

Monday 8th - Long weekend, Wednesday 10th June - Talea McGuffie, Friday 12th June - Lauren Masters. 

We still need a couple of volunteers for one day a month - so if you or someone you know would like to come on board - we'd love to hear from you!

Enjoy!