Dear McAuley Families

Welcome back to Term 3.  I hope that every family has made themselves aware of the email sent last week in terms of the current procedures we are undertaking at school in terms of the Covid “Road Map”.  We remain at Step 2.2 for the time being.  This simply means that all excursions, large scale gatherings, assemblies, working bees etc remain on hold for now. 

We continue to enforce higher level cleaning and hygiene standards.  I know it is disappointing that we cannot return to more normal school days, but we must keep the safety of our staff and students at the fore.

At all times, we rely on the advice of NSW Health as well as Catholic Education and Catholic Schools NSW directives.  Please be assured that our Executive Team are well aware and very careful that all our decisions and operational matters are in line with the most current advice.

Satisfaction Surveys: In the coming weeks all staff, parents and students will receive email links to the 2020 Satisfaction Survey process.  These surveys work to gauge each year the things the school is doing well and to seek advice on were we might be able to improve.  These responses then inform part of our strategic planning and budgeting processes for 2021. I ask your support in completing these surveys in an honest and constructive way.  Your opinions as a community are vital to our smooth operation and good reputation.  The responses are also included as part of each year’s Annual Report - available on the McAuley website.

Routine: Please work hard to ensure that your sons and daughters quickly get back into a smooth school and study routine.  Good planning and sound organization bring comfort and assist with student achievement and a lessening of anxiety for all.

Enrol Now:  We continue our 2021 Enrolment Campaign and soon begin the interview process for new students and families for next year.  We continue to grow in numbers due to our very good (and well-deserved) local reputation. Please encourage those family and friends you know with children starting Kindergarten or Year 7 next year to book a tour and complete an application online. Numbers so far for 2021 are positive though I am aware that a number of families are yet to complete the enrolment process.  Please don’t hesitate to contact me if I can assist with questions or have a chat. 

Congratulations: Claudia and I were pleased to attend Parish Mass last weekend to help celebrate Father George’s 10^th anniversary as a priest.  I am personally very grateful to Father for his most positive support for us here at school and assure him of our continued prayers for him in his vital pastoral role in the local parish and schools.

Thank you:  Grateful thanks to our Primary teachers for their preparation and work for Parent – Teacher Interviews last week.  Thanks to those parents who made the time to come along and learn of some of the successes of your children and work to discuss some future goals.  A strong partnership is so important between school and family and leads to much improved outcomes for us all.  I hope the online bookings and electronic sign in assisted a smooth visit to school.

Uniform:  A reminder that all students K-10 must be dressed in correct school uniform.  Haircuts, jewellery and fingernails in extreme styles should be avoided (mainly due to safety factors).  Your support as parents is much appreciated if we are all on the “same page” with acceptable dress and appearance. A good and tidy school uniform should be worn with pride and clearly identify our excellent school to the local community.

Mary our Mother… Look After Us.

Eamonn Moore

Principal

On Monday 20th July our McAuley staff participated in their annual Spirituality Day. All the Western Deanery staff where involved, however due to the social distancing restrictions each school zoomed the presentation, which was facilitated by Fr Richard Leonard.

Fr Richard Leonard is a Jesuit priest, an author, educator and critic of our modern culture. He was Ordained a priest in 1993. He directs the Australian Catholic Office for Film & Broadcasting, is an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Catholic University; has been a visiting scholar within the School of Theatre, Film & Television at UCLA and a Visiting Professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. 

Fr Richard has served on juries at the Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Warsaw, Hong Kong, Montreal, Brisbane and Melbourne International Film Festivals and he has lectured on faith and culture all over the world. He has been published in America Magazine, Eureka Street, US Catholics, is a regular columnist with The London Tablet and is a regular guest on ABC Radio. He is also the author of ten books 

The Topic for the Spirituality Day: “Catholic identity: How can Catholic Education form believers in a media saturated culture?” As those involved in Catholic Education, we are called upon to live out our faith - to speak and live out the Good News. A tough ask! We are sent to our culture as it is, not as we would like it to be. And whether we like it or not, the media is the modern-day marketplace where minds and hearts are won and lost. 

There were three sessions to the workshop: 

1) What is the media telling us about ourselves? What we see in our Catholic Schools is not what we get! How much do we know about the media culture that forms us, and the young people given into our care? 

2) What is on our agenda? By focusing on one critical area in our pilgrimage of life, our relationships, we will look at the dramatic shifts and changes that the media is facilitating. As a result of these changes what is on our agenda? 

3) What can we do about it in Catholic Education? What strategies can we put in place to ensure that our people are prepared to critically engage with the media saturated culture while holding true to their faith in Jesus and the Community of the Church? 

Praise Song for the Pandemic
(Christine Valters Paintner)

Praise be the nurses and doctors, every medical staff who offer care, for lives saved and lives lost, for showing up either way.
Praise for the farmers, tilling soil, planting seeds so food can grow, an act of hope if ever there was
Praise be the janitors and garbage collectors, the grocery store assistants, and the truck drivers barrelling through long quiet nights.
Give thanks for bus drivers, delivery persons, postal workers, and all those keeping an eye on water, gas, and electricity.
Blessings on our leaders, making hard choices for the common good, offering words of assurance.
Celebrate the scientists, working away to understand the thing that plagues us, to find an antidote, all the medicine makers.
Praise be the teachers, finding new ways to educate children from afar, and blessings on parents holding it together for them.
Blessed are the elderly and those with weakened immune systems, all those who worry for their health, praise for those who stay at home to protect them.
Blessed are the domestic violence victims, on lock down with abusers, the homeless and refugees.
Blessed are the ones whose jobs are lost, who have no savings, who feel fear of the unknown gnawing.
Blessed are those in grief, especially who mourn alone. Blessed are those who have passed into the night.
Praise for police and firefighters, paramedics, and all who work to keep us safe, praise for all the workers and caregivers of every kind.
Praise for the sound of notifications, messages from friends reaching across the distance, give thanks for laughter and kindness.
Praise for the seas and rivers, forests and stones who teach us to endure.
Give thanks for our ancestors, for the wars and plagues they endured and survived, their resilience is in our bones, our blood.
Praise be the birds who continue to sing the sky awake each day, praise for the primrose poking yellow petals from dark earth, blessed is the air clearing overhead so one day we can breathe deeply again.
And when this has passed may we say that love spread more quickly than any virus ever could, may we say this was not just an ending but also a place to begin.

THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY COMMUNION will be celebrated on Wednesday 26th and Thursday 27th of August

This term we are hopeful of celebrating the Year 4 students Sacrament of Holy Communion after it was postponed due to restriction towards the end of Term 2. A note will go home to the Year 4 parents next week with more details.   

-Anita Mason REC.

A new term brings renewed energy and optimism. We are closer to Spring than Winter, the days will continue to get longer.  This is a chance for all of us to make renewed efforts to be our ‘best self’. There is no better teaching or learning our students can get than from their parents and teachers living out the motto ‘expect of ourselves what we expect of our children.’ 

Below is one of the many ‘life lessons’ you can find across social media. Even if we all made the effort to focus on improving with one of the 12, it would make a genuine difference to our happiness and the happiness of those around us. 

1. show respect and kindness to all people
2. give people you don’t know a fair chance 
3. accept people the way they are 
4. do little things for others everyday 
5. pay attention to who your real friends are 
6. stay in touch with people that matter to you
7. keep your promises and tell the truth
8. say what you mean and mean what you say 
9. allow others to make their own decisions 
10. talk a little less and listen a little more 
11. leave petty arguments and opinions and comments alone 
12. ignore un-constructive and hurtful commentary alone.

-Anita Mason, Religious Education Coordinator. 

(Library) Book Club is due next week Friday. Online orders only please. 

2021 Kindergarten students who have enrolled will be invited to attend three Kindergarten Orientation days as part of their transition to school program.

Please note, due to COVID-19 restrictions, these dates are NOT fully confirmed.

The proposed orientation days for 2021 Kindergarten Orientation will be: Tuesday 27th October, Wednesday 4th November and Thursday 12th November.

THINKING OF ENROLING? Now is the time to complete your paper work please.

Click on the link below to enrol online. Or ring the school on 02 69472000 for all enquiries. 

We have celebrated the achievements of hard working students throughout Semester One. Many students have received Merit and Achievement Awards during the last few weeks. Thank you everyone for your positive attitude and spirit you bring to McAuley. 

We continue to enforce higher-level hygiene and cleaning standards at McAuley.

Please remember:

• If your child displays any signs of illness, cold or flu like symptoms they should stay at home.
• Students are to bring their own drink bottle and fill it from the cold tap – no access to bubblers.
• No parent assemblies or excursions this term.
• Unwell students who are referred to the school office/s will have their temperature 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.
• Parents are discouraged from attending the school office/s and school common areas if possible.
• Parents are discouraged from congregating outside the school (Primary Pick Up Area) etc.
• Increased hygiene and hand washing will be maintained – each classroom/area with anti-bacterial hand wash.
• Cleaning of environmental spaces (Primary Equipment) and shared materials increased.
• Increased cleaning of school bathrooms and shared areas.

And the winners are…

Coleby Duck, Vince Piper, A. Hall, Mason Blundell, Letitia Burns and Adam Farquharson

Congratulations to our winners and thank you everyone who supported our raffle. 

Please click on the link below for information regarding the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD).

It has been noted that some high school students are having false fingernails applied. We ask that students please refrain from doing so as it presents many safety issues at school, particularly during PE and sport activities as well as TAS practical classes. We ask for your support please.

McAuley's involvement in the Accelerated Reader Program has continued in 2020, with Years 6, 7 and 8 participating in the program which encourages reading, matches students with books targeting their reading level whilst checking for comprehension. After only two terms, six secondary students have surpassed one million words read with several closer to the three million words. On Thursday they were rewarded with a treat of go buckets. Well done Chloe, Cindy, Liam, Dusty, Jiemin and Bobby.

-Kirsty Roche, Librarian

Year 6 have enjoyed coding with the school Ozobots. They created story maps for their Kindergarten buddies, incorporating a coded Ozobot track. There were Shrek, Little Red Riding Hood and Three Little Pigs story maps, with the Ozobots doing cool tricks. Loads of fun!!

For more great photos make sure you like our Facebook page. 

Year One were delighted with their brief visit from Mr Brooks recently. 

Mr Brooks visited to talk to the students about life in the  Australian Army Infantry, as a rifleman. Students were eager to learn about the equipment he uses , including the day pack and about the  uniform worn. Mr Brooks also brought photos of armoured vehicles and army transport vehicles.

Mr Brook's visit inspired our creative writers to write letters, information texts about the army and narratives including soldiers and army vehicles. 

Thanks Mr Brooks for your time and inspiration.

 Liz Boxall and Year One 

Please click on the link below for our Term 3 Canteen menu

We also need 3 volunteers for half an hour, once a month, to help keep our Primary Canteen operational. Please ring the school if you can lend a hand on either the first two Mondays of the month, or to help Narissa on the 4th Friday of every month.

Thanks everyone.