Dear McAuley Families

Welcome back to Academic Year 2022.  I begin my 3^rd year as principal of this wonderful school under another cloud as COVID alters our processes again and we work to meet the current restrictions.  As always, we aim to keep our communication as factual and practical as we are able to, and, work not to bombard you with too much.  Any important communication will always be sent via Compass as an email whilst our Face Book page will deal more with quick messages and “social” media.

Yet again our staff have rallied to be well prepared for any eventuality and to make our beginning of school as smooth and as “normal” as they can.  I thank each and every member of staff for their resilience and energy and assure you that things have started extremely well at McAuley.

The current restrictions have been notified to you and are basically the same as we ended last year with visitors and events restricted.  It’s hard to build community keeping people out but I know all of our families are speaking so well of our school around the area and I thank you for that.

Each day you will receive a notification of any reported positive COVID cases identified by Year level.  At the time of writing we have not had an exposure at school and I thank each family for being vigilant and testing at home.  Please be assured of your information remaining private. 

You only need to notify the school if one of your children tests positive and we suggest that you perform the RAT twice a week – on Monday and Wednesday morning if that suits your family.  Early days are showing very little impact on our classes and I hope and pray that this might continue.  We are working closely with our neighbouring Catholic Schools and CE to have contingencies in place should the situation change.

Yesterday we welcomed 17 new Kindergarten students as they begin their educational journey here at McAuley.  There was a great buzz as each student unpacked with their buddies in the classroom.  Only a few tears – mostly from mums!  Please be assured you have made an excellent choice in selecting our school for your family.  Counting our New Year 7 starters we welcomed close to 30 new students spread across every year level as we began this week.  Thank you all for your trust in our school and welcome to our community.  Our K-10 enrolment this week is 337.

There will be quite an amount of information elsewhere in this Newsletter to get things going for the year in a sensible and organised way.  Be sure to reach out to your child’s classroom or PC teacher should you have any questions or difficulties.  It’s important to build family routines now as we get back to school.  Please encourage your children to use diaries, calendars and online tools such as Compass to be organised and on track.  Spend some time at home each evening planning and organising as well as reading and completing “screen free” activities being active and moving.  This lowers stress and aids our mental health and overall wellbeing.

Congratulations to our Counsellor Mel who welcomed a baby boy in January.  We have access to a Catholic Care counsellor two days a week this year and will notify families of contact details as soon as we are up and running.

In the meantime, stay safe and thank you again for your efforts to get “back to normal”.

Mary our Mother… Look after us.

Eamonn Moore - Principal

Reflection: We’re living in unprecedented times where our ‘normal way of life’ has been completely and utterly disrupted. You might be finding it hard to process and express what you’re thinking and feeling. So our prayer for today is based on phrase from Psalm 46,‘Be still and Know that I am God’ It is often difficult to be still and to get away from the noise and activity that is part and parcel of the world we live in, particularly during the pandemic. But silence and solitude are necessary practices in an individual’s spiritual journey so that we can come to know God.

The first Christian hermits went off into the desert, as Jesus had done, in search of God. As the prophet Elijah discovered in his cave on the mountain, God is not in the wind or the earthquake or in the fire but in the silence of the gentle breeze.

The psalmist also says ‘God is the still small voice within.’ So often our lives as so noisy we can’t hear that voice. 

“Being still” is not simply sitting in a quiet room or away from audible noise. It speaks of us reducing to silence all those forms of noise, thoughts, distractions, and clutter that could prevent us from hearing that still small voice. 

The Psalmist goes on to say, “and know that I am God”. The definition of the word “know” really brings depth to what is being said here. We should take the time to be still and reduce to silence everything that distracts us from knowing Him. It is also important to know that in your stillness and silence, God is there to walk with you and support you.

PRAYER

God of stillness and quiet, 

you are the still point in our fast-paced, frantic world. 

Help us to stop; 

to rest a while in you; 

to experience your presence and to bask in your love. 

Help us to know You and recognise that in the stillness you are always with us. 

We ask this in Jesus' name. 

Amen. 

Term One's integrating Focus' role model, Veena Sahajwalla, is an excellent example of Catholic Social Teaching of Care for our Common Home. 

NSWSTATE RECIPIENTAUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR2022

The students have spent time in the first week of school learning about Veena Sahajwalla, and the valuable contributions she has made to our environrment. 

She is a materials scientist, engineer and inventor, who pioneers research into waste – turning it into a new generation of green materials and products. She does this as the Founding Director of the Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology at the University of New South Wales.

Veena is most well known for her invention of Polymer Injection Technology, or ‘Green Steel’. In 2018, she launched the first of many MICROfactories.

She leads two national research and industrial transformation hubs, the ARC Microrecycling Research Hub and the National Environmental Science Program Sustainable Communities and Waste Hub. Veena collaborates with leading universities and institutions, plus industry and community groups, to develop and apply new recycling science into real-world environmental and economic benefits. She’s been instrumental in raising the profile of STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) in Australia, enhancing public understanding of its importance. The students have “I look at hard rubbish and I think ‘How can you throw that out?’” 

McAuley is very excited to welcome two new, first-year graduate teachers who join our Primary teaching staff.

Bethany Bruce is teaching one of our Year 3/4 classes. Bethany is a Gundagai girl who has trained through Charles Sturt University in Wagga. She completed a degree in Primary Teaching and History K-12. Her passions are learning about History and she loves being creative. She is very keen to create a fun learning environment and instil values, morals and beliefs in our students.