Dear Parents
Welcome to Week 4. The weather certainly took a turn towards the end of last week with the polar blast bringing plenty of snow and wind to our local areas. A timely reminder for all students to have school jumpers and jackets with them everyday!

Congratulations to the Community Council and parent organisers of the St Patricks Trivia Night. It was a great night with plenty of laughs and a variety of Aussie characters. A great fundraiser for our school.

Thank you to parents that attended our Community Council Open Meeting last Thursday evening. We appreciate parent feedback and ideas. Some of the items raised included ......
* School excursions
* End of Month Awards
* Pastoral Care Policy
Each of these will be addressed in our newsletter over the coming weeks.

This Thursday we celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. Mass will be lead by our Year 3/4 students and Mr Ferguson at 12pm in St Patrick’s Church. Please join us for this Holy Day of Obligation. 

Some exciting events coming up towards the end of term include......

21st August - WR Public Speaking Comp against McAuley Catholic Central School

22nd August - Archdiocesan Athletics Carnival                                                 

23^rd August-First Reconciliation

25th-26th September-K-6 Writing Celebration

25th September - David Enever Concert for K-6                  

Every Friday-Little Learners Preschool Program

I will be attending the WR Principals Meeting tomorrow and Thursday in Grenfell followed by Siloam Thursday evening and Friday. Please see Mrs Wilson in my absence if needed.

School Photo Day tomorrow. All students are asked to come dressed in FULL winter school uniform please. Hats can be brought to school in bags and worn after photos.

Enjoy the week ahead,

Christine Baron

Mary MacKillop

On Thursday 8^th August we celebrated the Feast of Mary MacKillop. Children from Kindergarten to Year Six reverently presented a special liturgy in honour of Australia’s only saint. We were joined by many parents, grandparents and friends of our school community to celebrate an inspirational woman.

Mary MacKillop was an educator, a pioneer and a leader, someone who had compassion for others regardless of their situation or race.

Mary MacKillop’s attitude was always of forgiveness and respect. She demonstrated vision, courage and leadership.

Mary’s motto was ‘never see a need without doing something about it’.

The Feast of the Assumption

The Church celebrates the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady on the 15^th August. The Assumption signals the end of Mary’s earthly life and marks her return to heaven, body and soul, to be reunited with Jesus.

This special feast is a holy day of obligation. We will celebrate Mass at 12 noon. Year 3/4 will be leading us in the Mass on Thursday.

Reconciliation

We continue to pray for our children who will receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation on the 23^rd August. These children and their parents completed their second session of their preparation on Saturday. The children enthusiastically participated in their activities and discussions and reflected on the stories of the ‘Lost Sheep’ and ‘Zacchaeus’. We know that God loves us and is always ready to forgive us when we are sorry. Reconciliation brings us back together.

Altar Serving

We are organising a training session with Father George for our Altar Servers. This will give the children some further guidance and confidence as they undertake their serving duties. We will let you know as soon as this is finalised. If there is anyone who would like to be included in this training and placed on the Roster, please let me know.

Walking with you in Faith and Knowledge,

Mrs Howe

 REC

Week 3
This week in Peer Support children will discuss skills and how to communicate their feelings and needs to others.The children will discuss skills they use when participating in a variety of activities. When children understand they already have many of the skills needed to succeed, they can feel more confident when trying something new.The children are asked to identify events which trigger different feelings. Encourage your child to remember the skills they have used in one activity when trying something new. Also encourage your child to communicate their feelings and needs.

Week 4
This week in Peer Support children will revise what they have learned about resilience and discuss the people who show them support.Through a story the children identify where the character has used her personal qualities, strengths and skills to help her overcome challenges.They identify times when she needed support to continue.The children discuss a range of challenges and determine the best person to approach for support.The children consolidate the protective factors for resilience by revising their own strengths and skills and identifying 5 people they can go to for support. Remind your child of their qualities and skills and encourage them to ask for help in challenging situations.

Our school photo day is on this Wednesday 14th of August.  Full winter uniform is to be worn. Please ensure you return the photo envelope on Wednesday morning.  If you are paying by cash please have the correct money as no change will be given.  Orders can be made online using your child's allocated student identification code.  Please write down the online receipt number on the envelope. 

The theme ‘All things Australian’ was well covered on Friday nights Trivia Night.

Landmarks and native animals were recreated and of course the Aussie classics vegemite and Bundy Rum.

Fountain Gate was well represented with the cast from Kath and Kim. 

The recent Ashes win inspired the return of a few cricketing heroes. 

From the glitz and glamour of Dame Edna to outback icons including the man from snowy river and a cast of convicts.

An appearance from Scott and Charlene took us back to the late 80’s, as did Kylie Mole and Con the Fruiter. 

Our Aussie kids were represented by the Wiggles and Bananas in Pyjamas.

Food was Aussie inspired - pies and sausage rolls with tomato sauce, cob loaves cooked by clever mums, Jatz, cabanossi and cheese, Simone Jones triple strength rum balls always help the crowd to kick on, plus classic mini meringues.

Trivia was contested in good spirit and humour. Questions covered sport, music, geography, culture, history, tourism and our unique slang. The ‘Flamin’ Galahs’ proving unbeatable when it comes to their Aussie knowledge. 

Thanks to all who contributed including:

- the many volunteer cooks

- the Bakery and Woolies for donations of food

- Michelle McDonnell and Alicia Hargreaves who gave up their chance to show off their Aussie knowledge at the trivia tables and scored each round

- Kate Graham for her exceptional organisation and craft skills.

- The Ryan’s for their dedication to creating a fun, original and challenging trivia contest

- and finally the fabulous guests!!

The trivia night has raised a smidge over $2000 for which we are very grateful.

Congratulations to the winners of the class speak offs.  The standard was extremely high and the content and creativity of the student's speeches is to be commended.  The following children were successful in making it away to the next level of the Inter-School speak off with McAuley Tumut which will be held at St Patrick's Hall on Wednesday 21st of August at 10am. 

Year 3 - First: Hugh Ryan     Second: Akacia Winchester

Year 4 - First: Jessica McDonnell    Second: Juliet Pearce 

Year 5 - First: Sadie Eccleston   Second: Sarah Scott 

Year 6 - First: Lily McDonnell   Second: Isaac Pearce 

The children will speak in front of our school at this Friday's assembly at 2:20pm.  We look forward to giving them a larger audience to practice in front of. 

Our "Little Learners" program is held every Friday in our learning hub room. The morning commences at 9:30am and finishes at 11:30am. Morning tea is provided to all who attend including parents, grandparents, siblings and friends.  Tash Smith is our coordinator and has a very educational, fun program set out for each individual. 

Week 3 the children's theme was "Colours of the Rainbow" the children made rainbows out of colourful paper that they cut out and glued cotton balls to represent their clouds.  

This week's theme (Friday 16th of August) will be "Pirates"  ALL children 0-5 are welcome to attend.  Come dressed as a pirate and join in on the games and activities that Tash will have set out.  

We are lucky enough to have our very own local author, Helen Castles booked in to visit our school on Thursday 29th of August at 10am to talk to our students about her role as an author for her newly published book "Scoop McLaren".  We have order forms that we will be sending home shortly should you wish to order one of Helen's books. They are $14.99 each and each copy sold will be personally signed by Helen.  We are very excited to have Helen visit our school in the coming weeks. 

Week 2 Term 3

KINDERGARTEN/YEAR 1:  Molly Lott for being a helpful and caring class member

YEAR 1/2: Charlotte McDonnell Showing great investigation skills in mathematics

YEAR 3/4: Juliet Pearce For valuable contributions to class discussions 

YEAR 5/6: Asher Jones Mature work habits and consistent focus on tasks 

Week 3 - Term 3 

KINDERGARTEN/YEAR 1: Tyler Manns For recognition of place value of numbers

YEAR 1/2: Nate Tozer  A helpful, cooperative and responsible class member and peer

YEAR 3/4: Harry Crowe For facing his fears and delivering a great speech on "Good Advice"

YEAR 5/6: Sadie Eccleston Demonstrating initiative and creative thinking in all class learning

Congratulations to our Wildcat Award Recipients 

Week 2 - Term 3

RESPONSIBLE: Taite Johnson

RESPECT: Asher Jones, Maggie Peterson 

SAFE: Lily McDonnell 

Week 3 - Term 3 

RESPONSIBLE:  Jack Ryan, Garvita Joshi, Taite Johnson, Oliver Gailey, Nate Tozer

RESPECT:  Gracie Peterson, Jessica McDonnell, Charlotte McDonnell, Alix Kerin, Abby McDonnell

SAFE:  Hugh Ryan, Nate Tozer, Alexander Ryan

Our very best birthday wishes to the following people who celebrated their birthdays recently.

2nd August - Alexander Ryan and Mrs Flanagan 

6th August - Mrs Hughes 

12th August - Harrison Crowe 

We hope you all had a wonderful birthday.

Tumut Representative Basketball Trials for the 2019/2020 Season 

Where: Tumut Basketball Stadium

When: Sunday 25th of August 

Time: 2pm - 3:30pm for U12s and U14s 

3:30pm - 5pm for U16s and U18s

Bring a basketball and your drink bottle to trials

All players must attend trials to be considered for Rep teams 

All enquiries to Rep Coordinator Jason Beavan on 0418 430 905