Dear Parents
This Sunday we begin a new liturgical year. Our Catholic Christian community begins on the weekend with a season of preparation for the special coming of Christ into our community at Christmas: the feast on which we celebrate the most momentous moment in human history – the birth over 2000 years ago of Jesus of Nazareth. Each season has its special grace, and the special grace of Advent is to prepare our world, our nation, our city, our home, and our heart, for the one who is always coming to us to heal us and to make this world a sanctuary in which God’s loving will is done. The new liturgical year heralds a new Gospel writer for the next twelve months. St Luke, the only non-Jew writer of the Gospels shares his journey as a Disciple and Apostle of Jesus.
On Wednesday 8th December all students will receive their semester two reports. As we were in lock down for nearly four months, the reports will predominantly reflect each students progress during online learning. There are written comments for each of the three key learning areas, Religion, Literacy and Numeracy which were the focus during the online learning period. No E-A grades have been assigned in these three key learning areas. A general overall comment reflects upon the students online behaviours, participation, initiative, effort and how have they met the expectations of their teachers. If you have any questions or need to seek further clarification regarding reports do not hesitate to contact me. Thanks.
The newly opened Burradoo drive through of an afternoon continues to attract more families each day. Thank you to those families who have already taken up this new option. I strongly encourage families to at least try the new drive through as it is proving quicker and more efficient. The purpose of establishing the new drive through is to relieve the traffic and congestion each afternoon along Statham Avenue. This project has been in the planning for eighteen months as both council and police in conjunction with myself searching for solutions to resolve the issues each afternoon on Statham Avenue. As a community it is all our responsibility [and now still under our control] to find a solution to traffic congestion as we don’t want the drive through on Statham Avenue to be closed down in the future. Hence the introduction of the Burradoo drive through of an afternoon.
Congratulations to our PBS4L token achievers for 2021. These students were rewarded for achieving the highest token totals for semester one this year. Thanks to Mrs Trethowan for her efforts in organising the award opportunity. We look forward in the new year to more children achieving these PBS4L rewards.
The announcement of teachers and their grades for 2022 will be made on Friday 10th December. This session will allow teachers to meet their children for next year, discuss expectations and answer any questions the students may have.
Due to school /NSW health orders there will be no whole school end of year thanksgiving mass. To acknowledge the efforts of students throughout 2021, our end of year achievement awards will take place in stage groups on Wednesday 15th December in the Parish Hall. Due to COVID protocols and restrictions parents will not be able to attend the awards presentation. As was the case last year the awards for each stage will be streamed live. Details regarding access to the live stream will be communicated in the coming days as will be a decision on when the 2022 student leadership team will be announced. On the final day of school students can be picked up from 12 noon. Supervision will be provided for students who need to remain for the day.
Have a great weekend!
Tony Hughes