Issue 18, 6th November

Sunday Connection 

Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A Sunday, November 8, 2020

Gospel Reading Matthew 25:1-13

Jesus tells the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, teaching his disciples the importance of being prepared to receive the Kingdom of Heaven.

Family Connection

In the daily activities of family life, we can easily find excuses for not attending to our spiritual lives. If not given top priority, prayer and reading Scripture risk becoming occasional activities rather than daily practices. In Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus reminds us that if we fail to give our spiritual life priority, we will find ourselves unprepared to receive Jesus. Daily prayer and spiritual practice keeps us ready to receive Jesus.

Gather together as a family and talk about some of the things our faith calls us to do every day and every week to keep God first in our lives. Talk about what might happen if we don’t do these things regularly. Explain to your family that Jesus taught us that it is important to keep ourselves ready to receive him when he comes again. Tell them to listen as you read the parable that Jesus tells in Sunday’s Gospel. Read aloud Matthew 25:1-13. Talk with your family about why Jesus says that it is so important to remain ready to receive the Kingdom of Heaven. Pray together that your family will always keep God first in your lives so that you will all be prepared to receive Jesus when he comes. Pray together the Act of Hope.

Act of Hope

O my God, relying on your infinite mercy and promises, I hope to obtain pardon of my sins, the help of your grace, and life everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer.

Amen.

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We are pleased to confirm the following staff positions for 2021:

• Setup for Success/Learning Treasures Coordinator - Lauren Workman (Lauren is an experienced Early Childhood Educator and will complete her Bachelor of Education - Early Childhood, in early December).
• Kinder - Lauren Workman (3 days) Miss Workman will be in for the final Kinder Orientation session to meet parents and children on Friday, 4th December.
• Prep - Anna Hart.
• Grade 1 - Jenni Sharp (4 days), Lauren Workman (1 day) (Jenni is an experienced Early Years Teacher with extensive knowledge around Professional Learning Teams and data analysis) Miss Sharp will be in for the orientation morning on Thursday, 10th December.
• Grade 2 - Kelli Cook
• Grade  3 - John van Keulen
• Grade 4 - Tracey Fletcher
• Grade 5 - Rebecca Britton (Rebecca is an experienced teacher who is currently located in Launceston. Rebecca has been working at Star of the Sea Catholic College in George Town) Mrs Britton will be in for the orientation morning on Thursday, 10th December.
• Grade 6 - Montana Bradley
• Music - Nick Hart
• PE & 2 x other specialist subjects - TBC
• Chaplain - Donna Porteus
• Curriculum Coordinator - Jenni Sharp (1 day)
• Special Learning Needs Coordinator - Brooke Lardner
• Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Coordinator - Brooke Lardner
• Deputy Principal & Religious Education Coordinator - Andrea Jaffray Morf

Teacher Assistant positions will be announced in the following weeks.

We ask that families please continue to use the following options of communication with the school rather than face-to-face as follows:

• Calling on 6452 1431
• Emailing spc@catholic.tas.edu.au
• Writing messages in your child’s diary
• Contacting teachers via SeeSaw or email

For Assemblies, we ask that people please enter via the front office and use the hand sanitiser upon entry and sign in which is a Government requirement. Please adhere to the 1.5m social distancing and refrain from entering the school if you are unwell.

Congratulations to the following students who were presented with Aiming High awards at assembly last week:

Kinder -  Levi & Isla

Prep -  Brady & Brianna

Grade 1 - Georgina & Nina 

Grade 2 -  Bayley & Max

Grade 3 - Aihden & Kye

Grade 4 - Logan & Lewis

Grade 5 -  Jordan, Jack & Piper

Grade 6 - Asha & Freya

From now on, if any student is marked as absent by their teacher at the start of the day, parents/guardians will now receive a text message from SPC School with a link to add an attendence note. This message will automatically be sent by 10:00am. 

Invitations have gone home for Grade Six students to attend their Graduation Dinner at 5:30pm on Wednesday, 16th December at Jenski Restaurant & Cafe in Smith Street. Payments for dinner can be paid via the Qkr app.

Parents are invited from 7pm for cake and speeches at no cost.

Catholic Education Tasmania (CET), The Department of Education and Independent Schools Tasmania have collaborated and developed the following survey, designed to seek feedback from parents regarding the impact of students with disability learning from home during Term Two, 2020. The information gained allows Catholic Education Tasmania to better understand and respond for any future Learning @ Home circumstances. 

The Parent survey is accessible until 11th November at the following link: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=xzq-qWAMHkmLO6Mvj0auyIUaCqeTZe9CgElFof3CGxUMFpWQlA2RUsxWTZJSzlLWktCVVVNRTVRWSQlQCN0PWcu

Last Thursday students participated in Socktober events, as part of Mission month. The events of the day consisted of Grade 1 leading us in a beautiful prayer liturgy and each class creating their own coin circle and sockball.  Grade 6 students also organised some activities for us at lunchtime.  We managed to raise $316.75 for those in need, so a huge well done to everyone for their participation.

Grade 1 and 2 Religious Education displays;

Grade 1 learnt about Mary of Inclusive love and how they can help those in need.

Grade 2 have been reflecting on those less fortunate than us.  They wrote prayers of thanks and gratitude as they begin learning what it means to show compassion for others.

No Packet November® encourages families to reduce their consumption of packaged food for one month, and make a stand against the billion-dollar food manufacturers that are making us sick.

No Packet November® aims to teach our children that real food is grown, not made

in factories and covered with bright plastic packaging.

These foods are double rubbish; plastic on the outside and manufactured rubbish on the inside! 

Let's eat real food during the month of November and reduce the amount of packaged food we buy to improve our health and the environment. 

What it involves

We just want you to reduce the amount of packaged food you put into your kids and your own lunch boxes for the month of November, and replace with real food like fruits/vegetables and home made snacks.

​

Start by making small changes. 

Check out No Packet November web page for recipe ideas.

https://www.nopacketnovember.com/

Last Friday, Grade 4 had a wonderful day exploring Fossil Bluff for PLaCE.

Parents & Friends are having a cake stall on Saturday, 14th November. They would greatly appreciate donations of cooked goods. Anyone wishing to donate please drop your labelled goods to the school office on Friday, 13th November or to the stall on Saturday morning prior to 9am. The stall with be held on Emmett Street from 9:00am - 1:00pm or until sold out. 

The AGM will be held on Tuesday, 10th November at 3:00pm at school. Everyone is welcome.

Congratulations to Oliver who was the lucky recipient of the cake raffle last week. 

This year NAIDOC Week will be celebrated from the 8th - 15th Nov. Student will be participating in a variety of activities throughout the week. 

This weekend, we will have 3 teams participate in the annual Primary School Basketball Tournament in Devonport. We wish them all the best as they represent our school and a big thank you to the coaches, Thalia Bishop, Montana Bradley and Tracey Fletcher for giving up their weekend.

Good luck teams!