19 December 2018

Newsletter Articles

Prayer and Reflection

Mankind is a great, an immense family... This is proved by what we feel in our hearts at Christmas.- Pope John XXIII

An Advent Virus

A couple of years ago our Director, John Mula sent out a reflection on Advent and Christmas titled “An Advent Virus”. I think it deserves another sharing:

Be on the alert for symptoms of inner Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. The hearts of a great many have already been exposed to this virus and it is possible that people everywhere could come down with it in epidemic proportions. This could pose a serious threat to what has, up to now, been a fairly stable condition of conflict in the world.

Some signs and symptoms of The Advent Virus are:

• A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than on fears based on past experiences.
• An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment.
• A loss of interest in judging other people.
• A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others.
• A loss of interest in conflict.
• A loss of the ability to worry. (This is a very serious symptom.)
• Frequent, overwhelming episodes of appreciation.
• Contented feelings of connectedness with others and nature.
• Frequent attacks of smiling.
• An increasing tendency to let things happen rather than make them happen.
• An increased susceptibility to the love extended by others as well as the uncontrollable urge to extend it.

Principal’s Report

Dear Parents and Guardians

On behalf of everyone at St Cuthbert’s Catholic School I would like to wish you a happy and holy Christmas. I hope that you are able to spend some valuable time with family and friends during the break.

Once again, we have had a fantastic year at St Cuthbert’s and are grateful and thankful to everyone who has contributed to this success.

We are thankful for the guidance and pastoral support that we receive from our Parish Priest, Fr. Peter O’ Loughlin. As many of you know Fr. Peter is a retiring in early January. Father Peter has made an outstanding contribution to our school community and to the broader parish community for the past 20 years. We have valued his presence at our school and thank him for his support, encouragement and leadership over so many years. We wish him every blessing in his retirement.

I would also like to thank and acknowledge our Advisory Board for their sound advice and judgement throughout the year. I would particularly like to acknowledge and thank two long serving members of our board, our Chairperson, Mrs. Jane Knowles and our Secretary, Mrs. Natalie Lockwood. Jane has announced that she will be stepping down from her role as Chairperson and will also be leaving our Board at the end of the year. Natalie will relinquish her role as Secretary, however will remain as a member of the Board. We thank both Jane and Natalie for their leadership, wisdom and significant contribution to the development of our school over many years.

Our Parents and Friends continue to meet on a regular basis and have once again played an important part in developing community through such initiatives as our Quiz Night, Mother’s and Father’s Day stalls and the Footy Breakfast. They have also been instrumental in raising much needed funds for our school. We simply could not offer the very high standard of education to our students without our Parents and Friends who volunteer their time and expertise each year. We are indebted to the work of Mrs.Teresa Henley and her executive.

We are very fortunate at St. Cuthbert’s to have an extraordinary staff. The work of our staff – teachers, teacher assistants, office staff and ancillary staff is central to our mission. They continue to embrace and celebrate the uniqueness of all the children and families within our community. Their commitment and dedication is fundamentally what makes our school the excellent school it is today.

I would like to make special mention of the contribution made to our school by our Assistant Principals, Mrs. Di O’Rourke and Mr. Lachlan Marsh. I thank them both for the calm, considerate and professional manner in which they have gone about their duties throughout the year. We are most appreciative of their support and leadership. Both Di and Lachie are heading off on new educational challenges next year with Di being appointed Deputy Principal at John Paul II Catholic School and Lachie being appointed Religious Education Coordinator at MacKillop College. We wish both of them every success with their new positions.

I would like to acknowledge Mrs. Deb Williams for the wonderful work she has done in the Acting Assistant Principal Learning and Teaching Role this term.  This is a very challenging role at a very busy time of the year.  We thank Deb for the professional manner in which she has gone about her duties.

This year we also farewell Mrs. Sarah Langworthy (nee Duggan) and Miss Emma Price. Sarah is off to work at Corpus Christi and Emma will join the staff at St Therese’s Catholic School. We thank both Sarah and Emma for their contribution to our community these past four years and wish them every success at their new schools.

Mrs. Maria Cooling is retiring at the end of this year. Maria has had a lifelong association with St Cuthbert’s School. This started out as a student, with Maria attending the school from Grade One to Grade Six.

Maria and her husband Bruce then chose St Cuthbert’s for the education of their children Natalie, Michelle and Andrew, who attended the school from Prep to Grade 6. During this time Maria supported St Cuthbert's as a parent, and tirelessly worked as a volunteer with parent help in classrooms, sports carnivals and other school events.

Maria began working at the school as a Teacher’s Assistant in1996. Her genuine concern for the success and wellbeing of all students has been reflected in their appreciation and gratitude for all that she has done. Maria had a particular talent in assisting students who needed support with their speech, and she worked closely with Speech Therapist Rosalie Martin so that she could deliver supporting programmes within the school. Maria’s role as Teacher Assistant in the classroom has also been a feature of her time in at St Cuthbert’s. She has worked from Prep to Grade Six, but has spent most of her time in the Early Years classrooms. Her focus has generally been in Literacy Support. We would like to extend our greatest appreciation for her contribution to St Cuthbert’s School and wish her well for the future.

We thank Mrs Sarah Cassidy and Mr Josh Williams for their contributions this year and wish them every success in their new positions at St John’s Catholic School next year.

To our students, thank you for manner in which you have conducted yourself this year. Having just read all of your reports and observed you throughout the year, I know that this has been a year of great growth and discovery. The joy, the laughter, the exuberance and excitement you bring to our school is infectious. Your unique gifts and talents never cease to amaze. Have a great holiday and try not to be too demanding on your parents.

Finally, we say farewell to a number of families whose children will graduate from Grade 6 tomorrow. Many of these families have had a long association with our school, beginning some eight years ago when they first arrived for kindergarten.

These include:

The McGowan, Nesbitt, Burdon, Carlyon, Cavanagh, Fulton, Gregs, Haider, Karunakara, Murray, Shearing, Spong, Stephen, Williams families.

Thank you for the many valuable contributions you have made to our school.

We look forward to working with you again in 2019.

Staffing 2019

It gives me great pleasure to announce the staff for 2019:

Principal - Marcus Donnelly
Deputy Principal - Rachel Kelly
REC - Katie Potter
SLN Coordinator - Georgie Fleming
PBS - Rom Fabrizio
Literacy Coordinator & Support Deb Williams (Thurs-Fri)
HPE/Lit Support - Sandy Clark (Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri)
Literacy Support - Mary Turncock
ICT team - Katherine Debbie & Deb Donato
LOTE - Loretta Osborn
Library - Lee Carrick

Kindergarten - Tamika Lowe
Prep - Loretta Osborn & Stephanie Cripps (Thurs-Fri)
Grade 1/2 Blue - Deb Williams & Brigitte Gralak (Thurs-Fri)
Grade 1/2 Green - Juanita Topham & Louise Zegveld (Thurs-Fri)
Grade 1/2 Red - Meghan Williams
Grade 3/4 Blue - Andrea Watt
Grade 3/4 Red - Melissa Thirgood & Katie Potter (Wed-Fri)
Grade 3/4 Green - Ethan Brighella
Grade 5 Blue - Katherine Dobbie & Anita Cranfield (Wed)
Grade 5 Green - Rebecca Cooray & Steve Bentley (Thurs-Fri)
Grade 6 - Romeo Fabrizio & Claire Chivers (Thurs-Fri)

Birth to Four - Tamika Lowe

Teacher Assistant - Gina Nichols
Teacher Assistant - Kathy Tanner
Teacher Assistant - Sarah Simaan
Teacher Assistant - Jo Shearing
Teacher Assistant - Gemma Chivers
Teacher Assistant - Melissa Lattanzio
Teacher Assistant - Lee Carrick

Business Manager - Karen Sawyer
School Administrator - Allison Norman
Admin/Finance Assistant - Donna Jones
Utility Officer - John Sawyer
Uniform Shop - Michelle Smith Hughes
Cleaning - Florence Haley

Marcus Donnelly
PRINCIPAL
St Cuthbert’s Catholic School

Principal Awards

PBS News

End of Year Awards

Congratulations to these students who received awards at Tuesday’s Grade 6 Awards Presentation:

Class Teacher Awards

Congratulations to these students who received the Class Awards at our End of Year Assembly this morning:

Principal’s Awards

Veronika Davie

Music Awards

Health & Physical Education Awards

Indonesian Awards

Updating contact details

Please return forms with any updates to your contact details, before the last day of Term. Thank you.

Lost Property

Please check Lost Property before the End of Term. Any unclaimed items will be donated. Thank you.

Christmas Mass Times

Corpus Christi, Bellerive

Christmas Eve: 12:00 AM (Midnight Mass - Carols before Mass)
Christmas Day: 9:30 AM, 6:00 PM
Sunday: 10:30 AM, 6:00 PM

Church of the Incarnation, Lindisfarne

Christmas Eve: 7:00 PM (Family Mass)
Saturday: 6:00 PM (Vigil Mass)

John Paul II, Rokeby

Christmas Eve: 5:30 PM (Family Mass)
Sunday: 8:30 AM

Uniform Shop

TERM 4

Tuesday 8.45-9.30am
Thursday 2.30-3.00pm

Prior to Back to School

Tuesday 29th January 2019: 11am-1pm
and Wednesday 30th January 2019: 5-6.30pm

WWVP Card Update

A number of WWVP Cards expire in 2018. Could those who have cards registered at the Office, please update them asap if they have expired. Thank you.

Term Dates 2019

Important Dates

Cricket

Saturday 15 December - Gates Open: 1:55pm

Match 1: 2:20pm: Adelaide Strikers vs Sydney Thunder
Match 2: 7:00pm: Hobart Hurricanes vs Sydney Sixers

Sunday 16 December - Gates Open: 9:45am

Match 1: 10:10am: Adelaide Strikers vs Sydney Thunder
Match 2: 1.50pm: Hobart Hurricanes vs Sydney Sixers

Activities occurring across the weekend include:

• Hurricanes Fan Day Season Launch from 5PM Saturday – Family activities and giveaways
• 'Meet & Greet' Hurricanes WBBL + BBL stars for autographs & photos
• BOUNCE Inc Zone – Major outdoor trampoline set-up on ‘The Hill’!!!
• MyState Bank Giant Inflatable Pirate Ship
• Tassal Tasmanian Salmon Classic Catches Unit
• Hurricanes Throw Targets Wall
• Family Picnic Rugs | Mascots | Contests | Food & Drink
• Free entry