Newsletter Week 7, Term 3 2022
5 Gold Assembly
Principal Message
Dear Families,
This week our Yr 6 MAD STEM team of Olive, Louie, Maddie and Eve were successful in winning a NATIONAL AWARD for their entry "A Helping Hand". Their project outlined the development of an App to assist volunteers in times of crisis e.g. floods. The announcement was made on Wednesday. As well as winning a Major National Award they were also finalists in two other categories. The students will now travel to Melbourne on Monday where they will showcase their "project" at the National Catholic Educators Conference , which will have nearly 1400 delegates. This is an outstanding achievement and we are so proud of their achievements. A big thank you to Mr Lubans and Miss McMahon for their hard work and guidance.
During the week we had Jo Kennet conducting a writing workshop for some of our talented writers. Jo is the resident journalist for the local newspaper "THE WEEKLY". Her insights and skill in writing newspapers articles was well received by all our budding "journo's"!
On Wednesday our Yr 5 & 6 students celebrated a Mass with Fr Paul. Fr Paul was celebrating his 40th year as an ordained priest. This is a wonderful occasion and we congratulate him on reaching this milestone and thank him for the support, compassion and pastoral guidance he has provided over the last 40 years.
Thank you for embracing our current “Splash and Dash” fundraiser with such enthusiasm. A reminder that families need to go to schoolfunrun.com and create a student profile page. From here you can generate an online fundraising link that can be shared so that donations can be made. We are STRONGLY discouraging “Door Knocking” as the online system is safer and does not involve handling money.
Today I have received numerous messages (email, phone class, social media) this morning about students “door knocking”. Whilst this is very admirable as students are clearly trying to raise money it does present a number of problems. Firstly students are attempting to collect money but have nothing to evidence their legitimacy i.e. no raffle book, no goods, no receipt etc. In addition to this there is also the safety concern of students “door knocking” and not being adequately supervised.
If donations are being made, please direct the sponsor to your online fundraising link.
Finally a BIG THANK YOU to the parents who coordinated the Fathers Day Stall and Father's Day breakfast. There was a number "treasures" to be found in the Fathers Day stall and no doubt many Dad's will be amazed at what they receive - enjoy!! Our Father's Day breakfast was so well attended - many thanks to all the Dad's who came along to make the day so special. A big shout out to our Dad's and Mum's who manned the Barbecue and Canteen - great job, thank you!
Have a wonderful weekend, especially to all our Dad's!
Kind Regards,
Brian Laybutt
PRINCIPAL
Afternoon Pick Up
Please be reminded that cars are not to start queuing in the pick up zone prior to 3p.m. If cars arrive prior to 3p.m. they need to park in the car park.
If you wish to come into the school to pick up your child or park in the carpark you need to arrive before 3p.m.
At 3.00p.m. cars can start queueing which will invariably mean that if you arrive after 3.00p.m. you will need to join the queue and wait patiently.
A number of motorists are arriving post 3.00p.m. and instead of queuing they are deciding to overtake those in the queue. Clearly overtaking on double yellow lines and on a pedestrian crossing is not only illegal it is extremely dangerous for motorists, the crossing supervisor and the students. The school has made repeated attempts to curb this behaviour. If this continues the number plates of these vehicles will be passed onto the Police.
Please note, the school bell sounds at 3.05p.m. by the time students get to the pick up it is approx 3.08p.m. at which point the queue of cars begins to move. By 3.20p.m. all students have been picked up. The queue, carpark and all students (apart from buses) have vacated the school in 12 minutes - please be patient!!
Thank you for your understanding.
REMINDER
STAFF DEVELOPMENT DAYS
Friday 23rd September - Last Day of Term 3
Thursday 10th November - Wk 5 Term 4
Friday 11th November - Wk 5 Term 4
Religious Education News
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Next Thursday we celebrate the birthday of Mary.
Let us be glad for the mother of Jesus.
God, our Saviour,
Thank you for giving us Mary, who agreed to be the mother of your son. Amen
40th Priestly Ordination Anniversary of Father Paul
Last Tuesday at the morning Parish Mass the Year 5 and 6 students were very fortunate to celebrate the 40th Priestly Ordination Anniversary of Father Paul. He was ordained on this exact date 40 years ago at Sacred Heart Church, Murwillumbah. During Mass we watch a wonderful PowerPoint presentation including images of his ordination and various times and events in his life. We congratulated Father Paul on behalf of the School Community and Parent Forum, presenting him with some gifts. It was a wonderful celebration and we thank Father Paul for all his guidance, support and spiritual direction.
Year 3 Religion/Confirmation Retreat Day
On Monday we celebrated a wonderful retreat day learning and reflecting on scripture, signs and symbols connected to the Pentecost Story, gifts of the Holy Spirit, and The Sacrament of Confirmation.
A big thank you to Fiona, Lacey Mackney’s mother who picked up our pizza lunch from Dominos and delivered it to us. We had wonderful Youth Ministry Students from
St Joseph’s College join us, working with our students for the day and sharing their stories.
Thank you for your fantastic help Claire, Noah, Sebastian, James, Georgia, Layla and Arreya
Weekly Award Winners
School News
We’re off to Melbourne!
With great pleasure, we announce that our St Ambrose STEM MAD team has been chosen as finalists in the National STEM MAD competition and will be showcasing their project at the STEM MAD National showcase at Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on Tuesday 6th September.
The STEM MAD Student Showcase is a celebration of student learning designed to acknowledge and promote STEM learning initiatives that address real-world problems and demonstrate the particularity of Catholic Schools; encouraging students to make a difference in the world by acting for justice and the common good.
The STEM MAD National award ceremony was held on Wednesday 31st August with schools across twelve Catholic Dioceses taking part.
The St Ambrose STEM MAD team was nominated for three major awards including;
- Demonstrating the Catholic Ethos
- Communications Award
- STEM MAD National Future is STEM award.
St Ambrose was awarded as the winner for Demonstrating the Catholic Ethos.
A huge congratulations to Madeleine, Eve, Olive and Louis for the incredible time and effort you put into this project!
Australian Teacher Aide Appreciation Week
On Wednesday we celebrated all of our wonderful support staff. We are so fortunate to have such wonderful people working within our school and we acknowledge, appreciate and recognise the positive impact they have on the lives of our students, teachers and families. Thank you Christelle, Narelle, Jeff, Neisha, Darcy, Victoria, Shelley and Errol - we truly appreciate the work you do.
Happy Fathers Day
Thank you to those who came to celebrate our Father's Day Breakfast. It was a special morning enjoyed by all. Thank you to all the mums and dads who volunteered on the BBQ and canteen.
Sports
Sports Electives
Sports Electives Consent Forms have now been sent out via Compass Events - Payment and Consent is due by Thursday 8th September.
Wellbeing
Parent Talk
The latest edition of Parent Talk provides some very helpful information for parents and carers, including access to free headspace webinars and a cyberbullying webinar facilitated by the eSafety Commissioner.
https://ccsp.schoolzineplus.
Parent Forum
Splash & Dash
This week we launched the major fundraiser for 2022, School Fun Run Splash & Dash! This will take place on Friday week 1, Term 4. Students have been given an information flyer and fundraising booklet to take home today. This includes all the information needed to set up your child's online fundraising profile. The first prize will be awarded at the week 7 assembly to the class who has the most online profiles created!Please help support the Parent Forum and the students in their fundraising efforts. We are fundraising for playground equipment and upgrades to the sandpit play area.Each week students will be provided with updates on our progress towards our fundraising goal.
