A Message from Mr Jon Franzin, Principal

A Message from Mr Jon Franzin, Principal Dear Parents, Students and Friends of St Gabriel’s,

Open Day

Thank you to all of the staff and students for their efforts on Open Day this week. The School presented itself very well and a new standard was reached thanks to the leadership of the Head of Marketing and Communications, Mrs Candice Palin, the organisational work of Ms

Jacqui Cashmore, the networking and co-ordination of Mrs Jo Biggs, and the support and hard work of many others, including the maintenance staff. We had many visiting families – parents and prospective students pass through on the day to see our wonderful school in action.

The Parent Group

Many thanks to the parents who joined us for our first Parent Group meeting for the year. In particular, I would like to thank Mrs Amanda Nassour, our Parent Group Leader, for her dedication, commitment and willingness to take on this very important role. At the meeting, many ideas were discussed and raised in preparation for the year ahead. This is a great way for parents to engage with one another and learn more about the St Gabriel’s community. I would encourage those who were unable to attend to do so for our upcoming meetings over the course of the year. I look forward to gathering with our Dads at our upcoming Barefoot Bowls event on Sunday 29th March 2.00 p.m. – 4.00 p.m. at The Hills Club, 6-18 Jenner Street, Baulkham Hills.

Staffing Update

It gives me great pleasure to introduce the following new staff to St Gabriel’s:

Mr Dominic Lindsay has been appointed to the position of Music Teacher at St Gabriel’s. Dominic has a Bachelor of Music and currently works part-time as the Music Teacher at Oxley College, Burradoo which he will continue to maintain this year. Dominic has considerable experience as a musical director and conductor and has previously held the position as Coordinator of Marist Parramatta School Orchestra Program. Dominic has also performed with the Sydney and Canberra Symphony Orchestras, Australian Chamber Orchestra and has had a career with song writing, recording and arranging with television shows such as the Wiggles, Dorothy the Dinosaur Show and Fairies, and comes highly recommended to this position.

NEWSLETTER Term 1 Week 7 - Friday 13 March 2020 1

Mrs Sarah Quinn has been appointed to the position of Marketing and Communications Assistant on a full time basis (Mon-Thurs at St Gabriel’s and Friday at St Edmund’s). Sarah’s qualifications are Business (Employment Services) Certificate IV, Public Relations Certificate IV and she is currently completing her Bachelor of Business (Marketing) at Swinburne University. Sarah was employed at Sister 2 Sister School of Singing and previously worked in the Development Team at ERSES between 2011 and 2012. Sarah has also worked in the not for profit area as well as in recruitment for many years and comes highly recommended to this position.

On behalf of the St Gabriel’s community, I congratulate and welcome both Mr Lindsay and Mrs Quinn to our school and trust that their time with us will be both professionally and personally rewarding.

It is with sadness that I inform the community that Mrs Kim Cochrane will be leaving us at the end of next week. Mrs Cochrane, after many years of dedicated service, has made the decision to move to the Gold Coast where she will be closer to family - especially her father who is unwell at present. We thank Mrs Cochrane for her work with the students and parents at St Gabriel’s and wish her all the best as she embarks on this new chapter in her life. I know she will be greatly missed by all. Jacqui Cashmore and I are currently interviewing applicants for Mrs Cochrane’s position and will notify the community once an appointment has been made.

School Entry

Another serious accident occurred this week with a parent hit from behind as they were turning right from Old Northern Road into the school grounds. Given this is the second serious accident in a matter of years, I would encourage parents to reconsider turning right and crossing Old Northern Road to enter the school. Please take extra care when turning into the school grounds and I would recommend that parents only enter by turning left which may require parents reconsidering their journey to school.

Best wishes for the week ahead.

Jon Franzin PRINCIPAL


A Message from Ms Jacqui Cashmore

Dear Parents, Carers and Friends,

We have had a busy couple of weeks with many things happening. Thank you for your co-operation and feedback to the new traffic management and parking arrangements, the feedback has been very positive and we have been able to address a couple of minor issues that have popped up.

Thank you to all the parents that sent in food to sell at Callan House day, the students all enjoyed buying special treats for morning tea and wearing Mufti clothes. A big congratulations to Jon T House Captain and his house mates for selling the items and collecting the money.

Stage 4 Camp

Families of students in Year 7 and 8 would have received your child’s camp information forms to complete and return to school. Please ensure that these are all completed and returned by the due date. The camp will be held at TOPS Outdoor Recreation and education program at Stanwell Tops. The students will be attending the camp with students from St Edmunds. Camps provide a great opportunity for students to develop independence, social and self-care skills.


Excursions

We are receiving ongoing updates and advice from NSW Health regarding Covid-19 and school operations. The current advice to schools is to limit excursions to venues of high volume of movement of people within and enclosed space like shopping centres. We will continue to monitor this, at present the excursions to National parks and local parks will continue. If things change we will re look at this.

We are in the process of changing some of the chosen excursions to adhere to this advice and make these incursions where it is appropriate.

Student Illness

A gentle reminder that if your child is not feeling well, has a fever, vomiting or diarrhoea, bad pain or coughing that will not stop, they need to remain at home to rest and/or see your doctor. If your child becomes unwell during the school day they will go to sick bay and we will ask you to come and pick your child up. It is really important that you keep your contact details up to date.

Handwashing Ideas

Below are some suggestions to encourage your child with hand washing

· a Gangnam Style handwashing song www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGddyTW5eMc

· hand wash timing ideas e.g. sing happy birthday twice

Have a good week!

Kind Regards

Jacqui Cashmore Deputy Principal


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGddyTW5eMc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGddyTW5eMc

Around the School Lots of excursions happening !!

School excursions offer students a less structured way to learn outside of their classrooms. This helps them to develop their social skills in a new environment and provides stimulating experiences for them from their broader community.

Taronga Zoo Trip- Year 4/5/6 D

In our integrated unit, Places in the Community, 4/5/6D has been studying Desert Habitats and the animals and plants that live in the Australian desert. To allow the students to have an interactive experience of a desert habitat, on Friday 6 March the class went to Taronga Zoo.

At the Zoo, we had a lesson in the desert habitat room where the students were given a hands on experience with some Australian animals including a bilby, children’s python and a ringtail possum. We also enjoyed watching the Seal show and participating in the interactive tiger exhibit. Thank you to all the parent helpers who came with us on the day to share in our day of interactive learning.

Keep up to date via our Facebook page…...

www.facebook.com/stgabrielsschoolcastlehill/


https://www.facebook.com/stgabrielsschoolcastlehill/

IMPORTANT DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Sunday 29 March Barefoot Bowls for Dads

Saturday 4 April Ladies’ Night Out

Thursday 9 April Easter Hat Parade K-2 and last day of term

Tuesday 28 April Students return and Anzac Day Ceremony

Tuesday 5 May Blessed Edmund Rice Day Celebration

Wednesday 6 May Mother’s Day Breakfast

Friday 8 May Mother’s Day Stall

A Message From Mr Gulli

Dear Parents and Carers,

I wanted to take a moment to thank you for your support and collaboration in our management of internal traffic flow during our morning and afternoon student pick up. I’d also like to thank you for your feedback regarding this adjustment which is very much appreciated. The students have adjusted well overall to the changes and are now managing well, moving from vehicles to their respective playground areas of a morning as part of their new routine.

In the coming days we will be sending Student Personalised Planning information home to families and times that staff have made themselves available, commencing next week if families are available and continuing across Weeks 9 and 10. Whilst conducting these meetings face to face is preferable, we recognise that logistically this can be hard to do whilst managing work or other commitments. Please let us know if you are unable to attend any of the meeting times by way of face to face as we can offer alternate options such as teleconference and/ or video call option.

A Personalised Plan is written for every student at the school and involves a collaborative process that includes students, parents/carers, class teachers and therapists (both school based or external). The


Personalised Planning Process is designed to discuss and collectively set in place relevant and achievable learning goals/outcomes specific to each individual student and identify various supports required to maximise levels of student learning and engagement.

Agreed learning goals will then have a written plan of action specifying how goals will be implemented and student achievement measured, as they work toward goal outcome.

Individual Student Personalised Plans are developed and reviewed with parents/carers at Parent Teacher interviews held twice per year.

Information regarding Individual Student Personalised Plans and booking times will be sent to families in the coming days via Class Dojo.

Regards,

Giovanni Gulli

Executive Support

Uniform Shop

Our Uniform Order Forms can be found on our website.

www.stgabriels.nsw.edu.au/enrolment/uniform/


https://www.stgabriels.nsw.edu.au/enrolment/uniform/

Entertainment Book Memberships are now available and are 100% digital.

No more lugging around that heavy book!

Purchase a digital membership, support St Gabriel’s School

Please go to

https://www.entertainment.com.au/orderbooks/21426e9

Community News

From the Parent Group

Last week’s parent meeting was very productive and it was good to see so many

new parents there. These meetings are not just to discuss school related matters but are also a

chance for parents to get together. Last week’s meeting started off as a standard meeting and ended

as a social gathering with beverages and a delicious spread of cheeses and nibbles shared with lots of

laughs. I would like to thank Mr Franzin, Ms Cashmore and Candice for dedicating their personal time

towards the parent meetings and also for providing every opportunity in bringing the parents

together. There was talk about having canteen open two days a week which I know the kids would

love and parents have shown an interest in, however in order to do this we need more volunteers. If

any of you have any free time and would like to join us on canteen duty, please let myself or Sue

know and we can advise you on the appropriate steps to take. There is no cooking involved, only

heating up of food. Canteen duty is from 10.30am to 1.30pm and it is such a rewarding experience


https://www.entertainment.com.au/orderbooks/21426e9

watching the kids work the registers, order their food and build their confidence. It truly is something I

look forward to seeing each week.

St Gabriel’s have organised a Barefoot Bowling Day for the Dads which will be lots of fun. For the

mums, we have organised a Mums night out on Saturday 4th April. Please see the invitation and

details below. Don’t forget to organise babysitters.

Have a great week.

Amanda, Parent Group Leader


Men’s Group 2020

The Men's Group is a quarterly ‘get together’ for a few drinks and a sausage sizzle and is open to all St Gabriel’s dads along with dads from St Edmund's College and St Lucy’s School, Wahroonga.

There's lots of laughs, story sharing and discussion on relevant topics around the pressures that families encounter from day to day. Come along and bring another dad from your child's class! The dates for this year are:

● Tue 24th March (St Edmund’s, Wahroonga)

● Tue 9th June (St Lucy’s, Wahroonga)

● Wed 26th Aug (St Edmund’s, Wahroonga)

● Tue 17th Nov (St Lucy’s, Wahroonga).

Meetings run from 6.30pm-8.30pm

Please RSVP to Cathy Laing at St Edmund’s on [email protected]


mailto:[email protected]

DISCO PARTY WITH DJ ANDY Friday 22nd May

ST GABRIEL’S SCHOOL K-6

5.30pm – 7.00pm

THEME: Dress as you like

Come in comfort which could be in your everyday clothes, get dressed up in costumes, come in your school uniform or even come in your pjs - the choice is all yours.

It’s all about what the kids are comfortable in.

$10 PER CHILD OR $20 PER FAMILY

SIBLINGS WELCOME

TO BOOK AND PAY ONLINE - details will be provided via Class Dojo

This is a parent run event for K-6 students. Parents are expected to stay with their child to supervise them. Please join in on the fun.

Any questions or offers of help, please contact Amanda [email protected]


mailto:[email protected]

CHUFC is proud to be offering the All Abilities program again in 2020.

Key features of the program for this year include:

● Only $10 registration (which covers insurance)

● Games are Saturday morning 10.00-11.15am on Field 1, Fred

Caterson Reserve, Castle Hill.

● Includes 2 coaches plus assistant coaches from our U12-U15’s – all

volunteers from within the club.

● Our session is all about the kids learning some football skills via fun game based drills, and then

playing a game, either against each other or the parents and/or siblings.

● Thanks to a new sponsor each player will receive club shorts and a jumper (plus a playing short

for the season)

Player Information Sheet and How to Register https://castlehillfootball.teamapp.com/articles/4249464-chufc-player-information-sheet-2020

Sunday 15 March -

The Big Trip

Sunday 5 April -

Peter Rabbit 2:

Events Cinema, Sensory Movie Screenings. Sensory- friendly movie screenings for all the family. Lighting

dimmed and sound lowered down for sensitive ears. $6 tickets.

www.eventcinemas.com.au/EventsFestivals/SensoryFriendlyScreening


https://castlehillfootball.teamapp.com/articles/4249464-chufc-player-information-sheet-2020

https://www.eventcinemas.com.au/EventsFestivals/SensoryFriendlyScreenings

Documents

A Message from Mr Jon Franzin, Principal