MATTHEW GIBNEY CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL

30 Munday Road, High Wycombe WA 6057 Phone: 6216 8400 Email: admin@gibney.wa.edu.au Website: www.gibney.wa.edu.au

NEWSLETTER No. 2 9th February 2017

Dear Parents, Friends and Students

The students are almost at the end of their first full week of school. They have settled into school routine very quickly and you could easily be fooled into thinking that they hadn‟t even been away. I would like to thank the staff for the preparation they have put into the beginning of the year to make this transition so smooth. Again, I would like to reiterate what I said at the parent information session and what was written in last week‟s newsletter that parents are encouraged to make frequent contact with their child‟s classroom teacher about any concerns they have regarding their child‟s academic progress and social behaviour. The school and the parents must work in partnership if your child‟s time at our school is to be productive.

A reminder to all our families to take care in the car park. It is particularly important that cars travel at a very low speed. Pedestrians are asked to always use the footpaths in the car park and to ensure that the road is crossed using the cross walks. A reminder that the drop off and pick up zones are exactly that. Parents/caregivers should not be getting out of their cars to collect their children. This just leads to unnecessary delays. We look forward to your cooperation in this area.

The newsletter is our most important means of communication with families. I encourage you all to read the newsletter each week so that you stay up to date with happenings in our school. I also encourage you to download the Skoolbag App for smartphones. All events are posted on this app and it is updated regularly. Our official Facebook page is also available for information.

A Mass to celebrate the beginning of the school year will take place on Friday 10th February. It will begin at 9:30am and it will be held at St Francis of Assisi Church. During this Mass the Year 6 students will be inducted into the student council and staff will be participate in a

commissioning ceremony. All parents and members of our community are invited to join with us.

The first P&F meeting for the year will take place on Wednesday 15th February. It will begin at 7:30pm and it will be held in the library. All parents and friends of our school are invited to attend. The P&F are currently organising a welcoming event for this year. The Welcoming Picnic and Disco will take place on Friday 17th February. A note regarding this went out earlier in the week and is due back on Friday 10th February.

Congratulations to Mrs Rogers and her husband, Tom, on the fantastic news that they are expecting their first child later this year. This is an exciting time for them and we wish them well.

High Wycombe IGA supports our school through the „Shop for your School‟ programme. Points are earned by shopping and then these points are converted into dollars for our school to use to purchase resources. A flyer is part of this newsletter explaining how you can participate. I would like to thank High Wycombe IGA for this generous offer.

Parents are to be aware that Friday 24th February will be a pupil free day.

Mark Powell PRINCIPAL

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

(Matthew 11:28)

PUPIL FREE DAY

FRIDAY

24th FEBRUARY

GOOD NEWS GOOD NEWS GOOD NEWS GOOD NEWS GOOD NEWS GOOD NEWS GOOD NEWS

Buddy Classes

Anthony & Joshua Daniel & Ayden Eleni & Ovia Xanthe & Lexy

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Fri 10th Feb… Opening Mass Years 1 - 6

Wed 15th Feb… Fr Francis visit PP

Wed 15th Feb… Board Meeting 6pm

Wed 15th Feb… P & F Meeting 7.30pm

Fri 17th Feb…. P & F Welcoming Night

Wed 22nd Feb.. Year 3 Liturgy

Fri 24th Feb… PUPIL FREE DAY

Wed 1st Mar… Ash Wednesday Mass @ 9.30am

Wed 1st Mar... Rice Day Fundraiser for Project

Compassion

Fri 3rd Mar… Year 6 Assembly

Mon 6th Mar… PUBLIC HOLIDAY

Thurs 9th Mar.. St John Ambulance Incursion K - 6

Fri 10th Mar... St John Ambulance Incursion K - 6

Sat 11th Mar… Sacramental Commitment Mass

6pm

Sun 12th Mar… Sacramental Commitment Mass

8am, 9.30am & 6pm

Wed 15th Mar… Year 5 Mass

Wed 15th Mar… Board Meeting 6pm

Wed 15th Mar… P & F Meeting 7.30pm

Fri 17th Mar… Year 4 Assembly

Fri 17th Mar… T20 Cricket Carnival Yr 6

Tues 21st Mar… STUDENTS EARLY FINISH @ 12PM

Tues 21st Mar… Parent/Teacher Meeting 12.30 - 6pm

Wed 22nd Mar… Music Incursion PP - 6

Fri 24th Mar… Year 1 Assembly

Fri 24th Mar... Cool Pool Day

Wed 29th Mar… Year 2 Liturgy

Fri 31st Mar… Easter Assembly

Tues 4th Apr - Fri 7th Apr … Year 6 Camp

Fri 7th Apr… LAST DAY OF FOR STUDENTS

Wed 26th Apr… STUDENTS RETURN TERM 2 2017

YEAR 6 NEWS

The students have made a very impressive start to Year 6

so far this year. It has been wonderful to see them take

on their student council responsibilities so

enthusiastically. The students have also been meeting

and mentoring their Year 1 buddies this week. They have

shown great leadership skills already by setting an

example and helping others.

With regards to the booklist this year, I am encouraging

the students to be responsible with their resources by

bringing in the necessities and looking after them. They

have been asked to provide only a few writing tools for

the moment and they will need to replenish these if they

run out over the course of the year.

On Friday, the Opening Mass and Student Council

Induction will be taking place at St. Francis of Assisi and

you are warmly invited to attend.

Michelle Rogers

Assistant Principal’s

Religious Education News

OPENING SCHOOL MASS

We warmly welcome all parents and family to join with us

at our Opening School Mass, 9.30am Friday 10th

February at St Francis of Assisi Church, Maida Vale. At

this Mass, our Year 6 students will be commissioned as

Student Leaders.

ASH WEDNESDAY MASS

Years 1-6 will travel to St Francis of Assisi Church, Maida

Vale, on Wednesday 1st March at 9.30am to mark the

beginning of Lent. We warmly welcome you to join with

us, to begin your Lenten preparations.

SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM CHANGES

There will be NO general Sacramental Information

Meeting this year. An information pack will be sent home

next week. All students who will receive the Sacrament of

Reconciliation (Year 3), First Eucharist (Year 4) or

Confirmation (Year 6) this year, will need to attend a

Commitment Mass over the weekend of 11th and 12

th of

March. If you have any questions about the Sacramental

Program, please chat with your class teacher or myself.

Karen Keddie

Assistant Principal RE

Class Parent Representatives, 2017

Nominations were put forward for the Class Parent Representatives for 2017 and the following people hold the positions:

Kindy Michelle Steward & Roisin Thompson PP Katie Pillera & Tamara Logan Year 1 Sasha Temple & Jodie Capiobianco Jasmin Hartstonge to assist. Year 2 Katie Pillera & Bron Pescud Joseph Rickerby to assist. Year 3 Narelle Gielingh & still in need of another person Jo Hogg, Marilyn Decena & Danielle Fanetti to assist. Year 4 Michelle Steward & Becky Sullivan Jo Hogg to assist. Year 5 Jenny Bootland & Kylie Gray-Scholz Elissa Spackman to assist. Year 6 - Rebecca Sarich & Natalina Furfaro Angelina Hales & Kanthima Pabst to assist. As you can see, most classes are organised however, if you are able to fill the remaining gaps, we would appreciate your support. All parent reps and assistants will be added to the Matthew Gibney Class Representative Facebook page, so please look out for your invitation if you are listed above. If you have any queries regarding class reps, please contact Angelina Hales on 0400 588 991.

YEAR 2 NEWS

A warm welcome back to you all! It was great to see so

many familiar faces at our Parent Information evening last

week. Thank you for your attendance and if you have any

questions, please see me.

This year we have two new students, Charlotte and

Daniel, and they have settled beautifully into Matthew

Gibney. I am very proud of the way the other Year 2

children have made them feel so welcome. Fanfairytastic!

We have been busy making books about ourselves and

finding out more about our different interests. We had a

lot of fun playing People Bingo and made many new

discoveries about our class members.

The children are looking forward to attending Mass

tomorrow morning at St Francis of Assisi. All are

welcome.

Gina Nickels

YEAR 3 NEWS

The children are settling in well after the long break and

the shock of having a male teacher for the first time. We

welcome Marie-Grace to our class and look forward to

seeing her progress and forming friendships during the

year with her new classmates.

It was heartening to see so many parents at the

Information Evening and to put names to the faces.

Those who were unable to attend should have received

an outline of the discussion in the past week. I would

welcome the opportunity to catch up with those who

missed the meeting for a short chat, to talk about

expectations for the coming year.

Keith MacKay

P & F Meetings Term 1 2017

Wednesday 15th February @ 7.30pm Wednesday 15th March @ 7.30pm

Parents & Friends Association

Agenda item request for meeting - Wednesday

15th February @ 7.30pm.

Please submit your Agenda item request either

through the Skoolbag app - eForms - P&F

Meeting Agenda Items or through the

Matthew Gibney website

http://web.gibney.wa.edu.au/pandf.html

You must attend the meeting if you wish to

submit an agenda item.

SENT HOME MONDAY 6th FEBRUARY

★ Winter Uniform Order (Year 1 - 6)

★ Welcoming Night Sausage Sizzle Pre-Order Form

UNIFORM CENTRE NEWS

The Uniform Centre has

changed it’s opening day

from Thursdays to Fridays.

The Uniform Centre will now be open

every Friday 8.15am to 9.15am

Also available for sale on the night:

Cool drinks $1.00

Popcorn $1.00

Lolly Bags $1.00

Glow Products From $1.00

Friday 17th February

Starts 5.00pm

Disco 6.00 to 8.30pm

All families attending our Welcoming Picnic & Disco

are welcome to order a sausage sizzle or bring their

own picnic tea.

If you would like to order a sausage sizzle please

make sure you complete your order form (which was

sent home on Monday 6th February) and return it in a

sealed envelope, with the correct money, to the office

no later than

3.00pm on Friday 10th Feb

Sorry, no late orders will be accepted.

PRE-PRIMARY NEWS The children have settled quickly into their new classroom and they are all doing well in remembering their new routines! Although they are looking a little tired, they are still taking part enthusiastically in all our activities!! Thank you to all the parents who attended our parent information meeting last week. I hope it gave you a clearer insight into „Life in PP this year!‟ The PP children attended their first assembly and hymn singing practice on Monday as well as other specialist classes, including Italian! I would like to encourage parents and carers to bring the children into the classroom every morning and not say „goodbye‟ on the patio outside. However, on Thursdays, we have Sport at 8.50am so a quick „goodbye‟ is requested! Have a good week.

Debbie Hawley & Linda Hetherington

YEAR 4 NEWS

Welcome back to the school year! Thank you to all

parents who were able to attend the Parent Information

evening last week. If there are any queries, please me.

This year we have had a new student start in our

classroom. Welcome to Year Four Finn.

Tomorrow we have a whole school mass at St Francis

Assisi church, all welcome.

The children are looking forward to the Welcoming BBQ

and Dance next Friday 17th February.

Joanne Brescacin

BATTERY RECYCLING We are very pleased to “do our bit” for

the environment by offering recycling

collection for household batteries. You

can drop your batteries off in the metal

collection bin in the hallway opposite the

Year 3 class room.

Friday Giving

Don‟t forget our Friday Giving Appeal to

help the needy.

Please bring your donations of canned

foods or non-perishables, etc. to school

for collection each Friday.

Thank you for your generosity!

WINTER UNIFORM ORDERS

due by 3.00pm

FRIDAY 10th FEBRUARY

Sorry, late orders CANNOT

be accepted!

Get your Coffee

Monday & Friday mornings

from 8.00am

Coffee will be available to purchase from

Coastal Coffee at Matthew Gibney every

Monday and Friday mornings from 8.00am.

SCHOOL FEES The annual account for school fees for families not direct debiting, were posted on Monday. Fees are payable in three instalments, one third payable by Thursday 7

th

April, second instalment by 30th June and final payment

by 23nd

September.

If you have any difficulties in meeting this commitment by the due date, you need to make an appointment to discuss this matter with the Principal, Mark Powell, as soon as possible.

DIRECT DEBIT Fees may be paid by direct debit, enabling payments to be spread over the year, ie weekly, fortnightly or monthly. Forms available from the office.

HEALTH CARE CARD TUITION FEE DISCOUNT SCHEME Parents who have a Centrelink Health Care Card or Pensioner Concession Card are eligible for a discount on their school fees. Please complete a 2017 Application Form at the school office.

Pyjama drama classes for 2-5 year olds

starting at Meerilinga Family Centre, High Wycombe

Mondays at 10:30am, Starting Feb. 13th.

Every week we explore a different theme and have

literally hundreds of sessions covering a wide range of

topics - one week we may fly to the moon, the next take

our poorly dog to the vets and the next swim under the

ocean with a friendly shark! Our innovative approach to

drama means that wherever possible we encourage

children to take an active role within the drama we create

and where appropriate to lead the direction of the drama

themselves. In our classes we sing, play musical

instruments, dance, let‟s pretend!

Our award winning classes classes fully support the

EYLF and helps to develop a child‟s key social skills,

including communication, concentration and co-operation.

And what‟s more, it‟s lots of fun!

Our 3 week trial is $35 which includes your child‟s Pyjama

drama t-shirt which they wear to class (Cost after the trial

works out as $10 per session)

For more information visit our website

www.pyjamadrama.com.au

Sing, dance, pretend, play; where will our imaginations

take us today?

WORLDWIDE MARRIAGE ENCOUNTER

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loving qualities in each other that you may be taking for granted. Take a weekend out of the busyness of your

lifestyle, where there is just the two of you, free of distractions.

We invite you to join us on one of our next Worldwide Marriage Encounter Weekends.

31 March – 2nd

April 2017 or 11 – 13 August 2017 For information or booking contact:

0424 220 625 George & Monica or

Email: WAbookings@wwme.org.au Website: www.wwme.org.au