NEWSLETTER Thursday 15 November 2018 Term 4 Week 5 

A MESSAGE FROM JON FRANZIN 

Dear Parents, Students and Friends of St Gabriel’s, 

As Advent is fast approaching, we are being bombarded by the brochures, the                         shops are awash with tinsel and opportunities to ‘spend, spend, spend’ assail us                         from all sides. Welcome to Christmas – but not necessarily the true and original                           version. It’s amazing the way humans can lose the point of a beautiful festival –                             in the same way a baby on Christmas morning is more enthralled by the                           colourful wrapping than the gift inside. 

The gift inside – hidden away under the glitz and advertising. The beginning of                           Advent on Sunday, 2nd December, is the beginning of the new year for the Church and a time of peace,                                       reflection and preparation for the feast of Christmas – which will celebrate the birth of a baby, the                                   Christ child, our saviour. As we approach Advent it is important that we keep the birth of our saviour at                                       the heart of the Christmas story. 

Orientation Morning It was wonderful to welcome our new students for 2019 to the school on Wednesday morning. Many                                 thanks to the staff who played a significant role in the coordination of this event as well as our current                                       students for offering to be buddies for these new students during the day. On behalf of St Gabriel’s                                   School, I welcome these new families and students to the community and trust that their time with us                                   will be productive and fruitful in the years ahead. 

Year 7 2019 Update Evening Thank you to the many parents who attended the Year 7 2019 Update evening on Wednesday night.                                 This was an opportunity to share with the community the many and varied plans that have taken                                 place in readiness for Year 7 next year. Parents had an opportunity to look through our new building                                   and understand how this will operate next year in the delivery of the NESA Life Skills Curriculum. The                                   Curriculum was also discussed along with timetabling, staffing, uniforms and the range of additional                           activities the students will be involved in next year. We are all very excited about these new                                 

 

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developments and the enormous benefit this program will offer students and families at the school in                               the years to come. To find out more about what was discussed on the night please use the link below                                       to view the presentation on our website. http://www.stgabriels.nsw.edu.au/year-7-2019 

Bunnings Sausage Sizzle A very big thank you to Simone Garland, supported by many parents, for her coordination of this                                 fundraising initiative last Sunday. It was great to see so many parents come together in support of the                                   school and so generously give of themselves and their time to help raise money for St Gabriel’s. Thank                                   you once again and it is great to be part of such a supportive and inclusive community.    Out of School Hours Care (OSHC) St Gabriel’s School is currently investigating offering Out of School Hours Care (OSHC) for our                             students by utilising the new Year 7 classrooms. This is a preliminary investigation to determine                             whether or not there is demand from our school community. As you can appreciate this is a major                                   project and will take some time to implement should demand be present in our community.   We ask that you please complete a short survey here - LINK TO OSHC SURVEY to help assist the                                     direction of this feasibility study. We would encourage all families to complete the survey by Friday                               23/11/18 to ensure that we have the necessary information to make an informed decision about this                               program. Thank you.  

Best wishes for the week ahead. 

  

 Jon Franzin PRINCIPAL   

           

 

 

 

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A MESSAGE FROM DIANNE HOOKE 

 

Dear Families and Friends 

While these have been slightly turbulent times - if those 2 words can be paired -                               the love, support and well wishes by so many of you has helped enormously.                           Thank you! 

The children are preparing for our end of year celebration and it does promise to                             be a wonderful celebration of talent and ability. Many of our community                       partners and friends will be in attendance as well, presenting special awards and                         recognising school achievements and successes over this year. Hope to see you                       

there on Wednesday 5 December at 1 pm! 

Tomorrow, Friday 16 November for the Kindies and Juniors, and next Friday, 23 November for the                               Middles and Seniors we will be hosting grade Assemblies, where the children will receive individual                             certificates of improvement and achievement for the year. They will all have an opportunity to shine                               on the stage as well so if you can attend this busy time of year,                             I know you will be richly rewarded. The Assemblies both                   begin at 2:15 pm.  

Please ensure you are able to log onto the Sentral parent                     portal as well so that you can view and/or download your                     child’s report by the end of this term. Teachers spend much                     time throughout the semester and year ensuring that the                 delivery of curriculum is accessible and meaningful for each                 child in their class and that the reporting of those outcomes is                       professional and descriptive of where your child is functioning                 so please take the time to access the portal in the last week of                           school. The link for those who haven’t registered for the                   portal is HERE the link to login to the portal is HERE. 

I look forward to sharing the many blessings of the year with you as we journey through this most                                     special time of Advent in the coming weeks. 

Warmly 

 

 

Dianne Hooke Head of Campus 

 

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WHAT’S ON THE SHELF This is a story of Emo, a moody, despondent emu who meets a                         positive and happy kangaroo. The two of them embark on a road                       trip around Australia, visiting the major Australian icons like                 Uluru, The Great Barrier Reef, The Sydney Opera House and                   Tasmania. As the trip continues Emo has a change of heart and                       starts to begin to feel better about his life. The rhyming verses                       personifies the various creatures of our Australian landscapes               precisely. The book displays fantastic illustrations from around               Australia that celebrate our beautiful country. This book explores                 feelings, friendships, travel and the great outdoors. It would be a                     wonderful gift to family or friends overseas to give them a taste of                         what Australia has to offer and could inspire a visit! A great read                         for younger readers who will delight at the rhyming throughout                   and the beautiful illustrations. 

Suzanne Toomey  Teacher Librarian 

 

IMPORTANT DATES FOR YOUR CALENDAR 

 Friday 16 November Kindergarten & Junior Awards Presentation (2.15pm)  Saturday 17 November Parent Group Dinner (see page 7 )  Friday 23 November Middle & Senior Awards Presentation (2.15pm)  Wednesday 5 December End of Year Concert (1.00 pm)  Friday 7 December Last Day of Term for Students  

 

 

 

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AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS CLASS AWARDS Week 3 & 4 KINDY JUNIOR D Will for staying on task to complete learning activities 

Rafael for amazing drawing 

JUNIOR M Ira for excellent participation in sports lessons Xavier for using excellent manners 

JUNIOR P  Jessica for always trying her best in literacy lessons Leila for trying her best in all class activities 

JUNIOR MIDDLE N Alex for great sentence writing and publishing on the iPad Michael and Veer for great effort in reading 

MIDDLE SENIOR A Will for great engagement in reading & response activities using Proloquo2go 

MIDDLE SENIOR O Arpita for achieving level 55 for Spelling Mastery Chloe for great effort during reading 

MIDDLE SENIOR T Jon for great work in Maths 

MIDDLE SENIOR L Aziz for doing his best in writing activities Kaitlyn for making smart choices in the classroom and playground 

ENVIRONMENTAL AWARDS KINDY JUNIOR D Ellie for being a great classroom helper  JUNIOR M Christa for cleaning up around her desk after eating 

Matthew for cleaning up after himself 

JUNIOR P  Leila for always making an effort to keep her classroom clean 

JUNIOR MIDDLE N  The whole class for keeping the classroom very tidy 

MIDDLE SENIOR A Joshua for making sure all the iPads are switched off when not in use 

MIDDLE SENIOR O Milena for always putting rubbish in the bin after lunch Jay for recycling paper 

MIDDLE SENIOR T Nikola for always helping to put classroom toys and play equipment away 

MIDDLE SENIOR L James for keeping his area tidy and putting his rubbish in the bin 

 

 

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SCHOOL AWARDS Week 4 STUDENT OF THE WEEK  Week 4 Arpita CARE AND SHARE Liam  

BE SAFE  James G 

DO YOUR BEST Leila  

 

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN CLASS  Diwali Festival On Wednesday, 7th November all Middle Senior classes celebrated Diwali, The Festival of Lights at St Gabriel’s. We had an amazing time not only learning the facts of why and how we celebrate this main Hindu Festival but also engaging in drawing colourful “Rangoli”, trying different Indian food and wishing “Happy Diwali” to our friends and teachers. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gilroy Catholic College Band Performance Today we enjoyed a performance by the Gilroy Catholic College Band. They performed for us and told us about the many instruments that they were playing.  

The crowd favourite was definitely the drums! 

 

 

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SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY NEWS 

 

 

Bunnings Community BBQ! 

A huge thank you to everyone who donated their BBQ skills, time and goods to the Bunnings BBQ last Sunday at Bunnings Castle Hill. What a fantastic way to connect with each other and our local community. 

 

 

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FROM OUR SPECIALIST LEARNING TEAM  This term we are looking at using everyday routines to encourage communication and learning. 

The routine for this week is getting dressed. This routine is excellent for teaching names of clothes, body parts and colours. Name these items during the routine or encourage your child to find the colour or piece of clothing. The link below has examples of ‘getting dressed’ communication boards that may be helpful if your child requires extra communication support. 

http://vialimachicago.com/getting-dressed-communication-board 

This routine also provides an opportunity to practise choice-making. Involve your child in the process by offering him/her a choice of two shirts. As an extension, this also provides another opportunity to develop problem solving skills by talking about the weather and what clothes are appropriate. Both of these skills are important social skills. 

 

Claire Formby Speech Pathologist 

 

  

 

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