www.stjopet.catholic.edu.au

FROM THE PRINCIPAL NOTRE DAME COLLEGE

“Greater love has no one than this, that

someone lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

I am once again marvelled by the presence of Notre Dame College in our school community. They arrived in Peterborough late Sunday evening and bounced into school Monday morning to a wall of excited primary school students and staff. We are blessed to have built a long lasting friendship with the staff and students of Notre Dame College. I would like to highlight how special this relationship is between our two schools. We currently have a group of Year 11 students who have technically just finished their schooling for the year giving up a week of their own time to come and spend time in our school community. Their presence in our community throughout this week is life giving for us, especially at the end of a busy term. Thank you to all those who attended the BBQ on Monday evening, it was a great event.

REPORTS Student reports will be sent home next Wednesday 10th

December Week 9 with the newsletter. If you have any questions or concerns please organise a time to meet with your child’s teacher.

EARLY FINISH Please note that school finishes at 1:00pm next Friday. Students who catch the bus will need to make other arrangements. Please contact the school if you have any questions about this.

BUILDING & REFURBISHMENTS UPDATE The building and refurbishments will be concluding over the next week and a half. Over the holidays the staff will be moving back in to the main building. I would like to thank all the staff for their patience over the past term while the building has been taking place. I would also like to thank the school community for their support throughout the busy process. It would be remiss of me not to thank the students for allowing the builders and tradesman to do their job without interruption. Thank you! I trust everyone is as excited as me to move into our new space. Stay tuned…

STAFFING FOR 2015 I am pleased to announce that Rahni Stevens has been appointed to our staff for 2015. Rahni brings a range of skills and talents to our school and is excited about contributing to our school community. I am finalising staffing arrangements for 2015. The class structure will stay the same next year – R/1/2, 3/4 and 5/6/7. In next week’s newsletter I will be able confirm who your child’s teacher(s) will be.

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IMPORTANT DATES

WEEK 8 TUESDAY 2ND DEC- WEDNESDAY 3RD DEC Year 7 Leadership Camp P&F Meeting

THURSDAY 4TH DECEMBER

School Board Meeting - 7:00pm

FRIDAY 5TH DECEMBER

Whole School Liturgy – 2:30pm Casual Clothes Day

WEEK 9

THURSDAY 11TH DECEMBER

Concert Night – 5:30pm

FRIDAY 12TH DECEMBER

Graduation Mass – 12:00pm School Finishes at 1:00pm Christmas Pageant

SATURDAY 13TH DECEMBER

P&F Outdoor Cinema Night

U R G E N T The P&F are calling for donations of items for a grocery hamper for the Christmas Raffle

Prize. Please drop items off at the front

office.

Reminder – Please return raffle books as

soon as possible.

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P.O. Box 86 Peterborough SA 5422

T: (08) 8651 2449 E: info@stjopet.catholic.edu.au

www.stjopet.catholic.edu.au

END OF YEAR CONCERT Our concert will be held on Thursday 11

th December and will begin with a BBQ tea at 5:30pm followed by the concert. Due to the

renovations and refurbishments the concert cannot be held in the hall. Therefore, it will be held at the Peterborough Football Club. Sausages, patties and steak sandwiches can be purchased for tea. We ask that all families provide a salad. Soft drinks will also be available. The concert will follow the BBQ tea and will begin at approximately 6:30pm. The P&F raffle will be drawn at the end of the night, which will be about 7:30pm. I encourage all parents/caregivers to come along and bring extended family to watch a great performance by the students. The audience will have to keep their eyes out for the cameo appearances of staff and parents in the performance. I look forward to seeing you all there! GRADUATION MASS Next Friday is the last day of school and we invite you to attend Mass to celebrate the year and to farewell our Year 7 students. Mass will be at 12:00pm and the school day will conclude at the end of Mass. At the Graduation Mass we will celebrate all the successes of the school year. As part of those celebrations we will acknowledge some individual efforts throughout the year. We have a number of perpetual awards that we need to honour which are described below. The teaching staff have collaborated continuously over recent weeks to select the appropriate students to receive the awards.

FR CRESP AWARD (R-3) This award goes to a R-3 student that demonstrates leadership in all areas of their school life including learning, community and faith. The recipient will be someone who leads by example and motivates others by their enthusiasm and achievements.

FR LONERGAN (4-7) This award goes to a 4-7 student that demonstrates leadership in all areas of their school life including learning, community and faith. The recipient will be someone who leads by example and motivates others by their enthusiasm and achievements.

DAN VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN AWARD This award goes to a student who has achieved excellence during the school year in either their learning, community and/or faith.

MARY MACKILLOP AWARD (R-3 & 4-7) This award recognises a student who has shown a considerable amount of improvement in the learning they do at school. It acknowledges the hard work and effort they have displayed throughout the year.

CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP AWARD (R/1/2, 3/4 & 5/6/7) The Catholic Women's League provides an award for a student from each class who demonstrates Christian leadership throughout the entire year. The recipient will be someone who reflects the gospel values in all that they do at school.

ROWAN RAMSEY AWARD The Rowan Ramsey Award recognises the efforts of a staff member or community members that ‘goes the extra mile’ for our school.

PETERBOROUGH CHRISTMAS PAGEANT This year we will again be entering a float in the Christmas Pageant and would appreciate as many students supporting this as possible. The float will have the theme ‘Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer’ and will have students wearing red noses and antlers. Our school will provide the nose and antlers and children can wear casual clothes. More details will be shared next week.

- Damian Smith

U R G E N T The P&F are calling for donations of items for a grocery hamper for the Christmas Raffle Prize. Please

drop items off at the front office.

Reminder – Please return raffle book as soon as possible.

www.stjopet.catholic.edu.au

FROM THE APRIM This Sunday, the 7th December, is the Second Sunday of Advent and has also been designated as a Day of Solidarity with Christians of the Middle East by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.

An excerpt from the Media Release states:

- The Australian Bishops received a letter of request from the Conference of Bishops and Representatives of the Middle Eastern Apostolic Churches in Australia and New Zealand seeking the support of the Australian Catholics.

The Conference unanimously supported the request that 7th December 2014 be a Day of Solidarity, involving prayer and a financial offering to help alleviate the suffering of Christians, especially the many Iraqi refugees.

The request comes as we approach the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ at Christmas. We are aware that the situation for Christians and other minorities in the Middle East is deteriorating by the day, especially as the northern winter will set in soon.

Communities that have been present in the region since apostolic times are being driven out in the midst of unspeakable atrocities. The present tragedy in the Middle East not only impacts upon the communities of the area, but has far-reaching implications for the peace and security of the world.

Considering the widespread significance of the crisis, we are inviting all Catholic communities to join with us on 7th December 2014 as we ask for the mercy of God for our persecuted brothers and sisters in the Middle East.

Archbishop Kassab said, “All the Christians of Iraq desperately need our prayers and support. These, our wounded brothers and sisters, were brutally forced to leave their hometowns and all their belongings in order to remain faithful to Jesus Christ”.

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference urges Australian Catholics to join their Christian brothers and sisters of the Middle East in showing the world that while “some trust in chariots and horses, we trust in the Lord, our God” (Psalm 20:7)

Monsignor Paul Quirk has announced that an appeal will be held across the Port Pirie Diocese on Sunday the 7th of December and the money collected will be taken by the delegation of Australian Catholic Bishops who will visit refugees in Kurdistan, Iraq and Lebanon to offer spiritual support and humanitarian aid.

To show our support and to stand in solidarity, we will be having a casual clothes day on Friday 5th December and we ask for a minimum gold coin donation, which will be collected as our school’s contribution to the appeal.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called

Sons of God”

(Matthew 5:9)

- Bec Fahey

www.stjopet.catholic.edu.au

SCHOOL NEWS

GR8 PEOPLE

So far this year we have looked specifically at each of the Gr8 People attributes. For the rest of this term we will be celebrating all the attributes instead of focusing on just one. We will be recognising two students each week that demonstrate any of the Gr8 People attributes which are:

Caring Positive Knowledgeable Good Communicators Creative

Balanced Hardworking Team Players Problem Solvers Fair

YEAR 7 LEADERSHIP CAMP - MELROSE Our Year 7 students are currently on camp with the Notre Dame College Students at Melrose. Students from St James (Jamestown) and St Joseph’s (Gladstone) are also attending the camp. The students have participated in many fun activities such as games, reflections, night walks, red faces, etc. The purpose of the camp is to help prepare the students for high school next year and build on their leadership skills. PREMIER’S READING CHALLENGE MEDALLIONS On Monday night Mayor Ruth Whittle attended our community BBQ to present students with Premier’s Reading Challenge medallions. Congratulations to all our students for their participation. Thank you to Mayor Ruth for her continued support for our school.

CLASS STUDENT ATTRIBUTE REASON

F/1/2 Tobi Jones-Pens Joel Mercer

Team Player Creative

For always including others in learning and play For creating detailed and intricate pictures during investigations

3/4 Christine Hodgson Team Player For cooperating with her peers during learning opportunities

5/6/7 Mya Mesecke Abe Borowicki

Caring Positive

Always being considerate of other people’s feelings For always being enthusiastic and positive towards his learning

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PARENTS & FRIENDS NEWS KIDS CAFÉ Please fill out the below table if you are able to help cook and serve for the Kids’ Café and return to the front office. We need two volunteers from approximately 12pm to 2pm each Friday. Thanks for your support.

KIDS CAFÉ VOLUNTEERS

WEEK VOLUNTEERS NAME

Friday 5th

December – Week 8 Notre Dame College PLEASE COMPLETE AND RETURN TO THE FRONT OFFICE – THANKS!

COMMUNITY NEWS SCHOOL FACEBOOK PAGE Don’t forget that you can also keep up to date with what is happening in our school by liking us on Facebook. Our Facebook page is regularly updated with useful information, photos, videos, etc. Simply click on the following link or type it into your web browser https://www.facebook.com/StJosephsSchoolPeterborough

PAVERS

Would you like your name to be etched in history at our school? Over the next 2 weeks we are taking orders for engraved pavers. Don't miss this opportunity! A great Christmas idea! Please see the office staff for further information.

www.stjopet.catholic.edu.au