Dear Parents,

Due to record vaccination rates, all students in Regional Victoria will return to on-site, full-time learning this Friday 22 October 2021. We look forward to having all of our students back with us again and thank you for your great efforts, resilience and support with remote learning.

Whilst school is back, the risk of COVID transmission within our local community is still quite high.

Continuing to being safe and vigilant in all we do is highly important, a couple of reminders;

• Please do not send students to school who are unwell, any students showing symptoms will be sent home immediately.
• We are still encouraging all parents to use the car line or the parking zones at the front of the school for pick up and drop of times. We understand the car line does take some time, however, the safety of the students is our priority. If utilising the parking bays at the front of the school or walking to pick up students, please avoid mass gatherings to ensure the safety of all.
• Masks are mandatory for students in grades 3-6 and highly recommend for F-2. We have a supply of student masks available.
• If anyone from your family contracts COVID-19 or is deemed to be a close contact to someone who has please let the school know ASAP.

The school will be closed on Monday 1st November and Tuesday 2nd November. Monday is a report writing day for the teachers and Tuesday is the Melbourne Cup public holiday.

Mr Paul Carroll, our school Physical Education teacher, will be on leave for an indefinite period of time. A replacement for Paul will be announced in due course.

We wish Paul well and hope he will be back with us soon.

Planning for the 2022 school year is well underway. It is my pleasure to announce that at the start of next year we will increase to 5 grades. Grade structures and new staff will be announced in the near future.

We wish to congratulate Mrs Holly Hatch on the safe arrival of their little baby boy, Clancy. We wish you and your entire family lots of joy as you welcome this special blessing into your life. Congratulations!

St Angela of the Cross Primary School is proud to support Day for Daniel.

Day for Daniel will be held on Friday 29th October and is Australia's largest day of action to raise awareness for child safety, protection, and harm prevention. Held annually on the last Friday of October, Day for Daniel honours the memory of Daniel Morcombe.

The theme is ‘Wear Red, Educate and Donate’. Students are encouraged to wear red clothing to school on the day and bring a gold coin to donate to the Daniel Morcombe Foundation.

Students will participate in activities aimed to help them recognise, react and report situations that make them feel unsafe.  Parents and carers are also encouraged to start a conversation with your children about personal safety.

This term in Religious Education, the students at St Angela of the Cross are learning about Social Justice. Students will develop the knowledge, skills and understandings to enable them to learn about their needs and the needs of others. Throughout the term, the Social Justice Leaders will assist in prayer services and fundraising initiatives to support the purchase of educational resources and materials for vulnerable children across the world. Please see below for our Social Justice fundraising initiatives for the month of November.

‘Funky Sock Friday’- Friday 5th November

Students are encouraged to come to school wearing their, funkiest, craziest and creative socks!
Please bring a gold coin donation.

‘Icy Pole Day’- every Wednesday in November

(3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th)

The Social Justice Leaders will be selling icy poles at lunchtime every Wednesday in November for $1.

For more information about Catholic Mission please visit: https://www.catholicmission.org.au/

Saint John Paul and Indigenous Australians

On Friday we celebrated the feast day of Pope Saint John Paul II who has a special place in the hearts of Aboriginal Catholics and indeed of Aboriginal Australians. His 1986 Alice Springs speech recognising their unique culture, contribution to the Catholic Church and their long history of survival despite discrimination was a proud, pivotal moment for Aboriginal peoples and remains a stark wake up to the rest of us.

Saint John Paul’s profound address showed great understanding and empathy, laying bare the pain of dispossession, transportation from homelands, break-up of families, splitting apart of tribes, orphaned children and “people forced to live like exiles in a foreign country.” At the same time he celebrated and honoured their “Dreaming,” their songs and stories, paintings and languages with deep respect, dignity and affection. Finally: understanding! (Address of Pope John Paul II to the Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, Alice Springs 29^th Nov 1986) The Pope’s words were a balm to Aboriginal ears, akin to Jeremiah’s words to the people of Israel in our first reading this week, “They had left in tears, I will comfort them as I lead them back”. (Jer 31:9)

All these years later the Plenary Council is discerning how our Australian Church might be newly open to Indigenous ways of being Catholic in spirituality, theology, liturgy, and missionary discipleship. Vigorous support is being expressed for Church efforts to “bridge the gap” with First Nations people, not least of which is endorsement of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

Indigenous Catholic and Plenary Council delegate Ms Toni Janke, feels a real sense of hope in the Council, reminding us that indigenous Australians “have a beautiful rich culture that is in excess of 60,000 years old and a lot to teach not just the Church but the community at large.” (Catholic Leader 5^th Oct 2021).

Deacon Mark Kelly    

The students of St Angelas have been learning a song called The Rainbow Song by Andrew Chinn.  They have learnt Auslan signs for the different colours; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. These colours are listed in the chorus. Over the week, students will be unpacking the meaning of each of the verses and practising the Auslan signs for each colour.  

You may like to join in with the song and have your child teach you the signs for each colour. We hope you love the song as much as we do!

On the last Friday of Term 3, Homegroup 2 students participated in a Football and Soccer Clinic as part of ‘Footy Day’. Students had the opportunity to practice their skills whilst rotating through different activity stations. Skills developed included the handball, bounce and soccer kick.

Homegroup 1 and Homegroup 2 students worked hard on developing their catching skills during the last two lessons of on-site learning in Term 3. Objects such as bean bags and soft balls (gator balls) were used to assist students catching. Students can practice many of the activities that were used during class time and if a tennis ball is a bit difficult, get a pair of rolled up socks which is a great replica. There are many sports where catching is an important skill and improving competency of this skill will encourage students to participate in these types of sports (e.g., cricket, softball, netball, football and basketball).  

日本語

Nihongo

Japanese

Can

Dekimasu

出来ます。

During class last week we were doing ‘can challenges’. Billie, challenging balance ga dekimasu. (Billie did a challenging balance.) Sugoi (wow) Billie!!
In the online books, Thappi shows what she can do. Read them with your child dekimasu ka?