Tuesday 28th November, 2023

Dear Parents,

This will be the final newsletter of the year; it is amazing how quickly the year has gone. As a staff we are sincerely grateful for your support and for allowing us to work with you for the education of your children. 

I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all the staff for the effort they have put in over the course of the year. They continually go over and above what is required of them for the benefit of the students. 

I would like to acknowledge Claire Knight, Kellie Jones, Ellie Wilson, Holly Peterson and Lindsay Tweedie who are moving on at the end of the year and thank them for their contributions to St Angela of the Cross.

I hope everyone has a safe, holy and happy Christmas and New Year and I look forward to working with you again next year.

Key Dates:

Outlined below are some of the key dates as we head towards the end of the school year.

First Holy Communion

We congratulate and pray for Ella, Billie, Daniel and Blake who will be making their First Holy Communion this weekend.

St Angela Art Show | Wednesday 29th November 4-6pm

Our school Art Show will be held tomorrow between 4-6pm in our new Stage 2 building. This is a fantastic community event for all family and friends to see the wonderful work students have been able to produce through the schools Visual Arts program this year. A silent auction of classroom Art pieces will be available to bid on, last bids will take place at 5:45pm. (see photos of the Art Work available for bidding further down)

Meet Your 2024 Teacher | Monday 11th December

On Monday 11th December, we will be holding our ‘Meet Your 2024 Teacher’ sessions.  Students will find out who their 2024 teacher/s are and spend time with their new classmates.

End of Year Mass, Graduation and Assembly | Wednesday 13th December

Fr. Confidence will celebrate our End of Year and Graduation Mass starting at 9:30am here at St Angela’s. At this Mass we will have special presentations for our year 6 Graduates Ethan and Archie. Straight after Mass we will have an Assembly and each level will sing a Christmas Carol.

Last Day of School | Thursday 14th December

School will conclude for all children on Thursday 14th December. 

2023 Semester 2 Reports | Friday 15th December

School reports will be sent to all parents via your Parent Access Module (PAM) account on Friday 15th December.

2024 Begins!

School for all students will begin on Tuesday 30th January, 2024.

In appreciation of the work our students have done during Visial Arts this year we will hold a Silent Auction of artworks. 

Below are the skate decks that each class has worked together to create. 

The silent Auction will for these wonderful pieces will be held tomorrow night with bidding closing at 5.45pm 

Homegroup H (Foundation)

Homegroup M (Foundation)

Homegroup B (Grade 1/2)

Homegroup T (Grade 1/2)

Homegroup WD (Grade 1/2)

Homegroup J (Grade 3/4)

Homegroup K (Grade 5/6)

FIRST COMMUNION

This weekend 4 of our children will receive the Sacrament of First Communion. Congratulations to Ella Mulipola, Blake Sykes, Billie De Battista and Daniel Shaposhnyk. Please continue to pray for these students as they make this special step along their journey of faith.

St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal| Wishing Tree

St Angela of the Cross Primary School has a long tradition of supporting our local St Vincent de Paul Society.

Leading up to the festive season, St Vincent de Paul make Christmas Hampers for families in our local community who are in need of support, especially at this time of year.

To assist St Vinnies, we ask our school families to donate items that could bring joy to a child or teenager during this special time of year. All donations can be placed under the Christmas tree located in the school administration office.

Any support you can offer at this time would be greatly appreciated. We ask that donations be at school by Wednesday, 13th December.

Thank you for your continuous spirit of giving.

Please note that any Book Club orders that are being purchased as gifts can be selected as home delivery at checkout online. 

Alert Against Sin 

Right at the beginning of the Bible we are told that every human is an image of God, a sacred being who represents the Creator and is worthy of respect. So, sin is a failure to love our Creator and humanity and all creation as directed. 

Many of us hear today’s gospel (Mk 13:33-37) and we think, too right! It is warning those (other) sinners, not to defy God, not to misbehave. Hazardously though, we might just relax in the comforting thought that we aren’t like that. We’re unlike those murderers, thieves, adulterers and blasphemers we see on the News and in popular media. We are above all that. We are alert and awake, we won’t make those mistakes! Hmmm!

Hopefully that is so, but sadly we then admit we might commit some minor sins, just “little white lies”, or cheating the tax man. “Just the things that everyone else is doing ….. so they must be ok. But those “small” sins are the ones that get past when our attention is distracted. When we are busy playing cool; being caught up in “what’s happening now?”, keeping up with the Joneses, avoiding ridicule rather than standing up to poor behaviour, going along with inappropriate banter, allowing injustice to prevail without trying to prevent it. The more we tolerate and justify our own “small” sins, the closer we are to “big” sins.

Advent is about preparation for Christ’s coming, about late spring-cleaning of our spiritual houses. Under the guidance of Mark’s gospel, Advent is an opportunity to reflect on our inner lives, to look beyond the commercial rubbish that threatens to overtake Christmas and to re-commit ourselves to faithfully and watchfully waiting for Jesus coming. Advent is a chance to get our lives back on track, to refocus on allowing Jesus into our hearts, to make us the people He calls us to be. 

Deacon Mark Kelly