Newsletter - Holy Family Primary

Holy Family Primary School
Newsletter
199 The Trongate, Granville East 2142
Phone: 9637 6020 Fax: 9637 8464
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.hfgranville.catholic.edu.au
6th March 2013
Term 1
Week 6
WHAT’S INSIDE OUR
NEWSLETTER:
Dear Families of Holy Family,
Principal’s Letter pg 1
our special school community here at Holy Family.
Students of the Week
The first of these events is Catholic Schools’ Week that commences on Sunday 10th
Religious Matters pg 2
March - Friday 15th March. The theme for 2013 is Every Child Counts. On Monday
Skoolbag App
pg 3
Learning at Holy Family
pg 3
Clean Up Australia pg 3
In the coming fortnight we will celebrate two extra special events that truly represent
11th March at 2pm we will gather as a school community for a time of prayer, giving
thanks for our school and for each child that counts in our school life. As part of this
event, we will be creating a school portrait gallery where every child’s self created
portrait will be hung in the parish school hall. Please join us for the time of prayer and
to see your child’s beautiful portrait.
Swimming Champions
pg 3
The second significant event is our celebration of Harmony Day on Tuesday 19th
Library News
event that celebrates the 39 cultures that make up our school. In 2013, we are
pg 3
March. Over recent years we have come to see this day as a special whole school
combining this with the celebration of St. Joseph’s Day, the patron saint of the Sisters
Calendar
pg 4
Community News pg 4
of St. Joseph who founded our school. All children are again invited to wear
traditional costumes that celebrate their cultural heritage. There will be more
details coming about Harmony Day and it will also include a concert by our school’s
OTHER NOTES
DISTRIBUTED THIS
WEEK:
Gymnastics 2013
Parent Representative
Group
favourite singer / songwriter, Andrew Chinn. Parents, keep this day free as there are
more surprises that are yet to be revealed !
Our school vision statement calls us to…
Provide quality education in a culturally rich community; enabling each child
to live, love and learn in a Christ - centred environment.
Easter Raffle
tickets
available in the
Office.
Through joining as one community to celebrate Catholic Schools Week and Harmony
Day, we will be giving witness and life to this vision.
Yours in family,
Mrs Sue Guilfoyle
Principal
2013 - Celebrating 75 Years of Catholic Education at Holy Family School
We congratulate this week’s Student of the Week
Award recipients:
Madison Saouma
Bailey Gore
Shreesha Wagle
Andre Youssef
Charbel Hanna
Attu Ngor
George Elias
Gabriel Nakhoul
Maggie Manu
Joelle Taouk
Athot Tiap
Matire Tairua
Janelle Sallit
Rhiannon Downes
Sunday, 10 Mar 2013: Fourth Sunday of Lent - Year C
Ps 33:2-7. R. v.9 Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
In the midst of Lent we are given a moment for rejoicing, Laetare Sunday.
Laetare means "Rejoice" in Latin. All of the readings provide us with
reasons for rejoicing. The overarching theme is the prodigal goodness of
God. The responsorial psalm sets the context for the reflections. The other
readings show how needy people were showered with divine favour. In the
First Reading from Joshua the Israelites are asked to never forget that it is not
through their efforts that they enjoy security and prosperity in the land, but
because of God’s gift. Without God’s creating and life-giving presence they are
nothing and can do nothing. Even in the midst of this rejoicing, we find a challenge. We must
undergo a change of heart if we are to rejoice in God.
How often have we heard the amazing story of the Prodigal Son? We wonder at the Father who
can unquestioningly reach out to his younger son who has slighted him, squandered his inheritance, brought shame and ridicule on his father within his community. Most of my life I saw this
parable as an image of God’s unfathomable love for us. Forgiveness is liberating, empowering,
and makes us whole. Working with this story with the Yr 6 students, we asked ourselves, what if
the Father is not God forgiving us, but how Jesus asks us to forgive one another? How do we rate
when it comes to forgiving others who offend or disappoint or hurt us? This Lent, let us look to
ourselves and test the measure of our love and capacity for forgiveness.
Catholic Schools Week
Next week is Catholic Schools Week and we invite all our families and friends to join us for a
prayer service at 2:15 on Monday. This will take place in the hall where there will be a display of
portraits made by the students of Holy Family in line with the theme of ‘Every Child Counts.’
Later in the week the children will be invited to make a gold coin donation to the Project
Compassion appeal when we attempt to cover a large sized school logo with coins.
Andrew Chinn Concert
We are fortunate to again have Andrew Chinn join us at Holy Family. Andrew will be helping
celebrate Mass with us for the Feast of St Joseph and Harmony Day on Tuesday, March 19. After
lunch at 1:50 there will be a whole school concert. Please save the date so that you are able to join
us for this fun event.
2013 - Celebrating 75 Years of Catholic Education at Holy Family School
HFS now has its own smartphone app!
Want to stay in touch with everything that is happening at Holy Family?
You can now download the HFS app. This app will allow you to access the school newsletter from
your smartphone. You will be able to check calendar events, canteen price lists and receive reminders
and news.
The school will be able to send you news of events cancelled due to rain, reminders about mufti days,
notices about excursions, reminders about notes due. Never again miss out on something important
about your child’s school.
The app is free to download. Please see Mr Butt if you need help.
Learning at Holy Family
This term, Year Four have been learning how to use the iPads to create digital artworks. We are using a
Photoshop application to enhance photographs and produce digital portraits of our classmates. Here are
some pirate portraits created by Year Four.
Clean Up School’s Day 2013 was held on Monday 4 th March, due to rain last Friday the
1st March. This event is linked with Clean Up Australia Day and promotes keeping our
school environment clean and beautiful. Holy Family School spent a short time cleaning
our school grounds and the front boundary. The students did an amazing job looking after
and taking pride in our school environment. Well done Holy Family!
2013 Swimming Champions
Congratulations to the following students who achieved age champion awards at
our recent swimming carnival.
12 Year Girls 1. Grace Chen
2.Payton Frangie
11 Year Girls 1. Rebecca Khoury
10 Year Girls 1. Jorja Le Claire
12 Year Boys 1. Raymond Azar 2. Chris Wehbe
11 Year Boys
2. Laura Awad
9 Year Girls 1. Vanessa El Hayek 2. Rita Nohra
1. Stanley Ng
2. Jayden Ambara
10 Year Boys 1. Alexander Lehnen 2. Hugo Ng
9 Year Boys
1. Oscar Yi
2. Mina Nohra
It’s great to see so many enthusiastic readers in the library. The children have returned to school
enthusiastic about reading and borrowing. Please make sure your children have a library bag so
they are able to borrow and remind them to return their books each week so they can borrow again.
Kindergarten Parents – could you please write your child’s first and last names on their library bags. This makes it much
easier for us when they are borrowing as we are able to find their names on the database more quickly when we can see it
easily on their library bags. Thank you
Parent Library – Just a reminder that we have a terrific parent library just inside the door to the library. It covers many
topics including raising boys, helping children to succeed, raising girls, activities for children etc. Come in and have a
browse and then if you are interested in something you can borrow in your child’s name – easy!
2013 - Celebrating 75 Years of Catholic Education at Holy Family School
Calendar
March
Thursday 7th March
9.10am Parish Mass Year 2 & 5 to attend.
3.30pm 1st Reconciliation Meeting.
Sunday 10th March
4th Sunday Lent.
Monday 11th March
2pm Catholic Schools’ Week Prayer & Portrait Gallery Opening
Wednesday 13th March
3.15pm-6.00pm Delany College Granville Open Afternoon.
Birthday Wishes!
We would like to congratulate Amy Vu, Rizul Wagle and Elizabeth El Boutty
who celebrate their birthdays this week.
School Fees
Thankyou to everyone that has already paid the school fees.
Please note, school fee payments are due by this Friday the 8th March. Payments can be made
by cash, cheque, EFTPOS, BPAY or at the Post Office.
Any family having difficulty in paying must make an appointment with Mrs Guilfoyle to discuss this
matter. Thank you.
EASTER RAFFLE
All are asked to donate an Easter egg to our baskets that will be the prizes
for our Easter raffle. This is a great fundraiser for our school.
More raffle tickets are available from the school office.
Extra raffle tickets can be collected from the office
Community News
2013 - Celebrating 75 Years of Catholic Education at Holy Family School