St Mary's War Memorial School West Wyalong eNewsletter

Compassion is the sincere and sympathetic concern for others who are suffering, with a desire to do something about it. Compassion is linked to action; it is the urgency to do something to relieve suffering with support and kindness. St Mary's believes that the key to this virtue is the action component.

How to Practice Compassion

1. Speak with kindness.
2. Apologise when you've made a mistake.
3. Listen carefully and without judgment.
4. Encourage other people.
5. Offer to help someone with a task.
6. Be happy for someone else's success.
7. Accept people for who they are.
8. Forgive people for making mistakes.

PANCAKES FOR SALE TOMORROW - TUESDAY 21st FEBRUARY

Shrove Tuesday falls on the Tuesday before the beginning of Lent – a period of around six weeks leading up to Easter.

During Lent, we give up luxuries to remember when Jesus went into the desert for 40 days to fast and pray.

This Shrove Tuesday, 21st of February, Mrs Cuthbertson will be selling pancakes that will be available for students at recess. They will be for sale for $1 each (CASH ONLY) with butter, jam, and maple syrup available as toppings. All money raised will go towards our Schools Project Compassion fundraising.

ASH WEDNESDAY MASS

22 February at 10am

All parents and carers are most welcome to attend.

Our readers at the Ash Wednesday Mass are as follows:

Welcome	Max Cuthbertson and Alexandra Patton
First Reading	Amelia-Rose Blampied
Responsorial Psalm	Georgina Patton, Hugh Ridley
Prayers of the Faitfull	Ashton Barber, Maci Coburn, Indi Bales, Zoe Otageui, Charlie Hague

Opening School Mass

Thursday 2nd March 2023

12 pm

We are celebrating our whole school Opening Mass on Thursday the 2nd of March at 12pm. Our Year 6 leaders will be inducted at this mass.

If you are a Year 6 parent and you will not have a family member attending the mass, could you please let the school know so a staff member can be with your child during the badge ceremony.

All students attend this Mass and all our parents and carers are warmly invited to attend.

This year the parish will be undertaking the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the First Eucharist for students in Year 3 and 4. The important dates to remember are shown below, please note there will be one information night for both Sacraments.

Sacrament of Reconciliation

Thursday 27 April -	Welcoming and Information Night
Thursday 4 May -	Reconciliation Retreat
Thursday 11 May -	Sacrament of Reconciliation

Sacrament of Eucharist

Thursday 27 April -	Welcoming and Information Night
Sunday 28 May -	Commitment Mass @ 9.30am
Thursday 1 June -	Eucharist Retreat
Sunday 4 June -	First Eucharist @ 9.30am

This week, the season of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, which also marks the beginning of the annual Caritas Australia Project Compassion Appeal.

The theme of Project Compassion 2023 is ‘For All Future Generations’ and reminds us that the good we do today extends to impact the lives of generations to come.

By donating to Project Compassion, Caritas Australia, the Catholic Agency for International Aid and Development, can work with local communities around the world to end poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity.

Each family will receive a Project Compassion box for their donations. You can also donate online via the Caritas Australia website at:

Donate to Caritas

The recipients of our Whatever You Do, Do Well awards this week:

Ava Bales	Harriet Bell	Max Brose
Owen Browne	James Curry	Edith Dean
Charlie Hague	Harper Hart	Hugh Haworth
Marley Loudon	Alan McCoullough	Harper McDonell
	Martina Uiva

Our assembly will be held in the school hall on Friday afternoon at 1:50pm.

Swimming Results

Age Champions

Senior Girl Champion: Alexandra Patton, Runner Up: Harper McDonell

Intermediate Girl Champion: Georgina Patton, Runner Up: Edith Dean

Junior Girl Champion: Harriet Bell, Runner Up: Molly Gaynor

Senior Boy Champion: Hunter Connellan, Runner Up: James Dean

Intermediate Boy Champion: James Curry

Junior Boys Joint Champion: Archie Maslin, Runner Up: George Weir

McKillop was the overall winner of the carnival on 159 points, followed by McAuley on 127 and Tennison Woods on 76.

MacKillop Touch Trials

Congratulations to Eddie Tulloch who attended the MacKillop Touch trials in Yass on Wednesday 15th of February.

With all the diocese of MacKillop in attendance the compeition was red hot. Eddie had a wonderful day - scoring tries, running some good plays - he also made some new friends.

Well done Eddie!

Thank you to the parents who attended our Getting to Know Your Child interviews last week. We hope you enjoyed meeting your child's teacher and sharing valuable information with them. We also thank our staff for their continued commitment to our school.

Parents of Kinder students are reminded that there are two more rest days - Wednesday the 22nd of February and Wednesday the 1st of March.

Our Kinder students get very tired and this break will help them to remain keen and focused.

Date and Day	Teacher on Leave or PD	Class	Relief
Thursday 23 and Friday 24 February	Mrs Nielsen	4 Trust	Mrs Protheroe, Mrs Reichstein
Mr Collins will be attending the Western Region Swimming on Thursday the 23rd of February. Mr Collins will be attending the MacKillop Basketball Trials in Wollongong on Fridy the 24th of February.
Mr Nielsen will be on leave on Thursday the 23rd and Friday the 24th of February.

Mrs Emma McRae our counsellor will be visiting our school this week on Thursday the 16th of February.

If you would like to make a confidential appointment for your child please contact the office.

Happy Birthday to

Marcus Murrells, Cooper Miles and Abigail Sturgess

who celebrate their birthday's during this week.

We hope you enjoy your special day.

At times during the school year your child/ren will participate in off premises cultural and sporting learning activities within walking distance of the school.

For example Book Week at the Bland Shire Library, performances at the S&C Club, training at the stadium or Perseverance Oval.

As part of St Mary's "duty of care" responsibility, risk assessment documents must be submitted to Catholic Education, Canberra & Goulburn for these events. As most of these excursions are low key, for a short duration and do not require monetary payment, parents are notified of the actual date, time and event via the newsletter.

This permission note covers your child/ren attending these events for the 2023 school year.

If at any time you do not wish your child to attend an event off premises, after specific notification, please contact the school.

Please give permission for your child/ren on Compass.

The Life Education Van will be visiting St Mary’s School from Monday 6th of March to Wednesday 8th March.

It is expected that all students participate in this program as the content is linked to the school curriculum.

The cost per child is $12 and this should be paid via Compass.

Please logon to Compass to give consent and pay for the Life Education program for all your children. The Compass event also has information on the day each class will attend and the program the students will participate in.

Merchandise is also available for sale after the sessions. Please print the form, place correct money in an envelope with the order and hand to your child’s class teacher. It is important that the form and cash are sent to the office for the merchandise as the school hands this on to the Life Education presenter.

Click here to see the Healthy Harold merchanise.

Walking Permission Note - All Years - Please complete the Compass form for your child/ren.
Life Education Note - All Years - Please complete the Compass form and pay for your child/ren.

The Australian Government Department of Eduaction, Skills and Employment (AGDESE) will collect student residential addresses for all non-goverment schools in February 2023. The purpose of this collection is to help in calculating the needs-based funding arrangements for non-government schools.

Please note that student names will be 'de-indentified'.

The following links will help you understand the details of the collection.

Student Address Collection Information

Invitation to virtual Rural and Remote Early Learning Roundtable

As you know, for families in the country, accessing early learning can be extremely difficult – in fact, 3.7 million people living in the country have poor access to early learning, and 1 million have no access at all. Royal Far West is part of a free, online event to find out about changes to the early learning system in NSW that will impact country kids, and to have your say about what further changes are needed.

It will be a fantastic, interactive event, where parents, educators, and anyone living or working in rural and remote NSW will have the chance to be part of the conversation about how we can ensure children growing up in the country get the best start in life.

The details are:

When: Wednesday 22nd February, 2pm – 3pm AEST.

Where: Online, on Zoom – register to receive a link to join.

Who should come: Parents, early childhood educators, carers, grandparents, and anyone living or working in rural and remote NSW.

RSVP: Click here to register now - it’s free, and only takes a moment to RSVP.: https://thrivebyfive.org.au/actions/rural-remote-nsw-parents-event/

Speakers include:

· Hon. Sarah Mitchell, NSW Minister for Education and Early Learning

· Jonathon Peatfield, CEO of Life Education NSW

· Melissa Harris – Educational leader at Griffith Central Pre-School

· Pauline Bielefield, proud Kamilaroi woman, and grandmother

This event is brought to you by Thrive by Five and its Rural and Remote action group, of which Royal Far West is a member.

I know that our team at RFW hope that you and any interested members of your community can attend.

Canteen Information

Canteen is open Monday and Friday, please order via QKR before 8:45am on those days.

Due to product availability and suppliers as well an increase in product prices there have been some changes to the Canteen Menu for 2023 including an increase in price to some menu items.

We appreciate your understanding and thank you for the continued support.

Canteen Roster

Monday 20 February	Friday 24 Februray
CANTEEN CLOSED	Bridget Lashbrook Baking: Brodie Greenwood
Monday 27 February	Friday 3 March
1 VOLUNTEER REQUIRED	Karla Whittaker 1 VOLUNTEER REQUIRED Baking: Both
Monday 6 February	Friday 10 March
1 VOLUNTEER REQUIRED	Allirah Stewart & Emily Watts Baking: Both

The following events are in the calendar in the next few weeks.

The Compass Calendar is updated to show Mass times, sporting events, important events.

The SZAPP calendar is no longer updated, please do not refer to this calendar for important dates.

Day	Event	Location
Tuesday 21 February	CG AFL Trials. For athletes who nominated only.	Wollongong
Wednesday 22 February	Kinder Rest Day and Best Start Testing
	Ash Wednesday Mass @ 10am	St Mary's Church
	School Counsellor Visit	At school
Thursday 23 February	Western Region Swimming For athletes who qualified only.	Young
Friday 24 February	MacKillop Basketball Trials For athletes who qualified.	TBA
Wednesday 1 March	Kinder Rest Day FINAL
Wednesday 1 March	School Counsellor Visit	At school
Thursday 2 March	School Opening Mass	St Mary's Church
Monday 6 March	Healthy Harold - Kinder, Year 2 and Year 3	At School
Tuesday 7 March	Canberra Goulburn Swimming Carnival. For athletes that qualified only.	Queanbeyan
	School Counsellor Visit	At School
	Healthy Harold - Year 4, 5/6 Hope	At School
Wednesday 8 March	Healthy Harold - Year 1, 5/6 Faith	At School
Tuesday 14 March	Canberra Goulburn Rugby League Trials	Canberra
Wednesday 15 March	School Counsellor Visit	At School
Wednesday 15 March to Monday 27 March	NAPLAN testing in this period for Year 3 and Year 5	At School
Wednesday 22 March	School Counsellor Visit	At School
Wednesday 29 March	Altina Wildlife Park (more information closer to the date) Kinder, Year 1, Year 2	Altina Wildlife Park
Wednesday 29 March	School Counsellor Visit	At School
Wednesday 5 April	School Counsellor Visit	At School
Thursday 6 April	Last day of Term 1
Monday 24 April	Pupil Fee Day
Tuesday 25 April	ANZAC Day Public Holiday. Our students participate in the march and service in West Wyalong.
Wednesday 26 April	First Day of Term 2