Dear Parents and Friends of St Kevin’s,

Term 2 is finally coming to an end. It definitely was one to remember! I have outsourced this newsletter to Year 3 and 4 who have written letters to their future selves or composed a poem about all that was weird and wacky in Term 2. We pray that Term 3 has a much more settled beginning and flows with ample opportunities for community engagement and fun learning times.

Stay safe and enjoy the holidays with your beautiful children.

Mary-Anne Jennings

Crazy

Oh no all of the toilet paper is gone

Virtual learning

Intelligent kid’s home learning

Destroying buildings (Miller)

Covid 19

Oh no! No footy.

Victoria out-break

Inside on Anzac day

Death of Covid 19 (Braith)

Crazy things happening

Online church sessions

Roblox playing a lot more

Oh no! No Toilet paper

No school

Apply online to go to church (Angus)

Dear Hayley,

I am writing to tell you about this weird but wacky year 2020. First someone got the virus that we call COVID-19 or CORONAVIRUS. Well, here is something weird and wacky for you to know it was social distancing which wasn`t that easy. And then we had to home school, we had to learn how to use teams that wasn`t easy either. They closed beaches! Are you serious beaches! I know right. So that’s pretty much what happened this year. Love Hayley.

The weird and wacky year of 2020

2020 Was a weird and wacky year, there were bad things, but I’m focusing on the weird things. I wonder what the history books will say about 2020…

Because of the global pandemic, (Covid-19) to ensure peoples safety, we have had lockdown and had to quarantine ourselves and wait it out. For a little while it was fun, but then everyone started to go crazy! There are a couple outcomes of this, either you will be really fit from using exercise equipment at home, or you would eat a LOT! We couldn’t be at school during this pandemic, so we had to home school. I personally like to learn at school, as there aren’t many distractions. But everyone has their own preference! No weddings well, you can have weddings, but only 5 people are aloud! Things closed, parks, beaches ect due to them not being essential to our lives. Elbow greetings, because we can’t shake hands due to spreading germs. Schools closed, well not completely as we have home schooling, but almost closed. Social distancing, as simple as that, we have to distance ourselves to protect yourself and others. Borders closed, states have closed their borders due to covid-19. ZOOM meetings, ZOOM is this app that you can meet people on virtually. Olympics cancelled, yes, for the first time the Olympics were cancelled! Masks, people wear masks to protect others from coughing and sneezing. Benches wrapped in plastic, as we can’t sit down on them because we would spread germs. Shops have limits for people in the store, I don’t 100% know why. Way more people have computers, Ipads phones, ect, as people work from home. Sanitizing a bunch, to stop the spread of germs Streets empty, as a lot of things are closed. No parents and visitors in school grounds. And church closed as a lot of old people attend, and old people are at high risk. (Rebecca)

Dear Renee

I am going to tell you about the weird and wacky year of 2020. It all started on the 23rd of January 2020. A disease that was called corona virus. Corona virus made everything close. First off all of the beaches were closed no one could go surfing, swimming or sitting on the beach.

Here’s 10 wacky things that happen in covid-19.

1. All of the parks were closed.
2. We had to elbow shake/foot touch/no interactions .
3. We had to social distance (1.5m apart).
4. The state boarders were closed.
5. The Olympics of 2020 were cancelled.
6. The football stadium had cardboard cutouts in the seats.
7. We had to online shop (what)
8. We had to sanitize and wash our hands with soaps so much.
9. We had to do ZOOM conferences because we weren’t allowed to see our friends.

THERE WAS NO TOILET PAPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That was the wackiest year of my life.

Dear Tyler

I just want to say one thing 2020 remember it was the year with plastic wrapped seats. Online schooling with 1 or 2 zoom meetings a week. Green ticks on where you can sit even though no one used them. Red ticks on trains where trains where you can’t sit. Cardboard people at the footy. Life or death over toilet paper. No dried pasta so you had no spag for like two weeks Tyler and you survived because you’re reading this so congrats. You wore your onesie 24/7 for  2 months. You had either chips or KFC for dinner. Xbox sunrise till dusk, you didn’t stop, only for dinner lunch. It was a weird and wacky year for sure .

Constructive mindset

Over creative

Virtual fun

Indeed annoyed

Dino snacks I miss you

101 days of boredom

9 hundred ways to keep yourself entertained with toilet paper (Patrick)

Kinder ZOOM Meetings

Our Kinder 2021 enrolments have all had a ZOOM meeting with Mrs Jennings. Our K2U packages have been a hit with or new enrolments.

Retirement of Anne Ossington

“Miss Anne” is retiring as of Friday July 3 after 25 years of service to St Kevin’s. Anne has worked with many students and teachers over this time, providing valuable support and assistance in a variety of areas. We wish “Miss Anne” a very happy retirement full of art ‘n craft and caring for her great nieces!

Pupil Free Day

Friday August 21 Staff will be engaged in a Faith Formation Day which is a vital aspect for staff teaching in Catholic Schools. There will be no school on that day.

Dear Parents,

During my first year of university I vividly recall sitting in the Hunter side of Newcastle Uni learning about educational theorist perspectives. At the time (and at the young age of 18 years) I was wondering if I had chosen the right profession as I did not have the “life experience” to understand the importance of educational research.

There is a saying in teaching “Maslow before Bloom.”

Bloom’s research centres around a way to classify thinking according to six cognitive levels of complexity. The psychologist Abraham Maslow’s earlier works pointed to a specific interest in how certain motivational factors and needs impact upon learning and the learning experience. In other words, if these needs are not met; learning doesn’t happen.

The COVID -19 crisis changed the world as we knew it. It has especially changed one part of the world- the education system!

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs was at the forefront of our response to the pandemic and Home Learning at St Kevin’s. As a community I felt we genuinely rallied together and supported each other. Recreating the same sense of belonging for students during Home Learning and connecting with families was top priority.

Thank you for being on this journey with us. Your survey feedback reflects this. We understood the technology challenges but with the support of the whole community we were successful in our connections.

As one parent put it: “I am now a Teams and Zoom expert; this has been successfully facilitated by an 8 year old!

“THANK YOU”…….Thank you for ensuring your children lit up their teachers faces during our virtual meetings. Thank you for liking and commenting on our Facebook page and sharing your stories with us. Thank you for responding to our emails and calls. Most of all thank you for making St Kevin’s a great place to belong.

If you have not yet responded to our survey on Compass please do.

Take the time to explore the Virtual Art Gallery from our Diocese. Year 4 students at St Kevin's contributed, sharing their thoughts and feelings using a variety of techiniques and styles. It is a rich, creative outlet for our students and provides an insight into their lives, and perhaps encourages us to reflect on ours. Hopefully, it will brighten your day.

Have a lovely break.

School fees were emailed to family’s Week 8. During the COVID crisis, we have been mindful of the financial impact experienced by our families, the Diocese established an online form to either defer your school fee payments or to apply for a COVID Concession to reduce your school fees. This process is still available to our families on the CSO website.  Please contact the school office directly for assistance on 4954 0036.

We are very appreciative of those families who have continued and will shortly resume their commitment to school fees.

Kind Regards

Kim Ragen

We are finishing this Term in prayer.  It has been a rather tumultuous term.  This afternoon before we dismiss the children we are gathering in prayer.  Our prayer will include liturgical movement to uplifting gospel song and will conclude with a Bubble Prayer. The Bubble Prayer comes with the following instruction:

Please enjoy the sample prayers from different classes attached.  You may have seen Year 1 earlier this week with their Rosary Beads and The Lord’s Prayer on our Facebook page. I hope to include, later this evening, on our Facebook  page, some clips of our final prayer for this term.  Happy holidays with your children.

God Bless

Kim Hogan

Yaama,

This coming Sunday, 5 July, is Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander Sunday.

The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council (NATSICC) prepares liturgical resources for Sunday Mass celebrations each year for this important event.

We know that COVID19 restrictions have had a large impact on the way that we celebrate our faith as Catholics. Consequently, NATSICC will hold the first-ever live-streamed, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sunday Mass from the St Francis Xavier Cathedral in Adelaide from 11.30am EST. The livestream will be available from the NATSICC homepage. www.natsicc.org.au All are welcome to view the live-stream.

I invite you to view the following short video which includes a virtual Acknowledgement of Country and some information on the work of NATSICC and our numbers of Aboriginal Catholics in Australia.

(Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the video may contain images, voices or words of those that have passed.)

Jubilee Prayer and Statement of Commitment

Father our Creator, You created all things, seen and unseen,

Listen to my silent prayer as I stand here before you.

As my weary eyes look back over distant horizons,

Back to those days where my people walked.

The footprints of my grandfathers are imprinted on the earth and their images become real to me.

I see my Grandfathers standing tall and strong, warriors of long ago.

I hear them singing, I see them dancing, and my spirit moves within me.

 

They told me of the emus fighting; picking the scent of our hunters.

The images fade away as I feel the hurt of my people.

 

I can hear the cries of my Grandmothers as they cry for their children.

Grandfather, You can see me as I stand here and feel this hurt.

 

Father Creator, is this the purpose of my being here?

Or is it your plan to reshape my people to be once again the proud race it once was?

 

Let me walk with you and my Grandfathers towards the dawning of a proud and new nation.

 

I thank you for my Sacred Being.

Amen.

 

(NATSICC Leadership Gathering November 1995)

New dates announced for NAIDOC Week 2020

National NAIDOC Week 2020 celebrations will be held from the 8-15 November.

The November dates follow the decision by the National NAIDOC Committee (NNC) to postpone NAIDOC Week from the original July dates due to the impacts and uncertainty from the escalating Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic across our communities and cities.

Best wishes, and enjoy the holiday break.

Phil Taylor

Aboriginal Education Teacher  

Can you believe we are over HALFWAY through the Premiers Reading Challenge?!

Students in Year 3-6:

Hopefully you have been logging all of the books you have been reading, but if not – don’t worry – there’s still plenty of time!

Plus, as a result of COVID-19, there have been important updates to the 2020 PRC to help you reach your target.

With public libraries closed, and ours out of action at the moment, you may be finding it difficult to get your hands on PRC titles to read. For the 2020 year, all students will be able to include 10 choice books, giving you more flexibility over what you read this year. Video instructions for how to enter these choice books can be found here: 2020 Bonus Books.

To make sure you can access a range of titles, check your bookshelves, borrow books from your friends, even add titles that you have read in class with your teacher. Don’t forget about Sora – our digital library app. Details on how to use this can be found in your class library team in Microsoft Teams.

One thing education can never downplay is the power of PLAY. We tend to see a lot of play in the early years, Kindy through to Year 2, but this week, a lot of teachers have observed the Year 3-6 cohort engaging in their own purposeful play. Our beautiful sandpit, and all of the tools in it we transformed into a working café, complete with sticky note orders, menus and Mrs Arthur’s favourite: a good cup of coffee. In this experience, the teachers noticed a lot of oral language happening, a lot of imaginative play, some writing and of course social skills like turn-taking and holding conversations that would be useful in real life. Some of the students reminded us that in a few short years they would be heading off to part-time jobs; what better way than to practice their customer service skills than with their peers.
“The education of even a small child, therefore, does not aim at preparing them for school, but for real life.” Maria Montessori.

The P & F are currently hosting a Thompson's Pie Drive fundraiser for St Kevin's. The orders are due in on Friday 24th July (End of Week 1 Term 3) with delivery being Wednesday 29th July. We apologise that the initial price list that went home was incorrect. Please find below the amended price list. Thank you for supporting this fundraiser!

Lake Macquarie City Council Rangers have been patrolling schools during term 2.

Due to social distancing restrictions limiting capacity on our public transport system, we have noticed more parents are relying on their vehicles for school drop-off and pick-up.

The safety of all children is our number one priority and we would like your help to communicate to parents the correct parking rules including the following:

No stopping – you cannot stop here unless there is a medical or other emergency

Bus zone – you cannot stop here unless you are driving a bus

No parking – you can stop here for two minutes only to drop-off or pick-up and the driver must stay within three metres of your vehicle

Pedestrian crossings – you cannot stop within 20 metres before or 10 metres after a pedestrian crossing unless there is a control sign permitting parking

Double parking – you cannot stop on the road alongside other vehicles at any time to drop-off or pick-up.

Lake Mac Rangers will be increasing patrols around our local schools during term 3 to monitor illegal parking and safety issues. Rangers will be issuing infringements to drivers not following the rules.