Dear parents and Friends of St Kevin’s

The craziness that is the end of the school year and the excitement of Christmas is well and truly in the air. Mrs Arthur’s REC news identifies important dates that to us as a Catholic school, differentiate us, and are a real and tangible point of difference between other schools in our local area. It is why you as parents chose a Catholic school – our values, our support of those less privileged and the inclusiveness of all irrespective of race, religion, gender, disability or additional needs. We are a Catholic community, nurturing mind, heart and spirit – following the light of Christ.

We continue to ensure that our students follow our 3 school rules at all times.

1.Be safe.

2 Be respectful.

3.Be a learner.

We still have a few instances of swearing and name calling that are not appreciated. Staff and students alike do not come to school to hear swear words that may be part of the wider community. I have informed all students that once inside our gates, poor language if heard, will result in consequences such as time off the playground. I realise that students will hear swear words at many locations, but we are trying to help them understand that St Kevin’s school site is not one of them. If parents could please assist in sharing this understanding with their children, everyone would be most appreciative.  

Enjoy the next few weeks of Christmas preparations with your family. Yesterday I taught my 19mth granddaughter how to sing Jingle Bells! Christmas is a beautiful family time where special memories are made. Go gently, remembering Jesus is the reason for the season and most importantly keep loving your beautiful children.

Mary-Anne jennings

Principal

This week in working with Year 5 we have been exploring leadership.  The children have explored their understanding of leadership, models they have seen and admired, and what leadership qualities they believe they possess. Yesterday, together with exploring 101 qualities of leadership, we had a discussion about models for student leadership.  Many schools have moved away from a very dated 1960s model of student leadership that affirms, at best, 4 individuals.  Perhaps next year we can explore a leadership model that is more inclusive and expansive.  This would require robust discussion with staff, students and parents about the values and benefits of various models, not being tied to a myopic mindset wherein we are constrained by tradition and what we have always done.  In talking to the Year 5s, some were keen to have the validation of having a popular vote, others were open to a team approach.  Under our current policy, we are tied to our School Captain/ Sports’ Captain model for this year. This model will affirm 40% of the candidates and leave 60% dejected.  A Leadership Team model looks to include all who are interested and take on responsibilities according to interests and strengths.  I look forward to continuing this discussion in the new year.

Dear Families,

Welcome to Week 8! The Infants are very hard at work on their Nativity Performance; lots of beautiful costumes have arrived and we thank your collective efforts at organising this for our Infants community. I love that so many of you have pooled your efforts to ensure that others are costumed and have their items. It is what makes St Kevin’s community so generous and committed to the wellbeing of our students.

Last newsletter, I issued key dates for the end of the year. Please note them as a reminder for this cycle!

Sunday 10^th December 2023 at 9:30am -Year 6 Graduation Mass: Please join our St Kevin’s School Community for the final School Led mass of 2023 as we send off our Year 6 Students. I would love some helpers for the Ministries including the offertory and bulletins, as well as some other roles.

Tuesday 12^th December 2023 – Christmas Clothing Day for St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal.

Tuesday 12^th December 2023 at 2pm – Infants Nativity Play

Wednesday 13^th December from 1pm – End of Year Liturgy and Awards Ceremony

Graduation Mass will be held at St Kevin’s Catholic Church.

Nativity and End of Year Liturgy to be held in the hall.

Photo Call Out:

If you have any photos from events through the year, I would be grateful for them to be emailed my way as I work on the End of Year Liturgy celebrations.

Social Justice News:

We are filling our hampers for our St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal very quickly! I thank you for your ongoing generosity in a time that is often a stretch for families. Please continue to send in donations for our hampers and ask some businesses you know if they are able to donate a meat voucher towards our efforts.

We are having an out of uniform day with a gold coin donation on Tuesday 12^th December (I think I have an error on my flyer!) Christmas Colours/Clothing/Paraphernalia most welcome. I think I need my Buddy the Elf shirt out!

Religious Education

Recently, I went into the Year 3 classroom to conduct a Learning Walk and Talk. Some of the students gave me permission to share their responses in my newsletter, so I wish to thank Poppy, Leo and Ollie for their contributions!

	Poppy	Leo	Ollie
What are you learning?	We are learning about prayer	We are learning about the prayer types.	We are learning about how the Last Supper is like going to Mass.
How are you doing?	Pretty good – I think I really know the different kinds of prayers.	Not bad - I really, really know all the types of prayer.	I am going okay.
How do you know?	I think I am getting better at working in my prayer journal.	I am definitely getting better at remembering and writing my own prayers.	I am getting better at finding things in the Bible.
How can you improve?	Probably just knowing examples of the prayers	Finishing my prayers in my journal	Taking my time in my journal. Learning some new prayers in the prayer types.
Where do you go for help?	Mr Vaughan, a bible or the learning wall.	Mr Vaughan	A bible or the learning wall.

The Liturgical Season

From the First Sunday of Advent (Sunday 3^rd December) our sacred spaces will move into purple to mark the period of Advent.

Familiar symbols of Advent are evident when we start to decorate the Jesse Tree.

The tradition and story of the Jesse Tree is a very old one. It is named after Jesse, the father of King David, and tells us of the people who waited for the coming of the Messiah. The stories, people and symbols mentioned each week help to show us the connections from the story of Creation to the first Christmas. It is a holy time to remember the faith of the past. It is a holy time to understand the faith of our story. It is a holy time to wait in faith. It is a holy time to grow in faith.

The following scripture passage reminds us of the origins of the Jesse Tree and its importance as a Christian symbol in the preparation for the Advent Season.

A reading from the book of Isaiah.   (Isaiah 11: 1 - 4)

A shoot shall come from the stock of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of right judgement and might,
the spirit of knowledge and wonder and awe at all God has created.
His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,

or decide by what his ears hear;

but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,

and decide with fairness for the meek of the earth;

May the blessings of the upcoming Advent Season be with you and your families.

 

Amy Arthur

Acting Religious Education Coordinator

A HUGE thank you to our families who have made a comittment to paying their 2024 school fees by today's due date, 30th November 2024. If you have not finalised your fees, they are now considered overdue. 

All families recently received communications from Steve Lemos, Head of Catholic Schools regarding increases to school fees in the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese (see below). The fee increases detailed in that letter are applicable to all schools and are in place from the beginning of 2024. 

St Kevin's has for many years allocated a very reasonable Resource Fee which is part of the internal fee structure for the school and enables activities to take place that include but are not limited to class supplies, Swimming and Athletics carnivals, school sport, intensive swimming, excursions, incursions, technology and literacy subscriptions. 

Due to increasing costs, in 2024 the St Kevin's Resource Fee needs to be increased to $650 and will be included in fee accounts next year. This resource fee is an increase of $50 per annum or an average of approximately $0.96 per week across the year.

While it is regrettable to have to increase the Resource Fee, the increase is moderate and continues to allow many of the activities outlined above to be funded without additional, one of, out of pocket expenses when activities arise throughout the year.

All families are reminded that no student will be denied a Catholic education due to a genuine inability to pay full fees and are invited to contact the school office to arrange a confidential meeting with the Principal to discuss an alternative payment arrangment.  

All library books are to be returned.  Blue return tub is outside the library door, near Year 5 classroom on the days that the library is not open. Please look for any library books that you may have at home and in class tubs.

Last Book Club for the year closes this Friday, 1 December 2023 and there will be no extensions so that the books can be delivered before the end of school.

St Kevin's have been working with Stuart & Dunn to have your 2024 Back to School stationery items, required for the start of 2024, to be available to purchase online. These book packs are available to order now via the link below.

Simply select the year your child will be in in 2024 to see the stationery requirements. Any orders placed before Monday 4 December 2023, will be delivered to school on 7 December 2023 and sent home with your child in the last week. If you miss this cut off date, orders can continue to be placed until the 24 January 2024 and will be delivered to the school on 30 January 2024. Once the book packs are sent home, please LABEL ALL ITEMS ready for your child to bring with them on their first day of school in 2024.
Instructions regarding ordering is attached. 
Ordering via Stuart and Dunn is optional. Attached is the list of School Requirements for each year in 2024 should you wish to purchase these elsewhere. 

St Kevin's is a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) from Year 4 - Year 6 school. Year 3 students have been sent the information below regarding policy, specifications and responsibilities of students with one to one. All year 3 students, and any new students in years 4-6, will need to complete the Cybersafety User Agreement form in the attachment and return it to the office in preparation for bringing their own device in 2024.