Week 3 Term 4 2021

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

I was recently reminded of some wise words from Fr Costigan, as he delivered a homily around Jesus’ mission to reach out to the outcast, poor and lonely in the community.  Those who apparently yearned happiness in life.  When we think of this notion, many tend to think of those in our community who are homeless, unemployed, ill or culturally and socially different.  It was only these people that Jesus was trying to reach. 

In reflection Fr Costigan reinforced that many of us are spiritually poor and are materialistically misguided in the pursuit of real happiness.  The contemporary lonely and outcast in our society are not just people who are poor, different or ill, but anyone who misses true relationships with family, friends or even their own spiritual God.  In reality, some people with less in life, can be far more contented than those with more.  As Christian people, this notion can change our way of living a life reflective of the story of Jesus – first and foremost by examining our own soulful happiness.  Are the gadgets, possessions and esteem that comes with our career the key to our happiness, or is there something much deeper in the journey that gives us true satisfaction?

Thank you to the Staff, Parents and P&F for supporting the amazing biannual School Musical at our school.  A clear example of what Yr 5 & 6 students can achieve when given the opportunity.  It was a very proud moment for our school.  Next year we set our sights on the “Mater Dei Art Show”.

FROM THE ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

What an amazing start to the term we’ve had. Already we’ve had so many events that have brought out the wonderful giving nature of our community.

Our musical showcased not only the incredible talent of our Year 5 and 6 students, but also the talent and generosity of our Arts department and our parent body. A huge thank you to Amanda Holzheimer and Ebony Rosier who brought such a magical show to life and to Nikki Farrell and Pam Wells who gave so generously of their time and talent. A very special thank you as well to so many of our parents who spent many hours creating costumes and props, in particular to Kate Mahony, Andrew Biggs, Marcella Cullin and Kathy Pikramenos.

A number of our Year 4, 5 and 6 students competed in the SWQ All School Touch Carnival. A big thank you to Danielle King and an enthusiastic group of parents, for giving this opportunity to our students. Read more about the day in Danielle’s newsletter section.

Our Year 4s and Year 5s have been on Camp this week. These camps are great opportunities for our students to demonstrate our dispositions in a totally different context. The activities they participate in require moving beyond their comfort zone, demonstrating a growth mindset, innovation and collaboration. Thank you to our staff and parents who accompanied the students on camp for this extra commitment.

Our school fair is also a huge event that has been made possible by many of our parents. Thank you to all those who have contributed their time and effort. We look forward to a fabulous day tomorrow.

FROM THE APRE MIDDLE LEADER

World Teachers Day

Next Friday, 29 October, is World Teachers Day – a day when we recognise and thank teachers for all that they contribute to each individual student and to the community as a whole.  We are grateful for the quality teachers that bring Mater Dei to life.   We acknowledge your talents, your knowledge, your energy, your stress.  And we take this day to say a very big thank you.

Mission Month

October is World Mission month, a time to focus on the missionary work that supports people from vulnerable and disadvantaged backgrounds by responding to needs in a variety of countries.  We will be holding a fundraising day on Friday 5 November, where students are invited to wear their favourite sports gear or jersey and to offer a gold coin donation which will be collected to send to Catholic Missions.    

Day for Daniel

Next week, all students will be taking part in the Daniel Morcombe curriculum, which focuses on teaching children how to stay safe.  There are parent support resources available here.   As part of our Student Protection week next week, students are invited to wear red clothing on Friday 29 October – ‘Day for Daniel’.   

Parish Family Mass

Year 3 and 4 will help in the celebration of Mass on Sunday 31^st October at 9.30am.  Parents in these classes have received an invitation to attend.  Please let your class teacher know if you are able to join us.  Everyone is very welcome.

Important dates

• Friday 29 October      Day for Daniel (wear red to school)
• Sunday 31 October     Parish Family Mass – 8.30am (Yr 3 and 4 families)
• Friday 5 November    Soctober for World Missions (wear favourite sporting gear, bring a gold coin)

SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

STAFFING UPDATE

We interviewed internal and external applicants for 1 x continuing position and multiple contract positions for 2022 last week.  The pool had 33 applicants (internal and external) that were shortlisted then interviewed.  The process of selection was based on best fit for our Illuminating Learning Possibilities framework.  Recommendations have been made, with finalisation of positions to be completed after TCSO approvals.

SCHOOL FEES 2022

School fees have been set under the Toowoomba Catholic Schools recommendation of a 3% Education CPI.  Please see the table below:

Fees are annualised on the first invoice with parents able to make payments at intervals during the year.  Statements will be issued termly.  Parents can also pay the full year fees up front with a 3% discount.  Any additional excursions / incursions / camps that occur in the school year will be on-costed.

Genuine financial hardship will be considered and assessed by meeting with the principal.

MATER DEI KINDY PROPOSAL

The community survey closed at the end of the school holidays with 57 survey response received.  We need 80 – 90 responses to get a feasible analysis for Toowoomba Catholic Kindergarten Care (TCKC) to consider further planning for a Kindy at Mater Dei.  The survey will be re-opened in an attempt to reach broader audience.  We need your assistance to forward the survey on to as many families you know with pre-school aged children to complete.

SCHOOL CAMPS

This week our Yr 4 and 5 students attended camps at Koojarewon and Emu Gully to stretch their dispositions in situations that are different to the daily school environment.  We thank all parents and staff who took part in the camps to support our students to have a fun, learning experience.

YR 4 PARENT 1:1 DEVICE INFORMATION NIGHT

The information night was held last week.  After parent and staff feedback we will be moving to Surface Go lap top. It was attended by 10 parents with great discussion and feedback regarding the roll out.  One more support meeting will be held early next year to support parents.

2022 BOOKLISTS

It’s that time of year again when we begin to get organized for the next school year. Booklists for 2022 are now available on our website or you can order online directly from Browns. As we have done the last two years, we are using the school’s bulk purchasing power to buy many of the consumable items that were previously on book lists. This reduces the cost of these items to parents. The consumables levy will be included in the 2022 fees.

PARKING

We continue to receive feedback from our Mater Dei Community and neighbours regarding the traffic habits of our families, particularly of late regarding parking.  It would appear that our parents are parking in 'no parking' areas as well as actually parking on kerbs across paths. 

The following is taken directly from Queensland Government Website:

Schools are busy areas, where there are often lots of children—who do not always understand the danger of roads and vehicles. Make sure to take extra care when parking on school grounds and on the roads and streets around the school and follow the signed parking rules at all times.

Parking signs and markings

You should always check parking signs carefully near schools as they are often stricter than normal parking rules. The type of parking restriction, and the times that it applies, will be on the sign.

Signs and markings that you are likely to find near schools are:

• parking signs (for example, some streets near schools have 15 minute parking limits during school zone hours)
• no stopping signs
• yellow edge lines (stopping and parking is prohibited)
• no parking signs
• loading zone signs (used in pick-up or drop-off areas).

TIPS FOR SAFE DRIVING AND PARKING

We respectfully ask all of our Mater Dei community to please park legally and with consideration.

• Allow enough time to get your child/children to the school gate safely without rushing.
• Consider parking a few streets away and walk your child/children to school. This is also good for teaching your children road safety skills.
• Always observe the speed limit signs around the school.
• Always observe the parking signs outside the school. These are designed to keep children safe.
• Never park illegally across a driveway, on the nature strip, near a school crossing, or in a bus zone.
• Never double park. Double parking blocks the vision of other drivers, forces children onto the road and obstructs the flow of traffic.
• TIP: School travel options - Have you tried walking, cycling or catching public transport with your children? Parking away from the school and walking part of the way may even save you time during peak pick up times.

Unfortunately, if some of the concerning practices being reported to us continue, they become a problem not only for the school to consider, but for the QPS and Department of Transport and Main Roads.

SPORT WITH DANIELLE KING

Sport Trophies

Please return all senior swimming trophies and any other trophies held by current year 6 students from the athletics and cross country carnivals as soon as possible, these need to be sent away for engraving ready for next years carnivals.

Junior Swimming Carnival

The Junior Swimming Carnival for Prep – Year 3 students will be held on the Monday of week 9 the 29^th of November at the Fairholme pool.  We will be following the same format as the nomination process for the Senior Swimming Carnival via a Microsoft Form available on the following link:

Further information regarding the carnival and the nominating process can be found in the Microsoft Form.  Your student/s nomination is to be completed no later than Friday 5 November.

Senior Swimming Carnival 2022 (students born 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 only)

This carnival will be held at Milne Bay on Tuesday 1^st of February next year. We will be using the same system for nominating as last year – Microsoft Forms.  Continuing this way of nominating allows students to complete the process at home with their parents, so a discussion can happen around what events they want to enter and their confidence in entering the event which avoids last minute changes to the program before the carnival.  Please complete a new form for each child eligible to swim at the carnival. 

Please remember the following notes when nominating:

• Students can swim in either a 50m or 25m event in each stroke – up to 4 events in total. A combination of 25m and 50m events across the strokes is fine. E.g. 50m Freestyle, 25m Breaststroke, 50m Backstroke and 25m Butterfly.
• Students who wish to be considered for age champion or selected in the school team must swim in the championship 50m events in each stroke.
• Students currently in Year 2 born in 2013 only need to nominate if they are competent in completing their chosen event, students not nominated will not attend the carnival in 2022. Please still complete the relevant section of the Microsoft Form so that this can be recorded.
• Please contact me -  danielle.king@twb.catholic.edu.au if you have any questions.

SWQ Primary All Schools Touch Carnival

Last Sunday a number of Year 4, 5 & 6 students competed in the SWQ All Schools Touch Competition at Kearney Springs.  All the teams that competed played their hearts out showing fantastic skill and perseverance during their games! These students should be extremely proud of their efforts throughout what was a hot day. A big congratulations to the Mater Dei Boys Blue team which came away the primary boy’s champions for the day.  Many thanks to Jenna Taylor, Hannah Arndt, Michelle Lever, Aleisha Wilson, Joel Rickuss and Alex Morision for coaching the teams, both before and at the carnival.  Thanks also to the parents who attended the carnival to support their students on the day. These students will travel to Redlands for the Queensland All Schools Touch on 5 - 7 November, we wish them the best of luck at their next competition!

FROM THE SCHOOL COUNSELLOR

Research indicates children who have a set of chores to complete have:

• Higher self esteem
• Greater sense of responsibility and competence
• Better skills to deal with frustration
• Better ability to delay gratification; and
• Greater relationship skills

Which all contribute to greater success at school.

Age appropriate chores for different ages can be found at:

SCHOOL MUSICAL

CONGRATULATIONS to all our year 5 and 6 students on two amazing shows last Thursday 14^th October.  The children shone like stars and they should all be very proud of their efforts! 

Watch this space for a link to the recording of the evening show - coming soon!

THANK YOU

THANK YOU for everyone's commitment throughout our rehearsals over the past few months.  Particularly, those with large parts to play - the way students learnt their lines, took on feedback and seamlessly became their character is commendable. 

Thank you to all families for their support, particularly with costuming and props.  It is a huge job and we are very appreciative of your support.

Thank you for the many people who have come to us after the show and over the past week to share their positive feedback about the musical.  The way our community comes together and the joy that this brings is what makes it all worthwhile and it has been a privilege working with your talented children to produce such a fantastic show!

Reiterating some more thank yous from last week – putting on a production like this is certainly a team effort, and couldn’t be done with the generous volunteers and support from so many people.  Special thanks to the following people:

Sound, Lighting & Filming – Veetone.

Set Design, Props & Costumes - Nikki Farrell, Pam Wells, Kathryn Mahony, Andrew Biggs, Kathy Pikramenos, Marcella Cullin, Choral Society, Staff and many more parent helpers.

Backstage Crew - Dylan Philp, Fran Gregory, Kym Murray, Nikki Farrell, Pam Wells, Kathy Doherty, Angela Martlew.

Program booklet – Trish Jenkins, thank you for the time you put into getting this ready and making this look professional.

Tuckshop - Thank you to Anne Day, Melinda Johnson, and the P&F for putting on our food and drinks for the evening show.

Mater Dei Staff - Thank you for their support and flexibility in preparing for this show and for your assistance at the show.

Year 5/6 Teachers (Joanne Cavanagh, Dylan Philp, Fiona Penfold and Siobhan Fagan) – for your flexibility with extra rehearsal times and assistance on the evening.

Thanks to each and every one of you.  Together we Illuminate Possibilities.

Signing off now
Amanda Holzheimer and Ebony Rosier

ONE LAST CALL FOR HELP - If you are able to help out with the washing of costumes, please collect a box from outside the Drama classroom.  Once done, please return to inside the classroom, so we know they have been washed.  Thank you so much for your generous assistance.

PREP AND YEAR 1 EXCURSION

On Wednesday the 20^th of October Prep and Year 1 had an adventure to the Empire Theatre to watch the performance of ‘The Gruffalo’. For many students it was the first time catching a bus and the screams of excitement could be heard all the way there. The students enjoyed the singing, dancing, and the wonderful costumes worn by the characters throughout the performance! After lots of roaring, it was time for us to venture back to school to share with our friends our favourite part of our excursion. A big thank you to Mrs Martlew and our Prep and Year One teams for organising our excursion, it certainly has been a highlight of our year!

WINANGALI INFUSION VISIT

Thank you to Buddy and the Winangali crew for coming out to Mater Dei to teach us about our First Nations people and culture. We all had a wonderful time engaging in activities that focused on caring for our spirit and soul through smoking ceremony, Gamilaraay language, dance and song. We look forward to having you back with us again in 2022!

P&F

Mater Dei P&F Annual General Meeting 15th November 6.30pm

Next month we have the P&F AGM to elect next years committee on Saturday 15th November at 6.30pm. All positions will be open to be filled, but the President, Vice President and Treasurer positions will be vacant due to these committee members standing down.

Tony Beverland (Treasurer) and I have enjoyed the last 3 years on the P&F committee, assisting in the organising of functions, and making improvements to the school funded by the P&F.

If you are interested in improving our school and have ideas how to do so, please attend next months AGM.

Kind regards,

Hugh Bradshaw
Mater Dei P&F Vice President/Acting President

TCKC- OUTSIDE SCHOOL HOURS CARE

Dear parents and families,

Please find our monthly newsletter which contains upcoming information on our service, and what the children have recently been up to, in the following pdf document:

Kind regards
Miss Jaymee-Lee
Coordinator
Diocese of Toowoomba Catholic Kindergartens and Care

COMMUNITY NOTICES