11th October 2019

Mater Dei School Prayer

Christ has no body now but ours. No hands, no feet on earth but ours.

Ours are the eyes through which Christ looks. Ours are the feet with which Christ walks to do good.

Ours are the hands with which Christ blesses all the world.

So, let nothing disturb you; Let nothing frighten you.

All things are passing. God never changes.

Patience obtains all things. God alone is enough.

Amen. Our school prayer is based on the prayers and writings of St Teresa of Avila. Teresa is one of the two St Theresa’s who are patrons of our Parish. The other is St Therese of Lisieux. As a prayerful beginning to term, we encourage you to take some time over the next couple of weeks to share this prayer as a family – we include this in our assemblies each week and in many of our classes each day, as a guide for living our lives more like Jesus.

FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK – CHRIS BARTLETT

Welcome back to all students, parents and staff as we commence Term 4 of our academic school year. I trust that all our students had an opportunity to refresh and re-energise for the learning that is still to come over the next 9 weeks. I am very proud of the efforts of staff to improve learning at Mater Dei to reach the high achievement and growth standards we enjoy. Our teachers are still striving to find ways to improve learning so we can look forward to further growth of our individual student and whole school data.

One of our major school events is the Mater Dei Spring Fair, scheduled for Saturday 26 Oct on our school oval. This is a great opportunity for our broader school family to come together and enjoy fun, food and fellowship. I encourage all of you to rally a group of friends to be part of this social occasion.

We are a very diverse community with lots to engage students, parents and the broader community. It is an exciting time for Mater Dei as we progress through the final term of 2019. There are many more great events along with learning successes to come. I look forward to the rest of 2019 with you all.

FROM THE AP’S DESK – JULIE HENDERSON

Teaching and Learning Mater Dei staff members Angela Martlew, Kellie Pritchard, Chris Bartlett and Julie Henderson engaged in a tour of western diocesan Visible Learning schools from Monday 7th - Wednesday 9th of October. A total of eight TCSO schools, including Mater Dei are currently involved in the three-year Visible Learning Lighthouse Project. Schools visited included: St Patrick’s Mitchell comprising 33 Prep-6 students; St Patrick’s St George with 160 Prep-6 students and Our Lady of the Southern Cross College, Dalby with an enrolment of 530 Prep-Year 12 students. The purpose of the trip was to deepen relationships across the

schools through the sharing of Visible Learning journeys; exploring successes and challenges; exchanging ideas and initiatives. Visiting classroom learning spaces, asking students about their learning and participating in conversations with teachers and leadership teams provided the opportunity to reflect on Mater Dei’s progress and affirmed that we are well placed in our efforts to embed teaching and learning practices that make learning and thinking visible. It was fascinating to experience the school environments; to see and feel the similarities and differences of the diverse school settings, contexts and populations first-hand. We look forward to reciprocating visits for our western colleagues, undertaking additional visits to Visible Learning schools closer to home and engaging in further collaboration to grow collective wisdom and expertise in evidence-based teaching and learning practices.

FROM THE APRE’S DESK – VANESSA HORTON

Term Four Welcome back to a brand-new term, the final one for our school year! I trust that you all enjoyed fun-filled and peaceful down time with your families throughout the Spring break and are ready for a fabulously fast and very eventful term 4. There are lots of important liturgical events we are preparing for this term, culminating in week 9 with our Advent Liturgy and End of Year School Mass. We look forward to sharing these celebrations with you along the way.

World Mission Month October is when the Church celebrates World Mission Month and this year, Pope Francis has declared October to be an Extraordinary Missionary Month, marking a worldwide occasion of prayer, sharing stories of mission, formation and

charity. Stay tuned through our newsletter and classroom communications for upcoming events for our students to celebrate and support our partners in Catholic Missions.

Day for Daniel The Daniel Morcombe Foundation was established in honour of Daniel Morcombe to make Australia a safer place for all children. It was founded by parents Bruce and Denise after their son was abducted and murdered in December 2003 while waiting to catch a bus on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. The aims of the Foundation are to educate children and young people about how to stay safe in physical and online environments and to support young victims of crime. Throughout week three we will be delivering lessons from the Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum (DMCSC). Our focus on child safety will culminate with our Day for Daniel on Friday October 25th. Day for Daniel is Australia's largest child safety awareness and education day and will be held on Friday October 25th. The goal is to make Australia a safe place for all children. Our school is registered to participate in this important event and our students are encouraged to WEAR RED and donate a gold coin!

Parish Family Mass Each term one of our cohorts lead a Sunday mass in our parish St Theresa’s. This term our Junior Years Classes will be leading the Parish Family Mass on Sunday November 3rd @ 9.30am in St Theresa’s Church. Everyone is very welcome to join us for the Eucharistic celebration with Fr Brian presiding. This is our final Parish Family Mass for the school year, and we would love to see as many of our Mater Dei families involved as possible. There will be morning tea following this mass, and you are welcome to bring a plate to share. See you there!

Remembrance Day Liturgy This year our Remembrance Day Liturgy will be led by our Early Years cohort (Year One & Two classes). The liturgy will be held in the William Morris Centre on Monday November 11th @ 10.10am. All are welcome to join us for this commemoration.

Important Dates: Friday October 25th Day for Daniel Sunday November 3rd Parish Family Mass

St Theresa’s @ 9.30am Monday November 11th Remembrance Day Liturgy

William Morris Centre @ 10.10am Thursday November 14th APRE Network Day Friday November 22nd Year 6 Retreat Day Friday November 29th Final Assembly Monday December 2nd Advent Liturgy Friday December 6th End of Year Mass followed by the Graduation Ceremony William Morris Centre @ 9am

CLASS AWARDS T4W1 Congratulations to the following students for receiving a class award:

Congratulations to the following students for receiving a Good Samaritan award:

Charlie Edge Angelica Augusto Indigo Sales Amelie Druce Ben Vogler Charli Singleton Finn McKellar Spencer Carlon Grace Lattimore Chloe Wright Henrietta Cullin-Willy Olivia Nason Macey Kowitz Ava Smithard Bridie Weier Zara Frame Neve Cameron Henry Pascoe

Charlotte MacManus Hannah Redinger

SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

UPDATING STUDENT INFORMATION In keeping with Visible Learning practices which emphasise collaboration and transparency among all stakeholders, it is necessary to refine our class allocation process from that which has been in operation in recent years.

To support the composition of 2020 class groupings, parents are required to contact class teachers directly with any additional information rather than completing and lodging forms at the office. Updated information about changes to medical conditions, social concerns or family circumstances which may impact student learning and wellbeing assists the school when developing class groupings. Please address any concerns with your class teacher as soon as possible by providing any supplementary information for consideration.

SCHOOL ASSEMBLY The assembly time has returned to Friday afternoons at 1.45pm in the William Morris Centre.

CTJ DAY PUPIL FREE DAY The annual Consistency of Teacher Judgement Day (CTJ) is scheduled for Monday the 21st of October and is a Pupil free day.

1:1 INFO NIGHT (Please note venue change) Please join us on Wednesday October 16 from 6 - 7 pm in the Library as we discuss the Mater Dei 1:1 iPad Program. All students in Years 4 - 6 will be taking part in this program in 2020. The information evening will provide an opportunity to share how students and teachers are currently using the iPad program to create new teaching and learning opportunities, as well as provide information on the roll out of the program at the beginning of the 2020 school year.

SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION REMINDERS

ENROLMENT INTENTIONS FOR 2020 The next few weeks of administration at Mater Dei are very important as we plan forward to 2020. Significant jobs at this time of year are to:

• Analyse the staffing schedule released from Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office (TCSO) • Formulate the school staffing roster, based on the staffing schedule • Assess class sizes by looking at enrolment information for 2020 and design class structures

accordingly • Confirm new enrolment applications for 2020 • Develop the budget based on enrolment information and allocate additional funding to support the staffing

schedule, educational program, facilities and maintenance program The pivotal information piece to enable these operational steps is accurate enrolment information. All TCSO funding and school budget income is based on the number of students and families in our school. Due to this it is very important to notify the school of any intention to move on from Mater Dei. Please notify the school in writing via letter or email if you are leaving at the end of 2019 - due by Thursday 19 September. We have had a couple of families already attend to this which helps our planning significantly. This timeline is set to allow our school to balance incoming enrolments for 2020 during Term Four (2019) and satisfy the key planning priorities listed above.

DONNA PRESTRIDGE Interschool Sport MVP Friday 13 September Each team will be awarded an MVP each week. Congratulations to the following students:

Netball Jnr A: Bronte Callachor Jnr B: Sophie Lever Snr A: Bonnie Alexander Snr A: Olivia Evans Snr B: Lauren Paton

Soccer Girls: Piper Smith & Annie White Boys: Cooper Gane and Jaidan Geldard

League Junior: Alex Vanzella Senior: Max Primus

Trophies Please return all swimming trophies at your earliest convenience as they need to engraved prior to our junior carnival (2019) and senior carnival (2020). All year 6 students should return any perpetual trophies they have before the end of the year.

Junior Swim Date The junior carnival for all students in Prep – Year 3 will be conducted at Fairholme Pool on Monday 2 December. Further information will be sent home soon.

Aussie Hoops Pop Dickerson from Aussie Hoops has been conducting clinics during PE classes this week. Aussie Hoops will be conducted on our basketball courts each Tuesday for 7 weeks beginning next week October 15. Please see the flyer on the following link for further information – AUSSIE HOOPS.

TUCKSHOP

Welcome back to term 4.

Thank you to all the amazing volunteers that give us their time and effort to help make the Tuckshop run every Tuesday and Thursday!!!

Tuckshop is a fun filled day drinking coffee, eating muffins, packing lunches, supporting your lovely children and our wonderful school.

It is a great way to meet other parents if you are new to the school.

We would love to see some of the new parents. Everyone is welcome, Mum’s, Dad’s, Grandparents, etc. Just follow the link - https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0e45a9a629a1fc1-mdps7

PREP NATIVITY PLAY CAN YOU HELP? OUR ANGELS AND OTHER NATIVITY CHARACTERS NEED YOU!

This term in drama and music lessons, the prep children will be learning a nativity play to perform at the end of the term! (Details of this still to come). We are looking for volunteers who may be able to help with some simple costumes for our children please. If you are at all crafty and/or able to help with some simple sewing, your help would be greatly appreciated! Please let your class teacher or our Drama teacher (Amanda.Holzheimer@twb.catholic.edu.au) know ASAP.

Thank you!

FROM THE SCHOOL COUNSELLOR

PARENT ENGAGEMENT MINI CONFERENCE

DATE CLAIMER – SPRING FAIR

BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS

LAST CHANCE TO DONATE Go through the bookshelf and clear out the cupboard, we are looking for good

quality second-hand books for the Mater Dei Fair bookstall. All genres and book types accepted. Kids books, youth books, grown ups books, fiction, non-fiction,

hard cover, soft cover, magazines, colouring books and comics! Anything you can think of that someone else would love to read.

Collection during WEEK 2 of this term (Mon 14th-Fri 18th October). Collection boxes will be placed in Holy Angels, PJ Doyle and Office/Drop off areas.

ART SHOW - THANK YOU TO P&F

Dear Hugh and wonderful P and F helpers, A big Thank you to you and your team for your support and the incredible hard work that you all put in to make the Art Show a great success. To Amy and her team a big thank you for putting together the multi draw and selling tickets .. what a great response from our parents! $1300 is an enormous amount to raise in a couple of hours. Many thanks to you and our sponsors. Thanks to the parents who made cheese platters, cooked the BBQ and served food and drinks to the crowd... amazing effort. Thank you so much to the wonderful mums who gave their time to help set up the display. It took two days and a night to set up and many, many hours to mount 2D pieces and many hours to set up the 3D displays. Thank you all so much!! Marg Dornbusch

EXTEND OHSC

EXTEND UPDATE.

Monday 14/10/19

Tuesday 15/10/19

Wednesday 16/10/19

Thursday 17/10/19 Friday 18/10/19

Homemade snack activity: french onion dip with a cheese and cracker platter & Lego building

Uno Battle & Obstacle Course

Basketball Tournament & Loom Bands

Painting & Soccer

Kinetic Sand & Line Tag

The Extend Superstar is… Eli! For being helpful, kind and for following instructions.

What’s Been Happening? Over the holiday’s we did a range of cooking and craft activities. We also went to laser tag, the science museum and out for a picnic! Our highlight would be the Disney party in which we had decorations, music, Disney games, a movie and dress ups. We also discovered how much the kid’s love Uno and musical statues, which we have begun to play most afternoons. We look forward to seeing you this term for more fun.

- Holly, Team Leader.

COMMUNITY NOTICES

Our office staff have created a page on our website to post notices that appear at the end of our newsletter. To view these notices parents are encouraged to follow the link:

http://www.mdpstwb.catholic.edu.au/documents/communitynoticeboard.html

These notices can now reach a broader audience as they are not restricted to our parent portal. All notices are to be related to activities that benefit Mater Dei Students, support Catholic schools and are suitable for our Catholic school ethos.

• Vera Lacaze • National Tree Day • Fairholme College Aquathon • Guides Xmas Tree Fundraiser