We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander peoples as the traditional custodians of our
lands, Australia. We acknowledge the Wiradjuri
Nation as the traditional custodians of these lands we
now call Bathurst, and we pay our respects to their
Elders
MASS TIMES
Cathedral/Assumption Mass Times
Saturday 5pm
Cathedral
Sunday 8 am Assumption – no music
Sunday 10 am Cathedral – Children’s Liturgy or
Family Mass
Sunday 6 pm Assumption Church
St Philomena’s is A Child-Safe
Child-friendly School. St Philomena’s is A Child-Safe Child-Friendly
School.
Child-safe means taking active measures to keep
children and young people safe from physical, sexual
or emotional abuse.
Child-friendly means creating a trusting environment
that values, respect and welcome children and young
people. This means children and young people feel
confident to raise any problem or concern and know
they will be listened to. If you are aware of a family experiencing difficulty please
approach the School Executive (Principal, Assistant
Principal, REC, Parish Priest) or email this address:
Welcome back for 2016. I welcome new families to
St Phil’s and encourage everyone to be active
members in the school and feel the loving hand of
our school community. Our focus on child-centred
Catholic education as reiterated in our school vision
statement is at the core of what we do here at St
Philomena’s.
‘St Philomena’s is committed to high quality
catholic education in a loving family orientated
community environment’
Class times have changed slightly and I urge you to
take note of the following schedule:
Morning Bell - 8.55am
Fruit Break - 5 minutes during the Morning Session
Lunch 11.05 - 11.25am
Recess 1.40 – 2.00pm
End of Day 3.05pm
We ask parents to ensure that children are on time
for school so that they are present when class begins
St Philomena’s Primary School
Newsletter Lloyds Road (PO Box 2031) “Live Justly, Lovingly, Faithfully BATHURST NSW 2795 in Christ” Phone: 02 6331 1198 Fax: 02 6332 3976
Email: [email protected] Term 1 Week 2
Web: www.stphilsbathurst.catholic.edu.au 3rd February 2016 Principal: Mr James Farr
Term 1
Week 2 06.02.16 11.30am Opening School Mass Week 3 08.02.16 9.15am Big Steps for Tiny Feet and
School Captain Photos. 10.02.15 10am Ash Wednesday Mass
10.02.15 7pm P & F Meeting .
Week 4
16.02.15 Eastern Regional Swimming
Carnival
Staffing 2016
School Chaplain – Fr Owen Gibbons
Acting Principal - Mrs Louise Davies
Acting Assistant Principal - Mrs Letitia Mutton
Religious Education Coordinator - Mrs Jenny Bray
Kindergarten – Mrs Jenny Bray & Mr Jacob Parslow.
Mrs Kelli Hotham – Teacher Assistant
Year One - Mrs Anne Murdoch
Mrs Toni Clancey - Teacher Assistant
Year Two - Mrs Sallie Delaney.
Mrs Diane Dwyer - Teacher Assistant
Year Three - Mr Shane Hanley.
Mrs Kate Simm - Teacher Assistant
Year Four - Ms Jo Bestwick
Mrs Sharon Weber – Teacher Assistant
Year Five - Mrs Maree Smith.
Mrs Sharon McHugh - Teacher Assistant
Year Six - Mrs Letitia Mutton & Mrs Kate Holden
Support Teacher - Mrs Kelly Farr
Release Teacher - Mr Jacob Parslow
Primary Music Release - Miss Kate Holden
Infants Music - Mrs Sue Fish
Library - Mrs Louise Davies
Office Assistants - Mrs Sheree Ashcroft & Mrs
Sharon McHugh
Canteen Coordinator - Mrs Colleen Holding
Groundsmen - Mr Brian Keogh
Cleaner - Mr Shane Woolfe
School Leaders – 2016
Tomorrow after our opening school Mass we will
induct our leaders for this year.
School Captains: Kate Muir & Jackson Windsor
Vice Captains: Menzi White & Ruben Martin-Clark
Sport House Captains
Chifley: Charlotte Steele & Sebastian Johns
Evans: Lilly Cope & Noah Constable
Macquarie: Layla Rumball & Clayton Chatfield
Mitchell: Mia Dopper & Tyler Baillie
Student Representative Council:
President: Bill Bremner
Secretary: Grace Baldwin
Treasurer: Charlie Fitzpatrick
Publicity Officers: Jacinta Casey & Jesse Limon
Environmental Officers: Tiah Wright-Jones
Mini Vinnies
President: Stella Hall
Secretary: Bonnie-Jean Goodfellow
Treasurer: Seth Hazzard
Publicity Officers: Matilda Rosevear
LLW@S Committee
President: Jonathon Tzanellis
Secretary: Toby Thompson
Treasurer: Brody Gibbons
WH & S Committee
President: Kyle Berry
Secretary: Jaxon Hyde
Treasurer: Edie Smithers
Term One Class SRC:
Year One: Charlotte Casavalls & Billy O’Hara
Year Two: Tahlani Chatfield & Will Mutton
Year Three: Laura Martin-Clark & Nicholas Newman
Year Four: Scarlett Hall & Ethan Moxon
Year Five: Maisy Hazzard & Baxter Fitzgerald
Student Verification Forms Student Verification Forms have been sent home.
Please update information and return by 4th February,
so we can correctly calculate fees and update
emergency contacts.
School Fees Term 1 school fee account will be sent home to all
families in the coming weeks. Accompanying the
account will be a letter outlining CEO School Fee
Agreement and our 2016 Fee Schedule.
Comments on Social Networks
Social media plays an important part in our daily lives
however the CEO would like to make parents aware of
their rights and responsibilities when commenting on
the school processes and staff.
Social media can be a positive form of communication
for students and parents.
However, some concerns have
arisen recently where a parent
used Facebook to make critical
remarks about a member of staff,
another parent and a student.
Our school has always encouraged parents to make
contact with the Principal where there are problems
and conflicts involving disciplinary actions taken by
the Principal or a member of staff.
Inappropriate comments on Facebook have the
potential to defame an individual without them being
aware of the critical remarks that have been posted.
This medium also has the potential to inflame
situations in the public domain because comments can
be traced and downloaded.
In serious cases, we should all be aware that
individuals defamed can make a civil claim for
defamation of character through the legal process.
Taking an issue to a social networking site instead of
discussing it with the principal or teacher involved can
also damage a school’s reputation. These actions are
unhelpful in resolving problems, can breach trust and
privacy and jeopardise enrolment.
The enrolment contract in our schools in the Diocese
of Bathurst stipulates the need for the school and
parents to work together co-operatively. The values
implicit in this approach, especially in a catholic
school, cannot be achieved by indirect critical
comments of teachers and other parents and students
in the social media.
Uniform
Please remember to ensure your
child wears a hat each day, as there
is a ‘No Hat, No Play’ Policy in
place.
Girls
Girls are reminded to wear ribbons and flat hair bands
in maroon, pink or white and royal blue on sport days.
Jewellery should be limited to a watch or bangle and a
small cross. For safety reasons we prefer girls to wear
gold or silver studs.
Boys
Hair should be collar length and patterned haircuts
should be left for the holidays.
If boys do have an earring this should be removed
before coming to school.
These uniform rules are in place for your child’s safety
and reduction of children being caught up in fashion
competitions. It has been noted that some of our girls
are wearing royal blue sport skirts or skorts – these
are not part of our school sport uniform.
Payment Envelope Included with today newsletter is an envelope to use
when sending in payments into school (excluding
canteen lunch orders). Please write your child’s
name, class and what the payment is for and return the
envelope to your child’s class teacher.
Sharing Food St Phil’s is a safe food school and as such we do not
allow children to share food. This rule helps prevent
children with allergies accidentally eating food, which
may cause anaphylaxis shock. Please advise your
children not to share their food. Some children are
buying their friends food from the canteen, which is
against the school rules too. The canteen cannot
monitor children with allergies and their food if others
buy it for them.
Birthday Cakes and Celebrations
It is the custom at our school to acknowledge each
child’s special day with a blessing and a voucher
to the canteen at morning assembly. It is policy at
our school for children who celebrate their
birthday with their friends and wish to give out
party invitations for an after school celebration to:
Invite all children in the class
Invite only the boys in the class
Invite only the girls in the class We ask that parent to assist us in this area as children
are then not upset when an invitation has not been
given.
If you choose to bring a cake to school, for your child
to share with their classmates, it is preferred that
individual cupcakes be sent in and not an actual cake.
Library Library will be held on a Monday for all classes.
Please remember to bring a waterproof bag to library
each week.
Book Club Issue 1 will be sent home next Monday.
We are going cashless for book club orders so please
follow the “Loop’ instructions when ordering for your
child online. http://www.scholastic.com.au/schools/bookclub/loopinfo.asp
Road Safety
To ensure the continuing safety of our children,
especially throughout the 3.05 to 3.20pm period which
is extremely busy, we ask parents to remember:
To not enter the afternoon pick up zone
until the teachers are on duty
Staff supervision commences at 8.30am
and concludes at 3.30pm, daily.
Not to do a u-turn in a school zone at
any time
That teachers will assist your
children into cars of an
afternoon but it is the ultimate
responsibility of each parent to
ensure that your child is harnessed
correctly before moving back into traffic
Park on the opposite side of the road if
you are collecting children from outside
the Year 3 classroom and to use the
School Crossing Guard to ensure road
safety at all times.
Not to walk across Staff Car Parks
PAPERLESS Newsletter… A hard copy of the
newsletter was sent home to Kinder & new
families to the school today. From next week’s
newsletter - Term 1, Week 3 – the newsletter will
be paperless for our school Newsletter!
The School Newsletter is only available through
our school app or website
www.stphilsbathurst.catholic.edu.au
St Philomena’s School – Skoolbag iPhone and
Android App.
I would really like to encourage more parents to
download our school app.
To install it, just search for our school name
"St Philomena's School" in either the Apple
App Store, or Google Play Store or call into the
front office and see Mrs Ashcroft. Don’t forget
to allow notifications through your phones
settings.
Link for further information -
http://www.skoolbag.com.au/index.php
‘A little bit of mercy makes the world less cold
and more just’ - Pope Francis Wishing you a wonderful week!
Mrs Louise Davies
Acting Principal
Welcome back to school for a new year of learning.
Our Opening School Mass is tomorrow, Thursday 4th
February at 11:30am in the gym. Please come along to
pray for our year, induct our new Captains and meet
the many new faces in the school. Please stay for a
piece of cake and cup of tea after Mass.
Next Wednesday 10th February we will celebrate our
Ash Wednesday Mass at 10am in the gym. Please join
us to mark the beginning of Lent and our journey
towards Easter.
Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday and
the Yr 1 and Yr 5 classes will be holding a pancake
stall. Please send your child with some money to
partake in the delicious cooking. All money raised will
go towards Caritas and Project Compassion.
The dates for the Sacraments this year are:
Yr 6 Confirmation: 15th May at 8am in the
Assumption Church.
Yr 3 First Eucharist: 28th August at 10am
in the Cathedral.
Yr 2 Penance: 21st November at 7pm in the
Cathedral.
Please note these dates on your calendar.
Sr Alice will be running Conversations with Catholics
again this year. A note has gone out to all Kinder
families and new school students to the school. If you
did not receive a note and would like to learn more
about the Catholic faith, please let me know so I can
give you the appropriate information. The meetings
will be at 9am on Thursday mornings. You do not have
to be a Catholic to come along to these meetings, Sr
Alice is trying to share knowledge and make you feel
more comfortable with the practise of our faith.
Swimming Carnival
On Monday we held our annual Swimming Carnival at
the Bathurst Aquatic Centre. The day was a very
successful day with every student displaying great
sportsmanship and support for their team. The day had
more of an emphasis on participation rather than
results and on team support rather than individual
performances, making the day a very special
community event.
Presentation of ribbons will take place this Fridays
morning assembly. A list of placegetters will be
published in next week’s newsletter.
P&F Meeting
P&F meetings are held every second Tuesday of the
month, at 7pm, in the St Philomena’s School Computer
Room.
Meeting Next TUESDAY 9th
FEBRUARY
CANTEEN
Mondays and Fridays, please contact Colleen if
you are about to help out!!!
Open: Monday, Wednesday (snacks only NO
LUNCH ORDERS), and Friday
Closed: Tuesday & Thursday
Term 1 – Roster and Volunteer sheet attached.
Friday5th February Monday 8th February
Jacquie Baldwin
NEWSLETTER EMAIL – If you would like to be
included in our school mailing list and have the
newsletter emailed to you, please send your email
address to [email protected]
The school newsletter is also available online -
www.stphilsbathurst.catholic.edu.au
Other notices Harmonikos Music
would like to thank
St Philomena’s
Primary School for
their continued support of the school band. Band
practice is held on Tuesday mornings from 8:20am to
9:00am. Group lessons are available on Fridays
during lunch. Please contact Harmonikos Music on
6332 9146 if you’d like more information.
Welcome back to all parents and families. Don't forget
to look up "Cathedral Parish, Bathurst" on facebook (or
use the link below) to stay up to date with information in
the Cathedral Parish. For new families and parents,
there will be new parishioner events coming up soon
and it's a great way to meet new families in the parish.
The Parish Pastoral Council wishes you all a happy and
productive Term 1.
https://www.facebook.com/Cathedral-Parish-Bathurst-
1598011833811554/
PRIVATE TUTORING
For children aged 6-13 years
Literacy & Numeracy skills,
homework and assignments
Before/after school and weekends
$25/half-hour
20+ years teaching experience
Cathy O’Shea
0427 974 711 or 6332 4143