15th September 2022

Principals News

Dear Families,

With the news of the passing of Queen Elizabeth ll into eternal life we offer a prayer for her soul and for support and comfort for her family, the nations over whom she ruled and the Commonwealth.  As you are aware our Prime Minister Mr Albanese has declared Thursday 22nd September a public holiday as a National Day of Mourning for the Queen. School will be closed on this day. 

Father's Day Breakfast Success

What a wonderful morning we all enjoyed on 2nd Sept as we celebrated Father's Day at Holy Spirit Infants. Even the rainy and gloomy weather didn't dampen the spirits of all our fathers, grand fathers, step fathers and those like a father to us. Thank you to our wonderful volunteers and our dedicated staff who cooked and served over 220 sausages in a bun to our families. Thanks to Mr Flynn and Ms Elias for conducting our first ever "Paper Plane Challenge" and congratulations to those students and dad's who actually managed to beat Mr Flynn!  Thanks to Miss L for preparing KB to host our liturgy to thank God for Dads. The children were so excited to have their special visitor with them at school. 

Kinder 2023 Playgroups

Our Playgroup for next year's Kinder students is a wonderful success and a great opportunity for our future students to meet and play together as well as for our parents to meet one another and have a chat. Building friendships across our families is very important to us, and we are delighted that we can offer this once more. The final playgroup will be next Tuesday 20th Sept in the hall and we thank parents for their efforts to attend. 

Transition to School Dates

Kinder 2023 students have received a flyer outlining the dates and times of the upcoming transition visits. Each visit is compulsory (unless your child is unwell) and we look forward to our teachers and staff being able to spend some more time and get to know our incoming students. 

Transition Session Dates are:  Friday 14th October, Tuesday 18th October, Tuesday 26th October and Monday 7th November.

Year 3 2023 We will know what the date is for Year 2 transitioning to Year 3 next term and will share with families as soon as we know. A reminder to please send your child's enrolment forms straight to Abermain and we will be sending them all over to Kurri next Wednesday. 

 The fee clearance statements required for enrolment, will be sent directly to Kurri on your behalf. 

Excursion "ZOOOM" at Cessnock Performing Arts Centre 12th Oct. 2022

On Wednesday the 12th October we have planned an exciting excursion for the whole school. We are attending a live performance called “Zooom” at the Cessnock Performing Arts Centre. The live performance presented by Patch Theatre is a wonderful opportunity for our students to visit the theatre and enjoy this live show. The reviews of the performance are great! 

 “Combining old school whimsy with state of the art technology, ZOOOM is an enchanting story of a child alone in her bedroom, unable to sleep and curious to understand. 

She begins a transformational journey with light and discovers that the dark is a magical place. Adventures happen and with the assistance of the audience the girl discovers a community of people who can help her solve problems. Part music video, part dream, ZOOOM is a show about all sorts of perspective. 

Inspired by iconic children’s book Harold and The Purple Crayon, ZOOOM channels the same philosophy; a child who makes sense of their world through art. The show is driven by the power of ‘child logic’, combined with the magic of science.” 

This show does use haze and lighting effects. If you believe your child may have difficulty with this, please contact their teacher. Teachers will take any student medications with them.  

Permission notes are due back tomorrow, Friday 16th Sept please so we are organised for the first week of term 4. 

Complaints and Grievances 

Staff make decisions every day and many are directly concerned with your child.

Professional judgement, educational guidelines, school policies and experience are just some of
the factors used to frame these decisions. However, what is consistent in all decisions is the
genuine care the staff have for your child and the fact that they always have their best interest
at heart; regardless of whether it is rewarding a positive action or giving a consequence to an
inappropriate choice.

With that said I accept that not all decisions, although made with every good intention, are
absolutely 100% correct and from time to time disagreements and conflict may arise which may
result in complaints and grievances being expressed. Holy Spirit Infants School, like all schools – in fact most workplaces has a “Complaints and Grievance’ Policy. In short, it outlines appropriate and acceptable procedures to express dissatisfaction, so that mutual respect and fairness are
ensured and that the dignity of those involved is maintained. I stress that the office foyer is not
the place to display anger and frustration and I am grateful that parents at our school understand this.

All matters should be dealt with in a calm manner and preferably in a quiet place. A copy of
the Complaints and Grievance Policy is available on the school website and by request from
the school office. 

Procedures for Investigating Complaints at School
It is not uncommon for children to have accidents or to get into the odd argument or disagreement. Such incidents can lead to high emotions both at home and at school. We ask children and parents
to apply the following guidelines:
For Children
1. Tell a teacher when you are injured, upset or feeling insecure.
2. If the teacher is busy, go to the school office and tell another teacher or tell your classroom teacher when you go to class.
3. Tell the truth, even if you may be at fault.
For Parents
1. Step: Complaints and grievances should be raised at the earliest possible time.
Classroom based complaints and grievances should be raised with the student’s class
teacher. All other complaints and grievances should be directed to the principal and/or
their delegate.
2. Step: If the classroom-based complaint and grievance is not resolved by the teacher,
direct the complaint/grievance to the principal and/or delegate.
3. Step: If a complaint or grievance is not resolved by the principal after all efforts have
been made to do so, or the complaint or grievance is about the principal, the
parent/carer should refer the concern to the Catholic Schools Office (phone 49791200).
4. Step: If a complaint or grievance remains unresolved, the parent/carer or the assistant
director may refer the matter to the Director of Schools for review. A formal avenue of
appeal is available in accordance with the Diocesan Pastoral Care Policy. All such
appeals should be made to the Director of Schools in writing and in a timely manner.
5. Step: If, ultimately, the parent/carer is not happy with the way their complaint or
grievance has been dealt with by the school or the Catholic Schools Office, they may
wish to go to an external agency or legal advocate for advice and assistance.
Notes
There may be several investigations proceeding that you are unaware of, all of which require
care and thorough attention. Simply because a result is not immediately forthcoming does not
mean that the issue is not being dealt with.
Investigations do not happen in a vacuum. Schools are busy places, and your patience is
appreciated. Decisions about discipline that are made in haste can be the wrong decisions.
The way we deal with issues in school teaches children skills about how to make better choices
in real life. It is about choice and consequences, not damning children. You may wish to express
your indignation, but all children make mistakes. It could be your child tomorrow. Copies of our
Pastoral Care and Discipline Policy are available on our website or on request from the office.
The Catholic Schools Office Complaints Resolution for Parents and Carers Procedure can be
found on the Catholic Schools Office website.                                    SAFE GUARDING GUIDE 2022 CSO 

Decorate your Gate for Child Protection Week 

Due to the inclement weather we decorated our school verandah in acknowledgement of National Child Protection Week with a colourful display of birds the students made. The concept was that just as birds travel in flocks, flocks are like a  community - they all work together to keep the flock safe. Child Protection is everybody's business  - we must play a part!  Every class also particpated in an activity to identify the 5 adults who can support them if they are not feeling safe and need to tell someone.  Please be sure to check your child can name a responsible adult (not a puppy or a cat) whom they can talk to if they do not feel safe. 

Staffing Information for term 4

I will be on leave for the first 3 weeks of term 4 (10th-30th October) and Mrs Kearns will be the Acting Principal. She will be supported by Mrs Porter-Kay as Acting Assistant Principal and Miss Jessica Laczkowski who is our Religious Education Coordinator. This will mean Mrs Kearns and Mrs Porter-Kay will have a change to their teaching days for this period of time. 

Ms Jacqui Cook will continue as the class teacher for 2W for term 4. 

Our School Sport for term 4 is Gymnastics each Wednesday which we know the students will all enjoy. 

Have a wonderful week and we hope to see everyone at our Showcase in the last week of term 3.  The students and staff have worked all term on their performances. We are so proud of them! 

Kind Regards

Diane Murphy 

Assistant Principal News

On Thursday 8th September we held our School Public Speaking Competition. Our finalists from the class competitions were: 

Early Stage 1: Charlotte, Bella, Myla, Piper and Matilda B. 

Stage 1: Grayson, Evie, Dally, Max and Astrid.  

The early stage 1 students were asked to prepare and deliver a 1 minute speech on the topic of “Toys” and the stage 1 students a 1 ½ minute speech on “Music”. All students presented entertaining and informative speeches and we were very proud of them. The students were adjudicated on their oral presentation skills as well as the content of their speech. We would like to congratulate the following students for their placings:  

Early Stage 1: Charlotte (1st place) and Matilda (2nd place). 

Stage 1: Max (1st place) and Astrid (2nd place). 

Public Speaking Finals

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Positive Behaviour for Learning  

This week we begin our new Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) focus:   

“I am Sun Smart.” 

As the weather is getting warmer we need to remember to protect ourselves against sun damage. Students need to wear their school hats outside or they are asked to play in the shade under the COLA.  

Volunteer Thanks

I would like to thank the wonderful volunteers we have at our school who have generously given of their time to support our school during Term 3.  

 Rebecca Kearns   

Assistant Principal  

Sharing our Faith

Fruit of the Spirit 

Our Fruit of the Spirit for the next two weeks is goodness. We ask God to help us to be honest and fair in all situations as well as want the best for others. Here is a prayer you might like to pray to God to ask for his goodness upon you:

Lord, thank you for all you do out of your great love for us. I pray that my heart seeks you and desires to see your goodness in all of life’s circumstances. May I always trust in you even when I cannot see what you are doing. Help me more and more see your goodness right in front of me.

In Jesus’s name,

Amen.

Catholic Mission Fundraiser

Reminder to all families about our fundraising efforts for this term. Each term we have a different focus for our fundraising. Term 3 we focus our fundraising efforts on Catholic Mission. Catholic Mission contributes funding and provides project support to critical church-run initiatives in Africa, Asia, Oceania and South America as well as remote dioceses within Australia. Catholic Mission creates opportunities for people to be formed in mission, and respond through prayer, fundraising and action, inspiring them to reach out, and give life—within Australia and around the world.

The focus country we will be supporting Catholic Mission with this term is Ethiopia.  

At the beginning of next term, we will have a Mission Day where we will bring our money raised together for a coin line. Each class will line their coins up and there will be prizes for the class with the longest line as well as the most valuable line.  

So be sure to bring in your coins from home to help support Catholic Mission.

Father's Day

On Friday 2nd September we celebrated Father's Day with our school community. It was a great morning with many sausage sandwiches and muffins enjoyed, as well as a competitive paper plane throwing competition. I believe we even had a few people beat Mr Flynn's throw on the day so congratulations to those people. 

Kinder Blue led us in a liturgy where we reflected on our fathers and those who are like fathers to us. They shared why they love their Dad's and perfromed a special song for their Dad's which they had made the actions to themselves. To conclude we made a special blessing for our father figures to keep them safe and to thank them for all that they do. They were very excited to lead us in this litrugy, well done Kinder Blue.

Father's Day Gallery

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Vineyards Region Mass Times

Saturday  

9:00am – Holy Spirit, Kurri Kurri  

6:00pm  – St Joseph’s, Cessnock  

Sunday  

8:30am  – Holy Spirit, Kurri Kurri  

10:30am  – St Joseph’s, Cessnock  

4:30pm  – St Francis Xavier’s, Abermain 

Yours in faith,

Miss Jessica Laczkowski

Religious Education Coordinator

Pedagogical Mentor

Can you believe we are one week off the end of term. My role as pedagogical mentor allows me to visit classrooms and work with all students. I work with teachers to develop rich, robust learning activities that enable our students to grow and become more confident with all aspects of their schooling.

For the last two weeks I have been working with teachers with a focus on vocabulary. Research has shown that “Words are the gateway to reading” – the broader our spoken vocabulary, the more we are likely to read and the more words we will encounter.​ Further still, the importance of vocabulary cannot be underrated. “Vocabulary acquisition is the most powerful indicator of reading success,” (Five from Five). What does this mean for you at home, reading with and to your children offers exposure to vocabulary (words that they might not hear or use in their daily life), allowing them to play with different words, to explore literacy through a writer’s lens and gives them opportunities to experiment and explore rich language at home and at school. To successfully learn and use new vocabulary, students need to be exposed to the same word over 20 times. At school this exposure takes place through reading opportunities, explicit visual definitions, oral explanations and using our newly acquired vocabulary during writing activities across a fortnight.

During term 4, I will continue to share snippets of my role and how we can work together to grow each and every student.

Heather Porter-Kay

Pedagogical Mentor

Showcase "JOY" 20th Sept.

Our dress rehearsal day is Monday 19th September where all students are at Kurri Parish Hall for the day.  Transport notes were due back yesterday as we need to know how many students are going directly to Kurri Parish Hall in Barton St Kurri and how many are travelling by bus from our school that morning. We also need to know how your child is going home from the Kurri Parish Hall. All students will leave by 2.30pm. Many parents may like to collect their child from Kurri at 2.30pm and then their siblings from Kurri school afterwards. There will be a bus to take students back to Abermain if they are being collected from there or are attending St Nic's OOSH. 

There are NO LESSONS at Abermain on Monday as we will all be rehearsing for the two performances on Tuesday evening 20th Sept. The students are to wear their sport uniform please; bring all their food and a water bottle for the day and if they have coloured accessories they'd like to practice dancing in, then send those along too. Please make sure items are labelled. 

We will be rehearsing with our dance teacher Montana Doyle (Aspire) and our Singing teacher Jessica Lopez (Music Director Aspire) who have been working all term with our students in preparation for the performances. It is a normal school day and we request every child attend. We want every child to have the opportunity to sing and dance on the stage and to shine! 

Tuesday 20th Sept - school uniform and students are able to be picked up at 12.30pm to go home for a rest and to relax. Students need to be dropped off to the door of the Kurri Parish Hall from 4.15-4.30pm wearing their costume. Please don't be late as your child will become stressed instead of excited.  The children will need to have eaten and been to the bathroom before being dropped to their teachers. Names will be marked off at the door. Each student may bring a small bag with a water bottle and a snack to eat between the performances. Otherwise it will be a long night for them. 

At the conclusion of the first performance, students will remain in the care of teachers as it is a small hall space and will have a rest and a food break.  The second performance is planned for 6.30pm and we believe it will be finished by 7.30pm.   All audience members will need to vacate after the first performance, to prepare the hall for the second performance.   

We will need to methodically then gather up bags etc and release students into their parents/grandparents care and again, names will need to be marked off and we thank you for your patience. We will begin with Kindergarten first. 

We ask that the audience will enter via the single door at the rear of the hall. Seats are not numbered but we will need to mark families' names off at the door.  Please ensure that all of the members of your group enter together for speed of admission.  Remember parking may mean families do need to leave enough time to walk back to the venue from a parking space in an adjacent street. Tickets for both sessions are now sold out! 

Thank you for supporting our Showcase event and we look forward to presenting "JOY" . 

Colours 

Kinder B - Red

Kinder W- Yellow 

Year 1 B - Green

Year 1 W - Purple

Year 2 B - Orange 

Year 2 W - Blue 

Staff - Pink

What to wear 

Shoes - Runners (Black or White) 

Bottoms - Black - (Tights/leggings, jeans, or short) 

Top - Plain White T-Shirt 

Hair 

Girls - High slick ponytail with a hair elastic to match their hair colour.

Boys - Neat/styled

No Make Up 

Coloured Accessories 

You can purchase these from any local cheap shop, Kmart or Big W 

Head Bands 

Bows, Ribbon, Hair clip 

Coloured Tutu 

Hat 

Sunglasses 

Necklaces and Bracelets 

Library News

We have lots of books donated by families to the school library that are needing to be covered. if any parents can spare and hour or two to assist with covering, please contact the office as we would be most appreciative of the help. 

Please return all library books and Home Readers this week as next week is a mixed up week we won't do any borrowing. 

If you haven't yet popped into the library to see your child's picture on display for "Dreaming with Eyes Open" which Ms Covita our Teacher Librarian has created, please be sure to take a look.

Kindergarten Excursion

On Tuesday, Kindergarten were finally able to go on their first excursion! They travelled by bus to Oakvale Wildlife Park at Salt Ash which for some was their first ever bus trip which made it exciting. When we arrived we explored the park with a tractor ride and then we got to meet some reptile friends for a reptile talk - we had lots of brave students who pet the snake!
After this, we got to milk cows, feed baby goats as well as feed some kangaroos. Overall it was a great day and we didn't get too wet. 
Thank you to our parent helpers on the day and for students for representing the school so well on the day.

Excursion Mega Gallery

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Musica Viva Incursion

Last week we were visited by Musica Viva for an incursion. They introduced a variety of musical instruments to us, showed us how they work and used them to create musical pieces that told a story. I think the students were most interested in the special looping tool they used to replay and layer sounds! 

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