6th April 2023

Principal's News

Dear Families,

This week is Holy Week, and we reflect on the Passion of Christ our Lord. Easter isn’t just something we celebrate once a year, but every day we wake to follow Christ. The hope we have in Jesus doesn’t falter or fade amidst crisis. We may be battling unprecedented burdens for our generation, and fighting fear on a moment to moment basis, but our hope is not lost. Our hope is set firmly in what has already been accomplished by Jesus’ saving work on the cross …and his resurrection. Christians celebrate Easter in remembrance of Jesus’ resurrection from death, three days after being nailed to a cross. The Holy Spirit lives in every believer, because of the events we celebrate at Easter. No longer are we slaves to sin but free through the blood of Jesus. “For God so loved the world,” the Apostle John wrote, “that He gave His one and only Son.” We encourage families to come to church on Easter Sunday to celebrate the joy of the risen Lord. 

We have had a wonderful term 1 at Holy Spirit Infants. Our kinder students have settled in well to the routine and rhythm of school life and are loving learning. The Successful Foundations project whereby incoming Kinder students spent the first 6 weeks of their school day at play, engaging in exciting and inviting provocations was a great success again this year.  Beginning Kindergarten is a big step in every child's life and we are proud to say that every child has grown in independence, self confidence and in their social skills across the past ten weeks. Well done Kinders and to their teachers and you, their parents for encouraging them to do their best every day! They are a terrific group of learners. 

Our Year 1 classes are hard at work and achieving great gains in their learning as they have begun working at Stage One. Year 1 began the term playing in the afternoon to encourage creativity, problem solving, turn taking and collaboration. Congratulations to all Year 1 students for establishing effective learning routines, for continuing to grow in their independence as learners and for constantly striving to show just how clever they are! Parent helpers have been a welcome support in both classes and are a valuable support for all students. The children love having a parent/grandparent in their classroom at reading time. 

Our Year 2 classes have adapted to being the leaders of our school very well. Year 2 have taken on greater responsibilities in the school and try their best to be good role models for younger students. They have been proudly supportive buddies for the new kinder students.  Our school leaders have undertaken their roles with dedication and are a great support. Year 2 classes collaborate across several Key Learning Areas and have created a thriving 'learning hub' incorporating the outdoor verandah space which is great.  

We are proud of every student at Holy Spirit and in recent weeks, teachers have made positive phone calls home to share with parents a good news story about your child/children. Teachers undertake this commitment to communicate with parents/carers in term 1 to build our partnership with parents and carers. Educating your child is a privilege which you have entrusted to us and we take our role and responsibilities seriously.  Our teachers use Seesaw, email, meetings and phone calls home to keep parents informed of your child's progress at school. We are always here to work in partnership with you as together we nurture your child and foster in them a love of learning. 

Thank you for your ongoing support for our school.  We are so proud to hear from parents of prospective students that Holy Spirit Infants is highly recommended by current and former families. We have a vibrant school community! 

Thank you for your amazing generosity

On Wednesday we gathered for our fun Easter Hat parade where the children proudly paraded down the catwalk wearing the Easter Hat they proudly created in class time. It was lots of fun!  Our friends from Aspect School joined in and our preschoolers and toddlers had a wow of a time! Congratulations to our many Easter Raffle Prize winners! There were a great deal of very happy faces at the draw. Families were so generous! We raised $1816 from our raffle which is incredible!!! In collaboration with our student leaders who can share their ideas, we would like to purchase some additional sporting equipment for the children.   Thank you! 

May the joy of the Risen Christ be shared with family and friends this Easter, and may your family enjoy a safe and happy school holidays.   

Warm Regards

Diane Murphy 

Assistant Principals News

Zones of Regulation

Last week all students would have received a small fridge sized copy of the “Zones of Regulation” (ZoR) as Pokémon characters. If you have not, please contact your child’s teacher. This resource is a great opportunity for you to discuss with your child how they or someone might be feeling. It is important for children to learn about their feelings and the correct way to manage their behaviour as they grow and mature. Our feelings are important. There are no “good” or “bad” feelings. It’s the way we react to these feelings that may need some help in managing and changing.

Rebecca Kearns – Assistant Principal 

Sharing Our Faith

Project Compassion

Thank you to all of those who supported our Project Compassion fundraiser for Caritas. As a school community we were able to raise to date, $680.85 to help those in need.  

Holy Week Liturgy

Thank you to our Year 2 and Kindergarten students who led our Holy Week Liturgy today. It was such a moving liturgy that really brought to life the Easter story leading up to Good Friday.  

Next Term, Year 1 will lead us in our Resurrection Liturgy on Monday 24th April at 2pm in the Church. All are welcome to attend. 

Holy Week Liturgy

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Easter Mass Times

Good Friday 7th April

9:00am Stations of the Cross – Holy Spirit, Kurri Kurri 

10:00am Stations of the Cross – St Francis Xavier, Abermain 

11:00am Stations of the Cross – St. Joseph’s, Cessnock 

3:00pm Passion of Our Lord – St. Joseph’s, Cessnock 

3:00pm Passion of Our Lord – Holy Spirit, Kurri Kurri 

Saturday 8th April

6:00pm Easter Vigil – St. Joseph’s, Cessnock 

6:00pm Easter Vigil – Holy Spirit, Kurri Kurri 

Easter Sunday 9th April

8:30am Mass – St. Francis Xavier, Abermain 

10:30am Mass – St. Joseph’s, Cessnock 

12:30pm Mass - Wollombi 

Gifted Education Mentor GEM

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all parents for their commitment to home reading this term, and to introduce my role for 2023. As a GEM (Gifted Education Mentor) I am responsible for working with teachers across the school, to build both their awareness and  capabilities in the identification of our high potential and gifted students. In practice I am collaborating with teachers to help resource and differentiate learning programs, team teach, analyse and share data.  At its core, the gifted education program seeks to ensure gifted learners receive access to curriculum that meets their needs.

To successfully meet the needs of our gifted and high potential learners I am required to attend professional learning opportunities. On Thursday and Friday last week I attended a course in Newcastle with a focus on thinking – thinking creatively and building students skills when transferring their knowledge to solve problems. This course provided great opportunities to extend students thinking and verbal skills. 1 White have already implemented some of these skills and have had a great week sharing their ideas and really thinking about our learning intentions.

I recently worked with both year 1 and year 2 students to increase their thinking skills when working with numbers. I have attached some photos to highlight the skills we worked on.

Heather Porter-Kay

Cross Country Fun

Last Tuesday our students participated in our annual Cross Country event here at school. Our Year 2 students who were competing to qualify for the Diocesan Cross Country ran 4 laps, Year 1 ran 3 laps and our Kindergarten students ran 1 lap of the course. It was a wonderful day and all the students enjoyed participating. Thank you to our many parent helpers who enabled us to run the course outside the school and make it so much more exciting and challenging! 

We were thrilled to see the students demonstrating determination, resilience and digging deep to complete the course even when it seemed so very long! Thanks to our staff for running with the students and encouraging them to 'have a go'. 

A big congratulations to our Year 2 students who made it through to the Diocesan competition: Hudson Gould, Kash Rolla, Jack Davies, Chloe Wile, Annabelle Hawkins and Ivie Radford. They will go on to compete at Maitland Park with students from across the Diocese in the 8 year old age group on the 10th May.  We wish them well at this competition. 

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Lent - A time to Prepare for Easter

This Term our students have been learning about the special Liturgical Season we are currently in called Lent during Religious Education lessons. See below what each of our classes have been up to!

Kindergaten White

Kindergarten White have been exploring the true meaning of Easter! We have learned that Easter is a special time to reflect on God's love for us and remember that his son, Jesus, died on the cross so that we could have eternal life.

Kindergarten White encountered the Easter Story through play provocations and demonstrated what they know in so many creative ways!
Here are some photos of Kindergarten learning about the Easter Story. Some children chose to make Jesus on the cross using loose parts and paint, some children built Jesus' tomb with cardboard and felt, and some children made a city to represent Palm Sunday. We are very proud of their creativity and curiosity! 

Kindergarten Blue

Kindergarten Blue this Term have been learning about Lent and how it is a special time to get ready for Easter. We have explored the different things we can do during Lent to prepare. Some ideas our class came up with were to help others during Lent (just like we do with Project Compassion), to listen to God more during Lent, to spend more time praying to God and to love more during Lent. Just to name a few. We even have one of our students say they wanted to give up video games for Lent! Check out their work below.  

Year 1 White

This term 1W have using the CSO’s Encounter pedagogy for our religion units. We have worked through our Lenten section looking at ‘almsgiving’ and how that helps us care for others like Jesus. We were able to link our understanding of ‘Project Compassion’ by sharing the stories of those that need assistance to build lives for themselves and their communities. We also shared stories from the Bible showing how Jesus believed in helping overs and caring for those that are unable to care for themselves. As a class we looked closely at the ‘Poor Window’ and celebrated her kindness by giving all that she had.

The last two weeks have had a ‘Holy Week’ focus, we have looked closely at the events before Good Friday, sharing stories and our understanding through Lego models, role play and drawings. We started with Jesus washing the feet of his disciples to show his love and care for others. Then we moved through to the ‘Last Supper’ where Jesus broke the bread and shared the wine. 1W would like to share their reflections with everyone.

Holy Week 1 White

Year 1 Blue

In Religion, 1Blue have been learning about Almsgiving as a time to give and donate to the poor people. We listened to the story called the ‘Widow’s offering’ and discussed how we can be generous to others. We have also learnt about Lent and the importance of spending time with your family and celebrating the resurrection of Jesus.

Year 2 White

In 2 White this term, we have been focusing on Lenten Prayer, Almsgiving and Fasting. Earlier in the term, students were invited to add a crucifix to our class display. On the crucifix they were asked to draw and write what they had learned about in Religion this term. The result was an abundance of beautiful purple crucifixes filled with lots of wonderful pictures and knowledge!

Year 2 Blue

In our Religion unit this term we have been learning about the season of Lent. We began our unit listing all the things we already knew about Lent. As our unit progressed, we added more important information to this list and in some cases our thinking changed. One important thing we learnt about was the significance of the number 40.  The season of Lent goes for 40 days but there are many stories in the Bible that mention 40 days. The number 40 usually represents a time of trial or testing for the people in the scripture passage.  

Easter Hat Parade

On Wednesday, we had such a fun afternoon creating our Easter hats for the parade. The students enjoyed getting up on stage and showing off their amazing creations! Well done everyone, we sure do have some creative students here at Holy Spirit. Thank you to those parent helpers who joined us for the hat making, lots of hands make easy work.

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Office News

School fee statements were emailed to families this week.   If you have not yet commenced payments, please do so promptly.   A calculation has been sent home to assist you with working out your regular payments for the school fees.  Set up BPAY internet banking regular payments from the information provided.  Use the calculation as a guide so that your fee commitment can be met by the desired time of 30 November, 2023.

We thank you for honouring this commitment and if you find yourself in financial difficulty, please contact the office to make an appointment with Ms Murphy to confidentially discuss fee payment plan options. 

Mother's Day Stall

We will be using QKR for Mother's Day vouchers for our Mother's Day stall. These will be available from Term 2 under "Events" on the QKR app.  The vouchers are $5 each.  We also have Grandmother gifts to purchase as well for $5.  We will have more information in week 1, our first newsletter next term. 

We would be most appreciative of any helpers to wrap some gifts in preparation for the Mother's Day Stall early next term. If you can spare an hour please let Dot/Bonney know and perhaps you could team up with a friend and come in together. 

The children do get so excited to see gifts wrapped beautifully which they can then "buy" for their very special Mum or Nan. 

Advance Notice Pupil Free Day 23rd May

On Tuesday 23rd May our school will be closed and will be a pupil free day. The teachers will join with several other catholic schools to participate in the system wide Professional Development for effectively teaching mathematics provided by Peter Sullivan, Emeritus Professor of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, Monash University. This is aligned to our School Improvement Plan as we seek to continually improve student outcomes and achievement. At the time of printing we are unable to confirm if St Nic's OOSH will be able to offer care that day for working parents. 

Awards - Congratulations to:

Weeks 10 and 11 Awards

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Canteen News

Thank you to all our volunteers who have helped out in the canteen during Term 1.   

With more volunteers now on board, we can be hopeful that the canteen may be able to soon open on Monday's as well.  Can you offer some time to help as this would be of great benefit to all families?  

Thank you to Amy and Natalie for running a smooth operation in the canteen and organising the ordering and rosters to facilitate this service for our students.  We recently had the annual canteen inspection and again passed with flying colours! 

Canteen will resume on Friday 5th May.   There will be some new menu items to look out for.

Dates for your Diary

Community News

Hop on down to the Hunter Wetlands Centre this April School Holidays!
Get your family egg-cited to meet the Easter Bunny on Saturday 8 th April 9:30am – 1:30pm and enjoy our Easter Fun Day. There will be crafts, reptile display, bunny trail, jumping castle, sausage sizzle and lots more. Tickets must be pre-purchased online wetlands.org.au

What noise does a frog make? Did you know there is a laughing frog? And a screaming frog?
On Wednesday 12 th April follow the Leapfrog Trail and discover all about some of our
Australian frogs and why they are important to our environment. Take the frog quiz and go
in the draw to win a frog. No, not a real one – a soft toy! Drop in between 10am and 12pm
for Froggie craft and a reptile encounter at 11am.

And as always, discover more at your Hunter Wetlands Centre like bird feeding 10:30am
daily, playgrounds, walking trails, egret tower, bush tucker garden, dip-netting and visiting
the animal house. Bring a picnic or eat at the Café. There is something for everyone!More information www.wetlands.org.au