12th December 2024
Principal News
Heavenly Father, your son, Jesus, is your greatest gift to us, a great sign of your love. Guide us as we strive to walk in that love together as a family this Advent. As we prepare our hearts for Christmas, bring us closer to each other and to your son. Give us the grace and strength we need every day. Amen.
Dear Parents and Carers,
As I write the final message for the 2024 School year, I am very aware that there is much to be grateful for. As a staff we are grateful for the students you have entrusted into our care and for the blessing of seeing the growth in every child across this school year. We are grateful for the wonderful team we work with every day as we guide, teach and support the children at Holy Spirit. We are grateful to our Vineyards Parish especially Fr James and the Parishioners at Abermain for their continual welcome and warmth when we attend a Parish mass. We are grateful for the parents and grandparents at our school for your presence at events supporting your children and grandchildren when you can, and for your involvement. We are grateful for our community where we do all we can to share the Fruits of the Spirit in all we say and do. We are grateful for our terrific learning spaces and our play spaces where our students can learn through play and fun. We are grateful for our Year 2 students and wish them success as they continue their learning at Holy Spirit Kurri in Year 3. We are grateful for one another and ask God's blessing on every family this Christmas and for the upcoming holiday season.
Learning Spaces Upgrades:
Recently four classrooms were refurbished and the students and staff are enjoying working in the new rooms. Our sincere thanks to the Diocese for these upgrades. Year 1W had new carpet instlled earlier this term and now KB/KW/1B and 1W have had new autex installed around the room and newly painted doors and walls. The rooms look terrific and the children are very proud of the new look classrooms.
During the break the hall will be recarpeted and we are again very appreciative of this support from the diocese to ensure our school offers the best in well fitted out spaces.
Staffing 2025:
Our staff for 2025 (with three positions to be finalised) are:
KW - Mrs Ashlee Gossip (Edwards) M-W and Mrs Meagan Edwards Th/F
KB - Mrs Nicole Elbourne (Ms Pryor will return part time later in the year)
1W - Mrs Helena Richardson (nee Elias)
1B -Mrs Sarah Haines and Miss Jessica Loczkowski
2W - Mrs Kate Kreutzer
2B - Mr Brodie Flynn
LST's - Mrs Penny Lloyd and Mrs Natasha Clements
Teacher Librarian- Ms Evelyn Covita
LSA's - Mrs Focic, Mrs Bolam, Mrs Shakespeare, Mr Fogarty (and two more)
Library Assistant -Mrs Kay Woods
EALD: Mrs Nikki Fredsall
Aboriginal Education Teacher - Miss Laczkowski
Gifted Education Mentor: TBA
Pastoral Care Worker - Mrs Amanda Barrass
School Counsellor: Dr Eliza Fraser
Office Administrators: Mrs Dot Seamer and Mrs Bonney Lane
School Executive Team -
Mrs Sarah Haines - REC
Mrs Rebecca Kearns - AP
Ms Diane Murphy - Executive Principal
We look forward to welcoming our new staff members to our team!
Bus Behaviour
Parents are asked to please remind your child about expected behaviour when travelling on the bus of a morning or afternoon. As we approach the end of the year we do need to ensure everyone is reminded to do the right thing when on the bus. That is to remain seated; wear the seatbelt; be respectful of others. Thank you.
Christmas Craft Fun:
We were delighted to welcome so many parents and grandparents to the classrooms today for Christmas craft! The children love having you in the classroom...and the teachers appreciate the extra help!
Family Christmas Carol Picnic/BBQ:
A reminder to families that we will gather from 5.30pm for a shared picnic tea. Families may have ordered a Sausage Sizzle or prefer to bring their own picnic tea. Our thanks to KK Rotary for their support with cooking the BBQ for us. Bring your picnic blanket or beach chairs; wear your Christmas outfit and bring your best singing voices as we join together for a family social evening! Each grade will perform two songs they've been practicing and we have a song book for our families to sing along to some well known Christmas Songs. We look forward to seeing you there! We have a special visitor from the North Pole dropping by and we will be finished by 7.30pm before it gets dark. Bring some mozzie repellant just in case! Mr Nathan Chappel has offered to play live to help us all make the carols sound terrific.
Choir Certificates; WOW Gallery and Mini Vinnies Team Certificates
We were delighted to be able to hand out the above certificates to students involved in the Aspire:Wow Gallery; The Choirs at the Civic Performance and to our very excited Mini Vinnies Team at assembly this morning. My thanks to Mrs Matthews and Mrs Barrass for their work with our beautiful choir and to Mrs Edwards and Mrs Barrass for starting up our very successful Mini Vinnies Team. Congratulations to everyone receiving a certificate today. We are proud of you.
With every best wish for a Happy and a Holy Christmas,
Thank you for your support of our school,
Take Care, Diane
Assistant Principals News
As we reflect on 2024, we highlight the positive behaviour focus at Holy Spirit Infants Abermain: "I use safe hands, safe feet, and kind words!" from the "I am safe!" domain. This behaviour has been central to our efforts to create a safe and nurturing environment. We revisit this focus each term, recognising that young children can sometimes struggle to resolve conflicts in constructive ways.
Our teachers support students in developing conflict resolution skills through discussions and lessons in Personal Development, Health, and Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L). When your child encounters social conflicts, we encourage you to help them explore positive solutions, such as expressing themselves calmly, walking away, or seeking help from an adult.
By reinforcing these behaviours, we aim to equip students with the skills to resolve conflicts respectfully. We truly appreciate your continued support in fostering a safe and positive learning environment.
For the final two weeks of this term, each class has been working towards the challenge of filling their PB4L token jar. Each class that meets the challenge will be rewarded with a Movie Afternoon on Monday, December 16th. Keep an eye out on Compass for announcements of the winning class(es)!!!
Sharing Our Faith
End of Year Liturgy
Yesterday we celebrated our End of Year Liturgy, with the theme of Letting our Light Shine! It was a beautiful celebration of the children's kindness, love, and growth throughout the year. The theme reminded us all that each of us has a light inside, and by sharing our goodness with others, we can make the world brighter. The children’s singing, prayers and passing of leadership during the liturgy were powerful reminders that even small gestures can spread light and love. It was a wonderful way to end the year, encouraging everyone to continue letting their light shine in all they do.
St Vincent De Paul Christmas Appeal
Last week 3 volunteers from St Vincent De Paul Cessnock came to collect our overflowing baskets of Christmas donations. Our donations filled 3 cars- thank you for being so generous.
Advent Prayers
Thank you to Kinder Blue who led us our first Advent prayer. During the prayer, the students lit the first candle on the Advent wreath, symbolising hope. Jesus asks us all to keep watch for him so that we will be ready when he comes.
Thank you to Kinder white who led us in our second Advent Prayer and lit the second purple candle symbolizing PEACE. During the second week of Advent, we remember the gift of Peace we have in Christ.
Today Year 1 Blue proudly led the Advent prayer and lit the THIRD candle symbolizing JOY. This coming week is a time we remember the gift of Joy. Pink is the colour of joy. We are joyful because we are now more than halfway through our Advent season of waiting to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
Christmas Mass Times
Vineyards Catholic Parishes Christmas Times
Wednesday 18th December
Second Rite of Reconciliation at 7pm, St Francis Xavier’s, Abermain
Tuesday 24th December
Christmas Vigil Mass at 5.30pm St Joseph’s, Cessnock
Christmas Vigil Mass at 7.30pm Holy Spirit, Kurri Kurri
Wednesday 25th December
Christmas Day Mass at 8.30am St Francis Xavier’s, Abermain
Christmas Day Mass at 10.30am St Joseph’s, Cessnock
Christmas Day Mass at 12.30pm St Michael’s, Wollombi
Library News
Pastoral Care Connect
Where has the time gone!
Watching your children grow and have growth has been such a rewarding time as I complete my first year at Holy Spirt Abermain as Pastoral Care.
Working with your children has been pure joy and building new programs/groups such as the choir, Mini Vinnie’s and the friendship circle picnics.
The power of reading books and the general wellbeing support it gives to your children.... Never stop reading to your children they love it!
I will certainly miss our current year 2 students and wish them well going into year 3, Hopefully from time-to-time Mrs Barrass can pop into Kurri and say hello.
To all of our beautiful Holy Spirit Families I have enjoyed meeting you all and look forward to building confidence, friendships and guidance with your children next year.
Stay safe and a Very Merry Christmas.
Mrs Barrass
Awards 2024
It is with great delight that we share with you the award recipients for the Fruit of the Spirit Class and
Academic Awards for 2024. A big congratulations to the following students for their amazing achievements.
Fruit of the Spirit Awards
End of Year Awards
Congratulations to...
Congratulations to Riley Feeney for his participation in the Aspire WOW gallery at the Lake Macquarie Art Gallery. Congratulations to all the members of our choir who represented our school at the diocesan event "Celebrate choirs at the Civic". We are very proud of you.
Thank you to our mini-Vinnie's team from year 2 who volunteered their time enthusiastically to form a Vinnie's group and bring about social justice change.
Thank you to Mrs. Edwards and Mrs. Barrass.
Aboriginal Education
Our Aboriginal students have been working hard on their literacy skills this term. They have been working independently and in small groups to support each others learning. Kindergarten have been focusing on their tricky words and writing sentences independently.
Year One have made great progress with learning different vowel spellings and understanding there are multiple spellings for the same sound.
Year Two have also worked on tricky vowel sounds, making their own 'cheat sheets' with different spellings for the same sounds.
As a group, all students got together to design and create a rainbow serpent to display in the library with our collection of Aboriginal books. It was a real team effort and year two students really stepped up to support and encourage younger students.
Natasha Clements,
Dates for your Diary
OOSH - Abermain
Community News
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What can I do if I am concerned about children over the holiday period?
School holidays are often a time for children and families to take a break from their daily routines and spend more time together. Relationships are complex and challenging at the best of times, and more time together can sometimes result in more conflict.
