Dear Parents and Carers,

In the Catholic faith May is traditionally known as the month of Mary. It is also the month in which we celebrate Mother’s Day and honour our mothers and grandmothers. In doing so we are also honouring the nurturing and life-giving role they fill in our lives. In a special way Mary is their role model and spiritual guide in the blessing that is motherhood.

Being a parent is a challenging role. It is a permanently life-changing experience. No matter what the circumstances: once a parent, always a parent. It involves a vast array of emotions, provides us with some of our biggest challenges and is the relationship where we will experience some of the greatest love, pride and joy in our lives.

Each of the mothers in our community has their own story to tell. Though there may be similarities, no two stories of being a mother are ever exactly the same. Advertising and television provide us with images on what being a mother ‘looks like’. In reality there is no perfect mother (or parent).

For me, the most effective parent becomes the parent they need to be for the child that they have given the gift of life to. They show them love when they need it most, protect them when required and give them space and freedom, no matter how uncomfortable it feels, to become their own person. They provide boundaries to teach values and challenge to help them grow. They model kindness and generosity to others and how to share their opinion respectfully and assertively. They set an example for how to live rich, hopeful and optimistic lives.

Every mother does this in a way that is unique to them, their child and their family and I applaud them in the way that they do this every day. Thank you to all of our mothers for your gentleness, strength, guidance and love. We pray this week for all mothers and mother figures and ask that God will bless them and reward them for their goodness and the gift of life they have given us.

Happy Mother’s Day to all!

God bless.

Rachel Smith

Principal

Principal’s Notes

Welcome Mr Michael McAllister to 5 Blue

We are very pleased to welcome Mr Michael McAllister to 5 Blue for the remainder of the year. Mr McAllister joins us from New Zealand and is replacing Mrs Bianca Breen who is on maternity leave.

COVID Update

Beginning next week, Monday 9th May, we are excited to welcome parents and carers back on school grounds for drop off and pick up. We will also begin holding morning assemblies from next Monday. Please come along and join us if you can for our morning assemblies.

Before School Drop Off

• Starting time is 8.45am. Students arriving late will need to be signed in at the Front Office.
• Supervision commences at 8.30am and no student should be at school before 8.30am. Students arriving before 8.30am are unsupervised. Please use before school care if necessary.
• Parents and carers can now come onto school grounds and take their children up to classrooms and morning assembly.

After School Pick Up

• Children in Kindergarten, Year 1, Year 2, and Year 3 are the only ones to be picked up at donut. If they have an older sibling, they are to be collected at Front Pick-Up. Donut pick-up will commence at 2.55pm for K – 2 and 3.00pm for Year 3 students. We ask parents with students in Year 3 that you do not arrive till 3.00pm.
• All Years 4 - 6 children, and their younger siblings, must be collected at front-pick up. If they have K - 2 siblings, this can be from 2.55pm. If they have no younger siblings, it will be after 3.00pm.
• The courts will be open for parents and carers to park on. We ask that this area is cleared by 3.20pm for netball training. Netball training cannot commence before 3.30pm. Thank you for your support and understanding with this.

We will trial these new pick up arrangements for the next two weeks and review at the end of Week 4. At that time we welcome any feedback from the parent community about the pickup arrangements. Please do not hesitate to contact the front office with that feedback.

Athletics Carnival

Tomorrow, Thursday 5^th May we will be having our annual Athletics Carnival at Banks Oval. Please keep an eye on COMPASS tomorrow morning in the event of rain and cancellation of the carnival.

NAPLAN

Next week our Year 3 and 5 students will sit the national NAPLAN tests in Literacy and Numeracy. Year 3 and 5 students are spending time undertaking a little NAPLAN preparation. We like to help them relax before the tests by talking through examples of the types of questions that will be asked of them and practicing how to sit, read and interpret test items within a time frame. During this time some students may initially experience a little anxiety as they begin to realise what it is they will participate in. After all, it isn’t the typical way we teach and learn in the classroom. If parents are concerned about their child participating in NAPLAN, please contact your son or daughter’s teacher to discuss the options available.

Warm Clothing

As we hit the Winter months, Canberra does become very cold. We are seeing quite a number of children coming to school without warm clothing. Please ensure that your child has a jumper on before they leave home. We do many activities outside and it can be quite unpleasant for children who are not appropriately dressed. Children may also wear navy blue coats and navy blue or maroon beanies, scarves, and gloves during the colder months. 

Winter Uniform

A reminder that students will be able to wear either their summer or winter uniform for week 1 and week 2 of this term. It is expected that all students will commence week 3, 9^th May with the winter uniform.

Mother's Day

As we celebrate Mother's Day this weekend, we remember all women, our own mothers and Jesus' mother Mary. Pope Francis says of Mary -

“She listens as Mother. Just like, and more than, every good mother, Mary defends us from danger, she is concerned about us even when we are concentrated on our own things...Mary is there, praying for us, praying for those who do not pray. To pray with us. Why? Because she is our Mother.”

Congratulations to the children who will be awarded white cards this week.

Closing, Thursday the 12th of May

Player of the Week and Match Reports

Speckles – Zoe

Smarties – Bye

Smiggles – Malana

Squiggles – the whole team

Swifts – the whole team

Skittles – Ally

Sparkles – Mariella

Smurfs – Avtar

Sunshines – Emma

Stars - Madeline

Sunshines Match Report

First week back got off to a wet start but luckily it stopped raining just in time for the games to go ahead. The girls were super pumped to be back and went out on court with a positive winning attitude. Some fantastic ball skills were seen thorough the centre which gave our shooters a lot of opportunities to score! Our defence kept the opposition on their toes, and made them work work every goal. Player of the week was our newest addition Emma Tolley, who found the gaps when in attack and great intercepts when in defence. Well done Sunshines!

SAVE THE DATE:

Catch up school photo’s will be on Wednesday 8^th June from 2:00pm