Dear St Finbar’s Community,
Last Sunday I was fortunate enough to attend Mass at St Finbar’s Glenbrook to witness children of the Parish receiving First Communion. This is always a special time and we thank all those responsible for their preparation for this Sacrament of Initiation. It was fitting that this Sacrament took place on the last Sunday of Ordinary Time in the Liturgical Calendar – The Feast of Christ the King.
On Monday, our School Leaders and myself attended the ANZAC Memorial Soil Collection event, which was held at the Blaxland Glenbrook RSL Sub-branch at 1.30pm. This event had been organised by the NSW Office for Veterans Affairs (OVA). This important event is part of a program taking place around the state for the Anzac Memorial Centenary Project. Soil samples are currently being collected from 1,699 NSW towns, suburbs and localities given as place of address by First World War enlistees. The soil collected from each location will go on to be displayed in an installation-artwork at the enhanced Anzac Memorial in Hyde Park, Sydney, opening in late 2018.
At our last P and F Meeting, Mr Ticehurst and myself gave a presentation about a wonderful resource provided by the Catholic Diocese of Parramatta to all students enrolled in our system of schools. This resource is known as “e-library”.
This amazing resource provides access to e-books, research tools as well as other educational resources. This resource allows children to borrow books online for three weeks. There are even interactive, read aloud books. The students can access this resource via their Classm8 logon page http://classm8.parra.catholic.edu.au/. This is guaranteed to provide hours of reading pleasure during the upcoming holidays. Books featured in the Premier’s Reading Challenge are available in an electronic form on this page.
A feature of our new web based newsletter is a calendar that is always up to date with upcoming events. This calendar currently has key dates for 2018. Please take some time to familiarise yourself with this feature.
On Tuesday night, Mrs Southern and I attended the Annual Rotary Dinner. At this dinner, Kate Tam received a special award for services to her community. Kate Tam is a valuable member of our St Finbar’s community. She works behind the scenes to assist younger students at our school, she volunteers her time to help out with tasks around the school and all without expecting public recognition for the work she does. Congratulations Kate on this remarkable achievement.
Kate’s Citation for the Youth Rotary Award
It’s always lovely to be a part of the Rotary Youth awards and to be able to recognise the great things done by the students in our community.
Kate was nominated by St Finbar’s School for her all roundedness. Kate has a generous and kind disposition. She reaches out to help all those around her and has a selflessness beyond her years. Her empathy and nurturing spirit is shared with all and I can truly say that having known Kate since Kindergarten, I have never heard her say a mean or unkind word to anyone. She is well loved by all her peers and her teachers.
Kate is always willing to lend a hand without asking for anything in return. She gives up her recess and lunch times to help change the school signs or help out in the canteen. Recently, Kate was greatly involved in helping organise activities within our school community to raise awareness and resources for Missionary work in Uganda. Kate was also recently awarded a Fred Hollows Community Service award.
Kate is the one who helps bring some sanity to my desk when it is groaning under the weight of everything dropped on it throughout the day. Kate is the one who will pick up lost property and find the owner, check that the office bag is indeed empty and hold a Kindergarten’s hand if they fall in the playground.
I am privileged to have been a part of Kate’s schooling since Kindergarten and I have watched her grow up to be a beautiful young lady. I know her parents are as proud of her as we are.
Thank you once again to Amanda O’Leary and Nicole Casha and your many helpers for the work involved in running our school disco last Friday. Events like this build community. We are fortunate to have so many members of our community who give up their valuable time to organise these key events.
I would also like to thank the Community of St Finbar’s for your thoughts and prayers for Miss Hutchins and her family. Miss Hutchins’ father’s funeral was held at St Finbar’s on Wednesday at 1pm.
I wish you all the best as we enter the liturgical season of Advent this Sunday and I hope to see you all at our Christmas Celebration – Monday 4th December at 6.30pm in the church.
Yours in Christ,
Donna McFadzean
Principal
Dates for students returning in 2018
| Monday 29th January 2018 | Staff Development Day |
| Tuesday 30th January 2018 | Maths Assessment Interviews (MAI’s) K to Year 6 by appointment |
| Wednesday 31st January 2018 | Years 3 to 6 students return to school. Early Years Assessments and MAI’s Years K to 2 by appointment |
| Thursday 1st February 2018 | Year 1 and Year 2 students return to school. Early Years Assessments and MAI’s K by appointment |
| Friday 2nd February 2018 | Kinder return to school. |
Before and After School Care will operate on Monday 29th and Tuesday 30th January. Please ensure you book in for this service at COOSH.
