Dear Parents and Carers,

National Families Week encourages students, parents and school staff to reflect on their own families; the role that families play in enriching and supporting us in our personal growth and goals; and what it means to be part of a caring, nurturing community.  The theme of National Families Week 2019 is 'Stronger Families, Stronger Communities', which aims to recognise the important role families play as the central building blocks of Australian communities.                                                                                                           
                                                                        We bless your name, O Lord,
                                                                   for sending your own incarnate Son,
                                                                            to become part of a family,
                                                                            so that, as he lived its life,
                                                           he would experience its worries and its joys.          

We ask  you, Lord,
to protect and watch over this family,
so that in the strength of your grace
its members may enjoy prosperity,
possess the priceless gift of your peace,
and, as the Church alive in the home,
bear witness in this world to your glory.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

We trust that all mothers, grandmothers, stepmothers, aunts and female carers were treated well last Sunday.  Thank you to Mrs Labib, Mrs Ellis-Donai, Mrs Rowe-Tucker and the many parent helpers who coordinated and organised the Mother’s Day stall last Friday.  We saw many huge smiles on the faces of children who were very pleased with their purchases. We are sure that all of the mums were most impressed with the gifts that were chosen.

Congratulations and thank you to the children and parents who attended the recent Regional Cross Country Carnival in Nowra.  We are all proud of the efforts and commitment to the training that took place. Thank you to Mrs Augustine for her fine organisation and support of this event.

This week all students in Australia in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 will participate in the NAPLAN tests.    This year our students will complete the tests online. Naplan tests the sorts of skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life, such as reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy. It is important to remember that NAPLAN is not about passing or failing, but about assessing learning progress. At the classroom level it is one of a number of important tools used by teachers to measure student progress. We encourage all of our students to eat a healthy breakfast and to get plenty of sleep so as to produce their best efforts during this time of NAPLAN.

Best wishes for the coming week,

Philip Barrington

PRINCIPAL

Wakakirri
Wakakirri rehearsals are now well and truly underway. We have a squad of 99
students and 4 backstage crew. Hopefully in the next few days we will have a heat
date and time. Congratulations to all the students who are participating in the
Wakkairri item.

Exposing Kids to Challenges
I have included an article about exposing children to challenges which helps prevent
anxiety in later life. Please take the time to have a read.

Earn and Learn
Woolies Earn and Learn is well underway. Thank you to all the students who have
been bringing in stickers.
If you are a regular shopper at Woolies, please get a sticker sheet from the office or
print one off from the last Newsletter and keep adding the stickers to the sheet until it
is full and then send it in to your child’s class.
Each class is competing to return the most stickers to be able to purchase something
from the catalogue for their class to keep and use.
Please keep the stickers coming.

Winter Sport Uniform
As the weather begins to cool, just a reminder that gym type pants are not part of our
sports uniform and neither are blue jackets or jumpers form other local sporting
clubs. The school track suit, purchased from Lowes is what the students need to be
wearing on sport days.

St Thomas More Parish is holding a parish working bee on 16th June.  Also on 7th July there is a Parish Ladies High Tea. Parents are invited to both events.  Please see the Parish Bulletin for more details.

Please see below stall allocation notes. A copy was sent home with each student.

Donation List: