11 February 2022

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Our beautiful Josephite charism was on display for all to see today with the children and staff responding to the needs of the suffering Tongan community. Together, we raised $537.45 and, seeing I pledged to match the highest fundraiser (Year 2: $142.50!), we’ll be sending $679.95 off to Caritas to support their works in the worst affected areas.

Parents and friends, you are welcome to make your own donations here.

Congratulations Kindergarten on completing one week of school! ( Only 519 weeks to go….please check my Maths!) Mrs Wright, Mrs Senior and Mr Wigg report a very smooth transition; thanks Kinder dads and mums.

Well done to the recipient of our first Walk Worthy of God Good Sport Award for 2022, Sanj Brar. Mr Warnes spoke of a shining example of leadership at the swimming carnival on Tuesday. Congratulations go to Sanj and to all of our house captains who fulfilled their leadership duties beautifully this week.

Blue House were our carnival champions this year and once again, our parents took out the parents V students V teachers race…by a nose! Thanks Jasmin for accepting the trophy on behalf of the parent team. See you on the running track, parents!

Warm regards,

Liz

UPCOMING EVENTS

Term 1, 2022

Friday 18th February - Kindergarten Blessing and BBQ

Wednesday 2nd March - Ash Wednesday 

Friday 1st April - MHOC Family Movie Night (on school field) TBC

Sunday 3rd April - Daylight Savings ends

Friday 8th April - Last day for students Term 1

Friday 15th April - Good Friday

Sunday 17th April - Easter Sunday

WHAT'S THE BUZZ?

Ukulele 

Welcome to Stephanie from UkoOno whose skill as a ukulele teacher was enjoyed by two enthusiastic groups of students this week. If you’d like more information about Ukulele tuition, give Stephanie a call on 0421 346 713.

MHOC Storytime

We’ve put all of our MHOC Storytime stories together on the website Homepage this week. Great for a bedtime story from faces the children know.

Watch this space for new stories and storytellers (the Kinder teachers!) coming your way in the near future.

School Bag Tags

One of our lovely new mums has made bag tags to suit MHOC pick up options.  These are a great idea, especially for younger students who may need reminding where they are going in the afternoon.

FROM THE MISSION DESK

This Weeks Character Virtue: Commitment

Commitment is doing what we promise - following through and being a ‘person of our word’. We want to be known as a trustworthy and reliable person, not as ‘all talk and no action’. Commitment means you don’t quit on things, even when they get hard.

Coinline for Tonga

Today we made coinlines for the people of Tonga after the recent volcano and tsunami. Each class placed a coin around a symbol that represented Tonga and said a special prayer for all of the communities that were affected. All money raised will go to Caritas and be distributed to those in need. Mrs Watts promised to double the amount of money for the grade that raised the most money. That grade was Year 2 who raised $142.05, as a school we raised $537.  Thanks Mrs Watts and thank you to everyone that was able to donate.  

“Today in Year 6 we watched a presentation about the volcano and tsunami in Tonga so that we could learn more about what happened, what the people of Tonga need and how we can help. We placed our coins on our coin line which was designed as a cross. The cross represents the prayers we are sending to Tonga.”  Bonnie, Bella and Geneveive.

Class Masses

Term One Schedule

15th February - Year 6

22nd February  - Year 5

1st March  -  Ash Wednesday Year 5 and 6

8th March- Year 4

15th March - Year 3

22nd March - Year 2

29th March - Year 1

5th April  - Kindergarten

Ash Wednesday

The Church season of Lent is fast approaching and this year, Ash Wednesday is on the 2nd March. Our Year 5 and 6 students will be going to the church to celebrate with Fr Michael and Zippy. 

Kindergarten- Year 3  will celebrate with a special liturgy in their classrooms. Students will receive the ashes on their foreheads and learn about the importance of Lent. 

Children’s Liturgy

Don’t forget Children’s liturgy is on at Mass each weekend at Mary Help of Christians Church. Children are invited to listen to scripture in the church annex led by trained catechists. You might even see some of your teachers running the session (i.e Mr Wigg, Mrs Fletcher, Mr Madden,  Miss Condon and Mrs Wright just to name a few) while you get to relax and enjoy your own time for prayer and reflection. If you haven’t been before, why not come along to any 6pm Saturday Mass or 9am Sunday Mass; just check-in at the door. See you there!

Pastoral Care Meal Register

Many of our families experience challenging times for a variety of reasons eg. sickness, accident, bereavement, changed employment circumstances etc. At MHOC, we try to provide practical support in the form of a meal.

If you would like to  assist by providing a meal for a family on one or two occasions this year, your generosity would be very much appreciated. The meal is brought to school and we ensure it is delivered. If you can help, please complete this form below.

Junior Joeys

This week Junior Joeys started back for 2022.
Junior Josephites (Joeys) is a group which gives hope for the future, keeping alive the Vision and Mission of Mary MacKillop, Fr Julian Tennison Woods and the Sisters of St Joseph. It is a way to foster a sense of belonging that supports and empowers the children to follow in her footsteps, responding to the needs of our time.

There are three main areas of focus for the group:

– Spiritual: coming together in the spirit of Mary MacKillop, in friendship, prayer and service

 – Educational: learning about Mary MacKillop, her life and work

 – Service: seeking to respond to needs within the school and the wider community

We welcome Year 3 this year, who are able to join us along with year 4. This week we got to know each other, played a game, and came together in prayer.
We also welcomed back year 5 & 6 students (Stage 3) to Joeys. It is always great to connect and have time to talk and learn together. Today we spoke about what we can do for others when we unite and come together.
Everyone is welcome to come to Joeys from Yr 3 to Yr 6. I look forward to seeing you all next week and remember to -

“Believe in the whisperings of God in your own heart” (Mary MacKillop)

Kathryn Butcherine (Boambee Josephite)

LOVING LEARNING

Meet Snowy

Introducing Snowy, a cheeky, fun loving, sweet-natured cattle dog. Both Mrs Willoughby and Snowy have been trained as an Animal Assisted Therapy Team and will be working in the school shortly. Some of Snowy's jobs will include; listening to children read, sitting with individual children as a companion, going into the classroom to teach children how to approach dogs. Mrs Willoughby will be supervising Snowy at all times and they are very excited to begin their new role at school. 

We are aware that some children may have either an allergy to dogs or have a fear of dogs. If this applies to your child, please call or email the school office.

Spotlight on Year 6

Genius Hour is well and truly underway for 2022. In Year 6, Genius Hour is a coveted time for the students, where they direct their own learning by completing projects of personal interest. These projects are extensively researched, created and then presented to peers. Some of the ideas so far have included surfboard fins, whimsical skateboard designs and some of the most elegant dress designs that you would see in Paris Fashion Week. Donations of old skateboards, timber and wheels are always greatly appreciated. Stay tuned for an update on our Genius Hour projects later in the term.

K-2 Gross Motor Sessions 

Our Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 students had a fantastic time during their gross motor session this week. 

This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to develop their gross motor skills through a variety of fun activities.

This week, students performed locomotor skills using different body parts to travel in different directions by galloping, hopping, jumping and rolling. They also used a variety of equipment to perform object control skills. We were very impressed by the stability and body control balances we observed. 

Gross motor sessions are held each Wednesday and are led by Miss Olenka.

SPORT NEWS

Diocesan Basketball Trials

What a day for our boys who trialled at the Diocesan basketball trials on Tuesday. Out of our four boys trialling, Dut Dut, Jai Griffin and Ben Mathews made it through to the Polding trials, with Zavier Martin first reserve. Well done boys!

Dut, Jai and Ben will travel to Tamworth in a fortnight’s time for the Polding trials, and we wish them all the best.

Swimming Carnival

The weather turned it on for us on Tuesday for the Year 3-6 House Swimming Carnival. Nothing seems to be able to stop the run of Blue House, taking the champion house shield yet again this year - that’s 4 out of the last 5 years!

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Swimming Records

The historical records had not been tallied when we published last week’s newsletter, but we are happy to report that one school record was broken at last week’s trials. Congratulations to Charlie Schmetzer breaking the 8 Year Boys 50m Freestyle record, previously held by Beau Willoughby (2016) with a time of 47.77 seconds.

Summer Sports

With the disruption to the Summer Sports Trials program because of the Covid restrictions at the end of last year, basketball and tennis trials have already progressed to Polding stage, but Zone trials are still to be held in touch football next week, while Zone cricket and softball trials were held yesterday.  Congraulations to Joshua de Groot who has progressed to Diocesan cricket trials.

Winter Sports

Nominations are currently being accepted for representative level athletes in football (soccer), netball, rugby league and rugby union. Nomination forms are due by Friday 18th February, with Zone trials being held (if large number of nominations received) on Tuesday 22nd February. 

**Note - Winter Sports Trials are for Year 5 and 6 students

Zone Swimming

Good luck to our swimmers competing in the Clarence Zone Swimming Carnival in Maclean on Wednesday. The bus leaves at 7:30am sharp, so please have your child/ren at school in plenty of time to have their names checked off and settled on the bus. 

AFL Trials

Good luck to Jude Couzens and Noah Fernie who will trial at the Diocesan AFL Trials next Friday in Grafton.

Balls! Balls! Balls!

 Thank you so much to Highgrove Bathrooms and Rodney & Bella Baldock (parents of Aiden in Year 5) for their generous donation of 40 basketballs. They were very gratefully received by our sport captains and PDHPE Coordinator, Miss Goodenough. We shouldn’t need new basketballs for a while now!

SENSEI'S CORNER

Children in Years 3-6 are welcome to come along to the Japanese Club on Thursdays and Fridays.

This week, Years 3 and 4 had a go at the new year bean throwing ceremony called Setsubun. 

Thanks for all of the interest in using the unicycles. We will get to everyone as soon as possible!

HABITS OF MIND AWARDS

Term 1, Week 2

Term 1, Week 1

MHOC PARENT FORUM

Lenten Program for Parents

This year the Parent assembly is offering a Lenten program via zoom for parents, commencing on the 28th February. Please register via this link.

BINGO

NEWS FROM OUR PARISH

Group 22 Sacrament Program

Confirmation preparation will commence in March. Refer to the Information letter with schedule details.

There will also be a small group running for children in Year 4, 5, or 6 who have missed out on the sacrament of Eucharist but have already made their first Reconciliation. This group will be starting in a couple of weeks. Contact Carolyn at the parish office if you would like more information about these, or any other sacraments.

Food Fun Faith & Friendship Youth Group (FFFF)

We are back! And so excited to have a whole bunch of new faces to get to know and share good times with. Amber Scanes (our Youth Ministry coordinator ) and Carolyn Tumminello (parish pastoral associate) organise and run the sessions. They are supported by Fr Michael & Zippy and a team of wonderful volunteers who provide afternoon tea each week. (Most Important job!!)

Looking forward to a terrific year. New comers are always welcome. Just complete the paper or online registration form.

Baptisms

The Sacrament of Baptism is available to those requesting it. Please ring Jennifer at the Parish Office (66583544) or talk to Amber Biddle or Liz Watts at school if you have any questions.  Alternatively, if you wish to register for Baptism, there is now the option of an  online request form .

Parish Website , E-bulletin & Facebook Page

For all the latest news from our parish, check out the Parish website or subscribe to our  new e-bulletin which can be sent directly to your inbox each week. Why not sign up today by entering your details in the sign up box on the Homepage or Contact page of the website!

And don’t forget to check out our FaceBook page

OSHC

This week the MHOC OSHC children have enjoyed a week of  non-stop fun and excitement in the newly refreshed shop area, puzzle corner and office. We have also engaged in lots of other fun activities such as arts and crafts, sports experiences and the ever popular ‘chatting and chilling’ after a busy day at school. 

The MHOC OSHC Team have really enjoyed getting to know the new Kindergarten children and their families. It has been wonderful to see the younger children being supported by their siblings and the older MHOC OSHC children.

CANTEEN NEWS

Canteen Roster

Monday 14th February 
HELP NEEDED

Tuesday 15th February
Cheryl Jones

Wednesday 16th February
Amanda Bruce

Thursday 17th February
Robyn Courtney

Friday 18th February
Lisa Mangan
HELP NEEDED
HELP NEEDED

COMMUNITY NOTICES