Guardian Angels' Newsletter - Term 4 | Week 1

Coming up @ GA

Week 2

Monday 9 October
Secondhand Uniform Popup - 7:45am
Uniform Shop open 7:30am-10:30am

Tuesday 10 October
Code Camp - 3:05pm-4:20pm
P&F AGM - MC Campus and via TEAMs - 6:30pm

Wednesday 11 October
Tuckshop (orders must be in by 7:45am)

Thursday 12 October
Tuckshop (orders must be in by 7:45am)
Uniform Shop open 1:00pm-4:00pm
Socktober - Crazy Sock Day
Class Mass and Sacred Singing - Year 3 and Year 4 - GA Church - 1:50pm

Friday 13 October
Year 1 and Year 2 Swimming Lessons

Week 3

Monday 16 October
Moreton Bay Environmental Education Excursion - Year 2 classes

Tuesday 17 October
Prep 2024 Orientation Morning #1
Code Camp - 3:05pm-4:20pm

Wednesday 18 October
Tuckshop (orders must be in by 7:45am)
Instrumental Music Program - brass and wind only (Creative Kidz)
P-6 Assembly (led by 2 Green and 1 Red) - MC Shed - 1:50pm

Thursday 19 October
Tuckshop (orders must be in by 7:45am)
Uniform Shop open 1:00pm-4:00pm
Year 1-6 Instrumental Music Program (Creative Kidz)
Bayside Catholic Schools Swimming Carnival (select students)

Friday 20 October
Year 1 and Year 2 Swimming Lessons

From the Principal

Welcome back for the final school term of 2023. As we worked to finalise the Term 4 calendar over, we recognised that it is shaping up to be a very busy term. Certainly, we’ve had a flying start to the first week, with our students settling quickly back into routines and engaging enthusiastically with their learning activities. Our first assembly to congratulate our GA Netball Team, to share in the excitement of the final term of primary school for our Year 6 student leaders, to the ‘Love Learning’ presentation by our students from 2Y and 2R, our Guardian Angels’ Day activities, which are happening today, to our swimming carnival tomorrow, have been highlights of the first week. I know that you will share with me in our thankfulness for the spirit of community that we enjoy at our school, that enables these events to occur. Like you, we are looking forward to a term that tenables opportunities for us to celebrate and enjoy the presence of all in our school community.

As I’ve been out and about at school this week, it has been wonderful to greet our students and their families as they returned to school and shared stories from their holidays. It is always lovely to see the smiling faces filled with genuine excitement at seeing teachers and friends. This same feeling was apparent when I visited learning areas and saw students who were happy, and were working together with peers and staff in a spirit of care and respect. This is supported by the commitment of our staff towards learning and teaching that inspires our students to have a go and to never give up, as they strive for success in all that they do. 

I know that at the end of this first week of term, our students can return home intensely proud of the community that they’re a part of; knowing that they are in a school where they are appreciated and respected for their uniqueness.  Let’s pray,

The Beatitudes of Unique Persons

Blessed are you who accept us for who we are and what we have to give
and do not try to take away that which makes us unique,
that which makes us who we are.

Blessed are you who support us by creating a warm, accepting atmosphere,
allowing us to grow and learn and make mistakes without condemning us.

Blessed are you who take the time to listen, who invite us to contribute,
for to be able to join in is to feel part of a community and never to feel lonely or afraid.

 Blessed are you who help us with the graciousness of Christ,
who did not bruise the reed and quench the flax,
for often we need help, but, we do not know how to ask.

 Blessed are you who are yourself unique, for you make the world a richer,
happier and better place to live.

 Rejoice in the understanding that God made each of us unique
and special in different ways.

 May we all learn how to encourage others more and loudly enough
so that we drown out all the negative voices.

 We ask this through Christ our Lord.

 Amen.

 - (Author unknown)

Blessings for the week ahead
Veronica Tomerini-Smith

Assistant Principal - Administration

Good afternoon lovely families,

I hope you are all well and were able to enjoy some time together as a family over the past couple of weeks. It is difficult to believe that we are in the homestretch of this school year. There are so many things happening this term; it is always busy but very exciting. I always encourage our beautiful students to really engage and enjoy this final term with their classmates and teachers.

Booklists for 2024

In the coming weeks you will receive communication regarding the purchase of book packs for the 2024 school year. Our book packs are supplied by Edsco who have worked in partnership with Guardian Angels for many years to provide cost effective supplies and convenient services for our families. Keep an eye out for the communication regarding book pack purchasing for 2024.

Parents of Prep 2024 students will not receive instructions to purchase book packs as these are automatically purchased for you by the school. These packs are added to your Term One 2024 school fees and are delivered directly to school.

Learn to Swim Program (Years 1 and 2 only)

Parents of students in Years 1 and 2 have received an email communication and a parent slip for the Learn to Swim Program that commences next week (Friday 13 October). Please be sure to read this communication and return the permission slip by Thursday 12 October.

Year 6 (2024) Senior Shirts

Last term, parents of students who are currently in Year 5 received communication and instructions regarding the ordering or Senior Shirts (Year 6 only) for their child/ren in 2024. The cut off for ordering Senior Shirts for Year 6 students 2024 is Monday 9 October. The uniform shop has a fit range available when deciding sizing, so be sure to get your orders in.

Drop Off and Pick Up Zones

Whilst most of our parents/carers are utilising our Drop Off and Pick Up Zones appropriately (thank you), there are still a number of parents/carers who were still not doing so towards the end of Term Three and beginning Term Four.

To aid efficiency, it is really helpful when students’ surnames are clearly displayed in the windscreen. Please place your family name sign on the dashboard on the front left hand side of your vehicle. If you require a family name sign, please contact the office and they will kindly assist you.

Please be sure that you are familiar with the expectations of these areas in the school that serve to make life as easy as possible for you and, most importantly, keep our beautiful kids safe and sound.

We facilitated a number of concerns from residents in Pine Street who were understandably upset that Guardian Angels’ parents were parking in front of their driveways, blocking access to their own homes. This absolutely cannot happen. Residents should always be able to access their properties. It may be useful to delay your arrival at the pick up zone by 10 minutes.

Please approach the zones from the correct area (not cutting around corners, jumping queues etc) as this causes understandable frustration for those parents who wait patiently for their turn to enter the zone from the correct areas. It is also important that parents/carers inform any person who is responsible for using the zones of our expectations in these areas eg grandparents, friends, day carers etc.

Some important things to note:

• All cars are to approach the Drop Off/Pick Up Zones from the identified areas please:
  
  GA Campus … along Akonna Street from Cedar Street NOT Pine Street (please do NOT cut the corner from Pine Street to enter Akonna Street Drop Off/Pick Up Zone)
  
  MC Campus … along Pine Street approaching from Tingal Road.
  
  
• Please do not park/wait in front of residents’ driveways. They should be able to access in/out of their properties at any time, and we need to be respectful of this.
  
  
• ALL students are to exit vehicles from the KURB SIDE ONLY. Under no circumstances should a student be exiting a vehicle from the road side of the car.

• School bags must be in the car with the students: NOT stored in the back of the car/boot. We will not allow boots to be opened whilst in the zones.

• No drivers (or other passengers) are to get out of the car in the Drop Off/Pick Up Zones please. If your child cannot exit or enter a vehicle independently, the best option is for you to park your car and walk your child into school.

• Please do NOT USE THE CHURCH CAR PARK, or anywhere in CHESTNUT STREET or BAY TERRACE as a Drop Off and/or Pick Up Area. Any student found waiting in these areas will be redirected to an assigned (and supervised) zone.

• Any student who remains in the Pick Up Zone from 3:20pm, will be taken to the respective campus office where they will remain safely with staff until they are collected.

Thank you for your kind understanding in this matter. It is really important that ALL families are following the expectations of areas such as Drop Off and Pick Up Zones in and around our school. This makes this service as efficient as possible and of course, helps to support the safety of our students … nothing is more important than that!!!

May I also remind everyone that school opens for students at 8:05am and no earlier. Of course the exceptions to this are those families who are utilising OSHC (Outside School Hours Care) by booking their child/ren into this service. It is concerning to see students dropped at school, often outside locked school gates and left to wait there on their own until the gates open and the school is supervised from 8:05am.

Blessings to you all for the coming weeks,
Nicole Waller

Assistant Principal - Religious Education

Welcome to Term 4. I hope that you all had a wonderful and relaxing break. We are looking forward to another busy term, with plenty of learning and fun to be had!

GA Day

This week to celebrate the feast day of St Francis on Wednesday 4th of October and Guardian Angels’ Feast Day on the 2nd of October, we had GA Day on Thursday the 5^th of October.

To mark both feast days we will have a whole day of activities to celebrate. We began the day with a school liturgy at 9:00am in the Shed, followed by a classroom activity. The students then enjoyed rotational activities in the middle session focusing on LIVE and buddy reading for the last session. There was a sausage sizzle and ice-block for the students on the day. It was a great day had by all.

St Francis of Assisi

We celebrate the feast of St Francis of Assisi, on Wednesday the 4th of October. We recognise this special feast day as it reminds us of our Franciscan tradition. Like Jesus, St Francis lived a life devoted to peace. In his words and actions, St Francis led others in search of peace in their lives. His message to us today is for us to be Jesus’ instruments of peace in the world. As we celebrate the feast of St. Francis of Assisi it is important to remember that although St Francis was born into a wealthy family, he gave up all he had to follow Jesus. St. Francis chose to be very poor, so he could focus on living like Jesus. St. Francis focused on who people were, rather than what they had. Let us pray together today that we too learn to do the same.

To acknowledge this day you may wish to pray with an icon of St Francis. Lectio Divina is a popular prayer. Simply follow these easy steps.

1. Find a place where you can be quiet, comfortable and attentive
2. Ready – still comfortably and focus on your breathing
3. Read – take time to look at the icon, see “more”
4. Read and reflect – what is the icon calling you to be? What do you hear?
5. Read and respond – journal your thoughts or say a prayer
6. Read and rest – let the icon rest in your heart
7. Be – be with your thoughts. Give time for this to happen

October – Month of the Rosary

October is the month dedicated to the Rosary. The Rosary (in its fullness) is a prayer of devotion to Mary. The Rosary is composed of different Marian prayers with the main one being the Hail Mary. It also consists of recognition of 20 mysteries put into 4 different categories; the Glorious Mysteries, Sorrowful mysteries, Joyful mysteries and Luminous mysteries. I encourage to have a look at the link below to read more about this most beautiful and important prayer.

http://www.catholicity.com/prayer/rosary.html

Class Mass Timetable – Term 4

This term we are excited to continue our class masses. We will be combining our class masses with sacred singing and over the remainder of the year and all classes will have a chance to host Mass in our beautiful church.

Below are the dates, time of mass and hosting classes, we hope to see you there.

Year Level Parish Mass

This term we invite our Prep families to join us for for 5:00pm Parish Mass on 8 October. We look forward to seeing you.

Important Dates

Please save the date for these upcoming school events.  We look forward to sharing these wonderful occasions with you.

• All Souls’ Day Mass - 2 November – 9:00am – Shed
• SVDP Christmas Appeal Launch – at whole school assembly
• Remembrance Day – Friday 10 November – 10:00am – Memorial Garden
• Volunteer Celebration – Friday 17 November
• Year 6 Graduation – Thursday 23 November
• Nativity Play – led by Prep Blue – 2:00pm – Shed
• End of Year Celebration – Friday 1 December

God bless and take care,
Rhiannon Cameron

Primary Learning Leader

Welcome to Term 4 and what a busy term it will be! It has been lovely visiting our learning spaces and already seeing some wonderful work taking place. I look forward to working with our dedicated and hardworking teachers again this term to continue supporting our students to move their learning forward.

CODE CAMP

Our after-school Code Camp program commences on Tuesday afternoon 10 October 3:05pm - 4:20pm.

Year 3-6 Students

Our Year 3-6 students will meet the Code Camp staff outside the library straight after school. They will need their iPads and if they could bring their chargers as well that would be great. To ensure chargers are not misplaced they are to stay in iPad cases and only brought out if needed. At 4:20pm students are to be collected from the MC pick up zone. This will be the only pickup spot available as it will be supervised by a member of leadership. Leadership will also take any students going to OSHC.  

Prep-Year 2 Students

Our Prep-Year 2 will meet the Code Camp staff (and myself) straight after school on the concrete area near the basketball hoops. At 4:20pm we ask parents to collect the children from the GA Sails. The main gate near the church will be open to collect your children. A member of leadership will take any P-2s going over to OSHC.

IF YOUR CHILD WILL BE ATTENDING OSHC AFTER CODE CAMP PLEASE EMAIL ME TO LET ME KNOW (ethatcher1@bne.catholic.edu.au).

Our ICAS certificates arrived this week. Students will be presented with their certificates at Assembly on Wednesday 18 October.

Sport News

Taylor McKeown will be connecting with Years 4-6 students on 10 October, as part of Olympics Unleashed.

The students will learn from Taylor McKeown's Olympic journey how to build resilience, the importance of setting goals and how to find what you are passionate about.

Students will hear firsthand from Taylor McKeown about how they overcame challenges to compete in their chosen sport at the very highest level, and how some lessons they’ve learned in sport can help students to be the best they can be – whether that’s in school, at home, on the sporting field or with friends.

From the Year 6 Stewardship Committee

In other news...

Too sick for school?

Drop off and pick up zone volunteers

We would love parent helpers in pick up zones this year. Pick up zones operate from 8:00am – 8:25am in the morning and from 2:55pm – 3:20pm in the afternoons. It's an easy 25 mins, opening car doors, helping little people in and out of cars.

If you can spare 20-30 minutes once or twice a week please email Jenny Druce at jdruce@bne.catholic.edu.au with your preferred day, time and campus.

I have had a few parents contact me about shifts and I will update the roster and publish in next Thursday's bulletin. If I have nominated you for a shift, and it’s not suitable, please let me know. 

A friendly reminder, before commencing your role as a volunteer or other personnel at our school, you are required to complete the online volunteer training. This training needs to be renewed annually and can be found here: https://www.bne.catholic.edu.au/students-parents/student-protection/Pages/Student-Protection-and-Code-of-Conduct-Training-for-Volunteers-and-Other-Personnel.aspx

You will need to download, print and complete your registration form, which is contained within your online training. Return it to the School Office prior to commencing your role.

Second-hand Uniform Shop

The second hand uniform shop is open on the first Monday of the month with the next open day on Monday 9 October. The shop will open between 7:45am and 8:20am on the GA campus.

Each item is $5. Cash only sales.

Need items outside of shop open times? Please email pwynnum@bne.catholic.edu.au with what you need and one of our amazing parent volunteers will fill this order for you.

Awards

Congratulations to the following students, who received a LIVE the GA Way Award at assembly. These students demonstrate they LIVE the GA Way in all they do and say: 

Jack W, Harrison B, Matilda M, Amelia B, Erin O, Olivia E, Isabelle B, Isabella B, Thishane M, Eugenie S, Adalyn H, Paddy O, Max L, Thomas P, Emerald C, Ava H, Joshua R, Jack H

From the Tuckshop

Tuckshop Volunteer Roster

Week 2
Wednesday 11 October - HELPER NEEDED
Thursday 12 October - HELPER NEEDED
Friday 13 October - Gabrielle Soler

Week 3 | T4
Wednesday 18 October - Kylie Culwick
Thursday 19 October - HELPER NEEDED
Friday 20 October - Karen Slater

Please contact Annalise Olm - aolm@bne.catholic.edu.au - if you are able to volunteer your time in the canteen in 2023.

Before commencing your role as a volunteer or other personnel at our school, you are required to complete the annual online volunteer training. This training needs to be renewed annually and  can be found here: https://www.bne.catholic.edu.au/students-parents/student-protection/Pages/Student-Protection-and-Code-of-Conduct-Training-for-Volunteers-and-Other-Personnel.aspx

You will need to download, print and complete your registration form, which is contained within your online training. Return it to the School Office prior to commencing your role.

From the P&F

Please join us, in person, at the P&F AGM on Tuesday 10 October.

Enrolments

At Guardian Angels' we place particular importance in acknowledging the various gifts and talents each community member is blessed with, as we strive to unite under the theme, ‘We Are One’.

Existing Guardian Angels' Families - sibling Prep 2025 enrolments

Calling all current Guardian Angels' families with sibling enrolments for Prep 2025. Please submit your applications and supporting documentation now.

Join us on our final Principal's Tour in 2023 on 24 October. 

We are currently full across all year levels and maintaining a waitlist for Prep 2024.

Applications for Prep 2025 will close 1 April 2024. We are now accepting enrolments for Prep in 2025 and 2026. For further information or interest in upcoming tours please contact Jenny Druce on 3396 4486 (ext 4) | or by email at pwynnum@bne.catholic.edu.au

From the Community

Register via this link: https://form.jotform.com/Industrie_Sport/term-4

Contact Us

Guardian Angels offers a broad-based inclusive curriculum with a range of opportunities and experiences that foster the growth of the whole student. We pride ourselves on the spirit that can be found in our students, staff and parents.

Visit us on the web at www.guardianangelswynnum.qld.edu.au

Visit us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gaswynnum 

For all enquiries please email us at pwynnum@bne.catholic.edu.au

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