Holy Family Newsletter (Week 10 Term 3, 2024)

Messages from the Principal

Acknowledgement of Country

As we gather on this sacred land, let us acknowledge that we are standing on Bundjalung country, for which the members and elders of the local Indigenous community and their forbearers have been custodians for thousands of years, on which they have performed age old ceremonies, celebrations, initiations and renewals. We acknowledge their living culture and unique role in the life of this beautiful country.

As Term Three comes to a close, Holy Family School reflects on a term filled with enriching events, learning opportunities, and moments of community connection. This term has been particularly vibrant, with several successful events that will be fondly remembered.

Inaugural Mum’s Movie Night

This term marked the debut of the Mum’s Movie Night, a special evening designed to bring together the amazing mums of our school community. The school oval was transformed into a cinema. It was a night of bonding, laughter, and appreciation, making it a new tradition at Holy Family School. The event’s success is sure to carry it into future school calendars.

A special thank you to our key organisers, Katie Rich, Emma McFadden, and Annette Crawford, for your incredible efforts in planning and executing such a memorable evening. Your meticulous attention to detail and unwavering commitment made all the difference.

Additionally, a huge thank you to Jake Hoey, Abe Crawford and Mason Hilyard for the marvellous job in coordinating the lights. The atmosphere you created was truly magical and greatly enhanced the overall experience.

We are also deeply grateful to Adam Sullivan and Kylie Hyde for coordinating the beautiful prayer and reflection. Your thoughtful contributions added a meaningful and touching element to the night.

Thank you to all the Staff once again for your remarkable contributions and for making the inaugural Mums' Movie Night an event to remember.

Public Speaking Showcase and Competition

Students from across the school showcased their growing communication skills in the Public Speaking Showcase and Competition. Covering a wide variety of topics, the speeches delivered by our students were both insightful and engaging. This event not only developed their public speaking confidence but also encouraged critical thinking and articulate expression. Congratulations to all who participated! A huge thank you to Adam Sullivan, Annette Crawford, Katie Rich and Emma McFadden for all their work in providing this great opportunity for our students.

 R U OK? Day

R U OK? Day brought the school together to focus on mental wellbeing. The day was filled with activities promoting open conversations about mental health and checking in with others. Students participated in workshops and discussions that fostered empathy, kindness, and emotional awareness. It was an impactful day, emphasising the importance of community support and connection. Special thank you to Kylie Hyde, Annette Crawford, Katie Rich and Janine Hanlon for coordinating and providing a variety of activities, treats and resources for the day.

Year Two Excursion to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

The Year Two students had an unforgettable day at the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, where they immersed themselves in learning about Australia’s incredible wildlife. From hand-feeding kangaroos to observing native birds, the excursion gave the children a hands-on approach to understanding animal conservation. Their excitement was palpable as they returned with stories and experiences that enhanced their appreciation for nature.  A very special thank you to Jason Campbell, Kelly Farr, Adam Sullivan, Brendan Coyle, Janine Hanlon, Hermien Mellick, and Jake Hoey for accompanying the students and making sure that they had a memorable day.

 Year Five Camp to Gold Coast Recreation Precinct, Tallebudgera

Year Five students took part in a thrilling adventure at the Gold Coast Recreation Precinct in Tallebudgera, which I was able to attend.  It was a great opportunity for me to interact with our wonderful Year Five students. The camp offered an array of outdoor activities, including raft building, high ropes, and beach games, promoting resilience, teamwork, and confidence. The three-day experience allowed students to bond while challenging themselves physically and mentally. A huge thank you to the amazing staff that ensured the students had a marvellous time. Well done, Jenny Melville, Amie Clarke, Ruth Hillier, Brendan Coyle and Mason Hilyard. This camp has been a highlight of the term and one that will surely be remembered for years to come.

 James and the Giant Peach –Years Three and Four

A big congratulations to the students in Years Three and Four for their enthusiasm and outstanding behaviour during the viewing of James and the Giant Peach. Your engagement truly brought the story to life, and we couldn't be prouder of how well you represented our school. A heartfelt thank you goes to the dedicated staff, Angela Kirk, James Bleakley, Margie Kelly, Donna Clark, Mason Hilyard, Jake Hoey and Lara Crawford (casual), who accompanied the students and ensured the day ran smoothly.

 ‘Unplugged’ Guitar Playing and Singing Evening

This term’s ‘Unplugged’ Guitar Playing and Singing Evening was a magical night showcasing the musical talents of our students. It was an intimate, relaxed event where students performed acoustic guitar and vocal pieces, unplugged from electronics, and fully immersed in the raw beauty of music. The evening provided a fantastic platform for students to express themselves creatively and connect through music. Adam Sullivan is to be applauded for teaching the primary students the skill of playing the guitar. In addition, Kassie McCarthy is to be commended on her outstanding coordination of the Year 6 percussion performance. 

 Young Designer Award and Rollercoaster Design Sponsored by Rapid Media

Our budding creators had the opportunity to compete in the Young Designer Award, where students displayed innovative projects, including a special Rollercoaster Design Competition generously sponsored by Rapid Media (Vaughan & Katrina O’Connor). The rollercoaster design segment was a favourite, with students combining creativity and engineering skills to develop models that demonstrated both artistic vision and technical understanding. The sponsorship from Rapid Media was instrumental in encouraging students to think outside the box, and the designs were nothing short of impressive. Adam Sullivan, Katie Rich, Emma McFadden and Annette Crawford are to be commended for all their work in making this event a success for our students.

DIGITAL CHILD SAFETY HANDBOOK            

We are pleased to advise that a new edition of this valuable safety resource is now available online with updated safety content.

We urge all parents and carers to download this latest edition and discuss the safety content with your children.

Term Three has been a term of growth, collaboration, and creativity at Holy Family School. From the successful inaugural Mum’s Movie Night to the rollercoaster designs of our Young Designer Award, the students have thrived in both personal development and community spirit. We are grateful for the continued support of our families, staff, and sponsors, making these memorable experiences possible.

We wish everyone a restful break and look forward to another exciting term ahead.

God Bless,

Murray

Principal

Faith and Mission

Grandparent’s Day Celebrations - SAVE THE DATE

On Thursday 24th of October we will celebrate Grandparent’s Day.  Students will be inviting their grandparents to come into the school at 1:30pm to enjoy an afternoon tea, spend some time in classrooms teaching the children about the ‘Good Old Days’ and being special visitors at our school assembly. 

Mum’s Movie Night and Father’s Day Afternoon Fun

Our Holy Family community celebrated our mothers and fathers recently with the children engaging in fun activities with their parents and parent figures.  A prayer celebration began each of these events and reminded us of the blessing of our mums and dads.  We gave thanks for their unwavering love and guidance.  It was wonderful to see so many children sitting on picnic rugs enjoying a movie with their mums and kids competing against their dads in a game of ‘Dungeons and Dragons’.

Learning and Teaching

Kindergarten Orientation for 2025 Students

We are pleased to inform 2025 Kindergarten parents that there will be four orientation days for 2025 Kindergarten students: 

Thursday, 31st October

Friday, 1st November

Monday. 4th November

Tuesday, 5th November 

Students are expected to attend all four orientation days to allow them to meet each of the 2025 Kindergarten teachers.

Please RSVP your child’s attendance at orientation, using the link below by Friday, 11th October 2024.

Richmond Zone Public Speaking

Congratulations to the students who represented Holy Family at the Richmond Zone Public Speaking Competition. Students placed first in the Kindergarten and Year 1 division, while another student placed second in the Stage 3 division.

2025 Term Dates

Term 1 - Best Start (Kindergarten only) and Mathematical Assessment Interviews (K-6): 

Kindergarten: Friday, 31 January-Friday 7 February 

Years 1-6: Friday 31 January - Wednesday 5 February 

Term 1 Starting Dates:

Kindergarten: Monday 10 February 

Year 1-6: Thursday 6 February

School holidays - Monday 14 April - Friday 26 April

Term 2 - Monday 28 April - Friday 4 July

School holidays - Monday 7 July - Friday 18 July

Term 3 - Monday 21 July - Friday 26 September

School holidays - Monday 29 September - Friday 10 October

Term 4 - Monday 13 October - Wednesday 17 December

Our whole school professional learning days (student free days) are yet to be confirmed. 

2025 NAPLAN Dates (Years 3 & 5)

2025 NAPLAN- Wednesday March 12-Friday March 14, 2025.

Sport

Intersport Ballina Sporting Excellence & Sportsmanship Award - Term 2

Congratulations Asher, who was the worthy recipient of the Intersport Ballina Sporting Excellence & Sportsmanship Award for Term 2 for his awesome efforts in making it to NSW PSSA Cross Country and for breaking four records at our school Athletics Carnival. Importantly he does all this quietly and with a smile on his face. Well done!

Netball NSW Cup

Well done to Holy Family 1 who won their local competition round of the Netball NSW Cup at Lismore during Week 6. Holy Family 2 also had a great day and faced Holy Family 1 in the final. Holy Family 1 then qualified for the Netball NSW Cup FNC Finals in Lismore during Week 7. Holy Family 1 participated in the FNC Finals in Lismore. The team played games against Bogangar Public, St Francis, South Grafton Public, St Joseph’s Maclean and St James’ Yamba winning 2 games throughout the day. Thank you to Miss Clarke for coaching the team and Shataya for umpiring.

Richmond Zone Netball Gala Day

Congratulations to our Year 5-6 school netball team who won the Richmond Zone Netball Gala Day at the Lismore Netball Courts. The girls defeated St Carthage’s in the final 19-1. The team will now compete at the Lismore Diocesan Finals in Week 10 against the winners of the Tweed, Clarence and Hastings Zones.

Richmond Zone Soccer Gala Day

Our Year 5-6 school soccer team finished 3rd at the Richmond Zone Soccer Gala Day in Lismore. The team started the day with a 4-1 loss to eventual champions St Francis Xavier Ballina. They then beat St Brigid’s Kyogle and St Joseph’s Woodburn. They finished the day with a win in the 3rd place playoff match against OLHC South Lismore.

Todd Woodbridge Cup - Year 3 & 4

Two teams of students travelled to Murwillumbah to compete at the Todd Woodbridge Cup for Year 3 & 4. The teams played very well during the day, finishing 2nd & 3rd respectively. Holy Family Green will progress to the FNC Finals in Byron Bay in Term 4, Week 1. Thank you to Miss Kirk, Jake Hoey & Shataya King for coaching the teams.

Polding Athletics 

Congratulations to the following students who participated at the Polding Athletics Carnival in Newcastle on Friday 13th September. Five students finished top 3 in their event/s and have qualified to compete at the NSW PSSA Athletics Carnival at Sydney Olympic Park Athletics Centre on Wednesday 23rd & Thursday 24th October. Well done everyone! 

1st Place Finishers

Asher - 10 yrs Boys 100m, 200m & 800m

2nd Place Finishers

Amy - 12 yrs Girls 1500m

3rd Place Finishers

Miliani - 11 yrs Girls 100m & 200m

Amy 12 yrs Girls 800m

Hendrix - 13 yrs Boys 100m

Riley - 11-13 yrs Boys 100m & Long Jump (MC)

Other Results

Frankie - 10 yrs Girls 800m - 8th & 1500m - 12th 

Harriette - 9 yrs Girls 100m - 16th

Todd Woodbridge Cup - Year 6  

One mixed team from Year 6 competed at the Todd Woodbridge Cup for Stage 3 at the Murwillumbah Tennis Club on Tuesday 17 September. The team played some wonderful tennis and displayed excellent sportsmanship throughout the day. The team finished the day in top spot and will now participate at the State Finals at Sydney’s Parramatta City Tennis Centre on Monday 18th November. Well done to Amelia, Miliani, Ayla, Bella, Harry, James, Harvey and Tyler. Thank you to Ms Kirk and Jake for coaching the team.

Year 6 Girls Soccer

Our Year 6 Girls played a friendly soccer match against St Francis Xavier Ballina at Skennars Head Soccer Fields on Wednesday 18th September. The girls played very well during the match and displayed excellent teamwork and passing skills. The game finished 1-1. Well done girls!

School Events

Young Designers Award

Our Young Designers Award was a great success with over 30 students participating in this years Roller Coaster Tower Challenge.

Our judges had a very difficult job picking our winners and were very impressed with the level of creativity and engineering skills amongst the contestants.

Thank you to all the students who participated and thank you to their families for supporting them in this rewarding challenge.

The Winners Are:-

Year Level Winners:-  Logan from Kindy, Patrick from Yr One, Morgan from Yr 2, Lily from Yr 3, Anna from Yr 4 and Lucas from Yr 6.

Overall Competition Winner:- Zander from Year 5.

Chess

Big congratulations to the 17 students who represented Holy Family at the Gardiner Interschool Chess Tournament at Alstonville Public School on September 11. As always, the girls and boys played every game in the right spirit, win or lose. A special mention to the team of Jaxson, Oliver, Leo and Darcy  These boys were placed in the A Grade competition as there were so few high school students at the tournament due to exams. As a consequence, these boys played against Xavier College students so winning was always going to be a challenge. They still won a few games, gave their all and learned some strategies along the way. Well done boys! 

Congratulations also go to Angus, Louis, Christian and Jack for winning the B Grade teams competition. Angus also won the individual medal - a super effort. 

Merit ribbons for winning a minimum of 5 ½ games were also won by Thomas, Jack, Max (first tournament!), Louis and Christian - fantastic.

A huge pat on the back to Oscar, Colbie, Morgan, Hugo, Camille, Harriette and Eli for their efforts. This was only the first or second tournament for these children. Once again, good on you for trying something challenging and having lots of fun at the same time.

There will be another tournament in Term 4. Stay tuned and keep playing!

School Garden

"Our vegetable garden has now been planted out with some delicious healthy foods such as cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, silverbeet, basil and beans. We will also be planting some marigolds to encourage our most needed friends🐝, bees . Did you know you can eat marigolds?"🌻

Mrs. Melville, Ruth and Year 5 Green

Canteen Corner

It's been another busy term in the canteen, serving delicious healthy meals to our students, thank you to all the parent helpers who have been lending a hand this term, without you, we would not be able to do it. 

On the 6th of September, we had our Term 3 Meal Deal and served over 220 lunch orders. Thanks to Aggie Kandros, Jess Maginnity, and Narelle Davidson for helping. Our students are loving these special Meal Deal days. Keep an eye out for our next Meal Deal day in Term 4. 

Please contact the canteen for any questions you might have. If you would like to help in our canteen, please head to the canteen tab on our school website and fill in the forms, you will need to have your Working with Children Number handy.

Student Awards

Literacy & Numeracy Award

Congratulations to Thomas in 1 Blue, the recipient of the Literacy and Numeracy award for the month of August.

Thomas is a quiet and conscientious student who has thrived in our Year One learning environment. He is self motivated and gives his best effort to all tasks. He has the confidence to ask for help when required. He embraces errors and listens carefully to feedback in order to apply this to his next attempts. 

He is thoughtful about his contributions to class discussions which is reflected in his written responses. Thomas is a fluent reader and has enjoyed the challenges associated with reading picture book literature that requires higher order comprehension skills and word meaning. 

Thomas enthusiastically participates in Mathematics and is highly motivated to apply strategies learned to more complex tasks.

Thomas displays the attributes of a lifelong learner.

Congratulations Thomas.     

August Winner - Principal’s Award

Millie from K Red

The worthy recipient of the Southern Cross Credit Union Principal’s Award for August is Millie from K Red.

Millie is a student who has a genuine love of learning. She has a truly caring nature which is always on display, and she is reliable and responsible.  Millie is hard-working and genuine. She greets her friends and teachers each morning with a smile. 

 Millie is a role model for others and her positive attitude is a real asset for our school.  She is a helpful and dependable student and is a good friend to others. Millie works cooperatively with her classmates, listens to their ideas and contributes her own. She can problem-solve when difficulties arise and offer solutions to bring a positive outcome to any situation, whether during group work or play. 

Millie makes everyone feel included and shows outstanding Christian Values. She cares and can empathise with others. 

 Congratulations Millie.

Reminders

Community Events and Notices