3 August 2017

Newsletter Articles

Important Dates

Gilroy on the Go

School Fees

School fees have been emailed out; if you have not received yours yet, please contact Roslyn Giuliano at the office.

Gilroy on Show

Mulkadee

With a busy start to the second half of the year, students interested in the arts had the opportunity to be involved in biggest arts week on the Townsville Catholic Diocese School calendar, Mulkadee. Travelling to Townsville each day with students from Our Lady of Lourdes and St Peters Primary School. This year 21 students represented Gilroy Santa Maria College in a number of different workshops ranging from Choral, Dance and Drama. All students knew that the days would be long though their passion for the event out weighted the cold early starts and last arrivals home.

This year the Drama students were involved once again in workshops that were run by the fantastic NIDA team. These instructors were just as excited as the students to get started Monday morning and by the end of the week they were very impressed with the standard of each of the performances and how much the students grew within the week. I hope all of these students return again next year. The performances were all inspired by Neverland, which linked to the dances that the Sydney Dance Crew created.

Many of the students that were representing the student for Dance had attended the weeklong event in the past and knew the dedication that was required to reach the high standard that the Sydney Dance Crew expected by the concert on the Friday. These students worked very hard each day, which was evident on the bus ride home. All their effects paid off Friday night when the audience first witnessed their talents.

The audience were also captivated by the 500+ strong choir that sung eight songs in total during the concert, including one in Italian.

It was great to see that all students that attended Mulkadee this year understanding the great opportunity that they had been given to work with such great professionals so high up in their fields. Congratulations to all the students that were a part of the concert on the Friday night. I am already looking forward to the 2018 event and I hope to see even more students attending in 2018 and taking up these great opportunities to extend upon their passions in The Arts.

Linley Cerqui

Earn & Learn

This year we will be participating in the Woolworths Earn & Learn program. Through this program we will be able to get new educational resources for our school/early learning centre – and all we need you to do is shop for your groceries at Woolworths.

From Wednesday 26th July to Tuesday 19th September or while stock lasts, we are collecting Woolworths Earn & Learn Stickers. You will get one Woolworths Earn & Learn Sticker for every $10 spent (excluding liquor, tobacco and gift cards). Place the Woolworths Earn & Learn Sticker onto a Woolworths Earn & Learn Sticker Sheet and when it’s complete, the Sticker Sheet can be dropped into the Collection Box here at the school or at your local Woolworths.

At the end of the promotion, we’ll be able to get some great new equipment. The range is extensive and offers lots of items ideal for our students – including resources for Maths, English, Science and some fantastic fun supplies for Arts & Craft, Sport and for our library. If you’d like to know more visit:

Combined School Ball

Lost Property at Student Reception

The Lost Property basket is overflowing with unnamed hats, jumpers, lunchboxes and shoes. Please have your children check the lost property in Student Reception. This basket will be cleaned out and sent to St Vincent De Paul in the next few weeks.

From the Principal

Last Wednesday’s Combined Hinchinbrook Schools Mass was a wonderful event to locally celebrate Catholic Education Week. Held in the Menegon Centre, at Our Lady of Lourdes, the Mass was the first time all students from the five Catholic schools and centres in the district had attended this Mass. With staff, families and parishioners also attending there were approximately 900 people at the Mass, demonstrating the huge footprint that our Catholic schools have in our community. The Mass itself was beautiful with tremendous energy and spirit in the responses and singing. Fr Damian was our celebrant and reminded us that we are on a continuous journey towards God, linking his sermon to the theme of Catholic Education Week this year being “Sharing the Journey”. Thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of the Mass. Special thanks to Mrs Paula Martin and the Lourdes staff for hosting the Mass.

Over the past year our school has been trialling a new student management system for the Townsville Diocese called ‘Compass’. Part of the Compass system is a Parent Portal.

This Parent Portal will allow our families to:

• enter details of upcoming absences or explain past absences or late arrivals
• access previous Semester Reports on file
• update your email and mobile phone number
• receive alerts and news from our school
• view your child’s timetable and the school calendar
• plus many other features we are exploring

In the next few days each parent in our school community will receive a letter in the mail providing you with access to the Compass Parent Portal. It is Important to keep your details secure as this will be a method you can use to advise the office of your child’s absence via an ‘Approval’.

Apart from login details there will be an information sheet included in the letter sent home. We are also planning a parent information session to assist parents in the use and capabilities of “Compass”. As mentioned previously, we have been part of a trial process and there be will no doubt “teething” problems when we go live to parents and students, therefore your patience and understanding will be very much appreciated. We believe in the long term it will be a great tool to enhance home and school communication.

This Friday we conduct our Interhouse Athletics Carnival. It promises to be a great day and an important community building event. The day is planned to encourage maximum participation and the success of this carnival greatly relies on the spirit and attendance of our students. Our student attendance to such events is steadily improving and I hope parents continue to realise the importance of their child being part of all facets school life.

Next week we will host our Gilroy on Show Open Night. A great deal of effort has been made by all our staff to ensure its success. I’m confident we will present ourselves very positively to our local community and be impressed with the facilities and programs we offer here at Gilroy. Thanks also, to the many students who will be assisting on the night in various roles. All these students are terrific ambassadors for our college and play a huge role in the success of the evening. While the target audience for Gilroy on Show is new families all members of our community are welcome to attend. There is dinner supplied so please gather your family and drop in for an hour or two next Thursday evening between 3:30pm and 6:30pm.

God Bless
John Nuttall
Principal

From the Assistant Principal
(Religious Education)

Last week we celebrated Catholic Education Week. This began in Townsville at Sacred Heart Cathedral celebrating Mass with schools and representatives from Catholic Schools around the diocese. During the Mass, Bishop Tim and Cathy Day presented the Deus Caritas Est Award to a student from every high school in the diocese. Congratulations to Jessica Timms for receiving this award for her dedication and commitment to the Catholic spirit of our school and the parish.

Our own Hinchinbrook Combined Catholic Schools Mass was also a special celebration seeing every student from across all four schools plus kindy kids from Mary McKillop Early Learning coming together at the Menegon Centre. This was a huge undertaking by each of the schools; however, very worthwhile. The students were exceptional. A big thank you to Ashley Connellan and Paula Martin for their roles in organising such a wonderful event.

In last week’s Gospel Jesus teaches about the kingdom of heaven. Like the person who finds a buried treasure or the merchant who finds the perfect pearl, we too, are always looking for signs of heaven in our daily lives. Let us pray this week that we might find heaven in the good actions of others and they, in turn, will find heaven in us.

God Bless
Christine Timms

From the Assistant Principal
(Administration & Curriculum)

Hello Parents and Students,

As we approach the half way mark for Term 3, I trust that students are busily underway completing assessment tasks and preparations for exams. Term 3 is a busy and exciting term. In week 2, following our ‘activities week’, we had students attend Mulkadee in Townsville. As always, this was a very successful week as the students thoroughly enjoyed themselves. In the coming weeks, we will soon receive the Yrs 7 and 9 NAPLAN results as well as results from the practice QCS test that Yr 12 students completed in the first week back this term.

Nancy Douglas, the Careers Advisor, and I are currently undertaking OP interviews with Yr 12 students. These meetings have been very beneficial with discussions about their subject results, strengths and weaknesses and preparations for next year in terms of further study. We have a variety of students undertaking many different pathway options both close to home and away. It is a daunting but exciting time for these students so we aim to help prepare them for this next step in their lives as much as possible. It has been excellent to have so many parents attend these meetings also. Students are now very much in the middle of completing their QTAC applications. Nancy Douglas will be in the Function Room every day this week and next week to assist any students who would like it to complete their QTAC/UAC applications. In the next couple of weeks, we will be undertaking the Yr 11 OP Predictions. Letters will be sent home shortly to organise meetings times.

Next Thursday, 10 August, we have our ‘Gilroy on Show’ Open Evening. This Open Day is not only for new families but also our current students, parents and wider community. This is an excellent opportunity for everyone to meet and talk to our teachers, visit our facilities and enjoy a pig on the spit cooked by our Senior Hospitality Students and teacher, Mr Matthew Schrodter. We hope to see many new and familiar faces at this event.

We also have our final Yr 6 Transition morning on Thursday 17 August. It is always great to see Yr 6 students visiting our school and enjoying the programs they experience.

Preparations are definitely underway for 2018 planning. We have changes coming through with the New Senior Curriculum beginning with our current Yr 9 cohort. There will be more information forthcoming in the next few weeks with regards to information nights and subject selections for 2018.

I hope to see everyone at our Interhouse Athletics Carnival this Wednesday afternoon and Friday (all day). As always, I’m sure it will be a great day with plenty of activities and events.

God Bless
Melissa Carr

From the Assistant Principal
(Pastoral Care)

This week will see the staging of the Annual Interhouse Athletics Carnival. In recent years, the timing of this event has changed from the end of term two, in order to promote participation and to ensure that we are well and truly in Athletics mode when the interschool carnival is being staged. Ian Schifilliti and other PE staff have worked tirelessly in running pre-events at lunch times as well as during junior HPE lessons and should be commended for their efforts. The athletes themselves have worked very hard on their events and some quality times and distances have been recorded. I would encourage all students to be a part of this day, as it not only promotes a healthy lifestyle, but also contributes to the social aspects of school and life in general. I also ask that parents do not allow their child to take the easy option and find an excuse to stay at home, for it is often the things that we push ourselves to do that we gain the most benefit from. If you are having difficulties in convincing your child to be a part of the Athletics day, please let me know and I am sure that I can convince them otherwise. Even if they can’t compete, I am keen to find a couple of photographers for the day as well as people to do GTV reports.

Next Monday during the Period 6 Whole School Assembly, all students will be very fortunate to have the opportunity to listen to Cyber Safety expert and fellow parent, Mr Brett Lee. Brett has an extensive background in the dangers associated with improper internet usage, having served on the Queensland Police Force for many years where he was a key member of the Child Safety Internet Taskforce. His interactions with the FBI and Homeland Security in the United States, as well as his personal stories and experiences are riveting and provide important messages that no student should miss. Following on from this, Parents are invited to attend a parent information session to be held from 5:00pm to 6:00pm in the Function Room. The chance to hear Brett’s message is a rare opportunity and I would very much encourage any parent whose child has a mobile phone or other Internet enabled device to attend this session. Please contact the College to advise your attendance, or alternatively, just turn up on the evening.

Blessings
Peter Groundwater

2017 ATHLETICS PROGRAM

Wednesday 2 August and Friday 4 August

Careers

Australian Jobs 2017

The Australian Jobs 2017 Report presents an overview of the Australian labour market, and the complete 48 page report is available in PDF format via the Department of Employment website:

Limited print copies of the Australian Jobs 2017 booklet are available from the College. Please contact the College office if you would like a copy sent home with your student.

JCU Open Day

Explore your Future with JCU at our Open days!
Townsville Douglas Campus Sunday 13 August
Cairns Smithfield Campus Sunday 20 August

GSM Cup

Academic Support

Indigenous Homework Support

Tuckshop News

VOLUNTEERS ARE ALWAYS NEEDED!!

Tuckshop Volunteers are only needed to work from 8:30am to 11:40am.

Tuckshop Roster 2017

Please note: The lunch times are as follows:

1st Lunch – 11:15am – 11:40am
2nd Lunch – 1:20pm finish 2:05pm

If there is any query in regards to this roster or you are unavailable, please contact Sandra Benedetto Home [4776 5321] Jodie Lino Home [4776 5718]

What’s Happening in the Parish

St Patrick’s Women’s Group “Welcome to Spring” Afternoon Tea

Date: Sunday, 27 August @ 2:00pm in Mercy Hall. Tickets will be on sale from Tuesday, August 1 at the Parish Office. If any Parishioners are able to donate prizes to be used in the Cent Sale, please have these prizes into Parish Office by Tuesday, 15 August. Also, if you are able to bake/make food for the Afternoon Tea, please let Jeanette know on 0447720740 or a.c.glas@bigpond.net.au

Upcoming Events

• First Holy Communion—Ingham 26 & 27 August; Halifax 2 September; Canossa 3 September
• Women’s Group Spring Afternoon Tea—27 August

Father Damian McGrath
Parish Priest
Ingham Region Catholic Parishes

District News

Advertising with Schoolzine

Would you like to advertise in our new Schoolzine eNewsletter? Currently, Schoolzine is working diligently to source family friendly advertising sponsors and will then rebate quarterly 20% of revenue back to the school.

If you are interested in advertising either contact the school office or feel free to email Schoolzine any questions, suggestions or advertising enquiries.

Email: advertising@schoolzine.com.au
Phone: 07 5414 2361