Official Newsletter of Mater Dei, CamdenIssue 1 - 2011 OUR ... · she was six. Sarah has...

I s s u e 1 - 2 0 1 1Of f i c i a l N e w s l e t t e r o f M at e r De i , C a m d e n

In thisedition

OUR STUDENT LEADERS

Mater Dei changed its student leadership structure in 2011. Now we have twoSchool Captains, four Secondary House Captains (from Years 10, 11, 12) and eightPrimary House Captains (from Year 6). The new model gives more students theopportunity to develop leadership and communications skills as well as theconfidence that comes with being a role model within the school and widercommunity. The new House Captains are excited about their positions and wear their badgeswith pride. They will play a significant role in school assemblies and liturgies, HouseActivity Days, Swimming and Athletics Carnivals and community events like theMater Dei Golf Day and PEACE EGG campaign. When interviewed, Jade described her role as being, “to help and support others inmy team as well as to encourage them”. She also spoke about the importance ofnever giving up. Michael, Brad, Joseph and Dayna said it was “very important tocheer on your team at events”, Chelsea and Stefan said their role was to encourageothers and Linda said it was important to “just have fun”. All participated activelyin our first House Activity Day and our Annual Swimming Carnival held this term. Secondary House Captains are Joel Beers (Blue), Genevieve Ryan (Yellow), JakeNelson (Red) and Laura Gow (Green).Primary House Captains are Michael Backhouse and Dayna Myers (Blue), JadeDi Girolamo and Brad Coomber (Yellow), Stephan Males and Linda Obeido (Red) andJoseph Gurnett-Attard and Chelsea Morris (Green).

A Visit From His Eminence 2

Sarah’s Story 3

Golf Day’s Milestone 5

Satellite Class Camp 7

2 – MATER DEI MATTERS - ISSUE 4 2010 Mater Dei PO Box 3090 Narellan NSW 2567 Tel: (02) 4655 7481 Fax: (02) 4655 9515

Celebrating over 50 years of special education

A WORD FROM OUR CEO/PRINCIPALDear Friends,Welcome to this first edition of Mattersfor 2011. As always it has been a busystart to the year at Mater Dei. Whileour new school building moves towardscompletion, it has not been ready forthe students to occupy during termone. This has caused someinconvenience but under the leadershipof an extremely accommodating,supportive and optimistic staff, thestudents have adjusted remarkablywell to temporary classrooms.On more positive news, our new hallhas been ready to occupy and isalready proving to be a wonderfulresource for our students. We areindebted to the many friends andsupporters of Mater Dei and especiallythe Mater Dei Foundation for thequality of finish on the new hall.The news that St Benedict’s CatholicCollege would discontinue plans tobuild the new Catholic systemic highschool adjacent to our school came asa great disappointment to all in ourcommunity. We wish Principal MichaelHanratty and his community all thevery best as they look to establish theirschool in a different location and hope

that at some point in the not toodistant future we may still establish aclose relationship with St Benedict’s.Following a restructure of our LivingSkills Program and Bethany EarlyIntervention Service at the end of2010, each program has commencedthe new year with renewed vitality andpurpose. Pamela Templeton has movedfrom her previous role as AssistantPrincipal to the newly created positionof Director of Services. Pamela is nowresponsible for both the Mater DeiLiving Skills Program and the Mater DeiEarly Intervention Program. We arealso delighted to welcome SimoneRadman, Speech Pathologist, to theEarly Intervention team. Pamela’sexperience, knowledge, professionalismand personality have already made asignificant impact on each program.With the support of staff in both EarlyIntervention and Living Skills, I amoptimistic about the future of theseprograms and the quality ofopportunities we may continue to offerthe children and families who accesseach program.Sam Giles was appointed AssistantPrincipal to replace Pamela and

likewise, Sam has already made asignificant contribution to the daily lifeof our school. We also welcomed AlisonMeani as our new SecondaryCoordinator and Andre Daniels, ontwelve months secondment from theCatholic Education Office. We areextremely fortunate to have such acompetent, dedicated and caring staffwho are so well led by their respectiveProgram Managers. We look forwardto sharing the fruits of their work withthe students with those of you who areable to join us for various occasionsthroughout the year.Our annual swimming carnival atMount Annan leisure centre, the MaterDei Golf Day, distribution of PEACEEGGS and a visit to Mater Dei byCardinal Pell have been some of thehighlights of Term One at Mater Dei. Allof this of course will be trumped by ourmove into our new building at thebeginning of Term Two. I look forwardto sharing this occasion with you.

Tony Fitzgerald To view pictures of any events mentioned in this issue of Matters, visitour galleries at www.materdei.org.au

The Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, took timeout of his busy schedule on Friday April 1, to immersehimself in the life of Mater Dei. Along with Fr DanaiPenollar, he attended a Principal’s assembly, joined the stafffor morning tea and visited our beautiful Chapel andWivenhoe Historic Villa. The Cardinal then toured theclassrooms, appearing to be very at ease with the kids. “Hewas fantastic”, said Mater Dei CEO/Principal, TonyFitzgerald. “He was comfortable, which is a fairly difficultthing to do with our children because, apart from theirintellectual disability, they don’t cope with newness andstrangers well”. The guests arrived in Secondary G just as they werefinishing making pancakes. His Eminence added applesauce, cinnamon sugar and ice cream to his plate beforehelping Jared cut his pancake and chatting to the classabout their cooking lessons. The other classes were equally proud to show the Cardinaltheir work. Many understood His Eminence is an importantfigure in the Catholic Church and had been practising the

correct way to address him. There were a few smiles whenhe was sometimes referred to as “His M&M’s”.He left Mater Dei with a framed artwork from the studentsand said Mater Dei would inspire his homily, to be deliveredat St Mary’s Cathedral that afternoon. Tony invited His Eminence to return one day to visit thestudents in their new classrooms. The Cardinal promised tostay in touch.Cardinal Pell, and his predecessor, Cardinal Clancy havebeen regular and generous supporters of Mater Dei for anumber of years. We are very fortunate to have had themboth visit our school in past decade.

A VISIT FROM HIS EMINENCE

Inclusion for all

ISSUE 4 2010 - MATER DEI MATTERS – 3Email: [email protected] Website: www.materdei.org.au

SARAH’S STORY

Our beautiful 17 year old daughter, Sarah, affectionatelyknown as “Blondie” by her family and friends, does morearound the house than most girls her age, makes birthdaycards for the majority of the school and her artwork hangs inmany of the shops in our local area. She is a shining exampleof Mater Dei’s inclusion in the community philosophy. Currentlyin Year 11, she is dreaming of working in the local post officeor any job that can satisfy her love for all things paper andstationery. We’ve come so far as a family since 1994 when doctors toldus Sarah had had a stroke in utero and probably wouldn’t live.It was crushing news for Ian and I as new parents but Sarahhas prevailed. The early years were toughest. Despite Sarah’s numeroushealth issues, months in and out of hospital and appointmentswith a barrage of therapists, we did not get a diagnosis untilshe was six. Sarah has Prader-Willi Syndrome, or PWS, agenetic abnormality that affects about 1 in 15,000 people butis rarely inherited. As a baby Sarah couldn’t suck due toextremely low muscle tone and needed to be fed by gavageor special teats. She took longer to reach developmentalmilestones and her position had to be changed from sleep tosleep. PWS babies sleep a lot so we had to make sure shereceived a lot of stimulation when she was awake. We usedthe Jolly Jumper baby exerciser, baby walker, and trampolineto encourage her to take her weight through her feet. Sarahdid not walk until age two and a half.Around two years old, though Sarah’s diet remained the same,her weight started to balloon. PWS sufferers have acompulsion to eat, they do not know when they are full andhunger is painful. If they don’t restrict their diet and follow anexercise program, 95% will face life-threatening obesity.Sarah’s other symptoms include learning difficulties and poorbalance but the hardest issues for us to deal with are herdramatic mood swings and tantrums. Mater Dei has been breathtakingly successful in helping Sarahmanage these problems. She has been part of the Living SkillsProgram for the last four years where she is learning to be anindependent adult. On weekends and school holidays sheattends Illawarra Interchange where she catches up with oldprimary school friends and enjoys everything from dining inrestaurants to horse riding and going to the movies.Sarah is much loved by people in the village of Gwynnevillewhere we live and adored by her family, 14 year old sisterEmma who attends St Mary’s College Wollongong and 12 yearold brother, Thomas, who goes to St Francis Xavier’s SchoolSpecial Education unit. Tom is epileptic and displays autisticspectrum disorder. Yes, two of our three children have specialneeds and it has been an exceedingly difficult journey but weare winning against the odds.Go Blondie we are all behind you. Much love from Mum, Dad,Emma, Thomas, “Wishbone” and “Maxi”.

PEOPLE PROFILE



Rebecca GibbsPrimary Coordinator

BORN: Camden

LIVED: Bradbury, Wagga Wagga, GlenAlpine, Camden

QUALIFICATIONS: Bachelor ofEducation (Primary), Masters of Teaching(Special Ed.), Certificate of Religion

WORK HISTORY: Bossley Park PublicSchool, St Paul’s Catholic Primary SchoolCamden

WHAT I LIKE: Digital scrapbooking,photography, going to the movies,spending time with family and friends andof course shopping!!

FAVOURITE MOVIE: Willy Wonka andthe Chocolate Factory (the original one)

READING NOW: Always Looking Up, byMichael J Fox

COUNTRIES TRAVELLED: Asia, USA,Indonesia, New Zealand, Fiji

WHO WOULD BE THE FIVE PEOPLEYOU WOULD INVITE TO A DINNERPARTY?: Dr Chris O’Brien, Michael J Fox,Van Gogh, Marie Bashir and my mum (soshe can cook!!)

WHY ARE YOU INVOLVED WITHMATER DEI?: This is my fourth year atMater Dei. I have always had an interest inthe area of Special Education. Growing upmy neighbour was a young person with adisability. Being an only child, he was likethe big brother I never had. I learnt somuch from him and the people who caredfor his needs that I felt inspired to one daybe involved in special education. He mademe realise what an impact people withspecial needs can have on all our lives.

A week in the life of ourPrimary Coordinator

Primary Coordinator is one of the mostrewarding jobs I have ever experienced. Ithelps me create connections withmembers of the entire Mater Deicommunity and combines the best of twoworlds: administration and pastoral care. Mondays see me working on admin-istration and responding to incidents andemergencies as the School Executive “oncall”. There is never a dull moment and ithelps to have a sense of humour!Tuesdays I make headway on mypaperwork. I am responsible for curriculumimplementation, assessment, reportingand student welfare. I ensure ourCurriculum in K-6 complies with the Boardof Studies criteria and matches ourstudents’ needs. I am also a member ofthe Education Committee and the SchoolExecutive, the latter meeting weekly withthe Principal, Assistant Principal, ReligiousEducation Coordinator and SecondaryCoordinator (Alison Meani, pictured below)to discuss and decide on actions relatingto education and pastoral care. Organising the Inclusive SchoolingProgram, which integrates our studentswith peers from local Catholic PrimarySchools, is one of my favourite tasks. Thechildren spend an hour a fortnight incombined classes for activities like sport,art and dance. The program improves ourstudents’ social skills while the mainstreamstudents learn by experiencing childrenwith different abilities. Between Wednesday and Friday the funreally starts. I am Pastoral Teacher ofPrimary G, a job I share with ShannonStanizzo. Some of my most memorablemoments happen on Thursdays duringweekly swimming lessons when studentsparticularly enjoy seeing who can wet MrsGibbs the most! I don’t think I could evernot teach - being in the classroom “keepsit real” for me. I am looking forward to our move to thenew building. It will be fantastic to work inwonderful, new teaching and learningspaces.Since beginning my time at Mater Dei Ihave learnt very quickly that the term“I can be flexible” becomes part of everyjob you undertake.

Inclusion for all


GOLF DAYS HIT $1M MARKOur Annual Charity Golf Day on April 4,raised $62,500, bringing the total over18 years to a stunning $1m! 132players took to the green at the newvenue, Twin Creeks Golf and CountryClub. "It was the first time most peoplehad played at the club”, said long-termcommittee member and sponsor,Michael Lavorato, from theCampbelltown Catholic Club, “it was areal treat for golfers to be tested onsuch a demanding and beautifulcourse".If people return year after year it’s alsofor the laughs. Reps from CamdenPolice toured in a golf buggy with aradar gun, fining everyone $5 for“misdemeanors” like speeding, fashionfaux pas and bad shots. Their effortsalone raised $800. Later golfers andguests enjoyed a hilarious performanceby Vince Sorrenti, who with MC,auctioneer and long time Mater Deifriend Steve Edge, inspired the crowdto dig deep.The winners of the day was the teamfrom Paul Wakeling Motor Group. C91.3registered best score and newsponsors, Allianz, second best score.The Macarthur Mercedes GuessingCompetition Hole winner was Sunblestteam member, Jamie Finn. JMCAcademy team member Richard

Stomber won the “Putt Off” and scoreda plasma television donated byBlackrock Media. The Speed Hole waswon by Wakelings team memberShawn Price who clocked 249 km andpocketed a great golf bag.A major highlight of the event was thechance to win a car to the value of$25,000 or a holiday to the value of$20,000, with many remembering thatthe car was won last year!Unfortunately, neither was won thisyear. A special thanks to Harvey WorldTravel for sponsoring both our Hole inOne prize holes.Mater Dei would like to thank itsgenerous supporters andacknowledges the major sponsors:Clinton’s Toyota, Paul Wakeling MotorGroup, Macarthur Automotive and theCampbelltown Catholic Club. Proceeds from this year’s event willhelp pay for Inclusive Schooling,Community Access and WorkPlacement Programs. “These programsprovide our students withopportunities, skills and abilities to bepart of their local communities - thusreinforcing the underpinningphilosophy for everything that we do atMater Dei - inclusion for all into thewider community,” said CEO/Principal,Tony Fitzgerald.

Thank you to the following friends of Mater Dei for their support of this year’s Golf Day. MajorSponsors - Campbelltown Catholic Club, Clinton’s Toyota, Macarthur Automotive and PaulWakeling Motor Group. Sponsors - Allianz, BCP Group Services, Bradcorp, Caldwell MartinCox, Caltex Starmart Leumeah, Camden Hire, Catholic Education Office Wollongong, C91.3,E.H. Brett & Son, Esanda, Finecut Joinery, Hayters Timber & Paving, Inghams Enterprises,Ingleburn RSL Club, JMC Academy, Macarthur Financial Planning, Macarthur Nissan, MarsdensLaw Group, Max Tegel, Regans Accounting, Sunblest Cleaning, Teach’n’Play, The LogisticsDepartment, Trans-West Insurance Brokers and Tri-City Trucks Supporters - Blackrock Media,Campbelltown Golf Club, Direct Air Conditioning, Eclipse Hospitality Consulting, Esprit, Fisher &Paykel, Harvey World Travel, Mary Mackinnon, Narelle Erisir, Narellan Tool Box, NepeanEngineering, Pat Cascarino, Rydges Campbelltown, Sharonj Jewellery, Southern Tyres, StuartBuchanan, Swava Sofi of Gemelle, The Wiggles, The Witherspoon Family, Toyota Finance, TwinCreeks Golf & Country Club, Valvoline, Wollongong Golf Club, and our patrons Camden Police.Committee – Paul Wakeling, Steve Beattie, Michael Lavorato, Peter O’Brien, Neil Williamson,Debbie Gates and Lee Murphy.

Mater Dei Race Dayat Kembla Grange Saturday, July 30, 2011$120 pp or table of 10 $1,000Sponsorship packages now available Enquiries call 4655 7481 or visitwww.materdei.org.au

OUR PARTNERS IN SWP

Our partners in making a difference


MATER DEI FOUNDATION

HOLDS AGMThe AGM and a general meeting were held MondayApril 6, 2011 The following members were electedOfficers for 2012: Chairperson, Steve Beattie,Treasurer, Malcolm McKenzie and Secretary, DebbieGates. Congratulations and thank you for yoursupport.The Foundation is very grateful andencouraged in its work by recent donationsfrom: The Estate of Mary Kearney Trust $193,792and the Estate of Jean Beryl Geraldine Locke$48,036, Judith Beswick $7,000, Patricia Scott$7,000, Kevin & Joyce Lawler $1,000, Rotary Club ofCamden $1,000, Margaret Fitzgerald $1,000, TerryGallagher $1,000, Herbert Ho $500, Paul Carroll$500, Paul Grew $500, Lioness Club of Camden $400and Doreen Goodman $275.Grants to Mater Dei in 2010 totalled $60,000.$30,000 was granted toward the current schoolrebuilding program and $30,000 towards schoolscholarships, classroom technology and earlyintervention therapy. The Foundation welcomes new members:Phyllis Rixon and Martin Donnelly.The Mater Dei Foundation has been set up by theBoard of Mater Dei to help plan for and secure thefinancial future of Mater Dei so that it can continueto assist the school, living skills, work placement,inclusion, therapy and early intervention programs tooperate successfully. New members and non memberdonations are very welcome and tax deductible. Nextmeeting of the Foundation, November 9, 2011at 4.30pm. Enquires 4655 7481 or visitwww.materdei.org.au

THANKS

TO OUR

SUPPORTERS

In addition to the funds raised from our Golf Day andPEACE EGG campaign we have received a further$13,000 in donations since December 2010. Thankyou to all for your generous support of our programsand projects.Major Donations:$10,000 from CRAFT for our Structured WorkPlacement Program, and $2,592 from McDonald’s inMacarthur December Charity Fun Night, $2,148 fromMt St Benedict’s College at Pennant Hills, $1,798 fromRosebank College at Fivedock and $1,200 fromCamden Men’s Bowling Club for various schoolprograms. Our Thanks also to:Davcor Group, Good Samaritan Artist Ministry Glebe,David Owen, Samuel Galluzzo, Claire Hexton and theCentre for Volunteering, Dieter Amelung, the BrotherClarence Foundation, CDF Wollongong, Funnell’sElectrical Contractors and Camden Women’s BowlingClub for their recent donations.

Mater Dei also acknowledges the support of DEEWR– Federal Department of Education, Employment andWorkplace Relations in respect of the GeneralRecurrent Grant and Chaplaincy Grant, the NSWDepartment of Education and Training and theDepartment of Ageing, Disability and Home Care.

We acknowledge and thank the following businesses and individuals for their support of our Structured Work PlacementProgram and our senior students during Term 1, 2011; AFFORD Ingleburn, Butterfies@Camden, Camden Council,Camden Hire, Camden Library, Carrington Care, Coles Camden, Go Lo Narellan, Lowes Narellan, Macarthur Work PlaceLearning, Marsdens Campbelltown, Meals –On-Wheels, Pizza Hut Camden and Russell Matheson MP.


Inclusion for all

The first game was when we had togo and find stuff that was in the bushbut our group cheated a little. Wewent into Laura’s tent and goteverything that was on the sheet inher tent instead of searching for it!After the games we had dinner. Kateand I had noodles and my one had ahole in the container and all waterwas pouring out of it. LOL. After

dinner we played more initiativegames then we sat up and talkedwith everyone before going back toour tent. Kate and I stayed up in bedand ate chips and lollies and we hada party in out tent listening to music.The weather was overcast and theroof fell off Joseph and John’s tentand Kate and I got thegiggles……Dee

We went surfing and the water wasfreezing!….KateWe had to do some games with Chrisour leader. We did activities using acompass, and had to climb over avery tall tree branch but no one butChris could do it. Mrs Patrick let Chrisclimb on her back. We also had topretend Laura was bitten by a snakeand make a rescue camp….Joseph

SATELLITE CLASS CAMP

In March our Satellite Class went to camp at Killalea National Park, Shellharbour with the students from the Year 11John Therry Catholic High School as part of their PD/H/PE course, ‘Outdoor Recreation’. Students had to bring ALLtheir own equipment i.e. tent, sleeping gear, food, torch etc. They had to set up own tent and cook their own food.Activities included two surfing lessons, canoeing, snorkeling, bush walking, an ‘Amazing Race’ type activity and ofcourse, star gazing! We asked students for some feedback....

■ I wish to give ongoing support. Please charge $ monthly to my credit card above until I advise otherwise.

■ Please send me more information about:■ Becoming a member of the Mater Dei Foundation■ Joining Mater Dei’s Workplace Giving Program■ Becoming a supporter of Mater Dei’s Scholarship Program■ Remembering the children of Mater Dei in my Will.

■ I wish to make a tax deductible donation of $ ■ I enclose my cheque/money order or■ Please charge my: ■ Mastercard ■ Visa ■ AMEX

■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■Expiry / Signature

I WOULD LIKE TO SUPPORT MATER DEI’S CHILDREN!

Mr/Mrs/Ms/

If you would like to make a donation to Mater Dei please complete this coupon and return it to: Mater Dei PO Box 3090 Narellan NSW 2567

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Lunchtime has got more interesting for Mater Dei students fromYear 5 to Year 12. A new initiative called “Secondary PlaygroundGroups” is offering activities like bike riding, dance and soccerwith the latter attracting 25 players at a time. Teacher, GayleRoberts, says competition is rife and enthusiasm high as thegirls battle the boys for supremacy on the field. “Sport is notmale dominated at Mater Dei. The girls are equal participants… often it’s the girls who win!”A long queue also forms each day for dance. The club runs likea disco with most sessions based around free expression.

Sometimes students learn specific steps or synchronise theirmoves in a line dance like the “Macarena” or the “Time Warp”.

Teachers are considering expanding the list of lunchtime optionsto include meditation, gym, library and board games.Computers, drama and gardening could also be added to thelist… we could even have an archaeological “dig” to cater toour students’ high interest in dinosaurs, rocks and fossils! So farthe program has resulted in more student interaction and fewerbehavioral incidents due to boredom.

Thank you!

EGGCELLENT CAMPAIGN!Mater Dei PEACE EGGS are being eaten from Nowra to Manly andWollongong to Glebe, after a campaign that raised nearly $17,000 for theschool’s Community Participation Programs. The eggs were lovinglyrepackaged by a group of mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts, teachers’parents and members of the Ingleburn, Camden and Liverpool Quota clubs.The whole exercise took 10 days. “A lot of lasting friendships come out of thePEACE EGG process”, said Anne Adam, a mum, who has been helping organize the fundraiser for the last seven years.“It is a very happy place, you just have to watch out not to eat too many broken eggs!” We would like to acknowledge Anne and our other volunteer coordinators, Di Beers, Tanya Leadbeater and Neris Taylor.Thanks also to our volunteer drivers and the following businesses and schools: Darrell Lea Chocolate Shops, Tony Wolfand Son Qualitiy Printers, Narellan Town Centre, Macarthur Square, and the students from St Clare’s Primary SchoolNarellan, Magdalene Catholic High School Narellan and Mt Carmel Catholic High School Varroville.The PEACE EGG campaign has been running for 12 years and has so far raised $182,000.

Playground FunPlayground Fun

Official Newsletter of Mater Dei, CamdenIssue 1 - 2011 OUR ... · she was six. Sarah has...

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