P.O. Box 7, Cowra 2794 Email: straphaels@bth.catholic.edu.au Tel: 6342.2940 School Website: www.straphaelscowra.catholic.edu.au

Dear Parents In many ways we are all ambassadors. We have all been authorised to be representatives of various groups, organisations and events. We are ambassadors of sporting teams, clubs, St Raphael's, classes, work places, family groups, church communities, Cowra and of course Christ. As ambassadors or representatives of these groups we uphold various responsibilities. All students that attend St Raphael's Catholic School are ambassadors of St Raphael's. Each student has been authorised to represent the school. With this authorisation comes certain responsibilities. Students of St Raphael's are expected to behave in appropriate ways, make sensible decisions about their learning and become responsible citizens. Students of St Raphael's should be commended for their dedication in representing their school with pride. This weekend we witnessed approximately 65 students and many staff members represent the school by marching in the Festival of International Understanding Parade. In addition to this, there were many students that represented other community organisations. I would also like to acknowledge the Festival Ambassadors for their achievements. Congratulations to the St Raphael's Catholic School Choir for the quality performance on Friday night at the Peace Bell and on Saturday at Brougham Park. It is always impressive to listen to choirs that have made such an effort to learn a particular song. It isn't an easy task to learn multiple verses in another language. Thank you to Mrs Swansborough for all of the work that you do in providing this opportunity to students. This week we celebrate Catholic Schools Week. We pause to reflect on what makes St Raphael's Catholic School such a great place to send your children to be educated and the opportunities that your children have access to. It is clear that there are so many beautiful elements that combine to make this school so unique. A place where your children come to be educated; intellectually, physically, socially, emotionally and spiritually. The staff of St Raphael's are caring, dedicated, professional, generous, loving, encouraging and inspiring. These values enhance the learning that your children experience by being a part of this wonderful community.

Finally, I ask the St Raphael's Community to offer their thoughts and prayers to one of our newest families. On Thursday night Sian and Brad Tangye, parents of Aneira (Kindy Green) returned home to find their house ablaze. We offer our support to Sian, Brad and Aneira as they endeavour to recover and move forward from this tragedy. In time to come, and in consultation with the family, St Raphael's will have the opportunity to come together and offer assistance to the family. Have a fantastic week. Andrew Casey Acting Principal

Lent 1

Catholic Schools Week Prayer

Almighty God, You sent the Holy Spirit

So that we might know and love Jesus, the Word made flesh;

to know and love Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Renew the passion of all in Catholic schools To nurture the seeds of your love,

planted in our hearts, And bear fruit that will nourish a world

hungry for your love. We ask this through Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

Catholic Schools Week Educating for today and tomorrow

St Raphael’s Catholic School

Term 1, Week 7/A Newsletter

9 March 2015 bathurstcatholicyouth.org

P.O. Box 7, Cowra 2794 Email: straphaels@bth.catholic.edu.au Tel: 6342.2940 School Website: www.straphaelscowra.catholic.edu.au

Monday 9 Happy birthday to Billy Brown and Carly McIntyre.

Tuesday 10

Wednesday 11

Happy birthday to Eoghan Killick and Charlee Pollard.

Thursday 12 Happy birthday to Jack Harper. NSW Rugby Union Gala Day.

Friday 13

Happy birthday to Zac Healey, Will Thompson and Emma Wilkinson. Heritage Day Fair

Happy birthday to Harrison Carmen and Lachlan

Shady for the 14th.

Heritage Day This week in our Religion classrooms there is an emphasis placed on the heritage of our school community with Heritage Day being conducted on Friday. Bishop Daniel Delaney, the founder of our own Brigidine Sisters and the Sisters of St. Joseph, founded by St.Mary McKillop, will be the focus of our school remembrance for this whole school celebration. The Heritage Day Fete will be held once again this year on Friday afternoon. Please try to join us for this lunch time fun(1pm – 2:30 pm). There will be stalls and lots of goodies to purchase. Games, a jumping castle, raffles and fun activities are also some other fund raisers at the fete. The idea is to raise money. No food or events are free. Students will wear mufti in green and gold, for a gold coin donation - our Brigidine school colours. All money raised will be distributed to our annual school charities eg CARITAS and Catholic Missions. Hope you can join us. Karla Slaven and Peta Bischof – REC Co-ordinators Dates for the Calendar

Heritage Day Fete: Friday 13th March - 1pm

First Eucharist Enrolment Information Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd March – First Eucharist Enrolment sheets given to parents at both Weekend Masses. Tuesday 24th March - Eucharist Enrolment meetings with parents 3.30pm and 7pm in St Brigid’s Hall.

Week 10 - Holy Week

School Readers for Weekend Parish Masses: Sun 15

th March: Miss Pratt.

School Eucharistic Ministers for Weekend Parish Masses: Sun 15

th March: Mrs Johnston.

A week in a school can be a long time! Consider some

of the events students have recently been involved in

(on top of learning)…

The Hon Katrina Hodgkinson MP, Member for

Burrinjuck and Minister for Primary Industries recently

presented the school with a cheque for $3,500. The

money is being used to expand our wonderful Kindy-

Garden. Special thanks to Mrs Alison Rosewarne and

Mrs Therese Johnston, who are leading the way for

our Parents & Friends Association with the garden

project. Also, a reminder re our Garden Party working

bee on Saturday 21st March (8.30am) – should be a

fun and productive time!. The Minister is pictured with

Assistant Principal Andrew Casey, Owen Holmes,

Isabella Lette, Charlee Pollard and Jake Pullen.

Tuesday 3rd March saw many of our primary

swimmers compete in the Diocesan Swimming

Carnival, with secondary swimmers competing the

following day. Thanks to Miss Gannon and Mr Thomas

for supporting our swimmers.

On Friday 6th March our school hosted the Australian

Director of the United Nations, Mr Christopher

Woodthorpe. Director Woodthorpe spoke with all

secondary students about the origins and function of

the United Nations. He also raised awareness for

some of the critical issues currently being faced by the

UN, with a particular emphasis upon food distribution

and the challenges faced in the quest to eliminate

world hunger. Ask your (secondary) child/ren about

drinking hamburgers…You may be surprised by the

answer!

Earlier on Friday, Mrs MacCabe’s Year 9 Maths class

transferred classroom mathematics to the playground,

measuring and marking out the construction site for

P.O. Box 7, Cowra 2794 Email: straphaels@bth.catholic.edu.au Tel: 6342.2940 School Website: www.straphaelscowra.catholic.edu.au

our Stage Six expansion. Such a simple process helps

make the vision that little bit more real. I would

encourage parents attending Catholic School’s Week

activities to check out the ‘graffiti’ and view the actual

plans, now posted in the office foyer.

Also on Friday, our school choir performed at the

opening of this year’s Festival of International

Understanding. The choir backed up with a repeat

performance during Saturday’s parade. Special thanks

to our talented choir and also to Mrs Swansborough for

again sharing her passion with our students and the

wider community.

Speaking of the festival, I would also like to thank all

the students who marched in the parade for our

school, as well as those who marched for other

organisations such as Rotary, Relay for Life, Cowra

Dance etc. The parade would be nothing without such

enthusiastic (and colourful) participants.

I would also like to

acknowledge the efforts of

our Ambassador

nominees, Michelle Grech

and Kitty Brooks, along

with Anna McNamara and

Riley Barron (Ambassador

Nominees for Rotary).

These students have been

busy fundraising for their

respective charities and

now have a big week

ahead with official

functions during the

festival. We wish them well.

Mr David Lette

Administration Coordinator.

WELLBEING

Congratulations to the majority of Secondary students

for your positive approach to school so far this term.

Reflecting:

At Assembly last week Mr Casey encouraged us all to

be reflective people: to really try to spend some time

each day reflecting on our learning and how we

managed the requirements of our day.

By reflecting on our efforts and co-operation with

others, we can focus on developing a greater sense of

responsibility for all our actions. For those whose day

has not been the best, reflecting on what went wrong

and what went right is an opportunity to set a goal to

have a better day tomorrow. All things are possible if

we work at them.

As parents we can be part of this reflective process by

talking about the day; by not being put off by the

standard, “Nothing much happened” and encouraging

chat about school.

Uniform:

Most students are making serious efforts to represent

themselves and their school well by wearing our

uniform correctly. Boys are being very attentive to

shirts in, not hanging out and girls’ hairstyles are

beautiful. Thank you.

Diaries:

A big thank you as well to all those parents who are

staying connected with weekly diary signing. Teachers

appreciate this way of keeping in touch and it is a great

means of finding out what your own child has been

learning. If you haven’t seen the diary for a while,

maybe a search party in the school bag is needed.

Awareness:

One of the aspects of school life this term is a

commitment to participating in fund-raising for Caritas,

the organisation responsible for supporting Catholic

Missions. Each Homeroom has set a goal to reach by

the end of Lent, as has the school Staff.

Awareness of others is a quality we hope to develop

as part of the important life lessons. A good question

to ask as a student is, ‘How are my actions or words

helping others around me learn?’

Finally:

May you have the hindsight to know where you've

been, the foresight to know where you're going

and the insight to know when you're going too far.

Irish Blessing

Sue Whiteley

Wellbeing Co-ordinator

P.O. Box 7, Cowra 2794 Email: straphaels@bth.catholic.edu.au Tel: 6342.2940 School Website: www.straphaelscowra.catholic.edu.au

Festival Of International Understanding Guest Nation South Korea - Festival Choir Congratulations to all students who sang the South Korean and Australian National Anthem at the Peace Bell Ceremony on Friday 6th and on Saturday 7th of March in Brougham Park after the street parade. Our guests were really impressed with our linguistic and vocal skills. I would like to express my gratitude and thanks to all the students who sang and the parents and grandparents who were able to bring the children to the both events. Your support and commitment is greatly appreciated. It is our combined effort to make things happen that makes our school great and we all feel very proud of St Raphael’s.

Grazyna Swansborough Music Teacher

Sports Uniform Year 5 and 6 Year 5 and 6 will be wearing sports uniform this Wednesday for Physical Activity. They will still wear sports uniform for normal Sport on Thursday. Canberra One Day Event Congratulations to Sarah Clarke and her horse Ash Starlight who competed in the Canberra One Day Event on the 28

th February and 1

st March. Sarah

came first in the Junior Prelim Section and 3rd

in the Open Section. Great results all round! Primary Cricket Mr O’Reilly receiving a cricket cooler and Junior Cricket set from Mr Kevin Siegert of Lachlan Fertilizers Rural Cowra. Thank you very much to Lachlan Fertilizers for the kind donation to our Primary Sports Department. Primary Diocesan Swimming Carnival On Tuesday 3

rd March, 20 Primary students travelled

to Dubbo to compete in the Diocesan Swimming Carnival. All students displayed excellent sportsmanship and were fantastic representatives for

our school. All students performed well, with many placing in their individual heats. Our junior boys and senior girls relay teams were unlucky not to make it through to Polding, finishing a close 3

rd in both of their

races. The following students placed first, second or third in their individual events and will be travelling to Sydney on 20

th March for Polding.

Sam Kelly – 50m Freestyle (2nd

), 50m Backstroke (2

nd), 50m Breaststroke (2

nd)

Philippa Austin – 50m Freestyle (2nd

), 50m Butterfly (2

nd)

Matilda Proctor – 50m Freestyle (2nd

), 50m Breaststroke (2

nd)

Kelsey Pollard – 50m Freestyle (1st) Thank you to the

parents and relatives who travelled with the students to Dubbo and for supporting and assisting with time keeping on the day. Our primary swimming representatives – Matilda Proctor, Philippa Austin, Sam Kelly, Riley Langfield, Finn Ryan, Ponie De Wet, Meg Jones, Kate Cumming, Ruby Frazer, Emma Wilkinson, Imogen Chambers, Carter Langfield, Eoghan Killick, Daniel Britten, Jackson McLeish, Kate Proctor, Chloe Chambers. (Absent from photo – Matt Banks, Inka Wilson, Kelsey Pollard)

Secondary Diocesan Swimming Carnival Well done to the 18 students in Secondary who represented our school in Dubbo - you did us, your families and yourselves proud. Congratulations to Madeleine Cain and Cameron Trengove who were successful in gaining a place at the CCC Carnival in Homebush next term.

School Fees A reminder that school fees for Term 1 are now due. Prompt payment would be appreciated. Crossing Vaux Street during Kendal St Changes If you child crosses Vaux street near the Cowra Caravan Park to walk to or from school, please remind them that Vaux Street is now a "Highway" and has increased traffic flow and there are no lights to cross safely. Council have installed a "Pedestrian Refuge" up from the corner (opposite The Mill), and they recommend

P.O. Box 7, Cowra 2794 Email: straphaels@bth.catholic.edu.au Tel: 6342.2940 School Website: www.straphaelscowra.catholic.edu.au

that your children use this to increase their safety whilst crossing the road. Canteen Update This week’s roster is as follows:

Tues 10

Wed 11

Thurs 12

Fri 13

Mon 16

Anna Triming

Kate

Wilson

CLOSED

Carrie Simunic

Nicky

Howden

Cathy Gee

Kirsty Pollard

Cindy

Langfield

Nicky Hudson

Rachael Duff

Kerrie Porter

Please note that there will be no lunch orders on Friday, 13

th March as it is Heritage Day and there will

be numerous other items on sale for lunch on the day. Thank you

Annual General Meeting Please mark in your diaries 16

th March 2015 for our

Annual General Meeting. New office bearers will be voted in at this meeting. Everyone is invited to attend the meeting at 7pm. Looking for new Treasurer and President and Vice President for St Raphael’s P & F We are looking for a new Treasurer, President and Vice President for our school P & F as the positions become vacant in March this year. The St Raphael’s P & F has a proud tradition and close involvement with our school including: • Providing a forum where the views of parents may be heard • Promoting community through social activities; • Assisting the school with many practical initiatives including fund raising. All the roles are straightforward and can easily be handled by someone with no experience as the outgoing committee plan to help and assist the incoming people with their roles. Please consider taking on one of these roles. If you have any queries, please respond to this email or call Nicholette Savage on 0417 423 219 or Casey Proctor on 0429 110 072

Don’t forget to visit our website for updates of all that is happening with the P&F and for adding your views. www.straphaelspnf.wordpress.com Jackeroo Ranch Horse Riding Jackeroo Ranch is once again running the popular horse riding camps in the Autumn Holidays. 1

st Week: Sat 4

th April – Sat 11

th April

2nd

Week: Sat 11th April – Sun 19

th April

These camps are for “horse-mad” children aged 6-16 years. Five to six hours per day are devoted to horse activities including a one hour lesson and three hours trail riding in the beautiful Turon Valley.

Previous experience is not necessary as beginners to advanced riders are catered for. We specialise in teaching nervous riders and developing their confidence. This is “not just a camp” – it is a wonderful farm experience your child will treasure forever. Enquiries: Mrs. Pattie Hudson. Ph 6337 7173 (nights are best).

P.O. Box 7, Cowra 2794 Email: straphaels@bth.catholic.edu.au Tel: 6342.2940 School Website: www.straphaelscowra.catholic.edu.au