Term 3, Week 6 Newsletter 2023

Principal's Message

Congratulations Mrs McEvilly-Butler
We are very proud of and grateful for the exciting work that Mary McEvilly has been doing with our students. In recognition of this great work, Mary has been invited to represent the Lismore Diocese and present at the upcoming EduTech conference in Melbourne this week. EduTECH is Australia's largest education event, bringing together educators from across all education systems to discuss, debate, and evaluate the future of education. Mary will be presenting at the Google Teaching Theatre around the wonderful things that she and Mr Keane have been doing with STEM (Science Technology Engineering & Maths) and their collaboration with the University of Sydney. Mary shared her presentation with the students at our Monday Morning Assembly yesterday.

Well done Mary!!

“At St Finbarr’s we embed technology to build a love of learning which inspires, engages and empowers students to become persistent, innovative, informed, and active citizens in a digital age.”

Finnies Fun Run Launch
Students are very excited about our major fun/ fund-raiser event for 2023. The ‘Finnies Fun Run’ was launched at our special Monday morning assembly yesterday. The Fun Run will be held at school on Friday 3rd November and children can begin collecting donations later this week when the portal has been linked. After consultation with students and parents our goal is to raise money to build a Ninja Warrior Fitness track at school.

Farewell to staff 
Pippa Reynolds announced this week that she will not be returning to St Finbarr’s. Miss Reynolds is a much loved and highly regarded teacher who will be greatly missed as part of the St Finbarr’s team. Pippa has been on leave for 2023 and is looking to broaden her horizons in 2024. Part of her heartfelt message included…”the camaraderie, support and experience at St Finbarr's has been incredible and I feel so lucky to have gotten the chance to have my first graduate job in your school.”

On behalf of the whole school community we wish you all the best Pippa, your passion as an educator and dedication to your students will be sorely missed.

Canteen News
Jay informed me yesterday that due to personal reasons he will be finishing up immediately as manager of the Canteen. This has been a difficult decision for Jay to make and he thanks all those who have helped and supported him this year. We are currently seeking expressions of interest from anyone interested in taking on the Canteen manager role. The canteen will not be operating this week and we will keep everyone informed regarding future operations and plans.

Learning in Year 5 and 6
Students in Yr 5 and 6 began creating Podcasts this week. This is the beginning of a series of St Finbarr’s Podcasts we are making. This encourages students to use their public speaking skills as well as allowing them to create scripts and refine their questioning techniques. We will share the links with parents in our next newsletter to enable the podcasts to be available to a wide audience. Any parents with experience in this area are welcome to get on board with us.
Here  Bo and Felix share their thoughts and opinions on our first official Podcast.

Assembly
Due to the Stage 3 Gala Day this Friday, there will not be an assembly. Our award recipients will recieve their awards at our Monday morning assembly.

Term 3 School Fees
Term 3 school fees are now due for completion, please finalise any outstanding account by this Friday 25th August. If you need to discuss your school fee account, please contact Alison in the school office.

Mini Boss

By Iggy. M -Year 5
Miniboss is a business school for kids and I have been wanting to do it for about 2 years! Miniboss teaches you about building a business, including marketing, product development and sales and management. You have to come up with business ideas and pitch these ideas to investors. Our business is a course that teaches children how to not get scammed on Roblox. There are many common scams on Roblox like trading, swapping personal information and fake giveaways causing kids to lose their Robux, which is the currency of Roblox which parents pay for with real money. We want kids to feel confident, calm, and in control online. My business partner and I came second in the Australian finals and then went to win the world finals in Scotland!

Congratulations and Well Done Iggy!!!

Yours in Partnership,

Tim Bleakley - Principal

Mission

Accendere

Last Thursday, our Year 4 students attended Accendere a Spiritual retreat day held at the Community Centre in Lennox Head. The theme of the day was 'Friendship'.  Students rotated through a number of groups participating in a range of creative and active activites based on the scripture of the Good Samaritian.

Forgiveness, understanding what  a friend is and trust exercises were all a part of the activites which were led by Mrs Lisa Clark, Miss Shelley Clark, Mr Blake Kernaghan, Mrs Clare Cathrew & Mrs Sonya Piccoli.  

A liturgy was held at the end of the day along with reflection time where students discussed what they thought of the experience and what they enjoyed. 

First Holy Communion

At St Finbarr's we have a number of students who have been preparing to receive their Fist Holy Communion. Over the past few weeks, the candidates have been attending Mass, where Father Jim has been welcoming them and including them throughout the Mass. 

The candiates will receive their First Holy Communion on Saturday evening the 2nd of September, St Finbarr's Church at 6:00pm and we warmly invite all our St Finbarr's families and friend to join us to celebrate them recieving Holy Communion for the first time.

Inclusion & Wellbeing

Yours in Partnership,

Mrs Sonya Piccoli

AP Mission and Additional Needs Teacher

Learning & Teaching

Supporting our Students to achieve the Fullness of Life

At St Finbarr's we aim to provide a positive environment in which each child is respected and his/her right to learn is encouraged and protected. As part of our recently implemented Behaviour Management Plan to foster a positive culture of loving, learning and growing we are introducing a Merit system (in addition to our fortnighly awards at assemblies).

Our expectation is for our students to live our Vision of Loving like Jesus, Growing as Friends and Learning for Life.  When students are witnessed demonstrating our expected behaviours they may recieve a 'Merit' - and this will be visible on your child/ren's Compass dashboard (see below for an example). 

We are really excited to be able to promote positive behaviours, acknoweldge our students when they are living our vision and foster a positive culture of learning. 

Father's Day Breakfast

We are calling on volunteers to help our Father's Day Breakfast next Tuesday 29th August. If you're able to help please email buffy.gall@lism.catholic.edu.au 

Morning set up begins from 6:45am with the breakfast being served from 7:30. 

Yours in Partnership, 
Lauren Magnus
Assistant Principal - Learning and Teaching 

Sports News

Dio Athletics

Well done to our team of students who competed at the Diocesan Carnival held in Coffs Harbour last week. The Tweed team won the carnival overall.

Congratulations to the following students who have qualified for the Polding Athletics Carnival to be held in Sydney.

Milla P-11yrs 1500m (1st), 800m (2nd) 

Kaia L- 12yrs 100m(1st)

Marley R- 11yrs Shot Put (2nd)

Roley C- 10yrs 200m (1st), 

Hamish K- Senior 1500m (3rd)

Benji R- 11yrs MC Shot Put (2nd)

Lisa Clark
Sports Coordinator

Student Awards

Parent Connect