Dear Parents and Carers

Thank you for your ongoing support as we continue to settle into the new school year. Kindergarten have been very impressive in how quickly they have adapted to the expectations and routines of ‘big school’. Yesterday they gathered with the whole school community for our beginning of the school year mass. Thank you to Fr Joe and Mrs Mammone for the beautiful celebration. At the conclusion of mass, we announced and formally congratulated the student leaders for 2024. The student leadership roles play a crucial part in fostering a positive school environment, encouraging teamwork, and promoting the development of leadership skills among students. Congratulations to the following students: 

On Wednesday, 14 February, we marked the beginning of Lent with an Ash Wednesday mass and liturgy. The forty days of Lent, not including Sundays, reflects the time that Jesus spent in the wilderness strengthening his own relationship with his Father. For us, Lent is a time of reflection, prayer, and giving. A time for us to practice good habits and to make ourselves a little bit more in Christ’s image. One question we often ask the children is, “What can you do to be a better person? How can you help someone today?". Lent provides the opportunity for all of us to reflect on our actions and how we can be more like Christ in our daily interactions.

As I mentioned in the Week 2 Crossroads, one of our annual improvement goals for 2024 is that ‘Students, staff, parents / carers have a shared understanding and a lived experience of the vision, mission and values of the school.’ To help develop a shared understanding during each newsletter I will share some historical information around the formation of our school. This week’s focus is the naming of the school library as the Loyola Library. Nazareth embraces the spiritual tradition of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Spanish Catholic priest and theologian, who founded the religious order of the Society of Jesus. Ignatius envisioned the purpose of the Society of Jesus to be missionary work and teaching. Finding God in all things is at the core of Ignatian Spirituality and is rooted in our growing awareness that God can found in every one, in every place and in everything. When we learn to pay more attention to God, we become more thankful and reverent, and through this we become more devoted to God. 

I would like to acknowledge the newly elected P & F executive and their dedication to building an inclusive school community for the betterment of all the children. 

President: Emma Till 
Vice President: Kattra O'Brien
Secretary: Catherine O'Brien
Assistant Secretary: Gabrielle O'Flynn 
Treasurer: John O'Brien 
Assistant Treasurer: Kattra O'Brien 

I am truly grateful for their service and look forward to working with them throughout the school year. The next P & F General Meeting will be held on Thursday 21 March at 7:00pm in the school library, please save the date. 

Thank you for taking the time to view the parent / carer information videos and complete the Parent are Partners input forms. If you haven’t had an opportunity to view the video for your child’s grade the links can be found below. 

I wish you a wonderful week,

Kind regards, 
Mr Matt Downes
(Acting Principal)

Sacrament of Reconciliation

The first workshop for students preparing for Reconciliation commence this week.  Please make sure your child brings their book to the workshop.  This is a time for you to spend with your child working through the booklet and having time for conversations.  Thank you for supporting the spiritual life of your child

Pancake Day

Last Tuesday was Shrove Tuesday and it was a day that students were able to enjoy delicious pancakes made by the students of Year 6.  A total sum of $538.70 was raised and all money has gone to Project Compassion to support people living in some of the most vulnerable communities across the world. Thank you so much to all families for your generosity.  You always make us proud.

Wednesday Mass and Faith & Learning visits

Next Wednesday (Week 5) is the first of the regular Wednesday masses, along with the Faith & Learning visits. It will be Year 5 who will be the first class to celebrate Wednesday Mass at 9am and we look forward to seeing families join us for mass and then a visit to the classroom afterwards.

All mass times can be found in the All Saints Parish Bulletin and all other important information. A link can be found on the Parish Website:  https://www.dow.org.au/parish/all-saints-catholic-parish-shellharbour-city

Students in 5B are looking at how we can reach out in justice and loving others just as God has loved us.  Coinciding with the beginning of Lent, students have been learning about St Vincent de Paul and Caritas Australia and what these two groups do to support the most vulnerable in our communities.

This week we looked at how St Vincent de Paul reaches out to members of our communities to give them much needed support. At this time of Lent we think about how we can make our lives and the lives of others better. 

6R has been working diligently during the first four weeks of this year. Our focus in Mathematics has been learning to use a variety of strategies when adding and subtracting. We have also concentrated on improving our recall of the basic facts and solving problems using the CUBES method. 

In English, we are learning to write complex information reports and gain a better understanding of how to improve fluency when reading. 

It has been a great start to the year and we are looking forward to the rest of our final year at Nazareth. 

NAPLAN 

naplan information brochure for parents and carers.pdf

naplan information brochure for parents and carers _pdf 107.99 KB

Term 3 Staff Development Day (Pupil Free Day) – change of date

Please note that the Term 3 staff development day has moved from Monday 22 July to Monday 12 August. This change has come about because Shane Chapman from NESA has been secured to run professional learning for staff around quality assessment. 

Parent / Carer Information Videos

Last week parent / carer information videos were shared via Compass. These videos outline specific information for the year ahead. If you are yet to view your child’s parent  information video the link can be found below: 

Kindergarten - https://youtu.be/3DsHbnR8ipA 

Year 1 - https://youtu.be/W9ap_cbpllA 

Year 2 - https://youtu.be/9XGRd-vuCnc 

Year 3 - https://youtu.be/oQgboZmosuc 

Year 4 - https://youtu.be/uBQdA-ffk8A 

Year 5 - https://youtu.be/xAdDeiks3uY 

Year 6 - https://youtu.be/nYku4p_8Mys 

Swimming Carnival

Congratulations to all of our swimmers who put in such an amazing effort at our swimming carnival last Friday! We didn’t have the greatest weather but the students still tried their hardest and supported their friends while they swam. A huge thank you to the volunteers who assisted on the day, without these helpers the carnival would not have been able to go ahead. 

Students who have made the Nazareth Swimming Team will be notified of their events soon and a Compass event will be sent out with all the details for the South Coast Swimming event to be held in the coming weeks. 

Cricket Training

Cricket training for the Mark Taylor Shield is still happening each Thursday morning from 7.50am. Please ensure students have appropriate clothing for the training session and are changed back into their school uniform for the day after the session finishes. 

Rugby Union Team

Week 4 (this week) is the final week for expressions of interest for the Nazareth Rugby Union team. This team will compete in the Rugby Union Knockout in June. Due to the rules of the competition only children turning 11 or 12 this year are able to sign up and compete. 

Diocesan Representative Trial Nominations

Congratulations to the following children who were invited to trial in the 2023/2024 representative trials. Some of these trials were held in late 2023 with others coming up soon in early 2024. 

Amelia P- Tennis

Jaxon T- Tennis

Thomas M- Tennis

Oliver H- Tennis

Zen N- Tennis, Basketball

Jedd K- AFL, Cricket, Rugby League (11s)

Morrison C- Basketball, Touch Football, Rugby League (12s)

Brody J- Cricket

Jack K- Cricket, Touch Football, Rugby League (12s)

Logan T- Cricket

Matthew B- Touch Football, Rugby League (12s) 

Ty R- Touch Football

Romeo D- Soccer

Cristian S- Soccer

Luke B- Soccer

Archie D- Soccer

Jaxx T- Rugby League (11s)

Matilda M- Netball

The school is still waiting for final confirmation for Rugby Union. When this information is communicated to us, a Compass event will be created for the trial and relevant children will be added. 

Thank you to all of the parents who nominated their children for trials and congratulations to those who have been selected. 

NAZARETH AWARDS

Reevie Rey

Aria Vengetas

MERIT AWARDS

Soul Evans, Archer Huszar-Peady, Zavier Vengetas, Scarlett Murphy, Jaxx Tonegato, Addison Holmes, Noah Yigitbasi, Luca Hughes, Charlotte Lang, Siena Pacheco, River Wilson, Abigail Butler, Travis Borg, Romeo Ramos, Layla Rabay, Remy Boardman, Aston Dukleski, Angelo Ditto, Jedd Kauter, Amelia Perez, Logan Testa, Ivy Haywood, Jason Miller, Aditi Vaisakh, Saffiah Williams, Saxon Briffa, Cristian Sangiuliano, Evelyn McMullen.

NAZARETH PROMOTIONAL FILM

The film captures a day in the life of a Nazareth student.
Click https://youtu.be/olug9FWvZQI to view the film

FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM PAGE FOR NAZARETH

If you haven't already please follow our school pages to keep up to date with events at school and for photos and updates from across the school. 

Please click on the direct links to follow our pages:

www.facebook.com/nazareth.shellhabour

www.instagram.com/nazareth.shellharbour

SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY 

Please click on the below link for a direct link to the social media policy.

https://www.dow.catholic.edu.au/about-us/policies/social-media-policy/