Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope this message finds you well.

Last week, I had the privilege of attending the official opening and awards ceremony for the CEDoW Christmas Story Art Competition and Exhibition at the Wollongong Art Gallery. This wonderful initiative by the Catholic Education Office Wollongong celebrates and showcases the creative talents of our children in illustrating the Christmas story. Congratulations to Aria (6R) and Lin (6R), whose artworks were selected for display! A heartfelt thank you to Mrs Corradini for her guidance and support in helping the students with their artwork and written reflections. 

I’m pleased to announce that stage one of the Kindergarten Playground upgrade is complete, featuring a new sandpit and a newly opened forest area. Stage two has commenced with the installation of the bases for the cubby house and theatre stage. This project is made possible through a combination of Wave FM School of the Year prize money and school funds.

On Wednesday, we celebrated our Year 6 students during the Night of the Notables. Congratulations and well done to all Year 6 students for what they achieved in relation to learning about their nominated notable person. The Night of the Notables is a wonderful initiative and I thank the Year 6 staff for the time and effort that went into planning this event.

This Friday marks World Teachers Day, a special occasion to recognise the invaluable contributions teachers make to our students’ lives. We are incredibly fortunate at Nazareth to have such dedicated and passionate educators, to acknowledge and thank our teachers on this special day morning tea will be provided.

The wet weather dismissal procedures have recently been revised. When required, parents will be notified via a Compass alert. To help ease congestion parents can collect their child from 2:40pm during wet weather. The wet weather dismissal procedures are:  

• Kindergarten / Year 1: Parents enter the building after 2:40pm and collect students from their classrooms.
• Year 2: Students are collected from the COLA near the canteen
• Year 3: 3H students are collected at the Year 3 foyer door. 3L students are collected at their external classroom door. 
• Year 4, 5 and 6: Parents enter the building after 2:40pm and collect students from their classrooms.

Lastly, I want to remind all families about our collective responsibility regarding road safety around the school. Please adhere to speed limits, parking restrictions, and road rules at all times. It’s crucial to use the supervised pedestrian crossing on Glider Avenue when crossing with your child. We have recently received reports of families crossing unsafely away from the designated crossing, which can put everyone at risk.

Thank you for your ongoing support and cooperation.

Kind regards,

Mr Matt Downes 

(Principal)

Catholic Mission Month 

Next Wednesday is the conclusion of Catholic Mission Month and to celebrate we will be holding our ‘Socktober’ kickoff event. Students have been busy making their class sockball from recycled materials and will test it out against the goalie skills of Mr Edwards. A representative from each class will be chosen to try to get their ‘sockball’ past Mr Edwards.  Students are able to come in mufti clothes on that day and are asked to bring in a gold coin donation to go towards funds for the Caring Center in Mongolia. The Caring Center provides a home for a young child, Otgonbayar and his friends who have nowhere else to call home.

First Holy Communion

This weekend at mass Holy Communion medals will be blessed and handed out to students. Next weekend at mass students will be given instructions on the correct way to receive Holy Communion. Thank you to all of the parents who have been bringing their children to these workshops in the 5B classroom.  Please remember to be on time to the workshops and all activities in the books are to be completed during the workshops. The only component to be completed at home is the Home Activity at the beginning of the week’s activities.  

Reminder: First Holy Communion will be held on Sunday, 24 November 2024.

All Saints Day

Next Friday, 1 November is All Saints Day. We will be celebrating this day with a whole school mass commencing at 11:15am in the church.  Students will be coming in the colours of a chosen saint for their grade. They will learn about this saint in their Religion lessons over the coming week.

Wednesday Mass and Faith & Learning visits

This week, Year 2 attended mass at 9am on Wednesday and many parents came back to the classroom after mass. Next week Year 1 will attend mass and have their learning visit after mass so that families can visit and experience a snapshot of their child’s learning. We encourage all families to come to mass and then visit the classroom.

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

We have been exploring the story of the Good Samaritan, engaging with the story and its challenges. We have been wondering about the behaviour of the priest, Levite and Samaritan; the possible reasons for their decisions; and the generosity of the Samaritan. We discussed how helping friends and those who are popular is far easier than to do the same with the unpopular.  To include the outsider demands courage. As a response to the story, children were asked to record some thoughts for the characters in a scene from the story.

3H enjoyed going to the Hall to look at Year 6’s Night of the Notables. We were able to look at their notable presentations, ask some questions and some of us even got a prize. 

Hudson S - I liked looking at the sportspeople and the NRL players.

Reevie - My favourite one was Emma Watson because that is from my favourite movie. 

Jason - My favourite notable was Nikola Tesla because he created lots of inventions.

Jaxx - I liked Matt Groening because he made The Simpsons. 

Adam - My favourite was Didier Drogba because he is a soccer player.

Zavier - My sister’s notable was Mary MacKillop and she helped kids. 

Nicolas - My favourite Akira Toriyama because he created Dragonball Z.

Dylan - My favourite was Ricky Stewart because he played NRL. 

Hudson R - My favourite was Ricky Stewart because he played for my Uncle’s favourite team, The Raiders.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Oliver S who competed at the NSWPSSA Athletics Championship this week. He competed in a range of events across two days at Sydney Olympic Park. More information to come on his achievements at this event. 

Congratulations to Ziggy E who also competed at the NSWPSSA Athletics Championship this week. He competed in the 200m track event and placed 15th. Congratulations to Ziggy on this fantastic achievement. 

Congratulations to Logan T who competed at the NSWPSSA Cricket event at the end of last term. Logan played in 3 matches with two wins and a loss. Making it to a NSWPSSA event is an amazing achievement. Logan will compete at the NSW Country Youth Championships in Dubbo later this term as part of the Southern Marlins team. Good luck Logan at this event. 

2025 Sports Nominations

Parents of students in Year 4 & 5 this year (Year 5 & 6 in 2025) are to check their Compass news feed for information regarding the 2025 Diocesan Representative Trial nomination process. Nominations for Cricket are now closed, however, all other sports are still open. Please check the relevant document on your Compass newsfeed for the nomination information. Please ensure you have read the nomination procedure and have provided as much information as possible when nominating your child. 

Upcoming Events

Oztag Gala Day- October 29. This event is for children who have been selected in the Oztag teams for the following age groups:

• Year 3/4 girls
• Year 3/4 boys
• Year 5/6 girls
• Year 5/6 boys

Please check Compass to provide consent and payment for your child.

Dragon Tag Gala Day- November 12. Expressions of interest for this event have now closed. We are able to send a large number of teams to this event, meaning if your child was not selected for the Oztag Gala Day, they will be able to attend the Dragon Tag Gala Day. Please note that there is an unavoidable date clash with Year 5 camp. Please check Compass next week for the relevant information and to provide consent. 

CDF Sports Awards- November 15. This event is for children who have received an invitation from the CEDoW Sport Team. Please see your email invitation for event details.

NAZARETH AWARDS

Maci Mackaway

Georgia Micevski

PRINCIPAL AWARDS

Olivia Dimitrieski

Cadence Little 

MERIT AWARDS

Alexander Zmijanjac, Kendrix Jonosvski, Reign Mastrodomenico, Sebastian Campos, Koby James, Mariana Smith, Thomas Lakovski, Sol Street, Indigo Richards, Hayley Miller, Madison Sangiuliano, Jaxx Kelleher, Hudson Armstrong, Ashton Campbell, Layla Micallef, Ariella Elphick, Nicolas Oberdan, Lewis Glaveski, Ashlyn Brown, Luke Formosa, Airlie Bates, Hank Jones, Zara Comelli, Mia Honey, Harry Urquart-Duchesne, Claudia Sears, Arlo Sargeson, Malachi Khoury, Joshua Kosteski, Austin Pepper, Finn Day, Flynn Sears.

During Week 2, classroom teachers have been revising with their students how to be respectful by using appropriate audience manners for assemblies, celebrations of learning and other school gatherings in the hall. Particular focus has been on remaining quiet whilst walking into the hall, looking and listening to the speaker and participating respectfully in prayers and songs.

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/