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

Dear Parents

Excursions abound: Our School Choir sang at the

Albert Hall at Canberra for the United Nations on

Thursday, Year 4 travelled to the Bathurst Goldfields

on Friday, Year 10 leaders spent Friday at the

Diocesan Leadership Day at Orange, rep cricketers

are in Canberra tomorrow at the NSW Milo T20 School

Cup final and on Saturday week a band of Year 9

students are setting off on the 2014 Outward Bound

expedition.

Students preparing for the transition to secondary

school and their parents have a couple of information

and orientation type of events this week. This evening

is an Information session for parents to come along to

the school and see how learning happens and meet

with staff. On Thursday Nov 13 Year 6 students from

St Raphael’s as well as from our feeder schools will

spend the day together in the secondary department,

getting a feel for the changed routine and greater

responsibility.

Student Leadership roles for Year 9 and Year 5

students are being considered in detail Nominees will

be named and ballots soon conducted. Although this

process may seem early, the timing enables the new

student leadership team to take up this role as the

current Year 10 students move onto their Graduation.

The Book Fair wrapped-up on Friday. Thanks to the

hundreds who have been through and have made their

selections. Thank you to Mrs Kerrie Skinner for

bringing this exciting event to the families of St Raph’s.

Year 9 students and their accompanying teacher (Mrs

Inel Date) are readying themselves for the annual

Outward Bound expedition beginning on Saturday for

seven day in the mountains at Tharwa. I am thrilled

that students of St Raph’s have the chance to access

such a life-changing experience.

Planning for 2015 dominates the administration

agenda at the moment. Composition of classes,

staffing, budget, supplies, resources, room allocations

and timetabling all crowd in during term 4. If you are

making plans that will impact on the school, please

notify the school office promptly.

Christmas Fair preparations are racing along at the

moment. The collective benefits we receive from this

event are enormous – therefore your participation in both

the preparations and the event are a direct support for our

children. To nominate as a volunteer, please visit the P&F

website accessible through the school website at

www.straphaelscowra.catholic.edu.au

Michael Gallagher Principal

Matthew 5:1-12

The beatitudes are eight statements taught by Jesus. They are concerned with virtue and how a believer in Jesus Christ can achieve that virtue.

The Beatitudes are a map of life, a series of directives helping us on our journey to be with

God. They also designate the actual condition of people who follow God's guidelines.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth.

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven

St Raphael’s Catholic School

Term 4, Week 4/B Newsletter

27th October 2014

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

Monday 27

Happy birthday to Yoi Yap. Year 7 2015 Parent Information Evening from 6:30pm.

Stage 5 Exams Week .

Tuesday 28 Happy birthday to Ben Azzopardi, Kaitlyn Rutledge

and Codie Thompson. NSW Milo T20 School Cricket in ACT.

Wednesday 29

Thursday 30 Kindy Start.

Friday 31

Happy birthday to Pyper Muddle. Primary Assembly led by 6S.

Saturday 1 November

Year 9 Outward Bound Students depart for Tharwa.

Happy birthday to Elia Murray and Amelia Trudgen for 2

nd November.

Altar Servers’ Roster Sat 25

th: Julia Cains, Jeremy Cains, Eloise Cains.

Sun 26th: Katherine Johnston, Sophie Johnston.

School Readers for Weekend Parish Masses: Sat 25

th: St Raphael’s School Leaders.

School Eucharistic Ministers for Weekend Parish Masses: Sun 26

th: Mrs Bischof.

School Computer Roster Sat 25

th: St Raphael’s School Leaders.

Sun 26th: Mrs McMurtrie.

Primary Assembly

The next primary assembly will be held this Friday, 31st

October. It will be led by Ms Slaven’s class, Year 6S. If your son / daughter is to receive a class award a note will be sent home early this week. Parents are always most welcome to attend any primary assembly.

Secondary Mathematics Certificates

UNSW Mathematics Competitions

Congratulations to these secondary students on being

awarded special acknowledgement awards due to their

very good results in the Mathematics tests organised

by the University of New South Wales. The distribution

of certificates is based on: Distinctions (top 10%),

Credits (top 35%) and Merits (top 50%).

Distinction: Richmond Bush

Credit: Jaimee Nixon, Madeleine Cain, Julia Cains,

Mackenna Cusack, Amy Grant, Patrick Heilman,

Darcee Nixon

Year 7 (2015) Orientation Organisation This evening, 27

th October parents and students are

invited to a Year 7 Information Evening, organised for students enrolling in Year 7 at St Raphael’s in 2015. The necessary details regarding tonight are below. Important details for the Information Evening. Attendance For both parents and students Date: Monday, 27

th October

Venue: Initial meeting in School Chapel Times: - 6.30pm: Commencing in School Chapel

- 7.00pm: Walk through the secondary classrooms - 8.00pm: Gathering, with a cup of tea, in St Brigid’s Hall

This information evening will be followed by an orientation day for the students on Thursday, 13

th

November. LIBRARY NEWS Thank you parents, students and teachers for the wonderful support you gave during our annual Book Fair. Students have selected the books they want for our library and enjoyed looking at the book selection. Thank you also to the monitors who assisted during the fair; especially with helping the younger students. Re-orders will be given to students as they arrive from Scholastic. Happy Reading. Kerri Skinner – Librarian Important K-2 dates to dates to mark in your diary

Kindergarten A date to remember! Kindergarten Christmas Liturgy Tuesday 2nd December.

Kindergarten, Year One and Year Two will be participating in a Swimsafe programme from Monday 17th November to Friday 21st November.

Netball – Schools Cup State Finals

On Tuesday 16th September, our Stage 4 netball team

competed in the state finals of the Netball NSW

Schools Cup at the Anne Clarke Netball Centre in

Lidcombe. The girls were competing for a spot in the

top 8 of all NSW schools.

The pool matches saw the girls come up against

Carroll College Broulee, Narrabri High School and The

Hills Sports High. The girls had convincing wins over

both Carroll College and Narrabri High and were

defeated by a very skilful Hills Sports High in their third

pool game. After finishing second in their pool, the girls

progressed to the semi-finals where they played St

John’s Woodlawn. A close and hard-fought game saw

the girls narrowly defeated 14-9. They then played

Wadalba Community School in the play-off for third

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

and fourth. The girls ended the day with a placing of

fourth in the state. A fantastic achievement!

A big thank you to Liz Pattingale and Bron Johnson for

their extra assistance and time. Thank you also to the

large number of parents who travelled to Sydney to

support the girls. They were excellent representatives

for our school and should be very proud of their

achievement!

Primary Physical Education Lessons

Wednesdays

This Wednesday, 29th October students from Years 2,

5 and 6 will need their sports uniforms. Next

Wednesday, 5th November students in Years 1, 3 and

4 will need to wear their sports uniforms.

Sporting Events

Primary

Oct 28 Stage 3 Cricket teams (State Cup in Canberra)

Nov 18 Summer Sports Trials (Dubbo)

School Magazine Orders – The CROCUS If the old adage of "a picture is worth a thousand words" is true then this year's THE CROCUS school magazine would have in excess of 900,000 words or would be over 4,500 pages in size. Invest in your child's history. Order a copy of this year's magazine by week 7 of this term. Please complete the order form at the end of the newsletter with your numbers wanted.

If 100 copies are ordered the cost will be $34.50 per copy

If 200 copies are ordered then the per copy cost drops to only $23.50

Orders to date ONLY 18 Outward Bound 2014 has arrived! Outward Bound students leave this Saturday for their 7 day adventure hike in the National Park near Tharwa, ACT. We look forward to this experience with

excitement and trepidation. Our hiking boots have been "walked in" and we are ready for what lies ahead! It has been a busy year of activities and fundraising. Congratulations to the students and their parents for all their hard work and taking on the fundraising activities. We would like to thank the school community for supporting our cupcake drive, sausage sizzle, school social, pie drive, wood raffle, subway lunches, "monster raffle" and the movie night! We could not have raised the large sum of money without the support and sponsorship from the following businesses and professionals in our community. A BIG THANK YOU to the following: Cowra Medical Centre, Lachlan Furniture, Cowra Community Chest, Cowra Council, Cowra Services Club, St Raphael’s Presbytery, Cowra Rotary, Grant Chamberlain, John Langlands, Breakout River Meats, Geronimo Farm Equipment, Cowra Tyre and Brake, Elders, Coles and French's Store. Many thanks! Ms Inel Date and the Year 9 Outward Bound students.

Photo of year 9 Outward Bound (missing Darcee Nixon and Riley

Barron)

TIME TO GROW with the "KINDIGARDEN" The first step begins this Tuesday 28th October in the development of a productive food garden area within the playground. A small step in what we hope to be the development of our playground into something spectacular! The first stage of this project is a "Kindigarden", situated

in a courtyard area outside the kindergarten rooms. Two

upcycled mobile pallet beds have been sourced with the

aid of the Cowra Mens Shed, along with some old tyres

which will be utilized as containers for herb

plantings. Through this educational experience of

planting, nurturing and harvesting produce, children will

learn how produce is derived and the resources required

to produce it will be learned.

This Tuesday will be the first day of gardening, we

welcome any parents or grandparents with green or

even brown thumbs to come along during lunch

break and help with this project.

Please have a chat with your children to see if they

would like to help during the lunch break this

Tuesday.

It may be their one opportunity to get out of the face

of an electronic gadget and get down and get

grubby.....

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

Afternoon Collection of Children

After consulting with parents and staff members it has

been decided to keep the afternoon collection for

children at the school gate in the Rose Garden. The

greatest benefit of this location is that the exits on the

western and southern boundaries are both supervised.

Memorial

We remember and are immensely grateful for the

dedicated work of the Josephite, sisters, the Brigidine

sisters and lay teachers of St Brigid’s and St Raphael’s

Schools. The memorial blessed by the Bishop earlier

this month in the Convent Courtyard is a lovely

recognition of our predecessors.

Canteen Update This week’s roster is as follows:

Tues 28

Wed 29

Thurs 30

Fri 31

Mon 3

Raelene Nelligan

Sky

Muddle

CLOSED

Sharon Groves

Lisa

Robertson

Laura Proctor

Mal Bird

Nicky

Hudson

Angela Kollas

Sally

Bruncher

It is a little over 4 weeks to the St Raph's Christmas Fair which is to be held on the 28th November so please save the date. We will be asking for families again to help us with the Jazzy Jars, raffle prizes and Pick a Box donations as well as people to help coordinate stalls and events so please watch this space for information in the newsletter each week.

ITEMS FOR CHRISTMAS HAMPER RAFFLE For the next 4 weeks, we will be requesting donations for the Christmas Raffles. Each week we will give you a theme and would be very grateful if you could purchase an appropriate item and send it to school with your child. This week’s theme is “something for the kitchen” The themes over the following three weeks will be: something for the laundry, something for Christmas, and finally something of your own choosing. Some parents have indicated knowing this in advance means they can purchase everything in one go and not scramble madly each week to buy each item. A special thank you to Jamiesons Joinery who again kindly donated a wheelbarrow for this hamper The Book Stall Annie Henchman and Therese Johnston are again running this year’s book stall. They both did a fantastic job with 'Got Books' last term. They have graciously volunteered to run the book stall and are requesting donations of Young Adult Books and Fiction/ Non Fiction for adults. If kids give them to their homeroom teachers or leave them at the front office, they will be collected each week. Call for Volunteers As always we are looking for volunteers to provide help with the many facets of the fair. If you are interested please contact Ona Lawrence at onalawarnce@gmail.com or on her mobile phone 0409 608 118 Log onto our website: www.straphaelspnf.wordpress.com

WELL DONE Congratulations to the following students who have achieved the

next level on the Behaviour Management Programme.

Level 6 Joe Sullivan 6C Erin Vale K1 Level 7 Amy Grant K1

Your Teachers are very Proud of You!

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

St John’s Anglican Church Book Fair Extended over 2 weeks with bargains galore! Dates: Friday 14

th Nov and Saturday 15

th Nov

Friday 21st Nov and Saturday 18

th May

Doors open at 8:30am For donations please contact Bruce Pietsch on 0427 722810 or email bpietsch28@gmail.com

School Magazine Order Form

Name: _____________________________________

Phone: _____________________________________

Child: ______________________________________

Class: _____________________________________

Number ordered: _____________________________

School website: www.straphaelscowra.catholic.edu.au

Cowra Swimming Club will be holding a “Go Swim Day”

On Tuesday 4th

November at 6pm at the Cowra Aquatic Centre.

Come along and give Swimming Club a go for free!

Parents can find out more about what swimming club involves with our Club information session.

Further enquiries call 0428 600 450

Fantastic website with coming events, surveys, parent support, photo gallery and many other useful items

Bookings for Parent/Teacher Discussions.

All school events with up-to-the-minute details of what when and where

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

Pictures tell a thousand words…

School memories documented

forever in the 2014 school year

book.

For more information or to place an order, contact the school office

or complete the order sheet in the school newsletter