IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY CATHOLIC SCHOOL NEWSLETTER 10 McCann Crescent, Lenah Valley Phone 6228 3335

email: ihms@catholic.tas.edu.au web: www.ihms.tas.edu.au

PO Box 429 Lenah Valley 7008

No 15 – 16th December 2020

“She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)

Dear Parents, Students and Friends, 2020 has been a year like no other! We have all been faced with many challenges. Challenges that we weren’t expecting, but challenges that I believe we overcame and learnt to deal with. The dreaded Covid did affect the year for all students and I apologise that they did not get the experiences that we had planned for. However, we should all be very proud of the way we all progressed throughout the year.

The school year was disrupted suddenly when we had to go from face-to-face learning to online learning at the end of Term 1 and half of Term 2. I want to thank you for your kindness, grace and cooperation as our school staff members worked extremely hard to provide quality learning experiences for all students and to support their efforts to learn online from home. We were all amazed by the flexibility, tenacity and creativity shown by our students as they navigated this new and different way of accessing their education. Farewell At the end of 2020 we are sad to farewell a couple of staff members. Mrs Cathy Joyce (Special Learning Needs Co-ordinator) - Cathy has worked at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic School for 12 years and has decided to retire from teaching. I would like to thank Cathy for her commitment, leadership, expertise, dedication and hard work. Her support to our school and to me personally has been fabulous and she will be sorely missed. We wish her all the best for her future. Ms Rosemary O’Rourke (Teacher Assistant) - Rosemary has been working at Immaculate Heart for 6 years and is moving to St Mary’s College to take up a position as a Teacher Assistant. We thank her for the work she has done at IHMCS and wish her all the best for the future. Mrs Christine Russell - Christine taught Kindergarten this year and I thank her for the calm and nurturing nature she showed all the children. We wish her all the best for the future Ms Cecelia Venuki - Cecelia taught in Prep in 2020. I thank her for the wonderful job she has done in helping the Prep students settle into full-time schooling. We wish Cecelia good luck and happiness in the future. Father Shammi Perera - Father Shammi has been our Parish Priest and School Priest for 8 years. I thank him for his active participation in our school and the wonderful faith leadership he has shown all of us. Your pastoral support for all in our community will be sadly missed. I wish you all the very best for your new role as Parish Priest of the Sandy Bay Parish. Board Members: I would like to thank the Advisory Board for the support that they have offered me during this year. They worked tirelessly behind the scenes to offer advice and help in different areas.

Andrew Thomas (Board Chair): Andrew has been actively involved with Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic School Advisory Board for seven consecutive years and has been the Board Chair for the past three years. This year Andrew has decided that he will be resigning from the Board due to increasing work and family commitments. I thank Andrew for his wonderful leadership and support of our fabulous school. Staff: I thank all staff for their great work during a very difficult year. We are extremely fortunate to have committed staff at our school. Their consistent and thorough approach towards teaching and helping the students is a real blessing. I thank you for this! Thanksgiving and Leavers Mass Last Wednesday we held our End of Year Thanksgiving Mass and Leavers Ceremony at St Mary’s Cathedral. It was a beautiful event with all children participating at their best. All students should be very proud of their efforts. I would personally like to thank Father Leonard and Father Shammi. I would also like to thank Mrs Therese Kelly for the excellent job she did in preparing the Mass. She spent many personal hours preparing and it was a very prayerful and superb event. A brilliant way to finish the school year. I congratulate the following students who were presented with an award: Immaculate Heart of Mary Award - Luca Forrest St Mary MacKillop Award - Ana-Mercedes Fuentes Spirit of Jesus Award - Hamish Beechey Academic Excellence Award - William Hetherington Community Participation Award - not awarded in 2020 Principal’s Awards - Arielle Cannell

- Aliyah Page - Remi Luttrell - Madison Johnston

Student Leadership Congratulations to the following students who have been selected by their peers for leadership positions in 2020: Term 1 School Captain: Tobiasz Kozlowski Term 1 School Vice-Captain: Ella Chick House Captains Dillon Young Donohoe Madeliene Hurd Hamish Kingston Isabella Lethborg Sebastian Fernandez Fuentes Noah Smith Finn Thomas Imogen Rubenach Oscar Ladd Ebony Pitt

2021 School Dates

Term One Start: Wednesday 27 January 2021 (Staff Commences) Monday 1 February 2021 (Students Commence) Finish: Thursday 1 April 2021 Term One holidays includes: Easter Break from Friday 2 April 2021 – Tuesday 6 April 2021; and Term One Break from Wednesday 7 April 2021 – Friday 23 April 2021

Term Two Start: Monday 26 April 2021 Finish: Friday 2 July 2021 Term Three Start: Monday 20 July 2021 Finish: Friday 24 September 2021 Term Four Start: Monday 11 October 2021 Finish: Thursday 16 December 2021 (Students Finish) Friday 17 December 2021 (Teachers Finish)

2021 Book and Uniform Days In 2021 students will be receiving their books again through school on our designated book days, which are as follows:

Monday 25 January (10am to 2pm) and Wednesday 27 January (2pm to 6pm).

The Uniform Shop will be open at the same time. All books will be in a pack for all students to purchase. The book collection will be in the Hall and the uniform sales will be in the Uniform Shop. Booklist information will be sent via Compass this week. It is compulsory that all students purchase the books from school. This saves embarrassment for the children when school starts. The preferred payment for books and uniform is by the QKR application on your smartphone or by EFTPOS.

Final Assembly - Wednesday 16 December Today we hosted our Final Assembly in two parts. The first part involved the Kindergarten Nativity, Principal’s Address, Farewell of Staff, Kinder to Grade 5 Awards and School Photo Montage. At 11.30am we held the second part of the Assembly. This solely concentrated on the current Grade 6’s. Both events can be accessed through our school Facebook page. I would like to congratulate all the award winners from all classes. I would also like to thank the Leadership Team for organising this assembly.

Maria Island On Friday the 28th of November, the Aboriginal students went for an epic journey to Maria Island. We left school at 8 o’clock to travel to Triabunna on the school bus driven by Mr. Egan. We went for a short walk, and then we boarded the ferry to take us to Maria Island. The trip was rough but fun. A few of us were scared and some of us were excited. We saw some dolphins on the way. We were happy to get to Maria Island and we walked to the Commissariat and on the way, we saw whale bones. After an acknowledgment of Country, we looked at some of the traditional Tasmanian aboriginal history of Maria. Then we went for a walk to the beach, and we ate some bush tucker, or the flowers of the pig-face plant. These tasted salty. We learned that the Aboriginal people never took more than what they needed. We stopped for lunch under a tree on the beach and then we

walked along the Painted Cliffs. We felt adventurous and nervous as we walked, slipped, slid, and then climbed up the cliffs. We kept walking along a trail and then we saw a friendly wombat. It was big and it wasn’t scared of us.

After that, we split up and some of us went to the beach and some of us walked up the trail to the old cemetery. At 2.30, we got back on the ferry and it is was a really rough ride back to Triabunna. The boat was rocking so much we couldn’t walk. It was a blast! Some of us got really, really wet. It was a relief to get back to Triabunna and Mr. Egan bought us chips and potato cakes for a treat.

It was great to have Mia Priest and Tom Hurd (Year Seven students now) to join us. We would like to thank Samantha Ransley, Audrey Jackson, Mrs. Jackson, and Mr. Egan for coming on our excursion. Written by Taha Harris and Monika Hadolt

Staffing 2021 Principal Mr Nick McGann Deputy Principal Mr Jackson Cracknell Religious Education Co-ordinator Mrs Therese Kelly Early Years Co-ordinator Miss Shae Longey Learning Technologies Co-ordinator Miss Katie Pugsley Class Teachers Kinder & Birth to 5: Mrs Lucy Brook Prep: Mrs Stephanie Bruce (Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday)

Mrs Emma Coad (Thursday & Friday) Grade 1: Mrs Carmel Woolley (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday)

Miss Shae Longey (Friday) Grade 2: Mrs Trudi Merkel (Monday to Friday) Grade 3: Mrs Kate Jackson (4 days TBC)

Teacher to be Confirmed (1 day) Grade 4: Mr Jeff Camp (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday)

Teacher TBC (Friday) Grade 5: Mr Eric Monaghan (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday)

Teacher TBC (Tuesday) Grade 6: Miss Katie Pugsley (Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday)

Mrs Therese Kelly (Thursday & Friday) Specialist Teachers LOTE (Auslan): Mrs Courtney Mayne Drama & Music: Mrs Stephanie Melitsis PE: Mr Eric Monaghan Digital Technology: Miss Katie Pugsley Student Support Early Years: Miss Shae Longey Student Support: Mrs Therese Kelly Support Teachers Student Learning Support: Mr Paul Egan Aboriginal Support Teacher: Mrs Kate Jackson Teacher Assistants Mrs Christine Respondek, Mrs Fran Heynes, Mrs Grazia Parodi,

Mrs Louise Brennan Mrs Jane Kirk, Mrs Ange Gates, Mr Donald Ryan Compliance Officer Mrs Michelle Williams Utility Officer Mr Oscar Larin & Mr Shakir Desoza Uniform Manager Mr Donald Ryan Chaplain Mr Donald Ryan Office Administrator TBC Finance Manager Ms Casey Mullen Cleaners Mr Tony Hallam & Mrs Mirna Larin Please Note: Teachers days may change before the beginning of the 2021 school year.

2021 School Fees

Tuition Fees (per student)

Camp Levy

Kindergarten $1,650 Prep – Grade 2 $1,975 Grades 3 – 5 $2,085 Grade 6 $2,175

$30 per student in Grade 3 $60 per student in Grades 4, 5 & 6

Annual Capital Levy $260 per family

A 5% discount on fees will apply if paid in full by the end of Term 1

Congratulations to Finn and Kohdi Thomas – First Reconciliation CongratulationstoFinn(Grade5)andKohdi(Grade3)forcelebratingtheSacramentofReconciliationlastweekatSt Therese’s Catholic Parish. They will celebrate theirConfirmationandFirstEucharistearlyin2021.

Amazing Sporting Feat - Cooper Ford Congratulations to Cooper Ford (Grade 5) for recently winning both the 65cc and 85cc Tasmanian Motocross Championships. An absolutely brilliant achievement. Well done Cooper!

Thursday 17th of December - Final Day of School The weather forecast for tomorrow is rain for most of the day. Due to limited space inside for parents (Covid restrictions), we unfortunately have to cancel the BBQ tomorrow. There will still be over the counter sales sold from the canteen. Students are free to leave with their parents from 12.30pm onwards. Have a great and safe Christmas and Summer break. God bless

Mr Nick McGann Principal

CALENDAR OF EVENTS Thursday 17 December Class Carols Thursday 17 December Final Day for Students

Friday 18 December Final Day for Staff Monday 25 January 2021 Book & Uniform Day (10am – 2pm)

Wednesday 27 January 2021 Book & Uniform Day (2pm – 6pm) Monday 1 February First Day for Students 2021