Dear Parents, Teachers and Students,

Ash Wednesday
Today is Ash Wednesday, the day that marks the start of the season of Lent – a time of prayer, almsgiving and fasting in preparation for the celebration of Easter. Ash Wednesday comes from the ancient Jewish tradition of penance and fasting. The practice includes the wearing of ashes on the forehead. The ashes symbolise the dust from which God made us and to which we will all, one day, return. We began our school day today with a prayer assembly, led by 6Gold, and students have received ashes on their foreheads as a symbol of humility and penance.

Project Compassion, Caritas Australia’s annual Lenten appeal has begun and we encourage each family to contribute to this appeal via the Project Compassion Box that your child will take home. Many will be familiar with the idea of giving something up for Lent; however, this is also a time of reflection of where we can listen to God’s word and follow his call through our loving actions. Lent is the perfect time to commit ourselves to a positive action for the good of others.

An old tradition of the Catholic Church, linked to Lenten fasting, is to not eat meat on Fridays during Lent. Consequently, our school canteen has a modified menu until Easter, with fish cocktails and fish burgers available on Fridays in place of meat products.

Yesterday’s Pancake Breakfast was a great success, and I thank all the teachers and student leaders who came to school early to help prepare and serve breakfast. The Pancake Race was proudly run by our Student Representative Council after Recess, with the winners being Hartigan House – Congratulations!


Swimming Carnival
Weather permitting, our school swimming carnival will be held this Friday 16 February. The event is a Primary (Year 3-6) carnival; however, students in Year 2 who will be turning 8 in 2024 are able to attend if they are competitive swimmers. Registration slips were provided to all students in Years 3 to 6 last week; please complete your child’s registration by this evening, if you have not already done so. If you did not receive a slip for your child, or you would like to register your Year 2 child for events at the carnival, please email edward.dunstan@cg.catholic.edu.au.

Please note that, because of the carnival, the canteen will be closed on Friday.


Mt Carmel Awards
The Mt Carmel Awards are normally presented on a Friday but, again, because of the swimming carnival, they will be presented tomorrow at morning assembly. The list of award recipients can be found further in this newsletter.


Welcome BBQ and Open Classrooms
Last Thursday’s Welcome BBQ and Open Classroom evening were a tremendous success, and it was wonderful to have so many families in attendance.
My sincere thanks to all the teaching staff for making our school such a welcoming place for families in our community, and for the commitment outside of normal working hours that such an evening requires. Special thanks, also, to the parent volunteers who helped with the set-up and pack-up and kept the BBQ ticking over all evening – Liz Da Deppo, Katie Davis, Matt Maher, Georgina Shannon, and Natalie and Andrew Wren.

Book fair and Grandparents’ Morning Tea
A reminder that next Friday 23 February, Mt Carmel School will be holding the Scholastic Book Fair and Grandparents' Morning Tea. Look for further details in the Library News section of the Carmeletta.

May God’s peace be in your families, 

Michael Green
Principal

Religious Life of Mt Carmel School
Welcome to Week 3! Last Thursday, Mt Carmel School celebrated the new school year with a Mass and a School Leadership Induction Ceremony. At the end of the Mass, student leaders gave each class a candle featuring our 2024 school theme. 

The candle reminds us to be more loving, include everyone and to follow in Jesus’ footsteps, just like Mary did. 

SHROVE TUESDAY
Yesterday we celebrated Shrove Tuesday with a delicious pancake breakfast and our annual pancake race. I'd like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who made this event possible and also congratulate Hartigan who were our pancake race champions for 2024!

ASH WEDNESDAY
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent and it is a time for spiritual growth and change as Christians make a special effort to be the kind of people God wants them to be. During Lent, Christians give up luxuries to remember when Jesus went into the desert for forty days to fast and pray. 

Ash Wednesday comes from the ancient Jewish tradition of penance and fasting. The practice includes the wearing of ashes on the head. The ashes symbolise the dust from which God made us. Traditionally, the priest applies the ashes to a person's forehead, and says: "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." (https://www.catholic.org/lent/ashwed.php).

Today 6 Gold led our school in a beautiful Ash Wednesday Prayer Service to mark the start of Lent. Teachers placed ashes, in the form of a cross, on their students’ foreheads using these words: Repent, and believe in the gospel

PROJECT COMPASSION
Every year, countless people turn Lent into a demonstration of faith, love and generosity. You can be a part of this incredible community, who believe that there are simple actions we can all take to “be more” for our world.

Today every class received a Project Compassion Box to raise funds for those in need. Each student has also received a family box so that we can all support Caritas in the great work that they do. We invite our Mt Carmel community to donate any loose change and return your box at the end of the term. 

Help make the world a fairer place for all. Let us be more!

St Augustine’s Parish News

On Sunday 11 February, children focused on compassion and the importance of being kind and compassionate to everyone, no matter who they are, just like Jesus did.

Prayer

PRAYER TO THE HOLY SPIRIT FOR THE ARCHDIOCESE

O God, who by the lightof the Holy Spirit,

did instruct the hearts

of the faithful,

Grant that by the same

Holy Spirit we may be

truly wise and ever rejoice

In his consolations.

Through the same

Christ Our Lord.

Parish Mass
Click on this link for further details http://staug-yass.org.au/wp/sacraments/. 

Enjoy your week!
Eva Karakotas
Religious Education Coordinator

Hail Mary, full of Grace,
the Lord is with thee.
Luke 1:26-28

Swimming Carnival
The Mt Carmel School Swimming Carnival will be held on Friday 16 February, weather permitting. The backup date is Tuesday 20 February. This event is a Primary Carnival (Years 3-6); however, students in Year 2 who turn 8 years of age in 2024 and are competitive swimmers are eligible to attend. Any Year 2 students participating in events will need to notify their teacher and request a card in order to register through the sports tracker app.

The event will be held at the Yass Memorial Swimming Pool. Yass Valley Council has copies of all Life Guard qualifications and WWCCs.

Students participating in 100m events and 200m IM will need to be at the pool ready to swim by 8:30am. The pool will be open for warm-ups from 8am.

All other students will commence the day at school, as usual, and walk to the pool with their class. At the conclusion of the carnival, students will walk back to school with their class in time for the normal end of the school day. Parents taking their child directly from the pool must see their child's teacher before departing, to sign them out. Entry to the pool is $1.60 which can be paid through Compass. Students with a season pass do not need to make this payment, they just need to ensure they bring their pass with them on the day. Students must ensure that they apply sunscreen prior to entering the pool and reapply regularly throughout the day. The pool canteen will operate during the day, selling a variety of cold food but students should bring enough cold water to keep themselves well hydrated during the day. Students are able to bring house coloured clothing and accessories and change at the pool. 

We will require lots of parent help to run the carnival, If you are able to help out at on the day, please complete the Google form using the link below:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/106fBjHRDcGD8OtyhdCaQATHLAXL_JIxstEBcKsz2qo4/edit

Students will have received their login details for the Sports Tracker program and are able to login and self register. Registrations will close on Thursday 15th February at 9am. 8 and 9 year old students who wish to compete in 200m medley, 50m backstroke, 50m breaststroke or 50m butterfly events will need to register in the 10 year old event as they are junior events. The 100m freestyle events are junior/senior so 9 and 10 year olds will need ]to register for 10 year old events and 11 and 12 year olds need to register for 12 year old events. It is really important to register for events you wish to participate in to ensure the smooth running of the carnival. It is very difficult to add students into races at the last moment once programs have been printed.

Tonight is your last chance to do this before programs are printed tomorrow. If your child’s login card has no username on it, the username is always the child’s email address which can be found on their Compass profile. If you experience any difficulties with this process or if students did not receive their login card, please contact me on: edward.dunstan@cg.catholic.edu.au.

Ted Dunstan
Sports Coordinator

Thank you
Thank you to the McGurk family for their donation of books to the library.


The books have arrived!
Excitement is building around the school with the arrival of the books for the Scholastic Book Fair. Students will have the opportunity to browse the collection and make a Wish List in their library lesson.

Scholastic Book Fair and Grandparents and Older Friends Morning Tea

When: Friday 23 February

Where:  Lacey Library

Book Fair: 9.00am - 3.45pm

Morning Tea: 10.00am - 11.30 am

Selling Afternoons:

Monday 19 February   3.30 - 4.00pm

Tuesday 20 February   3.30 - 4.00pm

On Friday 23 February we will hold our Scholastic Book Fair in the Lacey Library. Students will be able to purchase books from the great range which Scholastic have provided. The more books sold, the more free books can be bought for the Lacey Library!

Parents, you are most welcome to visit the Book Fair on Friday with your children. If you can’t make it, we will visit the classrooms and collect any students who want to make a purchase and take them to the Book Fair. Alternatively, If you are unable to attend the Book Fair and you would like to purchase the book/s your children have chosen on their Book Fair Wish List you may do so online, using the steps outlined below.

There will be two selling afternoons, where you can purchase the books or place an order before the actual Book Fair.  This year you will be able to visit the Lacey Library on Monday 19 February and Tuesday 20 February from 3.30-4.00pm, to browse, purchase, or order books. Any orders will be sent off by email and returned to the school as soon as possible.

We would like students to invite their grandparents and older friends to the Book Fair and to have morning tea at Mt Carmel. If you can provide food for our morning tea that would be fantastic. Please drop off any morning tea donations to the front office on Friday morning. Remember to label any reusable containers with your name so they can be returned to you promptly.

We ask that any visitors to the library on the selling afternoons or those attending the Book Fair sign in to the school via the Front Office. Library monitors will be in the Front Office to assist you on Friday and collect students from classrooms.

Please find attached an invitation which you may like to give to grandparents or older friends. We look forward to seeing you at the Book Fair!

Kind regards,
Natalie Broers
Teacher Librarian

Dear _______________________________________

You are invited to the Scholastic Book Fair and Grandparents and Older Friends Morning Tea at Mt Carmel School.

When: Friday 23 February

Where:  Lacey Library

Book Fair: 9.00am - 3.45pm

Morning Tea: 10.00am - 11.30 am

From _______________________________________

Congratulations to the recipients of last week's Mt Carmel Awards.
 This week, awards will be handed out at morning lines tomorrow, Thursday 15 February.

KBlue Lydia McDonald Peter Gorman	KGold Anna Leighton Sebastian Sadlowski Lucy Ward
1Green Brooke Powell Maeve Mondragon	1Red Olivia Christensen Ryan Tome
2Blue Camille Walker Chevy Leahy	2Gold Sasha Ramadan Nicholas Da Deppo
3Green Madison McGurk Asher Gorman	3Red Mikayla Clements Blake Eldridge
4Blue Esther Payne Jack Maher	4Gold Heidi Tyndall Benji Carroll Vincent DaDeppo
5Green Ava Eldridge Jaxon Field Fletcher Lees	5Red Kalon Vu Louis Arnold
6Blue Lucy Miller Grace Deer Harry Donoghue	6Gold Heath Wood Juliette Glover Isabelle Pidgeon

The Mt Carmel School Uniform Shop is open each Tuesday afternoon between 2.30pm and 4.00pm during school terms.

Has your child ever thought about playing guitar?
Spaces are now avalable for 2024. Fill in the below form and drop back to the office to secure your place with Den.

Has your child ever thought about learning piano?
Margaret Hanson teaches lessons from the school Monday to Friday during school terms.

Please contact Margaret on 0407 285 420 if you have any questions or would like to secure a space for your child this year.