Dear Parents, Teachers and Students,

Swimming Carnival
Thank you, everyone, for your patience and understanding as we have been making alternative plans for our swimming carnival following the Yass Pool closure. The Mt Carmel School Swimming Carnival will be held next Tuesday 27 February. The only pool that was available on short notice and in time for the Northern Region and Archdiocesan swimming carnivals was Boorowa, but because of the time constraints imposed by needing to travel to the venue, the decision has been made for it to be held as competitive trials only to select a team for the Northern Region carnival. If your child would like to participate and you haven’t yet completed a new nomination for them, please do so as soon as possible by following this link: https://forms.gle/ZxsaSxC4ziJB5hji9. The expectation is that non-participating students will attend school as normal on Tuesday. If enough participating students require transport to Boorowa, a bus will be organised, but we need to know definite numbers before the end of this week to make a booking and to organise staffing, both for the carnival and for school.


Meet Your Community Council
Last year we went through a process of nominating and selecting members for our school Community Council and, following the adoption of a new Charter and Guidelines for Community Councils by Catholic Education as part of a project to update finance and governance structures across the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn, our Community Council has been inducted, with our first meeting being held last week. 

The Mt Carmel School Community Council Executive consists of the Principal (Michael Green), the Parish Priest (Fr Peter My), a staff representative (Mrs Jan Harvey), and four parent representatives, Liz Da Deppo, Katie Davis, Georgina Shannon and Natalie Wren. 

Married to Luke and having three children at Mt Carmel, Sofia (Year 6), Vincent (Year 4) and Nicholas (Year 2) Liz has been part of the Mt Carmel community since 2018. Liz works in HR and Project Management for a Canberra firm, where she is lucky enough to have 80% of her role as remote work. Liz looked to join the Community Council to strengthen the connection between the parent body and school through community building activities. 

Katie lives on a small acreage just outside of Yass with her husband Joe and 2 girls Jess (Year 6) and Izzie (Year 4). Originally from the Blue Mountains, and came to Yass for her first job out of University as the Yass Landcare Coordinator, she is an environmental scientist with the Commonwealth government, but mostly now works in an intergovernmental relationship management capacity. Katie joined the Community Council to contribute what she can to the school community, and help increase connections between the Council and school parents. 

Georgina has been a member of the Mt Carmel Community Council since 2020. She has three children, two that have graduated from Mt Carmel and one currently at Mt Carmel. She lives out of town and spends most of her time working at home and running kids around to sport. Georgina works part time as a social worker, with a professional background in juvenile justice, foster care, child and adolescent mental health and counselling. "I enjoy being part of the community council as I have a genuine interest in the educational programs and practices at the school. I am happy to be involved in discussions around policies, fundraising and maintaining the school buildings and grounds, to ensure it provides our children a positive community and environment for learning and growing."

Natalie is mum to Ally, who is in Year 1 at Mount Carmel, and step-mum to Ella, who is in Year 4 at Red Hill Primary. She is a Federal Public Servant, working in compliance and fraud. "Being part of the Community Council is my commitment to Ally to be as involved in her schooling as possible. I'm excited about what we can all achieve together in this wonderful school community."

The Council is excited to get down to the business of building community and fostering parent engagement at our school, so stay tuned for announcements as plans and priorities are developed and shared, starting with...


Second-Hand Clothing Pool Opening Soon
The Mt Carmel Community Council are working to establish a Clothing Pool, providing our Mt Carmel families with a dedicated space to purchase second hand school uniforms onsite at the school. 

The aim is to supplement the Uniform Shop and assist families to source second-hand uniforms at reasonable prices. Any profit made from the clothing pool will be directly donated to the Vinnies Food appeal generally held twice a year.

The clothing pool will be established through the donation of Mt Carmel uniforms that are no longer required by the family. The items may be too small, the children have left Mt Carmel etc.

Donations can be left in tubs located at the front office. We are aiming to have the clothing pool up and running by mid-March (a confirmed date will be advised and will depend on how many donations we receive), and open in conjunction with the uniform shop.

All Mt Carmel uniform items, with the exception of socks, can be donated (including school bags), provided they are in good condition, without significant wear and tear, stains or damage. To ensure appropriate hygiene standards are maintained, only clothing that has been washed will be accepted. 

If you have any questions, please contact Liz on lizdadeppo@gmail.com.


Book fair and Grandparents’ Morning Tea
A reminder that this Friday 23 February, Mt Carmel School will be holding the Scholastic Book Fair and Grandparents' Morning Tea. Lots of families have already visited the Book Fair, and your generous support helps us to provide new resources for our own library. We are especially looking forward to the Grandparents’ Morning Tea. It’s lovely to have grandparents and extended family visit our school – you are so important in the lives of our students, and you are always welcome!


2024 Student Residential Address Collection
Each year, as part of our census obligations, we are required to provide The Australian Government with certain information about students enrolled at our school. The information provided informs Australian Government school education policy and helps ensure funding for non-government schools is based on need. The information collected is used to inform school funding calculations. It is combined with Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data to calculate a non-government school community’s anticipated capacity to contribute to schooling costs. Attached to this newsletter is a notice from the Federal Department of Education, containing information for families about the Collection.


Drinking Water
Following last week’s Boil Water Alert from the Yass Valley Council, the bubblers at school will remain switched off until we receive the all clear to start drinking the water again. In the meantime, I ask families to ensure that your child comes to school each day with a full drink bottle. A supply of clean drinking water is being provided on the playground each day to allow students to top up their drink bottles as needed.


NSW Health Alert
NSW Health has issued an alert due to a concerning increase in cryptosporidiosis cases across the state. If your child has diarrhoea, they should be kept home until 24 hours after the diarrhoea has completely stopped. The health alert is attached to this newsletter, for your information. For the record, this is a state-wide health alert and is not associated with the current Boil Water Alert in Yass.


Family Engagement with Faith
For interested families, the Catholic School Parents association has shared a resource with a variety of activities, prayers and reflections to share with your children during this time of Lent. Catholic School Parents Archdiocese of Canberra & Goulburn (CSPACG) is the body officially recognised by the Archbishop and the Catholic Education Commission to represent the interests of families of children in all Catholic schools across the Archdiocese. More information about this group and their work can be found at https://www.parents.cg.catholic.edu.au/.

School Uniform Shop Hours Change
From next week, the Uniform Shop will be be changing its hours of operation from Tuesday afternoons between 2:30pm and 4pm, to Thursday afternoons between 2:30pm and 4pm.

This means that orders placed via Qkr! Will be packed on a Thursday to be sent home Friday.

May God’s peace be in your families, 

Michael Green
Principal

Religious Education in the Classroom
Welcome to Week 4! I had the pleasure to visit the Year 5 students to talk about Mary, mother of God, and share photographs that I took on my faith formation trip to Rome and Assisi. Students had the opportunity to pair share and below are some of their answers.

Discuss the symbols found in the icon of Mary and Jesus.
Lily - There is a pattern in the halo.
James - The fingers are pointing down.
Mabel - The hands of Mary and Jesus look like the Vinnies’ symbol.

What similarities can you find in the different shrines of Mary?

Ava - Mary is always on the side.
Milton - There is a star on Mary's garments.
Zara - Jesus has an adult face.
Benjamin - There is an offertory on one of the shrines.

Religious Life of Mt Carmel School

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.

Please remember to send in your donations for Project Compassion and help make the world a fairer place for all. Let us be more! 

Thank you for your support and donations for this great cause. 

Gospel and Reflection 

Reflection 
During Lent we are called to prayer, fasting and almsgiving. We are called to make an inward personal journey, to undertake an interior investigation that we sometimes avoid because of a fast-paced life that can have us constantly preoccupied with others, family, work, etc. Lent is a season for renewed prayer and seeing within; an opportunity to confront and seek forgiveness, to examine the times when have given into temptation and to return to the arms of God’s love, mercy and light (© Catholic Leaders Formation Network 2022).


St Augustine’s Parish News
The next one is this Sunday 25 February. All children are invited to be part of the activities centred around the particular weekend’s Gospel. 

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

Mt Carmel School Swimming Carnival
The school swimming carnival, which is scheduled for Tuesday 27 February, at the Boorowa Swimming Pool, is being held for competitive swimmers only, who wish to trial for selection in our representative team for the Northern Region Swimming Carnival. For students not participating, Tuesday 27 February will be a normal school day. 

The swimming carnival will commence at 10am and conclude at 2pm, to allow for travel time from and to school. The address of the pool is 12 Market St, Boorowa. Students and parents will need to bring their own recess/lunch/drinks; a canteen will also be operating.

The cost of pool entry at Boorowa is $3.30 per student and $1 per spectator. Please note that the Boorowa Pool requires payment in cash upon entry. 

If your child would like to compete in the competitive trials at Boorowa Pool on Tuesday 27 February, please use the following link to register as soon as possible:
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

You will also need to complete a separate Sports-Tracker registration for the individual events that your child would like to participate in. This needs to be done even if you had already completed registration for the carnival before it was postponed. There is a link to Sports Tracker in the registration form, but you can also use this link. Please contact me if you do not know your child's username and password for Sports Tracker via email edward.dunstan@cg.catholic.edu.au.


Canberra Goulburn/Wollongong AFL Trials (Boys) - 2024
Congratulations to Fletcher Lees who made it into the Canberra Goulburn/Wollongong Boys AFL team and will now compete at the MacKillop trials in Wagga on 26 March to vie for selection the the MacKillop Team that competes at NSWPSSA.


Canberra Goulburn U11's & U12's Rugby League Trial - 2024
Date: 12 Mar 2024
Location: Southwell Park
Address: Northbourne Avenue, Lyneham, ACT
Location: Southwell Park
Address:   Northbourne Avenue, Lyneham
Time:  U 11's - 9:00am - 12 noon    12 & U: 12:30pm - 2:30pm

Please note: Students turning 13 in 2024 are no longer eligible to trial for primary rugby league.

Registration: All students that are trialling for the Canberra Goulburn team are to complete the online registration through the CSNSW Sport Website; https://csnsw.sport/help/help-guide-for-parents.

Cost: $20 per student – to be paid by the parents via the CSNSW Website on registration.

Uniform: School Sports shirt. Football Shorts and Socks and all protective gear that is worn. Please note that Mouthguards are Compulsory – Headgear is strongly recommended.

Selection: An 11’s team and an Open team will be selected consisting of up to 17 players to compete at the MacKillop Trials to be held in Canberra on Friday 5th May.

Coaches: 11yrs – Damian Kennedy    Opens – Paul Bush & Owen Gerrard
Enquiries to: Sherree Bush, Sherree.bush@cg.catholic.edu.au.

Sports Coordinator
Ted Dunstan

Lacey Library News
We have had a successful start to the Book Fair with both of the selling afternoons proving popular for families to browse and purchase books. Thank you to those families who visited. Your support is appreciated.


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

The Scholastic Book Fair and Grandparents and Older Friends Morning Tea is this Friday 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 books which 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.

If particular books are popular and need to be reordered, this will be done at the conclusion of the Book Fair. 

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 attending the Book Fair sign in to the school via the Front Office. Library monitors will be in the Front Office to assist you and collect students from classrooms.

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.
Awards will be handed out at morning lines each on Friday morning.

K Blue Lucia Reid Naomi Mathew	K Gold Scarlett Hamilton Samuel Walker
1 Green Mia Brown Ollie Ryan	1 Red Rosella Jones Brock Flynn
2 Blue Zoe Di Sisto Samuel Logue	2 Gold Nate Verma Hayden Spring
3 Green Amalia Corcoran Baxter McDonald	3 Red Delilah Inglis Sebastian Dawes
4 Blue Cecelia Candido Pinheiro Joshua Salzke	4 Gold Evelyn Morris Sophie Donoughe Rowan Kelly-Clark
5 Green Alice Miller Xavier Arnold	5 Red Paul Coady Lachlan Walker
6 Blue Charlie Field Olivia Scanlon Teia-Rose Hackett	6 Gold Rosie Rainger Summer Litster Henry Gooley

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.