Dear Parents, Teachers and Students,


Although Week 9 would not normally be a newsletter week, there are quite a few important messages to share in the count-down to the end of the school year, so please take note of the following:

Canteen Closed
The canteen is now closed for the year so, unfortunately, recess and lunch orders will not be available tomorrow and Friday.


Sports Uniform Change of Days in Week 10
Because of the end-of-year Mass next Tuesday and the water fun day on Wednesday, all classes have been asked to wear their academic uniform on Tuesday and their Sports Uniform on Wednesday.


Yass Town Christmas Parade
Tomorrow (Thursday) evening, Mt Carmel School will be participating in the Yass Town Christmas Parade. Thank you to those who have responded to our call-up for participants; it's not too late to join in if you'd like. From your Compass home screen, just go to Events, under the Organisation tab, and you will see 1 opt-in event. Click the link for details and then click 'Accept' to let us know you'll be coming.

The parade will be starting at 6pm, and our meeting time and place will be from 5:40pm on Crago St, near the entrance to the Railway Museum Carpark.

Our contribution will be a Nativity theme, so participants can come dressed as angels, shepherds, or anything else associated with the Biblical Nativity. The parade will go all the way down Comur St to the Rossi St roundabout. We will then walk on to school and children can be collected from the playground.


Christmas Concert
Our whole-school Christmas Concert will be held this Friday 13 December, Week 9, at 12pm under the shade-cloth, featuring a range of traditional and modern Christmas performances from all classes. There will be limited seating for parents, so please bing your own chair, if you can. Everyone has been practising and we’re looking forward to putting on a great show!


Christmas Bonanza Raffle
The Community Council Christmas Bonanza Raffle will be drawn at the end of the Christmas Concert on Friday and it's not too late to get some tickets, if you haven't yet had the chance... Ticket sales will close at 2pm tomorrow (Thursday), and there are nine terriffic prizes, mostly with Christmas holiday family fun in mind. 
https://www.raffletix.com.au?ref=fgp6v


Uniform Shop Additional Opening Times
This week the Uniform Shop will be open on Thursday 12 and Friday 13 December from 12pm to 4pm. It will not be open in Week 10, as we finish school on Wednesday.

On Friday 31 January, the shop will be open from 12pm to 4pm, and any orders placed over the holidays can be collected from the school office on Monday 3 February, any time during school hours.


Reports and Class Lists
End of Year Reports will be accessible to families on Compass this Friday. Please take the time to read your child’s report together with them and affirm their many achievements. 

It is important to note that if your child is finishing at Mt Carmel at the end of this year and moving to a school outside of our Archdiocese, you will need to download all your child’s reports before Friday 20 December as you will no longer have access to their profile on Compass after their final day of enrolment. If your child is moving to another Catholic school in the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn, whether Primary or Secondary, you will retain access to previous reports, as Compass is a system-wide Student Administration System and your child’s profile will be transferred to their new school. Access will be temporarily suspended after your child’s last day of enrolment at Mt Carmel, but will be reactivated on their first day of enrolment at their new school.

Families will find out about their child(ren)'s class placement for 2025 on Monday. Considerable efforts are made each year to create balanced class lists, taking into account factors including gender balance, learning needs, social and wellbeing supports and friendship groupings. Parents were given the opportunity to contact the school earlier in the term to provide me with advice about their child’s needs. Please understand that this time has now passed, class lists have been finalised, and requests to change class will not be met.


Advent Prayer Service
Next Monday, 5 Red will lead our prayer service for the third week of Advent, with a focus on Joy and, as always, parents are most welcome to join us. At the conclusion of the prayer service, we will go straight into our Year 3-6 Awards Assembly.


Awards Assembly
The Year 3-5 awards assembly will be held immediately following the Advent prayer service on Monday, to recognise the efforts and achievements of our Primary students. Parents will be notified by Friday if their child will be receiving an award and are welcome to attend.


Year 6 Graduation Events
Tuesday 17 December is the last day of attendance for Year 6 students, and we will be holding our Graduation Mass at 9:30am in St Augustine’s Church, with Year 6 awards being presented in the church at the conclusion of Mass. After Recess, at 11:30am, we will hold our traditional Farewell Assembly to wish our School Leaders well for their journey to High School. On that evening, we will host the Year 6 Farewell Party in the PAC from 5pm to 7pm.


2025 Term Dates
At the beginning of next year, Catholic Education is holding a System Day for staff professional development on Friday 31 January, which will be followed by our own staff Faith Formation day on Monday 3 February. This means that all students, K-6 will commence Term 1 on Tuesday 4 February. Term 1 concludes for students on Thursday 10 April, with Easter falling on the middle weekend of the school holidays. The calendar on our school website (https://www.mtcarmel.nsw.edu.au/calendar) has all the correct dates for the 2025 school terms.


2025 Swimming Carnival - Save the Date
As always, the 3-6 Swimming Carnival happens early in the new school year, so put it in your calendars now – Friday 7 February (Week 1). The Northern Region carnival will be held on Thursday Week 3 in Queanbeyan.

Christmas Mass
The Parish Christmas Eve Mass will be held on Tuesday 24 December at 7pm, weather permitting, on the Mt Carmel playground under the shade cloth. If the weather is inclement, Mass will be held in St Augustine’s Church. There will be limited seating provided, so please bring a chair or a blanket if you can. Fr Peter has invited children attending to get into the Christmas spirit by coming dressed in theme – shepherds, angels, Magi, etc.
Christmas Day Mass will be celebrated in the Catholic Church Hall in Murrumbateman at 10:15am on Wednesday 25 December.



May God’s peace be in your families, 

Michael Green
Principal