Dear Parents, Guardians and Carers,

Instead of holding an assembly this week, we thought we'd share a quick newsletter to keep you updated on what's happening around our school.

Swimming Lessons:
Swimming lessons are now well and truly underway. As part of the mandated curriculum, these lessons aim to ensure that by the end of Grade 6, students are able to swim 50 metres independently and demonstrate essential water safety skills.

Our program is supported by qualified YMCA instructors at the Warragul Leisure Centre, who assess each student’s progress and provide feedback to the school. While these school-based lessons play an important role in developing swimming confidence and technique, they may not be enough on their own to achieve the 50-metre benchmark.

We strongly encourage families to consider regular swimming lessons outside of school time to help reinforce skills and support each child’s journey towards becoming a confident and capable swimmer.

NAPLAN Results:
NAPLAN results have been sent home this week for students in Grade 3 and 5. We encourage families to view these results as just one small snapshot of your child’s learning. While they can offer some useful insights, they don’t capture the full picture of your child’s growth, creativity, effort, or unique strengths.

If the results weren’t what you expected, please don’t be discouraged. Learning is a journey, and progress takes many forms. As always, we’re here to support every student to grow in confidence and achieve their personal best.

Science Week:
Mrs Davies is busy planning Science Week which falls in week 4 (August 11 to 15). This year’s theme, is “Cracking the Code: Nature’s Patterns and Sequences.” It’s all about exploring how nature uses patterns, from things such as the spirals in sunflowers to the symmetry in butterfly wings. Through hands-on STEM activities from maths, biology, physics, and even art, students will get to decode nature’s secret language and discover the exciting science behind the patterns all around us.

School Masses:
On Friday at 12pm we will be celebrating our F-2 Mass in the collaborative space. Please feel free to come and be a part of the mass which will be celebrated with Fr Brendan. We also have two prayer services that families are welcome to attend over the next few weeks - the Feast Day of St Mary MacKillop – August 8 and the Feast of the Assumption of Mary – August 15. Class teachers will communicate the location and times through Seesaw.

Foundation 100 Days of school:
On Wednesday, August 6, our Foundation students will be celebrating a major milestone in the schooling journey; their 100th day of school! To mark the occasion, students are invited to dress up as 100-year-olds or get creative with their own fun interpretation of "100." There’ll be exciting activities, laughter, and plenty of smiles throughout the day! Dressing up is optional. All Foundation students will be joining in the fun, whether they’re in costume or not.

Book Week Dress up Day:
On Friday, August 22, we will be celebrating Book Week with a dress-up day and a parade. Students are encouraged to come dressed as their favourite book character or in a costume that celebrates the joy of reading. The theme for the 2025 Children’s Book Week is “Book an Adventure!” inspiring children to explore new worlds through stories, so let your imagination run wild! A Book Week parade will be held on the Junior School deck at 9:00am, and all parents are warmly invited to attend.

Fundraiser – Billy G’s Cookie Dough:
A big congratulations to Lincoln in Grade 3, Isla in Grade 1, and their family!  Lincoln sold an impressive 37 tubs of cookie dough, earning him the title of our Billy G’s Champion Cookie Tub Seller. I’ve heard he had a little help from a generous work colleague of his dad’s, but there’s no doubt Lincoln led the charge. He’s also taking home some great prizes, which we’re sure he’ll be proudly sharing with his sisters, Isla and Ada. Well done, Lincoln!

(Pictured above: Lincoln and Isla)

Board Meeting:
We have rescheduled our Board Meeting to Wednesday August 13, starting at 6pm.

Upcoming events:
Senior School Sports Day at Marist-Sion; Wednesday August 27
We have Father’s Day breakfast and Father's Day Stall on Friday September 5.
We have scheduled our Art Show to be on Wednesday September 10.

Warm Regards,
Stephen Pitt | Principal

Just a reminder that we encourage students to wear their sports uniform, as it is more practical for changing in and out of swimwear. Please ensure your child arrives with their bathers already worn underneath their clothing.

Swimming Schedule:

Grades 3-6 | Monday 28th July to Friday 1st August 
Grade 2 | Monday 4th August to Friday 8th August 

Please refer to your PAM notification for further details.

What to bring: Bathers, Towel, Underwear, Plastic bag for wet items, Goggles and Swimming Cap (both recommended for comfort and safety).

Make sure all clothing and belongings are clearly labelled. After their lesson, students will change back into their school uniform before returning to class.

If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s classroom teacher.

Dear Parents, Guardians & Carers,

Our St Angela of the Cross school community is truly amazing!
It is wonderful to share that our Billy G’s Gourmet Cookie Dough fundraiser was a huge success,
with the sale of 547 tubs of dough; raising just over $2,000.
Congratulations to our Cookie Champions:

First: Lincoln Hogan (3/4S) selling 37 tubs.
Second: Zahli Despetovich (FC) selling 30 tubs.
Third: Arlo Waddington (2E) selling 24 tubs.

Well done and congratulations to these students, we hope you enjoy your prizes!

Again, our most sincere thanks for your support and fundraising efforts.
We couldn’t have done it without you!

Parents & Friends of St Angela of the Cross Primary School

Parent/Child Workshop
Our Parent/Child workshop is to be held on Thursday July 31 in the Marian Room at 7pm. Some parents have indicated that they would like to attend but are unable to do so that night, therefore, I am prepared to offer another date for this workshop: Wednesday July 30 at St Ita's Church at 7pm. If this night suits you better, you need to
RSVP Liz at warragul.sacraments@cdsale.org.au letting her know you intend to attend on this night. This Wednesday night workshop will only run if there is enough response for it, Thursday nights workshop will go ahead as planned.

Confirmation Mass
Our Confirmation Mass with Bishop Greg will take place on Friday August 15 at 7pm at St Ita’s Church. For more information contact Liz warragul.sacraments@cdsale.org.au

Three Score Years and Ten

Australians born a century ago could expect to live to a little over fifty years on average; now our average life length is 83 years (even older for women). The evidence is all around us in society: pretty well everyone in our affluent world is living way beyond the nominal “three score years and ten” suggested in Psalms and Shakespeare. Our readings this week focus us on the reality that we will all die, though it seems some people conveniently forget that.

Reflecting for a moment, we realise our lives are but an infinitesimal blip in time and space, so the issue is what we do with our little lives, how we impact the world and how prepared we are for our brief time to end. Both Luke (Luke 12:13-21) and Ecclesiastes (Ecclesiastes 1:2,2:21-23) remind us of the foolishness of accruing power and property, to be left behind when we die, instead of heavenly things (Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11) which we take with us to glory in Christ.

Some years ago, my closest friend was there one moment and gone the next. Indeed, for all our average longevity, we know not the day nor the hour and so, whatever we hope of our merciful Creator, we don’t want to be found, when death comes, to have wasted our lives. 

In our human frailty, we must strive to live authentically in the world, putting behind us greed, evil desires, lies and so forth and instead bravely working in a Christ-like manner: open, loving, rejecting prejudices and biases among our brothers and sisters and calling-out causes of violence, marginalisation, discrimination, and poverty. Strengthened, as we are, by the Eucharist, we make our goals “the spirituality of awareness, of choice, of risk, of transformation ….  the embrace of life, the pursuit of wholeness, the acceptance of others, the call to co-creation.” (Sr Joan Chittister, The Time is Now p16).

Deacon Mark Kelly

Have you ever thought about Baptism for your school aged child?

An invitation is extended to parents who desire Catholic Baptism for children of school age to attend our Older Baptism Program. The program consists of two parent/child workshops, held on Tuesday August 26 and Tuesday September 2 in the Marian Room in Warragul (enter car park from Bowen Street). Each session will begin with an afternoon tea at 3.45pm. When families have attended these two sessions, parents will need to attend a parent session to book a time for Baptism. For more information, please contact Liz on warragul.sacraments@cdsale.org.au or ring 5623 1642.