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St Ita’s Catholic Primary School acknowledges and pays respect to the past, present and future Traditional Custodians and Elders of this nation and the continuation of cultural, spiritual and educational practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
PRINCIPALS CHRISTMAS MESSAGE
As we approach the final weeks of the 2024 school I’d like to take this time to thank everyone in the St Ita's community for their efforts and support during what has been a very challenging year.
Whilst we have faced tough times and adversity throughout this year, in typical St Ita's fashion we have worked together to get through the year with a strong focus on quality teaching, learning and support for all our students.
A sincere thank you to all our St Ita’s staff for their efforts throughout this year. Education has gone through a significant change in the last few years and the staff of St Ita's constantly go above and beyond in their roles. They have truly done an amazing job supporting and caring for all of our students.
To our parent community, thanks for placing your trust in us to provide your child with a Catholic Education which is about developing your child academically, spiritually, socially, emotionally and physically. We are glad you have chosen to entrust your children to us. They have grown in so many different areas.
To Father Brendan Hogan, thank you for your support guidance, and wisdom you have shown towards our parish. We are blessed to have you as our Parish Priest and you are very much appreciated and valued by our school community.
Finally, well done to all our students on their efforts with their learning and development this year. You represent your families and school so well. You are an amazing group of students who have been terrific role models for all in our school. I challenge you daily to be Christ-like in everything you do and you do your best to be just that.
As we go into the Christmas period it is so easy to get caught up in the materialistic side of things, where the focus is on receiving presents or gifts. I ask all of our community to try and find a quiet moment to think about a gift that you could give to someone, without expecting anything in return. Think about a way that you can help someone less fortunate within our community to make them a little happier because that is the essence of being truly Christ-like.
To everyone in our St Ita’s community stay safe and have a restful break and I wish you all a safe, happy, and holy Christmas.
God Bless you all.
GRADUATION MASS AND DINNER
Thanks to our Grade 5/6 team for all the effort that was put into presenting such a wonderful graduation ceremony last night. The team did an outstanding job pulling it together for our kids and making it a memorable event.
A big thanks to Claire Garner and her team of parent helpers who did a great job working hand in hand with the 5/6 team.
Father Brendan complemented the whole ceremony and the great community feel within our St Ita’s school. He loved the idea of the Bible as a parting faith gift to all our graduating students.
Thank you to Robyn Lewry for presenting such a beautiful graduation mass. You always do an incredible job promoting our Catholic faith.
It was a beautiful mass and the wonderful staff turnout was appreciated by the parents and the kids. This speaks to who we are as a team which shows we go above and beyond.
The venue was great. The food was delicious. The music was on point and the kids had a ball.
Thanks to everyone for making it a memorable finish to the children’s year.
STATEWIDE SCHOOL TRANSITION DAY
Statewide Transition for all students will be Tuesday 10th December. This is the day students will go to class with next year’s teacher/teachers.
Prep Transition times are from 9.15 am until 12.15 pm, and Grades 1-6 transition will run from 9.15 until 12.30 pm.
DANCE CONCERT
The Kinnect2Dance Concert will be held on Friday 13th December, starting at 1.30pm on the new deck outside of the Grade 1-2 rooms.
On this day all students will be required to wear their sports uniform. Parents can BYO chairs or picnic rugs on the day. We will have an early lunch from 12.50pm - 1.20pm on this day, with the canteen still open for any parents wanting to order a lunch order for their child or children.
FINAL WHOLE SCHOOL ASSEMBLY
Our final whole school assembly will be held on Tuesday 17th December starting at 12pm. At this assembly, we will be farewelling our Grade 6 students and presenting some special awards. We will also be farewelling some St Ita’s staff and outlining what’s happening in the 2025 school year. Parents are welcome to take their child home from Assembly, but please sign them out at the office. School will conclude at 3.20pm as usual on this day.
IMPORTANT DATES FOR 2025
We have listed all our closure days and term finishing dates to help parents with the planning of students during closure days.
Term 1
30/1/2025 – School Starts for all St Ita’s Students Term 1
3/4/2025 – Last Day of Term 1 Students
Term 2
22/4/2025 – School Starts all Students Term 2
3/7/2025 – Last Day of Term 2 Students
Term 3
21/7/2025 – School Starts all Students Term 3
19/9/2025 – Last Day of Term 3 Students
Term 4
6/10/2025 – School Starts all Students Term 4
17/12/2025 – Last Day of Term 4 Students
School Closure - Profession Development Days for 2025
Tuesday 28th January, 2025 – Closure Day – Pupil Free
Wednesday 29th January, 2025 – Closure Day – Pupil Free
Friday 7th March, 2025 – Closure Day – Pupil Free
Friday 4th April, 2025 – Closure Day – Pupil Free
Friday 23rd May, 2025 – Closure Day - Pupil Free Day
Tuesday 10th June, 2025 – Closure Day – Pupil Free
Friday 4th July, 2025 – Closure Day – Pupil Free
Friday 22nd August, 2025 – Closure Day – Pupil Free
Monday 3rd November, 2025 – Closure Day – Pupil Free
Thursday 18th December, 2025 – Closure Day – Pupil Free
Friday 19th December, 2025 – Closure Day – Pupil Free
SCHOOL CANTEEN/LUNCH ORDERS
Final day of lunch orders 2024 will be Friday, 13th December 2024.
First day of lunch orders 2025 will be on Monday, 3rd February 2025.
New families should download the Flexischools app as soon as possible to familiarise themselves with ordering and payment.
SCHOOL FEES
School Fees are now due and payable. Statements have been forwarded to all fee payers, please ensure you check your statement and bring your account up to date as necessary. All school fees must be finalised in the year that they are incurred.
Direct debit payments can be arranged at any time, please contact Beck Bradley (03) 5623 7222 or admin@stidrouin.catholic.edu.au to discuss payment options.
STUDENT MEDICATION
ST ITA'S MEDALLION
Our newest St Ita’s Medallist is Anny Badhan from Grade 5/6B.
JUNIOR ATHLETICS RESULTS
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1st - Gold 1158 points 2nd - Green 1082 points 3rd - Red 1025 points 4th - Blue 1001 points |
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Foundation Boys |
Foundation Girls |
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Grade 1 Boys |
Grade 1 Girls |
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Grade 2 Boys |
Grade 2 Girls |
GIRLS 9 v 9 FOOTY
ENVIRONMENTAL LEADER OF THE FUTURE
A big shout out to Brody Dore of Grade 2MW who picked up this rubbish off our school oval at the end of sport, and did so without being asked.
He deserves a big pat on the back for his efforts to keep our school tidy, Charlotte Lee also helped him carry some of the rubbish to the bin (too much for one person to hold) when ESO asked if someone could help.
Teacher: Mrs Catherine McKenna
Email: cmckenna@stidrouin.catholic.edu.au
Library Books Due
All Library books should now be returned to the library. Overdue slips/emails have been sent out.
Thank you for your ongoing support in fostering a love for reading and learning in our school. It is wonderful to see how reading is loved amongst our students and the opportunity to borrow weekly. Now that borrowing has finished I have encouraged our students to visit the local library in Drouin to borrow books or borrow from friends. Storybox library is always available too for watching books. Download the app or visit the website https://storyboxhub.com/. (username and password stidrouin). Also, the app BorrowBox is free and excellent for audiobooks.
Premiers Reading Challenge
Congratulations to the following students who completed the challenge for 2024:
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We are excited to share that they have received certificates from the Premier for these students who completed the 2024 Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge! A special thank you to all the families and teachers who encouraged our young readers. Certificates were awarded at our last assembly.
Book Swap
Our second Book Swap for the year was a great success! Thank you to all the families who participated and contributed to this wonderful event.
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Book Week Prizes
Students who were chosen as 'best dressed' in their class for Book Week have received their prizes. These students enjoyed selecting their prizes from the Book Club catalogue. A big thank you to the P&F for their support in making this happen!
Encourage your students to read over the summer and sign up for this challenge.
The BIG Summer Read is an annual reading challenge run by Public Libraries Victoria. The BSR encourages young readers 0-18 years old to read and engage with their local public libraries over the Australian Summer holidays in December and January.
The program starts on the 1st December and finishes on the 31st January each year and registration is free. Participating library services will offer incentive prizes for those who complete the challenge as well as a state-wide prize draw to encourage and reward the efforts of young readers.
Research identified a phenomenon known as the ‘summer slide’, which refers to the loss of literacy skills over the summer holidays when children do not read. It is estimated on average that children will lose the equivalent of two to three months of reading proficiency if they do not engage with reading across the holiday period.
Join the challenge here https://readbooks.com.au/bsr
Japanese Teacher: Nicholas Gregory
Email: ngregory@stidrouin.catholic.edu.au
ご卒業 おめでとう！
GO-SO-TSU-GYO-U O-ME-DE-TO-U!
SOTSUGYOU means “GRADUATION” and OMEDETOU is “CONGRATULATIONS” in English.
On Friday 22nd December Grade 6 students enjoyed a Japanese lunch in the new Art space to celebrate their graduation.
We were very lucky to have Ariene Start, a former school captain, answering students’ questions about studying Japanese in high school and her experience living in Japan. She is still studying Japanese at university and working part-time helping at Marist-Sion Secondary College.
The“Budou Odori Taikai” or martial arts dance competition was next with prizes for top performers in each division. There were some breathtaking kung fu and karate moves during the freestyle section of the competition.
Following that, students tried their luck at the “Sushi Limbo Taikai”. Some students were extremely talented at this event and had others gasping in awe! Check out the photos!
Ariene then gave students a brief lesson on how to hold chopsticks correctly before we moved on to the final event of the session, the “Hashi Kyousou” or Chopstick Race. This was held in teams and students seemed to have a lot of fun!
Students all started by saying “Itadakimasu” before eating their meal and from all accounts the sushi was delicious. The Chicken Combo was by far the most popular choice!
A big thanks to our Japanese Captains Pat, Summer, Isobelle, Olivia, and Jaxson for helping with the setup and also running the games during the lunch.
PARISH NEWS
Christmas These Days!
Preparations for Christmas these days are typically less focussed on Luke and Matthew’s nativity stories and some folks have only a jumbled notion of the feast we celebrate. And certainly, much is written about the commercialisation of Christmas. But still much can be learnt about preparation, consideration of others and reflection on values and circumstances beyond ourselves.
St Francis of Assisi might be said to have invented Christmas in the thirteenth century. His special devotion to Jesus, in what he considered the “feast of feasts”, highlights the incarnate Creator born to Mary in poor, simple, awkward, humble circumstances. Francis celebrated this earthy humanity, encouraging anticipation of the feast and introducing some of the symbolism remaining today. The world is a better place for Christmas preparations.
All three of our readings for this second Sunday of Advent are about preparedness, yearning and eager anticipation. That’s what Advent is about – preparation.
Baruch, a lesser-known Old Testament prophet, expresses the yearning of his people during times of sorrow and distress for a joyful future with God’s glorious coming (Bar 5:1-9), while the gospel (Lk 3:1-6) outlines John the Baptist foretelling the imminent coming of the Lord, his kinsman Jesus, Son of God. St Paul in his letter to the Philippians (Phil 1:3-6, 8-11), a few decades after Jesus’ life, death and resurrection is about preparation for the anticipated second coming of Jesus at some unknown time in the future.
All in all, the message is clear. Prepare with joy for Jesus’ first coming as a child in Bethlehem. We are familiar with the story, but that doesn’t make it any less exquisite. And whilst we anticipate the secular pleasures of Christmas, let us eagerly celebrate the Good News as well as prayerfully preparing ourselves too for the second coming of Christ.
Deacon Mark Kelly
2024 CHRISTMAS MASSES
Tuesday December 24th(Christmas Eve)
6.30 pm Marist Sion Hall (Carols 6.00 pm)
9.00 pm St. Ita’s Church Drouin (Carols at 8.30 pm)
Wednesday December 25th(Christmas Day)
9.00 am St. Ignatius Church Neerim South
9.00 am St. Joseph’s Church Warragul
10.30 am St. Ita’s Church Drouin
2ND RITE OF RECONCILIATION BEFORE CHRISTMAS
As well as regular times there is to be a communal service for Reconciliation at St. Ita’s Church on Tuesday 17th December at 7.00 pm. All parishioners are welcome.
Sacrament of First Reconciliation 2025
Attention: Families with Students in Grade 3 and Above in 2025.
Our program for the Sacrament of First Reconciliation begins early in Term 1, 2025. If your child is Baptized and will be in Grade 3 or above in 2025, and you would like them to receive the Sacrament of First Reconciliation, we invite you to attend our Information Meeting on Thursday 6th February, at 7 pm in the Marian Room at St. Joseph’s Church in Warragul. Our guest speaker is Rev. Dr. Fr. Elio Capra, SDB. He is a knowledgeable and engaging speaker. At this gathering, we will hand out information packs, containing enrolment forms, and outline the events and details concerning this wonderful Sacrament.
For further enquiries please feel welcome to contact Liz.
Email: Warragul.sacraments@cdsale.org.au
Ph: (03) 5623 1642
