Week 8, Term 4 2024

Principal's Message

Dear Parents and Carers,

St Vincent De Paul Hampers

We want to extend our deep gratitude for your generous donations towards our St Vincent De Paul Christmas hampers. The generosity shown by families this year has been extraordinary! Your support truly makes a difference in the lives of those in need, and we are grateful for your kindness.

St Benedict’s is Making a Difference - Media Recognition!

We are excited to share some exciting news regarding our NAPLAN data! In the release of ACARA MySchool information, St Benedict’s Primary School has been determined by ACARA to be in their list of top 20 'making a difference' schools in the ACT. 

Our commitment to implementing the Catalyst learning framework over the past  years has yielded outstanding results. It’s clear that our strategies and support from the Catholic Education Canberra Goulburn (CECG) team, have made a significant impact on our student outcomes. The Science of Learning and the associated High Impact Teaching Strategies (HITP) have proven effective in enhancing key literacy and numeracy outcomes for our students.

A congratulations to our teachers for their dedication and commitment to continued professional development, the improvement of teaching practice and their students is second to none! I also extend congratulations to our team of support staff, who work closely with teachers to assist our student to work towards their potential.

This significant achievement of St Benedict’s Primary, has been recognised in the media. This acknowledgment reflects the dedication of our entire school community, and we should all take pride in these accomplishments and ultimately in the success and growth of our students.

Staffing News

This time of the year brings changes to the school community with families joining us and leaving us, as is the case with our staff. It is with sadness for our loss but excitement for their new adventures that we farewell some staff.

Ms Natalie Zarb is stepping down from her role of Religious Education Coordinator and is transferring to St Thomas Aquinas, Charnwood in a Classroom Teacher role. We will greatly miss Ms Zarb’s dedication and commitment to her students, her passion and expertise in leading the religious life of the school and her significant contributions as a member of the Leadership Team.

Mrs Kerry-Anne Kwong is making the move into high school, taking on the position of Inclusive Learning Coordinator at MacKillop College. For the past two and a half years, Mrs Kwong has been a very valued member of our teaching team, sharing her wealth of knowledge and expertise with colleagues.

Ms Adrienne Cullity is taking 12 months of leave away from her position as Music Teacher. Ms Cullity has reinvigorated our music program and built such enthusiasm and joy for music in our students. Her passion and expertise will be clearly evident in our upcoming Christmas Concert!

Our final farewell will be to Mrs Sue Anderson, who after 18 years at St Benedict’s is moving to Braidwood for a slower pace of life and family. Sue is part of the furniture at St Benedict’s! She has championed a love of reading at St Benedict’s and has brought many a book to life through her many dress ups. An amazing librarian, Mrs Anderson will be greatly missed. Mrs Anderson will be taking up the role of Teacher Librarian at St Bede's in Braidwood.

As we farewell a number of staff, we also welcome some new but very experienced teachers to the team at St Benedict’s:

Mrs Louisa Mitchell will join us as Religious Education Coordinator and teacher of 1/2 Blue. Mrs Mitchell is currently the Religious Education Coordinator and teacher at St Matthew’s, Page.

Mrs Megan Livingstone will be the classroom teacher of 5/6 Gold. Mrs Livingstone currently works in the Catholic Education Office as an NCCD Officer. She knows St Benedict’s very well, as for the past few years she has been working closely with our teachers to help provide the best support we can to our students.

Mrs Emma Currey will be our new Librarian. For the last 3 terms, Mrs Currey has been working with many individual and small groups of students at St Benedict’s in a learning intervention role. Mrs Currey brings with her a wealth of experience as teacher and is very excited about her new role in the library.

Our final position to be filled, the Music Teacher, has been interviewed. We were again fortunate to attract a strong field of very talented and experienced Music teachers. We look forward to announcing our appointment in the near future.

2025 Classes

Yesterday afternoon there was much excitement across the school as we held our ‘Meet the Teacher’ for our new classes next year.

Our Classroom Teachers for 2025 will be:

Kindergarten – Mrs Franca Tomadini

Year 1/2 Blue – Mrs Louisa Mitchell and Miss Madisson Doyle

Year 1/2 Gold – Miss Sarah Maple

Year 3/4 Blue – Mrs Karen Haines and Mrs Anne White

Year 3/4 Gold – Mrs Tracey Jenkins

Year 5/6 Blue – Mrs Laura Webb

Year 5/6 Gold – Mrs Megan Livingston

Semester Reports

School reports will go live on Compass this Friday afternoon. These reports will provide valuable insights into your child's achievements this semester.

End of Year Events

Today we celebrate the Advent Liturgy (led by our Kindergarten to Year 2 students) at 10am in the school hall. The liturgy provided a wonderful opportunity for us to come together as a community in prayer and anticipation.

Next week we have some particularly significant events for our Year 6 students as they celebrate their Graduation during our End of Year Mass and their Graduation dinner on Wednesday. This will be a memorable time for our graduating class and their families!

Next Wednesday we also have our Fun Days: Years K-5 will be attending the movies and Year 6 has their special Fun Day at Holey Moley! We are all looking forward to a great day, celebrating the year.

The Season of Advent

We are in the season of Advent, a time of hopeful anticipation and joyful preparation for the celebration of Christmas. Advent and Christmas offer us the opportunity to prayerfully commemorate the birth of Jesus, to become more aware of God’s presence in our everyday lives and to reflect on the second coming of Jesus at the end of time.

Prayer for Advent

Almighty God, we begin this Advent Season as an ‘Advent People’ – people of hope, ready to do your will. Let your blessing come upon us as we light our Advent wreath. May it turn our hearts to you in the days ahead. Grant us the peace and joy we long for, as we await the coming of your Son with patient hearts. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Come, Lord Jesus,

Come, Lord Jesus,

Come, Lord Jesus!

Amen

Thank you for your continued support and involvement in our school community. Wishing everyone a wonderful end to the school year as we draw closer to Christmas. 

Yours in partnership,

Alana Quirk

Principal's Reminders

Last day of Term 4 is Monday 16th December

2025 Back to school dates 

Students return on Tuesday 4th February 2025.

Kindergarten students will have their rest days on Wednesdays 5th and 12th February.

From the Assistant Principal

As we approach Christmas and the school holidays, there is a lot of anticipation, and along with this we can also experience some stress. The following article has tips to help all members of the family stay connected, take care of each other and thrive through the holidays.

Spotlight on Religious Education

St Vincent de Paul Christmas Food Hampers

Thank you to everyone who donated to the St Vincent de Paul Christmas Food Hampers. It was our biggest collection to date! These donations will be used to create special Christmas hampers that will be distributed to those in need in our local community. As Fr Chris said at Mass, we may never meet those who we have helped through our donations, but the recipients will know that our works of charity were done with great love and without expectation.

School Advent Liturgy

Thank you to everyone who came and celebrated our special school Advent Liturgy. It was a beautiful gathering of grateful hearts and prayerful reflection. Each day at morning assembly a class will be sharing a prayer of thanksgiving for Jesus in response to the 'Letters from God' in our liturgy, to continue to prepare our hearts for this Christmas season. 

1st week of Advent: The Candle of Hope

We light the first candle, candle of hope to proclaim that God's light is coming into the world. This week, we recall the hope we have in Christ. The prophets of Israel all spoke of the coming of Christ, of how a saviour would be born, a king in the line of David. They spoke of how he would rule the world wisely and bless all nations. 

As we begin this Advent Season as an 'Advent People' - people of hope, ready to do God's will, we ask for His blessings to come upon us and turn our hearts to Him in the days ahead. We pray for peace and joy that we long  for, as we await the coming of God's Son with patient hearts. We ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Family Advent Calendar

Advent reminds us that we can look forward to and prepare for the coming of Christ at Christmas. It is a season of so many things: of expectation, reflection, hope and trust. It is important that we involve our children in this ritual of preparing, helping them too, to be ready for the gift of Jesus - the real reason for the season! Attached is a wonderful family Advent and Christmas Calendar resource from the Archdiocese of Brisbane (Evangelisation Brisbane). These calendars include fun and faith-filled ways to invite children and families into the upcoming liturgical seasons of Advent and Christmas, including QR code links to guided prayers. We hope that you enjoy using these to connect as a family and with your community in the coming weeks.

Dates to Remember

Out and About at St Benny's

Kinder playing with our new sports equipment!

Advent Liturgy

Benny's News

Happy Birthday

Ways of Being Awards

Counsellor's Corner

Community News