DIY eNews

 There are many functions of a school which rely on parent volunteers for their smooth operation.

The staff at Corpus Christi would like to thank all our volunteers for ensuring that services such as canteen, sports carnivals, reading groups, fund raisers, Mothers' and Fathers' Day stalls to name but a few, all proceed smoothly.

Thankyou all for your efforts throughout 2023. We look forward to seeing you all back at school in the New Year. 

Congratulations to our Year 6 award winners whose awards were announced and presented at Graduation Mass last Friday.

Sharon Claydon Award for Leadership - Jonah Lamont

Sportsperson of the Year - Dante Spadari

Christian Leadership - Angelina Bruno-Jackson

Resilience Award - Emily Taylor

Student of the Year - Rubin Puddephatt

Corpus Christi recently donated books from a preloved reading scheme to the Sione Foundation.

The Sione Foundation was founded by Tongan football star Sione Finefeuiaki out of a strong desire to give back to his community. The books, which were gratefully received by the Foundation's representative Mr Geoff Chapman, will be sent to Tonga and Pacific communities.

More information can be found at the Foundation's website. 

 https://sionesfoundation.com.au/

The Corpus Christi community would like to acknowledge and farewell the following families who will be leaving us this year either through graduation or relocation:

Berry family      Connell family     Christensen family     

Fischer family     Freeman family     Hatherall family     Hudson family     

Hughes family     Laffrey family     Lamont family     Mace family     

Martin family       Pell family     Puddephatt family     Spadari family     

Taylor family        Waldron family     Walton family     Ward family

Thankyou for supporting Corpus Christi and being a valuable part of our community. We trust that you remember your years at Corpus Christi with fondness and wish you well in new schools and locations in the future.

P&F Thank you

The Parents and Friends Association and the whole school community would like to thank and pay tribute to P&F members who will be finishing at Corpus Christi this year.

Roberta Colombo, Kathryn Walton and Sophia Wooldridge who all have students graduating year 6, have been long term members of the P&F. They've attended numerous meetings, fulfilled various executive positions, helped organise fundraisers, run mango drives, contributed to newsletters, volunteered/supervised in the canteen, organised the uniform shop and generally been an amazing support to the school.

We'd also like to acknowledge Brigitte Hudson and Tracey Pell who also have students graduating from Year 6. Brigette and Tracey the Mother's Day Stall for quite a few years

We thank all these ladies, and their families, for their unselfish contribution to the school community over their many years of involvement. Volunteers such as these have played major roles in ensuring that Corpus Christi is a supportive and welcoming community which maintains a great reputation.

To assist parents with back to school ordersThe uniform will be opened on Tuesday 30th January and Wed 31st January. Qkr! is currently closed but will be opened for orders in early January.

Sports Uniform 2024

As families may soon start to think about uniforms for 2024, be advised that sports uniform will again be worn on Wednesday and Friday (unless notified otherwise) next year.

Pre-Loved Uniforms

The Uniform Shop has a lot of pre-loved stock available for free or a small donation. Please take a look on Friday mornings between 8:30 and 9:00 am.

In case families are already preparing for 2024, parents and carers of students who will be in Years 3 and 5 are advised that NAPLAN will be administered between Wednesday 13th March and Monday, 25th March, 2024. While all the dates in this timeframe aren't required for NAPLAN, please do your best to avoid this period when planning holidays for 2024.

The key dates for the start of classes next year have been gazetted. Please note that the first day for Years 1 - 6 will be Thursday 1st February.

The First day for Kindergarten will be Monday 5th February.

Tuesday      30/1 - Teachers Return - Curriculum Planning

Wednesday 31/1 -  Teachers only - School Governance Day

Thursday  1/2 -   Years 1 - 6 start

Friday       2/2 - Years 1-6   

Monday     5/2 - All students return. First day for Kindergarten!

Thank you to all Corpus Christi families and students for generously donating to our St Vincent De Paul Christmas Appeal. These donations will go directy to the St Vincent De Paul Society to support people in need of a helping hand around our local area.

All new K-2 syllabus documents for English and mathematics are being trialled by ourteachers now. Today we met with our staff teams to plot our course

 for the new syllabus implementation for 2023. The teachers are enthusiastic about these programs, and we are looking forward to the draft syllabus for years three to six in 2023.

I had the privilege this week of attending the NESA teacher education network conference in Sydney as a representative of the hunter region. At this conference, I presented the work we piloted here at Corpus Christi this year. As the Hunter area team we showcased our schools' and students' learning and responsiveness to the new syllabus.

Public Speaking

Congratulations to our public speaking finalists who represented Corpus Christi at Raymond terrace last week. Our students from K-6 had to prepare a speech quickly, and our older children also had to write and deliver an impromptu speech. All students did very well under the challenging circumstances, thanks to Mrs Pois for her support on the day.

School Fees  

As we approach the last term of the year, please be mindful that fees are due and payable by the Wednesday 30 November.  

2022 School Fees have been invoiced for the full school year. 

Where can I view my balance? 

Email: Statements are emailed monthly and include payments made during the billing month. 

Compass: Current balances are available to fee payers 

Contact the office: Please contact the office and Vanessa can organsie a current statement. 

If you nominated to pay your schools fees in full this payment was due by 30 June 2022. If your school fee account has not been finalised, it is considered to be in arrears, the school will be in contact. 

If paying by installment, your payment needs to be finalised by 30 November 2022. Our preferred method of payment is either BPay or direct debit. 

If you have contacted our school office and are on a payment arrangement this may not apply to you. 

A new Direct Debit can be established or an amendment to existing direct debit is an option, please complete the form on the Catholic Development Fund website www.CDFmn.com.au. 

For those families experiencing financial hardship, please contact the school office for an appointment with the Principal, to arrange a mutually agreed payment plan. 

An event for the Diocesan Pastoral Contribution has been created, this is a voluntary fee that assists the Diocesan Pastoral Support Programs, you can elect to pay or decline via the Compass Parent Portal. 

Facilities Update

We are in the process of renovating our admin building. Most of this work has come from our water damage earlier in the year, we are now repainting, recarpeting and refurbishing. Things will slowly return to 'normal', but I thank parents for their patience.

As we continue these renovations, availability to the office is limited. Vanessa is always available by phone or e-mail; this may be easier in the next week as we transition back into the office once the painters have completed their work.

In 2023 we are excited to put brand-new furniture into each classroom. We can provide brand new desks and chairs in each room through a grant from the Catholic Schools Office. Some other flexible learning furniture will supplement this as the year moves ahead. We are also in the process of finalising some IT upgrades across the school.

Diocesan Staff Visit

Thank you to our year six leaders for their fantastic work with our Diocesan Staff Immersion visit. The visit was part of the Holy Trinity Blackbutt Northh parish tour. Our leaders welcomed our visitors from Catholic Care, the CSO and Diocesan shared services. Our year six students, with the help of year five, put our visitors through the paces and challenged them to a Kahoot quiz about the history of our school, St Dominic, the Dominican sisters and Waratah. Our year six students were complimented on their respectful interactions, willingness to help our guests, and developing some tricky questions. Well done, year 6.