St Alipius Parish School Newsletter

We acknowledge the Wathaurong people who are the traditional owners of this land and pay our respects to their elders past, present and emerging.

September                                                                                                                                                              October

Earlier this term our Foundation students celebrated 100 (and a bit) Days of Prep.  A visit from our centenarians Mavis, Betty and Stanley was a highlight.  What a joy to watch children manipulating 100 beads, 100 stickers, '100' crowns whilst they were dressed up in all sorts of costumes.

In Week 5 our One/Two Learning Community treated us to a celebration of the diversity of our community and of Australia in their 'Multicultural Show'.  Through dance, song, word and movement they shared a story of inclusion and connection and it was fabulous!  One of the most precious aspects of this performance was the engaging of families in sharing their knowledge and wisdom about their cultures.  Several of our families generously gave of their time to teach dances, movement, songs and language to support all our children to learn about and appreciate the wealth that cultural diversity provides our country.  I congratulate: 

• The staff in 1/2;  Belinda, Claire, Philip, Sam, Jenny, Marianne and Olivia
• Adam Cameron who assisted with musical backup
• The parents who helped with costumes and cultural elements 

What a wonderful collaboration!

Our Feast Day on Monday, 19th August was an amazing celebration of our past, present and future as a community dedicated to building positive relationships over a period of 166 years. 

Linking our Feast Day to a celebration of grandparents and special friends has become a 'tradition' at St Alipius, what a fabulous celebration of past and future, wisdom and promise, experience and youth, and the strength of loving relationships. 

So many grandparents and special friends joined us for our liturgy, morning tea and family group activities.

Thanks to Caitee and Jason for preparing the liturgy, and our staff team for providing morning tea of scones and slices and for organising interesting activities for children and their special people.

What a blast - and a celebration of Japanese culture and language.

Adam's work in preparing our 5/6 students paid off in bucket loads as they led their groups in activities including dance, art, music, karate, origami, story and games.

It is always a treat to be entertained by our Taiko Team - such amazing commitment and collaboration.

We thank Sensei Garry Oliver for joining us to lead a demonstration in Kendo - an ancient form of Martial Arts - Pepper Sharman is a student of Kendo and joined the demo team.

I'm not sure how many Fathers and Grandfathers joined us for breakfast on 30th August, but our Mums cooked over 200 Egg and Bacon Rolls and 300 Pancakes.  The McInerney Centre was abuzz with dads, granddads and kids chatting and reading stories over breakfast.  The sunshine enabled families to get outside for a quick game of soccer or basketball before re-gathering  for our special prayer time.

Such a great celebration!

Deb Clark has formed an indigenous choir at St Alipius - and they are amazing!  Their first gig was at the Mining Exchange last Saturday evening when they sang at the launch of an exhibition for the Foto Biennale!

The applause from adults and officials in attendance was resounding.

At 2.30pm this Saturday our choir will join a massed student choir to sing at the Wendouree Performing Arts Centre.  In The Boite’s 40th year and the International year of Indigenous Languages, the Boite Schools Chorus will be working with Jessica Hitchcock and Deborah Cheetham AO from Short Black Opera, exploring the Dhungala Choral Connection Song Book.