Dear Parents,
During the season of Advent we are reminded to say ‘yes’. Scripture Scholar Richard Leonard reminds us as we all wait together in line this Advent let's say yes to all that salvation holds for us: yes to God's personal love; yes to Jesus' kingdom of justice and peace; yes to every opportunity to serve the Gospel and yes to knowing that our God is a companion to us every step of our journey, even in the most unexpected ways. Greg Sunter another scripture scholar challenges us to live the Gospel throughout the season of Advent – Make way! Advent is a season of preparation, making way for the love of God in our lives. The call to make a way for the Lord is a call to clear and remove the obstacles in our lives that are directing the love of God around us and allow it instead to flow directly through us.
Our Christmas whole school liturgy will be held next Wednesday evening [11th December] commencing at 6:30pm. The liturgy will be facilitated by the well known Australian Liturgist and song writer John Burland. John has been writing and performing for the last two decades in many of our schools across the country. At CTK we use his music in many of our liturgies and masses. This year’s celebration will be take the form of a “liturgy” that tells the story of Advent and Christmas through scripture and music and will be held in the church. John Burland will work with each grade throughout the day putting the finishing touches to the songs and movements the children are currently working on to reflect on our advent journey as we prepare for Christmas. As the liturgy will be held in the church there will be no need to bring any food or drink, blankets or chairs as has been the case in previous years. This year’s event is a “different” approach to our previous Christmas celebrations providing the children with a more traditional scriptural approach to celebrating the Christmas story. Details regarding what the children need to wear have been distributed in the last week. If you have any inquiries or questions regarding the liturgy, please contact the school office.
Reports for each student will be distributed next Wednesday 11th December. It is imperative you take the time to sit down with your child and discuss their report before the end of the term. This discussion would revolve around highlighting and acknowledging their achievements for the semester as well as planning how they are going to achieve success with the areas for development for next year put forward by their teachers. Celebrating achievement and planning on how to improve your child’s learning for the next scholastic year are the two major focuses as we conclude school for 2019. Congratulations to all our students on the achievements they have made with their learning throughout the year.
The annual swimming carnival will be held on Tuesday 17th December [Week 10] at Blacktown pool. All children from years 3-5 will attend. Children in year two who turn 8 years of age in 2019 who are able to swim 50 metres may choose to attend the carnival also. The carnival has emerged in recent years as a selection trial for the Hills Zone swimming carnival that will be held in February in 2020. Children in Kindergarten, Year 1 and those children in year two who do not attend the carnival will remain at school and participate in tabloid sports and activity day. Year 6 school leaders will attend the swimming carnival to assist as officials etc. The remainder of our year six students will remain at school to assist our younger children participate in the tabloid day. We only have access to one pool at Blacktown hence the reasons for the changes to which students actually attend the carnival. There is no opportunity for novelty events to be held at the carnival because of our limited access to the Olympic pool only.
On Friday 13th December the children will meet their teachers for 2020 as part of our changeover session commencing at 2pm. New Yr1-Yr6 students enrolled for CTK next year have been invited to attend to meet their classmates and teachers for the new year. Students in each grade will receive a pre-requisite list for 2020 during the afternoon session.
At this time of year, we have parents making inquiries regarding enrolment for next year. To assist in finalising classes and enrolment numbers for next year we need to know of any children who are not returning to CTK in 2020. Please advise the school via email or written letter by Wednesday 11th December if your child / children will not be returning to CTK in 2020.
Please note that of an afternoon on the Car Wash side of Statham Ave, Parents are parking their vehicles in a NO PARKING ZONE during school pick up times. People parking in this NO PARKING ZONE are obstructing vehicles travelling north up Statham Avenue who are trying to get around the queue line up to turn right into the school to pick up their children. Please be responsible and obey these signs as council parking inspectors randomly turn up of an afternoon and are booking people parked in these NO PARKING ZONES and NO STOPPING ZONES. Thank you.
Our final newsletter for the year will be published on Friday 13th December.
Have a great week!
Tony Hughes
Principal CTK