* subject to government restrictions

New dates

Term 4

• Mon, 21 Nov - P&F Final Meeting & Dinner (Wk 6)
  
• Fri, 2 Dec - Carols on the Green (Wk 7)
  
• Wed, 7 Dec - School Board (Wk 8)
• Wed, 7 Dec - Kytons Xmas Order cut off (Wk 8)
• Sat, 10 Dec - 6pm Family Mass, Mater Dei Church (Wk 8)
• Mon, 12 Dec - Reports go home (Wk 9)
• Tues, 13 Dec - Graduation Mass/ Ceremony (Wk 9)
• Thurs, 15 Dec - End of Year Assembly 1:30pm (Wk 9)
• Thurs, 15 Dec - Last Day of School 3:05pm Dismissal (Wk 9)
• Thurs, 15 Dec - Year 6 Party (Wk 9)

2023

• Mon, 30 Jan 2023 - Pupil Free Day
• Tues, 31 Jan 2023 - First Day of School

Family Mass

On the weekend we held our Family Mass at Mater Dei Church with Father Sam.  Family Masses are held on the second weekend of each month where we promote children’s participation in our Parish Masses and some children are asked to take an active part in the readings at these Masses.

Last Saturday, Carmel P, Zoe H, Aston N, Joel K, Patrich M and Ivana C read at the Family Masses and we thank them for their leadership.

Our next Family Mass will be held 6pm Saturday, 10th December at Mater Dei Church.

Power Failure on Monday

What a strange Spring season we are experiencing?  Thank you for your understanding and support last Monday when we experienced power failure at 6:40am.  A tree branch fell on electrical cables on Beaufort Street and cut power to our school and nearby houses, including the suburb of St Clair.

Luckily our power returned four hours later. In the meantime, I would like to thank Mark Daniel (Fletcher and Austin’s Dad) who brought a generator to the school to keep the office going.

Children’s University

Yesterday, over 70 children in our school took part in the Children’s University ceremony at the Bonython Hall at Adelaide University.  This year we had more than double the number of children taking part in this program and I thank Julie Bileckyj for her support of the children and their families.

I take this opportunity to congratulate all the children who received a certificate yesterday and thank you to all parents who supported their children throughout this year.

Carols on the Green (Friday 2 December)

Every two years, Whitefriars Catholic School holds a Christmas Carols Night called “Carols on the Green”.  In 2020, we were not able to invite the school community due to COVID restrictions, therefore 2018 was our last Carols on the Green.

As this is part of the school’s Performing Arts Program, we expect that all children will be present on the night with their families.  If you have a genuine reason why your child is not able to attend please speak to or email your child’s teacher to let them know.

Kind regards

Frank Congedi

St Vincent de Paul – Christmas Appeal – Christmas Hampers and Giving Tree

Our annual Christmas Hamper fundraiser is about to start, and I have been working with the Social Justice Leaders to prepare the letters that will go home shortly.

The Christmas Hampers involve collecting Christmas “banquet” items for needy families to enable them to enjoy a special meal on Christmas Day.  Your child's letter will inform you on the item we would like each family to bring in.  This year our Christmas hampers and food donations will be distributed to the St Vincent de Paul Society—Croydon Park Conference.

Our second fundraiser is our annual Giving Tree – which will be setup in the Library from the beginning of Week 6.  Families are invited to donate a new toy or new book.  There is no need to wrap gifts.  Please do not donate toy guns/ weapons, candles, beauty/ makeup and jewellery.  All of these items will be distributed to needy children in Adelaide.

Once letters have been distributed – the collection period will run for a couple weeks and finish on Tuesday the 6th of December (Week 8).  Food donations are to be taken to your child’s classroom, and toy donation to the library.

We thank our wonderful community in advance for your support of this fundraiser and your generous donation/s

End of Year Thanksgiving Mass

Our End of Year Thanksgiving Mass will be held on Tuesday the 13th of December (Week 9).  The Mass is a Whole School Mass and will be held in the Mary Mackillop Hall starting at 9:15am.  All parents, caregivers and grandparents who are able to attend are welcome to join us to celebrate.

2023 Sacrament Program – Enrolments have opened

Enrolment for the 2023 Sacramental Program have opened, and will close by the end of the 2022 school year.  The program is open to any child who is baptised Catholic, and is 8 years or older (this generally includes students who will be in Year 3 and up from the 2023 school year). If you would like to enrol in the program – please fill in one of the attached PDF files (English version or Vietnamese version) and return the form to the school office or Parish office (with a copy of your child’s Baptism certificate).  Hard copies of the forms are also available from the front office.

The program will begin in 2023 – and covers the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Confirmation and First Holy Communion.  Our first parent and student meeting will be held on Wednesday the 8th of February, 2023 at 7pm in the Mary Mackillop Hall.  More details will be provided early next year, and we should have dates for the whole program at this meeting.

• Sacramental Program Enrolment Form - Vietnamese
• Sacramental Program Enrolment Form - English

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about the program: jpage@whitefriars.catholic.edu.au

Josh Page

APRIM

In Year 2 this term we have been learning about Hans Heysen during our art lessons including his life, his career as an artist and his importance to Australian art today.  Hans was born in Germany and migrated to Australia with his family in 1884.  Hans lived with his family at The Cedars in Hahndorf, South Australia.  The family home, his studio and the beautiful gardens are still standing today and are open to visitors daily.  This is where visitors can match up the artworks Hans created to the beautiful surroundings of The Cedars.  

During our lessons we considered landscape art, figure studies and still life artworks.  We spent some time in nature sketching the beauty we could see in our natural world as well as having a particular focus on still life drawings and paintings.  We have explored some famous creations by Hans Heysen including Pumpkins and Onions and Flowers and Fruit.  We have spent some time looking at the various perspectives one could have of these objects and have developed our own drawings of a landscape, a fruit bowl and flowers in vases.  Here are some of our creations: 

In Week 1 of Term 4, students from Year 4 were invited to participate in an art competition to have their work featured in a 2023 calendar to be created by the office of Robert Simms.

The theme of the competition was ‘Transport of the Future’ and focussed on environmentally friendly transport of the future.  Almost 200 students from all across South Australia entered the competition with only 12 of the most thoughtful and creative artworks to be selected.  Impressively, of the 12 winners 5 came from Whitefriars Catholic School alone!

Huge congratulations to Nicholas K, Nimrat B, Leo C, Amelia M and Mila T for being selected to have their work published!

Thankyou to the following volunteers assisting in Term 4, Week 5 (14 Nov - 18 Nov):

Please contact Iris Mori, Canteen Manager, if you are able to assist.

I wanted to start this garden project because I like gardening and I noticed weeds growing in the garden beds next to the playground.  It all started when I asked my teacher Ms Loizos if I could do some gardening in the gardening beds so she said I will have a talk with Dennis the school groundskeeper.  I also researched which vegetables grew best in winter because we were planting in winter.  So the plants that we planted were coriander, continental parsley, curley leaf parsley, sage, thyme, dill, broccoli, purple cauliflower, garlic and cabbage lionheart.

Next, I helped Dennis prepare the garden beds.  We pulled out the weeds and softened the soil because it was hard and the plants would not have grown.  Soon after that, Dennis bought the plants for the garden beds and we then started planting.  Every day after recess I would go with Dennis and go help out with the garden.  We would water the plants and harvest our crops we also pulled out the weeds.  We also gave most of our vegetables to the canteen and I was also allowed to take some home to eat and enjoy.

The highlight of the Garden Project was spending time with Dennis and creating a productive project that was purposeful. 

By Tomas W

We acknowledge and pay our respect to the Kaurna people as the traditional owners of the land of Mikawomma on which Whitefriars Catholic School is located.  We come with open hearts and minds to listen and learn from Elders - past, present and emerging.