Friday night’s P&F Cocktail Evening was an overwhelming success with a great turn out by many of our families. All year groups were represented as well as a few of our teachers who managed to drop in for a while. There were several lucky door prizes won by a few lucky families, most notably the Roar and Snore voucher for Taronga Zoo which went to the Costi family. Congratulations! I would like to thank once again the P&F committee for their fantastic efforts in putting together such a wonderful event. We look forward to doing it again next year, earlier and with even more of our parent community in attendance. 

Open Day 

Our school will be hosting the second Open Day for the year on Monday morning. It coincides with a few of the local public schools that are holding open days around this time of year. We have a few registrations of people attending but I ask that if you know of anyone still looking for a school in 2022, to recommend St Kieran’s to them and to come along to see for themselves what a great school it is. Assembly will take place before school as usual however we will hold the Athletics Ribbon Ceremony straight after morning tea. Parents are welcome to attend. 

Sacrament of Confirmation 

The Sacramental Coordinator of North Harbour Parish, Janette Davidson, has asked us to remind Year 3 parents of the upcoming sacramental meeting next week. There are quite a few families that still haven't enrolled, and this will be the last opportunity before the program begins. No late enrolments will be accepted. More information regarding the program can be found in the Parish section of this newsletter.  

Shared Space 

At last week’s P&F meeting, the subject of Shared Space was raised, particularly its’ limited use at lunchtimes. The restricted availability of staff to supervise the area has meant that we cannot open the space as often as we would wish, however, with some additional funding, we have managed to provide an extra teacher’s aide to take on some extra lunch duties. This enables a teacher to supervise the area a few days a week. Starting next Monday, Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 will be able to access the play area on different days. 

Prayers 

I ask you to keep two of our families in your prayers over the weekend. Mia L’s (Year 2) grandmother sadly passed away late yesterday and Mrs Leydon’s husband has been very sick during the past week. As a Catholic community we keep all of those who are sick and suffering in our prayers during this time. 

God bless, 

   Michael Gallagher
   Principal

Vinnies Winter Sleepout
We wish our Stage 3 students a warm and dry evening for their Vinnies Winter Sleep Out this evening.  They will be enjoying a cup of tomato or chicken soup for their supper. No doubt they will appreciate their warm homes and cosy beds when they get home.

Congratulations to those students who have organised a fundraising cookie sale and taken on odd jobs around the home in order to raise a donation to the SVDP Winter Appeal.

A huge THANK YOU to all the families who have donated blankets, sleeping bags and warm woollen clothes to the donation boxes in the foyer of the school. If you would like to volunteer to take our donations to SVDP  at 24 Roger St, Brookvale please let the office know.

Another round of THANK YOUs to the families who have contributed money to St Vincent De Paul Winter Appeal via QKr. Monetary donations will go toward paying heating, food and rent costs of those unable to do so. 

Finally, thank you to the teachers who have prepared the students for their sleepout by arranging guest speakers, information gathering about homelessness and viewing the whole topic through the eyes of “Love your Neighbour”. Thank you for giving up your Friday evening to supervise the student’s sleepout.  
 
This year we celebrate 200 years of Catholic Education in Australia. 
The first Catholic school in Australia was founded in October 1820 by Irish Catholic priest John Therry. The school, which Catholic historians believe was in Hunter Street, Parramatta, taught 31 students.



What started with education for the poor has grown into Catholic independent and diocesean schools, such as St Kieran’s. As with every community we have experienced joy and sorrow, highs and lows, good and bad. However, we have done so together and in more recent years we have done so with honesty.  

For more information about the past 200 years of Catholic Education in Australia please use the links below.

• 200 Reasons to sing. A video celebration 200 Years of Catholic Education in Australia.
• A FANTASTIC TIMELINE about Catholic Education in Australia showing the arrival of different religious groups and their accomplishments in Australia. An outstanding resource for High School students.

A Prayer for our students preparing for their Confirmation 
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth. AMEN


 
Yours in Religious Education,
     Mrs Kerrie Wetzlar

Last weekend Aoife and Sienna from Year 5/6 made brownies and cookies and sold them in the local neighbourhood to raise money for the appeal on Friday. They practised their sales pitch and created a poster to explain the cause and the experience they will get from the sleep out. Their first batch sold out fast so they came home to make more!

In one Sunday afternoon they made $152.36.  Well done girls, your baking looks delicious.  Fantastic work on caring and thinking of those less fortunate.

Congratulations to April U who was recently selected from the Broken Bay team to represent Polding at the NSW PSSA in August.  Well done April and good luck in August.

If you have a child starting in 2022 please forward their application to the school as soon as possible.  Applications are available from the school website.