The third Sunday of Advent Joy - As we kindle the flame on this candle, may a spirit of love be kindled in our hearts.

JAYDEN GRAY - Making a beautiful origami box in Japanes

   Our Vision ‘As partners in Catholic Education and open to God’s presence, we pursue fullness of life for all.’

                    Congratulations to our graduating Year 6 children.

           Hamish, Bilyana, Hannah-Jayne, Max, Mako, Zarli, Elijah, Ebony, Lucy, Patrick,
          Thomas, Tristan, Harrison, Lawson, Josephine, Phoebe, Suraya, Hannah, Rebecca,
            Olivia, Connor, Millie, Manyiel, Matilda, Duncan, Mia, Hayley, Kate, Blessing,
                  Adrienne, Tatym, Angelina, Ella, Kari, Jordan, Haydn and Hayden.
     We wish you the very best as you continue your educational journey to secondary school.

          The third Sunday of Advent                                                 Joy
   As we kindle the flame on this candle, may a spirit of love be kindled in our hearts.

Dear Families,

Merry Christmas to all St Aloysius Families, Students and Staff.
What an amazing year. As we come to a very different end to the year next Tuesday, I wish to thank everyone within
the St Aloysius’ School community for their efforts in maintaining focus on the children and their learning needs this
year. Throughout the school, we will have had students that were taught by parents, by grandparents, aunties and
uncles, older siblings as well as their teachers at home and at school. It has been a team effort and I am very proud
of everyone for their determination, adaptability and resilience.

May I offer a sincere note of thanks to our amazing school staff. This year we called upon our school Leadership
Team like never before. This team assists me in managing the school in partnership with staff. Thanks to Narelle Cox
our Deputy Principal for her calm and gentle leadership that is on display every day and in every interaction with the
children of the school. Thanks to Bernadette Lynch, our faith leader within the school, who has had an enormous
year juggling school and parish restrictions and protocols. Bernadette continued to lead our Catholic school by her
words and actions. And as we enter Advent, we are welcomed each day by another beautiful and meaningful display
in our foyer, demonstrating her commitment to the community. Jo Townsend, Shay King and Georgia Watts provided
careful consideration of classroom matters, ensuring our home learning programs were first class and being ready
to assist in any way necessary to support staff. We have a wonderful Leadership Team and I am proud of the work
we have achieved together this year.

Most parents will be aware of the work Lesley Brown and Robert Rosenow do in the office area. This year they have
been asked to go way beyond their usual duties. Lesley worked tirelessly to help update our school website and to
assist in making learning accessible to families. Robert oversaw the rollout of Chromebooks and iPads to families.
This ensured that children could work from home with confidence. Both were huge tasks but were completed
competently and with minimal fuss, allowing others to get on with their work. Thanks Lesley and Robert for your
support and amazing contributions this year.

Our Teachers and Learning Support Officers certainly have faced a very different and exhausting year. The situation
changed rapidly and they often didn’t know what they were facing from week to week. They responded to every
challenge and came together to support each other in delivering home and onsite learning. The LSO’s led the charge
at school, delivering the home learning at school to those children who had parents at work or who needed some
extra assistance to access the learning. The Teachers worked together to create videos of learning, conduct Google
Meetings and monitor wellbeing of their students. We were all very proud of our Home Learning Google Site, that
has been supported greatly by Georgia Watts, Natasha Munro, Mitch McCrow and Hannah Bruty through their ICT
team. Thanks to all staff for caring so much for the children that you put your own interests aside to work together
and deliver a first class learning platform for our students. Well done!

Our parents and carers have had an extraordinary year as well. You know how hard it has been for you and we have
probably only experienced a fraction of the stress and pressure you have experienced at home. Well done on taking
on the Home Learning tasks, for supporting your children and for being gentle with our school staff during this time.
We felt your support and this inspired us to go further for your children.

Everyone throughout the world has been touched by the COVID virus this year. The threat is not over but together
we have accepted the challenges that have arisen and we have met them. Our children, YOUR CHILDREN, will be
stronger for having lived through this experience. They now know that life isn’t always easy, that good things come
to those who work hard, that challenges provide opportunities and change, and that together we can help and
support each other through any crisis.

What an extraordinary year, and what an extraordinary school community we have shared and experienced at St
Aloysius’ School in 2020. On behalf of our staff, I wish every family a safe, happy and Holy Christmas. We do not
know what next year will bring but together we can look forward to facing any challenges together, caring for each
other and appreciating every blessing we share.

Thanks for everything this year and   Merry Christmas to you all!
Michael Kennedy

News and Events

Farewelling Fr Kevin
This afternoon, staff will thank and say farewell to Fr Kevin Maloney who is moving to new roles in 2021. Fr Kevin
has been parish priest of St Aloysius’ Parish for the past six years. He has been a wonderful support to school staff,
students and families throughout that time. Fr Kevin has lived within our community, and has enjoyed his time with
us. We wish Fr Kevin all the best as he continues his role as Vicar General of the Diocese of Ballarat as well as caring
for the priests and parishes in the diocese. Fr Kevin will officially commence his new role in January. At that time we
will be welcoming Fr Eugene McKinnon who replaces Fr Kevin. We look forward to meeting and working with Fr
Eugene in the new year. Thanks for everything Fr Kevin, Good Luck, Good Health and God Bless.

Classes for 2021
Student classroom placements, Teacher roles and Learning Support Officer placements have been finalised for 2021.
Below is a list of staff placements. Students will be meeting their 2021 school teacher on Friday as we share ‘Going
Up’ time together. Those students who receive support through an LSO will be introduced to that staff member in
order to reduce anxiety of any changes. We look forward to welcoming back Ally Mullany and wish Natasha Munro
all the best as she moves to St Thomas Moore School next year.

St Aloysius Staffing 2021
Michael Kennedy        Principal
Narelle Cox            Deputy Principal / Learning Diversity Leader
Bernadette Lynch       Religious Education Leader
Amy Powell             Pastoral Care
Robert Rosenow         Business Manager
Lesley Brown           Administration / Compliance Officer
Darren Gillespie       Maintenance

Kaitlin Hare           Classroom Teacher (Foundation H) / Mathematics Team
Georgia Watts          Classroom Teacher (Foundation W) / ICT Leader
Hannah Bruty           Classroom Teacher (1/2B)
Leah Gaylor            Classroom Teacher (1/2G)
Katherine Peterken     Classroom Teacher (1/2P)
Bev Baxter             Classroom Teacher (3/4B)
Ally Mullany           Classroom Teacher (3/4M)
Shay King              Classroom Teacher (3/4K) / Wellbeing Leader
Anne Enright           Classroom Teacher (5/6E)
Mitch McCrow           Classroom Teacher (5/6M)
Jo Townsend            Classroom Teacher (5/6T) / Learning & Teaching Leader

Simone Bawden          Specialist Teacher – LOTE Japanese
Jodie Listion          Specialist Teacher – Physical Education / Events
Claire McAdie          Specialist Teacher – Science Technology Engineering Arts and Maths (STEAM)
Tamara Wilson          Junior Performing Arts – Teacher Support
Rebecca Atkinson       Reading Recovery / EMU

Belinda Cooper         Learning Support Officer & SAKG
Clare Quick            Learning Support Officer & SAKG
Kim Bott               Learning Support Officer
Jenni Daly             Learning Support Officer
Annie McCartin         Learning Support Officer
Ebonie McSparron       Learning Support Officer
Courtney McCrow        Learning Support Officer
Beth Kett              Learning Support Officer
Nichola Mead           Learning Support Officer

News and Events

Leaving Families
Next week, as a number of our children finish their primary school journey at St Aloysius we farewell our leaving
families and express our thanks for the many contributions they have made to our school community –

       Braeckmans family, Coelho family, Dove family, Gradkowski family, Harris family, Hoare family,
       Kerr family, King family, Magee family, Richardson family, Sanders family, Sanezky family,
       Townsend family, Tute family and Walsh family.

Semester 2 Student Reports
The Semester 2 Student Reports will be available for parents and carers to access via PAM (Parent Access Module)
this Friday, 11 December. If you require assistance with PAM please contact the school office.

End of Year Liturgy
On Tuesday, 15 December we will gather, students and staff for an outdoor Liturgy to celebrate the end of the 2020
school year. We understand that it is unfortunate that our families will not be able to attend but we must adhere to
the current COVID safe guidelines. Thank you for your understanding.

Last day of school for the children - Tuesday, 15 December - 3:20pm dismissal
Next Tuesday, 15 December is the final day of 2020 for our students. We well be finishing at 3:20pm (our regular
dismissal time) on Tuesday.

CRAZY CAMEL products are now ready to view and order!
Our Crazy Camel images are now uploaded available for families to view online and order.
We are hoping to have these back to school early next week to distribute to families.

If you would like to order any further products, you will need to contact Crazy Camel
Direct -

Lost Property
We have a number of unnamed and unclaimed items in our lost property cupboard. If your child has misplaced a
uniform item, please ask them to have a look through the cupboard. If any parents or carers would prefer to have a
look through lost property cupboard, please enquire at the school office, as we would be pleased to reunite some
of these items with owners. Any remaining items at the end of the school year will be donated to our second hand
uniform stock.

St Aloysius School – Second-hand Uniform Shop
Our second hand uniform cupboard has a selection of uniform items for sale. If you are after a particular item please
feel free to message Bron Kennon on 0409 162 353 (any school day between 2:30-3:20pm) or contact the school
office. If you would like to sell an item, clean, labelled (attached envelope with name, item description and price)
cane be left at the school office.

Thank you to Bron for co-ordinating this service.

Some beautiful photos of the children enjoying their learning.

Los

 Our Year 6 children had a great time at Adventure Park on Monday, making the most of their day despite the overcast sky
 and chilly temperature. They were happy to finally enjoy an excursion together after what has been a very different school
 year. We really do have a beautiful bunch of Year 6 children … we will miss them!
 A special mention to our teachers after Monday’s excursion - well done to Ms Townsend and Mr McCrow apparently you
 were the only teachers at the park brave enough to get in the water!

Our Community

Congratulations
Josh ‘Mr Z’, enjoyed a wonderful wedding celebration yesterday.
Our congratulations to you both, Josh and Meg, we wish you every
happiness together!

                                 St Aloysius Parish - Christmas Liturgies
                                Christmas Eve Mass - Thursday 24th December 2020
      St. Aloysius Redan, School Auditorium (max. 150 people) & School Grounds (max. 350 people) - 6.00pm
                              St. James Church Sebastopol (max. 160 People) - 7.30pm
                                  St. Brigid’s Snake Valley (max. 48 People) - 6.00pm
                                      St. John’s Skipton (max. 48 People) - 7.30pm

                                   Christmas Day Mass - Friday 25th December 2020
                               St. James Church Sebastopol (max. 160 People) - 9.00am
                                      St. Peter’s Linton (max. 38 People) - 9.00am

         New Year’s Day Mass - Friday 1st January 2021, St. James, Sebastopol (max. 160 People) at 9.30am

           (Please note – max. numbers stated are in line with current government COVID safe guidelines)

  In order to comply with the Government CODIV-19 number restrictions, you must ring, text or email to register
              a place for any of the above Masses – Bernadette, Parish Coordinator - 0455 212 123

                                                                       Joy
                                                                       THE SEASON OF ADVENT

Our community

Congratulations
Congratulations to Mako, who has been slected to represent Ballarat in the Under 13s
Country Week Cricket Tournament!

What a great experience to look forward to Mako!

A marathon effort for a good cause!
Emma Donald (Charlie (3/4BA) and Annabelles’ (5/6E) mum) is
about to run her first double marathon. Emma is running to raise
awareness of mental health and to fundraise to support the work of
Beyond Blue.

You can read about Emma’s story and this wonderful endeavour by
visiting -

https://individual-fundraiser-
ongoing.everydayhero.com/au/emma-s-ultra-rail-trail-challenge

Making a Scene at Christmas
In this year of COVID, travelling around the world is but a dream. Making a Scene at Christmas, a display of over 500
Christmas Nativities, can take you around the world and through time using the lens of hand-crafted Nativities.
Currently we have Nativities from Australia, Asia, Europe, Africa and North and South America.
We have nativity related artefacts (coins) that are 2000 years old, nativities made of different materials including
bullets and bullet shells, recycled potato chip packets, spark plugs, pewter, china, wood and our latest acquisition is
a 1.2 m high wooden Herod about 100 years old that came from a carousel in NY State. Making A Scene at Christmas
will be on display in The Bridge Mall from December 17 - 20, All welcome!

Delacombe After School and Vacation Care
For more information regarding the Delacombe After School Hours and Vacation Care (DASH) www.delacombeps.vic.gov.au

TERM 4        Monday               Tuesday              Wednesday              Thursday        Friday        Sat/Sun
                           7                  8                       9                   10            11        12/13
          Year 6
Week 10   Excursion                                Foundation
          Adventure Park                           Excursion Kelly        Year 6 Graduation
          Geelong                                  Sports Vic Park.

                       14                     15
                               Last Day of Term
Week 11                        for students
                               3:20pm
                               dismissal