Save these Dates

Two dates for your calendar:

Monday February 2 2015: First day for all students K-6 at St Aloysius

Monday March 9 2015: Official Opening Celebrations for St Aloysius Catholic Primary School

What a wonderful way to start Catholic Schools Week 2015!

First Staff Site Visit

Most of the 2015 St Aloysius Staff were able to attend a site visit yesterday to view the progress of our school as we get ready for our opening in 2015.

Neighbourhood Watch!

Please help us look after our school. Last Saturday unauthorised persons entered our building site and one of our windows was damaged. We hope St Aloysius families who are visiting the site and notice any suspicious behaviour will contact the Site Manager:

Dane Fitzmayer on 0423 895 566

More Building News

Our Chapel and Hall are currently having the walls lined with wood panelling. The wood flooring has also arrived.

The Canteen is almost complete. Thank you to the parents who have completed our Canteen survey.

The Staffroom and temporary Admin building is the first to be carpeted.

The amphitheatre outside the Hall is also underway!

The Kinder and Year 1 classrooms are getting close to completion.

Kinder Orientation

Fun was had by all!

Before and After School Care

Welcome to Camp Australia who will be providing our Before and After School Care Service from 2015.

Check out their website at http://www.campaustralia.com.au/
Families will be able to register after the Parent Information session at 6pm on Monday 17th November

Please take the time to read these references for Camp Australia services:

I just wanted to write to commend you on your service. I have been using the after school care service run by Camp Australia at St Thomas Catholic Primary School Willoughby for approx 12 months. My son Billy really enjoys the activities and the Co-ordinator Luke is fantastic. He is always very friendly to the students and provides an engaging, fun program.

 As a parent, it’s not always easy leaving your child in the care of others, however the staff at Camp Australia are nurturing and very caring. Camp Australia is a professional organisation who really cares for each individual child.

We are so happy with the service and I am pleased to read in the school newsletter that Camp Australia has extended their partnership with the school. I have no hesitation in recommending Camp Australia.

Wenona School has been a proud partner with Camp Australia in the provision of After School Care since 2008. The committed Staff working in the program are very caring and parents are extremely satisfied with the professional service offered. Camp Australia sets high expectations and is committed to Wenona’s school values.

St Thomas Catholic Primary School - Willoughby have partnered with Camp Australia in the provision of before and after school care since 2008. The school community have found Camp Australia to be an outstanding company during this time.
The students, parents and staff are very happy with the professional service and care provided for the St Thomas children.
The co-ordinator provides an engaging, safe and fun program and caters for the individual needs of students who attend the service. He has an excellent rapport with parents and the school community and is only to willing to change the program if need be.

The Wakehurst Public School Community has partnered with Camp Australia in the provision of before, after and vacation care since 2012. During this time I have found the team at Camp Australia to be professional, communicative and supportive of the wider school community.
The Camp Australia staff who run the program are very friendly and they have developed a great rapport with the students and parents who use the service. Camp Australia's flexible and personalised approach means the programs the children experience are inclusive, adaptable, engaging and full of variety.
I find the educators do not simply supervise the children - they interact and engage with them. This is because Camp Australia enables its educators to always focus on the children in their care. Camp Australia adopts and supports the school's values, rules and motto. By aligning the program with the schools values, the Camp Australia team are able to provide our students with consistency and stability as they experience continuity in culture and pedagogy between the classroom and the OSHC program.

Building a School and a Home!

We are very excited that our house is now underway. We are very much looking forward to living in Waterford County in 2015.

 

We can see the school from our block but not this close.

 

Kinder Orientation

We will have two Kinder classes in 2015 and these students commence their Orientation to St Aloysius this week. We had a wonderful Parent Meeting for Kinder 2015 last evening with presentations by Cath Garrett-Jones, the Diocese of Maitland Newcastle Parent Liaison Officer as well as our Kinder teachers for 2015 - Mrs Mellissa Jackson and Ms Jane Pearce.
We are looking forward to enjoying a variety of activities with our new Kinder students here at St John's tomorrow.
Look out for children wearing their new St Aloysius t-shirts!

Teacher Learning

Term 4 will take our St Aloysius teaching team on a collaborative learning journey in preparation for our new and different school year in 2015.

We started our term with a 'Bootcamp Day" at Northern Beaches Christian School in Terry Hills, Sydney. We were able to tour their facilities during the day as well as spend time with members of their teaching team discussing collaboration, personalised and project based learning. We also discovered some new furniture ideas. The school's website is:
http://www.nbcs.nsw.edu.au/

This week we spent a day together commencing the process of developing our learning framework for St Aloysius. We revisited the work of a number of current researchers in 21st Century learning and shared our professional learning and experiences. One of these researchers is Julia Atkin. You can hear some of her thoughts at: http://edtalks.org/video/thinking-about-learning

By next week five of our staff will have completed two day professional learning workshops organised by the Catholic Schools Office on 21st Century Learning Design focusing on the elements of collaboration, knowledge construction, self-regulation, real world problem solving and innovation, ICT for learning and skilful communication.

We are looking forward to other opportunities to meet together this term to continue our work on teaching and learning, to develop strategies for building our Catholic identity and to explore  the options for learning technology at St Aloysius.

All buildings are now weatherproof!

Our fourth and final building is roofed!

Our Chapel, Hall and Canteen are looking good!

Our classrooms are also taking shape

St Aloysius School Crest

We were very excited when last month at a meeting with our Bishop Bill Wright, and the Director of Catholic Schools Ray Collins, our crest, motto and uniform were officially approved.

We would like to sincerely thank Sr Dorothy Woodward for her initial work in developing the concept drawings for our school crest. We would also like to acknowledge and thank one of our new mums Mrs Nicole Edwards for her creativity and generosity in spending many hours finalising the design for our school crest. Nicole is a Graphic Designer and her website is http://charlijack.com.au/

Our crest reflects our connection with St Aloysius Girls College Hamilton in its shape and the predominant colours of teal and navy.

Our cross is a stylised version of the Mercy Cross recognising the dedicated years of service to Catholic education by the Sisters of Mercy particularly in the Morpeth and Maitland region. The sun is a symbolic representation of the Jesuit symbol in recognition of the role of the Jesuits in St Aloysius' life. However both of these symbols are new and different in celebration of our exciting beginning as a new school.

We have incorporated a river/pathway representing both the Hunter River and our faith journey and pathway as life-long learners. The Hunter River was crucial to the development of this region - particularly Morpeth. The gum leaves and blossoms are symbolic of the predominant native tree of the region - the Spotted Gum and our focus as an ecologically sustainable school.

Our motto "We are called" encompasses St Aloysius' calling as well as being board enough to encompass all sorts of callings e.g. we are called ...to care for the earth, to be the best people we can be, to be compassionate to those who are suffering etc
In the words of the hymn by the same name: "We are called to act with justice, we are called to love tenderly, we are called to serve one another and walk humbly with God."

 

Meet our teachers

Welcome to St Aloysius teaching staff for 2015. In addition to Anne Higgins, our Assistant Principal and Stacey Whiting, our Religious Education Coordinator we have now appointed another 6 teachers:

Mrs Kelly Henman
Hello to the St. Aloysius community! My name is Kelly Henman and I am so very happy to be joining this exciting journey with you all. I never dreamed eleven years ago when I made my very first journey to Australia from Canada to study that I would have the privilege of calling Australia home. 

I completed my Bachelor of Musical Arts at the University of Western Ontario in Canada, then travelled to Australia to complete my Bachelor of Primary Education Studies. While studying here, I met my husband, Drew. We travelled back to Canada together, then to the United Kingdom to teach for two years. We ended up back in Canada, spending the last seven years in the beautiful Canadian Rockies where we taught at Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Academy. Somewhere in the midst of our busy lives, skiing, rock climbing, mountain biking, and hiking, we also became parents to two beautiful children (who are now two and three years old). We decided to move closer to family, and made the move back to Australia this past August.

I am looking forward to sharing my love of music and drama with your children, as well as journeying into learning for the future with technology and 21st century learning styles. We are living in very exciting times for education, and I am looking forward to inspiring, and being inspired by, your children! 

Mrs Mellissa Jackson

 

Hello everyone, my name is Mellissa Jackson and I am so excited to be a part of the St Aloysius team and the opportunities it holds for students, staff and the community. I began my teaching career in 2008 in the New England region of Guyra at a small two teacher school. I have worked extensively across all stages and have had experience working with special needs and gifted and talented students. I have always had a passion for teaching and learning and love to create new and exciting learning opportunities for all students. My husband, our dog Mash and I moved to Newcastle at the beginning of 2014 to be close to our family. We are members of the Holy Cross Parish Community at Glendale and will also be coming to the school parish of Immaculate Conception, Morpeth on a regular basis, so keep an eye out for us and come and say hello.

 

Mrs Jessica Moulder

Hi! My name is Jessica Moulder and I am super excited to have joined the St Aloysius Community. For the past 9 years I have been teaching within the Sydney Archdiocese. I have just left my position as the Religious Education Coordinator at St Brigid’s Coogee where I was teaching for the past 3 years. Prior to this position I worked as eLearning Coordinator and classroom teacher for St Gabriel’s Bexley.  I have also been fortunate to work with the Board of Studies during the writing and reviewing phase of the new Science Curriculum documents as an Individual Contractor.

 

I have been married for 5 years and my husband and I welcomed our son Eli, on Boxing Day, 2013. We are both very grateful to be moving home to Newcastle after our years in Sydney to be closer to our extended families. We currently live in Garden Suburb and are members of the All Saints Parish at Kotara South. 

I have a great passion for all things technology and love watching live sport. I am very much looking forward to meeting the families and community of Chisholm over the coming months.

Mr Jack O'Toole

Hi, my name is Jack O’Toole and I am delighted to be a foundation teacher of St Aloysius. I am excited to share in the upcoming journey, and have particularly enjoyed meeting the students, parents and staff who will form our St Aloysius community.

Since graduating, I have been employed through the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle, and my partner Tess and I spent 2013 studying and teaching in the UK. I am currently employed as a year two teacher at St Patrick’s Cessnock. I look forward to sharing my knowledge and incorporating my passions for sport and ICT into my teaching at St Aloysius.

Miss Jane Pearce

Hi, my name is Jane Pearce and I am very excited to be part of the St Aloysius journey that is ahead of us all. I was born and raised in Newcastle and went to University in Canberra to pursue a career in Psychology. After a lot of study, my travels lead me overseas where I taught English, worked as an Au-Pair, and realised my love of teaching. This year I’ve had the pleasure of working at St Joseph’s East Maitland, teaching the first Kindergarten students for our new school. I look forward to being part of the St Aloysius community and working together with you.

Mr Jeremy Watt

My name is Jeremy Watt and I am very excited to be given the opportunity to help build the St Aloysius Catholic School community. I have taught in lots of different places around Australia, including Newcastle, Canberra, Tasmania and Melbourne. I have also taught overseas in the USA, Oman and more recently, Hong Kong.

I live in Speers Point with my wife Kate and two young sons, Joshua (4) and Charlie (9 months). The boys keep us very busy and we enjoy spending time with family and friends, and also traveling and going to the beach.

2015 at St Aloysius will be like beginning an adventure together and I can’t wait to meet you all and get started on the journey!