From the Director of Junior School, Anthony Banboukjian
Prayer of the Week
Sunday 20 November, we celebrated the Feast of Christ the King. This day marks the last Sunday in the liturgical year of the Catholic Church. On this day we recall Jesus in His eternal aspect, as King and Ruler, rather than as He was in his earthly life.
We are now reaching the end of the Church’s year. With the beginning of Advent, we begin again the cycle of the birth of Jesus, his ministry, his death, Passion and resurrection.
The ending of a year is a good time to assess where we have been, what has been achieved, and perhaps most importantly, where we are going with our journey of faith.
Lord of the past and the future: we thank you for the last Church Year. We thank you for the fellowship and joy of our worship together as a community. We pray for the coming year, that we may benefit from the teaching and wisdom of the church and grow in faith and knowledge of You. Jesus taught us how it is to live according to the values of the Kingdom of God. Let us follow his example and become truly great in the eyes of God
Amen.
Blessed Edmund Rice: Pray for Us
St Mary of the Cross: Pray for Us
Live Jesus in our Hearts: Forever
End of another Year
It is hard to believe that the 2016 academic year will be a distant memory in less than a week. It has been a very busy year for all the boys and staff – from our full academic program, sporting commitments, Wakakirri and all the other events held throughout the year. However it is important to remember that classes conclude on Wednesday November 30 and all boys are expected at school as normal until then.
As this is my last opportunity to write for the Nurrunga in 2016 I would like to wish all the students and their parents a very safe and holy Christmas and hope you have an opportunity to enjoy some very special family time.
To our current Year 5 I look forward to seeing how you tackle the challenge of your final year in primary school in 2017.
To the boys leaving the Junior School and heading off to the big brave world that is senior school we wish you all the best and look forward to when our paths once again cross.
Music Festival
Congratulations to all the staff and students who involved in the Junior School Music Festival last Thursday night – what a great event. It certainly showcased the great number of talented students we have at Waverley College. It was a privilege to be part of the audience – thank you for sharing your talents with us.
Orientation Day for new students 2017
Last Friday our new 2017 students join us for an orientation day and BBQ lunch. I’m sure the boys left excited and enthused about coming to Waverley next year. It was great to see the boys play and work together for what will be one of many occasions.
Best of Luck
We wish Bailey Habler the best of luck as he heads off on Thursday to compete in the 800m at the Australian Track & Field Championships as part of New South Wales team. Bailey we are all very proud of your sport achievements this year – well done.
Reminders
Year 5 Presentation Afternoon
An invitation to all parents and friends to attend our upcoming Year 5 Presentation Afternoon to be held on Friday November 25 in the Br Lacey G commencing at 1.00pm sharp. The 5 classes will present different musical items throughout the afternoon as well as receive their awards for the year.
Christmas Appeal
Many thanks to those families that have already supported our charities for Christmas – we have had a great response but all donations to the charities below are more than welcome.
YEAR 5 – Matthew Talbot Hostel
The Matthew Talbot Hostel is a social justice initiative run by The St Vincent de Paul Society, aimed at helping the homeless men of Sydney.
Donations include:
Toiletries (preferably small travel size items), underwear, socks, chocolates, notepads, pens.
Year 6 – Kids Helping Kids
The Kids Helping Kid program is an initiative run by The Smith Family aimed at helping the disadvantaged school children in Australia. We supported this charity earlier in the year by raising money on Edmund Rice Day.
Donations include:
Stationery (which means things like) e.g. packets of pens, colouring pencils, textas, highlighters, scissors, erasers, pencil cases.
Giving Tree
You are invited to donate a gift for our Junior School ‘Giving Tree’. The gifts are for disadvantaged children throughout the local and wider communities of Sydney. The gifts are for children of any age range, both boys and girls.
These gifts need to be wrapped in clear plastic with the age range specified on the wrapping. The gifts are then to be brought into school and placed under the Christmas tree.
Thank you for all your generosity in supporting these worthwhile charities.
Last day will be next Wednesday.
Note from Mr Ghattas
Dear Parents & Students,
I just wanted to take the time to thank all families for their part in helping to support the various charities throughout the past year.
I am overwhelmed by the generosity of the Waverley College community. Throughout the year we have helped to raise money and gifts for the following charities:
CARITAS – During the Lenten Appeal we raised $2400
Cure for Brain Cancer Appeal we raised $1125
Smith Family Charity Appeal we raised $962
Walkathon – we raised over $55000
Book Drive – we were able to send quite a large number of books -almost 3500 over to Fiji as part of our book drive this year.
During Term 4, we have also been supporting a number of different charities through donations such as:
Matt Talbot Appeal (Toiletries and others to help the homeless men and women of Sydney)
Kids Helping Kids (Stationery to help support the disadvantaged children of Sydney to be able to help start the new school year)
Giving Tree (Toys and other presents to help support the many disadvantaged children of Sydney enjoy Christmas)
The amount of items that have been donated this term is extraordinary and goes a long way to show how much we care for those in need.
On behalf of the teachers and staff of the Junior School I would like to thank you all and wish you a very Happy and Holy Christmas.
Mr Stephen Ghattas, Assistant Director of Mission Junior School
Thank you
A big thank you my wonderful staff at the Junior School. Your hard work and dedication is thoroughly appreciated by all the parents and boys in Year 5 and 6. I look forward to again working with such a great team in 2017.
