After visiting Nagasaki last year, I was inspired to read a book by Fr Paul Glynn titled A Song for Nagasaki. The book tells the story of Takashi Nagai, a doctor who converted to Catholicism. After the atomic bomb explosion, he assisted hundreds of survivors and worked tirelessly towards peace and the rebuilding of the city and culture of Nagasaki. Despite all the suffering he endured and witnessed, he drew strength from his faith. Rather than turn to bitterness and hatred, he learnt to forgive and be a positive influence on those around him.

I was impressed by Fr Paul Glynn’s description of how Nagai was able to find meaning in suffering, which differed from how we can tend to face life’s difficulties. Fr Paul writes:

Our society has sought to solve the problem of suffering by removing pain. This is a negative solution, which can never be the whole solution. Our great-grandparents lived without out pain-killers, air-conditioners, aeroplanes, paid holidays etc. and yet, compared with our generation, they don’t appear to be all that unhappy! Their society does not appear to me anywhere near as fractured and alienated, as unpeaceful and complaining as ours. I wonder if the physical pain in their lives did not help them to be realists and face up to the deeper human issues – the ones Nagai called metaphysical or ‘beyond the physical’.

As we enter into Holy Week, the Christian meaning of suffering, linked to the joy of the resurrection, will be at the forefront of the Easter services. It is a good chance for us reflect on how we can live in peace and appreciate all the aspects of our life, even those we find difficult, because God is with us.

Congratulations to the basketball teams who played in the Grand Finals last weekend. They were very enjoyable to watch, and there were some close games, which had us all on the edge of our seats! It was great to see so much support from the Montgrove community.

We are excited to be having a Band Night early next term on Saturday 6^th May. Parents and friends with students from Year 3 up are welcome to come. Please see the flyer later in this newsletter for details.

Wishing you all a Happy Easter and a safe and relaxing break. After the holidays, school will resume on Wednesday 26^th April, with all students in their winter uniform.

Mass

Mass is held Monday to Friday at 12:15pm.  Parents are welcome to attend Mass in the Chapel.

Chapel Visits

Parents are welcome to visit the Chapel from 2:30pm for prayer. 

Confessions

Fr Anthony Khoudair is available for confessions on:

• Tuesdays from 2:45pm to 3:30pm
• Wednesdays from 2:45pm to 3:30pm 

 Fr Felix Navarro is available for confessions on:

• Thursdays from 3:00pm to 3:30pm
• Fridays from 3:00pm to 3:30pm 

Please pray for our sick and injured family and friends:

Ella Muema, mother to Josephine (8) and Nicole (11) Muema; Wilson Arce Filamor, father to Sonia Concepcion (Secondary Teacher), grandfather to Emilia Concepcion (12) and Francesca Filamor (9G); Amelia Acasio, mother to Anne Bernacer (Teacher's Aide) and grandmother to Renae (11) and Regine (9G) Bernacer; AntoineScoulou, grandfather to Mona-Maria Scoulou; Candido Valenton, grandfather to Elyssa (6G), Marcela (1W) & Daniela (KW) Valenton; Benjamin Santiago, father to Agryna (10B); Kathrin Triantoplous mother to Nektaria (12B) & Irene (9B); & Emmanuel Hanna, brother to Cecilia (8B) & Lucia (5B).

Please also remember those who have passed away:

John Russell, grandfather to Emily Di Natale (Secondary Teacher), great grandfather to Isabella Di Natale (KS); Joan Sattler, grandmother to Emilie-Kate Maslak (10); Mary Mallett, grandmother to Angelica (10), Clare (8) & Antonia (4); Rajko Ivanac, Great-Grandfather to Angelina (12B) Adriana (10B) and Natalia (8B) Badrov; Aiyana Cabanero (Yr10 2019), sister to Anthea (12B) & Amara (8B) Cabanero.

If you would like to add any intentions to the Prayer Board, please send them to melanie.merriman@montgrove.nsw.edu.au. Please also let Melanie know when your intentions can be removed. 

Just last week, I had the honour of attending to a group of young professional women, from many English-speaking countries, numbering in total about forty, including six of our very own Australians.

The group was undertaking a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, with a daily base at the Saxum Conference Centre, which is already known to many of you.

For me, these were not "holidays", but hopefully "holy days", full of "hard" work, and many joys, and at least  small conversions, in the awareness of being so close to the places where Jesus and his friends trod this poor Earth of ours.

These days, once back in Australia, in gratitude for so many prayers from Montgrove, I am drawing, from the treasures in my memory & imagination (and photo gallery), details that I hope to bring out at school & elsewhere, in coming days and weeks. Hopefully, the good Lord, at the request of his good Mother, will turn the water into the best wine, for many (maybe unsuspecting) people.

As St Josemaría used to say: "God is a good Rewarder!"

Kindergarten to Year 6

Start:            8:50am

Finish:           3:00pm

Kindergarten and Year 1 students may be picked up at 2:45pm from their classroom. Please note that this is only applicable for parents who ONLY have children in Kindergarten and Year 1.

Kindergarten to Year 6 students arriving after 8:50am will be required to sign in at the office.  We also ask that parents complete an Engage Late Arrival form on the Parent Portal.

Year 7 to Year 12

Start:            8:30am

Finish:           3:15pm

Year 7 to 12 students arriving after 8:30am will be required to sign in at the office. We also ask that parents complete an Engage Late Arrival form on the Parent Portal.

• If you have children in both Kindergarten and/or Year 1 AND a primary student, please collect them after 3:00pm. 
• If you have children in both Primary and Secondary school please collect them between 3:15pm and 3.30pm. 

Late Arrivals

• The office door will be locked from 9:00am
• Mrs Merriman will unlock it remotely when she sees you
• To enter please wait for the click before pulling the door towards you gently
• If reception is unattended please ring the door bell and a staff member will let you in

The 2023 School Photos were taken on Thursday 30th March 2023 and it's not too late to order  

TO ORDER PHOTO PACKAGES 

Step 1:  Go to www.advancedlife.com.au

Step 2:  Enter school code ZHR 8VP K65 in the “order and download box”.  This will take you to the school’s secure online ordering site. 

Step 3:  Click on “Order Photos” and complete your details.  During this process you can place orders for additional children.   

Step 4:  Pay for your photos using Visa, Mastercard, PayPal or Latitude Pay

Should you have any queries concerning school photographs or online ordering, please direct them via email to enquiries@advancedlife.com.au

Thank you to the 200+ parents and high school students who completed the survey. I have collated all the data from all your responses.

Just a few things to clarify:

1. A student may wear a costume that is different from his/her own cultural background.
2. A student may still participate in the parade even if she is not wearing a national costume. Students who are not wearing a traditional costume are asked to wear either a plain ORANGE shirt with any pants/skits OR the school uniform.
3. We encourage students to not wear sports jerseys representing a country. A traditional costume is preferred to be worn on Harmony Day.
4. A student who is performing is AUTOMATICALLY in the parade.
5. Students can only perform a dance or a song ONCE. Due to time limits, a performance should NOT exceed 5 minutes. There should be at least 4 performers in a group.
6. AUDITIONS for the performances: Week 10 at lunch time– Unfortunately if your group does not audition, they will not be able to perform. A costume is NOT required to be worn during the rehearsal.
7. DRESS REHEARSAL: Wednesday, 17 May.

Please see the attached pictures which contain the list of countries with parent-organisers. Please contact them for any enquiries about performances, exhibits, and the international buffet. As you can see, we still need some roles to be filled in by parent-helpers. Please email me at harmonyday@montgrove.nsw.edu.au should you wish to lend a hand in any of the roles required.

Vengie Pangilinan
Harmony Day Organiser

We are pleased to invite your daughters to a Holiday Camp that we are running for Kindergarten to Year 3 girls at Montgrove from Monday 17th April – Wednesday 19th April from 9am-3pm. Please see the flyer attached for more details, including the link to register your daughter. 

This camp is being organised and run by the Year 9 students together with their teacher Miss Aiesha Oringo, and other staff members, as part of their Community Service Classes. The funds raised from this Holiday Camp will be donated to Caritas Turkey, in support of those affected by the recent earthquake there.

The Challenge aims to encourage a love of reading for leisure and pleasure in students, and to enable them to experience quality literature. It is not a competition but a challenge to each student to read, to read more and to read more widely

2023 Challenge dates

Students can include any books read from the end of the 2022 challenge on their 2023 reading record. Key dates for the 2023 challenge are:

27 February 2023 - challenge opens for student entries

Friday 18 August 2023 - challenge closes for student entries

The PRC rules have been updated for the 2023 challenge. Students can now include up to 10 choice books on their reading records, and can count 5 books from an approved series as PRC books.

www.premiersreadingchallenge.nsw.edu.au

Your child’s user id and password for the Reading Challenge will be sent home by their teacher towards the end of this week.

Any questions regarding the PRC should be directed to sarah.tuballa@montgrove.nsw.edu.au

In an effort to teach our students to take personal responsibility and to be accountable for their own items, we have been trying not to have a lost property box at Montgrove. Unfortunately, over the term we have accumulated a large amount of UNLABELLED lost property - drink bottles, lunch boxes, jumpers, hats and other items. 

Next week on carline, weather permitting, we will have a table set up with the lost property on it.  Anything not collected by Thursday afternoon will either  be disposed of or donated to charity.  

We ask that all personal items be labelled with your child's surname and first initial, so that any items that are misplaced can be returned to the owner immediately.

Absence forms are done through the Engage Parent Portal. The Engage Parent Portal allows you to access your children's reports, complete absence forms and see your account details for both Wollemi & Montgrove. 

Throughout the term Year 9 have been completing an integrated theory and practical PDHPE unit called "Physical Activity for Me". Throughout this unit they have analysed the positive impacts a lifetime of participation in physical activity can have and the opportunities that are available for a range of groups within society.

As part of this unit Year 9 participated in a walk to Peppermint Reserve where they analysed the benefits of participating in physical activity in a natural setting. We will continue to explore these benefits in Term 2 when Year 9 attend camp.

During week 8 both Year 9 Blue and Green had a visit from Wheelchair Sports NSW/ACT. Stephan Rochecouste presented to the classes. Stephan was born with Spina Bifida and has played a variety of sports from wheelchair tennis to wheelchair rugby league. Stephan’s aim is to provide a platform to teach new things to young people but also provide the opportunity to close the gap of understanding when it comes to knowing disability as a whole and how society can promote inclusive behaviours for all.

Throughout this session each class was able to play a game of wheelchair basketball in a wheelchair designed to be used by an athlete participating in wheelchair basketball. Students learnt how to control and move the wheelchair, defend/attack and shoot the ball from the chair.

The session was extremely insightful and provided everyone with a fantastic opportunity to see how individuals who experience a physical disability can still maintain active lives and be involved in a variety of different team and individual sporting opportunities.

On Tuesday 21st March, International Harmony Day, Year 7-12 Music students participated in a Music incursion. Members of Taikoz Australia performed on traditional Japanese drums and taught us a song to play as a group on these drums. The word “Taiko” means drums in Japanese.

Before we started, we had to take off our shoes as a sign of respect to the culture. We then greeted the members of Taikoz and they explained how to use the drums, our playing stance, and how to greet them before we played our instruments. The sticks were called “Bachi” – not the Italian chocolate!

Wadaiko was the style of music we performed, which means music that uses your body and voice. We had to count in Japanese to learn the rhythms, such as “ichi, ni, son, shi”, which means 1, 2, 3, 4. Rhythms like “Don kon don kon” and “Do ko do ko sore” is part of the music, so we had to play and say these rhythms at the same time. By the end, we had learnt all the parts and rotated turns with other students.

When we finished, we had to bow to show respect and we said “arigatō gozaimashita” which means thank you in Japanese. It was a fun experience and we learnt a lot about Japanese music and culture. We had been learning about rhythms in class, so this incursion developed our understanding of rhythms and performing as a large ensemble.

Naomi Portugal, Mia Badr, Yves Victorino, Hanna Romanowska (Year 7)

Congratulations to our Representative Swimming teams (Primary and Secondary) who competed at the Hills Zone Swimming Carnival on Monday 6th March. We had 19 students from primary and secondary compete on the day. The competition was extremely tough however we had some outstanding achievements throughout the day.

Our new Year 11 House Captains were also present to help, support and encouraged both teams throughout the day.

A big congratulations to the following students for their achievements:

Primary Ribbons and achievements:

Lucy Casserley

• 12-13 Girls 50m Freestyle – 2nd place
• 12-13 Girls 100m Freestyle – 3rd place
• Girls 12-13 50m Butterfly – 3rd place
• 12-12 Girls 3rd place age champion

Chloe Leggatt

• 12-13 Girls 50m Freestyle – 3rd place
• 12-13 Girls 50m Breastroke – 2nd place
• 12-13 Girls 50m Backstroke – 3rd place
• 12-13 Girls Runner Up Age Champion (2nd place)

Marvella Gunawan

• 8-10 Girls 50m Backstroke – 3rd place

Montgrove Primary Relay team

• 11-13 Years Freestyle - 4th place - Chloe Leggatt, Maria Chircop, Mia Corvetti and Lucy Casserley.

Secondary Ribbons:

Ava Casserley

• 15-16 Girls 200m IM – 3rd place

Montgrove Secondary Relay team

• Freestyle - 2nd place - Angel Cuenca, Amelia Guy, Lauren Lemoncito and Ava Casserley.

Congratulations of all the girls who participated at the carnival. It is fantastic to see all our Montgrove swimmers participating in the events they where selected for and representing our school.

The following primary students have qualified to compete at the CIS Swimming carnival on Wednesday 22nd March:

• Lucy Casserley
• Chloe Leggatt and
• Marvella Gunawan

The following secondary students have qualified to compete at the AICES Swimming carnival on Wednesday 29th March:

• Angel Cuenca
• Amelia Guy
• Lauren Lemoncito and
• Ava Casserley

If the secondary students are successful at the AICES competition, they will progress through to the CIS Secondary carnival which will occur early in Term 2.

Elyse Griffiths

PDHPE/Sports Coordinator

On Wednesday 22nd March Montgrove had 3 primary students attend the CIS Swimming carnival. The competition was extremely tough, however the girls did an extremely good job and performed at their very best.

Congratulations to the following students for their outstanding effort.

Marvella Gunawan (Year 4)

• Girls 8-10 50m Backstroke

Lucy Casserley (Year 6)

• Girls 12-13 50m Freestyle
• Girls 12-13 50m Butterfly

Chloe Leggatt (Year 6)

• Girls 12-13 50m Freestyle
• Girls 12-13 50m Breaststroke
• Girls 12-13 50m Backstroke

Wollemi College is holding a Sports Camp for boys in Kindergarten to Year 6 from Monday 17th to Wednesday 19th April 2023 (3 days).  Please see the attached flyer for details and Click HERE to register for the Boys Camp

Summer 2023 Season Grand Finals!!

The start was intense and very tight with both team’s defending well and stealing the ball from every which way.   The scores were 0-2 to Unicorns.  The girls were a little nervous initially but with a couple of early Timeouts they settled down and their mindset was pretty much set to conquer.   It was well after 5 minutes when we evened the score and then the magic started. Half time came and went and then their feistiness just started to pour out and it was a pleasure to watch. Well done team. 
Corine Morgan, Coach.    

Montgrove College Trading Hours 2023

Mondays: 8:30am to 12:30pm

Ordering online couldn’t be simpler.

 Go to www.midford.com.au

1. Select Montgrove College from the online School Shops tab.
2. New users to click the ‘Register New Account’ button.
3. Start the registration process by selecting Montgrove College from the drop-down menu and add Montgrove unique school pass phrase: Montgrove2007
4. Add your personal information, create a username and password.
5. Order the items you need, select pick up from the uniform shop on Monday's or option of home delivery.

Please book appointments through our online appointment system by using the below link.  https://Midford.as.me/MontgroveCollege

For enquiries please email: montgrove@midford.com.au

Montgrove College Uniform Shop will open in April for Fitting’s & Try On by Appointment Only.

Please Note: No sales or orders will be placed onsite - all orders can only be placed online only.

 All families are able to make their own uniform fitting appointments through our online appointment system by using the below link.

https://Midford.as.me/MontgroveCollege

April Opening Hours By Appointment Only:

Wednesday 12th April 9:00am – 3:00pm Monday 17th April                              9:00am – 3:00pm

Normal Trading Hours resume on Monday 24th April.

Normal Trading Hours are Monday’s 8:30am to 12:30pm Email: montgrove@midford.com.au

Date: Sunday 2nd April

Time: 11:00am-1:00pm

Place: Jordan Springs Village Oval, 2995 Greenwood Parkway, Jordan Springs

Join us for a Sausage sizzle.  BYO drinks, snacks picnic rugs, scooters and bikes. 

RSVP: Noellyn (0400 017 345) by 26 March for catering purposes

Thanks to all the Mums & Daughters who made it along to our morning tea on Saturday'

Jules Guy & Ela O'Neill

Thankyou to everyone who joined us at the Kindy Blue and Kindy Green family picnic. 

A great time was had by all. 

1. PARED will issue the Invoice / Fee Account Statement once by week 2 of every Term 1, 2, 3 and 4.
2. This Invoice includes: Tuition Fees, Curriculum and Technology Levy (CTL) and Building Levy only.
3. The Pared Schools have partnered with Edstart to provide more flexibility and choice with your school fee payments. All school fees must be paid via your Edstart account where you can opt for weekly, monthly, fortnightly, termly, or annual instalments.
4. As it occurs, PARED will issue separate invoices for activities other than those in Item 2 above.  This will include major camps, major excursions, certain elective co-curricular expenses, band program, elective music software,  loss of or damage to laptop, PDHPE workbook, school diary, etc. 
5. These should also be paid via your Edstart account