Our newsletter has been given a facelift and a new name! I hope the new format will make the newsletter easier to read and navigate. The staff had a good think about a name for the newsletter and came up with some excellent suggestions. In the end The Orchard was the most popular choice and, I think, a very fitting name. It brings us back to our roots, recalling Montgrove’s pre-history as Orchard Hills Preparatory School. It also signifies a place of nurturing, where students and their families can grow and flourish within a supportive community. There are more updates on the way, with a new Parent Portal being rolled out in the coming weeks and a new website some time next term.

We have had a very busy fortnight since our last newsletter. Last Thursday NESA (the NSW Education Standard Authority) carried out an inspection to renew the accreditation and registration of the school, which occurs every five years. I am happy to say that all went very well. A big thank you to our teachers and staff for all their hard work in preparing the necessary documentation for the inspection. They are a dedicated group of professionals and I had no doubt that all would go well.

Last Friday the staff and Year 12 hosted the Biggest Morning Tea to raise money for the Cancer Council. It was most enjoyable and we were able to raise much more than we expected. This is a cause that is close to the heart of our Year 12 students and many of us have close family and friends who continue to battle with this illness. Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Morning Tea, especially Mrs Rebecca Southern, who organised and promoted the event. 

On Friday, the Year 5s braved the cold and went on a day trip to the Bathurst Goldfields. They had a fantastic time, learning how to make mud-bricks and panning for gold. After their trip, they prepared an Assembly item inspired by what they had learnt about the gold rush, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed their performance. We had Ms Prue Car, Member for Londonderry, as a special guest during the Assembly and she was most impressed with our girls and their beautiful behaviour. Ms Car wanted to attend the Assembly to present Emily Abacum (Yr 4G) with a special award for her winning essay that she wrote for the Londonderry Spirit of Anzac Competition. Well done Emily!

Our Cross Country team also did very well at the Hills Zone Cross Country Carnival. Two students from Secondary, Somtochi Igbojiaku (Yr 10) and Merly Mathew (Yr 11), made it to AICES, and six Primary students have qualified for CIS. Congratulations to Maryann Instance (Yr 4G), Chloe Leggatt (Yr 4G), Seraphina Karam (Yr 5B), Hanna Romanowska (Yr 5B), Mia Hanson (Yr 6) and Julia Sukkar (Yr 6).

As you are aware, Mrs Mary Balam (Yr 5 teacher), has been on long service leave since the beginning of the year. Mrs Balam has decided to retire after she finishes her leave. We thank Mrs Balam for the tremendous work she has done here at the school. She is an excellent teacher and has helped many students over the years. She will be very much missed as a classroom teacher at the school, but we will still see her around as she will continue to do some casual work at the school.

Lastly, I will be going on leave from Tuesday, so this will be my last newsletter for the term. I hope the rest of the term goes well and I wish you all a relaxing and enjoyable break.

Lourdes Mejia

Principal

©      Mary & Anthony Powell on the birth of Thomas Charlie, brother to Lucy (1B) & Jacob (KG)

The Orchy went to Felicity Tuballa (KG) for her service leadership in picking up the paper towels in the Infants bathroom and making sure that her classroom is clean. 

The Monty went to Sophia Johansson (5G) and Sofia Simat (5G) for patiently and responsibly helping to set up the chairs for the Whole School Mass. 

Prue Car, Member for Londonderry ran the Londonderry Spirit of ANZAC competition in the lead up to ANZAC Day.  It was open to all Primary and High School students.  Students had to submit either a short essay of no more than 400 words, a poem or piece of artwork on what the Spirit of Anzac meant to them. 

The winner of the Primary Londonderry Spirit of ANZAC Award went to Emily Abacum (4G).  To read Emily's winning essay, please click on the pictures below.  

Thank you to the wonderful mums of KG and 1B for their generosity in providing meals for us after the birth of Thomas.  Your generosity and prayers are very much appreciated!  

Mary & Anthony Powell

• 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
• Only 3 visitors can be in the Front Office at a time

Students should not attend school if they are unwell, even with mild symptoms of COVID-19. Any person with any COVID-19 symptoms will be sent home and should not return until they have received a negative test result and are symptom-free. In
circumstances where children have other medical reasons for recurrent symptoms a letter from their GP is sufficient to negate the requirement for a negative test.

Anyone who is unwell with COVID-19 symptoms are strongly encouraged to get tested and self-isolate until a negative result is received. A copy of the negative COVID-19 test results must be forwarded to admin@montgrove.nsw.edu.au before your child returns to school.

We thank you for your cooperation.

Our annual Eucharistic Procession will be held on Tuesday 8th June 2021 commencing at 9:30am. 

It is most fitting for us to honour Our Lord, hidden in the Blessed Sacrament, who spared nothing to be able to win heaven for us. It will be a particularly special day for the children who have done their First Communion this year, as they will be the ones leading the procession.

Parents are welcome to attend the Eucharistic Procession. 

We kindly ask that you do not attend if you are not feeling well. Covid protocols must be adhered to as per NSW Health recommendations, please maintain the 1.5m social distance rule. QR Scan and Sign-in sheets will be at the front gate.

The Kindergarten to Year 2 Cross Country will be held on Wednesday 9th June 2021 starting at 9:15am. Kindergarten will go first, followed by Year 1 and then Year 2.

Children will need to wear their sports uniform and their hat.  They need to bring water and sunscreen.

You are welcome to come and cheer on your children for this event. It is always great encouragement for them.  

We ask that you check in at Reception using the QR code, and sign the visitor register on the blue clipboard, then proceed directly to the oval. We also ask that you maintain social distancing and do not wander to other areas of the school.  Please exit promptly after your child has completed the cross country.   It is a normal school day and students are expected to remain at school after the cross country.

Many thanks for your co-operation

Senora Mendoza

On Wednesday 2nd June, John and Mary, volunteers from Penrith Community Kitchen came and collected all the donations from Montgrove. It was great to see the amount that our wonderful school community has donated.  It filled the entire boot and back seat of John and Mary's car!!  The donations were greatly appreciated and they will be a big help in providing those less fortunate with a free nourishing meal. 

Thankyou to everyone who has donated and to Year 6 for organising the pickups from each classroom. 

For more information on this wonderful charity visit www.penrithcommunitykitchen.com.au

On Friday 28th May, Year 5 all travelled to the Bathurst Goldfields to learn about the Australian Gold Rush. We participated in a range of interesting activities, which included mud-brick making, damper baking and panning for gold! We experienced the hardships of panning for gold in the freezing water pools! Embracing the cold and chilly conditions at Bathurst was definitely worth it, as we found many little flecks of gold! It was great fun!!

Our goldfield tour guide, Barry, was a funny man. Barry was very entertaining and told us many amusing stories from when he was a young gold digger. Barry helped us to understand what daily life in colonial Australia was like. From Barry’s interesting stories we were able to reflect on the contribution that early migrants made to Bathurst and other colonial areas in Australia.

Barry also helped us to understand the role of women and children on the goldfields. We learnt how women and children arrived and established their homes on the goldfields. Barry also told us about the chores that children were responsible for on the goldfields-very different times to our lives today! 

In the afternoon we all had great fun in the Blacksmith’s Forge, working the bellows. Throughout the day, we also participated in a range of fun games that children used to play during the gold rush. At the end of the day we visited the goldfield museum. It was very interesting to look at the many colonial household objects inside the museum. The bus trip was great fun and we enjoyed being with our friends. We all agree though that the best part of the day was panning for gold! It was a great day of fun and learning. Penelope & Sanja (5B)

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28^th May, Friday morning, 6.45 am ….early…… I woke up to the sound of my alarm ringing loudly in my ear. I slammed down the snooze button thinking I would get away with it until my Dad started playing heavy metal really loudly right in my ear. Well, that woke me up!  The moment I hopped out of bed I felt goosebumps run down my spine. It was absolutely freezing! I quickly put on my warm clothes and headed off.  It was still kind of dark and extremely cold, but with a delicious hot cocoa in my ice-cold hands, I was ready for the day.

After a two-and-a-half-hour trip on the bus, we had arrived at Bathurst. (It was still cold and still early). We had our recess and then we met a lovely man named Barry. He was our tour guide and he was very funny. Barry took us down a small hill and brought us to these little ponds. Guess what we did? We started panning for gold! I only found 4 tiny specks, but others found more. I really enjoyed that!

Barry introduced us to his wife, Mary. They told us about their time in the gold rush days. Mary showed us how to make fresh damper right off the fire pit. Yum! We made sticky mud bricks and played some fun games: Quoits, Bocce and Tug-O-War. WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!

After lunch, we looked at a museum which had things used in the gold rush days. On the bus on the way home, we watched a great movie called Pollyanna. We received a jar of gold as a souvenir that I will treasure forever.

BEST EXCURSION EVER! Sophia (5G)

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The Day I Built A Fortune (Kind of)

6.45 am in the morning is usually waaay too early for me. We reached school, all of us sleepy eyed and topped with beanies. We said goodbye to our parents and excitedly got on the bus scrambling for the good seats. After an extremely long bus ride, some were feeling sick, but that all left when we finally reached Bathurst!

Bathurst, the place we had been waiting to go to all year. We hungrily ate our recess and set off to go gold panning. We met our funny tour guide, Barry who pretended that he was from the 1800s (though it did seem realistic). Barry helped us to pan for gold. He told us many funny stories about his time with his friends on the gold fields. 

Next, we did some fun activities like making damper, mud bricks and playing games like Tug-O-War. We even went through an old school building and saw what that was like in the olden days.

After lunch, we went to a museum and saw some old pianos and fake gold nuggets. We sang Barry our Assembly song about the gold rush, which he really liked.

We got back on the bus, tired but richer and we even got to have some McDonalds chips on the way home. When I reached home, I barely felt like doing anything, but I knew it was all worth it, because that had been the most fun excursion ever! Shloka (5G)

On Thursday 20th May, Janice (Yr 9) and Maria (Yr 9) participated in the Rostrum Regional finals held at Baulkham Hills High School after being selected from over 350 students to progress to the next round. They delivered a prepared speech as well as an impromptu speech which they were only given 15 minutes to prepare! Although they did not progress to the State Finals they did a wonderful job in their preparation and delivery of their topics. Congratulations Janice and Maria! Montgrove College is very proud of you!

On Friday 28th May, Montgrove staff and Year 12 held a Biggest Morning Tea to raise much needed funds for The Cancer Council.

Together, we raised $1,502 for The Cancer Council.  Our donations will help fund world-class cancer research, which has already increased cancer survival rates from 49% in the 1980s to 69% today.  Our donation will help fund support services for the 150,000 Australians who are diagnosed with cancer every year.

Special thank you to our wonderful local sponsors who provided raffle prizes:

* Springwood Florist, 164 Macquarie Rd, Springwood (4751 3658)

* Mel's Beauty on the Run  (0401 345 705)

* Penrith City Tyres and Automotive, 15-27 Henry St, Penrith (4722 3655)

* LA Creations - https://www.facebook.com/lacreation21

* Sincerely, Cake - 10/195-196 Great Western Highway, Hazelbrook - https://www.facebook.com/sincerelycake

* Little Panda Designs - http://littlepandadesigns.square.site/

On Monday 24th May, 53 students from Year 3 to Year 11 attended the annual Hills Zone Cross Country Carnival held at the Sydney International Equestrian Centre. This was the first time our Primary students had the opportunity to compete at the Hills Zone Cross Country and race at the Equestrian Centre.

The races began with the Secondary athletes competing first. We had some outstanding results in these events, with Merly Mathew (Year 11) placing 7th in the 17 years age group and Somtochi Igbojiaku (Year 10) placing 2nd in the 16 years age group. Both girls have progressed through to the next level – AICES Cross Country which was held on Wednesday 2nd June. 

At 12:30pm the Secondary races concluded, and the Primary races commenced. The Montgrove Primary athletes were extremely excited to compete and waited eagerly for their event to be called. Once again, we saw some outstanding performances in the Primary divisions. Congratulations to the following students who placed in the top 15 and have progressed through to the CIS Cross Country Carnival, scheduled for Thursday 10th June; Maryann Instance (4 Green), Chloe Leggatt (4 Green), Seraphina Karam (5 Blue), Hanna Romanowska (5 Blue), Mia Hanson (Year 6) and Julia Sukkar (Year 6). Well done to Chloe Leggatt who placed 4th in the 10 Years age group and Mia Hanson who placed 2nd in the 12 Years Primary age group.

Congratulations to the 2021 Montgrove Cross Country Team for such an outstanding effort and best of luck to the 8 students representing Montgrove at the AICES and CIS carnival.

The school needs volunteers for the Chapel for 2021.  If you have a few hours to spare to help with flowers or cleaning of the Chapel can you please contact Raelene on raelene.pirotta@montgrove.nsw.edu.au

We have had 129 students complete the challenge so far this year!!! It is great to see so many students reading!  What an amazing effort!!

The Premier's Reading Challenge (PRC) is available for all students from Kindergarten to Year 9.

Congratulations to the following students who have completed the 2021 challenge:

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.   However, despite our best efforts not all items have been able to be returned to their owners.  

We currently have a few unlabelled drink bottles and items of clothing that have been handed into the office.  If anything in the pictures below belong to your child could you please collect it from the office ASAP. Any clothing not claimed by the end of the term will be donated and all containers, drink bottles etc will be disposed of. 

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.

When I was in a senior boys' high school, called “Benilde High, Bankstown”, our Geography teacher was a De La Salle brother, Patrick, of Irish stock. He had a quiet wisdom about him and a small smile, that was always ready to widen to a great grin.

One day at school, in the afternoon Geography class, that could so easily have become sleepy, he explained how the High Pressure System goes across Australia, like a Rugby League prop forward, bumping the low pressure systems out of the way. This kind of thing, at that time of day, tended to keep us awake, and made the lessons more engaging, enjoyable and understandable.

More recently, now as a priest, I visited him. He had become a wise, older brother, full of a quiet youthfulness. He was still going strong. I was grateful to him for passing on to me another secret of his teaching trade: story-telling. It has become a true guiding light in my work of preaching.

I still think that the greatest and most decisive secret ingredient for the teacher that each of us is to some extent, is prayer. We ought to pray for the students, so that they may be teachable, and for the teacher, who must try to deliver the subject matter in a helpful way. After that, it's up to the Holy Spirit…

Fr Anthony 

Confessions will be available at Montgrove College for Term 2 2021 as follows:

Father Jerry Gehringer

• Mondays - 2:15-4:00pm

Father Anthony Khoudair

• Thursdays – 2:15-3:00pm (except 27th May)

Please pray for our sick and injured family and friends:

Barbara Moore, mother to Alyson Wright (1G teacher); Georgia Tabone (7B), sister to Rosie (5B) and Lola (3G) Tabone; Nympha Miller (Librarian), & Emmanuel Hanna, brother to Cecilia (6) & Lucia (3B) Hanna.

Please also remember those who have passed away:

Modesta Lorenzo, great grandmother to Kayla (10) & Hannah (6) Buen; Marcelina Ballesteros, grandmother to Mikaela Afalla (11); James Lucey, great grandfather to Mia (5B), Sienna (5B) & Ava Garay (KB); Angelito Mercado, grandfather to Anika Mercado (10); Paul Miller, grandfather to Rose Lynch (9G); Trifon Triantopolous, brother to Nektaria (10) & Irene (7B) Triantopoulos; Eva McFarlane, great grandmother to Charlotte McFarlane (KG); John Clive Fraser, grandfather to Gloria Cardoza (9B); Rina & Kabalin Sissi, grandparents to Marian (9B) & Mariah (6) Seecy;  Aiyana Cabanero (Yr10 2019), sister to Anthea (10) & Amara (6) 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. 

Kindly note the change in the operating hours of the Montgrove Uniform Shop. 

The Uniform shop will now open on Mondays ONLY from 8:00am-12:00pm for uniform fittings effective from Monday 31st May.  

The fitting room is located in the Montgrove Cottage and will be available by appointment during the normal school term on:

• Mondays:          8:00am – 12:00pm

Any students requiring a fitting must make an appointment. Please use the following link to make an appointment - https://Midford.as.me/MontgroveCollege or use the QR Code below.

If you wish your child to:

• attend a fitting appointment that you have made during school hours on their own; or
• collect a uniform order on their own;

Please complete the “Uniform Shop Permission Form” on Skoolbag to advise Montgrove Office that you give permission for this to happen.   The form is located under EFORMS on the Skoolbag app, in the same place as the Absentee Form. 

Please let your child know what time you have given them permission to attend the Uniform Shop and that they are to come to the office and they will be allowed to attend the Uniform Shop. 

Kindly note that if this permission form is not completed, your child will not be able to attend the Uniform Shop during school hours unless accompanied

All orders will be picked and packed from the Midford warehouse and delivered to the school free of charge once a week.

Home deliveries are also available.  Free home delivery for all orders over $50.  For orders under $50 there will be a $15 home delivery fee.

Any order placed by COB Thursday will be ready for collection at the Uniform Fitting Room from the following Monday. All packages will be sealed and clearly marked with the student’s name and class to ensure no confusion.

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. Payment of school fees (other than payment in advance) is required to be by direct debit arrangement on quarterly, monthly, fortnightly or weekly 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. The invoice is to be paid separately from the Tuition Fees, CTL and Building Levy. Payment method could either be by bank transfer or credit card.

Live music is gradually coming back in NSW....that means, Rock Night is back at Redfield!

The Redfield Music Department and Extravagant Entertainment are thrilled to be hosting Rock Night once again this year.

Listen to this week's episode here!