Newsletter 30th March 2022

Upcoming Dates

31st March

2:45pm Assembly

6th April

Combined Schools' Day at St Brendan's

Dress-up as your favourite Movie/TV Star & Sports Practice

7th April

Last day of Term 1  for students

8th April

School Closure Day

Staff Religious Education Professional Development Day

15th April

Good Friday

17th April 

Easter Sunday 

25th April

ANZAC Day

26th April

Start of Term 2

28th April

School Photos - please wear summer uniforms!

2nd May - 6th June 

Swimming Program

6th May

Mother's Day Liturgy & Afternoon Tea, 2:15pm

9th May

No Swimming Program on this day!

Combined Schools' Sports Day at Llanberris Reserve

10th May - 19th May

Naplan Testing during this time

13th May

School Closure Day - Staff ReLATE Professional Day

23rd - 27th May

Catholic Education Week

26th May

Open Day, 9:00am-1:30pm

1st June

School Closure Day - Teacher Professional Development Day

3rd June

Year 6 Leadership Day at Creswick

Principal's News

My goodness! It is hard to believe that we are in Week 10 and have come through the term relatively unscathed due to COVID. We have had times where staff and students have had to isolate once or twice in some incidents and had a few cases, however, overall we have managed to keep learning and teaching going without interruption and the term has been productive and rewarding.

Thank you to everyone for making sure that our children have been kept safe by following the health guidelines and therefore helping everyone to stay well.

Combined Schools' Days Response

Last week I sent through an email to all families to gather their thoughts about transporting children to the nominated school when we have Combined Schools' Days. I appreciate the honest responses I received from the majority of parents and emphasise again, that the purpose is to save money, never to make things more difficult for parents. Overall, the feeling is that most parents could manage the drop off and pick up, but for some it may be a bit more difficult on particular days. The times and days will always be communicated well in advance and there will always be the option for children to travel in a staff car when necessary. As we move to this model, I would appreciate feedback on how things are going for families and if it is working or not. Buses will continue to be used for the Swimming Program and for most times when the two schools travel together for an event not at either school.

Welcome William!

On the 17^th March, we received the exciting news that Jess Sartori, Garry and Annie welcomed gorgeous William Andrew into their family.  Mum and bub are doing well.

Hopefully we will get to meet him in person soon.  Congratulations to you all!

Promotions

No one in our school communities need to be reminded of the importance of continually promoting our schools in as many ways as possible. We have begun by sending our flyers to kinders, continuing the process begun before COVID times of inviting kinders to our school and providing information sessions for parents.

We have also set open days for May and last week at the Principals gathering I spoke to Kev Cummins about how he can help us with our promotional efforts. DOBCEL have appointed Ken in the role of school promotions and our schools have been identified as first priority in the central Dioceses. I met with Kev on Tuesday and we have come up with a plan and timeline to produce a video, similar to those done in the past, take new promotional photos, design flyers for advertising, audit our websites and Facebook pages to make sure they are relevant and appealing to prospective parents.

I am very excited about the opportunities and best of all – IT IS ALL FREE! I would really appreciate your input about what you believe makes our schools unique, why you initially chose the school your children now attend and what would be appealing for new families and their children. I need to come up with a script for our video and the more ideas the better! Please send me an email with your thoughts – dot points is fine. 

This is your chance to showcase our school and celebrate why we are so special and unique. I would appreciate your thoughts by the end of this term please as we will be starting the process early Term 2 and I will spend some time over the holidays coming up with a script for each promotional video.

Next Term

Next term is already shaping up to be filled with many opportunities to learn, have fun and celebrate together. Just the heads up on a few things – swimming begins on Monday, the 2^nd of May and will be a 5 week program. There is one interruption to the program and that is on the 9^th of May which will be our Sports Day at Llanberris Reserve.

Our annual and well-attended Mothers’ Day Liturgies will be held on Friday, 6^th May.  St. Brendan’s will hold their liturgy at 12.30pm, followed by a luncheon and St. Mary’s at 2.15pm, followed by afternoon tea. Please pop these dates and times in your dairies. All Mums, Grandmothers and other special women are invited to join us.

National Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD)

As a school, we collect data on all of our children as it helps inform our teaching and meet the needs of our children. As we are aware, some of our students receive extra support and the school receives funding for the adjustments that are made.

The Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD) takes place every year. The NCCD is a collection that counts:

• the number of school students receiving an adjustment or ‘help’ due to disability.
• the level of adjustment they are receiving to access education on the same basis as other students.

Please read the attached fact sheet about the NCCD. If you have any questions please contact myself or Callum.

Easter Raffles

Thank you to all of the families that have supported the annual Easter Egg Raffle at each school by either buying and selling tickets and donating Easter goodies for prizes. Please make sure that tickets and donations are returned by Wednesday, 6th April.  The raffles will be drawn next week. Good luck!!

Congratulations Tina!

Last week our very own Tina graduated from Federation University with a Masters in Social Work. Well done Tina and congratulations on this amazing achievement! No mean feat while working and looking after a family.

Assemblies

Don’t forget that assemblies are back up and running and we cannot wait to see you. St. Mary’s will have their assembly this Thursday, at 2.45pm and St. Brendan’s welcome you all on Thursday, the 7^th April at 3pm.

A reminder that the upcoming events are on the school calendar which can be accessed through the new website and the Schoolzine App.

As this is the last newsletter for the term, I want to thank everyone for their support, thoughts, opinions and ideas over the past 11 weeks. Your many contributions are always welcome and appreciated.

Enjoy the Easter break. Safe travels to the many that will be getting away and if you are at home, relax and enjoy the time with your family.

Please remember to share your thoughts with me about what you would like to be part of our promotional material showcasing our schools.

Happy Easter everyone!

Inez

Senior Room News - Harmony Week

In Harmony Week we learnt about other cultures and how to put aside our differences and unite together. We do not want to start wars. We all look, talk and feel different and we don’t always have to agree but we don't have to fight.

By Liam

School Photos Day - 28th April

Gardening and Tidying Roster 2022