Principal's News
Dear Parents are Carers,
Do few things but do them well; simple joys are holy. ~ St Francis of Assisi
We have had a wonderful week that presented us with many joys with the Athletics carnival on Monday and a fabulous celebration of our Kinder 100 days at school on Wednesday.
This year we changed the venue to Woden Athletics Park, and we were blessed with a beautiful Canberra day for our Athletics Carnival. Feedback from the school community has been overwhelmingly positive about the venue change. We do lose time out of the day travelling via bus to the venue, but we make up time in the ability to schedule multiple events simultaneously, timing/place/race management and the sound system that can ensure announcements are heard all around the venue. I thank Laura Hay, our sports coordinator, for the many hours of preparation she put into the organisation of the day.
100 Days of Kinder
Our Kindergarten students had the most amazing day on Wednesday and partied their 100th day of school away. It was a big day, and a very happy one, as children came dressed up as minions for the day (as did their teachers) and participated in many fun activities. I would like to thank our Kindergarten teachers for their organisation and attention to detail in arranging the special day for our students. Congratulations to our Kinder students: I am immensely proud of you all.
Corpus Christi Cup
We hosted the first Corpus Christi Cup challenge in the school hall yesterday. This initiative has been the brainchild of the 3 numeracy coordinators in our Parish schools. After a close contest that saw each school win a stage of competition Holy Family was the inaugural winner of the trophy. Congratulations to the Holy Family team and St Clare of Assisi for their participation. We hope to expand this in the coming terms to include other curriculum areas and possibly sports. My thanks to our parish coordinators for planning and delivering this exciting initiative.
Staffing Update
After a selection process, Mrs Sharee Thomas will be the Acting Assistant Principal from Week 5 until the beginning of Term 4, while I am on leave. We are currently running an internal process to appoint a replacement Religious Education Coordinator for Sharee during this period. We will write to the parents of these classes shortly to outline how these teachers will be replaced during this period.
We are currently seeking an ELC Office Manager, which is advertised on the Catholic Education Employment page; see the flyer below if you are interested. Our ELC director position closed this week and is currently being shortlisted. In the coming months, after the appointment of our Director, we will commence the recruitment of teachers and educators.
Change to Lunch eating time.
This week we are trialling a change to our eating time during our lunch break. We have shortened our eating time from 15 mins to 10 mins which will now begin at 1:20 pm. This will give us extended teaching time during the middle session 5 mins a day adds up quickly to 25 a week. We have also moved Yrs 1-4 to the hardtop to eat lunch, which will help with rubbish collection, lunch box returns, and allow students who don’t finish in the 10 mins to continue to eat if required.
Peaceful Relationships~ It is not too late to register.
Next Monday, 7th August, the Community Council is hosting a parent engagement workshop, titled Peaceful Relationships. We currently have 19 people registered to attend. This will be run by one of our parents, a trained psychologist and counsellor who will focus on self-regulation, conflict management and communication in relationships within the family unit. This is free to our families and BASCA will provide care for anyone who requires it. Please use the link below or scan the QR code to sign up. For more information, click on the youtube link.
https://bit.ly/PeacefulRelationshipsWorkshop
NAPLAN Results
Parents of children in Years 3 and 5 will be receiving their child’s NAPLAN results this week. Year 5 parents (and parents of Year 3 students who have older children) will note the change in grading terminology. This change in terminology means that Year 5 parents will be unable to compare their children’s results from Years 3 to 5. They can, however, still see how their child’s progress measures against the national average. I have attached a flyer below, which outlines more information about the change. Please contact your child’s teacher if you have any questions.
Blessings and best wishes for the week ahead.
Sean Rutledge
Principal