Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to the end of week five and we have crossed the halfway point of the term. The next 5 weeks are a big few weeks with many events and tasks that need to take place. From graduations to leadership handovers, orientations, reports, parent-teacher interviews, excursions, and carols, to name a few, we will certainly be busy. With a sense of business also comes fatigue and tiredness. This is true for all in the community. Please look after yourselves and each other during this busy period. If you have any concerns or you need support during this time, please don’t hesitate to contact the school.

It is important to set goals with your children and talk to them about how they respond to tiredness. Knowing an extended break is not far away is a good goal to have. Please also encourage your child to let teachers know if they are tired or run down so they can be supported. We can only support the things we know about.

Staffing

We are close to finalising our staffing for 2023. We have two more recent appointments this fortnight. With Debbie Cossettini moving to Holy Family next year, Mrs Alison Bond, who is well-known in our community, has been successful in taking on the Librarian role for 2023. Alison has been working in the library part-time for several years and is very excited to undertake this role. We will also welcome Mrs Kelly Hodge to our teaching team. Kelly joins us from St.Jude’s primary school and is a very experienced teacher who will bring real energy and enthusiasm to her classroom.

Debbie also has an ICT role in the school which will be split between two very competent teachers. Natalie Radanovich will coordinate ICT for K-3 and Nikki Arcidiacono will look after our BYOD program in years 4-6.

Kinder Familiarisation

On Thursday, we welcomed our 2023 Kindergarten cohort to school to familiarise them with the spaces and routines of kindergarten. With COVID lockdowns and restrictions preventing many students, including siblings entering the school, this session has never been more important.

While our future Kinder students engaged in activities designed to connect them with the spaces and each other, our parents participated in a Literacy and Numeracy session designed to provide information and activities to give the students the best possible start to kindergarten. I thank our coordinators, Jeremy Stevens and Lauren Macdonald, for preparing and facilitating this session.

There were also opportunities for networking and meeting other parents, which has been something we have been longing for as a community for quite a while. Our Kinder students will be back on the 29^th of November for a more traditional Kinder Orientation Day.

 Year 5 2023 Leadership Shirts

The Community Council supported a trial change to our Uniform Policy for the 2023 school year to enhance visibility and promote leadership amongst our Year 6 cohorts.  

In 2023, we are looking to change the colour of our Leadership shirts, so they are distinctly different to the current maroon setup that matches the normal school sports polo shirt. We believe the colour change will help our leaders stand out and promote a servant leadership model by being more visible to our younger students. 

The other change that has been approved is the option for the cohort to wear their Leadership shirt instead of the light blue polo shirt on non-sports days. This effectively allows the leaders to wear this shirt 5 days a week. Please note that this is only a change for Year 6 cohorts in 2023 and beyond, pending the trial next year.  

During winter months, the students will still be required to wear a school jumper and navy over jacket, if they require an extra layer. During these months, when the shirt is covered, the Leadership Pin will become the identifiable characteristic of the Year 6 uniform. We hope this change will support the great work our Year 5 students have been undertaking in raising the profile and building the capacity of leadership in the school by making our leaders more visible to the school community. 

Semester 2 Reports & Parent/Teacher Interviews

The Catholic Education Office has taken the step this Semester of removing the comment boxes from the Semester 2 reports. CE have asked all schools to include this text, from the office, in a letter or newsletter to parents:

‘Catholic Education Canberra and Goulburn (CECG) has communicated to schools informing them that general comments will not be required on the Semester 2, 2022 reports. This is in line with other educational jurisdictions and systems. Given teacher workload at present, including staffing pressures across the profession, CECG’s position is to prioritise parent/teacher conferences occurring during Term 4. These meetings provide an opportunity to discuss your child’s progress, their strengths, challenges, and future areas of focus. A Semester Report will be sent home as in previous semesters providing A-E grading and attendance information’.

In summary, this means that a report will be sent home to parents with a grade for all subject areas. General comments will not be included. In lieu of comments, we will hold parent/teacher interviews in Week 9 of this term. A link will be sent home to parents in the coming weeks, which will allow parents to book a meeting with their child’s or children’s teacher/s.

Class Lists – 2023

The students have submitted their requests for ‘Friendship Five’ to the teachers who are compiling the class lists for 2023. Multiple factors are taken into account, including of course the friendship choices of the students. The school can only guarantee one friend from the students’ lists.

Working dynamics, even split of gender and ability, and teacher knowledge, all need to be factored into the final lists. We use a program, Class Creator, to help create our lists by entering a range of data fields, including the friendship five responses. Once this is completed, we review the lists using our professional knowledge and judgement to make considered adjustments.

Thank you to those parents who have written to me with considerations for their child in 2023. These have now closed. These considerations will be reviewed in line with the professional knowledge of staff, and cannot always be entertained for a variety of reasons. Please rest assured that we will consider these parent recommendations very closely and try to honour as many as possible. A final note, general teacher requests cannot be entertained. The final decision regarding class and teacher placements rests with me.

Playground

Our playground design options have arrived and a process of consultation with the students is now occurring. The equipment will be installed in Jan/Feb 2023 and should be ready for the 2023 school year. Thank you to all our parents who have supported this through fundraising efforts this term, including the colour run and raffle.

Strategic Planning

We are currently undertaking a process to develop our strategic plan for 2023-2025. We use multiple data points to inform this plan, including the Tell Them From Me Parents Surveys, student assessment data, attitudinal surveys and direct input from key stakeholders. Last week the Community council contributed to the planning process and the staff contributed during staff meetings in weeks 1 & 2. We will run focus groups with students in the next couple of weeks. The leadership team will then work to bring all these data points together to formulate our strategic plan. We will hopefully have something to present to the school community towards the end of this year or early next.

Blessings and best wishes.

Sean Rutledge

Principal

RECONCILIATION RETREAT DAY

On Wednesday our Year 4 children travelled to Holy Family Church for a day of prayer and reflection around the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Led by Mrs Anne Gowan, the children learnt all about forgiveness in the real world and how, even if they are not receiving the Sacrament from the Church, Reconciliation is vital to our growth, development and relationships. The children participated in a variety of activities including making a clay pot and learning about the Japanese art of Kintsugi, repairing something with gold to show that we must go through hard times to discover true beauty. The children were outstanding in their behaviour, reverence and ability to pray and reflect. A big thank you must go to the Year 4 teachers for leading the children during the day and in fact, throughout the year. 

Reconciliation Parent and Student Evening.

A reminder that there is a short meeting for those children who are receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation on either this Wednesday or Thursday evening at 6:30pm. You only need to attend one session, but it is compulsory as the children will be walked through the Sacrament and make their final preparations. If you are unable to attend, please email Anne and the Parish as soon as you can. tuggeranongsouth@cg.org.au or TuggeranongSouth.Sacraments@cg.org.au 

Gospel Reflection Luke 21:5-19

 When some were talking about the Temple, remarking how it was adorned with fine stonework and votive offerings, Jesus said, ‘All these things you are staring at now – the time will come when not a single stone will be left on another: everything will be destroyed.’

This week’s Gospel asks to reflect on what we value, who we listen to and what we believe to be important. This passage tells us that the people in the story were admiring a beautiful temple, and Jesus reminded them that the time would come when it would no longer exist. What are the ‘temples’ in our lives? Our houses? Our possessions? Our bodies? Jesus reminds us that when we focus on the splendour and beauty of these things, it can distract us from God and the promise of an eternal life with Him. As the liturgical year draws to a close and we begin preparations for Advent, closely followed by the business and distractions of the Christmas season, this Gospel serves as a reminder to keep our hearts and minds focused on what is truly important.

Have a great week!

Sharee Thomas

REC

This afternoon we drew our raffle! We raised just over $5000 to go towards our senior playground. 

The winners are: 

First prize: N Ratcliffe (ticket 2919)

Second prize: B Costigan (ticket 7631)

Third prize: I Butler (ticket 7631).

Our finance officer will be in touch with the winners next week to arrange payment of prize money. 

Thankyou so much for your support.