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From the Principal
I would like to thank all our parents and carers who were able to make it to the ‘Meet the Teacher’ afternoon on Monday. The feeling walking around the school was so vibrant. The children were very excited to bring their loved ones in to see their learning spaces after COVID had prevented this for so long. It was also so nice to see families catching up with each other in the school again. We look forward to many more occasions where our community can come together this year.
Following on from the ‘Meet the Teacher’ afternoon we held a Cyber Safety information session run by the local police Youth Liaison Officer. A number of parents and carers were able to attend the session and received valuable information for supporting their children in the online world. The youth liaison officer will also be running student cyber safety sessions during school time for all our Year 2 to 6 students in the coming weeks. We are planning to run sessions for the Kinder and Year 1 students next semester. More cyber safety information is available for parents on the eSafety Commissioner website. It is so important for parents to talk with their children about cyber safety so please take some time to have a look at this website and chat with your children when you can. We work together to ensure they are educated to stay safe online.
This Wednesday we celebrated Ash Wednesday and the commencement of Lent. Kinder and Year 1 participated in a beautiful liturgy in the Saint Raphael's church and the senior school participated in a lovely liturgy in the school hall where all students received the ashes on their forehead. These ashes symbolize the call to repent and believe in the Gospel. Lent is a time of prayer, penance and arms giving. A time to take on a challenge, spend time in prayer and support those less fortunate than ourselves. This is why we focus on raising money for Project Compassion throughout lent. Project Compassion boxes will be available at school for students to place any donations in during Lent. The children are encouraged to make sacrifices to support this initiative such as forgoing the canteen, doing some extra chores etc. and donating their money. Please support this important social outreach project throughout the forty days of Lent.
Yesterday, 32 students travelled to Yass to compete at the Northern Region Swimming Carnival. Every student performed admirably and should be proud of the way they conducted themselves in and out of the pool. A special thanks to the parents who went along to support their children, especially those who assisted as a timekeeper throughout the day. Well done to the 15 students who will progress to the Archdiocesan Carnival on Tuesday, 7th March in Queanbeyan. A big thank you must also go to Mrs Spackman and Mr Marmont for all the work preparing for the day and for travelling to Yass to support the children to participate in the event.
No Toys at School
We have seen a new trend of students bringing toys into school. Unfortunately, this causes many issues for us at school including peer disputes and broken or misplaced toys. Please speak to your children about keeping their toys at home to play with out of school hours. If students need support with play, we do offer different clubs run during the break times, the equipment for students to play on and open the library for students to use in breaks. We also encourage imaginative play rather than having toys at school. Thanks in advance for your support with overcoming this trend.
Morning Supervision starts at 8.30am
Morning Supervision starts at 8:30am
- Students should not be at school before 8:30am.
- Any student who does arrive at school prior to 8:30am must sit in the amphitheatre area between the church and the Front Office building until the duty teacher arrives at 8:30am.
- If you need to get to work earlier, the YMCA do offer before school care which is currently operating in our MacQuoid Street school hall so please investigate this option.
Compass – Student Absentee
- Please ensure you enter any whole day absence electronically via Compass in a timely manner (preferably the day of the absence). It is a legal requirement that any absence from school has a satisfactory explanation.
- Only submit whole day absencesvia Compass (do not change the time in the absentee form).
- Children dropped off late or picked up early, must be signed in/out at the Front Office upon arrival or when leaving. There is no need for an absence explanation to be entered through parent Compass portal for these.
- Unexplained absence reminders will be emailed to families at midday daily.Please action these by entering details directly into compass as soon as possible.
One of our Year 6 students, Archie, has been growing his hair since the beginning of 2022 with the aim of taking part in the World’s Greatest Shave. He is passionate about raising money for the Leukemia Foundation and has already surpassed his initial goal of raising $500. Archie increased his goal to $750 and Mr Arton has put out the challenge to Archie that he too will shave his head if Archie manages to raise $1000.
If you would like to support Archie, please visit his fundraising page http:/my.leukaemiafoundation.org.au/archiekershaw. Archie will be having his head shaved at school in the 2nd Break on Friday 17th March.
The Defence students have certainly not been idle whilst waiting for clubs to resume. The Y6 Defence leadership team members and Defence students have planned and created welcome envelopes, thinking carefully about what to include and what kinds of things would make new Defence students to our school feel welcome. Yr 6 students have also given up their time to meet the Y2s on Thursday first breaks, participating in games and leading activities. From next week, the y6s are responsible for planning and leading activities with the y2 and y3 students - I am , of course, available to help them but they are already brimming over with wonderful ideas! Do encourage your Y2 and Y3 Defence students to bring a friend along to the Thursday sessions - first break, in the Parish Room, as there will be exciting things to join in with. From next week, regular Defence clubs will begin for all year groups - I will be emailing you with the details.
There are 2 blue/teal coloured Avatar figures that have gone missing. If you have found these please return to the office.