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- Principal Message
- School Review
- Restoration and Maintenance Works at St. John’s
- Mini Vinnies
- NAPLAN
- School Photos
- Hot Lunches
- Term 2 Pupil Free Day
- Gr 5/6 Camp to Allambee
- PAM (Parent Access Module)
- School Advisory Committee
- Whole School Approach to Positive Behaviour Support
- MARRIAGE ENCOUNTER WEEKEND
- Japanese
- Water Bottles
- Dates
Dear Families
What a great first term of school! Last week we finished up our Interest Based Learning for Term 1 and the learning was both exciting and visible. Thank you so much Cat for coordinating this program and thank you to all the parents who helped. We really appreciate your assistance. Next term on Fridy 30th April (Week 2) we will present our Interest Based Learning in the Church at 2:45pm. Everyone is welcome to join us and witness our learning firsthand.
Last Friday our school athletics team went to the Jeff Watt Track in Warragul to compete in the Interschool Athletics Carnival. Taryn, Will and Sabrina took the students and they said that the students represented our school superbly, so thank you students and teachers.
Please note Ethan Paul also recieved ribbons and will represent our school at Division Athletics too.
In our faith, Palm Sunday (last weekend) marked the beginning of Holy Week where Jesus was welcomed into Jerusalem on a donkey. Today commemorates Holy Thursday where Jesus shared the Passover Meal with his disciples in the Last Supper. Tomorrow is Good Friday when Jesus died on the cross, and Easter Sunday remembers the resurrection of Jesus. Our church season of Easter goes for 50 days and is a time of celebration and new life. My prayer is that we all experience a new life this Easter, in ourselves and in our families and communities. We pray that this new life will strengthen our learning at school and our relationships in our families. Happy Easter everyone!
Wishing you all a blessed and safe Easter,
Trish Mulqueen
Principal
Our schools that work under DOSCEL (Diocese of Sale Catholic Education Ltd) operate within a 4 year review cycle. This year is our year for review, so this means that we reflect on our processes, activities and policies and seek deliberately and strategically to improve. The leadership team, the staff and the School Advisory Committee will engage in this process. By completing the SRC parent surveys (that we send home early next term) you will be participating in this review process, and in addition if you would like to be more actively involved in the review then please contact me and I will thankfully include you. It is crucial that we always seek to be our best.
Restoration and Maintenance Works at St. John’s
There has been a Catholic Church on the present Waterloo Rd site since land was first donated by the Kenny and Walls families in 1889. Generations of families have worshipped here, and sacrificed to provide for a church building. The first timber structures needed extensions in 1903, and after serious fund raising, were opened in 1906. The Catholic Parish of Trafalgar, covering Moe, Yarragon , Thorpdale and Willow Grove was declared in 1907. When the first Josephite nuns came in 1930, these buildings also served the Parish as a school. At the height of the Great Depression, Catholics and the Community raised sufficient money to build a brick building to house the nuns.
Time moved on and needs changed, so a larger brick church was built as a War Memorial Church which opened in Feb. 1955. Always the provision of the church buildings relied on the financial generosity of the parishioners and the wider community. The church has served the community well since then. It has been the place for many joyful celebrations of weddings, baptisms, and gatherings for worship, and a place of support for the sadder occasions of funerals. The local branch of the St. Vincent de Paul Society operates from here, and many of the district’s needy, as well as passers- through have sought and found friendly assistance here.
In recent years the building was attacked by very unwelcome visitors. White ants left a trail of destruction behind which now requires urgent, extensive repair. The building has to be brought back to current safety codes. It is a costly exercise, and once again, the Catholic and wider Community are asked to help to restore this landmark Trafalgar building .
To make a donation please contact the Parish Secretary, Julianne, for details at 56 331166.
Article by J. Huffer on behalf of St. John’s Parish Council.
We have fourteen senior students working as part of our 2021 Mini Vinnies Mission Team. We congratulate and acknowledge:
Kaitlyn Pedemont, Ruby Francis, Ava McCutcheon, Ella O’Connor, Arabella Simpson, Stella Chapman, Erin Kondo, Stephani O’Neill, Rubi Myrteza, Charlise Eerhard, Oscar Murto, Robert Arbrecht, Alex Jacobs and Maxwell Haines.
Kaitlyn, Ruby, Ava and Ella organised a fantastic cake stall where they raised $271.10 for our SAVE OUR CHURCH fund. Char, Ruby F. and Steph have organised a ‘Guess the number of lollies’ in the jar competition and the winner will be announced after our Easter Liturgy. This fundraiser has raised $118.70. Thank you Mini Vinnies for your continued work in our school.
Maxwell, Oscar, Alex and Robert are pictured above with the St Vincent de Paul members at the first Parish meeting for this year. The boys participated in prayer and then gave a school report to the Committee. The senior members were very impressed with our Mini Vinnies members.
NAPLAN (The National Assessment Program in Literacy and Numeracy) will be conducted in week 4 next term for students in Gr 3 & Gr 5. On Tuesday May 11th we will be doing the writing and spelling test, on Wednesday May 12th we will be doing the reading test and on Thursday May 13th we will be completing the maths test. This is a great opportunity to show what we know.
We have booked School Photos for Thursday April 22nd (week 1 next term). We are asking all students to please wear Summer Uniform. John Ansell will take the photos as he has done for many years.
Schools promote healthy eating and living and as such we are discouraging parents bringing in hot lunches (hot chips, KFC, McDonalds) for students. We suggest that you keep these treats for special family time. If on the rare occasion you do think this would be best for your child then by all means check with the school and we would accommodate this by your child eating the lunch at the front of the school. We are reluctant to make a blanket rule about this as we believe that there should always be room for negotiation. Please know the intent of this rule is about what’s best for all the students and not about making it hard for families. We hope and plan that P&F will be able to resume special hot lunches next term so that the students don’t miss out. We have also resumed Subway lunches on Fridays from Term 2 (orders will have to be in by Wednesday and staff at Subway will deliver the orders to school Friday). Please find Subway Lunch Order Form attached to this newsletter.
Please note that the first day of Term 2 is a pupil free day, the teachers will be engaging in professional learning on the RE (Religious Education) Curriculum ‘To Live in Christ Jesus’. Staff at the Catholic Education Office will be leading us on this day. So, the first day of school in Term 2 for the students is Tuesday April 20th.
You will remember that we were all planned and ready to go to Allambee School Camp in week 4 of this term and then we had the 5 day lock down so we had to postpone the camp. The new dates are Monday 17th May through to Wednesday 19th May (week 5 next term). We are looking forward to this camp.
You will be aware that we are now using a new communication system within school. SIMON is the staff access and PAM is the parent access. About half our families are yet to access PAM. If you haven’t accessed PAM, Taryn will send out clear instructions for you to do so. It is our intention that all forms of communication will be through PAM by the beginning of Term 2. We are very confident that you will find this mode of communication easy and efficient.
This committee met two weeks ago on Monday March 15th. The Committee Members for 2021 are: Imelda Cathomen, Dan Towb, Michael Jacobs, Vanessa Donald, Ashley Treyvaud, Katie Balfour and myself. We usually meet every 6 weeks and our next meeting is the AGM on Monday May 10th. At this meeting we can appoint new members. With the view of gradual changeover, we would like to declare a position on this Committee open. If you are interested in serving on this committee or if you would like to nominate someone else (please check with them first) then please let Trish know. This Committee is a support to the Principal and has input to whole school policy.
At our last meeting we reviewed our Camping Program which is developmental and age appropriate. A discussion was had about the advantages of this program and how it builds resilience and independence. We also talked about the need to support the church fundraising effort in order to SAVE OUR CHURCH.
The NSCP (National School Chaplain Program) was on the agenda and Trish informed us that we have been successful. This means that we will receive a grant of over $20,000 each year, to employ a chaplain/pastoral worker (counsellor) for a day a week for 2021 & 2022. We are very excited about this.
We also discussed the Tutoring Program (grant received from State government) to specifically target students who may have dropped behind because of remote learning last year. Teachers use data to identify the students who match the criteria and then a specific program is targeted to the student’s needs. We are employing Liza Marino for the students in Gr 1, 2 & 3 and we are still looking for someone for the students in Gr 4, 5 & 6.
The School Advisory Committee also review uniform. At our last meeting we considered the results of the recent Tshirt survey. Most of the votes were either keep the tshirt the same or go for the green tshirt (with the yellow side panels). The votes were very close. The Committee discussed this and decided that the green tshirt could also be available as an option for families. So, both the yellow tshirt and the green tshirt (with yellow side panels) will be considered school uniform. You can choose which tshirt suits your child the best. It is anticipated that this change will be effective in Term 3. We will advertised it widely then.
Schools that operate under DOSCEL (Diocese of Sale Catholic Education Ltd) operate on a 4 year review cycle and this year our school is engaging in the Review process. We reflect on all the main areas of our operation in light of our School Improvement Plan and we produce a self-reflection report. Then we have a panel of 3 reviewers who come into the school and meet with the staff and the students and some parents, over 2 days, to review our processes. It is all about improvement.
Our LLPLP (Leading Languages Professional Learning Program-Japanese) is going very well. We know students don’t learn another language through one language lesson a week. We do know that when classroom teachers try to use that language more, there is tremendous impact. We are making a difference with our Japanese learning and our Japanese Day towards the end of last year was very successful.
Child Safety is always on the agenda. We have installed the front sliding gate between the front building and fence which effectively cuts off the school yard from the front entry, this means that during the school day if anyone walks in the front gate they don’t have access to the school yard unless they come through the front office. Also concerning child safety, we talked about the safest place for school buses to pick up and drop off students. We are planning for this to happen in the parish carpark area. More information will follow about this.
The Communication in the school will soon all be through SIMON, most parents have downloaded the app. We are moving towards all excursion information letters and medical forms being available electronically on this platform for Term 2.
Whole School Approach to Positive Behaviour Support
As we draw to the end of Term 1, it is an important time to reflect on the impact of our SWE. This term, we have continued to reinforce the importance of the SWE within our school and how we try to live each day together in harmony. Living out the SWE of being respectful, resilient, inclusive and team workers is an important element that promotes safety for all. When we feel safe, we are best able to learn and play and continue to develop in a positive setting.
Wishing you all a very happy and safe Easter.
Katie Balfour
An opportunity to spend a weekend improving your communication. Attend in the comfort of your own home or experience a residential weekend.
Our on-line weekend gives couples the chance to sleep in their own beds and check-in on kids or animals during meal times.
Come and learn how to keep/rekindle the passion in your relationship and how to keep your love growing!
The weekend we offer is based around Catholic values but couples of all faiths are welcome.
Couples from regional areas may find the On-line Weekend option ideal.
Next on-line weekend is on 30 April – 2 May 2021.
Next Residential weekend is on 21 -23 May 2021.
Information/Bookings: Phone Mercy & James 0409 183 676 or
Email: vicbookings@wwme.org.au Website: wwme.org.au
日本語
Nihongo
Repetition + frequency = memory
How many times do you need a new word repeated to make it easy to say at anytime?
For me it is around 100 times. Research suggests that it is between 20 and 500 times, we are all really different.
The memory curve shows that frequency of repetition is also vital!
Could you use a little Japanese at home?
This is what we have been practicing.
[something you have] が あります。
[something you have] ga arimasu.
[something you have] exists (as in here now).
Computer ga arimasu
What things do you have? Look around the room and say Japanese sentences about the things you can see there.
Let us know what you say and how it goes.
Mon 19th | Staff day RE Curriculum day Pupil free day |
Tues 20th |
First day of Term 2 for students |
Thurs 22nd | School Photos (Summer Uniform) |
Mon 26th | SRC School Surveys go out (2 weeks to complete) |
Fri 30th | Interest Based Learning Presentation 2:45pm. Everyone welcome |
May |
|
Mon 3rd & Tues 4th | School Review Days |
Mon 10th |
School Advisory Committee AGM |
Tues 11th, Wed 12th & Thurs 13th | NAPLAN |
Mon 17th to Wed 19th | Gr 5/6 Camp to Allambee |
Mon 24th to Fri 28th | Catholic Education Week |
Wed 26th | National Sorry Day |
Thurs 27th to 3rd June | Reconciliation Week |
June |
|
Wed 23rd |
Last day of term 2 for students |
Thurs 24th & Fri 25th |
Staff Professional Learning Days (Pupil Free Days) |
July |
|
Mon 12th | First day of Term 3 |
September |
|
Thurs 2nd & Fri 3rd | Gr 4 Overnight Camp to Mill Valley |