Principal's News

        3/06/23

Dear Parents and Carers,

Spirituality Day (Professional Learning)  

at St Charles

St Kevin’s, St Gregory and St Charles staff had a spiritually uplifting day on Friday 2nd June.  We explored ‘listening’ and opened ourselves to the moment of being directed by our hearts.

Staff participated in different workshops. 

These workshops consisted of 

Looking at the Art. - Prue Vansten

St Kevin’s Origin - Anni Miers

Meditation - Michelle Cameron, Vicki De Leo & Fulvia Gerosolimo

Gregorian Chant - Loredana

Prayer and Work  - Steve Nash

Faith in Action - Ana Saro

Scripture - Father Charles Balnaves

Spirituality of learning - Helena Goldsmith

These workshops were facilitated by MACS staff, REL’s and past principals as invited guest speakers.  We celebrated mass with Father Charles and it was a beautiful reflective way to conclude the spirituality day.

Buddy Night 05 June, 2023

Last Monday night the new families who most recently joined St Kevin’s came together and had a meal.  These families were connected to families in our school.  The students were entertained by an amazing magician and parents had an opportunity to share the school’s vision and discuss ways to build positive relationships in the school.

Thank you to all the parents who took time on a cold winter's night to participate in this event. I especially would like to share how grateful I was to have members of the SAC and PFA teams to share their experiences at St Kevin’s.  A massive thank you to Suzanne for baking her delicious slices!  Also thank you to Eva, Fiona and Con for helping and supporting the event!  I felt blessed to be amongst such friendly and welcoming people!  

At the next SAC meeting we will discuss how to grow this event in the future!

Year 5 Visit to Marcellin College - High School Taster! 

Congratulations to the St Kevin's Year 5 students who behaved respectfully and made me proud at the Marcellin College on Friday. I loved the way they participated in the different activities and used their manners.  Lots of staff from different schools approached me and they were all so impressed with our students.  The Year 5 students returned to class and after a short brief they wrote their own recounts of the experience. 

They were all so excited to have their work published in the newsletter.

Here they are:

Hi Everyone,  my name is Phoenix and I am in Year 5. I am going to tell you about my excursion to Marcellin.

First my group went to Music, but I missed it as I was at an appointment. Then we went to Science and we tried to make a rainbow using a small mirror and light. After that we were shown how electricity works. 

The science teachers made fireworks and they used different  ingredients to make different coloured fireworks. One of the ingredients is potassium nitrate. It was so much fun.

Next we went to do woodwork. We had a competition in the woodwork class to build a paper building. My team came third. We were so happy, it was a lot of fun.

Our last activity was visual arts and we made a pretend bow tie.  It was made out of special cardboard.  I gave it to an old friend. His name is Connor. He was so pleased that I gave him the bow tie.  After that we went back to school and that was the end of our excursion.

By  Phoenix  

On Friday, the Year Five students were invited to Marcellin College for a tour and my friends met an old friend at Marcellin.  The Year 7 SRC students were chosen to give us a tour around the college and we got to experience music, science, woodtech and art.

Secondly when we went to music we did some dancing on the spot.  When we got to Science Class we made a rainbow with the lenses and it was really bright.  What surprised me the most was their amazing oval.

In Wood tech we had a contest to see who could  build the highest paper tower.  Our tower was 175cm tall but unfortunately we did not win.  Our teamwork was amazing!

In Art class we created a tie out of colours and made a lot of patterns.   We all tried our best to make it look interesting.

Thirdly we had a snack and returned to school.  The boys gave us a show bag and in it was a water bottle and a rubix cube.   We said goodbye then it was time to leave.

I personally would love to visit Marcellin College again.

By Matthew.

On Friday the grade 5 students and I went on a spectacular trip to Marcellin College.

As soon as we walked in there were boys from Year  7, 8 and 9. They showed us around Marcellin. These boys were the SRCs. The first place we went was to the music. It was fantastic but pretty hilarious too. 

Secondly we went to science which was my favorite. My group and I were the first people to make a rainbow from light and mirrors. 

Thirdly we went to the woodworks. It was pretty funny because my group and I made the tallest paper tower (175cm) but when it was let go it was probably the size of an ant and we only had 15 minutes to make it!

Lastly we went to art. We made these really cool ties with paper that is black at first but when you scratch it it becomes rainbow. My tie had different patterns on it like jersey lines, sports equipment and much more.

Overall the experience was really fun and I hope we go again because I would like Marcellin to be my high school.:)  

By Lennix

Last Friday the Year Five students and I went to Marcellin for a taste of high school life.  As soon as we entered the school the year 7, 8 and 9 boys welcomed us in full school uniform. There were a bunch of other schools there but ours was definitely the smallest.  We placed our bags in a small little room while we walked to our first workshop where we learned and listened to some amazing and talented students and teachers.

The second activity we did was a science workshop (which was really fun) We learned about some really cool light tricks, like when you put a mirror beside a light beam, it bounces the light. We also learned to make a rainbow using a light bulb. 

Thirdly we did a woodwork workshop but we didn't use wood we used paper to make straws. We got into groups of five and  the lovely wood shop lady gave us 15 minutes to make a tower using tape, scissors, and straws. We needed to make the towers taller than anyone else's! Also it had to be able to stand on its own (which was super hard).  We almost won but someone's tower actually stood up on our own.  Our tower came up to be 175 cm.

Lastly, we did a really cool art workshop using those black scratchy paper with the colors underneath shaped like a tie.  We made some really cool patterns like checkered, squiggles and scales.    We added an elastic band to tie so we could wear it.

In conclusion I thought it was really fun, especially the woodshop, it was super hard trying to get the tower  to stand but I still thought it was the best!   

By Aria

Last week, the year 5 boys, girls and I went to Marcellin. While we were there we saw an old friend at Marcellin and we also made new friends there. 

I enjoyed Marcellin because when I was doing science we had to make a rainbow out of light and shapes and it made a rainbow.

I also enjoyed the art room because I had to make a paper tie and we got to keep it, it was so much fun.

The third thing I enjoyed was the paper building contest because you had to make the tallest tower and my group came third.

The fourth thing I enjoyed was the band because there was singing and dancing.   The band did so well and I had to copy their actions and sing as well.

What I think it would be better if we did sport because you can exercise and enjoy the amazing place.

By Armin (Majestic Man)

Great work!  Well done Year 5 students! 

Students from China  

Next term, some student visitors from China will be visiting St Kevin’s.  There will be a few students in Year 1/2, Year 3, Year 4 and Year 5/6.  The  students will be at St Kevin’s between 4 to 8 weeks and the goal for this experience is to participate and experience life in an Australian school.  Danni Ibbott will be working part-time in the 5/6 classroom along with Rebecca Corcoglioniti while the students are with us.   The teachers will be team teaching and at times the students will be split into different groups to ensure that best learning experiences occur.

This is a new experience for me but many staff have explained that this has worked very well in the past at St Kevin’s.  The students and staff get to learn from others and our visitors are excited to build an awareness of life at school in Templestowe Lower.

Scholastic Book Fair  

The Scholastic Book Fair has raised just over $1400.  This funds will assist with purchasing licences for ebooks and resources in the library.  Congratulations Jo Matarazzo for organising this fun event and thank you to all the parents and staff who purchased books and stationery.  Every little bit helps!

Again a very special thank you to those students who showed true leadership and service by volunteering to assist in the Scholastic Book Fair! Thank you again!

Please let me know if you have any ideas on how to spend these funds.  I would love to survey parents about e-book subscriptions and collect information to determine if this would be an appropriate resource for our students.

Parent Teacher Student Conversations

Parent Teacher Student Conversations will take place on Wednesday 21st of June between 12:30pm and 5:30pm.

Students will finish school at 12pm on that day.  All students are required to attend the Conversations as this is a perfect opportunity to review achievements so far and then set goals.  Reports will be sent to the Compass Parent Portal on Monday 20th  June. Please ensure you can log in and receive messages etc.

Email Mr Con or myself if you are experiencing difficulties with your Compass account.

Student Attendance  

Thank you to everyone who is really making an effort to arrive on time! Punctuality makes a massive difference to how the students feel about school and themselves as learners.

Each morning our classroom teachers and students take part in a ‘Welcome Circle.’ ‘The Welcome Circle’ is designed to provide students with predictability with how each day will begin. It is also a chance for students who may feel overwhelmed, tired or nervous about the day; the opportunity to settle in calmly and reset themselves ready for learning. The Welcome Circle is standard practice in all classrooms within our school.

Our Welcome Circles look like this:  

1. Warm Greeting: hearing your name in a positive and cheerful way
2. Prayer: Our School Prayer or prayers of thanks and special intentions
3. Positive Primer: Quick game to build positive emotions - we must have positive chemicals in our body to learn. Everyone is included and no one goes out.
4. St Kevin’s Dispositions: Staff choose one of the dispositions to focus on for the day or for the week. For Example: ‘Our focus for today is GRIT. We are all going to remember to show GRIT when we are faced with challenging situations or we find our work tricky.’
5. Expectations: The teacher will give students a reminder of expectations for behaviour or for learning. For example: ‘A reminder that when the music plays it is time to line up.’
6. Announcements: Important things for the day: things to celebrate/ birthdays/ important news/reminders.
7. WWW: This is where students and teachers discuss what is working well within the classroom and in the yard. Students are encouraged to voice their opinions and ideas.

Student Attitude and Behaviour

Lovely to hear positive comments from staff and parents about the behaviour on the playground and students supporting each other!

PBL and goals for Term 3, 2023

A reminder to everyone that this year we are introducing ‘Positive Behaviour for Learning’ (PBL) into our school. Last term as a school, we voted to have Respect, Responsible and Resilient, as whole school values. These three values will guide the behaviours we feel are most important for successful learning at our school. The staff have been working with Jo Ann Patrick from MACS (Wellbeing) and at the last meeting we voted on the 5 areas to work on in Term 3, 2023. 

EBA Letter to Parents

Communication to Admin - Office and Bursar

This is the new administration email address: stksecretary@sktemplestowelr.catholic.edu.au  if you need to communicate with the office please email this address and Selena and/or Tina will respond to you.  

This email is not checked on the weekend or after office hours therefore please email me if you require immediate assistance.  gleone@sktemplestowelr.catholic.edu.au

TECH CORNER

Seesaw 

Statistics for Seesaw from last week

Congratulations 4CC & 1/2 GI on being TOP CLASSES FOR WEEK 6 & 7 on Seesaw!    WOW 63 comments on Seesaw amazing work!

Principal Induction Program

Compass

The teachers will be adding more and more onto Compass.  I have added two new items in the last week and I have received positive feedback from parents about the ease of accepting and giving permission to students via the app for excursions.  Please send me an email or pop into the office if you have any feedback.  

Preps 2024 

Prep Enrolments are now required to be completed and sent in! Email me or let the office know if you need an enrolment form.  Confirmation letters went out last week to enrolled families!

St Kevin’s Running Club  

Running Club will recommence on Tuesday 8:15 am and will run every week till the end of term supervised by Peter Scarfo.  All students are welcome to participate (Prep to 6).

CHANGE OF DATE for Assembly  for Term 2

Term 2   Week 8 -  Friday  16/06    Whole School Assembly  2:30pm

Italian for the Term 2 Week 7 & 8 

Preps, Year 1 and 2:

In Week 7 Students practised saying the name of school objects, to describe them with their colour and how to ask for them, for example “Posso avere la matita rossa?” ,“Can I please have the red pencil?”

In Week 8 Students will review all the vocabulary learnt so far and we will be working on having conversations. 

Year 3,4,5 and 6:

In Week 7 Students revised the colours, the school objects, how to describe them and how to ask for them.

In Week 8 we will be practising all the previous vocabulary, we will learn to put it into conversations and we will start to learn some emotions. 

CSEF - CAMPS AND SPORTS EDUCATION FUND

Please find attached to this newsletter information about the government "Camps and Sport Education fund" for eligible families. If you believe you are eligible for this funding please contact Tina in the office for an application form. 

Important to know:

1. Closing date is June 23, 2023
2. School to lodge and process all CSEF applications receive before closing date
3. CSEF recipients are also eligible for MACS concessional Fee Policy
4. CSEF recipients count is factored into HCC funding

Second Hand Uniform Shop 

Thank you to everyone who has dropped off some uniforms. 

Please spread the message. If anyone has any spare St Kevin’s uniforms they are no longer in need of, especially in sizes 10-14, and are in  good, clean condition, please ask them to drop them off at the school.  Our families appreciate the option of being able to purchase a second hand uniform.

Every blessing, 

Gabee Leone