Laura Jane's Message

Dear Families, 

It has been a pleasure meeting the new families that will be joining St Gabriel’s community in 2025.  Choosing the best educational setting for your child is such an important decision and it has been a privilege to meet with so many families.  We look forward to gathering with these new families at our Prep 2025 and Campfire and Connection Evening early in Term 3, 

Planning Days in Week 11

In Week 11, the last week of term, all Hub Educators will work one day out of the classroom with their team to prepare for the learning and teaching in Term 3.  This day is facilitated by our Learning & Teaching, Literacy and Numeracy Leaders and ensures that all teams are well prepared for upcoming term.  The Prep - 2 Team will be planning on Tuesday and the 3 - 6 team will be planning on Wednesday.  On these days, our specialist teachers will work for the whole day in the Hubs with your children.  The children will not have their regular specialist sessions in Week 11. 

While we are a Dog's Connect school and Billie our Wellbeing dog is onsite with us during the week, we want to remind everyone other dogs are not permitted on our school grounds.  This is for the safety of all children and families and we thank you for your support with this.  

On Tuesday 23 July, the school day will finish at 12.30pm for all children.  This early finish  will enable all educators to attend an afternoon of Professional learning focused on supporting neurodiverse learners.   We will deepen our understanding of and build our capacity to support neurodiverse learners in our school. This is a valued learning time for all of our staff.  We thank all of our families for your support with this.  

Reconciliation Week

It was such a privilege to welcome Peter Hood to work alongside us during Reconciliation Week this year. Peter is a father in our school community and a Cultural Facilitator.  Peter facilitated an arts session through Engaging with Place specialist time for all children. He will continue to work with our First Nations Aboriginal children throughout the year.  We are committed to deepening our knowledge and understandings of our First Nation Aboriginal people as we recognise Reconciliation as an important way to strengthen relationships in our community for the good of all Australians. 

Safe School Drop Off and Pick Up 

The Darebin Council has been out to visit us at St Gabriel’s as they have had a significant number of complaints about traffic safety around our school at pick up and drop off times.  We are urging all families to be vigilant and focused on child and family safety at these times. 

Important Reminders for Viola and Olive Streets: 

Viola Street 

• This is a Kiss and Drop Zone - parents must stay with their car.
• Educators will assist your child out of the car if required. 

Olive Street

• This is a short term parking Zone - park safely and legally on Olive street. 
• Park here if you want to get out of the car and walk your child to the gate or into the school grounds.  

The Darebin Council have informed us that their Traffic and Parking Supervisors  will be coming out to monitor our School drop off and pick up times on random days.  The purpose of their presence will be to ensure that everyone is using these drop off and pick up areas as per the council signage. 

Staff Update 

Next Week, as a staff, we will farewell Jackie Goodyear and Jo Younan. Jackie is heading off on a new adventure, taking a break from teaching and spending time interstate with family.  Jo is taking family leave as the birth of her first child is very close. We wish Jackie and Jo all the very best, happiness and life’s blessings in this next part of their journey. 

In term 3, we will welcome Heather Bond as a full time Educator in the 3/4 Hub and Mariam Latif, our Literacy Leader, will join the 5/6 Hub as the 3rd Educator.  This will ensure that our teaching and learning programs continue consistently in both of these Hub groups.  

We will celebrate the last day of term 2 with a morning of fun activities organised by Maddy and led by our staff.  We are very excited about Term 3, a term full of fun activities, our school camp program for each hub group, our Art show and celebrating 100 Days of Prep. We would like to wish all of our children and families a very safe and restful holiday break.