Dear Parents and Carers,

Parent-Teacher Conversations

During Week Nine of this Term, the school will conduct parent-teacher conversations on Tuesday, 5th September and Thursday 7th September from 2:30pm each day. These conversations are offered as face-to-face meetings or online video conferences.

Bookings will be available here from Monday 21st August 10am.

Please note whilst the school will finish formal classes at 2:30pm. There will be formal supervision will be provided for students who can't be picked up from school until 3:15pm. A separate form to register for this supervision will be shared closer to the date.

School Parent Survey MACSIS heads-up

I encourage all families to click here to explore one of the ways we formally seek feedback from our parents about St Simon’s School.

St Simon’s Art Show 2023 - Save the Date Wednesday 18-22nd October

(Opening Night Celebration) Wednesday 18th October

God bless,

Tom Wursthorn

Principal

Dear Parents and Carers,

As Tom mentioned last week in the newsletter, he is absent this week as he is attending the Outer East Catholic Primary principal network’s indigenous immersion experience in Cape York. Principal Conference. In his absence Monica Rayner and myself will be sharing with you some news and upcoming events for this week.

The weeks are rolling on very quickly and lots is happening at St Simon the Apostle school.

We have the INTERRELATE- "TRICKY TALKS" FORMERLY KNOWN AS ‘FAMILY LIFE EVENING PROGRAM’, BEING HELD ON TUESDAY 29TH AUGUST FOR YEARS 5 & 6 IN OUR SCHOOL HALL. If you have not yet responded to the Operoo invitation could I please ask you to do so as I need numbers for the night. Thank you.

This Program has been offered to our families for many years and we will continue to offer this opportunity to families as the feedback has been extremely positive. It is an optional offer for families as there is a fee attached to attend these sessions.

These sessions are provided to compliment and deepen the learning being covered through the classrooms in accordance with the Victorian Curriculum. At St Simon’s, we are committed to supporting parents as their children's primary (first) educators, and our school plays a vital role in fulfilling this partnership. Education in human sexuality seeks to help children and young people to grow and develop into healthy, mature adults capable of realising their full potential created in the image and likeness of God.

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We have just completed our second weekend of First Holy Communion Celebration Masses where our students have received their Sacrament of First Holy Communion. Congratulations to the following students:

Rebecca Lee, Saneyah Kanjiani, Cameron Medlock, Kieran Mariasegaram, Ella Shafton, Hannah Papp-Meade, Tyler Parker, Spencer Vaughan, Abbas Khazarie, Taison Chiem, Ivy Logan, Bodhi Evans, Coran Beatty, George Katakouzinos, Eloise Le Brocq and Matthew Minkiewicz

Please keep these students in your prayers as they encounter and continue to receive the Eucharist as part of their faith journey.

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Our Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) is going strong in its first implementation year here at St Simon the Apostle with students very confidently able to articulate what our School’s expectations are and the behaviour attached to those expectations. We have had many students receiving PBL tickets throughout the year and their photo being placed on our PBL Board near the office area. Each term the photos are taken down and the new term achievers are placed up on the board. We will now be advertising the winners of each week’s draw in our newsletter. Please come and have a look at our PBL Board and stay tuned for our winners through the weekly Newsletter via the Wellbeing section.

Fr Jerald has been very impressed with our students who have presented for the Sacrament of First Holy Communion and the lovely meaningful prayers they have written. Well done to the teachers and their families. Just letting you know Fr Jerald will be taking leave as of Monday 28th August for a couple of weeks to visit his family in India. We wish him a safe and enjoyable break.

We also welcome back Fr Samuel who has been absent due to his attendance at the World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal. I’m sure he will have many amazing stories to share. We look forward to Fr Samuel visiting classes soon to share his experiences.

Just a friendly reminder for all families who have a child receiving the Sacrament of First Holy Communion to please book a time via the link that was sent out a few weeks to make an appointment to meet and have a chat with Fr Jerald. There might be an opportunity before he leaves or else it will need to be a time when he returns. Fr Jerald is very keen to meet families at St Simon the Apostle school. This opportunity will be offered to families each year who have a child receiving a Sacrament.

Dear Families and Carers,

Over the past two weeks, we have been busy emerging in Book Week fun at St Simon’s. We were lucky to have Felice Arena come and visit us last week. The students created beautiful works of art, learned some new dance moves and wrote some beautiful stories.

It was great to see so many students and staff embracing the Book Week parade, from all accounts it was a great success. Thank you to our dedicated Literacy leader, Phil Solari and all our caring classroom teachers for creating such memorable moments for our students.

There are some upcoming opportunities for families to engage in St Simon’s, such as our School Improvement surveys and Three Way Conversations for students, parents and teachers. Please read below for more information.

Monica Rayner

Deputy Principal

Teaching and Learning

Maths Leader

School Improvement Surveys

Each year families of Catholic Schools are encouraged to complete School Improvement Surveys. From Monday 28th August to Friday 15th September, we are currently inviting all families to participate in online school improvement surveys for 2023.

The data collected is used to support St Simon’s to improve in all surveyed areas. An invitation this week will be sent out to all families via Operoo. Families who indicate that they would like to participate in the survey will receive an email with the link to the on-line survey.

We encourage you to take part so that we can plan for improvement with detailed knowledge from your perspective.

Parent Teacher Conversations

This term, will be conducting Three Way Conversations for all students from Prep to Grade 6 during Parent Teacher chats. On Tuesday, 5th September and Thursday 7th September from 2:30pm. The format of the conversations is as follows:

-Your child will provide information to clarify what they have learnt and share what they have been learning and are proud of.

-Your child will share what they found challenging and together you will create goals for future learning.

All students are encouraged to attend with their families, even if your child has a scheduled PSG this term. We encourage you to make an appointment.

These conversations are offered as face-to-face meetings or online video conferences. Face to face will be held in the Library and ground floor of Building B.

Please note whilst the school will finish formal classes at 2:30pm. There will be formal supervision provided for students who can't be picked up from school until 3:15pm. We will be sending out a separate form to register for this supervision that will be shared closer to the date.

Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge

Currently this is a snapshot of our VPRC dashboard.

We have 27 students who have finished the quota of required books and will receive their certificate in Term 4.