Acting Principal's Report
Dear Members of the St. Cecilia’s School Community,
This week we celebrate the feast of St Cecilia, our patron saint. Students celebrated in class through class prayer, learning about St Cecilia and joining in with singing and other musical activities. Music is an integral part of our school, as is our dedication to learning about our faith and dedicating ourselves to being followers of Jesus, just as St Cecilia did throughout her life. Please refer to our Education in Faith page to find our more about how we reflected on St Cecilia nd the value of music to learning and wellbeing.
St Cecilia's feast will be further celebrated next week with our annual St Cecilia's Got Talent showcase. This event invites any students who would like to share their talents, to perform at recess or lunchtime on specified days. Our SRC students act as judges, help MC and coordinate the event.
This is always a very popular event that celebrates and sometimes uncovers the unique talents our students have. It also provides a great opportunity for our students to engage in taking a risk which helps build their confidence and resilience.
These events follow up from a very successful Wellbeing Week, where students focused on activities that improved mind, body and soul. I'd like to extend another big thank you to our Year 6 leaders and their teachers who coordinated our special Wellbeing Day activities. The students had a fantascitc day and raised great funds and awareness for their chosen charity, Koala Kids foundation, which provides support and resources to children with cancer. The students are just $80 short of their $1000 target.
If you would like to add a contribution, you can send in donations to the school office in a labeled envelope.
It was also a very exciting day last Wednesday when the man himself, Mr McKenna paid us a visit. At our impromptu assembly pictured above Marty spoke about how much he has missed everyone and how much he is looking forward to being back at school at the beginning of next year. Mr McKenna also expressed how overwhelmed he and his family continue to be with all the love and support from the St Cecilia's community. We keep Marty and his family in our thoughts as they journey through the next stage of his treatment and recovery.
I have attached on our Upcoming Dates page a detailed outline of the activities taking place over the final weeks of terms. There are many exciting, fun and important events that celebrate the year that we have had, honour those students and families that will be moving on to the next stage of their journeys at the end of the year and prepare students for the transition to their new classes in 2024.
I will also send these dates out as a separate document through the school app which will serve as a useful reference for our final weeks of the year.
St Cecilia's Feast Day & St Cecilia's Got Talent
Students will be invited to sign up at school in over the next couple of days. Students can sing, dance, act, perform magic or present any other talent they might posess, either individually or as part of a group.
Junior St Cecilia's Got Talent - Foundation to Year 3
Wedesday November 29 - at both recess and lunchtime
Senior St Cecilia's Got Talent - Year 4 to Year 6
Friday December 1 - at both recess and lunchtime
Parents Association AGM & Invitation to Get Involved in 2024
The St Cecilia's Parents Association is such vital part of the success of our school community. For it and our school community to continue flourishing we are always seeking new members. The end of this year sees the end of the term for our current office holders who have each provided tremendous service. We are therefore seeking nominations from any parents or carers who would be willing to take on the various positions available within the PA, or who are willing to work alongside the current office holders to facilitate a transition process for particular roles.
If you would like to put yourself forward for any of these roles or even be contacted to find out more about what they involve, please make a submission using the form linked below:
Please refer to the Parents Association Page for more information about the various roles
Parent Class Reps for 2024
We are also inviting all parents to consider being a Class rep in 2024. You can also find more information about this on the Parents Association page. To nominate yourself, please also make a submission using the form linked above (and on the PA page).
Being Cautious of COVID
There is an increase in community transmission of COVID in Victoria. With so many end of year celebrations and special events coming up, we would hate for students or families to miss out due to contracting COVID. We ask that families renew their vigilence when it comes to the following precautions and do the right thing to protect themsleves and the school community.
We have a significant surplus of tests available at school. Any families who would like some can collect them from the front office.
Use these simple steps to protect yourself and those most at risk.
Face masks
Face masks can prevent COVID-19 transmission.
Get a COVID-19 test
How to test for COVID-19 in Victoria.
Checklist for COVID-19 cases
A step-by-step guide to support you through COVID-19 to your recovery.
Ventilation
Ventilation guidance on how to lower the spread of COVID-19.
Athletics Carnival, Tuesday November 28 - Volunteers Wanted
Katherine is still in need of volunteers from both our junior and senior age groups to ensure the smooth running of the day. If you can lend a hand, please reach out by emailing kaldcroft@scgleniris.catholic.edu.au or completing the VOLUNTEER FORM
2024 School Fees
1 child $3,060.00 $765 per term
2 children+ $4,600.00 $1150 per term
Capital Levy $200.00
Per family per annum payable in Term 1
Curriculum Levy - Per child per annum payable in Term 1
Prep to Year 2 - $850 per child
Year 3 to Year 4 - $815 per child
Year 5 to Year 6 - $875 per child
Extra Curricula Activities and Excursions
We are very proud of the range of activites and opportunities we are able to offer our students at St Cecilia's. These activities range from class based excursions to sporting gala days, specialist class incursions and excursions to representative opportunities in sport, music, art and leadership.
To ensure that we can continue to offer this breadth of opportunities to our students we will be introducing a fee to help cover the cost of bus charters for some of these activities.
Parents will not be charged anything additional for class based excursions or incursion that relate to the students Inquiry topics throughout the year, as these costs are covered by the Excursions Levy paid in your school fees.
However for other activites such as sporting gala days, specialist class excursions or representative opportunites, where a smaller group of students may be chosen to attend an external event or activity, we will be asking parents to pay a bus charter fee of $15.
This will mean that we can continue to offer these opportunites to our students without having to compromise on resourcing and facilitating our core teaching and learning programs.
Thank you for your continued support of the school and our students.
MACS Big Thank you Initiative
Giving thanks can be the greatest gift of all
Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) is excited to be launching a Christmas campaign in December. The focus of the campaign will be on giving the biggest thanks possible to our amazing teachers.
To make the campaign more special, students have the chance to be part of it. MACS has created an online form at www.macsbiggestthanks.com, where students can write a message of thanks to the teacher who has helped them to flourish, whether by igniting their passion in a certain subject or by inspiring them to believe in
themselves.
Not only will the messages of thanks be shared with teachers, but some of the students’ messages will appear on billboards around Melbourne and in future communications. We need parent/carer/guardian consent in the online form to give students the chance of having their message used in this way.
The form will be open until Friday 1 December. We look forward to seeing the messages of joy and positivity from students as we celebrate our wonderful teachers this Christmas.
Christmas Puddings for St Vincent De Paul
Miss Mustey has once again this year liaised with St Vincent De Paul to organise a Christmas Pudding Drive. Families are invited to purchase and bring in a Christmas Pudding to donate to St Vincent De Paul. This year the puddings will be donated to Osnam House to distribute and use with those in need at Christmas time. It is a very simple way we can show our students that Christmas should be very much about giving what we can to others, particualry those in need.
Puddings will be collected over the next couple of weeks in classrooms.
Thank you in anticipation for your support.
The Puddings will be collected by St Vincent De Paul on the last day of term.
Thank you all for your continued support and active participation in the life of the school.
Matthew Mooney
Acting Principal
St Cecilia’s School