Principal's Report 

Dear Families,

Welcome to the new school year! At the heart of St Leonard’s is a desire to develop the infinite potential of every person. Our vision of ‘Aspiring to Excellence,’ underpins our work and is reflected in our outstanding academic results. ‘Aspiring to Excellence’ refers to much more than academic outcomes.  At St. Leonard’s we foster positive attitudes and teach contemporary programs to engage spiritual, academic, social, emotional and physical development.

As we start the year we recognise the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's spiritual and cultural connection to country, we acknowlwdge the traditional custodians of the Kulin Nations. We also extend respect to all staff, students and families within the Archdiocese of Melbourne.

I will be here for the first month of 2025 to welcome everyone, set the school theme and the tone for the year. My last day at St Leonard's is the Welcome BBQ on 28 February. 

In 2025, our whole school theme is, ‘Shine Bright.’ The theme reflects our focus on developing our students’ personal and social capabilities to become creative and confident individuals with a strong sense of optimism about their lives and the future. This, in turn, helps our students to develop and maintain healthy relationships, harness their voices, interests and ideas to stand up for what’s right and make a difference to our world. 

• Staff will be focussing on building even stronger relationships with students and nurturing their learning and interests to help each student to shine brightly. 
• Staff will give opportunities for students shine in the issues that matter and are important to them by giving them choices in their learning and encouraging student voice.
• We know that learning improves when students are given the opportunity to shine brightly. Our preparation for our school concert is a perfect example of how we hope to provide such opportunities. 
• We will be encouraging the student's to increase other’s ability to shine brightly by encouraging them to action the gospel values.

The students will be learning the words and singing Take That's song, ' SHINE,' and learning some actions. Take That- SHINE We will be singing this song to the school community at our School Advisory Council's Welcome barbecue on the Oval on Friday 28th February. Please feel welcome to join us. In the meantime, I would love to receive any videos of the children singing this year's theme song to show at assembly. Please feel free to email these videos through to me.

As part of our school theme, I have permission from Big Life Journal to share the following. You may like to print out a copy for  reference and keep it on your fridge or on your phone.

"Have you ever noticed how the best Olympic coaches work with their athletes?

They don't focus on perfection.

Instead, they celebrate progress—every small improvement, every tiny step forward.

As parents, we can take the same approach with our kids.

When we focus on their effort, problem-solving, and creativity, we help them see every improvement as a win.

This helps build their confidence, resilience, and a lifelong love for learning.

Here are a few phrases you can try:

“I love how you’re figuring this out!”

“Look how much progress you’ve made!”

Just like the best coaches, our role isn’t to push for perfection—it’s to guide and encourage our kids to improve and grow.

For more phrases to build your child's confidence, check out this week’s parenting guide:"

Thankyou for Supporting our 2025 Testing Days 

In 2025, started the year with two testing days to enable the staff to gather data to inform the teaching and learning programs for the first term. Year P-2 students attended individually and Year 3-6 students in small groups. The feedback from staff and parents has been very good. I have appreciated conducting Year 1 & 2 individual testing myself. It was been a wonderful opportunity for a gradual start for the students and a time for them to get to know their teacher before the year commences.

A reminder that the students in Year 1-6 commence school tomorrow, Friday 31st January. Preps commence on Monday 3rd February.

Parent Teacher Meet and Greet Meetings

Parent Teacher Meet and Greet meetings for your child's class will be held next Tuesday 4th February and Wednesday 5th February between 1:30pm and 6:30pm. Interviews will be held in 15 minute time slots. The Meet and Greets will be held face to face at school, in your child’s classroom. 

The purpose of these meetings is to give parents a chance to introduce their child to the teacher, explaining any relevant information such as health, academic, social or emotional information or general information about the family. Each class will be sending home an Introducing My Child form that we encourage parents to complete and return to the class teacher before the meeting. 

To sign up for your time slot please access the following link:

https://www.schoolinterviews.com.au/code/jvw4y

A reminder that students will be dismissed at 1:30pm on both days and Camp Australia after school care is available through the normal booking procedures, if required. If you have any trouble registering for your Meet and Greet Interviews please contact the school office on 9560 8491.

ROAR Parent & Carer Education Session

St Leonard's introduced ROAR 2 years ago as part of our commitment and obligation to ensure that all student feel safe and have the knowledge to talk to someone if somenthing is not right, no matter what it is. These are life-long skills and attitudes necessary for all students, parents and educators. I highly recommend that every parent and carer attend this zoom meeting on 26 Feb at 7:30pm. By attending the meeting parents will be able to understand and reinforce what the students will hear in their sessions at school, leading to more open channels of communication. 

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83792175580?pwd=QWla4d8m7ej0bXVn75belFxdPGuL9m.1

Meeting ID: 837 9217 5580

Passcode: 832662

Code Camp

Code Camp is offering two programs, including an exciting new Robotics program. The Robotics program will go ahead if there are enough enrolments.

After-School Coding: Wed, 5 Feb 2025 to Wed, 26 Mar 2025 

*Robotics After-School: Wed, 5 Feb 2025 to Wed, 26 Mar 2025 (subject to numbers)

www.codecamp.com.au/stleonard

• Information and an application form about the St Leonard’s Junior and Senior Choirs 2025 is on the Choir Notice tab of this newsletter.

Wishing everyone a bright, shiny start to 2025 and a very happy Chinese New Year.

Rob Horwood

Principal