Dear Parents and Caregivers

Smooth Start to 2025

It has been great to see everyone settle into the new year so well. Our students have been impressive in the way they have conducted themselves on their return to school, particularly with the very warm days we experienced last week. We have over 90 new students join us this year from Little Adventurers, Kindergarten and across the year levels.

Super Staff Efforts

All our staff have been amazing in ensuring we were all ready for the start of the school year and I wish to sincerely thank all of them for their efforts. Our administration staff, our leadership team, our teaching and non-teaching staff. They have all kicked off the new year with continued enthusiasm and commitment! As our new Staff Team comes together in 2025, we become even stronger as we work together for the best interests of all our students and school community. I know parents and caregivers will continue to support the staff at Saint Helena's to ensure our Home/School partnership strengthens even more in 2025! Have a read about our new staff to St Helena's in our 'Meet Our Staff' section of the eNewsletter.

Communication

At the beginning of every school year I remind our school community that "It takes a village to raise a child". Let's continue to work together, respecting each other's roles and ensuring that the best interests of all our students are at the forefront of all that we do and say. I remind everyone of the importance of keeping up with the communication that we share with you. Remember to keep up to date with links to our website and other documents, as well as the updated calendar on our website.

Parent Information Sessions

Thank you to the parents/caregivers who came along to the Parent Information sessions last night. We appreciate you taking up the opportunity to meet your child/ren's teacher/s and learning more about the exciting year ahead and what the expectations are in their learning space.

Opening School Year Liturgy and School Captains Presentation

Today we came together as a school community with students in Pre-Primary to Year 6, along with staff and families to celebrate our Opening School Liturgy. We also had our Year 6 Captains formally installed to their positions at the end of the liturgy and given their badges. Congratulations to our School Captains for 2025! I know that they will be wonderful role models for all our students at St Helena's, as will all our Year 6 students.

Thank you to Miss Myles and Mr Vine for planning the liturgy and to all our students who played an active role. We look forward to welcoming Fr Bona back to the parish after his holidays in the next few days. It was wonderful to see parents/caregivers in attendance. You are always very welcome to attend all our liturgies and masses.

Shade Sails

We hope you have noticed our new shade sails spanning across the concrete area in front of our Library. Another wonderful gathering space at St Helena's has been enhanced by shade. A huge thank you to the P&F who committed last year to contributing $15,000 towards the shade sails that all our students will benefit from for years to come!

Staff Right to Disconnect

Parents and caregivers please note, that to assist us in enabling our teachers to disconnect from work and technology at the end of their working hours, there is no expectation that they will respond to calls, emails, texts or other communications outside of school hours.

School Fees

Families are asked to familiarise themselves with school fee documentation coming out this week and ensure that payment schedules are set up by the due date. The School Fees Schedule for 2025 was discussed at last year's Annual Community Meeting and the schedule has been on our website since December. Thank you in advance for your commitment to sending your child/ren to St Helena's and the paying of school fees that cover tuition, booklists, levies and other expenses as part of your child's/ren's learning journey. If there are families experiencing financial hardship, you are encouraged to make an appointment with me via the Admin office to discuss your payment plan for 2025.

Staff Farewell

At the end of last year Mrs Tracy Turpin resigned from her position at St Helena's Catholic Primary School. Tracy has been a part of St Helena's for over 20 years as an Education Assistant and Library Assistant for several years too. She has assisted and supported many of our St Helena's students over the years and has been the longest serving staff member of the school. We wish Tracy all the best for the future and thank her for her service to St Helena's over all those years.

Catholic School Advisory Council and P&F News

We look forward to another great year with the support of our Catholic School Advisory Council, P&F Executive and support of the school community as a whole. Please take the time to have a look at our P&F section in the eNewsletter and make the effort to get involved in 2025!

Our first P&F Meeting is on this Monday 17 February at 5:00pm in the Library. It would be great to see many families represented at this meeting to share ideas and find out more about how you can get involved in assisting in planned events throughout the year.

Save the date - Friday 7 March for our St Helena's P&F Family Welcome Back BBQ.

Here's To Another Great Year!

We are all looking forward to the year ahead and want to keep those smiles we have seen this last week on all our students' faces as they discover even more new things this year in their learning and always strive to do Something Beautiful for God in all that they say and do.

At St Helena's, we are a Christ-centred and a child-focused community,

always striving to do Something Beautiful for God.

Peace & Happy Days!

Santino Giancono

Principal

"What I can do, you cannot. What you can do, I cannot.

But together we can do something beautiful for God."

Saint Teresa of Calcutta

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