Principal's Welcome

Dear Families,

And it seems that just like that, we find ourselves at the end of another year, and what a wonderful year of collaboration it has been for our students, staff and families.  We have enjoyed every minute of it, and hope you have too. 

ADVENT

Last Sunday marked the 2nd Sunday in Advent, a day where we lit the second candle to represent peace. In a time where there is such unrest in the world, never has there been a more important time to pray for peace. Sitting in church on Sunday, I reflected on all the times this year when I haven’t felt peace, either within myself or in the world around us and I leaned into the greatest gift that God has given us, and that is the gift or prayer. So this week, at every opportunity I get, I am going to make it my goal to lean into this gift and pray for peace in our own lives, in the lives of our students, in the lives of our families and in the lives of the people in the world. Let us be the bringers of peace in the people around us. 

YEAR 6  GRADUATION

Congratulations to all of our Year 6 students celebrated their Year 6 Graduation yesterday. We wish them all the very best in their future and we hope they take a little piece of SoGS with them wherever they go. We hope that they always remember how important they are and that they will always be KNOWN BY THEIR NAME!

SCHOOL NURSE

For the past 12 months we have also been discussing the possibility of hiring a school nurse to work in our first Aid room. As many of you are aware, there have been many changes to the Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) medical management procedures and plans as well as an increase in students with specific medical needs. We are pleased to announce that in 2024, we will have a school nurse on site who will attend to our students medical needs, administer medication, complete medical management plans with families as well as maintain all school medical policies. A warm welcome to Malissa Higgs who will be joining us as our school nurse. Mallisa comes to us with a wide range of experiences, working in hospitals on various wards. 

STEP UP DAY

Yesterday, our students were all able to participate in Step Up day, where they met their 2024 classroom teachers. With a few of our teachers leaving, it also means that we warmly welcome new staff members to our SoGS community. We welcome Anna Iuele and Alex Matzaris who have joined us from St Matthew’s in Fawkner. We welcome Rosemary Anderson who has been working at St Vincent’s in Strathmore as well as becoming a regular CRT this year. We welcome Melissa Gergakopoulos, who has been working in early Childhood for the past 10 years and has graduated from university with a teacher’s degree and we welcome David Pietsch, who has been working  at Yackandandah primary school.  We also welcome our new CoEducators in 2024. Welcome to Cassie Spiteri, Tess Torrence, Marc Radoslovic-Clemente and Rachael Boucher who will be working with our students. 

We also welcomed all of our 2024 prep students! They have eagerly participated in three sessions of transition this year and we can’t wait for them to join us in 2024. 

MEET OUR TEAM

Newsletter Feedback

Thank you to the families that responded. The information we received will help us make some decisions around what information to include on a fortnightly basis and what to include twice a term. 

THANKYOU

To all of our parent helpers this year, we say a very BIG thankyou. It has been wonderful having you in our schools and attending school excursions. We look forward to seeing you once again in 2024.

MACS Thanksgiving Campaign

A few weeks ago, I had sent an invitation to all parents via SeeSaw to take part in a campaign run by MACS. They invited students to give a message of thanks for their teachers. Thank you to everyone who took part in this wonderful campaign. One of our messages of thanks was shortlisted to be displayed in cinemas, billboards, TV and shopping centres across the Archdiocese over Christmas.  Although we don’t know who the student is, we thank them from the bottom of our hearts. It is warming to see just how Miss Accaputo has made this student feel! 

Student School Leaders

Our Year 5 students presented their leadership speeches last Thursday and we were just blown away by how well prepared they were. Each student spoke about their values, the way in which they will support their fellow students and the way they will support their teachers. We heard about their hopes and dreams and why they wanted to be elected as our school leaders.  We are proud of each and every one of them for putting themselves forward even though they knew that there were limited places. They responded with resilience and empathy when they found out their elected leaders. We congratulate all of our Year 5 students and congratulate our elected school leaders!

I’d like to wish all of our families a safe and happy break. May you all experience the gifts of peace, joy, love and hope this christmas season. See you all safe and sound in 2024!

Carmela D'Amato