The Principal's Desk

Dear parents, families and friends,

We are entering an interesting and busy time of the year. We have just celebrated Halloween, which is growing in popularity here in Australia, particularly over the past few years. We have also just celebrated All Saints and All Souls Day. Halloween has its origins in both cultural harvest festivals and christian tradition. The word Halloween comes from All Hallows Eve, hallow being on old word for saints. You can see the word halo in hallow, which is the symbol used to identify saints in art. 

With Halloween being a harvest festival, jack o lanterns and dressing up in scary costumes and masks was done to scare away evil or bad spirits from the harvest crops. Hence the pumpkins and corn fields and scarecrows present in many Halloween images and artwork. It connects with the basic human instinct of fear; fear of the dark, fear of the unknown, fear of death. It also connects with the human instinct to scare and be scared for fun, the classic scream and jump fright. This time of scaring away bad spirits became linked with All Saints and All Souls Days (1st and 2nd November). Around the world November is the time centred around good and bad spirits and for remembering the dead. Mexico and some South American countries celebrate the Day of the Dead. There is also Remembrance Day we we remember all those who died in war.

 In a funny way the Melbourne Cup Carnival is a time of high spirits and the consumption of many spirits. Coincidence?? We have a few more weeks of what is called Ordinary Time in the Church before we begin Advent at the end of November and the preparation for Christmas.

As we move towards the end of the year, there has been much preparation underway for next year. Class groupings are currently being created with teachers entering friendship requests into our new Class Solver program. We have also finalised the staffing allocations for next year as well. We have some special announcements to make.

Mr Peter Kean will be retiring at the end of this year. After many years (33) of dedicated service to education, Peter has decided it is now time to retire and spend time with his family, travelling and pursuing his interests and hobbies. Peter has worked at St. Augustine's for 13 years. We thank Peter for his contributions to the students and the story of St. Augustine's.

Ms Danni Schubach and her fiance Alex are expecting their first child. She will be taking maternity leave for the duration of 2023. We wish her blessings and happiness as she begins this new phase in her life. We will look forward to her return to us in the near future.

Miss Emily Wardeiner is returning to the Northern Territory to teach next year. She is taking a year of leave and will decide towards the end of next year if she will remain there longer or return to us. 

We welcome back Ms Tiziana Scimone next year who will be teaching Prep - 2 STEM classes.

We welcome Mr Milan Bujic, Miss Michelle Cvetkovska and Mr Tony Castellano to St. Augustine's next year. 

COVID-19 Update

We are averaging one Covid case per week, however last week we had 5 cases across the week. There are plenty RAT kits available, so I encourage all families to take as many as needed and when needed. It has been through regular testing and reporting that we have been able to keep track of cases and prevent the spread of covid. I again thank all families for taking the necessary actions when they notice any covid like symptoms with their children.

Election Day BBQ

We are very fortunate to have secured the right to host a Sausage Sizzle on Election Day. This promises to be our biggest fundraiser for the year and we need as many volunteers as possible to make it a success. Thank you to all those who have volunteered their time already, but we still need more helpers, especially in the afternoon.

Christmas Concert

Our School Concert is fast approaching. The theme this year is a Christmas Concert - Twas The Night Before Christmas! A St. Augustine's Primary School Christmas Spectacular. Tickets will become available next week. There is no cost for the tickets, however there will be Santa's sack near the entrance where you can make donations to show your appreciation. All donations collected will go towards the cost of hiring the stage, sound and lighting for the night. There will also be no limit on tickets per family. However, we do ask that you complete the online booking as soon as possible to allow us to prepare and ensure we have enough seats for all attending. After 3 long years it is amazing to see the return of the school concert. Oh, for those of you wondering, I haven't forgotten about the previously cancelled Back In Time concert!! That will be the theme for a future concert!

Birmingham Street Park Update

Work is progressing well. It may not look like it, but there is a lot of prep work being done below the surface. On Tuesday there will be high truck traffic as the large mounds of soil and rubble are removed. From Wednesday to Friday of next week, the 9th - 11th November there will be no access to the front door. Any visitors arriving at St. Augustine's between 9.15am and 3.00pm will need to wait at the Birmingham Street gate and call the office on 9314 5996. A staff member will open the gate to allow access to the office.

Kind regards,

Matthew Stead

Principal