Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to the last week of Term One. During the course of this Term, the students have had many opportunities to experience success and engagement in their learning. It doesn't matter how big or small this might have been, the important thing is that our students see and experience their own personal achievements. Sometimes teachers and parents can assist with “reframing” the all the experiences of school life to help students identify this sense of the achievement for themselves.

I want to congratulate our Prep students on completing their first primary school term. Under the skilled and experienced eyes of the prep teachers and support staff, our prep students have settled into the routines of school life at St Simon’s and we as a school community are very proud of the way they growing and and contributing to the life of our school.

During the Easter season, I encourage all families to consider joining the parish for the Easter Liturgies over the coming week. This is an important time as Catholic and Christian faith communities where we remember and celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the ultimate of expression of love from God to us.

On Thursday 6th April at 2:15 pm, the whole school will gather to be led by our Year Six students in a dramatisation of the Stations of the Cross. All families are welcome to join us on the basketball

Please find the days and times of the Easter liturgies at St Simon’s Church below.

Please remember that Monday 24th April is a student-free day. The first day for Term Two for students will Wednesday 26th April. Beyond Edu Care, our out-of-school hours care provider, will have school closure care program available for families on Mnday 24th April.

I will take some Long Service Leave during Weeks 1 and 2 of Term 2. During my absence, the school will be very capably led by Deputy Principals Hedy Carvalho and Monica Rayner along with the support of the St Simon’s Leadership Team.

I will be using this time away from school to finish some home renovations as well as spend some time with my wife and our four children in Queensland.

Twilight Sports Postponed.

We thank families for supporting our decision to postpone the Twilight House Sports Carnival last Friday. At this stage, we have the Term Four date of Thursday 2nd November as the alternative time for this exciting event

Parent Teacher Interviews

This week there will be opportunities for parent teacher meetings on Monday and Wednesday from 2:30- 5:00pm through in-person meetings and video meeting. These meetings will be held in the Library and Building B Ground Floor.

Based on the booking spread for each class there seems to be a good mix of different meeting types to meet the needs of families.

Parent-teaching meetings are an important way we partner between home and school for the education of your child\ren, and we thank you for connecting with us.

If you have any questions or feedback about your parent-teacher meeting experience please get in touch with me, principal@ssrowville.catholic.edu.au

Fr Mark’s announcement

During the weekend masses, Fr Mark made an announcement about the his ongoing engagement as parish priest for the Parishes of St Jude’s Scoresby and St Simon’s Rowville. Please see an excerpt from the weekend’s parish bulletin.

From 2nd April Weekend bulletin

Dear Friends I have been conscious for many months now that I have been juggling too many responsibilities at the same time. Certainly my role as Parish Priest of St Jude’s and St Simon’s both require and deserve my full and undivided attention. Equally, my role as Episcopal Vicar for Catholic Schools requires more focus and time than I am currently able to give. Over the past months I have had discussions with both the Archbishop and the Vicar General in respect of all this and both have been very aware of the critical needs of both St Jude’s and St Simon’s. In addition to this the Archbishop in particular is most conscious of the developing role I have as Episcopal Vicar for Catholic Schools. Consequently the decision has been made to appoint a new full time Parish Priest across St Jude’s and St Simon’s and this will occur in mid or late June. At the same time I will move to another smaller parish, as yet undecided, to enable me to focus more on my role as Episcopal Vicar. I am most grateful for the friendship, support and understanding on the part of so many across both communities during my time at both Scoresby and more recently, Rowville. It has been a privilege to be amongst you during some very challenging times as we worked through the challenges of COVID, the change of priests and the struggles of uncertainty (along with every other parish in the Archdiocese) as we contemplate what we might look like as parishes in the near future. I realise all of this has been unsettling and I admire the willingness of so many to ‘hang in and hang on.’ From the middle of April for about 8-10 weeks until a new Parish Priest arrives I will spend the bulk of Tuesday-Thursday working in my role as Episcopal Vicar. This will necessitate a few changes at the local level, including the celebration of Communion Services on weekdays when I’m not available. I’m most grateful to Fr Samuel for picking up some of the extra responsibilities. In the meantime there is some important work occurring in relation to the establishment of new Leadership Teams at both St Jude’s and St Simon’s to succeed the former Parish Councils. Leadership Teams are, I think, a better structure in our Archdiocese at this time as we all move forward to embrace “Take the Way of the Gospel.” The details of the new Teams will be announced shortly. Peace blessings, Fr Mark.

Must Attend Parent Session for your family’s well-being online!

Supervision of primary school-aged children is available during the evening session. More details about this will be shared with families in Week 1 of Term 2.

Tom Wursthorn

Principal

Our Secondary Schools

Rowville Secondary College