Holy Saviour School 

Principal's Message

Dear Families,

School Closure Day - Friday 11th March

5/6 Camp

We made it to camp! After much deliberation, consultation, planning and contingency planning, our Year 5/6 students boarded the bus on Wednesday morning and headed to Stringybark Lodge Camp in Gembrook for three days. We were blessed with amazing weather, established some great connections with each other, and enjoyed a wonderful couple of days together. Special thanks to Mrs Rebecca Taylor, Mrs Kathy Cauley, Mrs Laura Abed and Mr Justin Buttigieg for joining me in giving up time with our families to make this possible for our Year 5/6 children. Stay tuned over the coming weeks for some reports about our experiences from camp.

Ash Wednesday

Wednesday this week marked the beginning of the Season of Lent. Our Prep to Year 4 children celebrated a beautiful Mass with Fr Ralph here at school, while our 5/6 children celebrated with a Mass at camp on Thursday with Fr Ralph. Lent is a wonderful time in the Church calendar, it reminds us to think about how much the gospel means to us and how well we are living up to God’s law of love. Lent has many traditions, we notice the purple colour in our churches and frequently hear the call to pray, to fast, and to give alms. “Alms” means compassion, to give of ourselves. We often try to ‘give up’ something during Lent - lollies, chocolate, coffee, sugar...complaining - but it can also be a time to give more of ourselves to others. We could promise to spend more time doing something good, visiting a sick friend, sharing meals together free of devices, or helping out around the house without complaining. Our theme for the school this year is We Are Called, what are you being called to do this Lent?

Master Plan & Grant Applications

I wish to thank those families who contributed to the feedback in developing our school Master Plan. Your feedback is greatly appreciated and has already been used to help us finalise a long-term Master Plan for development across the school. We are still in the planning phases of this project, but only have one week to submit grant applications through the Victorian Government Non-Government Schools Capital Fund and the Australian Government Capital Grants Program. There is no guarantee that we will be successful in our application, but I will keep you informed throughout the process.

School Tours and 2023 Enrolments 

 Enrolments for Prep 2023 are now open and we encourage all families to submit their applications as soon as possible.  Please book your school tour online on the school website or call Tarnia or Kerry in our front office to book a school tour. 

2022 Flyers

We are looking for walkers who would be happy to take our flyers out to our community. We distribute to ALL kinders and childcare centres but it’s always good that they go into letterboxes as well. Feel free to pick up a few fliers in our office to give to neighbours with young children, Catholic or not, they are welcome to visit. Or email Sherridan, Kerry or myself and we will send some home to you. Thank you to the parents who have already taken a pile to deliver.

Financial Assistance - Information For Parents

Every Victorian child should have access to the world of learning opportunities that exist beyond the classroom. The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) helps ensure that no student will miss out on the opportunity to join their classmates for important, educational and fun activities. It is part of making Victoria the Education State and the Government’s commitment to breaking the link between a student’s background and their outcomes. Families holding a valid means-tested concession card or temporary foster parents are eligible to apply.

 

For more information about the CSEF,click here. To access an application form for the CSEF,click here.

Catholic Secondary School Enrolment Applications

I take this opportunity to remind parents of children in grade 5, that you must have your Catholic Secondary College application for Year 7, 2024 submitted directly to the college of your choice. It is essential that you have your application submitted by the due date. The following dates will be used by catholic secondary schools for Year 5 students in 2021 who will be enrolling in Year 7 for 2024. These are:

  • 28 January 2022 – Applications will open for Year 5 students commencing Year 7 in 2024.
  • 19 August 2022 – Applications will close.
  • 21 October 2022 – Offers will be posted to prospective Year 7 applicants.
  • 11 November 2022 – Final date for parents/carers to accept an offer made by a school.

Final Thoughts ~ Encouraging Kids to be Problem-Solvers

This week's “Final Thoughts” has been shared with the community previously, but I thought it timely to share it with everyone again. It comes from Parenting Ideas, a resource for parents and teachers to help successfully raise confident, happy and resilient kids. Parenting Ideas was founded by Michael Grose, a former teacher and a renowned parenting educator. The following is adapted from Parenting for Independence, which is one of the courses offered by Parenting Ideas.

 

Encouraging Kids to be Problem-Solvers

When parents solve all children’s problems, we not only increase their dependency on adults but we teach kids to be afraid of making mistakes and to blame themselves for not being good enough. That’s fertile ground for anxiety and depressive illness. So, how can we raise kids to be courageous problem-solvers rather than self-critical scaredy cats? Here are six practical ideas to get you started:

  1. Turn requests into problems for kids to solve - If you keep solving them, they’ll keep bringing them!
  2. Ask good questions to prompt problem solving - these questions are to encourage and teach them to start working through problems themselves
  3. Coach them through problems and concerns - make the most of opportunities for kids to speak for themselves
  4. Prepare kids for problems and contingencies - discuss different scenarios so that they won’t fall apart when things don’t go their way
  5. Show a little faith - we can easily trip them up with our negative expectations
  6. Applaud mistakes and stuff-ups - celebrate mistakes rather than making a fuss so they can learn that mistakes don’t reflect on them personally

For more detail, or to find more resources, head to https://www.parentingideas.com.au/ 

 

Kind regards,

 

Steve Evans

Principal