Acting Principal's Report
Dear members of the St. Cecilia’s School community,
The staff and students have been settling into the routines of class over the past couple of weeks. Both from my own observations and the feedback of the teachers, it is evident that the students are very engaged and focused on their learning across the board.
Thank you to all the parents who made the time to attend our Parent Teacher Meet and Greet sessions and the Foundation Information Evening last week. Both events were great opportunities for staff and parents to connect and communicate.
The teachers were glowing in how valuable it was to have your insights about their students and are confident that these meetings will ensure that they are able to build solid and trusting relationships with your children.
Next week is our nominated 'family week' for the term. During this one week a term, we encourage families of our staff and student to spend a little extra time together. During this week we try to avoid outside of hours staff meetings and teachers do not set homework for the students. If you do spend some time with your children doing something fun or a little different during the week, I would love for you to share a picture or a brief description that I could put in the next edition of our newsletter.
Below is some information about some exciting upcoming events and initiatives.
Cancer Council March Charge - A Student Initiative!
Recently after talking to mum about what I could do to help others, I thought it would be great to raise some money for people in need. I asked my friends to help me with some ideas and we decided that because we all knew people dealing with cancer, that the Cancer Council would be a great organisation to support.
We met with Mr Mooney to share our idea and found out about the 'March Charge'.
During March people are invited to sign up and commit to a fitness goal and get sponsored.
We have set up a 'Team St Cecilia's.' You can click on the button below to join our team and raise money some money that will go towards cancer research, prevention and support of those dealing with cancer.
We are planning some fun fitness events throughout March so stay tuned.
Thanks everyone!
Amelia, Nora, Fiona & Grace
Parents Association - Reminders
Our Parents Association will hold their first meeting for the year on Tuesday, February 27 in the school staffroom.
You can now find the complete list of Class Representatives on the Parents Association page.
A Special Welcome to all our New Families: An Invitation to our Welcome Mass Sunday Feb 25
If you are yet to RSVP to our Welcome Mass invitation, you are still very welcome to join us. Click on the link below to acces the RSVP form.
School Swimming Lessons Program - March 12 - March 22 (Excluding Weekends)
Each year the Foundation to Year 4 students participate in an intesive swimming program. This year it will be over nine days from Tuesday March 12 to Friday March 22.
The lessons take place at Bialik College, with the students being trnasported by bus to and from their lessons.
The students always show tremendous growth during this program and gain vital knowledge about water safety and survival skills which are so important.
Further details and permission forms will be sent out next week.
NAPLAN 2024: March 13 - March 18
Our Year 3 and Year 5 students will be completing the NAPLAN testing from March 13 - March 18. These national standardised tests in literacy and numeracy provide valuable information to teachers, parents and the school about both individual and cohort performance. It is important to understand however, that these individual tests are not comprehensive measures of student performance, rather are a single snapshot of how a student does with the test on a particular day. We want all our students to do their best, but do not want them to be unduly anxious or stressed about the process. You can read more about NAPLAN by clicking on the link below
Technology :
What to Bring (Headphones)
If you child does not already have a set of headphones at school with them, could you please provides them with a set. From Year 1 onwards, students will need headphones to use with their Chronebooks for a range of learning activities. Headphones supplied do not need to be expensives, but should have a standard 3.5mm audio jack plug on the end.
and What not to Bring (Internet enabled devices)
Students are not allowed to have or use internet enabled devices (other than their Chromebooks) during the school day. This means that mobile phones may not be used during the day, and that if a student does have one that it is kept in their bag or given to the teacher to look after.
Smartwatches must be in 'school mode' and parents are not to communicate via these devices to their children during the day. All communication with your child during the school day must go through the school. Any students found using an internet enabled device at school will have it confiscated and sent home and asked not to bring it back.
Please make sure that you check out the rest of the newsletter for important information about all the goings on around the school and if you haven't yet, please follow our instagram for great up to the minute updates of the special moments taking place around our school.
Matthew Mooney
Acting Principal
St Cecilia’s Primary School