Principal's News

'BEHOLD I make all things new'

The theme for our diocese and our school.  We celebrated mass last Friday with this theme at the centre. We all have a responsibility to make things new:

...new ways of doing things

...new opportunities

...new stories

...fresh starts

...change

On Tuesday I had a principal and her DP visit. They wanted to see our new building and how it moulded into our site. They were told by other sources that we had something special. As we toured they commented on the building and the beautiful grounds we have. The comment that caught my attention was: "The children move around in such a calm manner and those in the classrooms are nearly all engaged and looking a the teacher or LSO. A great balance!" We discussed many things but my main point was, with great grounds and learning areas, we must have a great structure for staff learning and development. Our staff lead the children. I shared our current journey and they were very impressed. It is really important to get the views of external leaders and what they see and hear once inside.

OPEN DAYS

We will have two opportunities for new families looking at St Luke's for the reminder of 2024 or 2025. Please pass on the dates and direct any new families to our Facebook page or webpage for more details.

School Supervision from 8:30am

We continue to observe the number of children at the gates before 8:30am. I appreciate the requirements of some parents needing to be at their work place by 8:30am, but we also have commitments before 8:30am. Before we review or commit to an extension of this I need to work through some structures at school. Many people would not be aware that once we open the gates we have to provide supervision. The Enterprise Agreement restricts who I can use before 8:30am. During the 15-30 minutes from 8:00am leadership use this time to meet with others or attend to late changes. We will need to consider this. At the moment I am on duty from 8:30am-9:00am every morning. This allows the teachers to be in the classroom getting ready for the day.  When I am off-site a member of leadership covers this duty.

I will be sending out a survey so I can gather some information for our After School care provider. It will address before school and holiday programs. Uniting care are under staffed at the moment and simply do not have casual staff to replace existing staff. See their recruitment flyer. You may be interested or know someone who is. 

School Sporting Teams

Don't forget to visit the Sport or Community Group page for registration details. Last year we discussed new uniforms for soccer. This was put on hold due to the uncertainty of teams being formed. We will revisit this now, but NEW uniforms may not be available for this upcoming season. 

Removable Netball posts/goals in the stadium and different sized soccer goals on wheels are on our radar for the upcoming season.- stay tuned!

Community Group

We had another wonderful meeting on Tuesday evening. We are sorting through dates so we can ask people to consider helping out. At the moment the 'hot' items are Netball and Soccer registrations, and the Easter raffle (drawn at 12pm last day of term in our school stadium).

We are looking at a venue to hold a men's night with a screen for those who don't mind a footy game. Three new dads are looking into this and I thank them- Tyler Maher, Hayden Durston and Matt Barclay. Ladies night is on the agenda and a family night later in the year. 

We have installed a defibrillator. This was provided to the school via funds you all raised. Thank you Chris Jones for installing it. This is for school use as it will be kept inside the staff room. It will also be available during winter sport training and after school events. 

See the Community Group page for more details on anything CG related.

Advisory Council

We will meet next Tuesday 12th March. Members are:

Parents- Cait Alletsee (Chair), Jess Salau, Sath Saranathan, Bill Daunt, Tijo Thomas

Staff- David Keenan, Jennifer McKillop and Chris Summers (alternate meetings)

Our priorities for 2024:

• Marketing- media, point of difference, recruiting staff
• Capital Works- review the master building plan for the next 10 years, transport audit, 
• Culture of Dialogue- Catholic Identity & Celebrating positive data

We will be recruiting new people to the Advisory Council in 2024. Ideally, new members would start in Term 2 as part of a transition phase. 

Sometimes people think they must have a particular skill set. This is not the case. We value whatever your skills or experience may be. If you want to know more about the Advisory Group please arrange to come in and talk or arrange a phone call. See below 

Cait Alletsee's highlights:

I joined the advisory council in 2021, with my daughter Mabel in grade 4 this year and my son Jude just started in Foundation. I work in Human Resources & Occupational Health and Safety. I joined the advisory council to contribute to the future direction of the school and hopefully make it the best it can be for every student. I have really enjoyed the rich conversations and diverse experiences the parents and staff have shared so far. 

Parent & Teacher Meetings

I communicated in the previous newsletter that these will be held early in Term 2. See the following dates below. We will send out the live booking form via PAM on Monday 25th March and leave it open during the holidays. Bookings will be available between 8:40am and 5:40pm. 

Monday 22nd April- Grades 1/2

Wednesday 24th April- Foundation

Monday 29th April- Grades 3/4

Wednesday 1st May- Grades 5/6

After School Care

Like many business Uniting need more employees. Please contact them if you are interested. If you would like to enquire for care after 3:25pm for your child see the details below.

Open Classrooms

I communicated three weeks ago that we would have an open room morning. Due to the short term and many school events, we will not be doing this in a  formal way. Many parents visit and if you have not and would like to just walk in with your child and say hello. 

Three weeks left of Term 1 and each week is 4 days of school with the public holiday, pupil free day and Good Friday at the end. NAPLAN for Years 3 & 5 along with the 5/6 excursion will make it seem even quicker. 

See you all on Tuesday after the Monday Public Holiday.

David Keenan