A message from the Principal

Learning Conversations - This Wednesday

Our first Learning Conversations for the year will be held this Wednesday, 26th February. This year, all conversations will take place on the same day, and we aim to finish the school day earlier to ensure we can fit all interviews into the afternoon. As a result, the school day will end 1 hour earlier at 2:15 pm.

If students are unable to be picked up at this time, we will have designated areas across the school where they can be supervised. After-school care will take place as normal. The booking site on PAM is now open for parents to schedule their 15-minute appointments.

School Photos - Save the Date!

There was a slight mix-up with the date given last week, but the correct date for School Photos is Tuesday, 25th March. Thank you for your patience as we worked to correct this. Further information regarding ordering photos is available under the General section of this newsletter. Be sure to mark your calendar and ensure your child is ready for their photo!

Carpark Safety

Parking Services from the City of Greater Bendigo have contacted our school to request that we share the following important information with our school community.

The illegal parking of vehicles near our school poses a significant safety risk to children, pedestrians, and other road users. Parents are reminded to follow all parking restrictions when dropping off and collecting children to help ensure a safe environment for everyone.

Motorists must:

Not stop in "No Stopping" areas, even briefly, regardless of whether the engine is running.
Not park next to a continuous yellow edge line, on nature strips, over driveways, too close to school crossings, or double park.
Observe time-restricted parking zones, such as 2-minute pick-up/drop-off areas, which are in place to maintain traffic flow and safety near schools.
Not perform U-turns over an unbroken or continuous dividing line.

Regarding children’s crossings, the law requires drivers to approach at a speed that allows them to stop safely if needed. Please slow down and take extra care when driving in school zones.

City of Greater Bendigo Parking Officers and Bendigo Police conduct random patrols throughout the school year at various locations to ensure compliance with Road Safety Road Rules.

Thank you for your cooperation in keeping our school community safe.

Safe on Social

On Thursday, the Year 5/6 students visited St. Liborius for a session with an expert from Safe on Social. The session covered important topics around online safety, helping students understand the potential dangers they face online. Key topics included:

What They’re Really Signing Up For
How to Build an Online Identity That Won’t Ruin Their Future
How Social Media Messes with Their Minds
The Rise of AI-Generated Bots and Synthetic Friendships
Gaming, the Metaverse, and Safety Strategies
Cyberbullying: What Works and What Doesn’t
Why Sleep is a Superpower
Privacy, Passwords, and Protecting Their Data
The power of recognising red flags and knowing when to take action

The students learned a great deal from this excursion and were very engaged, putting their hands up multiple times to demonstrate their involvement with various social media platforms. We will continue to educate the students on how to stay safe online and make responsible decisions in the digital world.

For more information and kid-friendly resources, visit their website: Safe on Social.

Start of Lent

Next week, we enter Week 6 and begin the season of Lent with Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday marking the start of this important period in the Church calendar. On Tuesday, we will celebrate Shrove Tuesday by offering pancakes for students, a fun tradition as we prepare for Lent. There will also be a Caritas Launch in Pall Mall, which several students from our school will attend.

On Wednesday, we will gather for our Ash Wednesday Liturgy, marking the beginning of Lent.

During Lent, we are called to be good news for the poor, and Project Compassion provides a wonderful opportunity for us to do this. As always, we will learn about several inspiring stories from around the world, representing just a fraction of the incredible work Caritas does through Project Compassion. This year, we will meet:

Toefuata’iga from Samoa
Lam from rural Vietnam
Irene from the Democratic Republic of the Congo

We look forward to coming together as a community to reflect on the importance of giving during this season of Lent.

God Bless,

Jeremy Darmody

Principal

Catholic Identity

St Kilians Parish