Dear Parents and Families,

We have almost completed four full weeks of the term, and apart from the weather being a little up and down, the students have made a smooth start to their learning for 2026.

We have celebrated two beautiful Masses together - the Opening Mass and Ash Wednesday yesterday. Special thanks to Marita Anderson, our Religious Education Leader, for her preparation and organisation. Our Year Six Leaders have also done an amazing job in the Masses and in the first Assembly this week.

Whilst we had to postpone our Shrove Tuesday Picnic to tonight due to the predicted weather on Tuesday, we made the right call, and it will be great to see everyone this afternoon for a FUN time. The pancakes, sausages, jumping castles and Animal Farm should provide something for everyone! Please come along to spend some time with other families and the staff. No parking is available on site, so please park around the streets and walk in. A reminder too that this is a 'no alcohol' event in line with the Child Safety Standards legislation, and that you are responsible for the supervision and safety of your children at all times. Please remember that the Year 3-6 playground is for those in that age group, and the P-2 is for the younger students. Active parental supervision is expected. Thank you for your support.

We particularly thank our PFA, including Joel, Jonathan and Michelle, for their organisation of this event. We also thank Gary for setting up the equipment and starting the cooking of the sausages!

With learning well underway, we encourage the students to keep up the great effort in learning as we move through the next two weeks!

As I will be on Camp next week, Marita Anderson is Acting Principal and Sandra Tieppo, Acting Deputy Principal. Please contact them if you have any queries during my absence.

Have a wonderful weekend and we wish the Year 5 and 6 students and staff attending

a great three days at Camp Rumbug!

Best wishes,

IMPORTANT UPDATES

CAMP

We are all set for our Year 5 and 6 Camp to Rumbug in Foster North from Monday to Wednesday next week. We look forward to sharing the highlights once we return (and recover!), from the exciting and challenging activities including canoeing, the giant swing, the flying fox, archery, orienteering, and initiatives course, and the MUD RUN!

The students have next Thursday at home to recover, and the staff, as per the EBA Industrial Agreement, have TIL (time in lieu) on Thursday and Friday.

THE PREP WELCOME MASS

One of the ways in which we welcome our Preps and their families to school, is by gathering for Mass and having dinner afterwards. The Welcome Mass is on Saturday 28 February at 5.30pm and is followed by a Pizza Dinner on the grass area. Thank you to our PFA for organising the dinner. We look forward to seeing our Prep families there!

PREPS HERE FULL TIME

From Monday 2 March, the Preps are at school full time. They are counting their days to get to 100 Days at School, but there's a way to go yet!

NAPLAN

It is nearing the time for the Year Three and Five students to participate in the NAPLAN assessments, a requirement of the government for our ongoing funding.

Please read the separate tab for more specific information regarding the days for each test, where a pamphlet is attached for parents to answer any other questions.

ENROLMENT FOR 2027

We have already started our Tours and advertising through Kinders and Childcare centres for Prep 2027. Our Year Six students take visiting parents on a tour of the school, then leaders answer any further questions regarding the curriculum etc on return to the Office.

**If you are willing to have a real estate board in your front yard advertising the school's Open Day on 14 March and Information Session on Monday 23 March, could you please email me? The more our name is seen in the community, the better!

REPORTING

Later this term on Monday 30 March from 1.30-6pm, we will hold Learning Conversations for all Levels P-6. These have a twofold purpose - the teacher/s will inform you of your child's latest assessment results and areas to focus upon (goals) and your child will talk to you about specific work they have completed and their goals for Term Two. These meetings will be of ten minutes duration. Students will be dismissed at 1pm.

Teachers are always available to meet with you prior to and following this interview, if you wish to discuss your child at ANY TIME. Should you need to make the teacher aware of any issue/s for your child, during the year or particularly if anything has changed over the holiday period, please make an appointment with them to do so next week. We will send home written reports at the end of Terms Two and Four.

ASSEMBLIES

Our Assemblies this term will be held on 2, 16 and 30 March. Please join us on Top Yard at 8.50am. All students are to wear their hats for Assembly.

This is weather dependent, so please watch for any changes advised through Compass.

PFA FUNDRAISING

The focus of the PFA fundraising this year is the replacement of the Senior Adventure Playground. As you can imagine, this is a costly enterprise, so we are gearing all our fundraisers to this. The students will have input into the components to be included, so we want to be able to get as much for them as we can.

We are aiming for a $100,000 AMAZING play space!

Please help us to get there across the year by sharing our fundraising activities at work, with friends and with your extended family. Some of them may also make lovely gifts!

CONFIRMATION PROGRAM - PARENT AND CHILD WORKSHOP

We look forward to seeing all Confirmation candidates and a parent at the Parent AND Child Workshop for Confirmation, being held on MONDAY 2 March in the GECCO from 6.30-8pm. Our presenter is Jacqui Giuliano, an experienced educator and presenter in the Religious Education field.

YEARS 3-6 DISTRICT SWIMMING TRIALS

The final Swimming Trial is to be held tonight, and Mr Peter Koulaxizellis (Mr K) our PE Teacher will then be able to plan who is going to represent the school in the District event which is being held later in Term One. Thank you for your cooperation.

OTHER SSV TRIALS

The trials for football, cricket and netball have been conducted, with basketball and soccer still to be done. You will then be advised by Peter Koulaxizellis (Mr K), our PE Teacher, regarding the next steps if your child is successful in being nominated for the SSV level.

Thank you to Brady Mulcahy, Sean Martin, Marita Anderson, Jamie Atherton and Peter for running these trials.

2026 SCHOOL PHOTOS

The date of our school photos is Tuesday 17 March. Please note this in your diaries. You will receive your child's personalised envelope shortly.

SCHOOL ADVISORY COUNCIL

The School Advisory Council is seeking some new members. So what does the SAC do?

The SAC is the body which advises on matters concerning the school. It can assist with school promotion, provide information to the school community and skills and perspectives on matters of interest to our parents. You may have a particular skill set which will help on the SAC, or be interested in learning more about our programs and initiatives. Everyone is welcome to apply for a two year term, which will be decided by Fr Michael and myself if we have more applicants than positions. The SAC meets twice a term for approximately 1.5 hours. Please read the Expression of Interest information. We only have one position to fill!

Parish News