Corpus Christi School Newsletter 

From the Principal's Desk

Camp

Our Year 5/6 children had a wonderful time at City Camp last week. They trekked through the city visiting IMAX, Melbourne Aquarium and Myer Windows just to name a few places and also took in the laneway street art unique to our city.

Thank you so much to Miss Poropat, Miss Ly, Miss Veronica, Mr Palanca and Miss Kenny for looking after our children and making this experience possible for our children.

Sporting Champs!

Congratulations to our Year 5/6 Girls' Basketball Team who played off in the Footscray District Summer Sport Grand Final on Monday. 

 

Our girls were crowned Premiers defeating Footscray North in a nail-biting finish. 

 

Congratulations to all our children for the manner they played the entire competition!

End of Year Concert/Picnic

It was wonderful to finally have our end-of-year picnic/concert back last night, albeit in hot and muggy conditions.

 

It was great to see families mingling again and our children performed beautifully. In fact, it was so nice to hear the children during the week with such joy and excitement.

 

We hope everyone had a wonderful time last night. There were certainly some tired bodies walking around this morning.

Fees and Levies 2023

Thank you to all families who are up-to-date with Fee and Levy payments for 2023.  Unless you have an arrangement with the school, all fees and levies should have well and truly been settled.

 

As of today, we still have $17691 owing which in fairness to all families, needs to be settled immediately.

 

Families still in arrears will be sent an up-to-date Fee and Levy Statement today. 

2024 Start Dates

A reminder that next year our governing body MACS (Melbourne Archdiocese of Catholic Schools) requires all Catholic schools to administer a series of Literacy and Numeracy assessments across the school at the beginning of the year.  

 

Children in the middle/senior years will be capable of completing these assessments independently during regular classes however our junior children will need to do them with their teacher. 

 

To facilitate this testing we have arranged for a staggered start to the 2024 school year as follows:

 

Monday 29th January: 

Staff commence - NO children

 

Tuesday 30th January: 

Staff only. NO children

 

Wednesday 31st January: 

Years 3-6 commence school

Testing Day for Years P-2

 

Thursday 1st February:

 Normal classes for Years 3-6

 Testing Day for Years P-2

 

Friday 2nd February:

 Normal classes for Years 3-6

 Testing Day for Years P-2

 

Monday 5th February: 

All children at school

 

On Testing Days children in Years P-2 will be required to be booked in for a one-on-one assessment with their teacher.  These children only come to school for their testing time which should take 45-60 minutes. 

 

Bookings are to be made through our School Interviews portal.

 

To make a booking, simply click on the link below or scan the QR Code.

https://www.schoolinterviews.com.au/code/udx73

Adjustments to Friday Finish Time in 2024

Workload agreements in the newly introduced Catholic Education Multi-Enterprise Agreement (CEMEA) stipulate that full-time (primary school) teachers  may be allocated a maximum of 

  • 21.5 hours per week in 2023; and
  • 20 hours per week in the 2024 school year and subsequent years.

The implementation of these limits has proven to be a headache for schools as they navigate themselves through the CEMEA. We have been able to accommodate this year's reduction through additional programming but next year and beyond proves a little trickier.

 

So to become compliant with the new Award, in 2024 school will finish at 3:15 pm on Fridays. All other days will remain as a 3:30 pm finish. Judging by the number of early pick-ups requested on Fridays,  the adjustment should prove favourable to families.

 

Staffing for 2024

As you all know at the end of this year we bid farewell to Mr Rhys O'Loughlin,  Ms Katrina Scolaro and Miss Sarah Bruce. We thank them for the love and support they have provided the children in their care and wish them well as they embark on new chapters in their lives.

 

Next year we will move to 11 classes which is an increase of two compared to this year so we have had to search far and wide to compile our staff list for 2024.

 

So next year we welcome Mrs Candice Rogers, Mr Jacob Lloyd, Miss Katie McLaren, Mrs Nerissa Viegas and Miss Kaitlin Ferris who will all be new to our staff. We also welcome back Mrs Chantel Simon and Ms Aphrodite Loizou from maternity leave. 

 

Therefore as we move into 2024 our staff structure will commence as follows:

Year Prep Community

  • Prep L: Miss Lauren Borg  (4 days) & Mrs Brittney Wohling (1 day)
  • Prep N: Mrs Nives Childs 

Year 1/2 Community

  • Year 1/2 L:   Mr Jacob Lloyd
  • Year 1/2 K:   Miss Jess Kenny
  • Year 1/2 V:   Mrs Nerissa Viegas

Year 3/4 Community

  • Year 3/4 S:  Mrs Chantel Simon (4 days) &  Ms Aphrodite Loizou (1 day)
  • Year 3/4 P: Miss Stefanie Poropat
  • Year 3/4 F:  Miss Kaitlin Ferris

Year 5/6 Community

  • Year 5/6 R:  Mrs Candice Rogers
  • Year 5/6 L: Miss Khanh Ly
  • Year 5/6 M: Miss Katie McLaren

Italian: Signora Catrina Anderson

Visual Arts:Mrs Brittney Wohling  

Physical Education: Mr Dan Palanca

Library/Reading Recovery: Miss Jane Wilkinson

Reading Intervention:Signora Anderson

Learning Support Officers: Miss Letitia Hyde, Mrs Veronica Tweedly. Miss Olivia Bovolato & Mrs Laura Cosentino

 

Wellbeing Leader: Miss Lauren Borg

e-Learning Leader: Miss Stefanie Poropat

Learning Diversity Leader: Mrs Victoria La Fauci

Director of Learning and Teaching: Ms Deborah Courtney

Deputy Principal/Religious Education Leader: Miss Jane Wilkinson

Principal: Mr Anthony Hyde

Step-Up Day

Today was Step-Up Day for our children and the last of our whole school transition sessions building upon the last two weeks' experience where our children experienced a 'snap-shot' of life in their 2024 community.

 

Today our children were able to meet their teacher for 2024 and work alongside children who will be in their community next year.

 

Naturally, there was lots of excitement as children moved into their new classes,  reacquainted with past classmates and worked alongside their teacher for next year. There may have also been some disappointment as the children found out the exact groupings. This is all to be expected yet the beauty of the setup and design of our learning spaces is that children are never far from their closest friends and there is always a familiar face at hand to ease any anxiety that may arise when dealing with change.

 

We ask families to bear in mind that the organisation of class groupings takes an enormous amount of time and is almost a 'science' as we take into account the social, emotional and learning needs of all children along with the advice of teachers and the particular circumstantial needs of families. It is never as simple as moving one child as this will always have a roll-on effect. 

 

With classes now set it would be unfair to others should any changes be requested or made.

Thank You

As the year draws to a close, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been part of the life of Corpus Christi in 2023:

  • To Father John & Father Trac, for their leadership of the parish community of which the school forms an important part.
  • To my school Executive Leadership Team of Jane Wilkinson and Deborah Courtney who epitomize what it is 'to put the child at the heart of everything we do.' and to our extended Leadership Team of Lauren Borg,  Victoria La Fauci and Stefanie Poropat whose specialised support to our students,  staff, and families is truly appreciated.
  • To our wonderful staff, whose efforts often go unrewarded.  I am grateful to all of them for their dedicated work and proud of their achievements as they continue to learn and grow in their profession.
  • To all parents, for the efforts you continue to make in supporting our school through classroom assistance, attendance at school/parish functions, raffles, meetings, and fundraising activities. Thank you for all you do for your children as parents and as first educators of your children.
  • To the many parents (and grandparents) who assisted with events across the year.
  • To Danielle Taske for co-ordinating Book Club throughout the year which our children eagerly await each term.
  • To our School Council representatives: Goran Koltovski, Belinda Miller and Miriam Nicholls. Thank you for your insights and unwavering support of the school.
  • To our PFA office bearers: AJ and Dwayne Deprez, Mel Daglish and Nathalie Angelone, and all general members of our PFA for bringing our community together through the many events offered and supported.
  • To all the children of Corpus Christi. Thank you for your hard work, your support for your peers and the cheerful way in which you have joined in school life.
  • To our Graduating Year Six children. Thank you for your leadership, for being the role models that you are, for your love and support of the younger students, and the way you regularly volunteer to do all those extra jobs.

And finally, thank you to everyone in our beautiful community for the support of our school. 

 

I would like to wish each and every one of you a very safe and happy holiday. May the Christmas season fill your home with joy, your heart with love and your life with laughter and good health.

 

God Bless

Anthony Hyde

(Principal)