Dear Parents and Friends

St. Carlo's is a wonderful community where staff and parents work in partnership to offer the best learning opportunities in faith and knowledge for our students. As we near the end of the term, I would like to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of our staff who do a wonderful job. We are truly blessed to have the best staff at St. Carlo's! Thank you to all parents, for your ongoing support and for entrusting us with the education of your children.

A huge thank you to all our students for making this term so memorable. Your hard work, enthusiasm, and positive energy have truly made it a fantastic term. Thanks to each of you for making St. Carlo's a great place to be!

Catholic Education Week

Last week St Patrick’s Cathedral was filled to overflowing for the annual Mass for schools, as over 2000 students and staff joined Archbishop Peter to celebrate the feast of St Patrick.

Some of our Year 6 school leaders along with Mrs. Kuric and Mrs Summers, travelled to St Patrick’s Cathedral to celebrate mass with other Catholic schools across our Archdiocese. This was followed by a concert in the Treasury Gardens. A highlight of the day was sharing a bus with our Parish schools, Mary Queen of Heaven and School of Good Shepherd.

Sacrament of Reconciliation

Congratulations to our Year Three students who received the Sacrament of Reconciliation last Wednesday in our Chapel. The ceremonies were very prayerful, and the students demonstrated a deep understanding of God’s forgiveness. Special thanks to Father Dishan, Fr Samuel, Mrs. Kuric, and our Year three team for preparing the children so well for this Sacrament.

Easter Celebration

The Easter Story which retells the events of Holy Week and the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ will be performed on Thursday April 2nd at 11.45 a.m. Parents and friends are invited to join us for this special event.

We ask that parents enter through the Haddington Crossing, Middle School Courtyard Gate entrance or through Murray Court Gate, and make your way to the new soccer pitch and sit in the designated seating area so that everyone can see the performance. This is a very reverent occasion, so we ask for your cooperation to ensure that you remain quiet during the performance and that you keep toddlers with you - they are not permitted on the playground nor next to their older siblings in the performance space. Following the presentation, parents are invited to stay in the yard and the students will be dismissed at 1:00 p.m.

On Thursday, all students can come to school dressed in black pants and a black t-shirt. Please do not go to any trouble - use what you have at home. All T-shirts need to be without logos or messages - please wear plain t-shirts. Please refer to the Audiri notice for further information.

Literacy Workshop

Thank you to all parents and carers who attended our recent Prep – Year 2 Literacy Workshop. Your engagement and support are greatly appreciated. It was wonderful to share insights into our evolving approach to literacy and how we are strengthening reading outcomes for our students. We value the strong partnership between home and school and thank you for your commitment to supporting your child’s learning journey. Special thanks to Mrs Travanca and Mrs Fimiani for sharing your expertise.

Easter Raffle

Thank you for your great support towards our Easter Raffle and donating eggs for the prizes. The Raffle will be drawn this Wednesday and we have approximately 55 hampers as prizes! Extra tickets are still available from the office. Please return your tickets by tomorrow.

Our Parents and Friends do a wonderful job to raise important funds to support our school. This term they have been very busy selling Zooper Doopers, special morning tea and organising our Easter raffle. I would like to thank the many parents who generously give their time to support our school. We really appreciate it.

School Review

This year, St Carlo Borromeo Primary School will be undertaking our School Review as part of the Archdiocese of Melbourne’s School Improvement Framework (SIF). Our school review will take place in week one of term two.

This important process supports our ongoing commitment to continuous improvement and high-quality teaching and learning. It involves reflection on our current practices, gathering evidence, and identifying future priorities to guide the development of our next four-year School Improvement Plan (SIP). School reviews occur every four years.

The review also ensures that we continue to meet all required legislative, regulatory and Child Safe Standards. We look forward to this opportunity to celebrate our strengths and further enhance the learning and wellbeing outcomes for all students at St Carlo’s.

Parent Volunteers – Training Session

Parents are invited to become involved as classroom helpers or support excursions and incursions. To volunteer, a Working With Children Check and completion of the Parent Volunteers Training Course are required. A training session will be held on Wednesday 22 April (2:15–3:00 p.m.). Please register via the Audiri eForm sent home last week. This session only needs to be completed once during your time at the school.

School Uniform

Traditionally, at the commencement of term two, we move to our winter uniform, however we know that with changing weather patterns, we are often treated to continued mild weather in late April and early May. For this reason, we are leaving the decision to parents to choose when their child moves to the winter uniform so that we can ensure that your child is comfortable at school. Students must wear the correct uniform at all times and can wear either the full summer or the full winter uniform to begin next term, but not a mix of both and not a combination of the old uniform and new uniform. The school holidays are a good opportunity to ensure that you have the required winter uniform items. Next term, we will set a date for all students to be in our winter school uniform.

Parish School Advisory Council

Our Parish School Advisory Council brings together parents and staff from the three schools to support Catholic education within our Parish. Each school has three parent representative’s and from St Carlo’s they are:

Cathrine La Terra
Manny Bugeja
Katrina Ferguson
Father Dishan, Kevin Gleeson and Nella Fimiani are also members.

At our recent meeting the Council were involved in a discussion about the Child Safety Standards and also toured Mary Queen of Heaven's second stage building.

2027 Prep Enrolments

We have received a large number of applications for Prep 2027 and enrolments will close tomorrow. For existing families, if we have not received an application, we cannot guarantee your child a place for next year. Each year we discover that an existing family has forgotten to enrol a sibling. Please ensure that this isn’t you!

School Fees

Thank you to all the parents who have paid their school fees in full. For those paying instalments, the first instalment and the Curriculum and Maintenance levies are now due. It is important that all fees and levies are paid on time to enable the school to meet our financial commitments. If any family is experiencing financial difficulty, then please make time to come and discuss alternative repayment options. There is a direct debit facility set up through the office. Please speak with Maria in the office to set this up.

Information from Victoria Police

Below is some important information passed on to school principals from Victoria Police. The fact sheets deal with two main issues: E-scooters and E-bikes

This information will be valuable for families with older students who may ride in public areas with like-minded friends who aren’t quite sure about the laws in the State of Victoria. These posters will help clarify some of those issues.

Important Dates for Term Two

Term one will conclude this Thursday April 2 at 1:00 p.m.
Term two will commence on Monday April 20
Monday May 4 - School Closure Day
Friday June 5 - School Closure Day
Term two will conclude on Thursday June 25 at 1:00 p.m.
Student Led Conversations will take place on Thursday June 25 and Friday June 26

Please keep an eye on the school calendar on Audiri or click here for our Google Parent calendar.

Good Shepherd Parish Easter Celebrations

Please refer to the Parish news section for all the important Holy Week and Easter celebrations. Your family will be very welcome at these important events in our Catholic calendar.

As this is our final newsletter for the term, I would like to express my appreciation to all our students for completing a very productive term of learning. The students should be proud of all they have achieved, and I know they are looking forward to a well-earned rest. A special mention to all our Prep students who have completed their first term of school and have just been sensational. We are very proud of you!

We ask St Carlo to continue to bless our wonderful Parish and School Community. I wish all our families a happy Easter and a safe and relaxing holiday.

Special Visitor

St Carlo's was delighted to welcome former Principal, Mr Graham Spence, back to the school. Graham was highly regarded during his time as Principal between 2005 and 2011, and made a significant contribution to the growth and spirit of our community. He was very impressed with the school's development since his time here.

Student Wellbeing

Pina Distefano, Lisa Summers & Tayla Vella