PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Term 2 - Week 7

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There has been plenty of commentary in the media of late about the impacts of the online world on the growth, development and wellbeing of young people in modern society. There are so many variables in this space for children and parents to navigate, but one thing is certain, education for all is critical. As a school, we know we have a key role to play in helping families to set up for success with proactive structures in the home. 

This year, we have re-engaged with Inform and Empower, experts in the cyber safety education world. Our students have been completing termly workshops and follow up activties together led by Inform and Empower, to learn more about safe and healthy online habits. This term they have learnt more about screen time, green time and the importance of switching off at least an hour before ‘dream time’. These messages are very healthy for children to learn from a young age, but we know we need alignment in this area with children and parents. On Wednesday 5th June at 7pm (sharp), Marty and Carley will lead an interactive workshop with all of our parents from Year 3-6, while our staff run sessions concurrently with the children. We know many of our Year 5 and 6 students have their own personal devices and while this may not be the case for our Year 3 and 4 students yet, it won’t be long. Hence the importance of educating yourself as a parent in this space. We ask that all families from Year 3-6 make this a priority - It is expected that all students are present, with at least one parent please. This evening represents a considerable investment both with time and also financially for the school, so engagement is vital.

During the parent session, Marty and Carley will take you as parents through key issues and solutions around social media, online gaming, cyber bulling, the impacts of screen time, current online trends, what to do with explicit content, family communication and management of devices in the home. The student session will be led by our Year Six Science and Technology Captains and their classmates; assisted by our staff. As part of this, the children will work on a family agreement to take home at the end of the night and continue the conversation around online safety with you. In terms of logistics on the night, the parent session will take place in the Year Six classroom (nearest the office) and the students sessions will be in Year 2, 3 and 4 classrooms. The children will be in specific groups, assigned and communicated by the teachers. There will be supporting resources provided to those in attendance. I would like to thank Aggie Gorski for her organisational efforts in leading these initiatives in our school. Thank you in advance to all families for supporting this important family education initiative.

Saying ‘NO’ isn’t always easy

We have a responsibility to have boundaries for our children and to say ‘NO’ often. It isn’t always easy; it’s a child’s job to push the boundaries and our job to hold firm. Children will often come home with a new request and say ‘everyone else is doing it’ or ‘I’m the only one missing out’. This is very rarely accurate and parents have the right to say ‘NO’ and operate within your family expectations and values. One of the key challenges facing families in the current times is the social pressures for children to have personal devices (smart-phones) in primary school. What I can say from my experience in schools is that often children do not have the social and emotional maturity at 10 or 11 to manage themselves appropriately online. Chat groups or social media is often where social issues begin for children, especially for those who have been given access to personal devices too early.

He's arrived!

Exciting times for Louisa Di Pietro and her partner Paolo, with the arrival of their son yesterday morning! We extend our warm congratulations to them and their extended families. All is well and they were well supported by the team at Sandringham Hospital.

From Louisa:

Meet Sandy! His full name is Sandy Bruna D'Agostino Di Pietro ensuring two things:

- he'll need to learn to spell early on, given his last names cover most of the alphabet; and

- he'll be a legend, just like the mothers he's named after (Sandy = mine; Bruna = Paolo's).

Paolo and I are fumbling our way through it together, and we'll head home a family of three tomorrow!

National Reconciliation Week

This week is National Reconciliation week is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia. As part of this, our senior students today delivered some short workshops with the younger students around what reconciliation means in this context. Attached is a sample of one of these presentations, delivered by Eleanor and Sienna from Year 6. What wonderful work from our senior students, I'm sure you'll agree.

As a school, we have also celebrated the theme of National Reconciliation Week with a whole school art piece. This can be seen in the school foyer and I would like to thank our Art Teacher Nicci Murdoch for her work with this. The children had a wonderful time creating it.

Parent/Teacher Interviews

Parent/Teacher Interviews will take place on Tuesday 25th June. This is part of our Term Two Assessment and Reporting process and a terrific opportunity for follow up discussion are reports are sent home. Our preference is to meet with parents face to face, but if you require an online meeting you can choose that option while booking.  The interviews will run from from 1:30 pm until 9:00pm and school will conclude at 1:00pmon this day. Parents will need to book interviews online. All parents are expected to attend an interview for your child, as it is a great chance to discuss your child’s report.  We will send out booking information via Operoo in the coming days.

Kelly Sports - Holiday program and Wednesday mornings

Paul and Tash from Kelly Sports continue to engage with our school community in offering engaging extra-curricular sporting activities for our students and families. In Term Three, Monday lunchtime soccer club will be offered and a new Wednesday morning session will also start. This session will commence at 8am for 40 minutes and will be four weeks of basketball and five weeks of cricket. Parents are not required to stay for the before-school sessions. Kelly Sports also have their holiday program running at St Agnes’ for the upcoming holidays. Please see information attached.

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) On School Students with Disability

Each year schools complete the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with  Disability (NCCD). It counts the number of students who receive additional adjustments or ‘help’ at school because of a disability. The NCCD helps governments plan for the needs of students with disability and assist with funding. Please see the attached document for more information.

School Sores

There has been a small number of reported cases of school sores in our junior classrooms. Please keep an eye out for any skin irritation on the faces of your children, especially near the mouth. Seek medical advice should irritation occur. It isn’t dangerous and doesn’t cause any lasting damage to the skin. However, it is contagious. A child with school sores should be kept home from school until appropriate treatment has begun.

Year 1/2 Family Faith Night - Wednesday 12th June at 7pm

Our Year 1/2 children and parents are asked to come along to our Family Faith Night, where we will talk and learn about storytelling in RE. More information will be communicated via Operoo.

Netball and Football Lightning Premierships

St Agnes’ will send its best teams to compete at the Holt District Netball and Football Lightning Premierships on Thursday 13th and Friday 14th June (respectively). All of our Year 5 and 6 students will compete in one or the other, with some Year 6s needed to compete in both for numbers. More information has been communicated via Operoo for those children involved.

School Disco

The St Agnes’ Parents and Friends Committee is hosting its annual disco on Friday 14th June in the school hall. There are two disco times - one for Prep to Year 2 (6.00-7.30pm) and another for Year 3 to 6 (7.45-9.00pm). Please head across to the P&F page of this newsletter for more information.

Anna Gugliucciello - Long Service Leave

Our Performing Arts teacher Anna Gugliucciello commences Long Service Leave on Wednesday 19th June and returns to work on Wednesday 28th August. Anna is travelling to Europe with her family and we wish her safe travels. Nicole Jones has been engaged short term to teach Performing Arts. Nicole is an experienced teacher who has been completing some casual relief work at our school recently.

Parents and Friends Committee Meeting - Tuesday 18th June at 7.30pm

The Parents and Friends Committee will meet for the second time in Term Two at school on Tuesday 18th June at 7.30pm in the Staffroom. All parents are welcome to attend and we ask our Class Reps to please make a special effort to be there.

Before School Care

As many of you may be aware, this year Extend have offered Before School Care four days per week and After School Care every day. Due to very low attendance at Before School Care, the BSC service will be reduced from four days down to three, as at the beginning of June. The new days will be Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Before School Care is an essential service for some and Extend has some wonderful staff running the programs at the moment. I encourage all families to utilise this service as much as possible to ensure we can continue to make it available for all families. I can confirm with all families that After School Care will not be impacted.

Term Two School Fees

Term Two School Fees are now overdue. Please ensure prompt payment and contact Shannon Shine (sshine@sahighett.catholic.edu.au) if you would like to set up a direct debit or payment plan.

Assembly

Assemblies are in the Hall on Wednesday afternoons at 2.40pm. Parents are welcome to attend. At assembly, there will be presentations from classes, student awards, birthday acknowledgements and special announcements from student leaders.

Wed 5th June - Year 1

Wed 12th June - Year 4

Wed 19th June - Year 2

Wednesday 26th June - No class item

Enjoy the rest of your week. Some rain coming our way tomorrow I think!

Kind regards,

Lachie.