Principal's Report

Dear St Cecilia's Community,

A Wonderful Father’s Day Breakfast

A huge thank you to everyone who helped make last Friday’s Father’s Day Breakfast such a wonderful morning for our school community.

It was fantastic to see so many dads, grandfathers and other significant role models joining us to celebrate. This is always one of our best-attended community events, and there was a wonderful atmosphere across the school as families came together before the school day.

An event of this size does not simply happen, and we are incredibly grateful to the amazing team of mums who gave so generously of their time to plan, organise and run the morning.

A very special thank you to Katie Dixon, Erin Thorne and Amal Cimino, who led the organisation so capably, along with their wonderful wider team of parent volunteers. From the early planning and preparation through to the very early start on Friday morning, there was an enormous amount of work behind the scenes.

Thank you also to all of our families who came along and supported the morning. Events like this are an important part of what makes St Cecilia’s such a connected community.

Most importantly, we hope all of our dads, grandfathers and significant role models enjoyed being celebrated by the children. We hope you all had a very happy Father’s Day on Sunday.

Another Fantastic House Athletics Day

Last Friday was certainly a busy one at St Cecilia’s, with our Father’s Day Breakfast followed by another highly successful House Athletics Day!

A huge thank you to our wonderful PE teacher, Lewis Balcome, for the enormous amount of planning and organisation that went into making the day such a success. Thank you also to all of our staff for their support throughout the day and, of course, to our students who participated with such enthusiasm, energy and great sportsmanship.

It was fantastic to have so many parents and family members joining us in the stands and cheering the children on. Your support always adds so much to these special school events.

We are also very grateful to our Parents’ Association and parent volunteers, who once again generously supported the day by helping with lunch for our students. Thank you for looking after us so well!

And finally, a big congratulations to MacKillop House (Green), our 2026 House Athletics Champions! A terrific achievement. Well done to all four Houses on a fantastic day of participation, encouragement and House spirit.

A Wonderful Celebration of Book Week

Another very special celebration across our school recently was Book Week, with a wonderful range of activities bringing books, stories and a love of reading to life for our students.

A huge thank you to our Literacy Leader, Tracey Toner, for her planning and coordination of the week, and to all of our classroom teachers for the many creative ways they celebrated books and reading with their students throughout the week.

One of the real highlights was our Mystery Reader initiative. It was wonderful to welcome so many parents and grandparents into classrooms to share a favourite story with our students. Thank you to everyone who volunteered their time and helped make this such a special experience for the children.

And, of course, our showcase event was the much-loved Book Week Parade! Once again, our students and families embraced the occasion with some fantastic costumes, creativity and enthusiasm. A special thank you to Annmaree Hoy, who hosted the parade so capably and ensured it was such a fun and memorable celebration for everyone.

Thank you to our staff, students and families for once again getting behind Book Week with such enthusiasm. It was a wonderful celebration of books, imagination and, most importantly, the joy of reading.

Kids in Space Metro Champions!

We are incredibly proud to share some very exciting news from our Year 5/6 Kids in Space Program.

On the 1st of September, three teams from St Cecilia’s represented our school at the Victorian Metropolitan Kids in Space Finals, and we were thrilled to have one of our teams crowned Metro Champions!

A huge congratulations to Oliver G, Mae P, Arabella B and Evalina O for their award-winning project, Aquabank.

Their innovative prototype used a range of space-related technologies to explore how water could be collected, purified and used to support drought-prone and underprivileged communities. It was an impressive combination of creativity, problem-solving, STEM learning and a genuine desire to address an important real-world challenge.

As Victorian Metropolitan winners, the team will now have the wonderful opportunity to travel to Adelaide later this year to represent St Cecilia’s and Victoria at the National Final. What an outstanding achievement!

We are also extremely proud of our other two finalist teams who represented St Cecilia’s so brilliantly:

• Charlotte B, Eddie J and Ezra Y with their project, Float and Farm
• Jacob C, Genevieve M, Zoe B and Scarlett M with their project, Cosmic Crops

The standard of work produced by all of our Year 5/6 students throughout the Kids in Space project has been exceptional. Their ideas, collaboration and willingness to think creatively have been wonderful to see.

A very special thank you and congratulations also goes to Ms Walsh, Ms Louise and Ms Cerrina, who provided such wonderful support, encouragement and guidance to our students throughout the entire project.

We could not be prouder of everyone involved. We now wish Oliver, Mae, Arabella and Evalina all the very best as they prepare to take Aquabank to the National Final in Adelaide!

The information for them about Kids in Space is  on this site 

https://www.makersempire.com/kids-in-space-state-and-territory-winners-2026/

After-School Supervision and Child Safety

One of the things we value enormously at St Cecilia’s is the strong sense of community that exists amongst our families. It is lovely to see parents connecting at the end of the day and children enjoying time with their friends. At the same time, we need to ensure that our child safety and duty of care responsibilities remain clear once the school day has finished.

Our school day concludes at 3:30pm, with teachers supervising the designated pick-up area until 3:45pm. At this time, any students who have not yet been collected are escorted to the school foyer, where they wait while we contact parents if necessary.

After 3:45pm, the only students who should generally remain on the school grounds are those attending After School Care, under the supervision of the After School Care educators, or students participating in an organised and supervised activity, such as scheduled netball training on the SCG courts.

Recently, we have noticed a growing number of children remaining on the school grounds after this time. In some cases, children are unaccompanied while siblings participate in netball training. We are also seeing families remaining on the grounds until 4:00pm, 4:30pm and sometimes beyond.

Our concern is not about families enjoying our school grounds or spending time together. Rather, it is about ensuring there is clarity around who is responsible for supervising children once formal school supervision has concluded.

We have had occasions where children or parents have come to the Sick Bay well after school hours seeking assistance, at a time when school staff may or may not still be available. We have also had sporting and recreational equipment, including soccer balls, basketballs and chess equipment, taken out after hours and subsequently left around the school grounds.

There have also been occasions where children who are not enrolled in After School Care have attempted to join activities being run for After School Care students. This places our After School Care educators in a difficult position, as they are responsible specifically for the children formally enrolled in their care.

A simple change from next week

We want to find the right balance between supporting the wonderful social connections within our community and meeting our responsibilities for child safety and supervision.

From next week, at approximately 3:50pm each afternoon, we will play some music across the school grounds. This will simply be a friendly reminder that formal school supervision has concluded and that families who are still socialising should begin making their way home.

Students remaining for an organised, supervised activity such as netball training can, of course, continue with that activity under the supervision arrangements established by their team. Similarly, After School Care students will continue their program as usual.

We ask that children who are not participating in an organised supervised activity do not remain at school unaccompanied after this time, including siblings of students attending training.

We hope families receive this message in the spirit in which it is intended. We absolutely want St Cecilia’s to remain a welcoming place where families connect and enjoy being part of our community. We simply need to ensure that this does not compromise the safety and supervision of our children.

Thank you for helping us keep child safety at the centre of everything we do.

St Cecilia's Annual Mother's Lunch - SAVE THE DATE

Friday, 20th November 2026

Details to follow ....

Marty McKenna

Principal

St Cecilia’s Primary School