Principal's Update
Dear Parents and Carers,
As we move into the third week of Advent, and the Christmas rush intensifies, it is an appropriate time to stop and think about the true meaning of Christmas.
Father,
During this Advent, Let your light of peace and love
shine in our world.
Give us eyes to see the signs of your presence in the
world.
Help us to prepare our lives
and our homes to receive the
One who said, “I am the light
of the world.”
Amen
Staffing 2025
On Tuesday of last week, our Grade 6 students spent the day at their chosen secondary school and came back very excited and enthused about the opportunities that lay ahead for them in 2025. We wish all our Grade 6 students well as they make their transition to secondary school. On this day we also welcomed our new Prep students for 2025. This was their second orientation session and we are all very excited about them joining our school community in 2025.
On Thursday morning the children in Grades Prep-5 participated in ‘move up day’, spending some time with their new class and teachers for 2025.
Class teachers for 2025 are as follows;
- Prep- Elissa Rodger and Gemma Blake
- Grade 1- Rebecca Murray (3 days) / Paula Parish (2 days) and Leah Martin (3 days) / Judy Carr (2 days)
- Grade 2- Matthew O’Dowd and Emma Roberts (3 days) / Amanda DeLorenzo (2 days)
- Grade 3- Jade LoRicco and Deb Holland
- Grade 4 –Meg Knight and Matt Absalom
- Grade 5- Rachael Cahill and Rachel Downard
Grade 6- Katie Monaghan (3 days) / Jodie Hassett (2 days) and Jess Montano
Farewell and Thank You
As we welcome new students and families in 2025, we sadly say farewell to two of our staff who are moving on. On behalf of the school community I would like to acknowledge the wonderful contributions of Dan Cannon and Rose Murphy. We thank them immensely and wish them all the very best for the next chapter of their lives.
We also say goodbye to Fr. Michael, as he moves into semi retirement at Lorne and Apollo Bay next year. We have been truly blessed to have Fr. Michael in our lives and we will miss his love and support immensely. Well done Fr. Michael, we look forward to hearing about how your golf game is progressing!
Collaboration PD / Pupil Free Days
In 2025 DOBCEL (Diocese of Ballarat Catholic Education Ltd) have granted schools the opportunity to participate in collaborative professional development. This is in line with a new long term strategic plan that has been developed. The 3 days between Easter Monday and Anzac Day (22nd, 23rd and 24th April) will be pupil free days. On these days our school will be collaborating on various aspects of school life with Sacred Heart Colac and St. Brendan’s Coragulac. This is the first week of Term 2. Please put these dates in your diaries.
Start Date for 2025
The first day of Term 1 2025 is Tuesday 28th January. This will be a pupil free staff day. The children will start on Wednesday 29th January.
Merry Christmas
This is the final newsletter for this year, so I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a safe and merry Christmas. Take the time to relax and enjoy this special time of the year with your loved ones.
I would also like to thank everybody in the school community for their overwhelming support this year, particularly over the past week with the passing of my father, Paul and mother in law Anne. I couldn’t have got through the rest of the year without the amazing support I have had from the whole school community.
I look forward to seeing you all return safe and ready for a great 2025!
Enjoy the rest of your week.
Michael Mahoney
(Principal)