Laura Jane's Message

Dear Parents, 

As Term One comes to a close, there’s so much to celebrate. We’ve witnessed a wonderful group of confident prep children settle in seamlessly within our school community. Together, we've embraced learning across all areas and laid the foundation for strong, positive relationships. We look forward to Term 2 as our educators have spent hours this week preparing rich, engaging learning experiences in all areas for the children at St Gabriel’s.  

Prep Enrolments 2026

We are thrilled to share that we have received an overwhelming number of enrolment forms for Prep 2026.  If you are a current family that has not handed in your enrolment form for a younger sibling for next year, please do so as soon as possible.  We will be holding enrolment interviews early in Term 2.

Child Safety 

At St Gabriel’s all staff are committed to holding children’s safety as our number one priority.  There are many ways that this is addressed on a daily basis and also in an ongoing manner in our school.  Today, I am sharing with you some of the many ways that we continually implement and review Child safety Practices at St Gabriel’s. 

The 11 Child Safe Standards are currently being reviewed through leadership team meetings and also through our weekly staff weekly pitstop. Through this review, we take the time to acknowledge the strength in our current practice and to look for opportunities to improve our practice in this area. Our Nurture and Growth team continually reviews the safety and wellbeing of children in our school.  This team strategically plans for learning and teaching experiences that enable our children to have a range of knowledge and strategies that they can use in a variety of situations. This team also ensures that the right support is in place for all children to support their wellbeing needs. 

The children learn about their safety and wellbeing in the following ways at school: 

• Strong positive relationships between staff and children 
• Daily Getting Ready to Learn Circles in the Hub
• Explicit Teaching of strategies from the Berry Street Education Model 
• One to one or small group conversations with an Educator
• Inform and Empower Webinars with a focus on online safety and positive interactions. 

I strongly encourage all parents to read the Wellbeing And learning Diversity section of our newsletter today.  There is important information that enables both educators and parents to clarify the difference between bullying and an isolated unkind or mean interaction.  We know that when parents and educators are able to share a consistent message with children, that this empowers them with knowledge and enables them to act with confidence when they need to. 

Suzuki Guitar Lessons with Rose 

Rose offers Suzuki Guitar Lessons each Term as a private learning opportunity. She is excited to open up this opportunity for our prep children from term 2.  Please see further ahead in the newsletter for information about booking in for this program.  

We wish all our children, families and staff a very happy and Holy Easter.  We look forward to celebrating the resurrection through our Easter Liturgy on Thursday April 24th at 9.15am in the hall.  

 May your Easter be filled with joy, peace, and the hope of new beginnings, as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.