From the Acting Principal 

Dear families,

Welcome back to Term 2!  We hope that everyone has had a wonderful Easter break and that the students have had some down time. They have certainly presented back to school as well rested and cheerful.  As you are aware Cathy is away on much deserved long-service leave and by way of update it certainly looks like her visit to the Amalfi coast in Italy has been nothing short of stunning!

I thank our School Leadership Team: Daniela Borgese, Angela Mason and Catherine Le Hunt for taking up some of the Deputy roles whilst I am acting in Cathy’s absence.

During the break our painters have been touching up a few areas inside the school buildings. We are also pleased to let you know that we have engaged with a local artist, Bianca Loiacono, who last Term commenced a concept design for two mural projects. The design has gone through several cycles of feedback between students and staff. Bianca during the break has commenced blocking some of the base colours of the design and this week the students have been delighted to contribute to the design by outlining each of their hands as part of the mural.

Bianca will be around for the next few weeks to complete the painting of both murals with students assisting. The mural in conjunction with our landscape plans will really lift the aesthetics of the school grounds.

We thank Joshua’s dad Eddie in Year 2 and Grange Banks painters for generously donating the paint supplies for this project, which helps our budget enormously.

Our next Landscape Working Bee for tomorrow will be postponed. Please save the next two dates: Friday 3rd May and Friday 17th May from 3:30pm. If you are able to assist, please let your P&F Class Representative know. We are making wonderful progress on the garden beds and we will be in a position to bring in plants later this Term.

This week we welcomed 2 new students, Zoha in Year 3 and Hazma in Year 6, both of whom have settled in well. We welcome their parents Maria and Ahmed to the school community.

In addition you will also see around the school our 3 new “amigurumi” characters, or 3D crochet representations of our new school norm mascots. We thank Francesca’s mum Hywell in Year 3 and her Art Therapy contact Holly Would who have created these and for bringing the original concept drawing by our students Tara, Chiara and Anna to “real life”. 

Needless to say they were amazed and thrilled to meet them and we will be presenting them at assembly tomorrow. Our mascots for Respectful, Safe and Responsible need some names… I’m sure that the students will be of great assistance in this process! The mascots are incorporated into our Positive Behaviour for Learning approach, that explicitly teaches and motivates children towards expected and agreed behaviours.

Kat Reade who has taken on the Librarian role this year has graciously organised and offered an opportunity for preschoolers on a Tuesday afternoon. She will be holding a Story-Time session at 3:10pm in the Zen Zone classroom commencing next week. We hope that families with young children who are around at school pick-up time drop in to say hello. Friends of toddlers are also welcome.

A reminder that next week is a “short” week and the school will be closed on Thursday and Friday, with the Thursday being the ANZAC Day Public Holiday and the Friday being taken as one of the nominated Pupil Free Days. Theircare program is available should supervision be required.

As we head into the cooler months we will be transitioning to Winter Uniform, which is to be worn by Monday 29th April. In the interim students may wear either uniform depending on climate and comfort. The 2nd Hand Uniform Shop will be open, please check the P&F page and calendar for times.

Take care and wishing God's blessings and peace upon each of you.

Mr Anthony Speranza