Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back to the new school year! As we start the first full week of school, it has been delightful to welcome our new Prep students with excitement and enthusiasm last Friday. As a cohort, Preps have already attended their first school assembly and navigated the changes and excitement of the school classroom and playground environments.

Last Wednesday's Meet and Greet appointments were well attended by families and provided important opportunities for parents to meet teachers and share information with classroom teachers.

Welcome Prep Families Mass - Sunday 8th February 11:00 am

The school staff will also be commissioned for the 2026 school year as part of the Sunday liturgy.

School Assembly

Our fortnightly school assemblies commenced this week on Mondays and are scheduled on even-numbered weeks at 2:30 pm throughout the school term. Parents and families are welcome to attend and should arrive through the school office entry and make their way down to the school hall for 2:30 pm start.

Road Safety with Lottie - School Crossing Education Session P-3 Students - Thursday 12th February 9am Families welcome to attend.

As part of our commitment to Child Safety and the safety of all visitors to our school grounds, we are working with Knox Council to provide an informative safety message, with Lottie the Crossing Supervisor mascot visiting on Thursday, 12th February, 9am in the Hall.

Students in Prep-Year 3 will participate in the session, and all school families are welcome to attend.

Beginning of the Year Mass, 9:15 am Friday, 13th February

All members of our School community are welcome and invited to join us for the Celebration of the Eucharist (Mass) to mark the beginning of a new school year on Friday 13th February at 9:15 am.

At the conclusion of Mass, our Year 6 Student Action Leaders will be commissioned and presented with their leadership badges.

nForma

We continue to work through the rollout of the main communication platform, nForma. Thank you to the parents who have been providing feedback on the "parent" experience of the app. We will continue to refine and adapt our processes using nForma throughout the year.

This week you should received a Term 1 Year Level newsletter for your child\ren via the nForma Notices. Please look out for an email notification for this newsletter.

In preparation for camps and excursions, please ensure that all Medical and Health information in nForma for your children is up to date.

Save the Date: Thursday, 19th February 19th, 7:30pm

CLICK HERE TO REGISITER

bit.ly/19febwebinar

Reminder: Beyond Edu Care has a new home!

In 2026, our provider of before and after-school care services will be operating from a new location. The location is using several classroom spaces in Building A, and access will be via our main car park (Gate 4).

During the hours of service, families can use the stairs from the carpark drop off\pick area or the flat path of travel available at the gate next to the main office entry.

We look forward to the benefits of having our OSHC service closer to the front area of the school.

Please see the map below for more information.

Reminder: Student and Family Morning Drop-off and Afternoon Pick-up in 2026

In 2026, the following areas will be open for students and families during the school drop and pick up time period.

The double gates between the school and church will no longer be available for regular school drop-off and pick-up routines.

The aim of these arrangements is to have pedestrians coming to and from the school, use the designated footpaths and pathways, avoiding carpark driveways and throughways.

These changes will be monitored closely over the coming weeks, with further communication to clarify the arrangements.

Recess and Lunch Times and Areas of Play in 2026

In 2026, we have made the following changes to Recess and Lunch times and areas of play.

Recess and Lunch Play times will now each be 40 minutes in duration (previously 30 mins for Recess, 50 minutes for Lunch)

Key times for Bells and movement are as follows:

8:20am School gate opens (car park drop off\pick up area) Before School Supervision Commences
8:30am Classrooms Open - Students settle for learning
8:40am First Bell: Students settled ready for Whole School led Prayer
8:45am Morning Block Learning Begins
10:45am Morning Block ends\Recess begins (40 minutes)
11:20am Recess Bell to line up
11:25am Middle Block begins
1:25am Eating time begins
1:35pm Lunch play (40 minutes)
2:10pm Lunch bell to line up
2:15pm Afternoon Block begins
3:15pm School dismissal (end of the day prayer 3:10pm)

At St Simon's, we are blessed with many and different play spaces for our students to play and enjoy together. These include:

the oval
sand pit
gaga pit
adventure playground
athletics track
fitness trail equipment
basketball courts
prep playground
middle court yard
deck areas

The current school size, based on the student enrolment, determines the amount of government funds (state and federal) we receive to operate the school.

With the number of students we currently have enrolled, there are not enough staffing resources to continue supervising all the play spaces available to students during recess and lunch.

To enable students to access all our play spaces throughout the school day, we have introduced designated play areas for Recess and Lunch.

The map below shows where the students will be playing during recess and lunch, noting that the Middle courtyard and deck area are available at all times.

Check out our Community News for the latest activities happening in and around Rowville.