Principal's News

How exciting is Term 1?! Since the last newsletter we have had our Term 1 Mass at St Brendan’s, blessing our Foundation students and honouring our student leadership team. Thanks to all families who attended. It is a beautiful tradition to uphold – a key event in the St Luke’s calendar. We held our first Open Day tours this week, welcoming prospective new families, and Mr Thomas did a wonderful job organising and running the Year 3 – 6 Swimming Carnival today, with the support of our staff. Fun and competition ensued.  

Some big events are coming up, so check the calendar and watch out for our social media posts. The NAPLAN nine-day test window begins next week. The dates are set by the Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority and are non-negotiable. Schools have no say in the dates and they cannot be changed.  Dates are available online up to 2029. 

The Year 5 and 6 classes are preparing for their camp at Sovereign Hill in Week 8. This week the Year 3 and 4 students took home hard copy documents about their camp, coming up in Week 1 of Term 2. Our parent / teacher meetings are oMonday March 30  to Wednesday April 1. They will begin at 2.15 pm and end at 5.30 pm.  Bookings are now open in PAM. 

Meanwhile, the calm focus in our classrooms continues, with student growth and improved outcomes remaining a priority. Amidst the hard work, we’ll be sure to include some fun in our schedule. 

What is a cultural covenant and why do we need one? 

The Cultural Covenant, introduced to school staff by our CEO, Kate Fogarty, is an explicit, systemwide commitment developed by Catholic Education SandhurstLimited (CESL) to name, shape, and guide the shared culture across its 51 Catholic schools in regional and rural Victoria. 

The CESL Cultural Covenant is: 

• A solemn promise about how staff work together, how they serve, and how they live their mission each day.  
• A statement that gives voice to who they are, why they exist, how they work together, and how they will succeed.  
• Grounded in the Catholic tradition, drawing on the meaning of a covenant as a relationship based promise that shapes identity and purpose.  

The Cultural Covenant was cocreated by leaders, teachers, and staff across the Diocese and responds to four guiding questions: 

1. Why do we exist? 
2. What do we do? 
3. How will we behave? 
4. How will we succeed?  

At its heart, it commits Catholic Education Sandhurst to enabling “life to the full” (John 10:10) for students, families, staff, and communities. It underpins the Magnify school improvement focus introduced last year, and our ‘Guiding Lights’ of Authentically Sandhurst, Outstanding Learner Growth, and Solidarity & Subsidiarity. 

I will unpack the questions above in future newsletters. 

Thanks, as always, for your support of our beautiful school. 

Jen McKillop 

(Principal)