Dear Parents and Guardians

Welcome back to Term 3. I trust everyone enjoyed a relaxing time with their families and feel energized and ready for another term.

MLA Camp

I enjoyed a wonderful time with staff and students at Log Cabin Camp in Creswick earlier in the week. The students and staff enjoyed a fabulous time on camp with sunny days and only a small amount of rain when we went on our night walk. Students participated in a range of activities including the giant swing, obstacle course, zipline and hut building, just to name a few. It was a wonderful opportunity for our students to try new activities and all should be commended for taking risks and encouraging their peers. A very big thank you to Pauline, Jill and Michael for their participation and support on camp and to Jackie, Chloe and Mary for their wonderful organisation and planning to ensure a successful camp for all.

Communication

It is so important that all parents keep up to date with what is happening at the school. Please ensure that you read our school newsletter and all notices sent via our Audiri app. A reminder that if you have changed your email address, please let the school know via an eform on Audiri.

Uniform Reminder

All students are expected to be in their full winter uniforms at the beginning of Term 3. Please note that students are expected to wear our school beanie, scarf and jackets if cold.

Staffing Updates

We welcomed Caitllin back to school on Monday and l am sure JLA 3 students were very excited to see her again.

Unfortunately, Sally is still unwell however we are hopeful that she will also be returning in coming weeks.

Thursday assembly

There will be no assembly in Week 2 as we are having open classrooms during Week 3.

The assembly dates for this term are as follows:

Thursday 10th August @ 2.45pm

Special Father’s Day Assembly – Friday 1st September at 2.30pm

Thursday 14th September @ 2.45pm

School Absentee

Just a reminder that if your child is going to be absent from school or has an appointment and will be late to school, you must submit the Absentee eForm via Audiri or leave a message with the office. If your child is absent from school and you have not informed us, your child will be marked as Unexplained and you will receive an SMS notification about this.

Photographs and Videos

A friendly reminder that under our child safety requirements parents are only allowed to take photos of their own children. We kindly ask all members of our community to respect our legal obligations.

Melbourne Archdiocese of Catholic Schools has recently updated Photography and Recording Permissions for all Catholic Schools. We will be sending this revised permission form home to all families next week. Please ensure you return the signed form to the office by Friday 28 July.

Enrolments 2024

If you are a current family at our school and have a child who is turning 5 by April 30th next year, can you please complete an enrolment form and forward it to the office as soon as possible. Thank you for your assistance with this.

Are your children cyber safe?

It is very important that all online environments promote safety and wellbeing and minimise the opportunity for students to be harmed. By getting to know the online services your child is using, and by monitoring how they are using these services you can help reduce the potential risks of your child being online.

Tips to help kids be Cyber Safe :

Never give out personal information such as their name, home address, school name or telephone number in chat rooms or on bulletin boards.
Get to know the services your child uses. If you don’t know how to log on, get your child to show you. Monitor your child's online interactions.
Never send or provide a picture of themselves to someone they chat or communicate with.
Remember that people online might not be who they say they are. Someone who says that “she” is a “12 year old girl” could really be an older man.
Children should tell their parents immediately if they read anything that makes them feel uncomfortable.
Never allow a child to arrange a face-to-face meeting with another computer user without parental permission.
Set reasonable rules and guidelines for computer use by your children. Discuss these rules and post them near the computer as a reminder. Check regularly to see that children are following these rules, especially when it comes to the amount of time your children spend on the computer.
Consider keeping the computer in a family room rather than the child's bedroom. Get to know their “online friends” just as you get to know all of their other friends.
Stand up and speak out! If you see or know about cyberbullying happening to someone you know support them and report the bullying. No one has the right to bully another person. At its most serious, cyberbullying is illegal and can be investigated by the police.

If you have any questions regarding your child’s internet use or safety concerns please discuss them with your child’s teacher or visit the government cybersafety website on http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/

CSEF Applications

If your financial circumstances have changed due to COVID-19 and you now have a Health Care Card, please fill in the attached CSEF application form and email it to Marisa Paras on marisa.paras@sjwreservoirnth.catholic.edu.au

Link to CSEF Application Form: https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/about/programs/health/CSEF-Application-Form-2020.pdf

Prayer to celebrate NAIDOC week

Father of all, You gave our Aboriginal People the Dreaming

You have spoken to them through their beliefs,

You then made your love clear to them in the person of Jesus.

We thank you for your care of these people.

You own them. You are their hope.

Make them strong as they face the problems of change

We ask you to help us, the people of Australia,

To listen to them and respect their culture.

Make the knowledge of you grow strong in all people so that you can be at home in all of us,

And so that we can make a home for everyone in our land.

Amen.

(Adapted from the Prayer prepared by the Aboriginal People for Pope John Paul II's visit to Alice Springs 1986)

Diversity