From the Principal's Couch...

Dear Parents and Carers

What a busy couple of weeks at St Helena's! There is always lots of teaching and learning happening in our classrooms and around our school. The students are always engaged and I thank our parents and caregivers for your continued support of our students on their learning journey at St Helena's. A strong home/school partnership is very important. 'It takes a village to raise a child', and at St Helena's we have a wonderful staff doing an amazing job across the school. The staff are very aware of the importance of working with you, the parents and caregivers of the students in our care to ensure we do the best we can for each child at SHCPS. Thank you everyone!

I have heard yesterday's MacKillop Mass was lovely. Thank you to the MacKillop staff for planning and coordinating the Mass and honouring St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, Australia's first Saint! We look forward to celebrating the Assumption Mass on Monday 15 August at 11:15am with Fr Bona at St Helena's and then on Friday 18 August at 9:45am coming together again for Mass to celebrate the Feast Day of St Helena. All our families and friends are most welcome to attend! Students and staff are looking forward to the St Helena's Day celebrations.

It is great that we have many classes planning excursions as part of their teaching and learning. Thank you to our staff who make these co-curricular opportunities happen and the extra planning and coordinating that you do. I know it is very much appreciated by our students and our parents and caregivers love hearing about these experiences. We are in the middle of Science Week at St Helena's. Thank you Mrs Walsh and Mrs White for the activities you have been coordinating with the students throughout the week.

Congratulations to our Liturgical Dance students who performed exceptionally well in the Catholic Performing Arts Festival and to all the students who entered the Catholic Performing Arts as Solo. Our choir is very excited about participating in the One Big Voice on Friday 18 August at the RAC Arena. All the best to our participating students and to Miss Panaia and staff assisting on the evening.

Thank you to those in attendance at last P&F Meeting, there are still several events planned for the rest of the year, including a Student Disco in early Term 4. Please make a conscious effort to put your hand up to assist between now and the end of the year with events coming up. It would be great to share the load and be able to continue to provide our students with the experiences they love to be a part of at SHCPS. Thanks in advance for considering supporting the P&F Committee in their endeavours!

I hope our students and staff (parents and caregivers too if you like) are getting their Book Week costume ready. This year's Book Week Parade will take place on Tuesday 29 August.

Don't forget to save the date - Tuesday 5 September, for our SHCPS Learning Journey afternoon/evening, promoting all our classrooms, specialist classes and art exhibition. We will also be extending the Book Fair into the afternoon/evening. Can't wait!

Thank you Miss Melissa Myles and Mr Luke Vines for your leadership at St Helena's Catholic Primary School. Thank you to all our staff for your continued commitment and efforts for the benefit of all our students! I look forward to seeing everyone soon I hope! Recovery requires patience and time...

Peace & Happy Days!

Santino Giancono

Principal