From the Principal

Mrs Julie David

2022 SCHOOL THEME - ‘MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Dear Parents/Carers,

As you are aware we have a number of staff leaving us at the end of this school year. Please keep in mind the following information -

• 5 staff are either retiring or leaving the profession of teaching
• 3 staff are leaving to work closer to where they live
• 1 staff member is beginning a career in a Secondary School setting

Teaching is not the only profession that has a number of employees moving on at the moment. This change in staffing also means that we will not have as many shared classrooms with 2 teachers. The majority of our classes will have one teacher.

Please be assured that Eithne King and I have interviewed and employed teachers with wonderful references and experience who will enhance our learning community.

Celebrating 2022

In our previous newsletter I shared with you how we have ‘Make A Difference’ in 2022.

I met with our Staff Leadership Team on Monday and we reviewed staff feedback on the ‘difference’ we have made in terms of our 4 Year School Improvement Plan and our 2022 Annual Action Plan.

These plans have 4 priority areas which were developed from our External Review last year. The feedback from our staff is listed below under each priority area.

Priority One

Goal: To build a trusting and rigorous professional learning culture

• Use of professional knowledge of behaviour strategies across all teaching staff
• Team Teach professional learning for all staff 
• Student Case Management study - sharing, goals, feedback
• Regular Professional Learning Team Meetings
• Support from Leaders at staff curriculum planning
• Respect each other
• Learning Support Officer/Staff team support
• Staff are accepting of feedback and trust the judgement of leadership

Priority Two

Goal: To enable explicit connections between faith, life and the wider community

• Kindergarten visits
• Class Masses - students reading
• Reinstating Friday morning Mass
• Celebrations of Learning/Grandparents Day/Welcoming Mass
• Parent Welcome Events (Dinner and Drinks)
• Brother and Sister Program (Year 3/4 students)
• Parent helpers in classrooms, at Kid’s Cafe and on excursions

Priority Three

Goal: To empower student voice and agency to promote student engagement in learning

• Student voice through Inquiry
• Genius Hour
• Year 6 Leadership Roles
• Students leading Weekly Assembly
• Student Voice in decision making (surveys)
• Catering for different learning styles
• Student learning celebrations made students talk about their learning - more ownership
• Student Representative Council Meetings - presence in classrooms weekly
• School Captains assisting with school tours
• Whole class say in class expectations
• Whole school say in our new ‘vision’

Priority Four

Goal: To embed evidence-based pedagogy and practices across the school

• Bump It Up Walls What are Bump It Up Walls?
• Maths - productive struggle (new Maths structure)
• 6 Key Principles of effective teaching
• Guided reading and focus on comprehension
• Different reading strategy used
• Reading (4 resource model)
• Upskilling teachers with new learning structures
• Consistency of teaching across the school
• Effective use of student data - more driven for learning and teaching
• Behaviour Plans
• Personalised Learning Plans for some students
• Math Sprints

2023

Our 2023 school year will continue to focus on these four priorities for teacher/student growth, community building and faith experiences.

The Holy Family School theme for 2023 is ‘Belong’. Staff, students and members of our School Advisory Council worked together to develop our new school vision and mission statement which will be launched next year. Our 2023 school theme has been taken from our new vision statement.

2023 Open Classrooms Afternoon

All families and students are invited to attend our ‘Open Classrooms’ afternoon on Monday 30th January from 2-3pm. This is an opportunity to visit your child’s 2023 classroom and meet their 2023 teacher.

2023 Staff Leadership Team

Our Staff Leadership Team for 2023 -

• Principal (Julie David)
• Deputy Principal/Wellbeing Leader (Eithne King)
• Religious Education Leader (Vicky Pejic)
• Learning and Teaching Leader/Maths Leader/Digital Technologies Leader   (Jennifer Young)
• Literacy Leader (Natalie Dib)
• Learning Diversity Leader (Jacqui Prosser)

Year 6 2022

I would like to acknowledge and congratulate our 2022 Year 6 students and their families. Some families have had a long and others a shorter association with our school but each family has made an impact on our school community.

Thank you for your support and trust over the years. 

I wish each of our incredible Year 6 students all the best as they transition into secondary school. I know that our teachers at Holy Family have prepared these students well. It has been a pleasure to work alongside our Student Leaders this year to ensure that we have a dynamic and safe learning environment for everyone.

School Advisory Council Communication Survey Feedback

Key takeaways and action items

Skoolbag, Operoo and Whatsapp groups are the most popular and most highly valued forms of communication. The amount of communication distributed to the community is deemed ‘perfect’, and overall communication is useful and of quality.

Below are some action items the school will put in place for 2023.

Yearly events:

• Google calendar will continue to be maintained.
• A yearly calendar for the upcoming year will be sent out at the end of the year prior, with updates issued at the end of each term (or beginning of next).

Fortnightly Level Newsletters:

• A new mode of communication this year and have proven successful.
• Teachers will look to include photos and consider ways to disseminate curriculum information to support student learning from home.
• Additionally, teachers will ensure consistency around dates and events between these level curriculum newsletters.

Social media:

• The school will ensure what is posted on social media covers all levels and curriculum areas.

Thank You

On behalf of St Vincent de Paul I would like to extend a BIG thank you to all of our families

 for your generosity this Christmas.The food and Christmas items donated will surely make Christmas a special time for some families in our community.

Filming Onsite

We have had an exciting week at Holy Family!

Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) selected our school to film their advertisement which will be aired over the Christmas break during Carols by Candlelight and in cinemas.

Our School Captains had the privilege of meeting our MACS Acting Executive Director Dr Edward Simons and the opportunity to view filming in progress and speak to some of the crew.

Thank you for your understanding with ‘Kiss and Drop’ being closed for two days.

End of Year Mass

Everyone is invited to come along and celebrate the end of the 2022 school year at our Mass on Tuesday 13th December at 9:15am.

Community Christmas Carols

We are looking forward to everyone joining us this afternoon to celebrate the end of the 2022 school year with our Community Christmas Carols from 3:30-5pm. Families are encouraged to dress up in the Christmas theme and bring along a picnic rug and afternoon tea to share as they sing along to our Christmas tunes in our quadrangle. If it is raining then we will relocate to the Church.

Final Assembly

We invite current families to join us at our Final Assembly on Thursday 15th December at 2pm. Please note that this is not an event for secondary students whose families have left the school to attend. These children will be asked to leave.

Christmas

Christmas for my family will be a time of ‘togetherness’. A time of love, joy and hope.

We will gather to support each other as it will be our first Christmas without my gorgeous dad. I wish each of you a Holy Christmas and restful break and hope that you have the opportunity to be together to celebrate and share memories.

Spirit of Christmas

St. Joseph’s Catholic Primary School in Rochester has been heavily impacted by the recent flooding so our staff have donated a variety of items to create ‘care’ packs for the staff at this school.

I sent a photo to the Principal of the school on Saturday morning and she said that this is what her staff needs right now. There have been up to 7 teachers and many students off with COVID in the last week.

Staff and students are boarding buses from Rochester to attend school in either Elmore or Bendigo each day.Travel times of up to 110 minutes return trip before and after school.

The staff and families in this school have been displaced twice (home and school). Please keep this Catholic community in your prayers as they near the end of this year with uncertainty leading into 2023.

Thank you to our caring staff for being people of action to help others in need.

2023 Medical Action Plans and medications

Action plans have been sent home with students who require an anaphylaxis, asthma, allergy or other medical plan.  We ask that these are completed during the holidays before returning to school, and the original copy sent home is returned to school either before the first day of school or before.  Medication will also need to be sent in (in original packaging) and clearly labelled.

All medications stored in the first aid room this year, will be sent home next Thursday. 

Some Key Dates

Term 4 (2022)

• Thursday 8th December - Community Christmas Carols (3:30-5pm)
• Monday 12th December (Move Up Session 1)
• Tuesday 13th December (Move Up Session 2)
• Tuesday 13th December (End of Year Mass) 9:15am
• Wednesday 14th December (Year 6 Graduation)
• Thursday 15th December (Final Assembly 2pm) Only existing families invited to attend
• Thursday 15th December (Last day - finish at 3:15pm)

Term 1 (2023) TBC

Morning coffee each Friday after drop off

• Friday 27th January (Staff Return)
• Monday 30th January (2023 Open Classrooms Afternoon) 2-3pm (Everyone welcome!)
• Tuesday 31st January (All students return)
• Sunday 5th February (Prep Playdate)
• Tuesday 7th February (World Safer Internet Day)
• Tuesday 7th February (Parent Cyber Safety Session) 6pm
• Wednesday 8th February (Year 1-6) Parent Curriculum Evening
• Friday 10th February (Parents and Friends Welcome Event)
• Thursday 16th February (Playground installation commences)
• Tuesday 21st February (Shrove Tuesday)
• Wednesday 22nd February (Ash Wednesday)
• Wednesday 22nd February (SDSSA Swimming Trials)
• Thursday 2nd March (2023 Welcome Dinner)
• Tuesday 7th March (NAPLAN commences)
• Friday 10th March (Holy Family School Sports) onsite
• Monday 13th March (Labour Day Holiday) No school
• Monday 13th March - Catholic Education Week (Forming lives of faith, hope and love in the light of Christ’)
• Friday 17th March (Holy Family Colour Run) Major Fundraiser
• Tuesday 21st March (Harmony Day)
• Monday 27th March (School Closure Day - Dan Petro PL)
• Friday 31st March (SDSSA Athletics Carnival)
• Tuesday 4th April (Parent/Teacher/Student Conversations) Students finish at 1:30pm
• Wednesday 5th April (Parent/Teacher/Student Conversations) No early finish
• Wednesday 5th April (School Photos)
• Thursday 6th April (Holy Thursday)
• Thursday 6th April (Last day of Term 1 - 1pm finish)

A 2023 Family Calendar will be distributed next week.

Enrolments for 2023 Now Open

Don’t forget to pop into the office to get an enrolment form for Prep - Year 6  2023.

Wishing everyone a safe and Holy Christmas,

Julie David (Principal)