Principal's Message
From the Principal
Dear Parents and Carers,
Congratulations to our Preps who are having a wonderful start to primary school life here at Christ Our Holy Redeemer. They are settling in well to the daily routines and are enjoying their learning. Yesterday was their last Wednesday at home, as next week they commence full weeks at school. See more Prep updates in a special page of this fortnight's newsletter.
Home School Communications
Thank you to those families who attended the Parent Information sessions and/or the Parents/Teacher Chats held over the past two weeks. These connections have been a valuable opportunity in linking home life and school life to ensure the best possible learning environments for our children.
There are obviously some pros and cons to Covid, as we have all experienced. We did notice that there were more families in attendance at the Parent Information Sessions than what we have had in the past when we have held them on site. Perhaps because it is more convenient for families? We would be interested in hearing parents thoughts on continuing these Information Nights and Parents Teacher chats via an online format or in person in future. We invite families to complete the attached 30 second survey that may assist us in future planning for these meetings.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PJBTP3D
Happy Twosday
Primary schooling is about having a bit of fun with our learning and what better opportunity to do this on a day that is 22/2/22. These dates don't come around very often. On Tuesday we had staff dress in tutus (or two-two's) and classes had conversations around this unique date.
The next date is eleven years away !!!! 3/3/33 (...and 11+22 =33)
Baby News
Congratulations to Tanya and Anthony Ticca on the early arrival of their son James Ticca who arrived last Sunday. The family are all doing very well.
Congratulations also to Sarah Counihan and her husband Tom on the announcement that they are also expecting a baby towards the end of June.
Covid Update
There were no Covid cases to report today.
As you may have heard through the media, Rapid Antigen Testing in schools will continue through the remainder of Term 1. Additional RATs will be delivered to schools each fortnight and the next box of tests can be collected by families from the office next week.
School Advisory Committee
Our first meeting for the year will be held on Wednesday 9th March at 7pm.
At this point in time we are do not require the additional support of new parent members due to the change in Governance model with MACS (Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools).
This year we will be looking at our goals within our School Improvement Plan, enrolment trends and promotions, and discussing how we can reignite the COHR community following two years of lockdowns.
Along with Jo Cowan and myself, the following parents are currently assisting on the COHR School Advisory Committee;
Peter Birmingham - Chairperson
Caroline Grenfell - Secretary
Anna Belmuda - PA Rep
David Florio
Oliver Kelly
Irna Kostic
Natalie Moran
Mel Nigro
Joel Ramalinga
Early Arrivals
As much as our staff have a duty of care to our students, we are are unable to provide supervision for them before 8:30am so we ask parents not to drop children off before this time. I need to remind parents that the supervision of students before school does not commence until 8:30am.
Parents requiring supervision before 8:30am or after 3:45pm are asked to use the Outside School Hours Service School managed by Youth Leadership Victoria. Please contact YLV on 0412 958 605 to access this service.
Reconciliation
Reconciliation Commitment masses will take place on Saturday 5th March at Christ Our Holy Redeemer Church at 7pm and Sacred Heart Church Oakleigh at 5.30pm. All children receiving this Sacrament in 2022 are asked to attend either one of these masses to make their commitment to this program and to the community.
Please note also the Reconciliation Family Night will take place on Thursday 10th March is at Sacred Heart School Hall. If we are unable to conduct this onsite then we will share a Google Meet link and hold an online session.
Past Student's Success at Salesian College
We congratulate Christ our Holy Redeemer’s past students College Captain Steven Tran (ATAR 98.9), Luca Ianno (ATAR 96.9), William Iverson (ATAR 92.85) and Christian Heil (ATAR 90.5) on their incredible success! Well done.
Take care and keep safe everyone
Brendan Welsford