Wellbeing

CSEF Funding

CSEF (Camp, Sports and Excursion Fund) is available to families who hold a valid Concession Card. Eligible families can obtain a from the office.

These forms need to be filled out with a copy of your card and handed to the office no later than the 21st of June 2023. Please note: This cut-off date is enforced by the Department of Education and Training; office staff are unable to submit any applications received after this date.

If you have applied for CSEF funding and your child is in Foundation, you are now eligible for a uniform pack. I will be contacting families over the next week to organise this pack. I will need to know clothing and shoe sizes.

IDAHOBIT Day

Wednesday 17th of May

IDAHOBIT is a day to celebrate and appreciate our diverse community and to stand up for equality for all members of society. The day is about raising awareness, championing inclusion in our schools and workplaces and for celebrating the LGBTQI+ community. IDAHOBIT is an international day for LGBTQI+ human rights and positive social change.

Wearing rainbow colours signals to others that you're someone who respects LGBTQIA+ identity. And it also signals that our school is inclusive.

Camp Quality Program

This program will be going ahead on Monday 22nd March for all students in Foundation - Grade 3.

You can learn more about Camp Quality by watching the video below.

There is no cost involved but families will be invited to make a gold coin donation on the day which we will donate to the Camp Quality Program to support their delivery of their program to schools. Classroom teachers will collect the coins in the morning on arrival at school.

National Families Week: Celebrating families in all their forms.

For Joanne, a long-term foster carer with MacKillop Family Services, the definition of ‘family’ has changed since siblings Max* (5) and Lola* (6) came to live with her.

“Family for me has always been the people who are there for you. The people that are there for you no matter what, without question,” said Joanne. “Family is part of your identity. So, if a child is in care, that is part of their identity, that is part of who they are and part of their story.”

This National Families Week is an opportunity to celebrate the many people who work together to support vulnerable children and young people all around Australia; the families that are formed quickly, selflessly, and without question, always with the understanding that the needs of the child are paramount, and that wherever possible, family reunification is the ultimate goal.

Joanne has cared for Max and Lola for three years now and works hard to ensure the children have an ongoing and positive relationship with their mother, even when this means travelling long distances for regular face-to-face contact.

“Obviously the kids have family visits,” she said. “I go along to those family visits with them, so I’m there and saying ‘hello’ to their parents, they’re seeing that positive interaction and that we get along. We speak about family at home, and we have photos of them.”

Along with her own extended family and two teenaged sons, Joanne recognises the many people who have helped her, Max and Lola along the way including carers and teachers at the children’s pre-school and kindergarten, their caseworker who Joanne describes as “really amazing” and even the children’s early intervention worker who plays “a big part in the children’s lives”.

Reflecting on her role as a foster carer, it is clear that the priority for Joanne and her family extends well beyond offering the children a place to live; her focus is to help Max and Lola to grow up with belief in the ultimate goodness of others.

Thousands of foster carers like Joanne are nurturing children and supporting families to stay connected, however there are even more children unable to live at home who need this support.

If you have thought about becoming a foster carer, perhaps National Families Week could be your cue to consider how your family could be expanded in so many new and unexpected ways?

According to Joanne: “When kids have been through trauma, you look at them and they try so hard. They just work so hard to do so much better. The reward is seeing the growth, seeing how much they develop and seeing them happy.” To find out more about foster care, visit www.mackillop.org.au/fostercare

*Names changed to protect privacy