Dear Parents and Carers,

As we return to school for Term 2, I hope that the school holidays provided some much-needed rest for your families.

Happy Easter! - Easter continues after Easter Sunday

The Easter season in our Catholic Church begins with days of Holy Week, but we then continue this Easter journey until Pentecost. This brief article is a great reminder for us as a faith community about the intricacy and details of Easter beyond Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. To assist with living out the 50 days of Easter in your home, click here for some simple daily tasks that you can share and complete with your children at this time.

Finally, I would like to draw your attention to the Stations of the Cross Dramatisation Video created by our year 6 students. This was shared with families in the last week of Term 1 and I would encourage all families to take some time to perhaps use this presentation as a way of talking with your children about Easter and the realisation that Jesus loves each of us so much that he gave his life for us so that we could be closer to God.

Open Days and Parent Information Session for 2022 Enrolment

Today we commenced Open Day tours for prospective families wanting to join our St Simon’s community in 2022. Open Day tours are also available next Thursday 29th April 9:00 - 10:30am. If you know of any family or friends who have a child starting in prep next year, please direct them to the school website for details about booking a place for the next round of tours. Thank you to some of our Year 6 student for leading the tour guides for our Open Days.

The 2022 Prep Enrollment Parent Session will be held on Wednesday 28th April at 7pm. Families wishing to attend need to register via the school website. Further details regarding car parking and the location of the session will be shared with registered families.

Carparking and Safety

As a parish and school community, we know that car parking is an inherent challenge for visitors to the site. The safety and wellbeing of all students and visitors to the parish and school site is the highest priority.

Car parking rules and regulations set out by the parish, school and Knox City Council are there to ensure that people move safely on and off the property.

Click\Tap here for more information regarding Knox City Council’s parking regulation.

The practice of parking on the nature strip on Taylors Lanes is illegal. The practice of making a U-Turn over a continuous solid line is illegal.

All school families are asked to take note and follow the signage on Gate 1 of the parish property. Please do not walk through these areas during school pick up or drop off time.

Summer Dress Consultation - Closes this Friday 23rd April!

St Simon the Apostle Primary School has been working through a process of changing the school uniform from brown and gold to blue and gold. The last item in this process is the summer school dress.

As principal, I am seeking feedback for a short period of time (until Friday 23rd April) from the parent community to assist with the decision between two options for the dress.

A display of the two garment options is available in the School Office area for viewing or click here to view online and leave feedback.

The feedback period will close at the end of school time on Friday 23rd April 2021.

After this time, a decision will be made and this will be shared with the school community in the following week’s newsletter.

The new summer dress will be available for purchase later in the school year, ready for Term 4.

There will be a “phasing in period” for the new summer dress, with the expectation that when families need to purchase the next size up, they do so with the blue summer dress.

Date for the Diary: School Closure Day - Monday 17th May - Teacher Professional Development

Monday 17th May will be a student-free day to allow teachers to engage in professional learning activities. Beyond Edu Care will have a Day program available for families who would like to utilise this service. More details will be provided closer to the date.

Free Webinar - Supporting parents of children with anxiety with Dr Jodi Richardson

Catholic School Parents Victoria invites parents of children in Catholic schools to:

CSPV Connect Webinar Series 2021, Saturday 24th April, 10:30am-12pm

CSPV proudly presents a free webinar for parents of children in primary and secondary Catholic schools.

Supporting parents of children with anxiety with Dr Jodi Richardson

Are you struggling to support your young child or teenager with anxiety?

CSPV provides this opportunity for you to learn from leading anxiety speaker and educator Dr Jodi Richardson. Jodi is the best-selling co-author of Anxious Kids and a regular media commentator on issues related to anxiety, wellbeing and parenting.

This free 90 minute Webinar will provide you with strategies to know how to respond, how you can help, when to seek professional help and much more.

Click here to register now

God bless

Tom Wursthorn

Principal

Entertainment Book Parents' Association