Dear Parents/Carers,

It has been a busy week in our school, as we make the necessary arrangements prior to the commencement of our classroom renovation. On Monday during the school closure day, our staff spent the morning completing a necessary First Aid and Anaphylaxis training update, before moving into classrooms and shared areas to begin a school-wide, pre-renovation cleanse. Preparing new learning spaces and clearing old ones is a significant undertaking and I am grateful to our staff for their hard work and positive attitude as we work through it. We are still planning on relocating all students into their new learning spaces on Friday 2nd September. This will allow the children time to settle before the holidays and be ready for the commencement of work. It is a very exciting time for our school and I’m sure we will have many eager little people looking on during the project. I thank all parents in advance for your understanding with the adjustments we are required to make to bring it all together.

CBCA Book Week Celebrations

Book Week celebrations last Thursday were a fantastic event for our students and school. It was wonderful to see the children getting dressed up as their favourite book characters. My personal highlights were from our Preps and also from our Year 6 students who went to significant effort with their costumes. Having our Library Captains Jara and Patricia leading much of the day and undertaking candid interviews with the children during the parade was wonderful. I would like to thank Amanda Baker and Lynn Miller for their efforts in organising the celebrations. Head across to the Library page of this newsletter for more details written by Jara and Patricia.

Sacrament of First Eucharist

Congratulations to our first group of Year 4 students who received the Sacrament of First Eucharist for the first time last Saturday.

We wish the following students well for this weekend, as they received the blessed Eucharist for the first time: Vallentina Oliveira Lima, Kane Corcoran, Chloe Gresle, Sasha Hampson, Ava Coates, Eleanor Forbes, Arabella Shine and Ayman Yilmaz. Thank you to our RE Leader, Mrs Gorski and Year 4 teacher Mrs Georgiou, for your work in preparing the children for this sacrament.

Sporting Achievements at St Agnes’

This year has been a significant year for our school in terms of the achievements of our students on the sporting stage. It is very rare that we have students representing our school at the high levels achieved in 2022. On Monday this week, our Year 5/6 girls soccer team was victorious at the Southern Metro Region Championships. Head across to the Sports Update page of the newsletter for further details about Monday’s games. The girls won all of their games convincingly and now proceed onto the State Soccer Championships on Wednesday 31st August, full of confidence. We know this level of competition will be harder, but they are up for the challenge. Go girls!

This weekend, Callan Duddy from Year 4 will head to Adelaide with his family to represent our school and Victoria at the National Cross Country Championships. Callan will compete in the individual race on Saturday 27th and then a Cross Country Teams Relay on Monday 29th August. We wish Callan well for these events; we know he is very determined and will give his best effort.

I would like to thank our PE Teacher/Sports Coordinator Mr Simon Kost for all the unseen work he does in preparing St Agnes’ students for sporting events. From training to coaching/supporting individuals and groups, he does a great job.

Father’s Day

This week, we commence the preparations for celebrating our fathers, grandfathers and special friends in our school community. It starts this week with the Father’s Day Stall on Friday 26th August. The children are able to bring up to $10 to school on Friday to purchase a gift for their dads. Thank you to our P&F and also to our Year 2 parents for offering this option for the children. Siblings will be able to shop together, so dad doesn’t end up with multiples of the same gift.

On Thursday 1st September from 7.30am, we have the Father’s Day Breakfast and Celebrations. We encourage all St Agnes’ Dads and special friends to get along to this special event. There will be breakfast in the hall, and following breakfast, there will be some special presentations from each of the classes, also in the hall. These presentations will commence at 8.15am, so we ask that all students are at school by this time please. Head across to the P&F section to purchase your tickets for this event.

On behalf of the staff, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all fathers, grandfathers and father figures a wonderful Father’s Day. May you be spoiled by your children and enjoy some family time.

MACSSIS

Each year in Term Three, students in Years 4-6 and all families and staff are invited to complete MACSSIS: the Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools – School Improvement Survey. The main aim of the survey is to identify the strengths and areas for development in our school. The data provides valuable information that the school uses to inform the St. Agnes’ School Improvement Plan and Annual Action Plan. Parents are encouraged to

participate in the survey to provide a parent voice to help shape the ongoing improvement of our school. Survey instructions will be sent via email from principal@sahighett.catholic.edu.au. Parents will be able to complete the survey any time over a three-week window between Monday 29 August to Friday 16 September 2022. Please be on the lookout for this email. We appreciate your feedback and ongoing support.

Year 5/6 Camp - Arrabri Lodge

As part of our extracurricular offerings at St Agnes’, our Year 5 and 6 students head off on camp to Arrabri Lodge in the Upper Yarra Valley, from Monday 5th to Wednesday 7th September. We have all been on school camps during our time at school and, for me, they are some of my fondest memories of my education. While at Arrabri, the children will engage in a number of outdoor activities including an initiatives course, orienteering, rock wall, flying fox and low ropes course. While these will also be fun and challenging in their own way, there are some other significant benefits to school camps that are worth highlighting.

Strengthening of relationships - The extra time spent, away from the structure of the school environment, enables students to strengthen relationships amongst themselves and also with their teachers. Not only does this benefit them in the playground when they return, it also enables the students to operate with more confidence once they return to the classroom.
Self Management and Independence - Someone once said to me, never do for children what they can do for themselves. I know as a parent, I fall into the trap of helping my children do things at home they can do for themselves, because it is quicker and easier. On school camp, the children have many opportunities every day to further develop their independence and self-management skills by doing things like rolling sleeping bags, cleaning their dorm rooms and fulfilling roles such as a Meal Time Leader.
Resilience - There are times on school camp when students will be challenged, they will be tired, grumpy or they may miss home. While the students will be supported by their teachers to navigate the challenges of camp, it is important for them to have the opportunity to work through these challenges independent of Mum and/or Dad.

Staff attending the camp will be Aggie Gorski, Lauren Cummins, Kristy Sly, Jake McMahon and Jenna Jansen van Rensberg. An information pack has been sent to parents via Operoo.

Year 6 Graduation Meeting

At 8am on Tuesday 30th August, all Year 6 parents are invited to attend a meeting regarding the planning of the graduation celebrations. We require the assistance of the parent group to bring together this special evening for the students. If you are unable to attend, please let your Class Reps know how you may be able to help out. Minutes of the meeting will also be shared with all families. The meeting will be held in the Planning Room at school.

SSV Athletics - Year 3-6

On Thursday 1st September, we have 55 students from Year 3-6 heading off to the District Athletics Carnival at Duncan Mackinnon Reserve. It is awesome to have such a high number of students representing our school at such an event. The students are expected to wear their full sports uniform for this day. Further information has been communicated by Mr Kost via Operoo.

Long Service Leave

I will be taking two weeks' long service leave from Monday 5th September until the end of Term Three. I will be heading to the warmer climate to enjoy some sun. Louisa Di Pietro will be Acting Principal while I am on leave.

Assembly

Assemblies will continue to operate as normal this term, in the hall on Wednesday afternoons. Parents are welcome to attend. At assembly, there will be presentations from classes, student awards, birthday acknowledgements and special announcements.

Wed 25th Aug - Choir

Wed 31st Aug - Year 1

Wed 7th Sept - Year 4

Wed 14th Sept - Year 5

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Kind regards,

Lachie

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