Principal's Message

Dear Families,

A decade of pain and suffering finally came to an end last night, the mighty Blues finally had a round one victory against the Tigers. They looked good too!!

Catholic Education Week

This week we have celebrated Catholic Education Week across the Archdiocese of Melbourne. The theme for Catholic Education Week 2022 is ‘The Way of the Gospel’. This theme is based on Archbishop Peter A Comensoli’s 2021 Pastoral Letter.

There are 335 Catholic primary and secondary schools across Melbourne, enrolling more than 150,000 students and employing approximately 17,000 staff. Catholic schools provide a high-quality education in a faith-centred environment. This annual event is held to promote the special ethos of Catholic schools and to highlight the great things that take place in Catholic schools every day. 

Yesterday, Mrs Rebecca Taylor and I took our School Captains, Isabella & Josh, into St Patrick’s Cathedral for the annual Mass of St Patrick for Schools. Isabella & Josh have reflected on their day and have shared it later in the newsletter.

Sacrament of Reconciliation

Last night we celebrated the Sacrament of Reconciliation with the children from St Christopher’s. It is a very exciting time as this is the first sacrament received since the children were baptised. We wish to congratulate the following children who received the Sacrament of Reconciliation last night: 

Sacrament of First Eucharist

Today we shared a special whole school mass to help Julian Inguanti celebrate his First Eucharist. Julian prepared for First Eucharist with his peers last year, but was unfortunately unable to attend the celebration in early December. It was a wonderful celebration today, with Julian being able to share this special day with the whole school, and his parents and grandparents. Congratulations Julian.

Rapid Antigen Testing in Schools Survey

Important feedback on the rapid antigen testing (RAT) program is being sought from our school community through a short survey that has been developed by the Department of Health.

RATs are helping students and staff to safely return to school and ensure positive cases are identified as quickly as possible. All RATs ordered by the Victorian government for schools are effective in detecting coronavirus (COVID-19) variants, including Omicron.

To help evaluate and improve the roll-out of the program to schools and ensure that staff and students have the required support, a short survey is being sent to parents at a sample of Victorian schools. 

Our school has been selected to complete the survey from Tuesday 15 March 2022. The survey is voluntary and anonymous. Our school will have no access to your individual data or responses. The link to the survey is here:

• Rapid Antigen Testing in Schools Survey - Parent Survey

You are asked to complete the survey by 5.00pm Sunday 20th March 2022.

Giant Easter Egg Hunt

Our Giant Easter Egg Hunt will be on again this year for any 3 & 4 year old children, and our Prep & Year 1 children. This will be held on Tuesday 5th April at 9:30am on the school oval. All of our local Kinders will be invited, but also please feel free to pass this information on to anyone you know who has children aged 3 or 4.

Little Learners is Back for 2022!!!

Our Little Learners Program  will be back again in 2022! This program will run over five weeks in Term 2 and will provide opportunities for all 3 year old and 4 year old Kinder children and their parents to experience school life at Holy Saviour. Each session will run for 40 minutes and focus on a different subject area each week. Please feel free to pass the attached flyer onto any parents of 3 & 4 year old children.

School Tours and 2023 Enrolments 

 Enrolments for Prep 2023 are now open and we encourage all families to submit their applications as soon as possible.  Please book your school tour online on the school website or call Tarnia or Kerry in our front office to book a school tour. 

2022 Flyers

We are looking for walkers who would be happy to take our flyers out to our community. We distribute to ALL kinders and childcare centres but it’s always good that they go into letterboxes as well. Feel free to pick up a few fliers in our office to give to neighbours with young children, Catholic or not, they are welcome to visit. Or email Sherridan, Kerry or myself and we will send some home to you. Thank you to the parents who have already taken a pile to deliver.

Financial Assistance - Information For Parents

Every Victorian child should have access to the world of learning opportunities that exist beyond the classroom. The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) helps ensure that no student will miss out on the opportunity to join their classmates for important, educational and fun activities. It is part of making Victoria the Education State and the Government’s commitment to breaking the link between a student’s background and their outcomes. Families holding a valid means-tested concession card or temporary foster parents are eligible to apply.

For more information about the CSEF,click here. To access an application form for the CSEF,click here.

Catholic Secondary School Enrolment Applications

I take this opportunity to remind parents of children in grade 5, that you must have your Catholic Secondary College application for Year 7, 2024 submitted directly to the college of your choice. It is essential that you have your application submitted by the due date. The following dates will be used by catholic secondary schools for Year 5 students in 2021 who will be enrolling in Year 7 for 2024. These are:

• 28 January 2022 – Applications opened for Year 5 students commencing Year 7 in 2024.
• 19 August 2022 – Applications will close.
• 21 October 2022 – Offers will be posted to prospective Year 7 applicants.
• 11 November 2022 – Final date for parents/carers to accept an offer made by a school.

Final Thoughts ~ Long Service Leave  

I will be taking 4.5 weeks of Long Service Leave (including 2 weeks school holidays) from midday Tuesday 22 March to Friday 22 April.  The first three and a half days I will be attending the Victorian Association Catholic Primary School Principals Conference in Lorne, then together with my wife Nola and children Abbie and Bodhi we will take this opportunity to spend time together traveling through Central Australia in our caravan. This is our third attempt in three years at taking this trip due to Covid and border restrictions.

 I feel blessed to be able to take this time knowing that the school will be in the capable hands of Mrs Jenny Willmott as Acting Principal, who will be strongly supported by the Leadership Team. I look forward to seeing you all when I return in term 2, and sharing with you the many adventures we experienced during our travels.

For many, the Easter break seems so far away, however, the Easter story is at the core of our Catholic faith as a celebration of the ultimate love that God has for us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and it is important to reflect on this Easter message as a family. While enjoying the holiday break that Easter provides, we ask all families to make every effort to attend the Easter services here at Holy Saviour, or if you are away, at your holiday destination. 

On behalf of everyone at Holy Saviour I would like to wish everyone a very safe, happy, holy and relaxing break. For those of you who are travelling, travel well and stay safe. For those of you remaining at home, enjoy the time with your children. 

Kind regards,

Steve Evans

Principal