Dear family and friends,

I hope the Long Weekend provided a reset to a busy beginning of the year for many. The sun certainly helped the reset.

Week 8 has arrived quickly. Thank you to all of the parents who have attended our parent helper information session - this is now a regulation for all schools to provide, these sessions explain the need for Working with Children checks and the reference collection process. All these procedures are to ensure our school remains vigilant and conscious of the need for child safe practices and processes. We now have nearly 30 parents on our list for help/support - that is a huge number - thank you.

Birthdays

We have been exploring ‘birthdays’ and the way we feel special on our birthdays. An idea has come about that we love - on your birthday - wear what you like. As long as it’s appropriate to learn in - you might choose to wear your uniform, or casual dress or even a dress up for the day. Everyone will know it's your special day. If your birthday has been already - choose a day this term to wear what you like. If your day is on the weekend - wear casual on the following Monday.

Sports

Congratulations to all of our interschool sports participants - you have shown great sportsmanship and energy each week. It has been lovely to hear the feedback from your actions. You have ALSO shown resilience and flexibility - especially when the buses forgot to pick you up. Keep up the great work.

In the coming weeks we will celebrate St Patrick, Harmony Day and the end of term. Our end of term will include a coin - snail trail for CARITAS, house groupings for basket making (Easter), sports activities and an egg hunt. This Friday our School Leaders will attend St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne with Laura Merrick. After the celebration of mass, all children will be invited to join in some activities organised by Catholic Education Melbourne to mark Catholic Education Week.

Lent

We are now in the season of Lent, a time for self-reflection, prayer, and thinking of how we can help those less fortunate than us. We are supporting the Caritas Project Compassion Campaign which strives to raise much-needed funds to help alleviate poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity in the most vulnerable and marginalised communities in the world. Each class has a Project Compassion Box in the classroom and there is one placed at our office. We encourage our family and our children to bring their small change and gold coins to place in their boxes so as a school we can show we care for those less fortunate than ourselves. Our coins will form a snail trail on the last day and any coins collected on the day will join our caritas coin snail trail.

School Fees

A reminder to ensure fees are up to date or payment schedules have been organised with Louise. The first instalment is now overdue. The school's preference for payment is either direct debit or bank transfer payments. If you need assistance or would like to discuss your payment plan please chat with Louise in our office or email accounts@ssreservoireast.catholic.edu.au . Families who have a Health Care Card are eligible to apply for a Concessional Fee Program. In order to apply for this you must make an appointment to see me as soon as possible. If you have previously been approved for concessional fees, payments must be made in instalments or paid in full. As this might affect your application for 2023.

Leave

We have been very lucky with staffing. Our neighbouring schools are struggling to find teachers daily, however we have been able to move teachers within our staffing to cover any illness. We feel blessed to have this option. Our approach of having 2 teachers per hub ensures there is always continuity and consistency.

Throughout the year we have staff taking time (mostly left from our lockdown times and cancelled trips) We will keep you as informed as possible of this leave.

Angelique will be taking some time away in June with her family - Tessa and Michelle will be with children during this time.

Gemma will be on Sick leave in Mid - May for a few weeks and Long Service Leave in Term 3 - Jarryd Bradford and Laura Merrick will be acting Principal during this time.

For all of our Irish families - enjoy the festivities of St Patrick's Feast day tomorrow,

Gemma

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