Dear Parents,

It has been a great start to this year for many reasons. We are so thrilled to be getting to a point where we are able to resume many of the events, initiatives and activities that we would normally be wanting to do.

Whilst remaining cautious and with all directives and guidelines continuing, we are now able to resume many aspects of school life with confidence; including:

parent helpers
music lessons
tennis lessons
drama club
assemblies (no parents just as yet)
SRC
choir (Term 2)
running club
excursions and incursions
camps
PA Meetings

We are very grateful to be in this position but at the same time very mindful of those in other parts of the world (both in Australia and overseas) who are experiencing extraordinary hardship through no fault of their own.

Lord God, we ask for you to be with all – for those affected by the terrible floods within our country and especially for the families and children who are suffering as the crisis in Ukraine deteriorates. Lord, for those who are anxious and fearful, for those who are bereaved, injured or who have lost their lives. And for those who have lost loved ones.

We pray for peace.

We pray for calm.

Open Day

This year Open Day for prospective families will take place on Tuesday 15th March (next week).

All day (various time slots)

Bookings via our website.

We invite all prospective parents to our Open Day being held next week to:

- Investigate the great things our students are doing

- Discover the outstanding opportunities our learning environments offer

- Explore the magnificent setting of grounds, buildings and view our students and staff using their work spaces.

Parents Association (PA) Meeting

"Children love to see their parents volunteering in the life of the school and active involvement builds a deeper sense of community."

The PA meets once or twice each term and all parents are welcome to attend. PA meetings provide an opportunity to connect with parents from other classes, and to learn more about the school through updates from the Principal and other members of the Parent's Association. At the meetings we also decide where fundraising money should be directed to best support the school and children.

Our first meeting for the year is next Tuesday 15th March at 7:30 in the library.

All welcome!

Parent Survey (Religious Education)

Catholic schools across Victoria were created through the vision, dedication, hard work and commitment of the whole Catholic community.

Today, schools are challenged to:

articulate their identity and vision
express their distinctiveness as Catholic schools in a society where the Christian faith is increasingly marginalised.

To assist schools in facing these present realities the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria Ltd (CECV) and the Catholic Education Offices of Melbourne, have entered into a research partnership with the Catholic university in Leuven, Belgium (KULeuven) to profile and develop the Catholic identity of Catholic schools.

The Enhancing Catholic School Identity Project will assist schools to understand better how their Catholic Identity is expressed in work and practice and support them in their future development.

Next week, we will provide a link to all St. Cecilia's families inviting them to complete a survey which will assist us with this work.

The purpose of this survey research is to gain meaningful insights into how your son or daughter’s school views its Catholic identity today and how such identity might be shaped for tomorrow. Everyone’s input is important. Your responses are anonymous and your personal data is treated confidentially in accordance with ethical and legal guidelines. Only you will be able to view your individual results and this can be done once you’ve completed the questionnaires.

More detailed information, together with a link will be provided early next week.

Senior Camp

As you may know, back on the 28th Feb. we were scheduled to commence our 2022 Senior Camp. Unfortunately, we had to postpone.

Throughout the days proceeding the camp we reached a point where 30% of our senior students had tested positive with Covid (or were deemed to be a close contact and having to isolate) all within in less than 7 days. With this number being reached in less than a week, it was clearly not appropriate to proceed with the camp. Eventually, at least 13 students were unable to come to the camp at all, or part of the camp combined with at least two other families indicating that their child had symptoms, making this tough decision the right decision. I was in contact with MACS (Melbourne Archdiocese of Catholic Schools) and they very much supported the decision to not proceed.

However, there is some positive news. We commenced talks with Camp Sunnystone looking at various scenarios and they were incredibly compassionate, understanding and positive with this decision. They were able to locate another week that would be available for us that we could simply transfer across to. This would be the week commencing Monday 21st March.

We felt that offering a second chance with potentially everyone just 3 weeks from the initial planned date, sounded like a far more sensible, safe and inclusive option.

We are very much looking forward to a successful senior school camp in just over a week from now.

Thank you so much to all senior families for their continued support and understanding as we navigated this tricky path.

School Disco

Please note that our St Cecilia’s Annual Disco will be held on Friday 1st April in the school hall.

Dress-code: Casual with a touch of FLURO

We will be sending out a flyer next week which includes times and further details.

Safety Reminders

A couple of reminders:

please remember that students should not be onsite before 8:30am unless they are booked into Before School Care
all students riding bikes must walk their bikes through the school grounds
please do not bring footballs or soccer balls from home to play at lunchtimes, as they may not be appropriate balls for use in our play spaces. The school will continue to provide all play equipment for playtimes.

Welcome Mass and Function

As you know, unfortunately our New Families, Foundation & Yr 6 Buddies Mass and Welcome Function which was scheduled back on the 27th February had to be postponed due to a number of COVID-19 cases in our Year 6 level.

We intend to reschedule as soon as possible and will confirm a new date next week.

Have a great long weekend everyone!

Warm regards,

Marty McKenna

Principal

St Cecilia's School Fun Run

4 weeks out...