Dear Parents,

We're Back!

We take great pride and joy in welcoming you to the 2022 academic year. It is so exciting to be part of a community with such great students, parents, and staff once again at St. Cecilia's this year!

After a very challenging 2 years, we believe that in order to continue to be successful, we need to partner with you, the families of our students. We need your support as we ask students to practice reading, writing, and mathematics at home. Throughout the year, we will continue to meet and talk with many of you, as well as to learn about your children and family. If there is anything we can do to help or provide answers to questions you may have, please let us know.

We appreciate your continued support. Thank you for sharing your children with us.

We are honoured to be entrusted with this critical component of their lives. We are very much looking forward to a safe, successful and enriching year with you all.

Covid Update

Once again, free rapid antigen tests have been made available for all students and will be sent home today with each student.

Tests have been provided in packs of five individual tests. 2 tests for this coming week for each child, two tests for the next week and one spare.

Students and staff will do the tests at home; you only need to report your result if it is COVID-positive. You must report a COVID-positive result to:

the school by phone or the VicEd COVID Portal; https://covidtest.educationapps.vic.gov.au/ this is so that we can support students, record that they will be absent while in 7-day isolation, and let the rest of the school community know there has been a positive case onsite and that they should monitor for symptoms. St Cecilia's will treat health information, including an individual’s vaccination status or diagnosed medical condition (including positive COVID-19 test results) in accordance with our schools’ Privacy Policy. COVID-19 diagnoses and vaccination statuses will not be shared or identified.

the Department of Health via the COVID-19 Positive Rapid Antigen Test Self-Reporting Form https://dhvicgovau.powerappsportals.com/rapid-antigen-test/ or call centre on 1800 675 398.

Parents must also report a positive result to their school by phone or written notification; this is so our school can support you, record that your child will be absent while in 7-day isolation, and let the rest of the school community know there has been a positive case onsite (confidentially) and that they should monitor for symptoms.

Staffing Our School

I know many of you will have questions about what happens if your child’s teacher gets COVID-19. While there may be some disruption because of staff absences, we will be able to bring in extra teachers and other staff if we need them, and will be doing everything that we can to make sure our school stays safe and open.

Free Cyber Safety Webinar for Parents

Raising Kids in a Digital World 2022

Date: Thursday 3 March

Time: 7.30pm -online (90min)

Here is the link for parents to register for the webinar:

www.bit.ly/3march2022

This short video will provide some more info about the webinar...

Parents Association

The St. Cecilia’s Parents’ Association is a very active component of our school community. We aim to create an engaging and vibrant hub for all families and to foster a strong and supportive community spirit among the parents of the school, thereby enhancing every student’s sense of belonging. A school that has strong parent, teacher and community engagement creates a nurturing environment and successful learning outcomes for all students.

Primarily we create this environment by providing many fun activities for both the children and parents throughout the year. Icy Pole Afternoons, Welcome Functions at the beginning of the school year, Mothers’ Day and Fathers’ Day breakfasts, Disco Nights, Dress up days, are just a few activities organised for the students to enjoy. Not to mention our Annual School Fair, which is one of the greatest days on our calendar. Various social nights, family days and lunches provide an opportunity for parents to connect and socialise in a relaxed atmosphere.

In order for all of these projects to come to fruition, the Parents’ Association needs the help of the whole school community. Becoming a class representative, lending a helping hand to organise an event, offering your knowledge and expertise in your field of work, supplying goods or services to the school or donating your time in other ways are some of the things parents can do to help.

The Parents' Association is an integral part of the St. Cecilia’s community and therefore all school parents are welcome to attend meetings and join the Committee.

Joining the committee or attending meetings once a term are great ways to be involved in the school community and to meet parents across the various year levels. Most important of all, your children will love seeing that you are helping with the fun things they do, not just their school work!

Along the way, the Parents’ Association also raises funds for the school, and over recent years, we have been able to purchase a variety of items including technology items for the classrooms (chromebooks, Ipads, green screen technology, drones, sphero balls), air conditioning units, a piano, school signage, a sandpit, curtains for the hall, new classroom furniture, just to name a few. Currently we are working towards a Stem Centre / Art Studio which will be housed within our current library space. We are also working towards implementing our Landscape Masterplan which we will be unveiling very shortly. The Parent’s Association has also shown a continued interest in donating money to external charities, from the monies raised from school fundraising events.

The Parents' Association of St. Cecilia’s provides opportunities to the school community to work together in the following areas - Fundraising, Hospitality, Community Spirit and Support.

Fundraising	Fundraising is an important way for St. Cecilia's to raise money so that it can provide a diverse range of quality programs and to provide school improvements. The nature of fundraising events also plays a key role in developing positive community connections with the school.
Hospitality	The Parents Association also provides hospitality for the school's various information and social functions.
Community Care Committee	The Parents Association provides support to families of our community who have experienced the loss or sickness of a family member. We look after our families through difficult times.
New Members Welcome	The Parents’ Association is always looking for new members. If other commitments preclude attending meetings, any offers of support through other means is always welcomed.

Our Meetings

The Parents’ Association provides opportunities for parents to meet and become involved in the school community. All new parents are welcome to come along to the Parents Association Meetings that are held once a term in the school library (usually at 7:30pm). Please check the school Calendar for the scheduled dates.

Next week, we will share a form for any interested parents (new or current) who would like to be involved in 2022. If you have had a role last year (which was essentially non-existent) and you would like to continue on in that role, please include your name on the following form also.

If you would like to find out more, please contact myself or our 2022 Co-Coordinators.

2022 Co-Coordinator: Andrew Maxwell Contact email: andrew.john.maxwell@gmail.com

2022 Co-Coordinator: Chris Knott

Contact email: Christopher.Knott@dwfoxtucker.com.au

2022 Class Reps Needed

We are currently recruiting for our 2022 class reps and still have few year levels to fill. The role of the Class Reps is to arrange social functions for our families, organise volunteers for class activities and encourage families to get involved. Ideally we’d like 2 per year level.

The year levels we still need volunteers for are;

Year 2
Year 3
Year 5

If you would like more information or are willing to volunteer please contact sarahstyring@hotmail.com

Social Media

Our school social media is now up and running! The purpose of these pages is to share with our families and community the great things that are happening at our school.

Next week we will send out a General Permission to Publish and Disclose Information on Facebook and Instagram for parents which asks permission for their child’s images to be used.

I encourage you to take a look, and follow if you would like.

Follow Us on Facebook and Instagram:

@StCeciliasGlenIris

@StCeciliasGlenIris

Library Help

If there are any parents willing and able to offer the occasional hour helping in the library, your assistance would be most appreciated. We always have tasks (such as returning books) that would help with the smooth running of this pivotal space in our school.

If you are interested please contact:

Teresa Galgani tgalgani@scgleniris.catholic.edu.au

School Assemblies

Due to our new 2022 timetable, our weekly Whole School Assemblies will continue to be run at 3:00pm on a Wednesday. We will not resume these until Week 5. So whilst we cannot permit parents to attend these assemblies at this stage, as soon as restrictions are lifted we will be welcoming any available parents to join us at 3pm on a Wednesday for our assemblies in the hall. These will predominantly be facilitated by our Year 6 Leaders. We are currently holding our weekly assemblies online.

Remember...

When we speak about our St. Cecilia school values, we speak of:

Faith

We live faith-filled lives and give thanks daily

Acceptance

We respect and embrace the community

Compassion

We care and do what is right and just

Excellence

We strive for and celebrate every success

Gratitude and Mindfulness

What are three things that went well for you today?

Who are you most grateful for and why?

What are you looking forward to most about tomorrow?

Have a great weekend everyone!

It is so good to have you all back!

Warm regards,

Take care of each other,

Marty

St Cecilia's School Fun Run