Our theme for this year is

STEP UP! BE MORE!

Dear Parents,

We are really hoping that primary schools will be back to school on Thursday. This snap lock down was a bit of a surprise, but let's hope it is only 5 days long as announced. Please feel free to use the suggested activities that were sent home over the weekend for the first three days this week. If lock down goes on longer than 5 days we will send home a more formal learning program for the children to follow.

We had a fantastic SWELL (Student Wellbeing) Day on Monday and took some time to learn about life with Tourettes Syndrome as well as work on our school theme for the year and develop our skills in mindfulness, meditation, being active, team building and co-operation. Thanks to Bianca our Wellbeing Leader for organising a wonderful day.

An enormous thanks must go to Con, Eva and their children Paris and James who did an amazing job of catering for our "Take Two", 2020 Graduation Dinner for our our 2020 Year 6 children AND their families. We had a lovely informal evening in the church gathering space (thanks to Fr Gerry for letting us use that space) with a yummy 2 course dinner prepared, cooked and served by the Tomazos family. It was great to see all the year 6s from last year and their families and catch up on how the year has begun in their new schools.

It was great to be able to have our beginning of the year goal setting interviews in person last week but it was also good to know that we can still use Google Meets for those unable to attend. We did have a mixture of online and face to face meetings and will continue to offer both ways of meeting in the future.

Don't forget to get your order in for our Bakers Delight lunch that is coming up.

Please remember to ensure your children do not arrive at school prior to 8.45 a.m. in the morning if they are getting themselves to school and please do not drop your children at school prior to 8.45 a.m. and leave. Staff are on duty at the front gates in the morning from 8.45 a.m. onwards. When the music starts at 8.45 a.m. you know it is safe to leave. Thanks for helping u to keep your children safe.

SCHOOL CLOSURE DAY REMINDER: WEDNESDAY 24TH FEBRUARY.

We will be having a school closure day on Wednesday 24th February as the St Kevin's Staff will be working with the CEM staff to develop our implementation plan for 2021.

Our out of school hours care providers - YLV will be running a program for the day. If you need care for your child that day please feel free to contact YLV and book him/her in.

PARISH LIFE AFTER FR GERRY'S RETIREMENT:

I think most people would now be aware that Fr Gerry is retiring at the end of May. We had a wonderful parish meeting on Wednesday night and a repeat of the meeting on Thursday morning where all parishioners and school families were invited to come along and share their opinion about what our parish will look like once Fr Gerry has gone. I have to say an enormous thank-you to the amazing families and staff who attended these meetings. I was truly blown away by how many of you were there, which is a wonderful testament to how much you care about our parish and the ongoing flourishing of our community.

There is a very important meeting coming up with Fr Joe Caddy - the Vicar General, on Wednesday 24th February at St Kevin's church. Again it is very important that we see as many of our school families at that meeting as we can, so we can let the Vicar General know exactly what we want and need to ensure our community continues to flourish and is not simply consumed into another neighbouring parish with no identity of our own. We want him to be able to share our well considered proposal with the Arch Bishop and speak positively on our behalf. For him to do this, we need as many people as possible to attend this meeting, so he can see how important it is to so many of us to be able to have a parish community that maintains its own strong St Kevin's identity and life. If you weren't able to get to last week's meetings and would like to know more about the proposal that will be presented to the Vicar General please give me a call and I can explain it to you.

BUNNINGS BBQ HELPERS:

A note went home asking for helpers for our annual Bunnings BBQ Fundraiser. We apologise that the date is the middle of the long weekend but unfortunately we do not get a choice with the date and if we did not take it we may have run the risk of missing out this year. We are hoping there are 20 people in our community who are not going away over the long weekend who would be able to put their name down for a 2 hour shift on the 7th of March to help us make the day a great success.

COVID REMINDERS:

You are very welcome to come into the office and direct all inquiries/messages to Robyn, but please do not enter the learning spaces.
Please wear a mask when coming into the office
Please ensure you and your children stay home if unwell and get tested
Continue to practise good hand hygiene

SACRAMENT INFORMATION:

We have now been able to finalise most of our dates for our 2020 and 2021 Sacraments that will all happen this year. We are just awaiting the confirmation of our Confirmation date (LOL) and will send out a list of all the dates to all families with a child making a sacrament this year or who should have made a sacrament last year. Please see the R.E. section of the newsletter for the date for our Sacrament Information night for all families with a child making a sacrament this year whether they are from 2020 or 2021.

PLAY THERAPY AT ST KEVIN'S:

We now have a play therapist working onsite two days per week - Thursday and Friday. Laura is a highly qualified and experienced play therapist who began work with us in 2020. Play Therapy can help children and families address a range of issues, including; difficulties with friendships or managing big emotions, challenges with transitions and settling back into school, making sense of changes, increasing confidence and building self-esteem, strengthening parent-child and sibling relationships, managing anxiety and depression and healing from traumatic experiences. If you think your child/family could benefit from Laura's services please feel free to contact her on: 0402 961 826.

WELCOME BBQ: POSTPONED

We have decided to postpone our Welcome BBQ that was due to be held on Thursday evening, 18th February. It would seem a little irresponsible to hold a large gathering after a 5 day lockdown. We may very well not be allowed to hold it anyway, so we thought it best to make the decision now, to call it off.

SCHOOL MARKETING:

As part of our marketing campaign this year we are asking all of our families to do a flyer drop in their street, advertising our school and our open days for the year. If you live in the same street as another of our families perhaps you could do a different street nearby to your house. I will be marking a map so we know which streets have had flyers delivered to them so we don't double up. We don't mind how far and wide the flyers are delivered - the more people that know about us the better. We have so many people, even in our own community that say "We didn't know there was a school there", so we want to spread the word that we are here and ready for a great intake of students in 2022. PLEASE HELP US!

Send me an email or quick phone call to let me know the street you can deliver in and roughly how many flyers you need and I will send them home with your child.

Thanks in advance for helping us to promote the school and grow our numbers in 2022.

CONGRATULATIONS:

Congratulations to former St Kevin's student Paris, (daughter of Mr. Con and Mrs Tomazos) who was DUX at Sion College for Legal Studies and Business Management with an overall ATAR of 95.70.

She will be studying Psychology (Honours) at Deakin University.

STUDENT ABSENCE REQUIREMENTS

MAJOR ROAD WORKS IN OUR AREA:

I was contacted earlier in the week by the project manager of a company that is doing major roadworks in the area. These road works are an ongoing 3 year project and will cause disruption to traffic flow around the area. I will get updates from the company from time to time and share them with you in our newsletter so that you know what is happening and what areas to avoid. Please check the community news section of our newsletter for further updates.

2022 ENROLMENTS:

If you are aware of anyone who has a child starting prep in 2022 please encourage them to contact us for an enrolment pack. If you have a child starting school in 2022 - feel free to access the enrolment form on our website or by accessing the link below.

Kindest regards

Frances Matisi

Principal

Social Justice News

Our lovely indigenous garden has been given a new name.

Welcome to Amaroo (lovely/beautiful place).