Principal's News

Dear Parents and Carers,

Last Thursday our entire school celebrated “Harmony Week”. All children attended Mass at St Mary’s Church where Fr Michael celebrated a Mass that held the children’s attention for the full hour. As always their behaviour and attention was first class. Afterwards the children’s class was paired with another class from our school and they enjoyed games from all around the world and some fantastic art activities. To conclude the activities we all posed for some “Drone photos” where we all spelled out the word “Harmony” on our oval.

SCHOOL COUNCIL NEWS Our School Council held their Annual General Meeting last Wednesday. The School Council is a valuable body in our school that provides good counsel and leadership to our community.

The School Council have been involved with our recent Review, policy formation for our school, the decision to borrow money for the current building project and with staff selection.

We bid farewell to the following outgoing members of Council: Leanne Klahsen, Rachel Amos, Zoe Barren, Simone Hay and Ian Seuren. We thank all of these parents for their service to our school. 

Readers will find our outgoing Chairperson, Leanne’s summary report of her time on our council included with today’s newsletter.

We welcome Claire Foley, Tanya Hickey, Anna Melville and Lauren Welsh on to our new Council and look forward very much to working with them for the continual improvement of our school.

We are very grateful to Olivia Dooley who has agreed to take on the role of Chair of our new School Council.

RECONCILIATION CEREMONIES Children that have been preparing for the Sacrament of Reconciliation will be taking part in this ceremony, either this afternoon or evening, on Thursday afternoon or evening or perhaps on Saturday morning. We wish all of these children and their families all the best for the event.

2024 Foundation Enrolments For Siblings

As we are currently accepting enrolment applications, I would encourage current families who have a younger child ready to begin school next year to advise us by completing the Connect Survey on PAM.  The survey is open now and will close at 12pm on 6 April 2023.

I am conscious that this is still quite early in the year and parents may not be certain as to whether a child will start in 2024 or 2025.  My advice is always that there is no rush for children to begin.  Most children turn six during their Foundation year and some may be already six on the first day.

Legally, children must have turned five by April 30th in their Foundation year to be enrolled but this is a minimum and does not reflect the demographics of most Foundation classes.  As always the Kindergarten teachers are excellent resources for parents if they are in any doubt about when their child should start school.  If they express any doubt the wise parent will listen carefully.  This advice is never criticism, some of us just take longer to hit our straps (but we’re worth waiting for!).  Advice to wait is given in the best interests of each individual child.

SCHOOL PHOTOS will be taken this Friday, March 31st. Instructions for how to order photos have been circulated on our newsletter and will be again today. 

Photo day is always a very busy day and the school has very little flexibility when it comes to organising the times when particular photos are taken.