Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back for our second week of Term 2. As you know Tom is away on Long Service Leave and will be returning on Monday 8th May. Wishing Tom and his family a safe and wonderful break.

As you know, Term 2 is a nine-week term and it is important that we ask all families to regularly review and read our newsletters as there are always lots of information, activities and dates for upcoming events which are vital for our parent community to be aware of.

EVENTS HAPPENING THIS WEEK!!!

Throughout this week and future weeks, we have some ex-students of St Simon the Apostle returning for a week to complete their Work Experience requirement. These students are from various neighbouring Secondary Colleges and we are delighted to be able to help them achieve their certificate. Wishing them all the best!!

As a consequence of Covid, a lot of programs were on hold, and I am excited to announce that we are once again partnering with St Joseph’s Secondary College in their Lighthouse Program. This Program is based on developing Leadership skills, literacy skills, team skills as well as building relationships with one another in order to work on a project determined collectively by all members. I will share their journey with you as it unfolds.

Looking to provide our Senior students with greater opportunities to boost student agency and leadership I applied to Meg’s Global Citizenship Student Ambassador Program which is funded by the Victorian Department of Education and implemented by Meg Languages. I am happy to announce that we were accepted into the Program and have created a team of one representative from each of our Student Action Teams plus myself. We will be in discussion to finalise our project and the impact it has on our school, community and beyond. Please stay tuned for regular updates.

School Tours are continuing to happen this week with interested families looking to enrol their child or children into St Simon the Apostle for 2024 and beyond.

This is a reminder that families with a child starting in Prep in 2024 must fill out an enrolment form as soon as possible. This will assist with our planning and organisation for the 2024 school year.

This year we have transitioned to a digital enrolment form workflow, which can be accessed by clicking here or visiting the school website by clicking Apply Now. All supporting documentation, including birth and immunisation records, can be uploaded through this new workflow. If you have any questions, please get in touch with the school office.

Our St Simon’s Parents and Friends Association monthly Meeting is being held on Wednesday 3rd May at school commencing at 7pm.

Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) is travelling really well as we are in our 1st year of implementation across the school. Please talk to your children about PBL and ask them to share their knowledge of the Expectations, and examples of how they follow PBL at school. We will be unpacking it more and more as a whole school as the year unfolds. Please come and view our board after the assembly as you will see more and more faces of students carrying out the school expectations of PBL.

Cross Country Dates: Monday 1st May - at School 7:30am – 8:30am

Wednesday 3rd May - at Jells Park 7:30am – 8:30am

Our students and staff are attending District Cross Country on Friday 5th May from 9am – 1pm. Wishing all our students best of luck for the day.

Please come along to our fortnightly School Assembly on Friday 5th May at 2:30pm in our School Hall. The following dates for assemblies this term are as follows: 19th May, 2nd June and 16th June. It’s an opportunity for you to hear all the news about events that have happened or are about to happen. You will hear more about our PBL Framework and its impact in school and be present for the drawing of our PBL students for the fortnight. You will see our Year 6 student leaders in action as they work as a team to lead our School Assembly.

I have very exciting news for our Year 6 Action Team Leaders and our SRC Leaders this week. Our new St Simon the Apostle Leadership Badges have arrived and both groups will be receiving them this week. Please note all leaders must be extremely careful with these badges as it will be a cost to receive a replacement.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Inform and Empower Parent Session - a must for all families. Wednesday 10th May at 7PM

YOU COULD WIN AN IPAD!

Register Now for this important and vital information session about your children's well-being and safety in the digital world.

As you know all our children in some shape or form have a connection with our current digital world whether watching or using digital technology. This is a great opportunity for you as parents and carers to hear from two very experienced presenters about the impact our ever-changing digital world has on our children’s wellbeing and safety.

It would be amazing if we could get a representative from every family of the school in attendance on the night for such an important topic which affects all of us.

AN AMAZING PRIZE TO WIN!!!

Every family who attends this session will be given one raffle ticket which will be entered into a draw to have a chance of winning an Apple iPad 9th Generation. The raffle will be drawn on the night, and the winner must be in attendance on the night to receive their prize.

To assist families to attend, we are offering a supervised kids' movie session in an adjacent classroom at the same time as the Parent Information session. St Simon's staff will run this movie session and is only available for primary aged students (No pre-schoolers, toddlers or babies please).

Looking forward to seeing all of you there for an amazing night!!!.

How to register for this amazing session?

Step One: Register for the Session by clicking here

Step Two: If you would like to use the primary-aged movie session as a way to allow you to attend, please click here to register.

Step Three: Arrive at the session on Wednesday 10th May 7pm to get your chance to win an iPad!

Sacramental Dates

All dates for our Sacraments of Reconciliation, First Holy Communion and Confirmation have been set and finalised and all families have been notified via Operoo. Please refer to the RE section of the Newsletter for all Sacramental Dates.

In order for a child to be enrolled for a Sacrament, permission needs to be granted by the parent via the Operoo form sent out. If you have not yet completed the Operoo form, please do so asap as numbers are being finalised. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me via the school office.

Reconciliation Parent Information Night is quickly approaching on Wednesday 10th May at 6pm in our church. Look forward to seeing all our families who have children receiving their Sacrament of Reconciliation this year.

School Closure Day - Monday 22nd May

Please note that Monday, 22nd May, will be a school closure day to allow staff to continue the planning and implementation of our Positive Behaviour for Learning Framework. As well as PBL, staff will be involved in updating their CPR and Management of Anaphylaxis qualifications.

Beyond Edu Care will have a pupil-free care program available to families who require care of their children on this day.

Camp Days (Prep, Year 1, Year 2)

Our Junior School will be experiencing their very own ‘Camp Day’ next week on Tuesday 9th May. You will be receiving information shortly you’re your child’s teacher outlining the details of the day. It is sure to be an experience your children will thoroughly enjoy.

Athletics Day (Years 3, 4, 5 and 6)

Our Middle and Senior Levels will be attending Bill Stewart Athletics Track in Burwood East on Tuesday 9th May from 9am – 2:30pm for our School Athletics Day. They will be involved in a variety of track and field events. Parents are most welcome to come along and support the students in their activities. Look forward to seeing you there.

Family Week: This year's theme: 'Circle of Inclusion' - Monday 15th May to Friday 19th May

Week 4 this Term is ‘Family Week’ which is held each year from the 15th May to the 19th May and to coincide with the International Day of Families. During this week it is a good time to celebrate and reflect on the strengths and significance of families, make contact with extended family and friends and share in the enjoyment of family activities. It is the time to celebrate the meaning of family and to make the most of family life, no matter what form your family takes. Every family is different, unique and very special. Through school our students will be learning about family and who is in their family, why is their family special to them, how do they celebrate being a family, etc. As a school it gives us an opportunity to truly get to know all the different families we have here at St Simon the Apostle and celebrate this. Family Week is a perfect time to come together to celebrate the power of family relationships in all their diversities and the importance they play in our lives and community. Catholic Care Victoria presenters will be visiting our School on Monday 15th May to share with all levels about Catholic Care, what their role is and the importance of family.

This year Mother’s Day falls on Sunday 14th May and our amazing Parent’s and Friends Association will be holding a Mother’s Day Stall on Thursday 11th May in the Atrium for our students to come along and purchase gifts to give to their mum on Mother’s Day. There will be a variety of gifts for sale for students to purchase from.

Our Year 6 students who are our seniors in the school will be having a Leadership Day on Friday the 12th May. An organisation called Unleashing Personal Potential (UPP) will be visiting the school and working with our Year 6 students to promote relationship building, self-esteem, team building, building positive mindsets, etc. This group have worked with our senior students over many years and the results for our students have been very positive in building their leadership potential. The day will commence at 8:30am and all activities conclude at 1:15pm. They will need to come to school in their sports uniform.

God bless,

Hedy Carvalho

Deputy Principal

Our Secondary Schools

Rowville Secondary College