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Dear Parent and Friends of St Kevin’s,
Term 1 is quickly coming to an end. We are incredibly grateful that as a learning community Covid has not impacted too much on our day-to-day business – teaching and learning. Occasionally classes have had to be split because of teacher absences and the unavailability of casual teachers, and some classes may have had several different teachers due to staff needing to isolate. However, the resilience of our students and teachers is to be commended, as everyone stepped up to the mark and did what they had to on any given day. This is why St Kevin’s is such a fantastic community – when the going gets tough, the tough get going.
So let’s look forward to learning more in Term 2 and continue to support and assist each other in everything we do.
Cheers and have a great holiday.
Mary-Anne Jennings
Principal
COVID Update
We are still required to be COVID safe in all school activities and events. As we have a number of cases in our school community and next week with the number of various Liturgies and Easter celebrations, we ask the following to keep us all safe:
- Wearing a mask is highly recommended when you come to a Liturgy or the Easter Hat parade.
- Use hand sanitiser that is provided as you enter the school.
- Please be aware and socially distance where possible.
That way the 2 weeks holidays should be enjoyed by all.
Winter Uniforms
These are not required for the beginning of Term 2 as it is often still quite warm in April. Winter uniforms are not required till Week 5 Term 2 ( May 23).
Sports jackets
Some students are wearing their sports jackets every day. Sports jackets can only be worn on sports days. Regular navy jumpers are worn with regular uniforms.
Sports joggers
Joggers worn on sports days are to be white. Please ensure your child complies with this request.
SMART Watches
Some students are wearing SMART watches to school. These come under the same rules as mobile phones. They are not to be used at school for any other purpose than to tell the time. They are not to be used for communication, or anything else that mobile data can access. If students are found to be using their SMART watches inappropriately, they will be asked to take them off and put them in at the office till the end of the day.
Volunteers
I have received 2 notifications of clearance to volunteer from the Diocese following the completion of the Volunteer Registration and Police check via our School Website. If you would still like to volunteer at the canteen or with reading groups or with the uniform shop, please ensure you complete this form ASAP. We currently only have 4 people cleared and willing to do canteen, which isn’t enough to have an operational canteen.
NAPLAN Practice Tests
On Wednesday this week, Years 3 and 5 completed NAPLAN Practice Tests. These practice tests help to familarise students and staff with the online testing environment. Thank you to Mrs Stretton for the organisation of the practice tests and Mr Vaughan and Mrs Sinclair for assisting with the testing. The official NAPLAN testing starts on Tuesday 10 May. Consent forms for disability adjustments for NAPLAN have been sent home and we ask that you return these as a priority. There is no need to study for NAPLAN. Parents/carers often stress about their child “doing well” in NAPLAN, but remember, it is only one of many assessments that children complete across the school year.
Easter Hat Parade
Wednesday 1:30pm. Hats made at home and brought to school Wednesday morning. The Easter raffle will be held at 2pm following the hat parade. All Parents and grandparents welcome.
School X-Country
Due to wet weather our x-country has been postponed till Tuesday next week. Hopefully the wind and less rain will assist us with a drier course to run! We will start at 12 noon.
News from the Assistant Principal
Okay, so hopefully your children are keeping you informed about their life at school and what has been happening in their classrooms. So let me catch you up on what has been happening with staff and curriculum as we lead into student holidays and the holiest time of the year.
Firstly, all classrooms are deeply engaged in Lenten /Easter units of work and preparing for our Holy Week liturgies in “not” Holy Week, next week,? but how else do we assist you in that critical faith development of your child(ren) if we don’t manipulate the timeline a little. Thanks to Mrs Boudan, we have some poignant liturgies to recall this most holy time of the year.
Throughout the diocese schools are in various stages of their implementation and embedding of “Clarity”. This body of work by Lyn Sharratt incorporates 14 parameters that should influence best practice in schools. Next week the Executive and Mrs Stretton ( our GEM, in more ways than one) have 2 days online with Lyn. Parameters 1 and 14 state that all staff have a shared responsibility and accountability for all of the students. This is vitally important as what happens in Kindergarten impacts on how students perform in Year 6 and even Year 12 ( and every grade in between as do all grades!). Critical thinking, communication skills, creativity, problem solving, perseverance. collaboration, information literacy, technology skills and digital literacy have to be deeply embedded in every classroom.
Yesterday, in our PLC (Professional Learning Community) staff were engaged in assessing students writing samples. Primary and Infant teachers worked together to analyse and evaluate student writing against the National Literacy Progressions. Students were benchmarked in Creating Texts, Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar. This was then recorded using Plan 2 – a department online assessment platform to measure student growth in literacy and numeracy. This collaborative process not only tells us where students are at but assists in student goal setting and planning learning in order to build on students’ writing skills so as to maximise growth.
I am looking forward to seeing many faces next week at our Easter events.
God Bless
Kim Hogan
Assistant Principal
As you know, the Diocesan theme this year is Fully Alive!
So far, we have looked at the themes being Created and Known by God, Being in and Building Relationships and Growing in Commitment. Our final of the four themes for Fully Alive is Living Within the World.
When you get a moment of quiet this week, you may like to take some time to contemplate the following reflection;
Our theme, Fully Alive, reminds us of the invitation given to each one of us to see the holy in ourselves, in others, and in our world: to see as God does. Pope Francis in his exhortation Rejoice and Be Glad (2018) says this of Jesus:“ He gives us two faces, or better yet, one alone: the face of God reflected in so many other faces.
For in every one of our brothers and sisters, especially the least, the most vulnerable, the defenceless and those in need, God’s very image is found. Indeed, with the scraps of this frail humanity, the Lord will shape his work of art.” (n.61). We pray today that we may recognise that each of us is truly God’s work of art. This is true for everyone; nobody is excluded from God’s love, joy, care, and welcome.
God is with us and for us. Being fully alive in our lives requires attentiveness, love, growth, as well as celebrating our unique gifts. In addition, we must bring the best of who we are and do what we can do in service for our Church, school community and our world. As Pope Francis expressed in his address at World Youth Day in 2016: “That is the secret, dear friends, and all of us are called to share in it. God expects something from you. God wants something from you. God hopes in you. God comes to break down all our fences. He comes to open the doors of our lives, our dreams, our ways of seeing things. God comes to break open everything that keeps you closed in. He is encouraging you to dream. He wants to make you see that, with you, the world can be different. For the fact is, unless you offer the best of yourselves, the world will never be different.” Every day, we are called to experience a down-to-earth holiness that challenges us to be who God created us to be, and to help others do the same.
How will you make the world different this week?
St. Joseph’s Day
Our St. Joseph’s Day celebrations were fabulous and enjoyed immensely by all the students. We began the day with a liturgy lead by our wonderful Year 2 students.
The pizza lunch was delicious!
I have no doubt the children shared stories of the fun they had participating in St. Joseph-inspired activities for the afternoon.
Since St Joseph was a carpenter, we tried our hand at creative building in the library with paddle pop sticks, toothpicks and playdoh. The creativity was amazing, St. Kevin’s certainly has some future engineers in their midst!
On the bottom playground we had tool (plastic, of course!) relay races There were lots of laughs at this event!
The children then moved to the hall where there were a variety of options for building including blocks and Lego.
One of the most special stations of the day came next, collaborative painting. Every child in the school contributed to our paintings, adding their colourful fingerprints to a cross and adding their brush strokes to an image of St. Joseph with Mary and baby Jesus. These paintings will be proudly on display in our hall, make sure you check them out when you are able to join us next!
Finally, the children took part in running races inspired by St. Joseph as the earthly dad he was to Jesus. The team spirit at this activity was inspirational as the children cheered each other on as they wrapped a baby doll in a blanket and carefully ran through obstacles carrying the baby, until reaching a manger in which to carefully place ‘baby Jesus’.
Overall, it was a wonderful day with the children deepening their knowledge of St. Joseph who is particularly important to our school. We were founded by the sisters of St. Joseph and we hold the Jospehite Pillars close to our hearts...more on these pillars next term! I think the children are already looking forward to St. Joseph’s Day 2023!
Wellbeing Together Framework Launch
Last week I had the privilege of attending the launch of the Wellbeing Together Framework at St. Pius X high school, along with our school captains; Mackenzie Nicholas and Charlie Wood. Mackenzie and Charlie were wonderful in their representation of our beautiful school, and they showed great maturity and exemplary manners during the service.
The Wellbeing Framework is the culmination of 2 years of research and development by a team of people across the Diocese.
Student Voice was of the utmost importance along the journey and has resulted in a student-centred framework with 3 focus areas: I feel (safe, supported & included), I am (creative, connected and engaged) and I can (learn, lead and thrive). It is broadly acknowledged that wellbeing and learning go hand in hand; we cannot learn unless we are in a state of wellbeing and we can’t have wellbeing without learning. At St. Kevin’s, we will be considering these elements in our planning of wellbeing activities and within all our school processes and planning as the year progresses.
Holy Week
Holy Week is the most special part of our Catholic Church’s year. During Holy week we remember when Jesus rode into town, hailed as a King by the people on Palm Sunday. We will celebrate Palm Sunday with a whole school liturgy led by Kindergarten, Year One and Year Two on Monday 4th April at 9.15am. We’d love you to join us if you are able!
Only a matter of days later, the people turned on Jesus and He knew death was imminent. On Holy Thursday, we remember when Jesus showed us how to treat others by washing the feet of His disciples. At the Last Supper, Jesus also broke bread and shared wine with His friends, giving us the words we still use today ‘do this in memory of me.’ Good Friday, our saddest day in the Church’s calendar, is the day Jesus was put to death on the cross. Holy Thursday and Good Friday will be acknowledged with a special whole school liturgy on our last day of school – Friday 8th April at 1.30pm. All welcome to join us.
During the school holidays, we will celebrate Easter Sunday, when Jesus rose from the dead and came back to life to lead the disciples in their mission. Upon returning to school, the children will experience this beautiful event through a liturgy hosted by Year 5/6 on Friday 29th April at 2pm.
Advance notice for your calendar (check School Website events calendar)
ANZAC Day – The children will gather for a prayer service lead by Year 3 at 10.40am on our first day back at school next term – Wednesday 27th April.
Mother's Day is going to be here before we know it! Please pop our Mother's Day event in your calendar – 1pm Friday 6th April. Kindergarten will lead us in a beautiful liturgy which will be followed by a High Tea at 1.30pm. All are welcome to join us!
May God’s Spirit be with you all each day and may you all have a blessed Term 1 holiday with your families.
Mrs Jasmina Boudan
Religious Education Coordinator
Yaama Ngindaay
Thank you for supporting our celebration of cultural diversity during Harmony Week. Children enjoyed learning about all the different nationalities and backgrounds of people at St Kevin’s and the contribution each group has made to our multicultural society.
Here are some thoughts on the importance of Harmony Day written by one of the students.
Harmony Day is when we come together to embrace our differences and cultures. You can learn about traditions, rituals, beliefs, religions.
In my culture, Polynesian/Samoan, our traditions include the uncles and boys doing the haka for special events or sad events.
Learning about cultures is fun and interesting. You can learn how to say hi or bye. Kie’ora is hello/hi in the Maori language (on my dad’s side).
Cultures are 100% important, especially yours. You definitely need to know about your ancestors. You should always be proud of them and your culture.
(Ava, Year 5)
A Good Sign of The Times
If you’ve watched major Australian sporting events in the last couple of years you will have noticed stronger recognition of Indigenous culture. Indigenous rounds in football, Welcome to Country before the National Anthem, Indigenous artwork on sports clothing the players wear.
Also, on some TV stations, acknowledgement of the traditional names of Country and expression of respect to Elders is mentioned at the top of programs. All of this and more helps to promote awareness and respect of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their connection to Country. It is great that this is happening, and I think we will see more of this as Australians together learn about our history and re-imagine our future.
Yaluu ngali ngamilay
Phil Taylor
Aboriginal Education Teacher
PRC Update
CONGRATULATIONS to the 13 students from St. Kevin’s who have completed Premier’s Reading Challenge for 2022.
Congratulations to:
Arabella, Poppy, Lucas, Rafael, Tulya, Mackenzie, Ava and Jordy
This means that they can continue to read for enjoyment and look forward to receiving her certificate later in the year. Well done and keep up the fantastic reading.
There has been some fantastic reading this term. For the children that are powering along, please consider reading some novels. Infants children can be read novels by parents and grandparents and this will improve their comprehension.
During the holidays you could also visit our public libraries and use Sora app to borrow some amazing PRC titles.
Happy Reading!
Mouse practise
Infants children have been using ABCYA and Dress for the Weather to improve their mouse skills. The links are below if you have time to help them at home.
https://www.abcya.com/games/recycling_game
https://www.abcya.com/games/dress_for_the_weather
Primary students - mouse skills
Please encourage your child to use the Trackpad on a laptop as it’s important to be able to use an external mouse as well as the trackpad.
Typing Practise during the holidays
Please remind your child to practise typing when they have a spare 10 minutes. Please watch they are using the correct fingers.
Kinder and Year 1
Keyboard Climber Version 1 https://games.forkids.education/keyboard-climber-1st-version/
OR Typing Club https://www.typingclub.com/
Year 2 and Primary classes – Typing.com
https://www.typing.com/student/login
Happy holidays!
Many thanks
Dianne Binkin
Teacher Librarian
School Fee Payments
Thank you to all our parents for returning your School Fee Info forms so promptly for 2023. Fee statements have now been emailed the first week of March for this year’s annual school fees.
For those families that have used Bpay to pay their fees in the past please continue to do so, just check your Biller code and Ref number before processing your payment. Other families that prefer direct debit through the CDF have all been contacted either at the end of 2021 or recently with payment schedules or adjustments. If I have missed you or you had a question please reach out either by email kim.ragen@mn.catholic.edu.au or call the school office on Monday – Wednesday. For those paying by term or in one payment please either do this using Bpay or over the phone with eftpos. There are issues with the Compass pay option and the Diocese are discouraging using it at the moment.
If you have any concerns or queries don’t hesitate to call.
Kim Ragen
School Officer