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- News from the Acting Principal
- Religious Education News
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander News
- Library News
- School Fees
- School TV
- P & F Term 4 Update
- Pat Conroy MP Christmas Card Competition - Year 3 and 4
- CSO Diverse Learning Mass
- Parish News
- 2024 School Student Travel information for Parents
- What's in Season for Spring - Nutrition Snippet
News from the Acting Principal
Welcome back to a new term! There is a positive, vibrant energy in the school. This makes it a joyful place to come to work. I can’t stop smiling! Mary-Anne is having a fabulous time on Long Service Leave and returns late next week.
Staffing
Ms Rebecca Astorini joins us on Year 4, and Ms Alexa Watson is job sharing Year 6 with me. Last week we completed part of our recruitment process and we have two young, energetic team members joining our permanent teaching staff – Miss Layne Wiseman and Miss Ellie Brownlow.
Our congratulations go to Mrs Stephenson who welcomed another baby boy, Rocco into her family at the end of August. The whole family is smitten with him!
Maintenance & Captial Works
There is a lot of maintenance and capital works scheduled this term. We had the school sprayed for ticks in the holidays, also regular maintenance like gutter cleaning and electrics. Our WIFI system is being upgraded and addressing the concrete cancer ($18k) is all happening this term. Additionally, the Kindergarten breakout space will be completed by the end of the year ($30,664). This will give Infants’ classes an area between the two Infant stairs that can be set up for shaded outside play-based learning on soft fall.
Writing Provocations:
You would have received my alert last week to allay your fears as you dropped off your children that the school was not on fire. Under Mrs Arthur’s direction we setup a writing provocation. We staged a scene to provoke the children’s imagination... and it certainly got them thinking and creating. Some children saw the fire being put out, others could feel the heat from the Mains Electric Panel, others had teachers or students getting up to some high jinx. On Tuesday, the teacher’s, as part of their consistency of teacher judgement, got together and collaborated to mark these pieces of writing. In partnership, we managed to mark approximately 60% of students’ work. The time was interspersed by laughter and lots of “listen to this” - the students certainly entertained us! In our next newsletter I will publish (as promised 2 x Infant pieces of writing and 2 x Primary writing samples) but I will also share with you excerpts from students’ writing across the school. With these pieces of writing, we now identify strengths and areas to improve and work with our children to set goals ahead of our next writing provocation in Week 7. Watch this space!
Basketball and Outside Play
Replacing our broken basketball hoop and backboard has been quite a journey involving discussions with property re-engineering and with companies on what system to install. This has not been easy and we are still only at an interim solution. Portable systems for use in schools range from $ 9 000 - $ 50 000 and are not very portable. We have had a replacement backboard and basketball hoop on back order for some time. It has arrived and we are awaiting Properties to install it this coming week. We are exploring further options for more developed play spaces in the school. Additionally, in Term 2 we purchased approximately $10 000 worth of equipment for lunchtime play. In Term 3 we spent approximately $12 000, at the request of the P & F, on a branded marquee, mats and flags. We will be very identifiable when we attend gala days etc in the future.
Enrolments
With the assistance of the Diocesan Comms teams we are having a major push to increase our 2024 Kinder enrolments. Thanks to everyone for sharing the videos thus far. Aren’t they great! On Friday November 3 we are holding a St Kevin’s showcase to promote what we have to offer here at St Kevin’s. It will involve displays, activities, a sausage sizzle, coffee van, school tours and face painting. We are contacting 9 of our local pre-schools and inviting potential Kinder parents to come along and see our wonderful school. This event is not an Open Day but rather a targeted push to market the school, wherein potential parents can come along and see what is on offer and have a chat. We are also trying to advertise in local businesses. If you are able to assist in anyway, allowing us to advertise in your place of business with a flyer or you know someone who might please contact us 0249 54 0036 OR drop into the office for a chat. All suggestions are very welcome.
God Bless
Kim Hogan
Acting Principal
Faith Life, Catholic Identity and the Liturgical Season
In October, we are reminded that for Catholics, October represents the month of the Most Holy Rosary. By tradition, the Catholic Church dedicates each month of the year to a certain devotion. In 1883, Pope Leo XIII officially dedicated the month of October to the holy rosary, one of the best known of all Catholic devotions. October includes the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on October 7.
Our sacred spaces remain green as we are in Ordinary Time. It will remain this way until the First Sunday of Advent in December.
As a school, we are connected to our Josephite Heritage – established by the Sisters of St Joseph, Father Tennison Woods and St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. This year, to demonstrate visibility of our heritage and Catholic Identity, the staff have moved to re-brand our end of year “MJR” class award to “Excellence in the Josephite Mission”. Built upon the same principles of contribution to Catholic Identity, we have applied our Josephite Charisms (pictured) to the child who receives this award. Like the MJR award, one student from each grade will receive this award in the End of Year Awards ceremony.
Social Justice News
With great thanks to our school community, we have raised close to $1400 for Socktober Catholic Mission initiatives in Timor Leste. Mrs Arthur, school leaders and lucky draw reps attended the Socktober Launch Celebrations at McDonald Jones Stadium last week to launch Catholic Mission Month.
Over the two weeks, our Mini Vinnies will meet each Friday to discuss our preparation for the St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal. More information will be distributed via Compass and through the Newsletters. Our small school community works hard in already challenging financial times to give generously. Thank you so much!
Save the Date
Our Infants cohort will be performing the school Nativity Play on Tuesday 12th December at 2pm. Information will be distributed to the Infants classes around costuming and roles in Week 3.
Parish and Community Events
Our annual Parish All Saints event will be held on Sunday 5th November at 10am. One Mass will be celebrated, followed by a Picnic Lunch on this weekend.
May God’s Spirit be with you and your families each day!
Amy Arthur
Acting Religious Education Coordinator
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander News
Yaama,
Welcome to Term 4. We are all aware that in recent weeks and months there has been so much in the news and on mainstream and social media leading up to the referendum on the Voice. For many First Nations people this has been a very difficult time with so much opinion and commentary circulating, some of it being quite negative and divisive.
As a Catholic school community let's keep everyone in our thoughts and prayers at this time. The journey of reconciliation is ongoing and we know that at St Kevin's we always strive for greater awareness and understanding of all cultures in our community, celebrating diversity and fostering inclusion. Let's also pray for our country and all its people.
As I've often said, I have great faith in our young people who will be our future leaders in this country. They are learning so much about our First Nations peoples and the history of the oldest continuing culture in the world. Whether we are Indigenous or not, we all share in the story of our home and with God's help, together we can shape our story's future for the good of everyone.
We look forward to a great term ahead. Thank you for all your support.
Nginowa
Phil Taylor
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Teacher
Book Club orders are due by 27 October 2023, and this will be the last order for the year. If you are planning on buying gifts for Christmas, please inform us so we can let you know when they are received for you to pick them up.
Last library borrowing will be 23 November, 2023, with all books to be returned by 30 November 2023, so please have a look for any overdue books you may have at home.
Thank you so much to those families who have paid their school fees for 2023 and those who have been making regular payments to extinguish their debt. As the end of the year draws nearer so does the due date to have fees finalised. School Fees must be finalised in full by Thursday 30th November 2023. Please check your fee balances and make any necessary adjustments to your payments to ensure that the amounts will cover your balance.
Any family experiencing genuine financial hardship is strongly encouraged to contact the Principal for a confidential discussion to determine a suitable fee payment arrangment.
Year 6 parents are reminded to check their fees are up to date to ensure a fee clearance for their new high school.
Raising confident and happy children in a modern world can be hard work! Often one of the biggest challenges can be sourcing relevant and reliable information that you can draw on to support their wellbeing.
As such, St Kevin’s is excited to announce that we have recently added an award-winning resource to our school website. The resource, SchoolTV, includes evidenced-based information and practical strategies to build parent, carer and educator knowledge and confidence across a range of mental health and wellbeing topics.
The Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle supported St Kevin’s to add SchoolTV to our website in response to feedback received from parents and carers who said they are seeking greater support in understanding the challenges their children are experiencing, as well as practical strategies for ways they can assist them.
SchoolTV features interviews with leading wellbeing experts and researchers from around the world, on topics including:
- Mental Health (encompassing grief and loss, anxiety, trauma and depression).
- Healthy Bodies (including mindfulness, body image, sleep, eating disorders, diet and nutrition, physical activity and exercise).
- Cyber Safety (encompassing cyberbullying, digital reputation and managing screen time).
- Positive Parenting (including friendship and belonging, blended families, resilience and positive parenting).
- School Survival (encompassing school refusal and school transitions).
These topics are presented in a variety of ways including videos, factsheets, podcasts and SchoolTV also includes recommendations for additional resources including books, apps and other websites.
SchoolTV launched on Monday 16 October, 2023 with resources in the following areas:
- Anxiety
- Sleep
- Mindfulness
- Positive parenting
- Blended families
- Resilience
- Friendship & belonging
- Dealing with disappointment
- Wellbeing checklist for primary
While we will continue to host parent and carer information events as a school, one of the many benefits of SchoolTV is that you can watch it pre-emptively or as the need arises, from the convenience of your own home, either by yourself or, as a family.
From time to time, we may also promote key topics contained in SchoolTV for families either through Compass or our newsletter, when they coincide with student learning and/or matters arising in our school community.
Importantly, SchoolTV complements initiatives already underway in our school including our Student Wellbeing and Pastoral Care Policy and the “Wellbeing Together” Student Learning and Wellbeing Framework.
Our staff are familiar with SchoolTV, and as such, I am confident that this shared knowledge between staff and parents will assist us all in partnering together to better support children and young people’s learning, safety, mental health and wellbeing.
If you have any questions about SchoolTV, or the topics contained within the site, please get in touch with the staff listed on the site by calling the office on 4954 0036
Visit our SchoolTV site here: https://cardiff.catholic.edu.au and select the PARENTS AS PARTNERS tab or go directly to https://cardiff.catholic.schooltv.me/
St Kevin's P&F are requesting donations for our upcoming Christmas raffle, from local businesses and our school community, to help make our school Christmas raffle a success.
We would greatly appreciate any donation you can contribute; perhaps you own a business and could donate a voucher or gift pack or perhaps you are happy to purchase a gift to donate (box of chocolates, bottle of wine, case of beer or a hamper) and assist us in raising funds for our annual book subscription to stock the children’s library.
The Christmas Raffle will be drawn 12th December, with tickets going on sale via QKR later this term.
Many thanks for your support, St Kevin's P&F.
Pat Conroy MP Christmas Card Competition - Year 3 and 4
Students from Years 3 & 4 are invited to submit a design for the Pat Conroy MP Christmas Card Competition. All entries MUST be received at the school office by 9AM Friday 27 October 2023 to enable sufficient time for postage via Australia Post. (late entries cannot be accepted). The winning artist will receive books to their choosing to the value of $50 and the winning school will receive books of their choosing to the value of $100. Hint: they prefer bright, colourful pictures with coloured background. No lead pencil if possible.
Exuberant Catholic Praise & Worship Group
All are invited to participate in our next planning meeting as we explore the thrilling potential of these upcoming events. We warmly welcome passionate musicians and vocalists to be part of our enthusiastic ensemble.
Wednesday 25th October: 5:30-7:00pm
All ages are welcome. Refreshments provided.
Function Room, MacKillop Parish Pastoral Centre
7 Milson Street, Charlestown.
Phone 0466 140 066 for any inquires.