Dear Parents and Friends of St Kevin’s,

Another week of learning, another week of fun activities at St Kevin’s. Term 1 has been very busy and the weeks ahead for the remainder of the year look no different! Learning is a journey that is never ending, always exciting and always hard work. Learning is something we all do each day. My question and challenge to you is to share with your children at dinnertime what you learnt during the day and how your learning is going. By modelling that we continue to learn not just ”do” stuff at work or in the community, then our children will see and observe what a privilege and wonder it is to learn every day. My new learnings for this week have been around Aboriginal Education and the Dreaming stories associated with local landscapes of Belmont Lagoon, Redhead Beach and Swansea Heads. Thank you to Mr Taylor for sharing this knowledge with us and for ensuring I learnt something new this week.

Enjoy your learning this week.

Mary-Anne Jennings

Principal

What’s on.

Holy Week – March 25 to 29. Please read Mrs Arthur’s timetable for Holy Week Liturgies and your child’s participation.

Easter Hat Parade – Wednesday March 27 1.30pm followed by the Easter raffle. Hats made at home and brought to school on the day. Raffle tickets to be returned Tuesday 26 March. 

PUPIL FREEE DAY – APRIL 2

STUDENT LED CONFERENCES – April 3

School X-country –April 10 at 9:15am here at school.

Sports awards assembly – April 12 2:15pm school hall.

Last day Term 1 – April 12

FIRST DAY TERM 2 – April 29

Pastoral Care Worker

Christian Moulder is our Pastoral Care Worker here at St Kevin’s. Pastoral Care Workers are appointed to all schools in our Diocese and are part of a Well-Being Initiative to support all students. Mr Moulder works with various groups of students to develop those important life skills of teamwork, organisation, resilience, persistence and getting along with others. Mr Moulder is currently working with groups of students in our senior years as they prepare to transition to high school. Mr Moulder is not a school counselor or psychologist. Appointments to see the school counsellor (Khaalyd Brown) are made through our Learning Support Team.

Family BBQ & Enrolment Evening Wrap – Up 

Thankyou! Thankyou! Thankyou!  

Despite the weather we had a fabulous turnout for our event last night.  I am sorry that I didn’t get to see more people, it started well with our Paper Plane throwing competition but then our sound started going haywire. ?‍♀️  I am so sorry for the disruption this caused.  Our sound had been working perfectly from 2:45pm – 4:30pm, until the laptop battery died. After that, we were just in a world of pain as the ageing laptop tried to reconnect to the system.  Today, after Harmony Day celebration we were able to swap out the laptop and the system is now back up and running. The other laptop has been sent off to be assessed.  

I would relish your feedback on this event, so that we can do even better next year, and build on this for other events throughout the year.  kim.hogan@mn.catholic.edu.au 

Hundreds Board winners: 

$1 : Joan Stone (#64) won $15.00 

$2 :Lauren Veneziano (#31) won $42.00 

Pupil Free Day 

On Tuesday April 2nd the staff are participating in professional development in writing.  This day will focus on Consistency of Teacher Judgement, with teachers developing their understanding of the National Literacy Writing Progressions.  The National Literacy and Numeracy Learning Progressions are a resource that describe the sequence of stages or steps of learning for the development of aspects of literacy and numeracy.  The progressions take an aspect of literacy or numeracy, for example 'writing’ and show how skills in this aspect develop from ‘entry’ level skills to ‘highly skilled’.  Teachers use the progressions to identify where students are at and to target the next stage of learning.   We will also be working on effective feedback and target teaching in writing. 

If you are interested in exploring the progression please see attached link 

https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/resources/national-literacy-and-numeracy-learning-progressions/a-guide-to-the-progressions-for-parents/ 

Enjoy your extended break next week and have a happy, holy Easter break 

God Bless 

Kim Hogan

Co-Principal / Assistant Principal

Faith Life, Catholic Identity and the Liturgical Season

In John’s Gospel for Palm Sunday, the sacred writer outlines Jesus’s triumphant entry into the city of Jerusalem greeted on his donkey by the waving of palms. This is indicative of celebrations during the festival of Passover, but also in anticipation of the messianic prophecy.  

I’ve included a map of the triumphant entry into Jerusalem and the pivotal locations of the events leading to the Stations of the Cross. Many conversations I’ve had with those who have visited the Holy City comment on the change in location perspective they receive after they experience a journey there.

All Saints Blackbutt South Sacramental Programme

We keep in our prayers and wish our candidates for the Sacrament of Reconciliation all the best as they participate in the ritual of First Reconciliation tonight.

• Zion 
• Landon 
• Harper 
• Julia 
• Arabella 
• Zahli 

Religious Education

In RE News, Year 4 were sharing their learning with me this week about Jesus’s time in the desert. They shared their perspectives on what it meant to not only go without, but also to be tempted. It was a great opportunity to discuss what temptation signified as a human quality, and truly reflect upon Jesus the human, tempted in the desert when we consider Jesus the divine in his resurrection.

Upcoming Faith Life Celebrations

Please be reminded of all upcoming dates for Holy Week services.

Holy Week (Separate from our secular Easter Egg-stravaganza)

Palm Sunday: Led by K-2: Monday 25^th March from 2pm.

Holy Thursday and Stations of the Cross: Thursday 28^th March from 1:30pm

Easter Resurrection Liturgy: Wednesday 3rd April led by Years 4 9am

Amy Arthur

Acting Religious Education Coordinator

Kaayi (Hello – Awabakal)

Yaama Ngindaay (Hello everyone - Gamilaraay)

Nungamanladi (Hello - Bardi)

Te bandola nginak (Hello, how are you? – Yorta Yorta)

St Kevin’s celebrated Harmony Day on Thursday 21 March. 

Thank you for helping the children with their home activity ‘Where have we come from?’ to identify the countries where they have a family connection and complete their family heritage ‘hand’. So far we have at least    ???        countries that the children and our staff identify with. Hopefully you enjoyed doing this with your child.

This activity highlights for the children that many people in our country have come from other countries – or their families came from other countries. This is a good thing, because it means we have a mix of lots of different people living together. It is very important to respect people’s differences. Being different is what makes us all special and interesting!

In classrooms children continue learning about the importance of treating everyone with respect. There is a strong focus on this during Harmony Week but it’s something we do throughout the year at St Kevin’s.

 

RESPECT is one of our 3 school rules, to…be SAFE, be RESPECTFUL and be a LEARNER.

Here are some photos of our Harmony Day celebrations.

Thank you for your support of Harmony Week 2024.

Nginowa (See you later – in Awabakal)

Yaluu (See you later – in Gamilaraay)

Phil Taylor

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Teacher

The statements for the 2024 school fees have now been issued. There are several payment options however, Compass Pay is NOT our preferred method due to the large fees that Compass charge the school. Direct debit is an easy option, and these can be set up to be weekly, fortnightly or monthly. A form to do this is available from the Catholic Community Fund website at:

Fees can also be paid via BPay, Centrepay, over the phone using a credit card or in person at the office.

If you have a health care card or pension card you can apply for a concession on your fees. Please contact the office if you have not already done so. If you are experiencing financial hardship and require assistance, please contact the office.

Thank you to those families that have started payments towards this year’s school fees. Fee payments are expected to start by the end of next week 30 March 2024. 

If you have not done so already, there is also a Compass Event "2024 Fee Option" which is required to be completed.