Term 3 Week 8
It has been a busy couple of weeks with many different events celebrated and organised for the children. It is always a special time when we can come together as a community and celebrate our uniqueness and partnerships!
Our year 4 children have all now received their First Eucharist. The masses were celebrated at St Augustine’s church during the parish mass over three Sundays. We are very proud of the students and grateful to Ms Selena, Ms McKay and Ms Anne for preparing the children so thoroughly. Thank you Mrs Barone for your guidance as our Religious Education Leader and organising the masses.
The children enjoyed a special day on the 22nd of August as they celebrated St Augustine’s day. St Augustine’s feast day is actually the 28th August and we usually celebrate the Friday before the feast day. However we had a large number of children participating in District Athletics on that day. The rain did not stop us from a liturgy held in the morning led by our Yr 5/6 children. The afternoon saw the children participating in indoor activities due to the rain. Our talented children then participated in ‘St Augustine’s Got Talent’ with many budding singers, dancers, gymnasts and magicians performing for the school. It was a delightful way to celebrate the day. Thank you to the Parents Auxiliary who organised a hot dog lunch to add a special memory to the day.
Last Tuesday the St Augustine’s School Advisory Council met. We have been reviewing and reflecting on the school homework policy. The past two meetings we have discussed thoughts about homework, read recent research, and made recommendations moving forward. We will continue this discussion with the school community including students and parents as we reflect on best practice and re write the policy.
Forty seven children from years 3-6 participated in the District Athletics at Keilor Athletics track last Friday. The children competed with great sportsmanship and encouraged their school friends throughout the day. There were many ribbons won and many children who participated enthusiastically. Well done and congratulations to the children who participated. Thank you to Mrs Tadic for organising the children.
On Monday we started the day with a book parade. This much anticipated event saw the children arrive to school in their colourful costumes with many oohs and aahs as they saw each other. It was another event that brought the community together with many parents staying to watch the parade. Thank you parents for the effort you go to in creating costumes. Thank you to Mrs McBean and Ms Vanesa for organising the event.
Today and tomorrow we had and will have another community event with the fathers day stall and the fathers day breakfast. Donna Schepis and her band of parent helpers once again organised a stall with fabulous gifts to be purchased by the children for their fathers, grandfathers and significant father figures. Thank you for helping our children celebrate this special day. Tomorrow we will host our first fathers day breakfast get together. With a successful mothers day breakfast organised by our MOSA group, the Parents Auxiliary knew it was important to reciprocate with a fathers day breakfast. Come along, dads, and grab a coffee and croissant and mingle with other dads. The morning starts at 7.30am and then until the bell goes, on the basketball crt. The menu for the morning will be: Fruit Platters – from Senserricks Green Grocer, Coffee supplied by Happy Days Coffee and Donut Van, random assortment of pastries, cakes etc from Woolworths. Please note food will depend on stock availability of the store at the time of purchase and may contain traces of nuts.
This Friday the children will also participate in a modified Sports Day. It was disappointing when we needed to cancel the Athletics carnival due to torrential rain in first term. We will be running a modified day at school, utilising the various spaces for each year level. Parents are welcome to come along. For safety reasons, there will be designated areas for viewing as we will be using all of the yard for the activities. Children are to wear their sports uniform with a t shirt representing the team colour they belong to.
We welcome Latesha our newly appointed Big Child Care manager who started on Monday. Latesha has messaged all parents who utilise the Out Of Hours School Care program to introduce herself.
A reminder that the parent MACSSIS (Melbourne Arch Diocese Of Catholic Schools, School Improvement Surveys). Throughout each year, we pause to listen to our students, families and staff to gauge how our learning community is traveling. This feedback is invaluable to our progress as an effective school community and is backed by evidence-based research and best practices. 120 parents have been randomly selected to participate in these surveys. You would have been sent an email from ‘Orima’ If you see this do not bin it as it is the company contracted to send out the surveys. Please complete the survey as the information gathered will assist us in making decisions for improvement.
Our building and renovation project is nearing handover. We will begin moving furniture, from Cooinda, on the last week of term and store it on the corridor outside of the library. We will then move prep, year 1/2 and 3/4M furniture into the classrooms during the holidays in readiness for the children to start in their new classrooms day one of term four!
I wish you all a wonderful final two weeks of term and a great third term holiday. I will be heading off to Israel on Friday for a two week pilgrimage with eighteen other North West Principals. I look forward to talking about my journey when I return next term.
Cathy
