St Luke the Evangelist School Newsletter

Good afternoon Families,

Our beautiful Indian Summer has changed and Winter is upon us. How fortunate we are to have the winter sun most days to warm the heart. Last week, the Senior School children experienced beautiful weather as they explored Camp Wyuna, Queenscliff. It was wonderful for staff- Emily Chlebica, Gabi Carter, Tayla Buxton, Steph Pierce and myself- to have time away from the school environment to get to know, in a more relaxed atmosphere, these wonderful young people. We are so impressed with how adaptable, resilient and interesting each child is. Their support of each other as little challenges arose, like being away from home or taking on a daring activity or being in a group without all of their closest friends was lovely to see. Whilst their energy levels looked very different to mine, it did take me back to my earlier years as a child. We ate well, played hard and slept soundly and can tick this off as another very successful highlight of the Senior’s school year. My thanks to Emily, Gabi, Tayla and Steph for not just attending the camp which took them away from their families but for the beautiful care, time and energy they offered each and every child. We are so blessed to have them.

Our first WORKING BEE in several years was a great success. We spread 7 cubic metres of mulch, cleared out the garden shed, cleaned out drains, painted our ‘buddy bench’, raked the sandpits, pruned the shrubs lining the Discovery Centre and blew our never-ending falling leaves and the kids did a great job doing whatever they could. A challenge was set that for every five dry river pebbles found in another place other than the sensory garden, children would receive a token to go towards their house team. Lachie wowed everyone with his 100+ pebbles. My very special thanks to the following families: Fucsa, Pepe, Campiciano, Coates-Stilve, Mitri, Huang, Tierney, Keeghan, Coe, Gagliardi, Broccio, Pisciotta and to the D’Couto family who donated to the day and to the Keenahan family who supplied paint and materials. There was a real sense of achievement by the time we sat down to have some lunch and to working collectively as a community to enhance our school environment was beautiful to be a part of. A special mention to Debbie Barber who also spent her morning at school with us; she is one of many gems we have here on our team.

Over the past two years, our school leadership team has been part of a network within the eastern region called SILC- School Improvement Learning Collective. We meet once a term and members of the School Leadership Team have the opportunity to work with Simon Breakspeer- a globally recognised expert in educational leadership, change, and improvement. Through dynamic keynotes and interactive workshops, Simon equips leaders and teams with the tools they need to thrive amidst complexity. His evidence-informed, energising sessions leave audiences with renewed clarity, focus, and confidence to drive meaningful improvement. He guides school teams through making real inroads on their school improvement plans. In addition to this, our school leadership team is working with Pauline Zappulla four times a year to build professional leadership formation, capacity as well as to strengthen even further, our collective effectiveness in making St Luke’s a school of choice because of what we offer.

I have mentioned before that with MACS Vision for Instruction and the journey St Luke’s is on to implement the Science of Learning, Julianne Kelly (Literacy Leader) and Julie Inglese (Teaching and Learning Leader) continue to work with Nathaniel Swain and the Reading Collective. The collective met here at St Luke’s two weeks ago to continue developing Rich Core-Knowledge units and we are looking forward to unpacking these units with our children in the terms to come. This really does lend itself to the saying, ‘ Once a learner, always a learner.’

We are very excited to have our MINI VINNIES up and running and today at mass, the following children received their badges. Congratulations to: Flossy, Maria, Olivia, Hannah, Mila, Tilly, Chiara, Issy, Ava, Georgia, Tilly, Ria, Georgia, Stella, Natasha, Desi, Hannah, Rose, Sophia, Ivy, Katie and Evie.  It is both an honour and gift that these young people have such big hearts for social justice and a true testimony to the wonderful young people we have here at St Luke’s.  Students will receive their certificates at assembly on Monday 02 June 2025, parents are welcome to attend. 

Our SRC has been holding regular fundraising twice a term at recess or lunchtime selling zooper doopers in the warmer months and more recently, popcorn and donuts in the cooler months. Please make sure you keep supporting these small treat days as the SRC is very keen. They are building quite a piggy bank and are starting to think of what small projects the money could be used for. Watch this space!

Congratulations to the twelve children who competed in the District Cross Country on Wednesday. Oliver, Sophie, Ava, Hannah, Bella, Charlene, Hamish, Lachie, Tommy, Billy, Sophia and Minah did St Luke’s proud in the way they represented our school with pride, courage and a wonderful sense of virtue. Our thanks to Emma Cooper who coordinated the event and to Tanya Nowlan, George Manias and Meiling Yeung who helped out.

Our Italian Festa is upon us. Next Thursday, 5th June the whole school will have a day of joy,  celebrating everything Italian. We have a guest presenter teaching us the Tarantella, we’ll be kicking goals for the next soccer World Cup and be learning how to play bocce. Thank you to Signora Phillips who has done a great job organising the day. She has even arranged for some gelato- delizioso!

What a bumper message it is today. Hope you have had a cuppa in your hand whilst reading it.

Have a great weekend and l look forward to seeing you all next week.

Clare

Another camp done and what a great time was had by all.  There were so many things to do and see.  We even managed to get some beautiful sunny weather, perfect for the beach!  Here is a snapshot of just some of the activities on offer…

Bike Riding At Camp Wyuna there were so many different and fun activities. Bike riding was our favourite one out of all of them. It was such a fun experience. Most people got to ride a mountain bike all the way up to Point Lonsdale, the next town from Queenscliff. 

Our instructor Scarlet and others, led us through the path and even taught some of us how to ride a bike! As we rode along the beach, we got a lovely view of the ocean and we even saw cargo ships. We saw the waves crash on the rocks along the walk. We stopped at a playground with a public exercise area that everybody loved! We rode around 7 km in total and all of the instructors were really kind and cared for all of us. 

We were thankful for the breaks in between because we needed a water break. On the way back, we saw other groups that did the beach carnival and games from afar. When we arrived back at the camp, we put our bikes back in the slot and went on with some free time until we all gathered together for our next activity. It will always be an amazing memory for us that we will cherish for the rest of our lives.

By Violet-Evie-Hannah-Tahlia-Bella

FREETIME Before or after activities on camp, we had a bit of freetime to play the games provided. These games included volleyball, basketball, carpetball and ga-ga pit. 

It was a great experience and playing these new games was actually really fun and enjoyable. Our favourite activity was carpet ball because it was challenging and we were very competitive when we were playing.

Our experience at Camp Wyuna was an opportunity to experience new things and spend time with our friends. We would rate it 8/10!

By Max and Lucas 

Pizza making  Sophia- pizza making was a lot of fun because we got to make the dough and shape it then place our chosen topping on top. Once we put on our topping the person running it would put it into the wood fired pizza oven and give us a number to tell us when it was ready. Yum!  

Jonathan-The process of making them was really fun and starting from scratch was challenging. For the first step we got flour and made it like a bowl to put all the ingredients (salt, sugar and yeast) in the middle then poured water into the bowl of flour with all the ingredients and mixed it all together with our finger. Once it started to look like dough you would use a plastic blade to fold it and make it the best dough possible.

After making the dough we left it to rest for about ten minutes before flattening it out. When we finished we put on the toppings that we wanted onto the pizza and cooked it in the pizza oven. After it was finished cooking the instructor would call out a number. I was getting a bit jealous watching the people get called up and eating their pizzas in front of me but then it was my turn and it looked really good. I ate every last bit of that pizza. It was delicious.

Hamish- Making the pizzas was exciting because everything was made from scratch. We tried a type of spinach called bower spinach. It was really salty because it grew right by the salt water. Not many people liked the bower spinach. I was one of the last people to get their pizza. We put the pizza in the oven. The wood fired oven was so hot. It was between three and four hundred degrees celsius.   

Tommy- I was drooling watching the other kids eat their pizza but finally it was my turn. My group ran to the man helping us make our pizza and he was standing at the pizza oven. First we had to wash our hands, then we listened to him telling us how to make the dough from scratch! It was fun to make and so delicious to eat!

Charlie - Making a pizza was like being a chef. The pizza changed from like a small ball to a big flat plate or big size… who knows? There were many things to choose from for the toppings  1. Cheese, 2. Sauce 3. Pineapple 4. Mushrooms 5. Pepperoni. It was fun to make and delicious.

Talent Show On the first night, which was Wednesday, the audience was treated to a variety of entertaining performances. Small groups took the stage to present comedy acts, dancing, short plays, and even a funny game hosted by Miss Buxton and Miss Chlebica. The room was filled with laughter and excitement throughout the evening.

One of the highlights was a hilarious joke act by Alessandro, Jonathan, Mason, and Jacob. Their performance had everyone laughing non-stop and truly lit up the night. Hosting the event were Louis and Lachie, who kept things running smoothly with their energy and charm.

Judging the acts were the Arts and Library leaders—Katie, Ella, Olivia, and Charlene—who carefully watched each performance and made thoughtful decisions. The winners included Desi and Ria for their creative short play, and Olivia, Evie, Lizzie, Sophia, Katia, Ivy, and Violet for their hilarious group performance.

It was a fantastic start to the week, and everyone agreed—the night was a blast!

By Louis  Alessandro  Ethan  and Oliviero 

There has been a mass of science learning so far this term. Students have engaged in a variety of activities, including experiments and the Engineering Design Process, to help with their science understanding.

In Prep, we have been learning about the features of plants and animals and what they need to survive. We have done some plant experiments and grown and observed our own gardens. In the coming weeks we will be focusing on animals.

In Juniors, we have been exploring properties and features of materials. We have described, sorted and classified a range of objects made from different materials and run some experiments to test some of these features. We have discovered the origins of some materials and the difference between natural and man-made sources. In the coming weeks we will engage in the Engineering Design Process (EDP) to build something fit for purpose based on all their prior learning.

In Middles, we have been learning about weather and climate. We have explored the Water Cycle, running experiments to observe the changing of states of matter that occur in the different stages of the cycle. We have also been learning about wind and how it occurs, observing wind in action. In the coming weeks we will be looking at climate, seasons and extreme weather. We will engage in the Engineering Design Process (EDP) to look at ways to mitigate some extreme weather phenomena.

In Seniors, we have been investigating geological processes that change the Earth’s surface including weathering, erosion and deposition. Through the Engineering Design Process (EDP) we have designed, created, redesigned and evaluated ways to mitigate erosion. In the coming weeks we will explore Natural Disasters and their impact on our Earth. 

Megan Bunter

STEM Specialist Teacher 

SMART WATCHES & MOBILE PHONES

If a child wears a smart watch to school, it must be de-activated so the child is not receiving or sending messages etc...

Mobile Phones are requested to be left at the office in the morning and collected at the end of the day. 

FOOD ALLERGIES:

Allergic reactions to food… can be harmful to our children. For that reason we ask parents to think carefully about what they are packing in their child’s lunch boxes. Occasionally, something might slip through and once aware, we take precautions to ensure the safety of every child. As stated in the Family Handbook 2025:

We are an EGG and NUT free school due to the allergies of children within our community.  We ask that parents respect this request and the potential harm this could do to children if brought to school.

Thank you for your care and attention to this.

CHILDREN ARRIVING AFTER THE BELL OR LEAVING EARLY:

As part of our wellbeing care of children at St Luke's, every class engages in a morning routine at 8.50 am.  This quiet, calm time allows children to gather together in a circle, to greet each other by name, to pray and/or enter into some Christian meditation and get ready for the day.  Please make sure you allow enough time to get your child to school BEFORE 8.50 am.

If children arrive after the gate and student entry doors are locked, parents/carers are required to walk their child/ren to the school office and sign them in on the VPass iPad.

If leaving early (before the end of the day), parents/carers are required to sign their child/ren out on the VPASS iPad.

BUY/SELL SECONDHAND UNIFORM:

Join the St Luke's Primary School Blackburn South Buy/Sell Uniform group on Facebook to buy/sell uniform with other parents.