Good afternoon Families and Friends,
It’s great to be writing once again to you all as life is good and the year continues to be full. What better way to begin my message than to mention the Middle School camp. We had an absolutely wonderful time and the children showed GREAT determination, senses of humour and resilience as the days were long, the environment very new and the overall experience was unique. Our day at the zoo was fun, the time spent at Urban camp was exciting… different bedroom for the night AND with friends, new dining table and chairs with a yummy roast and a new bathroom to navigate. We had a lovely mix of game time, prayer time, outdoor time and friends time. We even managed some sleep. The sun shone, our hearts sang and we all grew a little more from our experience. Thank you so much to Micaela Debney for planning the adventure for us, to the incredible staff who attended- Kathryn, Tremain, Pauline and Sue; you are amazing and l loved spending time with both you and the children. Look out for the camp item later in this newsletter.
Not to be satisfied with having one major event in our Middle School calendar last week, we decided to have two! Many of our Year Four children celebrated their First Eucharist last Sunday. Our church was full with parishioners, family and friends coming together to bear witness and support our children. Thank you to Fr Bill Burt who celebrated mass with Fr Gerard. We had some eager Year Two, Three and Four children who sang beautifully to bring great joy to the ceremony. Thank you to Gabrielle Carter for leading and preparing the choir and Tremain and Kathryn did a great job making sure our children truly were ready to receive Jesus for the first time.
We have Archbishop Comensoli visiting the weekend of 25th- 27th August. He is very keen to hear the voices of parishioners- which are YOU- from St Luke’s and from St Timothy’s. Please try to get along to mass over that weekend where hospitality will be offered afterwards. We would love to see you there. An program of his time will be shared with all families early next week.
A wonderful community night is being planned by our P&F. The Comedy Night currently being advertised for Friday, 25th August is for people 18 years and older. Please support this event if you can. Organise a group, check with other parents you know or simply go book your tickets and go along. I think laughter will definitely be a feature of the night.
I attended a meeting yesterday at Whitehorse Council rooms led by the Victorian Police. Schools have been invited to share more of what is happening in their local spaces with the police so they can support the community with current criminal activity. An example is where a school may have noticed boards being graffitied outside school hours. If local police are informed of this, support in the form of patrolling cars outside of school hours can be arranged. A message our police want YOU, their local residents, to think about is ALWAYS lock your doors at home , at night. In our local area of Blackburn South, 90% of car theft is attributed to people walking in through unlocked doors to steal car keys left in a very accessible space. That’s an incredible statistic. So please, lock your doors. There is also a wonderful, fairly new initiative called the Safety Card Project which supports people with neuro-diverse conditions like autism or other disabilities to be recognised when out in public. For more information, visit www.adid.org.au
SCHOOL REVIEW update: In October, St Luke’s will be undergoing a school review. It is a rigorous process where we need to scrutinise all aspects of school operations. In mid October, an appointed reviewer will visit our school for three days. All staff, groups of children and some parents will be invited to meet with the reviewer to share their insights and perceptions of St Luke’s.
MACSSIS Surveys will be distributed in the next couple of weeks. We would really love to get YOUR FEEDBACK. If we want to grow as a community, such surveys give us really valuable information and explain your perceptions of school life. We use such data to drive our four year School Improvement Plan and our Annual Action Plan. So, we hope to grab parents in the morning at school drop-off for a cuppa, give them a device and have them complete the survey. Easy peasy! The same will happen in the afternoon. Don’t avoid us, take the opportunity to have a voice.
Don't forget to RSVP to our upcoming and very yummy Father's Day breakfast at schooloffice@slblackburnsth.catholic.edu.au.
It’s been a chilly end to our week. Stay warm, stay dry and enjoy your weekend.
Clare Ryan
principal@slblackburnsth.catholic.edu.au
