Good afternoon Families,
Officially, welcome back to Term Three. It was absolutely wonderful to see almost every family at our Family Conferences yesterday. We had a mix of nervous and excited Middle School and Senior School children enter their conferences as they were presenting their own selected pieces to share with their parents. Many relieved young faces were seen leaving the conference accompanied by very proud parents. I was also privy to see the parents of our Prep and Junior children engage in lovely conversations with Julianne and Brooke, Nicole or Tayla and Marie. There was chatter and laughter as well as meaningful sharing of individual learning journeys. Thank you to all families who support their child so beautifully. Your partnership with us is so important and definitely has a high impact on how your child learns and their outcomes. We have PSG meetings in the next couple of weeks too which will complete our learning conversations for the term.
As you know, we are very excited about our upcoming Grandparents Day on Tuesday 23rd July. We would like YOU, our VIP guests to be seated in the parish hall by 9-ish as we will begin right on 9.15am and we don’t want you to miss a moment. A visit to the classrooms afterwards and then morning tea at 10am, back in the hall, will complete the morning.
Please make sure you RSVP for catering purposes to Debbie at schooloffice@slblackburnsth.catholic.edu.au Can’t wait to see you and our Grandparents and Grandfriends there.
In Week 3 our Senior School children will be embarking on a wonderful adventure commonly called CAMP. This is a fantastic opportunity for them to build independence, to challenge themselves to try new things within the safety of friends and peers and to feel proud that they have achieved personal goals. It is also a terrific chance for staff to get to know children outside of the normal school domain. At St Lukes, we feel very strongly that this is such a worthwhile component of our curriculum that in Week 4, our Middle School children will be venturing out to Gembrooke for an overnight camp. Later in the year, the Prep and Junior children will also have their own little experience of ‘camp’. Details will follow in Term 4.
Believe it or not, in Term 3 l begin to turn my thoughts to next year and some of the logistics l need to consider. I hope that you can join me in this by thinking about how you might be able to support our community. If you have not been on our very enthusiastic, fun P&F please make sure you consider this. I know any of the current members would happily talk to you about how this can look. It does not require a necessary huge time commitment if you can only help out with select events or it may be behind the scenes support.
Another vital role is that of the School Advisory Council (SAC). We will require 2 to 3 new members on the SAC in 2025. Members are required to attend two meetings per term, bring items for discussion that members of our community are talking about and finally guide the principal in issues concerning the school. Once again, l recommend you approach any of our current council members if you are curious about joining. Our current SAC Chairperson is Simon Meehan and other members include Julie Inglese, Nader Mitri, Richard Yeung, Victoria Smith and Jo Adams as the P&F representative.
Lastly, if you feel you cannot commit to a structured role like the ones just noted, please respond to the simple requests that appear from time to time like today’s mention for gardening help.
Holiday garden maintenance and stepping stones. We have had a hive of activity over the holidays in the garden. Kieran, our garden maintenance guy, is doing a great job maintaining our outside environment and l would have to say l am extremely proud of how our school presents. The stepping stones from the Student Entry pathway to the lower pathway is a lovely little addition to discourage people from walking across the garden. The impact of this can be seen in the considerably slower growth of plants compared to the bed opposite. The cost of maintaining this, like all things, is considerable and should not be one of the higher things on the annual budget priority list. So, it’s the little things that can make a difference…
doing the occasional weeding or collecting firewood or even if you have access to good mulch or plants (free to budget priced) for our garden beds, please contact the school office NOW. We would love to hear from you.
I’m not sure about you but the chill factor today has been extreme. A lot of children are wearing shorts, which l have mentioned is fine if that is their preferred option in Winter. Please make sure if they are cold, that they revert to the warmer winter uniform- both school and sports . We definitely don’t want children catching winter ills through catching chills. A warm jacket is recommended as an extra layer to wear OUTSIDE ONLY. Each child needs their jumper at school EVERY DAY please. They should not be wearing their jacket instead of their jumper. Thanks.
Have a great fortnight ahead. I will be taking some leave with my family up north where the sun will hopefully shine. Julie Inglese and the Leadership Team will be available to you, in my absence.
Take care
Clare Ryan
Principal
principal@slblackburnsth.catholic.edu.au
