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Dear Parents and Friends of St Kevin’s
This week I want to share some good news!
2 of our school swimming team have made it to the next level and will represent Lakes Region at the Diocesan Swimming Carnival. Congratulations Emerson and Jonathan and good luck with your races.
We also have Braith representing Lakes at the Diocesan Cricket trials and Mackenzie trying out for the Regional Soccer Team. Again, we wish these students all the best in their representative pathways, and maybe we have a future sports star in the making right here at St Kevin’s.
In other great news, we have many of our Year 5 and 6 children receiving the Sacraments of Confirmation and First Eucharist during this month. We keep them in our prayers and congratulate them as they become fully initiated members of the Catholic Church. Congratulations Renee, Damien, Harper, Giesela, Zavier, Tyler, Ava, Jamie and Braethan.
A special mention must also go to 3 of our Infants students who have been sent to my office to receive a Principal’s sticker for their outstanding class work. Congratulations to Logan and Jaycee for their work in spelling and Sadie for her work in Religion. It is always fantastic to give out stickers to students doing their best work.
So as you can see school life is slowly returning to normal, with our students working hard and achieving good results in a variety of subjects and sporting areas. Long may this continue for 2022!
Here’s to a great 2022.
Mary-Anne Jennings
Principal
Parents and Friends Association ( P&F)
Last night we had our first P&F meeting for 2022 whereby we had a fantastic roll up of both new and experienced St Kevin’s families. This made my night! I have always said that our school community is something special and a privilege to work for, and last night’s meeting affirmed this. St Kevin’s P&F is exceptional in its community spirit and philosophy of being a team working for the students to ensure the best learning environment is provided. If you want to be part of this pro-active, fun, supportive group of parents please keep March 9 free in your calendar for our next meeting which will also be our AGM. Our current President and Secretary must relinquish their roles due to the P&F Constitution, but they can assure you that these roles are not onerous or overwhelming, they just need caring, committed parents wanting to make St Kevin’s the best school in the Diocese! So please, if you think you could fill these roles, email me, and I will assist in the process of nominations and outlining the role descriptions. Research has shown, the more you are involved in the school life of your child, the better the learning outcomes for your child will be. P&F meetings are held once a month during school terms.
School Improvement Plan 2022
Each year we create a plan for St Kevin’s that will see us improve the learning of our students. 2022 will see us focusing on Reading in Years 3-6, Mathematics K-6 and Writing K-6.
Reading in Years 3-6 is all about understanding what we are reading. Comprehension and understanding what we read is of vital importance in all walks of life. If we don’t understand what we read, we can’t learn or solve problems. It is a lifelong skill we need to master.
Mathematics is another vital and lifelong skill we need to master. It is more than being able to just recall basic number facts. It is about problem solving and application of basic skills. Without Mathematics we wouldn’t have chefs, nurses, doctors, engineers, scientists, mechanics, hairdressers and the list goes on!
Writing is also one of those lifelong skills. Being able to write a report or an instruction, lodge an application, or send a message are things we all do frequently.
Your children should be able to by the end of this term answer these questions around Reading, Mathematic or Writing, to demonstrate to you their learning journey.
- What are you learning and why?
- How are you doing?
- How do you know?
- How can you improve?
- Where do you go for help?
In Religion we are launching our new Mission and Vision Statements which Mrs Boudan has been very busy finalizing. We are also focusing on understanding and knowing our Josephite Pillars, as St Kevin’s was originally called St Joseph’s and was staffed by the Sisters’ of St Joseph.
Communication
Our newsletter is our primary source of all information. Please read and check for upcoming events and news in the fortnightly publication. Events are linked in the calendar found on our website, and we apologize as there was a technical issue with the software uploading these events from COMPASS to the website/newsletter. This should now be remedied.
Parent/ Teacher ZOOM Meetings
2022 will see us once again conduct these meetings in Term 1 via ZOOM. Please check your emails for invites from your class teacher.
Kinder Tuesday February 22 5:30pm
Year 1 Thursday March 3 5:30pm
Year 2 Monday February 21 5:30pm
Years 3-6 Tuesday March 8 5:30pm
Beginning School Mass
Friday February 25 Years 3-6. This will be an outdoor Mass where we celebrate the beginning of the new school year and our School Captains receive their badges.
Canteen
We can open our canteen again with a COVID plan applied. However, we need lots of volunteers for this to happen. If you can help with canteen, can you please email admin@cardiff.catholic.edu.au with your name and days where you would be available. When we have a list of names, the next step is getting our volunteers cleared to work and inducted. This will be done by Mrs Jennings ASAP.
Uniform Shop
We can now also have volunteers on site to operate our uniform shop. This involves collating orders once a week, and doing a stock take twice a year. There is no exchange of money involved as we are setting up an online payment option. Again, if you can assist, please email admin@cardiff,catholic.edu.au with your name and days available, so we can induct you as a volunteer and complete all necessary paperwork.
Media Permission
When you as parents completed the enrolment form for St Kevin's there was a section giving permission for photographs or video of your child to be shared for school and Diocesan publications, social media and websites. As parents you chose yes or no. We cannot distinguish between these various platforms and no means no to all publications. If you would like your child to be included on our Facebook page or school newsletter, then we require an email from you stating that you give permission for photographs and videos of your child across all platforms including Seasaw.
News from the Assistant Principal
Hello everyone!
It was fabulous to see so many parents (18!) in our P&F Zoom last night. I hope you all come back for our AGM next month and are joined by even more of our parent community.
This year concludes our 3 year School Improvement Plan cycle. Let me clarify a couple of things first. A decade ago schools typically held staff meetings either weekly or bi-weekly (twice a week). These meetings generally involved a lot of housekeeping to guarantee the smooth running of the school but would also embrace key identified professional learning for staff to ensure that teachers were abreast of current research and were constantly updating their skill set. Continuous improvement has been a high agenda item in business (and schools) for at least the last decade. At St Kevin’s over the years we have trialled, evaluated and adapted ways to focus on key communication with staff (the old style housekeeping staff meetings) in order to maintain the effective running of the school. It was important to find other ways of doing things so that we could free up our 90 minute “staff meetings” and re-direct this time very valuable staff time more consistently, and in a more targeted fashion, to our School Improvement Plan and staff development. So... we don’t have staff meetings anymore, instead we have Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). Acronyms they are the bane of my life!
In 2019 and 2020 our major focus was Writing. We prioritised professional development in writing and our weekly Professional Learning Community meetings were targeted on improving pedagogy (the way teachers teach) according to research based evidence. In 2021 and 2022 we have aimed to embed our improvements in writing. So, what does that look like? Twice per term we have a PLC on writing. We revisit agreed practices, review what works well, moderate and discuss writing samples and how to move students forward. Consistency of teacher judgement is critical.
Next newsletter I will update you on our focus on Mathematics and Reading.
St. Kevin’s New Vision and Mission Statement
Over the past couple of years, the staff of St. Kevin’s have been on a journey of reimagining our Vision and Mission statements, investigating what is at the very heart of our school. Many hours of collaboration, research and prayer have resulted in a Vision and Mission Statement that we believe truly represents St. Kevin’s Primary School. Later this year, (when restrictions allow us to gather with parents) we look forward to launching our Vision and Mission statements with a wonderful celebration. Vision and Mission statements are a foundational underpinning of each school community and play a vital role in our Catholic Culture.
This term, the children will begin learning about our Vision Statement when we gather for assemblies, and they will begin to recognise ways in which our Vision Statement is alive in their day-to-day school life. Exciting times!
We hope these Statements speak as much to your hearts as they do ours. If you would like to share your thoughts, I would love to hear from you. Please email me at jasmina.boudan@mn.catholic.edu.au
Vision Statement
Mission Statements
Nurturing Mind
Through contemporary learning, celebrating the diversity of each child
Nurturing Heart
Through fostering positive relationships, honesty, compassion & integrity with Jesus at the centre of our lives
Nurturing Spirit
Through living out our faith through our actions of love and in our caring for God’s creation
As mentioned last newsletter, the Diocesan theme this year is Fully Alive!
St. Kevin’s staff have enthusiastically embraced the theme and focussed our staff prayer around the first theme – Created and Known by God. When you get a moment of quiet this week, take a moment to contemplate the following passage. What a beautiful privilege it is to be fully known by God!
Isaiah 49:16
…I will not forget you
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.
Mini Vinnies
Last week I had the great pleasure of visiting our primary classes, welcoming them to join Mini Vinnies for 2022. We will have our first meeting for the year today. I can’t wait to see what wonderful ideas the new Mini Vinnies children bring with them. I look forward to working with the children to raise lots of funds for those less fortunate throughout the year.
Our Primary classes will participate in an open-air Opening School Mass with Fr Joseph next Friday February 25th. Our Infants classes will join for an outdoor liturgy on Thursday February 24th. We will be drawing inspiration from the theme Fully Alive for this special celebration, with the children recognising ways that God is present in their lives. Unfortunately, Covid restrictions don’t allow parents to join us on-site for liturgies and Masses at this stage. We hope to be able to celebrate with you again soon!
Congratulations!
On behalf of the St. Kevin’s community, I extend a huge congratulations to the children who celebrated their Confirmation and First Holy Communion over the last couple of weeks. May God bless you all at this special time.
May God’s Spirit be with you all each day.
Mrs Jasmina Boudan
Religious Education Coordinator
Yaama Ngindaay!
Last Sunday 13 February was the 14th anniversary of the Apology to Australia’s Indigenous Peoples.
In 2008, then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologised on behalf of the Australian Government to the Stolen Generations – the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were forcibly removed from their families and communities by successive colonial and Australian governments.
The speech was delivered in a televised statement to both Houses of Parliament and to members of the Stolen Generations present in the House of Representatives.
The National Apology was an important step on the path to reconciliation. Reconciliation Australia CEO Karen Mundine says the Apology was incredibly meaningful to First Nations people, demonstrating the importance of historical acceptance in building a respectful new relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
To achieve historical acceptance, we need to accept and understand our shared history. But more than that, we need to make sure Australia does what is necessary to ensure we address the ongoing impact of past wrongs and safeguard against those past wrongs being repeated. (Karen Mundine)
Understanding our shared history is what schools in Australia are currently focussed on as they address the Australian Curriculum cross-curriculum priority - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures.
What is Harmony Week?
It is a time to celebrate Australian multiculturalism, and the successful integration of migrants into our community.
Australia is one of the most successful multicultural countries in the world and we should celebrate this and work to maintain it.
Harmony Week is about inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians, regardless of cultural or linguistic background, united by a set of core Australian values.
Harmony Week is 21 - 27 March this year. More information about our school’s celebration of Harmony Week will be in the next newsletter.
Nginowa … (Awabakal word meaning ‘See you later’)
Phil Taylor
Aboriginal Education Teacher
Library Borrowing Trophy
Congratulations to Kindergarten for winning the Library Borrowing Trophy for Week 3. All children in Kinder remembered their Library bag. Well done Kinder!
Please remember Library borrowing is every Friday.
Premier’s Reading Challenge 2022
All children will receive their PRC username and password in Week 6. PRC starts on Monday 28th February and closes Friday 19th August.
Please visit the website for more information.
Rules
Please email me if you have any trouble entering the books online.
For the infants classes it is important that you read with your children Monday- Thursday. After reading the book enter please enter it online. Instructions will be sent home in Week 6.
Happy reading!
Scholastic Book Club
Online Book Club orders through LOOP close this Friday 18th February. Thank you for your continued support of Book Club.
Many thanks
Dianne Binkin
Teacher Librarian
School Fees
The 2022 school fees will be emailed out to parents the first week in March. Payments can be made via cash, cheque, Eftpos, Bpay or Direct Debit. Your Bpay reference code has changed from last year, so please review any existing Bpays. If you require assistance in setting up a direct debit with the CDF, please contact the office. For those parents who have a Health Care Card or Pension card, please contact the office to complete the correct paperwork. If you require assistance with school fees, please contact the office on 4954 0036 to discuss with the Principal.
From the Office of Safeguarding - The eSafety Guide
Learn about the latest gme, apps and social media, including how to protect your information and report inappropriate content.