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Dear Families
It seems like I just drafted last week's newsletter and here we are quickly at the end of another week. I trust you all had an enjoyable long weekend and experienced some success in any Cup Sweeps you entered. I hope the extra days were a chance to re-create and re-charge for the countdown to Christmas. I took time to reflect on my plans, professionally and personally, for the rest of the year and it was interesting what inspirations and impacted my thinking. Sunday's Gospel provided a strong starting point .....
One of the scribes came up to Jesus and put a question to him, ‘Which is the first of all the commandments?’ Jesus replied, ‘This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one Lord, and you must love the Lord you God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.’
As we emerge from the restrictive nature of the past two years we have the opportunity to embrace so many more joyous opportunities with family and friends, while we also need to consider the vulnerable in our Australian society who have been more impacted through the pandemic. As a military historical buff I also can find learnings from our country's history. 31st October 1917 saw the Australian Light Horse adapt and overcome as they participated in the Third Battle of Gaza, depicted in the Australian movie The Lighthorsemen. The famous charge on the township of Beersheba (interestingly in Israel, the birthplace of Jesus) is forever remembered for our soldiers' bravery, ingenuity and work ethic. When the time came they just got on with the job at hand. What a great message we can share with each other as we take advantage of the opportunities ahead in the next two months.
As we hit close to the half-way point of the term it is important to acknowledge all the hard work done by both students and staff since our return from Remote Learning. The classrooms are continuing to be busy places of work, while the staff should be commended on the way they are living our mantra of 'Every teacher makes every minute count for every child'. With the continued support from families we hope we can continue to drive home every opportunity for learning for our children.
Behind the scenes we have also been undergoing our 2022 preparations and in a sense we are looking forward to wishing 2021 goodbye, then quickly embrace the opportunities that await us in the new year. Next week we will be having a special guest onsite, with Mrs.Darby joining us on Thursday 11th November to spend time with the staff and be introduced to the children at our Remembrance Day Service. I am in regular contact with Sally and we both have mixed emotions of both excitement and nervousness as we prepare to lead new schools in 2022.
We are anticipating that we will receive clarification this week about easing of restrictions so please take a look at the information provided in this newsletter. Unfortunately we have had experiences taken from us these past two years but we look optimistically towards 2022, while also squeezing in some fun and joy into 2021.
Yours, Dave
Please take note of these dates for your family calendar
Parents can look on the PAM page for a school calendar. Please have a look around the calendar and see the different settings/options available to view dates.
CURRENT ADVICE FROM DET/DHHS REQUIRES US TO POSTPONE SCHOOL EVENTS - THIS ADVICE IS VERY FLUID AND THEREFORE ACTIVITIES MAY NEED TO BE RE-SCHEDULED. WE ANTICIPATE THAT PROTOCOLS AROUND VACCINATION STATUS OF ATTENDEES WILL NEED TO BE IN PLACE
TERM 4 DATES:
Friday 5th November: Crazy Sock Day (Social Justice Activity)
Friday 19th November: Confirmation 5pm
Thursday 25th November: Advent Mass & Bethlehem Bazaar
Mon 6th December: Year 6 Fun Day
Tues 7th Dec: Transition Day 2022
Thurs 9th December: End of Year Mass
Thurs 9th December: Graduation Night 5pm
Fri 10th December: End of Year Fun Day
Mon 13th December: Junior School Nativity Play 9am
Tues 14th December: Carols Morning & Staff Farewells 9am
As you would be aware, our activities schedule for this school year has been heavily impacted by the restrictions that have been imposed on schools. Alongside this we have also had to deal with various school providers and camps withdrawing their services due to compliance issues. Our Year 3/4 and 5/6 Camps have been cancelled as have various excursions and incursions that would have normally taken place across the year have also been reduced. Due to this we have made the decision to rebate any associated payments from events back onto family's fee statements. This is a rather complicated task but should be easily identifiable on your fees statements. We will reach out to families who will be graduating from our school who may now be in credit due to be a full-fee paying family who pays via direct debit.
On the school website you will find a listing of Fees Information including downloadable forms including:
- 2022 Fees Schedule
- Direct Debit forms
- CSEF Application Form for Concession Card Holders
- Smith Family Application Form for Concession Card Holders
Please encourage your family, friends or neighbours who are looking for a school in 2022 to get in touch with us at Lumen Christi.
Every year we proudly support the Morwell RSL Sub-Branch during their ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day appeals. The pandemic has impacted the capacity of the RSL to conduct their regular community selling points so more than ever we ask for your support o buy a Poppy. The items on sale this year include poppy pins through to key tags and pens. The Poppy Appeal box is being passed around classrooms and we welcome you to give your child some money to purchase an item. Prices range from $1 to $10.
Our Lumen Christi staff will be continuing our Protective Behaviours Program titled, Holding Hands, this Term. As mentioned in pervious newsletters, it is an Internationally acclaimed personal safety and child abuse prevention program endorsed by the Department of Education in Western Australia with Victorian Curriculum links.
This program is based on two themes : “We all have the right to feel safe all of the time’ and “We can talk with someone about anything, no matter what it is”. By teaching protective behaviours programs, we will be helping our students develop the life long skills of assertiveness, self-confidence, problem solving, communication, resilience and help seeking. The activities and discussions are simple and presented in a fun, child-friendly way, designed not to scare children but teach them some of the vital skills of personal safety and the importance of consent. The focus this Term is Body Awareness and many classes will be having discussions about the human body and body parts. The lessons will involve using the correct medical names for the body parts. Please be aware that the children may come home sharing words learnt/used in their classwork.
Our Child Safety focus fits in perfectly with National Children’s Week. Our Day for Daniel on Friday 29th, October, ties in with giving children the power to say, ‘NO’, and to seek assistance if needed. Empowering the children with these strategies will hopefully give them the safety they deserve.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact your class teacher or Mr Cooper or Mrs Colaciello.
Oct 23-31st
Children’s Week
‘Every child has the right to choose their own friends and safely connect with others.’