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Dear Families and Friends,
In this weekend's Gospel we hear of Jesus dropping hints of a change (biblical scholars may use words like apocalyptic or end times) as the liturgical year comes to a close the new Church year begins with Advent in a few weeks. We know at Christmas we celebrate the events of more than two thousand years ago when the birth a little Jewish baby impacted world history. Regardless of your faith stance it is incredible to consider the continued impact of this event - here we are on the other side of the world celebrating the birth of our Saviour, or for those without a specific faith stance it is still a significant date on your family calendars. As we rush towards Christmas, debating when is the right time to put up your Christmas Tree, I hope we take time this year to be present to those around us in the weeks ahead. In our school song we sing about being kingdom-builders and I pray that we can use these next five weeks of school to be the Light of Christ for each other.
Last week in true Lumen Christi style we joined as a school community to Remembrance Day. The day is more than just selling RSL poppies, it is about recalling the continued challenges faced by our veteran and serving members of our Armed Forces as well as to pray for our collective commitment to peace. Our students beautifully participated in our service held in our ANZAC Garden and the sense of reverence was palpable. Can I extend my thanks to those who contributed in any way to this event.
Also last Thursday we had a visit by our 2022 Principal, Mrs.Sally Darby. Sally had the opportunity to visit each class group as well as meet casually with the teachers. Sally also met with the leadership team to be briefed about our school and to begin the handover process. We are thrilled to have such a competent leader and joining us in 2022 to drive continued and sustained improvement for each student at Lumen Christi.
This Friday we are having attempt number three at conducting our celebration of Confirmation. Mass will be at 5pm in the Church and we remind families that all 16+ year old attendees will need to show their proof of vaccination. We are also working under advice that this proof of vaccination will also apply to all other school events this year where guests can attend.
Wishing everyone a terrific week,
Dave
Please take note of these dates for your family calendar
UPDATED ADVICE FROM DET/DHHS MAY REQUIRE US TO MODIFY SCHOOL EVENTS - THIS ADVICE IS VERY FLUID. VACCINATION PROTOCOLS NEED TO BE IN PLACE.
VACCINATION RULES APPLY TO ONSITE EVENTS: All visitors to the school must show proof of Full Vaccination
TERM 4 DATES:
Week 7
Friday 19th November: Confirmation 5pm
Week 8
Thursday 25th November: Advent Mass & Bethlehem Bazaar
Week 9
Mon 29/11 - Fri 3/12: Swimming Program
Week 10
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 (Years P-5)
Week 11
Mon 13th December: Junior School Nativity Play 9am
Tues 14th December: Carols & Staff Farewells 9am, End of Year Dismissal 3pm
This Friday we have another long awaited event for 2021, the Sacrament of Confirmation for our Year 6 Candidates. We ask for every blessing for these children as they receive the gift of the Holy Spirit through this sacrament. The Holy Spirit was given as a gift to the early followers of Jesus at the very first Pentecost, with this event often referred to the birthday of the Church. Like these first disciples, our children once filled with the gift of the Holy Spirit are urged to share the Good News through their actions, language and attitude. This week we pray for these terrific students who throughout their time at our school have worked hard to be the Light of Christ to others.
We congratulate:
Markus Van Rossum
Nino Ryan
Jacob Shaw
Lachlan McMahon
Zachary Jurdison
Thomas Lavell (Parish)
Paul Bonnici (Parish)
Milana Calafiore (Morwell)
At long last we are now able to welcome our Foundation Class of 2022 onsite for their transition activities. These are open to children who are enrolled as well as those families who are interested in finding out some more about Lumen Christi. We would like to thank the staff for their efforts to offer a turbo-boost Transition with twice weekly sessions for the new recruits. If you have any questions please contact the school.
Remembrance Day is always a special day at Lumen Christi, and this year once again our senior students led our service beautifully. Embracing the need to use video conferencing actually added something different to this year's event, while the commemorative part of the ceremony held outside in our Centenary of ANZAC Garden was very moving.
Many hands do make light work and our day was supported by many people who contributed in lots of important ways, from classroom staff and students through to Tania who has nurtured the Gallipoli Roses for months ensuring that they were in full bloom today.
"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them."
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Thursday Nov 25th 2021
We are excited to announce that our traditional Bethlehem Bazaar Day can occur this year. On this day, we will dress up as people from Bethlehem and bring some gold coins to spend at our Bethlehem Bazaar Stall run by Year 5/6 students.
The money raised is for families who need assistance at Christmas time. This fits in with our Catholic Social Teaching and Mission of Jesus, that being, giving to those in need who are less fortunate than us.
On this day we also come together in the Church at 9am to celebrate Advent. Advent is the beginning of the Church year. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas. The word 'Advent' means 'coming' or 'arrival'. The whole season is a celebration of the birth of Jesus. It is also a preparation time, thinking about Jesus and his wonderful contribution to our Catholic faith and Church traditions.
Swimming Program
WEEK 9 Monday 29th November - Friday 3rd December
We are so happy to be able to offer our Whole School Swimming Program. This program has the central focus of Water Safety and we offer this program as one key way we can educate our children and hopefully minisimse the risk of one of our children becoming a summer stattitic.
The PAM platform introduced this year provides parents with the opportunity to have 24/7 access to updating each child's medical form - this eliminates parents having to complete an exhausative medial permission form for each significant event like camps and swimming. Parents though will need to complete a simple permission form via PAM. These forms will go online soon so please keep an eye on your email inbox, likewise please go onto PAM and complete any updates such as medical history, medication or emergency contact numbers.
We will be distributing a newsletter soon that has organisational matters about the program.
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.’
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