Dear Families,

Thank you to all of our families who came along and attended our Athletics Day on Friday. Unfortunately, I was at a two day meeting with all of the other Principals in our Diocese and was unable to be there. However, I hear it was a great day! Congratulations to Gold house who came away with the overall win but to all of the children who participated respectfully and showed resilience when needed. Thank you to Mr Watson for the overall planning and management of the day, it’s a big job so we are grateful for his leadership in this area. To our staff, who always do a wonderful job making sure things run smoothly, their enthusiasm and effort is greatly appreciated. Thank you also to the Parents and Friends who ran the barbeque for the day, I’m sure this was well supported and hopefully a good fundraiser for the school.

We had a good turn out for our dad’s night last week also. Thank you to Mr Clarke and the other teachers who stayed to help on the night. I hear it was a great night and lots of fun was had by everyone there.

Tonight we have our Games Night for all year 3 children and those making their Reconciliation, so this should also be a good opportunity to come together, acknowledge those making their Sacrament and ensure that all children in their year are celebrated and a part of this special time in our school calendar.

Last week, we had Mrs Fahey in the art room work with our children and in partnership with Bunnings Warehouse to make some improvements to our garden. Mrs Fahey applied last year for a Garden grant and was given $900 to spend. The children enjoyed this opportunity and I would like to thank Mrs Fahey for the great effort she has gone to in making this happen and instilling great pride in our school grounds.

At mass this weekend, the Gospel spoke about Jesus meeting the woman at the well and the importance of water, the giver of life. All children have come home with Project Compassion Boxes, which focuses on donating money for people in other parts of the world who may not have access to clean, running water. Where families are able, we would love for family participation during Lent to help raise money for others in need. A little goes a long way and every little bit helps.

We are heading well into the second half of the term. It’s been a busy term as always and I’m sure the break will be upon us in no time as the weeks seem to fly by so quickly.

Our staff are doing an amazing job with our children, in particular we have been working hard on changes to our approach to literacy which the children are enjoying also.

NAPLAN is upon us this week, we ask that children in Years 3 and 5 make every effort to attend as NAPLAN provides us with very important school data that helps identify areas for us to work on.

Have a wonderful week ahead,

Sally

Please take note of these dates for your family calendar

TERM 1 2023 DATES

Week 8 - Prep Children Start Full Time at School this week

13th March - Labour Day Holiday

14th March - Netball Clinics Years 3-6 (wear sports uniform)

                 - Games Night for all Year 3 students 5:30 - 6:30

                 - School Advisory Committee Meeting @ 7pm in staffroom

15th March - NAPLAN Window Open for Year 3 & 5 Students

                  - NAPLAN Writing Assessment Day

16th March - Year 2/3 Class Mass @ 9:30 in the church

17th March - NAPLAN Reading and Language Conventions Assessment

                 - Back Up Sports Day (incase of cancellation)

Week 9

20th March - NAPLAN Numeracy Assessment

22nd & 23rd March - Parent Teacher Interviews

24th March - Casual Clothes Day and bring an Easter Raffle Donation

25th/26th March - Commitment Mass 3 Reconciliation (Receive your pin)

Week 10

30th March - Reconciliation Night @ Sacred Heart 5:30pm

Week 11

6th April -   Holy Thursday Pasison Play

                 Easter Raffle Drawn at school @12pm

                 End Term 1 Finish @ 12:30pm

TERM 2 DATES

 Week 1

24th April - School Closure Day

25th April - ANZAC Day holiday

26th April - Term 2 Begins for students

Week 2

2nd & 3rd May - Life Ed Van at School

Week 3

11th May - Mother's Day Stall

Week 4

Week 5 - CATHOLIC EDUCATION WEEK

24th May - SCHOOL PHOTOS

Coming home last week, each family should have received a letter and instructions to complete the "Enhancing Catholic School Identity" Survey. This helps us to improve how we deliver Catholic education to our children. Parent opinion is important data for our school.

The survey takes about an hour to complete and is done online.

We would greatly appreciate your support.

Many thanks

We highly recommend due to high numbers of enrolments at Lavalla that families attend this evening and enrol their children by the due date to avoid disappointment.

Standard 5

Equity is upheld and diverse needs respected in policy and practice.

Please follow the link to learn more about this standard:

https://ccyp.vic.gov.au/child-safe-standards/the-11-child-safe-standards/standard-5/