Dear Families,

Again, we have had a group of children represent our school in a Sporting capacity last week in the District Cross Country event. I would like to congratulate both Blake and Billy Breheny for making it through to the next round. All of the children who participated showed great resilience in giving the event their best shot.

Remember that school photos are tomorrow. Please ensure that children come in correct school uniform, black shoes and a big smile!

This week is Catholic Education Week. The theme of this year’s Catholic Education Week is: Catholic Schools - Places of Encounter.

Pope Francis has the following to say about the mission of Catholic Schools and Catholic Education:

To educate is to transform “creating spaces for cultural encounter and dialogue and making schools “educating communities” – means uniting students and teachers in mutual sharing through “a curriculum of life and experience”.

Pope Francis; June, 2018

Catholic schools are “welcoming places”

Welcoming schools have open doors, where fraternity is lived, knowing that everything is connected”

Pope Francis 2021

We thank all of our families for choosing Catholic Education for your children.

It is also National Reconciliation Week. We will be holding a whole school Prayer Service in the Church on Thursday at 9:30am lead by our Grade 3/4 children. We have a number of families in our community who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. At Lumen Christi, we support the First Nations People of our country to have their voices heard, to be listened to and understood so that true Reconciliation can be achieved.

Have a wonderful week ahead,

Sally

Please take note of these dates for your family calendar

TERM 2 DATES

Week 5 - CATHOLIC EDUCATION WEEK/NATIONAL RECONCILIATION WEEK

22nd May - National Simultaneous Storytime

24th May - SCHOOL PHOTOS

25th May - Whole School Liturgy (no Father James) @9:30 (National Sorry Day Theme)

27/28 May - Confirmation Commitment Mass 2 - Prayer Card Mass

Week 6

31st May - School Football & Netball Comp

3/4 June - Confirmation Commitment Mass 3 - Pin Mass

Week 7

6th June - Grade 6 Gifts and Services Night 5:30 - 6:30

7th June - School Soccer Next Round (Traralgon)

9th June - PUPIL FREE DAY

Week 8

12th June - KING'S BIRTHDAY PUBLIC HOLIDAY

15th June - Confirmation evening @ Sacred Heart in Morwell

Week 9

22nd June - LAST DAY TERM 2, 3PM FINISH

23rd June - PUPIL FREE DAY (NO SCHOOL)

TERM 3 DATES

Week 1

10th July - PUPIL FREE DAY (NO SCHOOL)

11th July - Term 3 Starts for all children

As a Catholic School operating under DOSCEL (Diocese of Sale Catholic Education Limited), we must adhere to the policies that are created for the safety of all children in our schools.

As such, we need to follow the correct DOSCEL process when your child is absent from school.

Parent/Guardian Responsibilities Are:

- Ring the school before 9:30am to notify of your child's absence and the reason

- Mark your child absent through PAM before 9:00am (PAM will not work after 9am) and give a reason for the absence

When a child is absent without contact from the parent/guardian the school must:

1. Contact the primary parent/guardian

If there is no answer, we then have to contact whoever is named second on the child's contacts.

If we are unable to contact either parent where there are two parents, DOSCEL policy requires us to contact your child's emergency contacts.

Please be aware that this process will be in effect this week.

The easiest thing to do is to make sure that you notify the school when your child is absent from school, first thing in the morning.

Many thanks for your co-operation.

Lunch Orders are on Wednesdays.

Download the Spriggy Schools app, set up an account for each child and start ordering!

Lots of healthy options.

They will be delivered before playtime so the option is there to include ALL food your child needs for the whole day - a day off from making lunches!

Instructions in the information sheet provided.

NB: Mini grazing boxes need to be ordered by 3pm on Tuesdays.

All other orders by 7:30pm Tuesday evening.

Feedback welcome.

This is coming up in a couple of weeks.

We would like ALL grade 6 children to attend. Your children will be sharing with you their Saints projects and serving you a meal.

Many of our students are using social media platforms to stay connected with their friends.

Each social media platform has a recommended age for usage. As a school, we recommend that parents use this as a guide when making the choice for their own children however, we respect that each parent is entitled to make decisions for their child that they feel is appropriate.

With many children accessing these platforms, we want to support parents by providing information about the important responsibilities that children need to be aware of, particularly in regards to sharing videos and images of other people online. Particularly in the case where pictures and images are shared without consent, it is highly important that children understand both their responsibilities and rights in this area.

I have attached here two links for parents to explore from the e-safety commissioner and Kids Health.

Especially for our children moving on to secondary school in the near future, this education is crucial.

https://www.esafety.gov.au/young-people/consent-sharing-photos-videos

https://raisingchildren.net.au/pre-teens/entertainment-technology/digital-life/social-media