Dear Families,
Welcome to week 9! It’s going to be a busy week here at Lumen Christi as we prepare for our concert tomorrow night. The preparations are going really well here at school and we are very excited to perform our show for you. We will be heading to Lowanna tomorrow for our rehearsal day, please ensure that your child has permission to go as we cannot take any children without permission.

I just want to reiterate to families, that our concert does have similarities to Halloween, but it is not a Halloween concert. This year, we bought a concert package from a company that had a script and to help support teachers with choreography. We had the choice of two scripts, one was “Spooktacular Night” and the other was “Christmas” – which is not appropriate in September (Coles and Woolworths should take note – I saw fruit mince pies in the supermarket last week!). The concert script is fun and child appropriate and I hope our families will enjoy the evening.

This Thursday is RU OK day and as a school we will reflect on this as mental health is becoming a much bigger challenge in our Primary Schools than ever before. Catholic Schools are unique places because we spend time every day teaching our children about how we can care for others, show empathy and look after each other. We do this because it is part of who we are as a Catholic community all of the time, however, it never hurts to have days like RU OK day to remind us to check in with someone who hasn’t seemed themselves or connect with someone maybe we haven’t seen in a while. A caring thought or a kind word can go a long way.

Yesterday we had a presentation for our senior students from Catholic Care Victoria who shared the various ways that they support people in the local community. The children were inspired and are hoping to do a fundraiser at some stage to raise money for Catholic Care Victoria that will go directly to people in need in our community. In Catholic Social Teaching, this is called “The Common Good”,making sure that we act in a way that is responsible and caring for the good of all.

A reminder about uniforms – there seems to be a few students wearing sports uniform every day. A gentle reminder to families that the expectation is for students to be wearing the correct school uniform on the correct days. Thursdays and Fridays are the only days that PE uniform should be worn at school. There is a small number of children who have an agreement with the school for personal or medical reasons who may need to wear something appropriate for them. If no such arrangement is in place for your family, then we ask students to be responsible and respectful and be in the correct uniform at all times.

A reminder that next week we have our footy colours day and a fun lunch, so please remember to wear your footy colours and order your fun lunch. Thursday 19 th September will be the last day of Term 3. School finishes at normal time at 3pm on this day. We start back at school for Term 4 on Monday 7th October.

Matthew 5:15-16 says, “Let your light shine before others” – Lumen Christi means Light of Christ and we sing each week in Assembly that “We shine with the Light of Christ” – we know that our children will all shine tomorrow night at our concert. We are very proud of our school, our children and our families. We are looking forward to sharing this special night with you all.

Have a wonderful week ahead,

Sally

Please take note of these dates for your family calendar

TERM 3 2024

Week 9: 11th September - School Concert Night

Week 10:   16th September - Nudel Kart Incursion (STEM)

                  17th September - Divison Athletics

                  19th September - Last Day Term 3, 3pm Finish

                                         - Footy Day and Hot Dog Lunch (P&F)

                                        - 2025 Foundation Transition session 2- 2:15pm-3:00pm

                20th September - Pupil Free Day (Professional Learning)

Term 4 2024

Week 1: 7th October- Term 4 Starts

Week 2: 14th and 15th October- 3/4 Camp Allambee

              15th October- Regional Athletics

              16th October- Foundation Transition session 3- 2:15pm-3:00pm- 

              17th- District Cricket

Week 3:

Week 4:  30th October- Foundation Transition Session 4- 2:15pm-3:00pm

                1st November- Pupil Free Day

Week 5: 4th November- School Closure Day

               5th November- Melbourne Cup Public Holiday

               6th November- State Athletics 

Week 6: 13th- Foundation Transition Session 5- 2:15pm-3:00pm

Week 7: 

Week 8: 27th November- Foundation Transition Session 6- 2:15pm-3:00pm

Week 9:

Week 10: 10th December- Statewide Transition Day- 11:15am- 1:20pm

                12th December- End of Year Mass and Navtity Play

Week 11: 18th December- Students Last Day- 3pm Finish 

A huge congratulations to Alice who earned the Aussie of the Month award this month. A very well deserved honour for someone who consistently demonstrates our school wide expectations and Gospel Values. Well done Alice.

Our School Concert "A Spooktacular Night" is fast approching. Tickets are available on CDF pay now for $12! 

R U OKAY? Day is this Thursday the 12th of September. Check in on your friends and family. It could make their day!

A reminder about student attendance. Parents have a legal responsibility to ensure their child attends school regularly. At Lumen Christi, the optimal attendance rate is 90% or higher. We love to see our children at school and learning with their friends. 

When attendance falls below 90% (not due to illness) with no explanation, we are required to follow up with families as per our DOSCEL policies and procedures. In some cases, we may have to report absences to DOSCEL to ensure that we are meeting our legal obligations as a school.

If your family or your child needs support in ensuring regular attendance at school, we are here to help. Please do not hesitate to contact your child's teacher or Mrs Darby so that we can ensure all of our children are at school, learning and socialising with their peers.

A huge thank you to Luke Robinson for donating his skills and time to the school to prepare a play area for our Gaga Pit that is being installed today.

Luke runs Tubby's Timber and Tree Service. We are very grateful for his help and contribution to our school community.

Tubby's Timber and Tree Srevices can be found on Facebook or by calling 0427189173

I wanted to share with families a helpful link to learn about all things to do with online safety.

The e-safety commissioner is a great resource for parents when navigating the online environment with their children.

As a school, we will always reccommend following the government guidelines for social media and gaming minimum age limits. However, we also know that the reality is that many of our school children are accessing these things well before the recommended age and therefore, we want to ensure that families are well informed and supported in that choice.

The link to the e-safety commissioner page for parents is here:

https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/resources

We encourage our families to engage with this resource to ensure they know the benefits and risks of children operating in this space.

CHILD SAFETY & WELLBEING

Lumen Christi Primary School is a child safe school. We are committed to embedding a culture of Child Safety, adhering to the Victorian Child Safe Standards: Managing the Risk of Child Abuse in Schools and School Boarding Premises (Ministeral Order No. 1359).

We believe that ensuring the safety of the students in our care is an integral part of who we are as a Catholic faith community. The school acts in accordance with the Ministerial Order through policies, procedures, measures and practices, staff training and, ultimately, through the strategies used in working with the students and families within our school community.

We continue to maintain and develop a safe and supportive learning environment where staff are focused on engaging students in meaningful, relevant and challenging learning experiences.

If at any time you have any issues or concerns you feel you need to raise please contact our Principal: Sally Darby or our Child Safety Officers: Kristie Smith, Elly Smith or Janelle Szkwarek on 5122 2231 

We have recently developed a student code of conduct which we will be sending home early next term. In the new year, this will be something that will go home with the Parent Code of Conduct and the ICT agreement. It is all part of ensuring that we have agreed ways of being and behaving with each other. Staff have a code of conduct that they agree to annually also.

Please contact Mrs Darby if there are any questions or concerns about this.