Dear Families and Friends,

This weekend we celebrate Mother's Day, and though the rhythm of life across the globe is still heavily influenced by COVID, in our pocket of the country we at least have the opportunity to have a far different Mother's Day to the one we experienced in 2020.  Yesterday we celebrated our Mother's Day Mass led by Fr.James and we thank everyone who contributed and participated to the Mass.  The children also had the opportunity to attend the Mother's Day Stall.  Can I take the opportunity to thank the parents and staff who generously gave up many hours to put on this event.  Although it appears a simple task to organise, the coordination behind the scenes is significant - so thanks!

As part of this newsletter I have included a song from our great friend Andrew Chinn that was written during the 'free-time' he had last year due to all his school visits and tours being put on hold.  Please take some time to slow day and appreciate the sentiments of his beautiful song, I'm sure everyone will be able to find a verse or line that speaks to them this weekend.

Today we farewell Mrs.Alesi who is leaving to take up a new opportunity in a different work environment .... but I'm sure she will certainly miss all the excitement that a primary school offers compared to what Bek calls the nerdy-world of accounting.  Bek has contributed so much in her role and we will probably only truly find out all the little things she did when she has left.    We wish her every happiness for the next stage of her journey.

Over the past few weeks we have consulted as leadership, staff and with the parent advisory group about the best way to continue working alongside parents in knowing that we have not been able to conduct Parent-Teacher Interviews in our normal fashion of the two big nights of on-site visits.  Later in the term (Week 7) will we be offering an opportunity for parents to connect with teachers though we will have some simple tweaks to address the current health guidelines.  Please keep an eye on your email inbox in a few weeks time as the booking systems goes online via the school-zine platform.

Enrolments: Thanks to the staff and students who contributed to the Open Afternoon last Tuesday.  If you have a child, or know of new families, with enrolments please direct them to the enrolment forms on the website and also encourage them to reach out to meet with us.

Inter-School Sport: We have had a few wins recently which is terrific.  Apart from the health and fitness benefits of physical activity, the personal learning that takes place when we win or lose is so important.  As a life long Richmond supporter I've had more experiences of losing than winning over the decades, so I've just loved the more recent wins.  We want our Lumen Christi students to be driven and competitive but also resilient and humble.  So congratulations to the Soccer team that won the District Soccer Tournament so convincingly and also congratulations to the participants of the District Cross Country.  Today we had the qualifiers from the District event participating in the Division level against schools from across the Latrobe Valley - Well done to Cooper, Reed, Hudson and Blake.  Blake has qualified for the next stage where he will run the Lardner Park course against students from across Gippsland.

InsightSRC School Improvement Survey: thanks to all the staff, students and parents that participated in the survey opportunity.  the online portal for parents remains open until this evening.

In closing, can I extend a most sincere thank you and send all our love to all the special women across our Lumen Christi school community this Mother's Day.

Have a lovely weekend, Dave

LAST CHANCE TO PARTICIPATE IS TODAY!

ONLINE SURVEYS CLOSE THIS EVENING

Each year we take advantage of the opportunity to be involved in a school wide survey that can contribute to our School Improvement Strategies.  In Term 2 of each year, staff, senior students and a selection of families are offered the opportunity to contribute their thoughts and opinions to the process.  The survey tool is anonymous and can be completed either in paper form or online.

The online survey period for 2021 opens on Monday 26th April and concludes on Friday 7th May.  If your family received one of the packages we would really appreciate your support in completing the survey.

If you choose to use the paper version they need to be returned by MONDAY 3rd May so we can have them submitted to Melbourne by the closing date of Friday.

Please take note of these dates for your family calendar

Term 2

Tues 11th - Thurs 13th May: NAPLAN for Years 3 and 5

Thursday 13th May: Confirmation Workshop #2 5pm

Friday 28th May: Confirmation Mass 5pm

Sports Dates

Cross Country

11th May Division

Soccer

Division day TBC

Football/Netball

19th May District

25th May Division

This week Grade 5/6 made some delicious banana pikelets as part of our Oz Harvest unit. Not only has our knowledge of nutritious food increased, but also our cooking skills; using electric frypans for the first time. 

We also decided to incorporate a bit of science in our lesson, learning about chemical reactions and hypotheses (educated guesses).

Here is the recipe if anyone would like to try it at home:

1 cup of SR flour
1 egg beaten
¾ cup of milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
1 banana (mashed and overripe)

1 tablespoon of honey
Oil for frypan (we used cooking canola spray)

Method:

1. Mix flour, honey, egg, milk and vanilla essence with a fork until smooth
2. Add mashed banana and stir mixture wel
3. Heat frypan (with supervision) add oil or spray and spoon 2 tablespoon of batter to form small circles.
4. When pikelets bubble on top, flip them over and cook the other side till brown.
5. Serve warm or cold with cinnamon sugar or any topping if desired.