Dear Families and Friends,

What a lovely start to the week we had, beautiful sunshine yesterday to greet the last month of Winter but today a rather gloomy grey morning.

With the relaxation of health department guidelines we were so glad to hear from the students about their return to local sport.  Apart from the obvious health benefits that come along with physical activity just as important are the social and well-being outcomes.  Throughout my time as principal you would have read of my keenness to see every single student connected to a local sports club.  To hear from our excited children about their return to community sport post-lockdown only confirms the important role these local clubs play in the lives of not only our children but on families in general.  The connections parents make in these clubs is just as important - so if COVID has taught you nothing else, this year make sure your child is a junior Ram, Cobra, Cougar, Brave or hockey star.  I noticed on social media over this past week that there is an upcoming meeting to organise the reestablishment of junior basketball in Churchill - This is terrific news and I can only encourage our Lumen Christi parents to embrace this opportunity to get involved.

It was terrific to return quickly to normal once the return to face-to-face learning was announced last week.  It shows how used we have grown into the idea of lockdowns and remote learning, which is a good thing but also sadly something we will have to encounter yet again moving forward.  Can I take this opportunity to acknowledge the combined efforts of everyone during RL 5.0 - staff, students and parents.  Plenty of our staff are also parents and grandparents so are appreciative the significant strain lockdowns place on parents.  Without trying to jinx myself, we probably need to be prepared for future lockdowns and be aware for them to happen quickly.  It is worth parents having a backup plan ready in case the school is not in a position to offer content for families to do at home or to be able offer onsite supervision.  Fingers crossed this doesn't happen!

This week we are receiving more updated information about what events we can and cannot undertake.  Parents would have noticed the KABOOM! event removed from PAM which has been postponed but will definitely be rescheduled, but on the positive we have been able to confirm Year 3/4 Camp and Division Soccer.  As always we remain agile and flexible as we work our way through the year.  As staff we are juggling our schedules behind the scenes as most of our off-site meetings return but are conducted virtually.  We are certainly doing less kilometres in our cars but clocking up more onscreen minutes.  

As we push, weave and dance our way through 2021 we also need to be aware of planning for 2022.  Firstly can I congratulate the Year 6 families that have already completed the paperwork for their child's secondary school, as well as thank those families that have completed 2022 enrolments for our Foundation (Prep) students.  Our transition for our pre-schoolers joining us next year has again been interrupted by health department guidelines but we look forward to being able to offer a similar program to last year.  Please keep an eye out for information from the school and we encourage anyone who has yet to complete the enrolment package to do so we can plan for your child's participation in our transition activities.

Dave

Please take note of these dates for your family calendar

Parents can look on the PAM page for a school calendar.  Please have a look around the calendar and see the different settings/options available to view dates.

CURRENT ADVICE FROM DET/DHHS REQUIRES US TO POSTPONE SCHOOL EVENTS  - THIS ADVICE IS VERY FLUID AND THEREFORE ACTIVITIES MAY NEED TO BE RE-SCHEDULED

TERM 3 DATES:

Tuesday 10th August: BOOK WEEK Concert Day TBC

Thu 2nd Sept - Fri 3rd Sept: YEAR 3/4 Camp

TBC  Aug- Book Week Celebrations and dress up day

Friday 17th Sept: End of Term 3 (12.30pm finish)

Cross Country

It’s Thursday, the 15th of July. It's a big day for me because I am into the third round of cross country. I am the only person in the school to make it this far. I am very nervous. I have worked very hard to get to this point.

In the first round of cross country I came second. But only four kids from Lumen Christi made the second round. Then mid-race, in the second round I was coming 10th. Only the top six kids were going to the third round. Then I could see the kid that beat me in the first round in the distance. I ran as hard as I could to catch up to him. I finally passed him, and I kept on running. When I passed the finish line I found out that I came 5th, but none of my friends made the top six.

The day of the third round came. I was ready. The race started. Mid-way in the race I was coming 5th. Then I got pushed over and went right back but I kept on running. At the end of the race I came about 15th. I was really annoyed with the person that pushed me over but I just had to be resilient. 

Look out next year!

Written by Blake Breheny, Lumen Christi, Primary School.

Latrobe City Council are currently developing the next Municipal Public Health and Wellbeing plan and we want children and young people in Latrobe to have their voices heard.

One way we are doing this, is through an online toolkit that includes a survey and a quick audit. Children and young people in Latrobe are being asked to complete the survey (which will only take 10 minutes) and then either take photos, draw a picture, write a poem or write a list of words about your neighbourhood as a word cloud (there are examples of audit submissions in the online toolkit).

These survey results and audit submissions will then be discussed with children and young people in Latrobe as part of a co-design process of creating healthy places in Latrobe.

The toolkit is designed for children and young people aged 5-18 years. The survey and audit is currently open, and will close on Monday 16th August 2021.

Here is the link for the toolkit https://kidscodesigninghealthyplaces.com.au/toolkit/9f4dce8ebfc88a0d0e83124247d7e7c3  

Competition Time!

By completing the survey and/or audit, each child will go into the draw to win 1 of 3 prizes:

• First Prize: $70 Jump and Climb Voucher (Combo Giftcards x 2)
• Second Prize: $60 Wheelz World (Stadium 34 Moe) Voucher
• Third Prize: $50 Wyncity Voucher

If you have any questions about the toolkit, please don’t hesitate to contact Alisha Brooks (0437 189 320) or Audrey Matthews (0428 179 784).

Each year since 1945 the CBCA has brought children and books together across Australia through CBCA Book Week. During this time schools and public libraries spend one glorious week celebrating books and Australian children's authors and illustrators.

This year Lumen Christi will again be having its own Book Week celebrations full of fun activities! Our Book Week day will take place in August with the date TBC. Students are encouraged to dress up as their favourite book character or as something in line with this years Book Week theme "Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds."