Dear Parents and Caregivers,

The last couple of weeks at school have seen the children further settle in to 2021 school routines, and work has begun in earnest! It has been a delight to visit the classrooms and see such productive learning environments in action. All of the children are conducting themselves wonderfully in the class and school yard, and I have been especially pleased to be able to present so many Mary MacKillop awards during our Monday prayer services.

Thanks to all who attended our open classrooms and Picnic on the Green. It was great to see so many new and current families mingling and interacting. The sense of connected community was very present! Thank you to our wonderful P&F who did a great job of keeping our thirst quenched during the evening! We have since come together as a P&F to discuss further activities for the remainder of the year, so stay tuned for updates!

Recently we celebrated Shrove Tuesday with delicious pancakes cooked by Katina Dahdah and Bridget Hughes. It was great to see so many families come along and get involved. The following day the mood was more sombre as we celebrated the beginning of Lent with Ash Wednesday. Throughout the season of Lent, we will be reminding the children of the need for prayer, fasting and alms giving. We will be encouraging all children to “Be More’ in the way they live their lives.

Last Wednesday, Shaun and Martyn from Programmed visited the school to provide the SRC and Eco Warrior team with a presentation regarding plants, herbs and vegetables. They brought with them seedlings to plant in our vegetable garden beds in the Courtyard. The children enjoyed the presentation, and got to plant the seedlings together, before enjoying a delicious morning tea! Our Sincere thanks to Martyn and Shaun for their donation and efforts, which are very much appreciated.

As part of CESA’s commitment to high quality learning and wellbeing outcomes, a number of significant aspects of our school improvement agenda have been enhanced this year. At a school level I am delighted to inform you that our Deputy Principal, Jamie Deverson has been appointed to a system initiated role of “Leader of Learning” and he will be working with our newly installed “Quality performance team” consisting of Myself and Jamie, as well as Christine Farrugia our APRIM, Basia Steciuk (Early Years) and Emma Begg (Primary Years) as learning area leaders. As we have been doing in recent years, we will continue to work towards creating the best possible learning and wellbeing outcomes for all students.

This Thursday we will be having our term one “Learning walks” from 8.45-9.15am. This is an opportunity for you to visit the classroom and to see some of your child’s work. For those families unable to attend at this time, please feel free to find a time with the teacher to come for a visit!

School sport is underway and there is often a hive of activity before and after school as the various sports train for their weekend matches. I am now ‘enjoying’ a much earlier start to my Saturday mornings, taking Matthew to school cricket! Our SACPSSA Swim team has also been training together, at Mitcham Girls pool, in readiness for their carnival later this term. My sincere thanks to Steven DeGiovaniello for his coordination of all things sport related!