Dear Families,
I suspect this week, and particularly Easter Monday, will be one of those ‘I remember where I was when…’ events. I was listening to a American Cardinal discuss the fact that Pope Francis passed away on Easter Monday and that for the leader of the Catholic Church, this was a really profound day to be called to our Heavenly father.
I welcome you back to Term Two and what is likely to be a very busy and very important term for our school community.
Every four years, all schools must complete a school review. This is a really important milestone for a school. It provides an opportunity to assess the progress that has been made over the previous four years and to set a path for the future. Our school review is scheduled for the beginning of Term Three and there is a lot of preparation and hard work required this term to make sure we are ready.
This will be our first school review and as a young school in its first few years, this is a great opportunity for us to identify the successes we have had in building our school community but also to be honest and address the areas where further improvement and development is required.
No school should ever stand still. They should always be striving to improve, to create better learning opportunities for their students and build on the strength of their community. For me as principal, I am driven by a desire to make our school the best school we can be, to be a shining example of an outstanding Catholic school and to be the best school in Melton. As the founding principal, I have a vested interest in achieving this goal and the school review will be an important step in working towards the achievement of this goal. As I have always said, we will only achieve this by working together, continually learning and reflecting and always trying to do better.
STAFFING UPDATE
Over the easter holidays, the leadership team have been working hard to address some of the staffing challenges we faced at the end of last term. We have been able to make some progress in this and you will notice some new faces around the school.
We welcome two new Learning Support Officers to our staff team: Catherine Millar and Yondette Dungca. Yondette will be familiar to some of you as she is the mother of Florence in Discovery Grade One and is also currently the chair of our School Advisory Council. Catherine joins us from Melton West Primary School, and I am confident both will make a positive contribution to our staff.
We also welcome Andrew Mackinnon as our new Maintenance Officer and Gardener. Andrew replaces Joe Zerafa who resigned from this position last term. Andrew will help us ensure that our building and grounds are looked after and as safe as we can make them for our children.
We have managed to also replace Lauren Chamberlain, who was teaching Discovery 5 (Grade Two) last term. From next week this class will be taught by new teacher to our school, Millie Hua. Millie is not able to work for the whole year so Millie will cover this class until a new teacher from the UK, Jessica Romano, arrives.
We actually employed Jessica right at the end of last year and have been working since that time to sponsor her for a visa to live and work in Australia. Jessica is a highly experienced teacher with outstanding references, and we are really confident that she will be a great asset to our school. We are finding the process of getting the visa for Jessica very challenging as we are at the mercy of the Department of Home Affairs are taking their time in completing this process which is very frustrating. Jessica was intended to teach our Curiosity 2 (Grade 3) class; however, I have had to make some changes to our original plan.
Jamien Russell, who held the position as our Religious Education Leader has taken the decision to step down from this role. This means that Jamien will return to the classroom full time. Karina Romania and Nicky Gauci who have been teaching this class are due to start their maternity leave in the next few weeks so Jamien will take over from them and teach our Curiosity 2 class for the rest of the year. This maintains consistency for these children as he has been working in that year level over the last few years. Replacing Jamien’s role in our Curiosity 1 class which he shared with Sarah Pace is still to be determined.
This is also the last term at St Lawrence of Brindisi for Caroline Madigan before she starts her new role as Principal of Our Lady of Immaculate Conception in Sunshine in Term Three. I now have the very challenging task of finding a suitable replacement for Caroline which is not going to be easy as she is a critical part of our school and will leave huge hole to fill.
ANZAC DAY
Today, we will celebrate ANZAC Day with a special prayer service with our children as a mark of respect to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the service of our country. Tomorrow, our student leaders will take part in the dawn service at the Cenotaph in Melton to represent our school.
AUSLAN DAY
One of the successes of our school community since we opened has been the implementation of our teacher as co-learner (TCL) Auslan program. This has become a foundational part of our school culture and watching the children sing the school song in Auslan or recite the welcome to country is one of my great joys.
Today, our Languages Leader, Natalie Bruzzese has organised an Auslan celebration day for our children to celebrate the learning of Auslan in the school. I am sure this was a positive experience for our children.
Please keep a look out for next weeks news bulletin as we will be posting photos and providing an update of how the day went.
I am sure that your children will be coming home and sharing the AUSLAN basketball challenge between staff and students. The excitement was priceless.
UPCOMING DATES
Please note that there has been a change to one of our previously scheduled student-free days. We had scheduled a tentative student-free day for Monday, August 11 with the intention that we would use this after our school review to work with staff on developing a roadmap for our future progress based on the recommendations of the review.
Our governing authority, however, has requested that this day take place before the school review so that they can work with the staff team to prepare for this. Consequently, they have requested that we reschedule our student-free day for Tuesday, May 27.
I sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused by this change and want to give parents and guardians as much notice as possible so that you can plan accordingly. Unfortunately, we have to work around the schedule of MACS in the preparation for the school review this is change is beyond our control.
TERM TWO
April
18/04: Good Friday
20/04: Easter Sunday
21/04: Public Holiday
22/04: First Day of Term Two
Easter Prayer Service: Snr School @ 9.15am/Jnr School @ 11.30am
25/04: Public Holiday
28/04: Student Free Day
30/04: Prayer Service: Grade Two & Three / Grade Four – Six @ 2.40pm
May
01/05: Senior School Assembly: Grade Five
08/05: Senior School Assembly: Grade Six
09/05: Mother’s Day Liturgy & Morning Tea: 8.00 – 10.00am
14/05: Prayer Service: Exploration & Grade One / Grade Four – Six @ 2.40pm
15/05: Junior School Assembly: Grade Two
21/05: Prayer Service: Grade Two & Three / Grade Four – Six @ 2.40pm
22/05: Senior School Assembly: Grade Four
27/05: Student-Free Day
28/05: Prayer Service: Exploration & Grade 1 / Grade 4 – 6 @ 2.40pm
29/05: Junior School Assembly: Grade One
June
04/06: Grade Two & Three / Grade Four – Six @ 2.40pm
06/06: Student Free Day
09/06: Public Holiday
12/06: Senior School Assembly: Grade Three
13/06: St Anthony’s Feast Day Prayer Service: Snr School @ 9.15am/Jnr School @ 11.30am
18/06: Prayer Service: Exploration & Grade One/ Grade Four – Six @ 2.40pm
Eucharist Sacramental Retreat (Grade Three students)
19/06: Junior School Assembly: Exploration
21/06: Eucharist Masses @ St Anthony’s @ 5.30pm
23/06: Semester One Reports to Go Home
25/06: Three-Way Learning Conversations: 12.30 – 6.00pm
26/06: Three-Way Learning Conversations: 12.30 – 6.00pm
July
30/06 – 04/07: NAIDOC Week Celebrations
02/07: Prayer Service: Grade Two & Three / Grade Four – Six @ 2.40pm
04/07: End of Term Two: Early Close @ 1.30pm
God bless,
Bill Hill
PRINCIPAL