Dear Families,
We are reaching the end of the first semester of the school year, and I know that after a long term, the children and staff are looking forward to a well-earned break.
My apologies first up for a longer than usual bulletin, but there are some important notices to bring to the attention of the school community.
This term has certainly been a semester that has presented some challenges, particularly concerning staffing. The dynamics of managing staff have become particularly complex, particularly in the current climate where there is a teacher shortage.
The matter of staffing can create discussion within a school community. At times, these discussions can be influenced by assumptions and inaccurate information; however, this can potentially cause further complications. As a school, we have had to manage significant challenges concerning staffing in the first half of the year. This is not a reality we have chosen, but something we have had to manage. In doing so, our primary focus has always been to ensure we support the needs of all of our students and that we continue to build a school community that is reflective of our Catholic ethos.
At the end of this term, we will see a few staff members leave our school. These people have worked hard to support our children and nurture them, but have now decided that it is time to explore new avenues in their professional careers. We will farewell Kandi Barrowcliffe, Jamien Russell (who will have his last day tomorrow as he is on leave next week: Jamien has requested a low-key farewell) and Caroline Madigan. We also farewell Rachel Wilson, who has taken a period of leave for at least the remainder of this year as she moves to the UK with her partner. On behalf of the St Lawrence of Brindisi Catholic School community, I wish them every blessing for their future endeavours.
We are hopeful to have new staff members starting in our school next semester. We welcome:
- Jessica Romano, an experienced teacher from the UK, will be teaching our Discovery Five (Grade One) class. Jessica will start from the beginning of Week Four. The class will be covered by a member of the leadership team for the first three weeks of Term Three.
- Clifton Neill, who will be teaching in our Discovery Six, replacing Kandi Barrowcliffe.
- Alec Montoya, who will be teaching in our Curiosity Two class, replacing Jamien Russell.
- Lindsey Manushewitz from Western Australia, who will be taking over a class yet to be determined. The teacher she replaces will take on the Religious Education Leader role vacated by Jamien at the end of Term One.
- Madison Scarnegie, an experienced Catholic primary educator from the US. We are not yet certain when Madison will start, as we are still waiting for her visa to be processed. Madison will teach our Challenge Two class, taking over from Milos, who left at the beginning of this term, and Thomas Punzalan. Thomas will now teach on Thursdays and Fridays in our Curiosity One classroom in partnership with Sarah Pace. Until Madison arrives, our Challenge Two class will be covered by Millie Hua, who has been teaching our Discovery Five class this term.
- We are still seeking a replacement for Rachel Wilson. We are investigating a number of possible avenues, but we have no replacement teacher yet. Please pray for us as we attempt to find a solution to this challenge.
I appreciate that this is a significant amount of change halfway through the school year, and I can only apologise for this. We have worked really hard to try and address the challenges we have encountered and find really good teachers to become part of our school community. I am confident that we have made sound decisions and that these new staff members will become great assets to our school.
FAREWELL TO CAROLINE
Next week marks Caroline’s last week as deputy principal of St Lawrence of Brindisi before she takes up her new role as principal of Our Lady of Immaculate Conception Primary School in Sunshine.
It would be difficult to underestimate the influence that Caroline has had on the development of our school. Quite simply, many of the things we have achieved over the last three and a half years would not have happened without her. Caroline has been one of the driving forces of our community; someone who has built relationships with parents, supported our staff and, most importantly, nurtured and guided our children. As principal, I have come to depend on Caroline’s wisdom, ideas and vision, and she has been an incredible support to me as the foundation principal of our school. While the school will continue to grow and develop after Caroline has left, she has had a huge impact on our school.
Next Friday, we will hold a special liturgy with Fr. Alex to farewell Caroline. This will take place at 12:00pm on Friday, July 4. The logistics of this are challenging, given we do not currently have a space big enough for all our children and families to gather (doing this outside in winter might be a bit cold!). I hope you can come and say farewell and thank you to Caroline.
A REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE FROM OUR SCHOOL COMMUNITY
As stated in this newsletter, we have a number of new staff members starting in our school next term. Jessica Romano (UK), Madison (US), Cliff (Canada), and Alec (US) are all moving from overseas. As many of our families will understand, moving countries is no easy challenge, especially with a young family as is the case for Madison and Jessica.
I am seeking the assistance of our school community to support these new staff members. I have already enlisted the support of one of our amazing parents with a particular expertise in Real Estate, and I am grateful for her support. If you think that you might be able to help, please let me know. We want to make this move to Australia and our school a positive experience for them, and as a Catholic school, this should be a foundational aspect of our culture.
SCHOOL COMMUNITY TEAM FUNDRAISING
At the end of last year, most of you will recall our very successful Colour Run Day. Not only did the children have a wonderful time getting very messy and covering Caroline and me in slime, but we also raised a significant amount of money for the school community.
Some of the money raised by the Colour Run fundraising is taken by the organising company as a cost for their services and for providing the resources. This still leaves us a healthy total left over – approximately $14,000.
The process for the allocation of fundraising money is that the School Community Team makes suggestions to the School Advisory Council for how this money might be used. The School Advisory Council then makes recommendations to the principal, who retains the final decision in the use of this money, as this follows the MACS delegation of authority.
At their meetings this year, the School Advisory Council have been discussing how this money might best be used. When we were fundraising last year, we indicated that this would be put towards outdoor school resources. We have agreed that this money will be put towards the following resources:
- The purchase of shade shelters in the four house colours, with the names of each of the houses (Pio, Mackillop, Clare and Roch). We do not currently have any of these, and in the past have had to borrow ones from other schools. These can be used for a variety of purposes, but in particular for school sporting events. With our sports teacher, Alessio, busy organising our first proper school sports carnival for Term Four (tentatively booked for Friday, November 28), these will be really useful. Our Admin Manager, Emma Daniels, Alessio and Jaymi Le-Ung, the parent who leads our School Community Team, are currently working on the purchase of these.
- Tables for the areas around the school. This will provide areas for the children to sit and talk with their friends, draw and play games.
- Starting to develop a sensory garden/play area. This would give the children an alternative play option during recess, an area that is quieter and more targeted for children who are less inclined towards very active games.
We might not be able to afford all of these in one go – $14,000 does not stretch that far, and high-quality shade tents can be quite expensive (though, from experience, you need better ones if you want them to last). This does, however, give us goals to work towards for current and future fundraising efforts so that we can get more of the sensory garden completed.
NAIDOC WEEK
The annual celebration of the indigenous peoples of Australia, NAIDOC Week, falls during the first week of the school holidays. As is usual practice in schools, we want to ensure that our school recognises and celebrates NAIDOC Week, noting that we have several children of indigenous descent in our school community. We want to help our students learn and understand more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, their connection to country and their long history in this land. Throughout the last week of term, each of our Learning Communities and specialist classes will be engaging in NAIDOC Week activities to give the children a better understanding of the important place Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have in contemporary Australian society.
PYJAMA DAY
The last day of Term Two has traditionally become pyjama day at St Lawrence of Brindisi. Our community is encouraged to wear pyjamas to school on the last Friday for a gold coin donation that will contribute to our fundraising efforts. We are mindful that we are experiencing some cold weather at the moment, so please make sure that the children come to school with warm clothing underneath their pyjamas. They must be wearing appropriate footwear, sneakers or shoes, but not Crocs, please!
WEEK ONE, TERM THREE: ST LAWRENCE OF BRINDISI FEAST DAY, GRANDPARENTS LITURGY
The first week of Term Three is looking very busy. We have a student-free day on Monday, July 21, as our staff will be participating in a regional Religious Education professional learning session organised and authorised by our governing authority for all the regional Catholic primary schools.
Monday, July 21, is the Feast Day of our patron saint, St Lawrence of Brindisi. This is always a very special day in our school calendar. Given that we are not at school on this day and as it is the first day of term, we have decided to hold our St Lawrence of Brindisi celebration on Wednesday, July 23. This will be a day of fun activities for our children when they will also learn more about St Lawrence of Brindisi. As usual, we will organise a liturgy for the children to mark this day, though we are discussing how we can organise this as we no longer have a space big enough to hold all the children at the same time. We would love parents and guardians to come and be part of our St Lawrence of Brindisi boat parade at 1.45pm in the Stage Two building or the basketball courts, depending on the weather.
Saturday, July 26, is the Feast Day of St Joachim and St Anne. This is the date Catholic schools usually celebrate Grandparents Day. This has also become a special day in our school year as our children love having their grandparents and special friends at school to show all the things they have been learning.
Some of our staff have requested that, rather than having a liturgy and class time for the grandparents in the morning as we have in the past, we do this at the end of the day, as this is less unsettling for our younger students. With this in mind, we will provide an opportunity for grandparents to visit their children’s classes from 2.00pm and view the liturgy with the class at 2.15pm. I hope lots of our grandparents and special friends can come and visit.
PERFORMING ARTS NEWS
It’s Showtime!
This week, the Curiosity and Challenge learning community students took to the stage. The Curiosity students used scripts and the Challenge students showcased their creativity by creating their own stories. The students spent weeks rehearsing, making costumes and props to bring their stories to life. The performances were a celebration of imagination, storytelling and having fun together. All students rose to the occasion, each having a go at using their active tools.
Puppet Power Playhouse
In Discovery Grade One, students have been exploring how to use puppets. Puppets are a fun way to explore storytelling, using their voice and working together. Students have made hand puppets, stick puppets and shadow puppets, exploring their artistic creativity. Laughter filled the room as students explored retelling and creating stories. Exploration Students also exported using finger puppets as an end of term celebration.
Magical Mask Makers
Discovery Grade Two has been exploring making masks to add to their characters. Masks are a quick and simple way to add to a character who needs a full costume. We researched masks from around the world and our favourite characters to create beautiful and colourful masks. Students then explored using their voices and movements to bring their character to life.
Catherine Carswell
Performing Arts Specialist Teacher
UPCOMING DATES
Just as an update to parents. We have made a change to one of the dates for our student-free days for Semester Two. We will now have a student-free curriculum day on Friday, September 5. This is not an additional day but a rescheduling of a tentatively arranged date that was suggested at the start of the year.
The Admin team will send out an updated Semester Two calendar at the start of next term.
TERM TWO
July
30/06 – 04/07: NAIDOC Week Celebrations
02/07: Prayer Service: Discovery Grade Two & Curiosity Grade Three / Curiosity Grade 4 – Challenge Grade 5 & 6 @ 2.40pm
04/07: End of Term Two: Early Close @ 1.30pm
SEMESTER TWO
Term Three
July
21/07: Start of Term Three
22/07: St Lawrence of Brindisi Feast Day: Jnr School Prayer Service @ 9.30am/Snr School Mass @
12.30pm
25/07: Grandparents Prayer Service & Morning Tea: 9.15 – 10.30am
30/07: Prayer Service: Grade Two & Three / Grade Four – Six @ 2.40pm
August
08/08: Mary Mackillop Prayer Service: Snr School @ 9.15am/Jnr School @ 11.30am
13/08 – 15/08: Curiosity Learning Community Camp
13-14/08: Grade Four Camp
14-15/08: Grade Three Camp
15/08: Feast of Assumption: Snr School @ 9.15am/Jnr School @ 11.30am
18 -22/08: Book Week ‘Book an Adventure’
God bless,
Bill Hill
PRINCIPAL