Dear Parents & Guardians,
Now our Step-Up Day has finished, I hope that there were lots of children who came home from school with lots of excited talk about their new class; their new classmates and their new teachers. I apologise to those children who had to suffer me as their Step-Up Day teacher yesterday. Much as I would love to be back in the classroom, I really don’t think I can manage both jobs at the same time.
As I said last week, I hope everyone can appreciate the time, effort and thought that goes into the placement of children. This is never something that is done lightly. I also hope that parents and guardians can appreciate that moving children is an option that I am unlikely to take as this can have significant repercussions and can ultimately led to us having to start the process all over again and potentially ending up with the same result.
One of the great success stories of our new school community is that we have built a really positive and productive relationship with our parents and guardians. Right from the start, we have tried to give our parents and guardians a voice and leadership role in the school, notably through the School Advisory Council. I have been lucky to have worked with a lot of really good School Advisory Councils and the one we have at St Lawrence is one of the best.
On Monday, the School Advisory Council met for the last meeting of the year and for our Annual General Meeting. They elected a new Chairperson for 2024, Mrs Melanie Kuyl, mother of Isabella-Rose, currently in Discovery 5. Our previous chairperson, Mr Liam Wilson, stepped down from this role but will remain on the SAC with the suggestion that the chairperson role rotate to a new committee member each year.
The big decision made last night was the naming of our new school houses (sometimes called factions). These are the school houses the children will be placed in for various events such as school sports days and we are looking for these to become part of the foundations of our school.
This is a really important leadership decision – one that will probably last the life of the school. As a Catholic school, these need to be connected to our Catholic identity and, in particular, our connection the Franciscan traditions, given that St Lawrence of Brindisi was a Franciscan.
Our children in our Curiosity and Challenge Learning Communities completed a research-task that was presented to the SAC on the saints that they thought would reflect the values of the school, and would be good models for our students to follow. Some of these were presented to the SAC at the meeting, and from this, they selected their preferred names for our school houses, which are as follows. Note, the SAC also connected these to a particular value or disposition that the children should seek to reflect and a colour for the particular house:
St Clare of Assisi: Yellow: reflecting the value of charity. This will be known as Clare House.
Padre Pio: Green: reflecting the value of humility: This will be known as Pio House.
St Mary MacKillop: reflecting the value of compassion: This will be known as MacKillop House.
St Roch: reflecting the value of nurture: This will be known as Roch House.
Just as a matter of note, St Mary MacKillop did not belong to the Franciscan Order, however, the SAC felt that as Australia’s only current saint and one who has a strong connection to Catholic Education in Australia and Victoria, it was important to recognise her in our house names.
I would like to thank the staff who supported the children in preparing these presentations and to the SAC for playing a leadership role in such an important decision that will part of the school culture for years to come.
ADVENT 2023
Advent week 2:
Each advent candle has some special meaning behind it and presents an opportunity to think about the Christmas season in a new way. The second week of Advent takes us from thinking about hope to a related idea – peace – something we all need to think more about.
A Prayer for Peace:
Dear Jesus, you entered our world on Christmas as the Prince of Peace. This Advent, as we strive to become the-best-version-of-ourselves, fill us with a deep and abiding peace. Help us share that peace with everyone we encounter, especially those who need it most.
Amen.
https://www.dynamiccatholic.com/advent/advent-wreath-prayers.html
Amen.
Jamien Russell
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION LEADER
CHALLENGE LEARNING COMMUNITY ADVENT LITURGY
The staff will lead the school in our second advent liturgy tomorrow morning at 9.15am. We hope to see lots of parents there as we prepare for Advent and the Christmas season.
GIVING THANKS CAN BE THE GREATEST GIFT OF ALL
Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) is excited to be launching a Christmas campaign in December. The focus of the campaign will be on giving the biggest thanks possible to our amazing teachers.
To make the campaign more special, students have the chance to be part of it. MACS has created an online form at www.macsbiggestthanks.com, where students can write a message of thanks to the teacher who has helped them to flourish, whether by igniting their passion in a certain subject or by inspiring them to believe in themselves.
Not only will the messages of thanks be shared with teachers, but some of the students’ messages will appear on billboards around Melbourne and in future communications. We need parent/carer/guardian consent in the online form to give students the chance of having their message used in this way.
The form will be open until Friday 1 December. We look forward to seeing the messages of joy and positivity from students as we celebrate our wonderful teachers this Christmas.
2023 END OF YEAR SCHOOL MASS
We celebrate masses and liturgies in our school throughout the year, however, our beginning and end of year mass will always be celebrated in the parish church of St Anthony of Padua, recognising that our school is part of a bigger, parish community.
Our end-of-year mass at St Anthony of Padua will take place on Friday, December 15 at 10.30am. I hope that lots of parents, guardians and other members of our community come and give thanks for the year we have had by celebrating mass with us. Having it at St Anthony of Padua also means we can fit in a lot more parents and guardians. Please make time to attend.
2023 GRADE SIX GRADUATION
Our Grade 6 Graduation Dinner will take place on Thursday, December 14 at 3.15 pm. The 2023 Graduation mass will take place at St Anthony of Padua Parish Church on Wednesday, December 13 at 6.00 pm.
God bless,
Bill Hill.
PRINCIPAL