Dear parents & caregivers,
I was delighted to attend last Sunday’s first celebration of Eucharist and confirmation. Further celebrations will be held on Sunday 13th and 27th June. Our candidates did a fantastic job, and we were blessed to have Vicar General Fr Philip Marshall celebrate Mass. My sincere thanks to Helen Wilsdon Smith for her excellent coordination of the program, in partnership with our parish. I was also very grateful to all of the teachers who came along to support the students and be part of the service. A special shout out to Marie Louise Stoddart and Mark Bowman for their music leadership on the night.
Last week, I had the privilege of attending the South Australian catholic primary Principal’s Association conference, in the beautiful Barossa Valley. The conference theme was ‘Outstanding Leadership for Excellent Schools.’ There were a variety of presenters, including world renowned educational leader Professor Michael Fullan-who appeared via video link from Canada-Dr peter Goss from the Gratton Institute, Louka Parry-a local educator and innovator, and Peter Shearer, who is Principal at St joseph’s School in Clare, talking about whole school improvement. Our last speaker was Peter Kenyon from WA, who spoke to us about innovative ways to build community. I was very impressed with Peter’s presentation and I am hoping to use some of his ideas, as we engage together to continue to make this a great community! If you are interested in finding out more about Peter’s work, you can visit his website – bank of ideas
This week, on Wednesday, our children enjoyed a Pizza lunch day. My thanks to our P&F for coordinating all of our special lunch days throughout the year. Not only are they good fundraisers, we get to enjoy a variety of yummy foods!
Winter weather is truly upon us! This week it has been cold, windy and wet. As is usually the case during winter, the cold virus becomes active, and we see an uptick in student and staff absenteeism. If COVID has taught us anything, it is the value of good hygiene, and staying at home when unwell. Please be considerate of all, and keep your children at home if they have cold or flu symptoms. While SA has enjoyed a relatively COVID free period, we can see just what happens when an outbreak occurs. We are only one or two cases away from a Victorian style lockdown, here in SA, and so please be vigilant-including using the COVID safe check in, each time you visit our site. As a school community, we are working to make sure that, if a shutdown were to happen, we would be ready to be able to continue the learning program remotely.
Over the next few weeks, we will be welcoming some new students into our school community. We have 20 brand new Reception children ready to start school in term 3, in line with CESA’s third term intake. The children will have a number of transition visits, before beginning school full time from term 3.
This Friday’s Pupil Free Day will be a good opportunity for me to spend with our wonderful staff, discussing my initial observations and affirmations, after my first 7 weeks as Principal. We will also be engaging in discussion around CESA priorities for school and system improvement. If you haven’t yet done so, please consider using our OSHC service on Friday.
God bless,
Phil
Social