Dear Parents & Guardians,
One of the things that makes our school such a special place in which to learn and grow is the fact that ours is a really diverse school community. When I walk into a whole school gathering like a school assembly, I see children and families from many different cultures and backgrounds. Each member of our community contribute not only to the development of our school but also to the rich tapestry that makes up our school.
Currently, more that 90% of our families have a language background other than English and we value and celebrate each one of these cultures. For me as a principal, this is a wonderful and educating new experience. Though I have worked in schools with children from different cultures, backgrounds and religions, I have not had the opportunity to work in a school with a community as diverse and rich in cultural heritage as our school.
Harmony Day is one way in which we can celebrate this cultural diversity. My hope is that this is a special day in our annual school calendar and a day which we can develop and build on in future years. Harmony Day this year falls on Thursday, March 21. With this in mind, we have planned some special events to celebrate this special day (though we have to balance the celebration of this day with the reality that this is also NAPLAN week and we want to make sure the children completing this assessment can complete this without other distractions).
On Harmony Day, we would like each child to wear either the appropriate clothing from their family culture or wear orange clothing noting orange is the particular colour used to reflect Harmony Day. We would also like the children to bring food representing their cultural heritage. We need to mindful that some of this cultural food might contain nuts so from this is not something the children will be able to share with others.
During the day, the children in each class will engage in activities to learn about cultures from around the world, in particular, those related to our school families. We are aiming to create a giant map of the world showing all the many countries from which our school families come.
To assist the teachers to plan for this event, it would be helpful if each family could respond to the reply slip that will be sent out via Operoo soon, indicating the cultural background of your family. This will help ensure that we do not miss any family or culture off our map.
2024 NAPLAN SCHEDULE
GRADE THREE:
Thursday, March 14: Writing
Monday, March 18: Reading
Tuesday, March 19: Language Conventions
Wednesday, March 20: Numeracy
We would ask that you make every effort to ensure that your child is at school on these assessment times, barring unavoidable absences like student illness. We will schedule catch-up sessions for those children who are absent, however, it will be difficult to provide catch-up sessions for all the tests that need to be completed if children are away for all of them.
EXPLORATION LEARNING COMMUNITY (PREP) STUDENT COLLECTION
Just a reminder that all our Exploration Learning Community children (Prep) need to be collected from school no later than 3.10pm. Until the end of this term, parents and guardians can still collect the children from the classroom door, however, you need to start preparing your child to be collected from one of the two gates or the kiss n’ go.
If you are collecting your child from either Gate 1 or Gate 2, your child needs a coloured tag on their bag so that the teachers on duty know your child is at the right gate. You can get one of these tags from the admin team will keep a record of this so that we know where the children are going. We request that you do not change the collection point of your children from day to day or without informing us as this makes the supervision of the children much more difficult.
SCHOOL UNIFORMS, JEWELERY & NECKLACES
I am reminding parents and guardians concerning the matter of school uniform and jewellery. As I mentioned last week, there are number of our children who are coming to school with jewellery, specifically, necklaces. For some children, we appreciate that these might have cultural or religious significance, however, necklaces in particular are a significant health and safety risk, especially when children are playing or engaging in their sports lessons. Wearing certain items of jewellery is not part of our uniform code, in the main for this reason as they are potentially a choking hazard.
Likewise, large earrings should not be worn at school. Studs and small sleepers are fine but if a child can get their fingers into the loop of an earring, they can potentially be pulled out through the earlobe which is really painful.
We are noticing that some children are coming to school without a school hat or school bag. Again, this is not part of our uniform. The school hats are compulsory as these are designed to protect the children in hot weather. Likewise, the school bags have been designed to correctly support the children’s backs which is not always the case with generic bags that parents and guardians purchase from other places. We would request that parents and guardians purchase the correct school uniform, including school hats and bags.
Lastly, we are also noticing that a number of our female students are coming to school with very short dresses. Dresses should be long enough to cover a child’s underwear when they move or stretch. If your child’s clothing is getting a little small for them as they grow, parents and guardians should be replacing these with uniform that fits properly. This avoids children being self-conscious about their uniform.
If you have any questions about the uniform, please come and talk to Caroline, me or Emma and the admin team.
PROJECT COMPASSION UPDATE
Today, I had the pleasurable task of tallying up all of the donations we have raised as a school community for Project Compassion. I am very proud to announce that as a school community we have raised an amazing total of $1,402 through the purchase of water droplets and very generous online donations. What an amazing effort from everyone!
Next week, we will continue to fundraise through the purchase of water drops and online donations. Hopefully in next week’s newsletter, we will be able to announce a final fundraising initiative.
Below is some information from Caritas Australia which outlines the personal story of Leaia – just one of the many people the funds we are raising will go to support.
Again, well done on the amazing fundraising effort so far. Let’s see if we can keep up the brilliant work.
Jay Russell – Religious Education Leader
THIRD WEEK OF LENT
Samoa may be a country surrounded by water, but access to clean drinking water is scarce in some areas, with many families facing extreme hardship as a result.
Leaia lives with her five children, husband, brother and sister-in-law on the island of Upolu in Samoa. Not having access to a reliable source of clean water caused Leaia a lot of worry.
Their home is not connected to a piped water system, so they had to rely solely on rainwater collected in old fridges. When their water ran out, Leaia had to walk with her young children to collect water in buckets and containers from a neighbour down the street.
With the support of Caritas Australia’s local partner, Caritas Samoa, a water tank was installed at Leaia’s home. She and her family now have a steady supply of clean drinking water at home. Next year, they will also have a toilet built, with the support of Caritas Samoa, which will further improve their health and living conditions.
“We are very thankful and grateful for the water tank. It has helped us so much and made our daily life easier,” Leaia said.
Watch Leaia’s Story
Please donate to Project Compassion.
Together, we can help vulnerable communities face their challenges today and build a better tomorrow for all future generations.
You can donate through Project Compassion donation boxes at school or online by accessing the QR code.
Photo: Laura Womersley/Caritas Australia
The Amazing Wall of Water Droplets at St Lawrence of Brindisi:
God bless,
Bill Hill
PRINCIPAL