Last week was a great celebration of the life and work of Father Julian Tenison Woods. Fr Woods was a well-respected geologist, botanist, explorer and environmentalist and wrote many scientific books and articles documenting the history, exploration and geological formation of Australia. He was an extremely clever man and went on to become the first Director of Catholic Education (1867 - 1871) in South Australia and the Northern Territory. Through learning about Fr Woods and his work with Mary MacKillop children were able to think about ways in which they too can emulate his work and become stewards for their world. Thank you to all our parents who were able to support with activities throughout the week and for visiting our Fr Tenison Woods Art exhibition held in the Beehive. The Art works will be installed in each of our learning areas.
On November 11th, the year 5/6 class represented our school at the Memorial Service held at the West Torrens War Memorial. Well done to all the students for the way they conducted themselves throughout the ceremony. Thank you to Poppy and Cassidy for reading a poem as part of the service and to Jesse and Olivia for laying a wreath on the school's behalf.
Next Wednesday and the Wednesday after, we welcome our new Reception students and their families to our community as part of our transition visit program. The children will spend the morning participating in activities and familiarising themselves with the school environment in readiness for them starting school in January.
Paula Burns has accepted an APRIM position at St Brigid's School, Kilburn commencing at the beginning of 2020. This is great news for Paula who has been involved in the CESA Leadership Discernment program over the past two years, but sad news for our community. Paula is a highly regarded upper primary teacher who has supported and contributed to the success of our senior students over many years. We will formally farewell Paula at the end of this term.
I am currently finalising our class groupings and staffing for 2020. At this stage I can share that the class structures will be as follows:
2 x Reception/Year 1 classes, a Year 1 class, a Year 2 class, 2 x Year 3/4 classes and a Year 5/6 class. Families will be informed of class allocations and teachers after the whole school transition visit morning on Tuesday 10th December.
Teachers are in the midst of preparing semester 2 student achievement reports. The reports provide information about your child's progress in each of the learning areas this year and will be sent home on Monday 9th December.
A reminder that the Redin Street gate is now not available for use as an access point to the school. Families who usually collect their children from Redin Street need to enter and exit from the Church carpark. I ask all families to exercise care and patience during this time so that all children are able to enter and exit the school grounds safely. If you have relatives that pick your child up, please let them know of these changed arrangements.
The bike racks have also been relocated during this time to the space next to the disabled toilet.
I'd like to thank our P&F for all the work they have done this year to support our school with fundraising and community events. We are very fortunate to have such a dedicated group of people who organise and coordinate the various events and activities across the year. The final P&F event for the year is the End of Year Celebration being held at the Western Youth Centre, Cowandilla. Food orders for this event close tomorrow (22nd November) and tickets have been sent home for the raffle which will be drawn during the End of Year Celebration evening.
Our last newsletter for the year will be available in week 9.
Upcoming events…
Learning Showcases (REG, REN, R/1K, 1/2S & 2/3T)- Friday 29 November
Year 6 Graduation Dinner - Thursday 5 December
Year 3 & 4 Aquatics - Friday 6 December
P&F End of Year Celebration - Friday 6 December
Year 6 Graduation Mass - Monday 9 December
Sports Assembly - Wednesday 11 December, 9am
Thanksgiving Mass - Thursday 12 December
As always I ask that you keep an eye on the school calendar for all upcoming events throughout the term.
With kind regards,
John Low
Principal
