Last Sunday’s Gospel…

Mark told the story of Jesus healing in his early ministry. We hear that he went with James and John to Simon and Andrew’s house where Jesus cured Simon’s mother-in-law who had a fever. Many people brought others to the house so Jesus could heal them. All had faith that He could heal and that is why they were healed. We need to think about whether we would have and indeed do have that same level of faith.

Did you know…

The apostles were ordinary men. We know some were fishermen. They had families. Simon – later known as Peter was obviously married – Jesus cured his wife’s mother. Peter’s brother was Andrew. James and John were also brothers. In following Jesus they left their jobs and also their families.

News…

We are getting back into the rhythm of the term and are very excited about our swimming carnival. The staff worked very hard to try to think of everything and make the day run smoothly. I am sure you can appreciate that being quite a number of years since we have done it with all students, we may not have got it all quite right. The students were saying they had a great day and many of them were very proud of what they did – even if it was getting into the water with an adult and a noodle. We are very pleased about that! The staff will be having a critical feedback session so we can keep the things that worked and improve the things that didn’t. Please add your own feedback via email to our info@ address so we can include your thoughts too. Together we will create the best experience we can for the students in the future. I thank Ms Beckman for all the work she did with the whole staff making this happen and also our beautiful parent helpers for helping us all day! We couldn’t have held the carnival without you! 

You will notice we have included a second day for the students to be able to wear their sport uniforms. This is as was requested at the parent forum and to support the difference in sport this year which was also something parents raised at the forum. Students will be doing an hour of Physical Education (PE) every week which is the required time from the Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE) curriculum. This will be taught by classroom teachers in Semester 1 – Terms 1 and 2, and by the PPT release teachers in Semester 2 – Terms 3 and 4. The second day the students wear their sport uniform is for some additional sport activity time of approximately 30 minutes. This will include at different times fitness games, gross motor skills, fundamental movement skills and activities involving the new play equipment. We anticipate this to be a welcome change to the previous once a fortnight sport but please provide feedback to us about how your children are finding it. Most grades have sport on non consecutive days to help you with washing sport shirts. The exception is Year 6 – they will soon have their special Year 6 shirts to help with this. 

You will receive the term overview information in the coming days and be able to read it at your leisure. In the past each grade has run a parent information session based on these but we would like to do something a bit different this year. We are planning on running Meet and Greet Interviews with parents who would like one on Monday 19th February and at some other times during that week. We think this is more valuable than running through the Term Overview with you as a group. It is very helpful for teachers when parents to tell us about their child - their strengths and concerns, strategies that have worked in the past and anything else you think is important. To help with this we will be sending home, by Friday, an electronic form for you to fill in. You may be happy with only doing that and not have an interview as well. If you would also like to meet with your child's teacher we encourage you to make an appointment through our Compass booking system. We will send details home separately by the end of this week. Interviews will be in the classroom and run for five minutes. You don’t need to bring your child along. Teachers don't know your child very well yet so it is a time for you to tell them things, not for the teachers to report to you. That will come in Term 2.  

We will begin our assemblies from Friday of Week 4. I will remind you again. We are trying a new procedure. The assemblies will be on the basketball court and will be all grades K - 6. This is to provide a time to gather as a school community. A grade will co-ordinate each week and often share a whole school learning. Some examples scheduled are Easter, Harmony Day and Anti-Bullying. Merit Awards and Mission Awards will be awarded as usual. All parents and carers are warmly invited and we will have seats set up for you all. Please let us know how it is going when you have come to a few. I look forward to seeing many of you in Week 4. The Wednesday of Week 4, 21 February at 9.30am, is our Blessing and Official Opening of the new facilities too. Please remember to join us then. It will be a busy week!

God Bless, 

Ms Michelle Rolfe, Mr Lindsay Burns and Ms Emilia Ahern

Principal and Acting Assistant Principals