No 6. Term 2 Week 1, 21st April 2021
- Principal's News
- Access to school
- Covid-19 Update - Assemblies
- Statements have been issued
- NAPLAN
- Parents & Friends Association
- Wearable technologies
- School tours for prospective Prep Students
- Winter School Uniform
- 2022 Enrolments NOW OPEN!
- Looking for a Secondary School?
- A timely reminder from the City of Casey
- Birthday Celebrations
- School Transport available
Principal's News
Hello everyone and welcome to the start of Term 2!
I trust you have all had a restful break and a Holy Easter. It was great to be out in the carpark on Monday morning as we welcomed students and families back to school for a new term! I am pleased to say that all students have settled back into their class routines and we are looking forward to another positive term ahead.
No doubt, you would all be aware that this Sunday is Anzac Day, one of Australia’s most important national commemorative occasions. It is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealander service men and women who have served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations.
The Anzac spirit or Anzac legend is a concept which suggests that Australian and New Zealand soldiers possessed shared characteristics, specifically the qualities those soldiers exemplified on the battlefields of World War I. Characteristics such as courage, mateship and honesty, to mention a few. Each of these characteristics should act as a motivator, a reflection point, a challenge and a reminder of all that is good in our lives, and for all which we should be thankful. Motivation should come as we try to live up to these wonderful characteristics. These sign posts should offer us a point of reflection on how we live our lives in comparison, and they should challenge to us to live our lives attempting to live up to these characteristics. Most importantly, I think we take time out each April on the 25th day to reflect on the sacrifices these men and women made to ensure our freedom, to secure our way of life and to demonstrate what it means to sacrifice for others, things for which we should be eternally grateful.
Lord God,
Help us to remember the sacrifices of the ANZACs, Australians and New Zealanders, and the generations of men, women and children who have died in the cause of liberty and peace.
Help us to remember those who still bear the physical and mental scars and disabilities of their service.
Help us to remember the widows, partners, parents and orphans and all those who waited in vain for the return of a loved one.
Help us to remember the mateship, agony, courage and compassion of war service, but save us from ever glorifying the horror and tragedy of war.
Lord God, help us to remember.
Lest we forget.
Jason Micallef,
Principal
Anzac Day Commemorative Services
Due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, RSL Victoria is again encouraging Victorians to again ‘Light up the Dawn’ and acknowledge Anzac Day at the end of their driveways. Visit https://lightupthedawn.com.au/ for ideas on how to hold your own service at home.
As we did last year, we encourage families to send us photos of your home service that we can publish to our Facebook Page as a way of honouring our Anzacs as a school community.
Access to school
Please remember that our school yard is supervised from 8.40am – 9.00am in the morning and then from 3.30pm – 3.45pm in the afternoon. Any child in the yard outside of these times needs to be in Out of School Hours Care (OSHC). At 3.45pm all students who haven’t been collected will be brought to the office.
Please note: students who are at school outside of the supervised times may be sent to OSHC at the expense of the family. We are unable to supervise students at the office before or after school.
Lateness to school
Occasionally, circumstances work against us and being late for school is something that may happen from time to time. If your child arrives after 9am, they need to come through the office to receive a late pass.
Covid-19 Update - Assemblies
As you know, we hold a whole school assembly every Friday afternoon at 2:40pm in the hall. This is a highlight of our week at school as we acknowledge the great learning achievements of our students and communicate important information to our community.
According to current advice from Catholic Education Victoria and the Department of Health, we are currently able to enjoy the ability to come together in large groups without restrictions to the size of the group or space used - as long as those groups consist of staff and students only. For this reason, we are still unfortunately unable to permit parents and visitors to our school assemblies. If we permit visitors, we are required to adhere to physical distancing requirements, which would mean we would not be able to gather as a school. We appreciate that this is not ideal and we miss having our parents and friends attend assemblies. We hope and pray that our current pandemic measures see us being able to welcome families back to assemblies soon.
Enhancing Catholic School Identity Surveys
Earlier this week, all parents were communicated to via Operoo with information to complete ECSI surveys. We strongly encourage as many families as possible to complete these surveys so that we can gain valid information about how our community perceives our Catholic Identity. As an added incentive, there is a family Gold Class movie ticket up for grabs by one lucky family who will be randomly selected from those who complete the surveys and submit their receipt of completion before May 31. Please send receipts to the office via your child/ren's classroom.
Statements have been issued
School Fee Statements have been emailed to all families this week. We thank all those families who have paid their fees and levies or have made an appropriate payment plan. As you know, these charges are vital to ensuring we maintain the highest quality of curriculum delivery possible.
As always, if meeting your financial obligations to the school is a challenge, we urge you to make contact with us so that we can discuss an appropriate arrangement. In many cases, discounts and flexible payment plans can be arranged. We may even be able to suspend payements temporarily if your circumstances require it. Please know that your individual circumstances will be treated with confidentiality, respect and without judgment.
NAPLAN
NAPLAN assessments for students in Yrs 3 and 5 will be held this term during Week 4. Please be aware of the testing schedule described below.
- Tuesday May 11th: Writing and Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation.
- Wednesday May 12th: Reading Comprehension.
- Thursday May 13th: Numeracy.
Testing will occur in the mornings and catch up assessments will be scheduled across the week for students who are absent. If you have any queries regarding NAPLAN, including concerns about your child’s participation, please speak to their class teacher.
Like us on Facebook
Keep up to date with events happening in our school through our Facebook page
Parents & Friends Association
Our amazing PFA undertook two successful fundraisers last term and are currently organising more. The second hand uniform shop is also underway - look out for opening dates and times on SZ App.
If you’d like to hear more information or maybe even be involved, there are two meetings for this term. Both are in the Welcome Centre and will start at 2:30 on Monday 26 April (next week!) and Monday 31 May. If you are unable to make it, feel free to join our new Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/stkevinspfa This is where parents share availability and chat about our upcoming events.
Look out for Mother’s Day raffle tickets coming home this week. Prizes are a beautifully decorated cake or bunches of flowers. Tickets and money need to be returned Wednesday May 5. Winners will be drawn on Friday May 7.
Our Mother’s Day Stall will be held on Monday May 3. All items will be priced at $5.
Wearable technologies
A number of students have been wearing quite expensive and sophisticated devices like smart watches to school. We respectfully request that parents and carers ensure students keep these devices at home. We cannot guarantee that they won't be damaged or lost and also because they share many features of mobile phones that cannot be effectively monitored. If we notice students wearing these devices, they will be asked to remove them and stored safely by their teacher until the end of the day.
School tours for prospective Prep Students
We are very excited to be holding actual school tours for families who have children starting school in 2022. If you know of anyone who might be interested to know this, please let them know of the days below.
Tours are taking place at 9:30am and 6:00pm on...
- Wednesday April 28
- Thursday May 6
- Monday May 10
Looking for parent helpers during tours
At the end of each school tour is an opportunity for prospective families to meet and talk with some of our existing parents. This is a great way to express your pride in our school and help new families experience a taste of what it means to be part of our St. Kevin's family. If you are available for 15-20 minutes at 10:15am or 6:45pm on any of the above dates, please get in touch with the office to let us know.
Winter School Uniform
As we are now into term 2, students are to be wearing their winter uniform. Sport uniforms should only be work on days the student's class is scheduled to have Physical Education or Sport.
For girls, this includes:
- long sleeved blouse
- winter tunic, skirt or pants
- knitted jumper or bomber jacket
- Navy socks and or navy tights
- black leather school shoes
For boys:
- long sleeved sirt
- pants
- knitted jumper or bomber jacket
- navy socks
- black leather school shoes
Optional items for girls and boys include:
- soft-shell waterproof jacket
- polar fleece vest
All items are available through Beleza and can be purchased in store or ordered online. In order to preserve the uniformity of our student dress, we ask that students not mix and match sport and every day uniform items. Girls should also not wear leggings under their skirts.
We understand that from time to time, students will be out of uniform for a variety of valid reasons. If this is the case please just provide a written note for your child's teacher to let them know the reason and for the length of time your child will be out of uniform.
Please make sure your child/ren's school uniform has their name on all items.
2022 Enrolments NOW OPEN!
Tell your friends! Share the news! Enrolments for 2022 have opened and the rush is on to secure a place at St. Kevin's in 2022.
Looking for a Secondary School?
We know that some of our parents are still considering options regarding their child's secondary education for 2022 and beyond.
To assist your decision making, please find below a link to the March 2021 edition of the Catholic Education Guide.
https://victoriaschoolguides.
A timely reminder from the City of Casey
Birthday Celebrations
April
19th Tyler 1/2 DC, Aldyn 3/4 PE
20th Cianna PEA, Maluaute PKK, Manasa 3/4 DM
22nd Alexander 5/6 ME
23rd Finn PKK, Zavier 1/2 RO
25th Amasha 5/6 SP
27th Martha 3/4 BB
28th Ellie PDE, Samuel PDE, Saish 3/4 DM, Blessica 1/2 LO
29th Evan 1/2 HE, Gabriel 1/2 DC
May
1st Christina 1/2 RO
2nd Lester 5/6 DA
School Transport available
