No14. Term 3, Week 7, 25th August 2021
Principal's News
Hello dear families of St. Kevin's. These are challenging times but I am heartened to look upon our school community with great pride and hope. Despite our ups and downs over the last 18 months we have always said that no matter what comes our way, we must never lose sight of who we are and what we stand for. Indeed a test of an individual or community's character is how they perform when times are at their toughest.
I would like to share with you some of the principles that underpin our approach to being a Catholic school during a pandemic and in particular, what it means to be a school while we are not 'at' school.
- Above all else, the wellbeing of students, staff and parents are our number one priority.
- Be reassuring to families that we have all students' learning well in hand and that we remain responsible for their child's academic development.
- Communication is key and that we need to communicate as often as possible, as openly as possible, in as many different ways as needed.
- We focus on the use of kindness, humour, empathy and gratitude to help build and nurture positivity, and hope.
- Learning is designed to happen at a much slower pace than might be expected in the school setting.
- We take advantage of opportunities to nurture the relationship between the teacher, the family and the students.
- Understand that each family’s circumstances can change at any time.
We will continue to respond to our family's needs which are vastly different. No one day is the same for any of us. Just like a normal school day where our students needs differ and we need to differentiate for all to be able to access their learning at their level, so is a day in remote learning. Staff communicate and respond to families, with each other, with leadership and with the learning and teaching and wellbeing leaders and design a response that is appropriate and right for each individual context. For some, the programs are too much, for some the programs are not enough, for some they are just right (with some tweaks), for some on particular days learning is harder. This is why we will continue to encourage you to do what you can, when you can at those times.
Further down in this newsletter edition I have added the results of our recent survey that we invited parents to complete about how we are currently going in Lockdown 6. I have to say that we have all been deeply touched by the positive and affirming feedback. The suggestions offered enable us to be open to improvement and continually responsive to you, our families. We thank you all for the enormously challenging work that you are all doing to support the vision and mission of our beautiful school. We thank you for sending us encouraging words. Everything helps right now.
God bless you all.
Jason Micallef,
Principal
It's TONIGHT!
Log on from 7:15pm for a 7:30pm start.
Watch out for instructions on how to join as a household team that will be sent out to families today via SZ App
Remote Learning 6 Survey Results
Introducing 1/2AL's new teacher
My name is Christina Kharoufeh, I am 24 years old and recently graduated with a Bachelor of Education Primary.
I was lucky enough to have placement experience at St Kevin’s and absolutely loved the work and learning environment, everyone was so welcoming and warm.
I am most looking forward to continuing to build relationships with the staff and students at St Kevin’s. I have a passion for teaching kids not only for educational support but to develop life long skills. I am excited to embark on the beginning of my teaching career.
My favourite colour is baby pink. My hobbies include cooking with my fiancé , hanging out with my family and friends and exploring new places. I am also heavily involved within my church community, it is like a second home to me, as I am apart of their youth committee as well as teach Sunday school.
Looking forward to meeting you all both virtually and face to face when we can 
Last Day of Term 3 & School Closure Day
A reminder to all Families that the last day of Term 3 is Thursday 16th September at 2:30pm.
Friday 17th September is a school closure day for all students.
5/6 Visual Arts
This Semester the Grade 5/6 children are exploring Textiles, one of the Art Skills in Visual Art. We have looked at how textiles may be made and the use of a loom to weave. The students created their own paper looms in the Art room. We were lucky to have Phillip from 5/6 SP show us how his family weaves baskets for special occasions.
Weaving is a very important skill for children to develop as it helps enhance their fine motor skills. It is also an excellent way to develop eye-hand coordination and concentration especially when we spend so much time on technology. Creating, maintaining and weaving patterns can be a challenging task and develops problem-solving skills of a different kind. Weaving in the form of friendship bracelets, crochet, knitting etc.. helps children with focus and concentration, especially when they need constant stimulation and excitement.
We are very excited to embark on this journey of discovery and being away from school has not curtailed our creativity. We are now weaving our way through lockdown with some creative and imaginative paper weaving.
Children, if you have some materials at home you might like to try some of these weaving activities. Hopefully we will be back together in the Art room trying them out together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_FzuLwCZnk&ab_channel=Audrey%27sJar
A Message from Beyond Blue
Beyond Blue have put together some tips to help people take care of their mental health in this time.
Here they are:
- Remind yourself that this is a temporary period of isolation
- Remember that your effort is helping others in the community
- Stay connected with friends, family and colleagues via email, social media, or phone
- Engage in healthy activities that you enjoy and find relaxing
- Keep regular sleep routines and eat healthy foods
- Try to maintain physical activity
- For those working from home, try to maintain a healthy balance by allocating specific work hours, and taking regular break
- Avoid news and social media if you find it distressing
And if you need someone to talk to, call:
- Lifeline on 13 11 14
- Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800
- MensLine Australia on 1300 789 978
- Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467
- Beyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36
- Headspace on 1800 650 890
- QLife on 1800 184 527
Weathering the storm together
Beleza Uniforms
Dear School Community,
Beleza Online Store: Free Shipping on all orders over $100
Our Online Store can be accessed here: https://store.beleza.
We appreciate how challenging the last year has been for everyone, especially School
communities.
We know that there’s likely some families in your School Community who have been waiting
for our Metro stores to reopen, or haven’t been able to visit our Regional stores during this
time. We understand the challenges this presents, especially for families who are
transitioning to new Schools.
We want to ensure all families can access our uniforms with as much ease as possible in the
current environment. With that said, our Online Store is still operational during lockdown, so
we’re happy to announce that we’re offering free shipping via Australia Post on all orders
over $100. The shipping fee will be waived automatically once the cart exceeds $100.
Please note that we will endeavour to ship out orders as soon as possible during this time,
however please keep in mind we’re currently working at reduced capacity due to restrictions
in Metro Melbourne.
We hope this makes our uniforms more accessible to your School community during this time.
We would like to thank you for your continued support and understanding. If you have any
questions about the above, please do not hesitate to contact our Head Office team!
Stay safe,
Beleza School Uniforms