No 10. Term 2 Week 7, 8th June 2022
Principal's News
Dear Parents,
As a principal, a large part of my role is to enable a positive school culture. The culture of a school community can be defined as the sum total of the behaviours and interactions of all adults and children, their attitudes and norms, and the extent to which the school is safe, supportive, healthy, engaging, inspiring, and challenging for all. Culture is what we do in the school or even better, it is "How we be in the school."
A positive school culture and climate is no different from clean air and water. It is the basis for sustainable learning and preparation for the tasks and tests of life. Conversely, in a toxic school culture and climate, learning by all will not take place effectively, and what is learned may be sustainably negative and harmful. When a school is a positive place to be, people are happy to be there, do their best, and make their best better.
That is why I am so thrilled by the 'vibe' in our school at the moment. Despite the fact that we have constant disruptions from either COVID infected or sick staff and students, there is a real feeling of gratitude that we are here. This is shown in so many ways. Playground behaviour has returned to our pre-COVID standards, systems and procedures are being largely followed by the community, and participation in all school-based activities is through the roof! It needs to be said as well that as a staff, we are all so incredibly grateful for you the parents and carers in our school community. Your ongoing trust, patience and understanding as we have and continue to navigate an ever shifting landscape, has been a large part of why we can keep doing what we do and be in our school with great hope and optimism.
We at St. Kevin's truly do stand together.
Jason Micallef,
Principal
PREP ENROLMENTS FOR 2023 ARE DUE NOW.
IF YOU HAVEN'T COMPLETED YOUR ENROLMENT APPLICATION YET, PLEASE SEE TRISH IN THE OFFICE ASAP.
Interviews have already commenced and places are filling fast!
WINTER is HERE!
With the cold and wet weather also comes puddes and muddy patches on the school yard. Despite our best efforts to discourage the children from jumping in said puddles, unfortunately sometimes the call of the puddle is just too much for children to deny.
As we do not have enough spare uniforms for children who get wet, we recommend that parents consider sending a spare unform with their child, just in case.
The children that have borrowed uniform items please wash them and return them to school as soon as possible so we have them for emergencies.
Progress Interviews
Parents are invited to arrange for a meeting between yourself, your child and your child's teacher to discuss their learning progress so far this year and to set goals for the second half of the year.
The mid-year Progress Interviews will be held online via video conference on:
Tuesday 21st June 2pm to 7:30pm
Wednesday 22nd June 4:30pm to 6:30pm
Progress Interviews need to be booked ONLINE and will be kept to a time of 15 minutes. Bookings are now open until Monday June 20 at 9am.
To make your booking:
Step 1: Go to www.schoolinterviews.com.au click on MAKE A BOOKING
Step 2: In the Parents “Event Code” box enter the code s33kv and click on GO
Feast Day Fun
Our St Kevin's Feast Day was a wonderful celebration last Friday. We were able to bring the school community together for our first whole school Mass in more than two years. Classes joined together in a variety of activities to learn and celebrate the life of St Kevin.
The afternoon was definitely a highlight. The PFA generously supported the organisation of Kaboom Sports for a surprise events for all students. A wide variety of activities were available for students to participate in, supported by our senior students. Thank you PFA for all your hard work with fundraising as we couldn't have done this without you!
Have a look at some of the fun on our video link below.
First Eucharist Parent Information
St Vincent de Paul
An update from our Social Justice Leaders.
Parish Renewal Programme
Upschool by St. Kevin's
Two more Upschool by St. Kevin's videos have been published to our Facebook Page since the last newsletter. In case you missed them, here they are for your viewing pleasure.
In the first of these two clips, Miss Fernandez shares with parents how to use the 'count on strategy' to help children solve addition problems.
In the second clip, Mrs Kroenert talks to us about why it's important to teach children how to problem solve.
Critical and Creative Thinking
Our year 5/6 students have worked collaboratively in groups to explore Google Maps and the services within their local community. Students have been applying reasoning and justification skills to observe services, which were nonexistent, but much needed in Hampton Park. Students have used their justification skills to persuade the class why their services should be included in their local surroundings.
Grade 5/6 students have also been applying logical thinking skills about where their service would fit in the community and make justifications. Students have constructed a map plan to plot their five additional services in the community, labelling streets, identifying the surroundings and landmarks near their services. Students are having fun, while demonstrating cooperative team skills, using their map plan to construct their three dimensional model of their local services.
Wonder Recycling Rewards
Grade 3/4 Poetry
The middle school has recently been learning about different poetry styles and devices. The focus has been on learning about how poetry helps us to provide rich description and imagery in our writing. Since it's been soooooooo cold, the topic of winter inspired the Cinquain poems these students have shared with us, Enjoy!
When you think about winter, what comes to mind?
Canteen Fruit and Vegetables
Due to the increasing price rise on certain fruit and vegetables we have had to remove Egg and Lettuce (sandwiches, wraps and rolls) and salad boxes for the time being. We will continue to monitor this in Term 3 and readdress the items for Term 4.
Some fruit and vegetable items are difficult to get at the moment. We will do our best to supply everything however there may be the odd occasion we are unable to.
Regards
Bellbrook Catering