Emmaus Catholic Primary School
Term 2, Week 6 Newsletter: Thursday 1 June 2023
PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGES
Dear Parents and Care Givers,
I hope this newsletter finds you all well.
We currently have a huge number of children and parents who are suffering from the flu and other illnesses at the moment.
I hope you are all on the mend and please use the extra long weekend to rest and get better.
PENTECOST
Last Sunday we celebrated the Feast of Pentecost.
Pentecost always occurs 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus and 10 days after his ascension into heaven. Because Easter is a moveable feast without a fixed date, and Pentecost depends on the timing of Easter, Pentecost can fall anywhere between May 10 and June 13.
The festival of Pentecost is important to Christians today because it represents the beginning of the Christian Church. It reminds them how Jesus' promise that God would send the Holy Spirit was fulfilled.
Some people celebrate Pentecost as the Church’s birthday.
CODE OF CONDUCT continued
THE CONDUCT STATEMENTS
4. You conduct yourself in accordance with laws, agreements, policies and standards relevant to your relationship with the school community.
- Your relationship with other members of the school community is defined by whatever written or verbal agreement has given rise to that relationship. If you are a member of staff, it is your employment agreement. If you are a parent or acting in a parental capacity, it is the student’s enrolment agreement. If you are a member of the school advisory council, it is the Catholic School Advisory Council Terms of Reference. If you are a visitor, it is in accordance with the permission of the Principal to be on school grounds on condition that you act safely and competently.
- If you witness the unlawful or unsafe conduct of any other member of the school community, or breaches of policy or this Code, whether in teaching, administration, school support services, or while engaging with students in person or via digital or other media, you have both a responsibility and an obligation to notify such conduct to the Principal or an appropriate authority and take other action as necessary to protect students.
- Where you notify the principal or a delegate of unsafe conduct, including breaches of this Code, and that notification fails to produce an appropriate response in the circumstances, you may take the matter to an appropriate external authority.
- You respect both the person and property of students and their families, and of other members of the school community, and the property and finances of the school.
- You use school property and resources responsibly and for the purposes of the school.
5. You respect the dignity, culture, values and beliefs of each member of the school community.
- You respect both the person and capacity of each member of the school community, treat them with dignity, show respect for their culture, values, and beliefs.
- You interact with members of your school community in an honest and respectful manner.
- You perform your duties and conduct your relations with students and members of the school community with fairness and justice. This includes taking appropriate action to ensure the safety and quality of the education and care of students are not compromised because of harmful or prejudicial attitudes about culture, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, age, religion, disability, spirituality, political, social or health status.
- In planning and providing education and school support services, you uphold the standards of culturally safe and competent care. This includes according due respect and consideration to the cultural knowledge, values, beliefs, personal wishes and decisions of each member of the school community. You acknowledge the changing nature of families and recognise that families can be constituted in a variety of ways.
- You do not express racist, sexist, homophobic, ageist and other prejudicial and discriminatory attitudes and behaviours toward any member of the school community. You take appropriate action when observing any such prejudicial and discriminatory attitudes and behaviours.
- In making professional judgements in relation to the interests and rights of a member of the school community, you do not contravene the law or breach the human rights of any person.
6. You treat personal information about members of the school community as private and confidential.
- You use personal information in accordance with your school Privacy Policy.
- You have ethical and legal obligations to treat personal information as confidential. You protect the privacy of each member of the school community by treating the information gained in the relationship as confidential, restricting its use and disclosure to the purposes defined in your school Privacy Policy.
- If a third party asks for access to personal information, you must take reasonable steps to confirm the identity of the third party, and that it is lawful to disclose the information to them. You must inform the member of the school community that you have disclosed their personal information unless you are satisfied that there are legal reasons for not doing so.
- You seek advice if you identify a conflict between protecting personal information and any resulting risk to the safety and well-being of a student.
- You create and keep accurate records of conversations about significant decisions involving the safety and well-being of students.
- If supporting the school in any way, (classrooms, canteen, library etc), you must consider that confidentiality must be maintained on what you see or hear of any student in the school. That is, you do not share information with any other person.
NATIONAL SIMULTANEOUS STORYTIME
As you are aware, from our last newsletter, we celebrated the National Simultaneous Storytime (reading/literacy) event. All classes were involved in this event which took place at the same time in every Australian school. I had the pleasure of reading to the Year 1 and 2 classes, and we even had Spike the Sloth visit the children.
As parents, maybe ask your children what the message of the story was about…if they remember. The message was all about believing in yourself and to always get back up if you are down. Never listen to the negative people in your life who put you down, just believe that you can do it.
A great message to chat over with your children!
NATIONAL SORRY DAY & RECONCILIATION WEEK
Our school community commemorated National Sorry Day last Friday, with each student contributing to our 'Journeying Together Towards Reconciliation' garden display. Reading various books, engaging in discussions and viewing heart-touching videos of the Aboriginal people who experienced mistreatment as a Stolen Generation, our students learned about the importance and strength of the words of 'SORRY' for what has happened in the past.
As we ventured into National Reconciliation Week, we have explored how each of us can contribute to reinforcing the respect of all and achieving reconciliation in Australia.
2024 ENROLMENT INTERVIEWS ARE ALMOST COMPLETE!
Do not forget to enrol younger siblings for 2024! We are well over half-way through our enrolment interview process with places to be offered mid-June so if you have not enrolled a younger sibling you are urged to lodge an Application for Admission form without delay!
SCHOOL ATTENDANCE - NOTIFICATION OF ABSENCES
If your child is not well and will not be attending school parents are asked to please:
Send an email to admin@emmaus.wa.edu.au
You can copy your son or daughter's teacher into the email too. We require written confirmation and simple explanation for student absences. Phone calls are also acceptable but this will need to be followed up with an email too.
If you did not receive an Emmaus fridge magnet at your enrolment interview, please ask your child to visit the office to collect one to place on your fridge so you have our school contact details in one easy to find and very important place!
We have had a significant number of students absent this week with illness (fever, cough etc), particularly from our Year 2 class. We thank parents for keeping their children home when unwell so your child can rest and recuperate faster and also so the illness does not spread to others. We hope this extra-long weekend helps all of our sick children and families rest and be able to return to us when well.
SCHOOL PHOTOS
All of our students in attendance on Tuesday 30 May had their individual photo and class photo taken.
Class Photos/Portraits:
- Every student had their photo taken, whether parents are purchasing photos or not.
- Your child was given an online ordering instruction slip and a unique student shootkey.
- Log onto www.msp.com.au and follow the prompts to place your order.
- If you lose your shootkey, you will need to contact our Administration Officer to request it.
- The expiry date for online ordering is Tuesday 6 June 2023. Any orders received after this date will incur a $30 archive fee.
Year 2 Photos:
- Those Year 2 students in attendance on photo day had their individual photos taken, those absent will have their photo taken on Monday 12 June. The class photo will also be taken on this date.
Whole School Photo:
- Due to the significant number of Year 2s away on photo day, our whole school photo will be taken on Monday 12 June. Parents are asked to please ensure that their child is dressed in perfect winter uniform for this special photo.
Pre-Kindergarten Photos:
- Our Pre-Kindy students will have their photos taken during Term 3 with the date to be advised.
Family Photos:
- Family photos will be delivered to Administration for parents to collect.
Remember to order your photos before the expiry date!
SPEECH AND OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
It was pleasing to have a big number of 4K parents online last Wednesday evening to discuss feedback from our Speech and OT therapists.
Having so many of you involved in your child’s education and development was so encouraging to see. We will continue to work with our families in partnership for the development and progress of our children. Your support in all our programs is greatly appreciated and thus if recommendations have been made, we strongly encourage parents to follow up on these.
Emmaus Catholic Primary School extends thanks to Berry Johnston (Lil' Peeps OT) and Natalie O'Brien (Speech Plus Therapy Solutions) for their expert service and commitment to our school's early intervention processes.
URSTONG AT EMMAUS
We have well and truly catapulted into our URStrong program. URStrong is a Friendship Skills Program used across the year levels, which helps students to establish and maintain healthy friendships, manage conflict with kindness and increase their overall resilience.
Our Year 2 class put on their best Ninja gear at the assembly last week and reminded all our students that to create healthy friendships, we first need to treat ourselves like a best friend. They broke down each of the friendship facts to emphasise the truths about friendships so that we have realistic expectations when it comes to good relationships:
1. No friendship is perfect
2. Every friendship is different
3. Trust and respect are the two most important qualities of a friendship
4. Friendships change... and that's okay
We encourage parents to ask questions about what your child is learning in the URStrong Program. You will no doubt see and hear your child incorporate some of the key learnings and skills in their social interactions with others.
EUCHARIST RETREAT
The Year 4 students attended the First Eucharist Retreat at Holy Cross College on Wednesday 31 May. Our sacramental program operates under a parish-based, family-focused and school-supported model and with our students joining Holy Cross College and St Helena's students, there was certainly great interaction and a sense of community experienced throughout the day, with the facilitation by the Disciples of Jesus 24:7 guiding the students through the activities.
First Holy Communion Masses commence next weekend and extend to Sunday 25 June. We pray for all students within our St Helena of the Holy Cross Parish who will be receiving the blessed Sacrament for the first time.
LIBRARY BOOKS
A reminder that Friday is our library day where classes visit the library to borrow books. In order to borrow a book, students must have a library bag which can be a fabric bag. Students must also bring their book back to school on Fridays even if they have not finished reading it, they must renew their loan. We kindly ask for parental assistance with this process.
SCHOOL TIES ARE NOW AVAILABLE
Our school ties are now available for purchase. You can order ties (or any uniform item), by hopping onto the JFE website www.jfe.net.au and entering our school code: 9641.
Order online and items can be delivered to the school.
WANT TO HAVE FUN & EXERCISE WITH YOUR FRIENDS?
Emmaus students are invited to join our running club for the remainder of Term 2.
Day: Each Thursday
Time: 3:15 - 3:45 pm
Age Group: Year 1 - 5 students
Equipment: running shoes, sport clothes
Make sure you have an after-school snack to sustain you for the run!
Mrs Simone Wiles
Physical Education, Health & Wellbeing Teacher
REGIONAL NETWORKING
Last Tuesday, 22 May, our teachers attended a regional meeting at Mary’s Mount Primary School in Gooseberry Hill. This meeting was specifically for teachers to moderate Mathematics work samples and to form networking partnerships with each other. Schools that participated were, Matthew Gibney – Maida Vale; Mary’s Mount – Gooseberry Hill and St Michael’s - Bassendean.
Our aim will now be to have these regional meetings every term. As we do this we will rotate from school to school. Our teachers are committed to ongoing learning and improvement (just as we encourage for all our students!).
- Friday 2 June: Pupil Free Day - no classes
- Monday 5 June: Western Australia Day Public Holiday - no classes
- Tuesday 6 June: Reconciliation for Eucharist
- Wednesday 7 June: LifeLink Launch @ Newman College - Year 5 students attending
- Wednesday 7 June: Feeder Day @ La Salle College - Year 4 students attending
- Saturday 10 June: Eucharist Mass @ 6:00 pm, St Helena of the Holy Cross Parish
- Sunday 11 June: The Body & Blood of the Lord
- Sunday 11 June: Eucharist Mass @ 9:30 am & 5:45 pm, St Helena of the Holy Cross Parish
- Monday 12 June: Year 2 Photos & Whole School Photo
- Tuesday 13 June: Reconciliation Workshops (Year 3) 4:00 pm & 6:00 pm
- Friday 16 June: Year 1 Assembly @ 9:00 am
Have a fantastic extra-long weekend!
God bless!
Sandro Coniglio
Principal