St Luke's Catholic Primary
NEWSLETTER | 14TH MARCH 2024
Message From The Principal
Dear Parents & Carers,
It’s hard to believe we are approaching the end of Term 1. This week has been busy with NAPLAN, our school review, and the swimming carnival, which will occur tomorrow.
Quality Catholic Education School Review
The Quality Catholic Education School Review (QCESR) takes place over three days and concludes on Friday. The Review provides an opportunity for a panel of educators external to the school to affirm, challenge, and report on the school's improvement journey and the principal's leadership. It is an important mechanism to assist in pursuing Catholic schools of excellence through the lens of the QCE. Additionally, the QCESR provides feedback to the Principal on their leadership of the school in line with the Catholic School Principal Duties & Responsibilities. It gives the Principal feedback to assist in their faith formation, growth and development.
Splatacular Colour Run
A big thank you to everyone who came along and participated in the Splatacular Fun Run last Friday. The students had lots of fun, and as a school, we are very grateful to the parents from the P&F who generously gave their time to ensure this was a huge success.
Parent Teacher Interviews
Next Tuesday, 19th March, is an opportunity for you to meet with your child’s teacher to discuss their progress this year. We know that education is a partnership between school and home; I trust you can attend at a convenient time.
Assembly Friday 22nd March
Following the Year 2 Harmony Day assembly on Friday, 22nd March at 8:45am, a Year 6 will shave his head to raise money and awareness for research into blood cancer through the Leukaemia Foundation. You may remember that a Year 6 child did this last year; this may be a regular event on our calendar. Please see further information below for those who may wish to donate to this worthy cause.
Staffing
At the end of this term, we farewell Ms Elissa Donegan and Mr Eddie Gibbs. Elissa has resigned from her position as a Year Two teacher to prepare for the birth of her first child. We thank Elissa for all she has contributed to the children in her care during her three terms at St Luke’s. Ms Emilee Conca will join the Year 2 team in Term 2. Eddie leaves us to complete his final year of Bachelor of Education studies. We are grateful for Eddie’s support for the children in middle primary at their point of need.
Mrs Sarah Williams will take on the Principal role for six weeks from 2 May, and Mrs Natalie Vennitti will take the Assistant Principal role. During this time, I will complete a Pilgrimage in Turkey and Greece following the Journey of St Paul. This pilgrimage will support my personal and spiritual well-being whilst allowing me to connect with the life of St Paul, who greatly influenced St Luke. It was Paul who taught Luke the Gospel, and Luke likely accompanied St Paul on some of his missionary journeys.
Luke, a gentile, was born in Antioch and is believed to have been associated with the Christian Community there, which was an important centre of early Christianity. The Gospel of Luke is believed to have been written in Antioch, Ephesus or Smyrna (Izmir), all of which we visit on this pilgrimage.
As we move towards the end of Term 1 and enter Holy Week, it’s appropriate that we reflect on the words Jesus spoke to His disciples the night before he died:
Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God still and trust in Me (Jn 14:1)
These words are as relevant today as they were over 2 000 years ago. As we face this year's challenges, whether deeply personal or global, let us remember that, as people of Hope, we have much to celebrate and be grateful for.
The Easter story is a message of hope for the world. It is the story of God’s immense love for all humanity and creation. As we hear this story each Easter, we can be moved to a renewed faith and commitment to God, who never ceases to always work in our lives.
I wish all members of our community a very blessed Easter and holiday period.
God Bless,
Kerry Hewitson
Principal
Message from the Assistant Principals
Parent Teacher Interviews
Term 1 Parent Teacher interviews will take place during Week 8, with the majority of interviews being held on Tuesday 19th March. On interview day, students can be picked up at 12:00pm from the classroom door if you wish, however; please be aware that supervision will be provided for students until 2:55pm.
Interview sessions will run for 10 minutes. If you have something to discuss with your child's teacher that will take more than your allotted time, please contact them to make an alternative arrangement.
Bookings will close on Friday 15th March at 3:00pm, if you would like to make a time to meet with your child's teacher, click here.
Project Compassion
At the beginning of Lent, the eldest child in each family was given a Project Compassion box to bring home. Please return these to school by the end of Week 8. All donations are greatly appreciated and help communities both locally and around the world to end poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity.
Playgrounds
A reminder that the playgrounds are out of bounds before and after school. This includes for younger siblings, even if they are being supervised by a parent.
Neurodiversity
Did you know that 15 to 20% of the population is estimated to be neurodivergent?
Our staff have recently completed professional development on Neurodiversity with CEWA Psychologist, Kristy Mcavan in order to further support the neurodivergent children in our school community.
Starting next term, each newsletter will have a 'Parents Corner' containing information and tips & tricks to further support children at home.
St Luke's Community Calendar
Recently, we have transitioned our Community Calendar to an Outlook platform. As always, the calendar is updated live here on our website. You can download this calendar to your personal device for your convenience.
Action for Happiness: Happier Kinder Together
You may be interested in the free Action for Happiness app for iOS and Android, for more info click this link: https://actionforhappiness.org/all-calendars
Please click here for this week's Kids' Bulletin and activities.
Have a wonderful end to the week and an even better weekend!
Sarah Williams & Kristy Graffin
Assistant Principals
World's Greatest Shave
Hi, my name is Sam G and I'm in 6 Blue at St Luke’s. I'm hoping people will sponsor me to shave my head on March 22, so I can raise awareness and assist the Leukaemia Foundation to help more people with blood cancer.
Blood cancer is Australia's hidden cancer crisis. There are 140,000 families facing blood cancer right now. And it takes the lives of 16 Australians every day. These numbers are set to double by 2035. Unless we do something about it. That's why I've signed up for the World's Greatest Shave.
I'm raising funds for the Leukaemia Foundation to give Australians facing blood cancer life-changing practical and emotional support. And to fund critical research, bringing us closer to the day when zero lives are lost to blood cancer.
Will you be part of my World's Greatest Shave community and donate to my page?
Your donation means that together, we're working to stop blood cancer in its tracks.
Any amount – big or small – will make a real, tangible difference.
The school is kindly allowing me to complete the ‘World’s Greatest Shave’ at an assembly. If you are able to donate, please go to the link below to access my fundraising page.
Thank you.
Upcoming Events
As calendar dates can be subject to change, please always confirm events by checking our online calendar - https://www.stlukeswoodvale.wa.edu.au/community-calendar
Week 7
Friday 15th March
- Faction Swimming Carnival Years 4-6
Week 8
Tuesday 19th March
- Interschool Swimming Carnival (Years 4-6)
- Year 5/6 Class Mass- Feast of St Joseph 9:00am
- Parent Teacher Interviews 12:30-6:00pm
- P&F Meeting (in Library) 7:30pm
Wednesday 20th March
- SHINE Meeting of the Minds
Friday 22nd March
- Harmony Day Assembly 8:45am
- Fathering Group School Sleep Out
Week 9
- Easter Liturgies
Thursday 28th March
- Term 1 Concludes
Term 2 Commences on Monday 15th April
Merit Awards
Congratulations to our recent Merit Award recipients.
School Social Media
- St Luke's Facebook
- St Luke's P&F
- P&F Fathering Group
- St Luke's Twitter
- St Luke's Instagram- @stlukeswoodvale
- Lulu the St Luke's Dog Instagram- @luluthestlukesdog
Each year level also has a Facebook group for families to join which are managed by our class representatives. These groups are a great way to keep in contact with other families in your child's year level and can be found here.
From the P&F
Colour Splatacular
St Luke's first colour Splatacular was a success! It was amazing to see lots of smiles and the students having fun.
Thank you to all our volunteers who helped out on the day. It wouldn't have been a success without your help. A massive thank you to Miss R, for all your preparation and hard work on the day. Thank you to Karl and Mary Wright for providing our students with icy poles.
Our St Luke's community raised just over $9,000. A great result for our first colour Splatacular.
The donations made resulted in:
27 corals planted
361 turtle tokens
71 trees planted
1476 meals donated
91 book tokens
Congratulations to Calogero (PPB), who was our highest fundraiser student, and to PPB our highest fundraiser class.
Easter Raffle
Our Easter Raffle is fast approaching. Thank you to our Kindy families for organising and for the prize donations. Tickets for $1 (cash only) will be available to purchase every morning outside the Library from Wednesday 20th March to Wednesday 27th March.
Winners will be drawn on the 27th March with prizes being delivered on the last day of term.
P&F Meeting
Our next P&F meeting is on Tuesday the 19th @ 7:30pm via Zoom or in person in the school Library.
Zoom details to follow via social media.
Student Spotlight
Recently, some of our students competed in the State Surf Life Championship event in WA. There were a few surf life saver contenders in this school that made the semi-final and final.
A special mention to Cara and Aubrey from Year 5 who came home with 7 medals and 6 medals respectively.
Cara - Individual Event
1st in Board Race
2nd in Female Surf Race
2nd in IronWoman
8th in Sprint Final
Cara- Team Event
1st in Board Relay
2nd in Beach Relay (team of 4- Cara Yr 5, Peydence Yr 5, Chloe Year 4 and Aubree Year 5)
3rd in Surf Team
3rd in Cameron Relay (team of 4 in swim-Cara, in sprint- Peydence, board- Aubrey)
Aubrey - Individual Event
2nd in Board Race
2nd in 1km Beach Run
Aubree- Team Event
1st in Board Relay
2nd in Beach Relay
3rd in Cameron Relay
3rd in Surf Team
Congratulations on your incredible achievements girls!
If you have any good news stories about our students that you would like to share with the community, please send any photos and a short blurb to natalie.vennitti@cewa.edu.au
Administration
Student Leave During School Term
ST LUKE'S PARISH
Welcome to Mass everyone and a big welcome to all new parishioners and visitors to our
Parish of St Luke, Woodvale.
If you are new to our parish, we invite you to complete the Visitors' Book in the foyer.
Fr Stan would also love to meet you, so please introduce yourself at school or after Mass. You are welcome to visit the pastoral office on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9.30am—2.30pm.
For more information about our wonderful St Luke's Parish and to read the current
Bulletin please click here.
Volunteers Required for Church Laundry Roster
We are urgently looking for volunteers to join this dedicated group of people to help with the Parish Laundry (A3 size bag of laundry, approximately 30 minutes of your time), as some of our regular volunteers are no longer able to assist. For further information, please contact Veronica on 0477 775 295 or vlalphonso@gmail.com. Thank you.
Nehemiah 3- Many Hands Make Light Work
YOUTH GROUP REPORT
Last weekend at Woodvale youth group we had an incredible night of 41 young people and 4 new people. We kicked off the night with a youth favourite, red light green light. After our first game we played walls and towers, where both teams played very competitively until the end of each round.
We then had the first talk of our term by one of our volunteer leaders, who broke open the theme ‘made for more.’ The theme was explored through the topic of the first commandment and how we must honour it in order to unlock our full potential to love.
After this, the youth were separated into small groups to discuss further the practical ways we can love God in our lives. After this, we had food and fellowship time until parent pickup. An awesome night had by everyone there!
NON-YOUTH GROUP ACTIVITES
We had a sisterhood “galentines” event on Saturday the 24th to celebrate our blessed sisterhood in Christ.
God Bless,
Trinity & Michael
24:7 Woodvale Youth Ministers
After School Care
Music Tuition
Young Engineers Holiday STEM Camp
Dear Parents,
We are delighted to share the exciting news with you! Our Autumn STEM Camp at St. Luke's CPS is scheduled for April 4th, 2024, running from 9 am to 3 pm. In an effort to cater to different age groups, we are thrilled to introduce two distinct programs on the same day:
Beginner's Engineering and Robotics Camp for Year 1 to Year 3
Advanced Engineering and Robotics Camp for Year 4 to Year 6
Enrolment link: https://www.trybooking.com/eventlist?aid=212419
If you have any queries or require further assistance, please don't hesitate to contact Dhviti at 0433390481 or via email at dhviti@young-engineers.com.au.
Your ongoing support is greatly appreciated!
Community News
We are now taking bookings for our popular holiday program. Book early via the website to avoid disappointment.
Half and full day options available. Discounts applied to multi-day bookings. We also offer an extended play option finishing at 4:30pm.
What to bring:
- labelled water bottle
- morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea (full day)
- morning tea/afternoon tea (half day)
What to wear:
- leotard / crop top & shorts / sport shorts or leggings and t-shirt
For more information visit www.ndgc.org.au or contact reception on 9240 6861