“Dear Lord, We thank You for the gift of mothers, for their love, guidance and care.
Please bless them with Your grace, strength, and wisdom as they continue to nurture and support their families. Surround them with Your love and peace, and let them know how deeply they are appreciated and cherished. In Jesus’ name, we pray.
Amen”
Dear Parents and families,
The start of this term saw our staff participate in professional learning on the Berry St Education Model, strengthening their approach to a safe and supportive model of teaching and learning within the classroom. Whole school strategies currently being used are our Welcome Circles at the commencement of the school day and brain breaks occurring between lessons to allow students time to reset and be more ready to learn. The school day also begins with quiet games in the classroom and I ask for your support with this by dropping your child/ren to school as close to 8:30am as possible.
Our school grounds are currently looking lush and green with the work being put in by Mr Dale Schulz on fertilising and watering the oval, and the establishment of new fruit trees and herb and flower gardens. A huge thank you to the P&F who contributed a large sum of money for the installation of shade sails over our new playground. The students are thoroughly enjoying playing in our lovely surrounds; some have recently planted our school vegetable garden and our school crop of wheat, canola, lupins, barley and oats at the front gate.
Over the coming weeks, we would like to have a focus on healthy eating by encouraging the students to bring a piece of fruit to eat as their first choice for morning tea. We will be keeping a tally of the number of pieces of fruit eaten along with the variety the students enjoy.
Our Year Six students are proudly wearing their new shirts that mark them out as the leaders in our school. A special thank you to the P&F for paying for the cost of one t-shirt for each child. The school recently purchased a new microwave and cooking utensils for the school kitchen; able to be used by our students for cooking, and for tuckshop. A special thank you to Rebecca Dreghorn for doing this in her role as P&F Secretary. Thank you to Belynda Mills for running the popular Footy Tipping competition.
Thank you for your support of our Communio free dress day fundraiser last week. The school managed to raise over $180 to be donated to Bishop Michael’s Communio Appeal supporting the Catholic Caring agencies in our Diocese such as Centacare, Nazareth House and a support group for new mothers.
Thanks again to Mrs Swift for setting up our Book Fair. The students always love making their wish lists and parents are encouraged to come and visit to make purchases. Our Book Dress Up Day is this Thursday, 23rd May, there is no set theme this year, students are encouraged to come dressed as their favourite book character.
The Australian government has implemented an annual national data collection on school students with disability. This data collection process has been in place for some years. Our Lady of Mt Carmel will collect the necessary data and forward it onto the Federal government. The process is confidential and there is no personal information disclosed to the government. If you have any questions, please contact me, or Mrs Messina in my absence.
A special thank you to Mrs Tracey Messina for her wonderful leadership in my absence at the start of the term. From all accounts, she did a marvellous job looking after our whole school community. I will be away from school from Week 8 until the end of the term having major knee surgery and recovery. Fortunately, we will have Mr Damien O’Malley as Acting Principal in my absence who will be ably supported by Mrs Messina. Damien is currently Assistant Principal at St Lawrence’s in Geraldton and we are grateful to him for taking on this role. I know the school will be in strong hands in my absence and I will look forward to being back on board for the start of Term 3.
A reminder that Monday, 3rd June is a public holiday and Tuesday, 4th June is a pupil free day. Staff will be participating in a Religious Education professional development day. School will resume for students on Wednesday, 5th June.
God Bless,
Jill Hollands
Sacrament of First Eucharist
Please note our Sacrament of First Eucharist for our Year Four students will be celebrated in Term 3 on Thursday 12th September, with a Mass in the church that will be celebrated by Father Robert O’Bryan. This will be followed by morning tea. All families are welcome to attend this special Eucharistic celebration.
