Dear Parents, Friends, Staff and Students of St Catherine’s,
I hope you had a wonderful Easter and that you were able to enjoy time with family and friends. Easter is the greatest celebration in the Catholic church because it is the completion of the Holy week that ends with the resurrection of Jesus. Last week our Year 5 and 6 students led a beautiful reflection through the re-enactment of the Stations of the Cross. We took the opportunity to pause and consider how we can be kind, loving and strong even when we feel that things are not so good. On Tuesday this week, we gathered to celebrate the 'Risen Christ' and Fr Fred spoke about how Easter is a time of new life and the importance of taking time to reflect on how we can make our life 'new'.
This term we have enjoyed a more familiar experience both in and out of school as the easing of restrictions in South Australia has continued. With the change in SA Health's social density requirements to 3 people per 4 sqm, next term we will be able to welcome parents and relatives to more of our school events. All adults attending the school site will continue to be required to check in using the QR code or paper sign in sheet available in the school office and any visitors attending various events should continue to register their attendance via our school website: https://www.stcaths.catholic.edu.au/community/parent-attendance-registration
Project Compassion Activities
I commend our school captains for planning and leading a variety of activities throughout lunchtimes last week, raising nearly $600 to support the work of Project Compassion this year.
Athletics Carnival
27 students from years 4-6 participated in the SAPSASA Hills Athletics Carnival at Oakbank on Wednesday this week. They demonstrated great enthusiasm and team spirit throughout the day. Well done to all the students who participated and represented St Catherine's.
Year 6 Aquatics
On Friday 5th March our year 6 students had a wonderful time at their Aquatics excursion to Westlakes. The weather was perfect and they enjoyed a range of activities including sailing, kayaking and snorkeling on the lake and surfing at the nearby Tennyson Beach.
Assembly
Our 1/2JD class did a fantastic job at hosting our assembly in week 7. They talked about their class novel, the Magic Faraway Tree and showed paintings about what they thought the tree would be like. They shared their ideas of how family life has changed over the last 100 years and looked at the changes that have happened at our school. In Mathematics they have been learning about 2D and 3D shapes and in Science they have been creating mind maps of how we use water. 1/2JD also shared how they have been choosing messages of positive affirmation to display in our main hallway as a prompt to think about how we go about our interactions each day. Paul Somers from Vinnies came and thanked our school community for their generosity and support of the Vinnies Christmas appeal last year which provided several hampers and gifts to those in need in our local community.
Working Bee
Thank you to all the parents who were able to come along and help out at our Term 1 working bee. After a somewhat wet start, the afternoon cleared up and the list of planned jobs were all attended to. Special thanks to Michael Bates who supports the coordination of these days.
Parent Cocktail Evening
Nearly a hundred parents came along to the Parent Cocktail evening held on Friday 26th March at Patch Kitchen & Garden in Stirling. I hope that for those who were able to attend that you enjoyed the evening and that you were able to meet some new people. Thank you to the organising committee; Mim, Sally, Briana and Sophie for planning and coordinating the event.
Sports Day
The students have been busy preparing for Sports Day being held on Friday this week. The health hustle and house chants have been practised and we are looking forward to a great day of comradery and teamwork.
Term 2 Parent Teacher Learning Conversations
Next term (May 3rd-7th) Parent Teacher Learning Conversations will take place. All families will soon receive information about how to book a time to meet with their child's class teacher. These learning conversations are focussed on sharing and celebrating your child's learning progress throughout Term 1 along with identifying any areas for improvement or development throughout Term 2.
Term 2 Calendar
The Term 2 Calendar of events has been sent to families via SkoolBag this week. Please contact Cathy Fischle (cfischle@stcaths.catholic.edu.au) if you have not received this. Any changes made to events throughout the term will be updated on our school website: https://www.stcaths.catholic.edu.au/office-365-login/news-events/events-calendar
Car park
I remind parents that stand in the carpark to collect children after school to take great care, especially with supervising younger children. The carpark is still in use at this time with cars moving in and out. Cars are not to be parked on the yellow 'no parking' zones, even if just dropping off. A reminder also, that our staff duty of care to supervise students before school commences at 8.30am and is provided until 3.30pm after school. Students who are at school outside these times are required to be booked into OSHC.
School Holidays
Unfortunately, from time to time we have members of the public climb our fences/ gates and enter our school grounds outside of school hours that vandalise or cause damage to our property. I ask all families to report any suspicious activity to the police should you notice it during the holiday break.
As the term draws to a close, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff for their work throughout the term, the students for their engagement in learning and our parents for your partnership with our school.
I wish you a relaxing and safe holiday break and look forward to seeing you back at school for the start of Term 2 on Tuesday 27th April.
Warm regards,
John Low
Principal
Social