Term 1 Week 3 Monday 6th February 2023
- Acknowledgement of Country
- Our Prayer this Week
- From the Principal
- Key dates for the Diary
- School Advisory Council
- School and Parish Maintenance Role
- Specialist Times for 2023
- Award Winners
- Happy Birthday!
- Out of School Care
- Forms and Fee Accounts for 2023
- New PAM accounts
- Meals on Wheels Roster
- St. Colman's School is a Child Safe Community
- NCCD
- For Sale- Guitar
- Our Lady of Mercy Parish Newsletter
- TMHS Health & Wellbeing February 2023 Newsletter
Acknowledgement of Country
St Colman’s acknowledges the Girai wurung people as the traditional owners of the land on which our school stands and we respectfully recognise elders both past and present.
Our Prayer this Week
A Prayer for our School
Loving Father, Thank you for all who are part of our school. Please grant them your encouragement, wisdom and peace.
Strengthen teachers with heavy workloads. May they be firm, yet patient, expecting excellence but forgiving mistakes. May they support their students, playing to strengths, helping with struggles and motivating them to do their best.
Comfort and restore those living under shadows of unhappiness, abuse, pain or fear. May many find faith discovering their identity in You and knowing Your amazing grace in their lives.
Please pour out Your blessings upon our whole school community.
In Jesus name.
Amen
From the Principal
Dear Families,
Welcome to what is officially Week 3 of our first term.
It was wonderful to see students and staff settle so seemlessly into the new school year. All three classrooms have been focussing on setting classroom expectations and establishing routines to ensure their year runs smoothly.
It was disappointing that we had to postpone our Swimming Program that was meant to commnece today. We are in the process of re-organising the program and we will send out more information once this has been finalised.
As is usually the case at the start of the year there is a lot going on, so please read on to find out what is happening in our school community.
Please feel free to contact me at any time with any questions, concerns or suggestions you may have.
Kind regards,
Janet
Key dates for the Diary
Term 1
Tuesday 7th February DOBCEL Board school visit
Wednesday 8th February Opening School Mass @ 10am
Thursday 9th February SAC Meeting @7pm in the Staffroom
Monday 20th February Swimming Carnival
School Closure Dates 2023
Term 1: Tuesday 14th March (Literacy)
Term 2: Monday 24th April (Compliance)
Term 3: Monday 14th August (Catholic Social Teaching)
Tuesday 22nd August (Literacy)
School Advisory Council
We would like to introduce you to our SAC members for 2022-2023.
Lily Convery-Oborne (Chair)
Jo Wallis
Alison Greig
Tam Camplin
Jo Dolling
Rosie O’Connor (School rep)
Zion Palmer
Sophie and Nick Allen
Rachel Baulch
These people are the voice of the parents in the school. If you have any questions or anything that you would like raised please contact one of these people.
The SAC meets twice a term and our first meeting for 2023 is this Thursday at 7pm. We thank these people for agreeing to be a part of this group that provides an essential link between the school and its families.
School and Parish Maintenance Role
Frank Bread, our current maintenance person, has announced his intention to retire at the end of the month and enjoy some opportunites to travel and explore our country. Frank has worked for St. Colman's for about 8 years and during that time he has taken great pride in ensuring our school and grounds have been well maintained. He will certainly be missed by us all, but especailly the children who have enjoyed their regualr chats with him.
We are now on the lookout for an enthusiastic Building and Grounds Maintenance Person who would like to join a friendly and supportive team. At St. Colman's, we are passionate about providing high quality and attractive grounds and facilities for our students and our school community. We take pride in the upkeep and maintenance of our school grounds and facilities.
This role is for 10 hours per week and includes the maintenance of the church grounds as well.
If you, or someone you know, would be interested in this opportunity, please contact Janet Cain at the school on 55992285 or 0490539167. Email: principal@scmortlake.catholic.edu.au
Specialist Times for 2023
This year ART will continue to be held each Wednesday with Mrs Kennedy.
Phys Ed with Mrs Bourke will be on Thursday, so all children need to wear their sports uniform on Thursdays.
Our Foundation to Year 3 students will have Library with Ms. Stape and LOTE with Ms. Cain on Tuesday, while the Year 4-6's students will have Library on Thursday and LOTE on Friday.
Award Winners
Each week during our Friday assemblies, teaching staff award students who have achieved great things in the past week. This year we are inviting all parents and friends to attend these weekly assemblies which take place at 2:45pm each Friday in the Undercover Area.
Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday this week to Miss Stapleton, who will be celebrating her birthday on Saturday.
Out of School Care
A reminder that during 2023 we have access to Out of School Care, supplied by TheirCare, at Mortlake College. Registration is made via the TheirCare website. https://theircare.com.au/
Children will catch the bus to and from Mortlake College to St Colman's. Children who are not usual bus travellers will need to complete a Bus Form to obtain permission to travel on the bus. Please contact the school to obtain this form.
Once you have booked your days and times in, please inform Jane or Janet at the school office. This is so we can ensure your child is put on the After School Care bus when needed.
Feel free to contact the office if you have any questions about accessing TheirCare or use the contact details at the bottom of the flyer to contact them directly.
Forms and Fee Accounts for 2023
I sent out an email last week regarding fees and lots of other useful information. You should have recieved an email regarding your fees by now also.
If you have any questions or would like to apply for a fee discount, please give me a call or call in and see me.
Jane
New PAM accounts
In 2023, all parents will be given a new PAM account. Instead of having one account per family, each parent will have their own account. Many of you will already have received an email asking you to set a new password for your account.
Please complete this task as soon as possible. If you are having any problems with your new account, please contact Jane.
Meals on Wheels Roster
St Colman's is rostered on to do Meals on Wheels for one week, once per term. In term one, our week is 13th to 17th February and in term two, our week is 1st to 5th May.
In 2022, we had a small band of volunteers who helped out almost every term. We would love to expand this group in 2023 so please consider volunteering for this very worthwhile task. Our grade six children will assist you and you will find it a very satisfying thing to do. Please contact Jane if you are interested.
Thanks to the four people who completed the survey last week but, unfortunately I didn't ask for your name so I don't know who you are! Please contact Jane to reveal your identity.
St. Colman's School is a Child Safe Community
St. Colman's Parish School community is committed to creating an environment where the safety, wellbeing, and participation of all children within our care is paramount.
1. We have established a Child Safe Culture.
2. We have a Child Safe Policy.
3. We are committed to upholding the Child Safe Code of Conduct.
4. We impose rigid and thorough human resource background checks when employing staff and contractors. All adults who work with children in our school have Working With Children Cards.
5. We have processes in place for reporting anyone who abuses a young person or child.
6. We have risk assessments that identify potential risks and minimising strategies.
7. We have an Inclusive Practices Policy and strategies to ensure that we treat all students equally regardless of their cultural or linguistic backgrounds and disabilities.
Child Safety Officer: Janet Cain Phone: 55992285 or 0490539167
email: jcain@scmortlake.catholic.edu.au
NCCD
Please read the attached information sheet for parents regarding NCCD.
For Sale- Guitar
Interested in learning guitar?
This Ibanez acoustic guitar is in excellent condition and has had minimal use. The guitar and case were originally purchased for $480 and we are asking for $200.
If you are interested, please contact the school.
