Newsletter 22 - 26 November 2020

Principal's Page

Dear Parents and Friends,
2020 is quickly coming to an end and the next few weeks are a very busy time for staff and students. As we continue to grow into a full triple stream school, the benefits of having your child at a large school are truly worthwhile. At St Lawrence’s, we provide many extra services and opportunities that you may not find at other schools in Geraldton. Our extension programs in The Arts and French, our Gifted and Talented Program, 2 x Phys Ed Specialists, Early Intervention Programs, our Speech Pathologist, and our School Musical are fine examples of these. We are fortunate to have such a dedicated staff at St Lawrence’s, this year we have almost 100% staff retention with only two staff leaving and one retiring. Our Kindy program will also expand to 3 days for each group.  
To continue to offer excellence in education at an affordable price we of course need children, and you would no doubt have seen that we have advertised on social media, radio and at local supermarkets. However, we have found the best form of advertising is through you, our parents. Word of mouth is the most powerful form of advertising, so I am putting a call out to all parents to help promote our school. If you have neighbours that do not go to our school or weekend sporting teams that your children play in, please tell them about our wonderful school and the benefits that come along with it. We have the most affordable tuition fees compared to all Catholic/Private Schools in Geraldton, we offer excellence in education and strive to maintain our community feel. Please direct your friends either to our webpage or Louise and Helen at the front office. 

State Numero Finals
On Thursday 12 November, the AFG State Numero Finals were held with our students displaying great math’s skills and behaviour. 75 schools comprised of 208 teams participated in this year’s competition. There were eighteen teams in the final. Twelve teams won their place by winning their heat. The remaining six places in the final went to the next highest scoring teams.
To have two teams representing the school in the final was a wonderful achievement. I wish to thank them for the many weeks of extra work improving their speed and skill. Team ‘All Figured Out’ finished in thirteenth place and ‘A Fraction Ahead’, in sixteenth place. A very big thank you to our supportive parents who transported students to the event in Perth. It was very much appreciated. It was wonderful to see a Geraldton school win the event. Congratulations to Allendale Primary School on their first place. Aranmore Catholic School finished in second place and Carey Baptist College achieved third place. A huge shout out to Mrs Carolyn Blake. Thank you for coming in on your days off and preparing our students for success. Your dedication to our school is much appreciated.

Sad News
Please keep in your prayers Maria Condo and the Condo family who's Father passed away last week.  Maria and her family have been long time members of the Geraldton community and he will be sadly missed.  May he rest in peace.

Interschool Swimming Carnival
Congratulations to our Interschool Swimming Team who came second to Geraldton Grammar School last week. The whole team performed brilliantly which resulted in 5 champion swimmers. Thank you to Mr Gaby and Mrs Miragliotta for organising the team and ensuring that they all had a fabulous day. All the results can be found further in this newsletter.

Kindy Orientation
Kindy Orientation will take place next week. All families should have received a letter indicating what group and day your child’s session will take place. If you have not received this information, please contact the ladies in the front office.
Monday 30 November – L1
Tuesday 1 December – L2
Wednesday 2 December – L3
Please drop your child off in the Kindy area at 3.30pm. You are then welcome to join the Leadership Team in the staffroom for a cuppa and a chat until 4.30pm.

2021 Staff List

We thank Mrs Margaret Cooper, Mrs Vanessa Heyhoe and Mrs Natasha Zasun for their time at St Lawrence’s and welcome Miss Ciarra Ryan and Mrs Jayde Reagan.
Please note: Due to unforeseen circumstances this list may be subject to change and in line with school policy, teachers will not be matched to individual students at a parent’s request.

St Lawrence’s School Code of Conduct
Fortnightly in our school newsletter, we will explore an aspect of the Code of Conduct, so we can all gain a better understanding and how it applies to each of us.
Code of Conduct - Statement 4
You conduct yourself in accordance with laws, agreements, policies and standards relevant to your relationship with the school community.
*Knowing and abiding CEWA policies and procedures
*Respect
*Confidentiality
*Notify Principal of unsafe conduct
*Keep up to date with policies
*Use school property and resources responsibly
*Model appropriate behaviours
*Health and safety
*Risk assessment
To see a full copy of St Lawrence's School Code of Conduct go to:
https://www.stlps.wa.edu.au/Profiles/stlawrence/Assets/ClientData/Documents/Policies/codeofconduct.pdf

Religious Education

Christmas Advent Appeal
Our annual appeal for Christmas Hamper items for Centre Care will go ahead in weeks 7-9 of this term. Instead of collecting items in the undercover area, each class will have their own crate to place hamper items into. Crates will be placed into classrooms on Monday Nov 23 in readiness for the donation of in date, non-perishable items. These will be taken to Centre Care on Friday Dec 11.  Thank you in anticipation for your generosity.

Advent
Advent marks the beginning of the Church’s new year and is a season of waiting and preparation for the coming of Christ. In fact, this season of Advent focuses on Christ’s threefold coming—past, present, and future. We await and prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ at Christmas. We hope and give thanks for Christ’s presence within us and in the world and sacraments. We look to the future, waiting for Christ to come again. The word ‘advent’ means ‘coming’. Lighting the candles on the wreath symbolizes the coming of light (Jesus) into the world. Advent wreaths can be used in church, at school or at home. The first candle (violet) represents hope, the second (violet) represents peace, the third candle (rose) represents joy, and the fourth (violet) represents love. The central white candle is lit on Christmas day and represents Christ (not shown). This Advent, we invite our school community to pray for a more just and fairer world—a world full of hope, peace, joy, love and free of COVID 19.

Geraldton Carols by Candlelight 2020
A decision has been made regarding the Carols by Candlelight in Geraldton for 2020.
WA Dept of Health COVID 19 guidelines for outdoor events meant that Maitland Park was not going to be a suitable venue based on attendance in previous years. We looked at alternative venues however the event plan requirements were considered to be outside our ability to manage. We have embarked on a new venture,  and contracted DragonFly Media to Produce a Video for us to be released on YouTube. Filming is planned to be starting in the next few weeks and hopefully the complete program will be ready for release in December. We are planning to launch on December 20th via our Facebook page with a link to YouTube. Flyers and Posters should be available by early December and will be distributed shortly after, however keep an eye on the Facebook page for updates going forward from now. We would like to encourage you to consider having your congregation or groups view the video as an activity of your Church family, the film will run for approximately 60 minutes.  We have also made the decision to forgo requesting funding from you this year as we realise that this year has impacted everyone. We  have been offered very generous donations that will more than cover our costs from some of the local businesses who have supported us in the past and wished to continue to do so. If you would still like to make a contribution please let me know and we can forward invoices and advise  our new Bank Account details. Alternatively you may like to make a contribution to the School Chaplaincy program or one of our local Not For Profit groups. Any further information you would like please contact me and I will endeavour to get that to you.

Wishing you all a Blessed Christmas Season.
Nena Hunter, Secretary, 2020 Geraldton Carols by Candlelight Committee.

Administration News

Booklist for 2021
Just a reminder that all Booklist due dates are fast approaching.
Please see the following options through Ziggies Educational Supplies:
 Return your list to the school by 27th November 2020 or Order Online by 29th November 2020 (Visit: booklists.ziggies.net.au)

Interschool Swimming Carnival
On the 12th November St Lawrence's participated in the Interschool Swimming Carnival.
It was an amazing swimming event, highlighted by the encouragement, sportsmanship and joy shown by all St Lawrence's students. Congratulations to Geraldton Grammar School, narrowly nudging out St Lawrence's Primary by just 36 points. Some amazing individual performances were by Elora D and Opal P, who each won champion girl for their age division, and also Tessa O'M, Rahni T and Hudson W who all received Runner up champions.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the following children who have recently celebrated birthdays: Olivia M, Amelia-Rose B, Alayana J, Kianah PF, Kalani MacD, Hudson N, Sadie C,    Myles P, Noah G, Gaia S, Ava O'M, Anabelle S, Erica F, Blake D, Edith T, Lochie H, Chavez T, Eloise VR, Hunter P, Kyle J, Payton J, Loclan P, Pippa H.

Merit Certificates

News from Dance

P&F News

Carols on the Green
We are completely overwhelmed with the positive response we have had to our Carols on the Green evening. Thank you to our St Lawrence’s School Community! We have had over 125 orders for Grazing Boxes where you have now been asked to check that your order is represented on the list distributed through Class Dojo & Facebook on Tuesday. Contact Melissa Smith if you have ordered but cannot see your name as soon as possible. Grazing Boxes will be available from the canteen on your arrival to the event.
Raffle Ticket sales have gone exceptionally well with many of our school community asking for more tickets to purchase. We have printed more books and will make these available for purchase to our Kindy parents on a ‘cash and carry’ basis only.  Melissa will be stationed at Kindy Thursday afternoon (today) and Friday morning this week and again Monday and Tuesday of next week. Please keep a look out for the updates through the posts in our Parent Facebook Information Group from Melissa confirming times she will be at the Kindy selling tickets.
Today all Raffle tickets and monies should have been returned to the Front Office. If you still have tickets and money, please drop them into the office as soon as possible.  Just a reminder that all 64 raffles will be drawn throughout the evening. Please make yourselves familiar with what you can win by viewing the posts on Facebook over the course of the next week. There will be a 3-minute time limit set for you to choose your prize and it will make it easier if you know what you are looking for. Just a reminder that if you are unable to attend the evening and your ticket is drawn out you are still a winner – we will choose something on your behalf and make contact with you. All raffle winners will be published via Facebook and the next newsletter.
The sausage sizzle and the lolly stall will be available all night. Sausage sizzle can be purchased for a $1.50 and lollies will range from 50c to $2. A reminder to BYO all drinks.
As we look forward to getting together and enjoying the entertainment and company of friends can I please remind you to follow our Phase 4 COVID Plan on the evening. Please ‘Do the 3’ – Stay home if you are unwell, wash your hands and socially distance 1.5m from other families.
Lastly don’t forget to keep a look out for our special guest – he will be in red!

P&F AGM
The AGM is scheduled for Monday 30 November at 5pm. Please refer to the advertisement via Facebook and SMS to access the Agenda for this meeting.

Proposed date for 2021 Fete
At our last P&F Meeting on Monday 16 November a date was proposed for the 2021 St Lawrence’s Primary School Annual Fete. The proposed date is Sunday 21 March.

We will keep our school community updated in the lead up to the Fete as we continue to follow the current COVID advice from the relevant Government authorities. Parents and the school community will be advised by 12 February if it will be necessary to cancel.

Kind regards
Julie O’Malley
P&F President 2020

Community Notices