Newsletter 1 - 3 February 2022
Principal's Page
Dear Parents and Guardians,
Welcome Back
Happy New Year and welcome back to the start of another wonderful year at St Lawrence’s. I hope you and your families had a wonderful break over the Christmas and New Year period and are ready for an eventful four terms ahead of us.
New Staff and Families
We welcome our new St Lawrence’s staff members - Mr Issac Hood (4T), Mrs Amy Gillet (PPT – Friday), Ms Natasha Zasun (6T – Monday), Miss Cassie Major (EA), Mrs Margaret Proudlove (EA), Mrs Erin Roulston (EA), and Mrs Emma Smith (EA). Last Tuesday our new staff members participated in an induction program as well as completing the schools Faith, Story and Witness Program.
You will find a full list of all the 2022 teachers in this week’s newsletter.
We also welcome the many new families that have chosen St Lawrence’s as the place they want their children to be educated. We have many new families from 3 year old kindy right up to year 6. Without embarrassing the children too much, we gave them a warm welcome at our Monday welcome back assembly and a special Principal’s Award sticker.
School Community Commissioning Mass
This year we have introduced a special School Community Commissioning Mass to be held on Saturday 12 February at 6pm. All staff, student leaders, School Advisory Committee, P&F Executive and families of the St Lawrence’s Community are invited to come along as Father Gerard will bless us for the coming year. The Semester One Year 6 Student Leadership Positions will also receive their blessed badges. We hope that many of you will be able to attend.
Congratulations
Congratulations to Miss Steph Burro and fiancée Aaron on the recent announcement of their engagement. We wish them much happiness for the future.
Year 5/6 Leadership
Year 5 and 6 students will be involved in a special two-day leadership program before they vote for our Head boy, Head girl and Ministry/Faction Leaders. They will spend Tuesday 8 February down at the foreshore and Wednesday 9 February at school listening to community leaders and working on the student code of conduct before listening to the speeches of all those who have nominated. We wish them all the best with new school leaders being announced on Friday 11 February.
Holiday Work and School Improvement
It was a wonderful sight to come back to school and know and see the scope of work that has been going on whilst most of us relax. Thank you to our Groundsman Grant and his team of Tina and Sue for ensuring our school environment is looking so welcoming. A special thank you to the P&F subcommittee led my Melissa Smith for the installation of the Funky Monkey Bars on the main school oval. This is a great addition to our adventure playground.
Covid 19
As we navigate our way through the continuing pandemic, please note that all school decisions are based on the advice passed on to us from Catholic Education WA, The Department of Education WA and of course The Department of Health WA. All parents would have received a letter from Executive Director of CEWA Debra Sayce. Please note, as the goal posts change, we will endeavour to keep you up to date through our school communication channels.
Don't Forget:
Our fortnightly newsletter has very important information for our parents. Our school webpage is also regularly updated and has a wealth of information including important dates, school events and notes. Also, you can follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Ask to join the closed parent facebook page and second-hand uniform page to stay in touch.
School Webpage – www.stlps.wa.edu.au
School Facebook Page – https://www.facebook.com/stlawrenceprimary
Parent Facebook Page – https://www.facebook.com/groups/1674320395969638
Second-hand Uniform Facebook Page – https://www.facebook.com/groups/331820517339822
School Instagram Page - @stlawrencesprimaryschool
Happy Days
David Tunchon
Principal
Religious Education
Fruit of the Spirit
"What the Spirit brings is different; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control."
Galatians 5:22
Our 'Fruit of the Spirit' focus for this fortnight is Love.
The fruit of Love allows us to care for others and not expect anything in return.
We can show love by doing selfless acts for other people.
The Sacrament of Reconciliation
Our Year Three students will celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation later this term, this is when they make their First Confession.
Father Gerard Sacramental Letter to families: Term One, Week Three
Reconciliation Retreat Day: Term One, Week Three: Thursday 17th February
Reconciliation Commitment Masses: Term One, Week Three: Saturday February 19th – 6:00pm or Sunday February 20th - 9:00am
Sacrament of Reconciliation: Term One, Week Eight: Saturday March 26th (3:30-5:30pm)
Parents will select a time to take their child to church to receive their first confession.
Pre-Primary News
Administration News
Year 6 Camp Parent Information Night
Parents of Year 6 students are invited to attend an Information Night regarding Camp for 2022. The meeting will take place on 14th March, at 5pm in the Undercover Area where information will be presented by the Year 6 Teachers, then a Q&A session will follow. We ask that you do not bring your child to the meeting, as it is purely a session for parents.
Before School
A reminder that Before School Supervision begins at 8:15am.
Year 1 & 2 students remain in the Undercover Area
Year 3 & 4 students are asked to move to outside the Year 3 Rooms
Year 5 & 6 are asked to move to outside Year 5/6 Rooms
Roadworks
The City of Geraldton has informed us that resurfacing of Railway Street will commence Tuesday 1st February. The NIGHT WORKS will take place between the hours of 6:00pm-7:00am and should take approximately one week to complete. Traffic Management will take place during this time with detours. COG apologises for any inconvenience this may cause.
2022 Teaching Staff
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the following students who
will be celebrating their Birthday soon:
Damion D, Danielle E, Hugh L, Koven H, Carter B, Blair M, Zaiden T, Beau C, Dion P, Oliver B, Jordyn S, Ryan S, Hudson W, Kahlani W, Julian G, Luca Q and Violet C.
2022 School Fees
All school fee accounts for 2022 will be emailed out in February. There will also be a payment plan option included and these will need to be returned to the office, regardless of your preferred payment method. If the payment plan provided doesn't suit your need, please contact the office for an alternative arrangement.
2022 School Planner
Events and important dates for Semester 1, 2022 have now been added to the Term Planner on the STLPS website: https://www.stlps.wa.edu.au/news-events/term-planners.aspx
Water Bottles
A reminder that we no longer keep any disposable cups at the office for students who have forgotten their water bottles. Please ensure that students bring their own water bottle with their name on it every day. If your child forgets their water bottle, we will call parents/guardians and request they bring one in.
P&F News
Major resource and equipment purchases by the P&F in 2021
Last year the P&F committed to spending your money and funding three major purchases to benefit our children at St Lawrence’s. We approved the request from Mrs Chivilo to upgrade and increase the number of sets of Decodable Readers for the Reading Recovery Program and from Mrs Hart the addition of two Marimbas for the School Arts/Music Program. The third purchase and project was the installation of the Monkey Bars and Climbing Frame with a soft fall underlay.
You may have watched the install of the Play Equipment during the school holidays which took most of January to complete, with the team working through some very extreme weather conditions. The project would not have been possible without the coordination and dedication of Melissa and Bradley Smith of Bradley Smith Builders. I would like to acknowledge and thank the following parents who assisted with the build giving up their time during or after their own work day, holiday, rostered day off or shift change to ensure the project would be completed for our children on returning to school. Thankyou to Blair Ferstat – Superstruct WA, Rohan McCabe, Brad Kingdon, Dean Barden, Paul Pollard, Adam Price, Todd Brennan and Jane and Nigel Stones; we are very grateful to you all.
The Monkey Bars and Climbing Frame are for all children at St Lawrence’s so encourage your children to have a play, test it out and most of all have some fun with their friends.
Vacant P&F Executive Positions
At the AGM in November 2021 we did not receive nominations to fill the positions of Secretary and Vice President. The Executive for 2022 is currently Julie O’Malley President, Margaret Devine Treasurer and Nicola Tropiano Representative to the School Advisory Council. If you would like to nominate for one of these positions for 2022 please contact me and come along to our first P&F Meeting on Monday 7th February at 4.30pm (there is a SAC Meeting directly after our meeting). We are seeking to attract more members to attend P&F Meetings and are trialling a later timeslot. The next scheduled meeting in March will be at 5.30pm.
All meetings are in the Staffroom for a 1 hour duration unless there is a large agenda where it can take a little longer. This is generally before a major fundraiser or when discussing funding requests from Staff. If you are considering a role and would like to chat further don’t hesitate to get in touch with Nicola, Margaret or myself.
Easter Raffle Fundraiser
The annual Easter Raffle will be our first fundraiser for the year. We have a subcommittee formed to coordinate this event and you will hear from them later in the term during Weeks 8, 9 and 10. You can contribute to this fundraiser as much as you like, by donating an Easter Egg/Rabbit to the collection tub in your child’s class, and/or buying and selling raffle tickets. Keep an eye out on our social media platforms and the newsletter for the Easter Raffle timeline.
7th February Meeting
There will not be an agenda distributed prior to the meeting on Monday. We are hoping for nominations for the two Executive positions that need to be filled with the remainder of the meeting dedicated to discussing meeting schedules and event planning for 2022. A set of Minutes will be uploaded to the school website post meeting so you can all see what has been discussed.
Just a reminder that any parent or caregiver is welcome to attend meetings as you are all members of the P&F. We would love to see you there. Hope it has been a smooth start to Term 1 for you all.
Kind regards,
Julie O’Malley
President
Community Notices
