Newsletter 2 - 16 February
Principal's Page
Dear Parents and Guardians,
Welcome to our new students
L1 - Amelia
PPG - Eliza
1G - Elon
2T - Dhamsa
Staffing News
I would like to welcome Miss Tia Baesjou to St Lawrence's as our new Nagle Gap Year Administration Assistant. You will see Tia's smiling face in reception throughout 2023. She comes highly recommended and will be a great asset to our school.
Student Leadership Positions
Congratulations to our newly elected Head girl - Thea K, and Head boy - Wesley O. I am sure your family, teachers and peers are very proud of you and I know you will represent the school to the best of your ability.
Also congratulations to our Semester One Ministry Leaders:
Gummer - Asta M and Kylan H
Thomas - Stella B and George G
O'Collins - Lahni P and Leo D
Kelly - Annabelle T and Hunter P
Commissioning Mass
Thank you to the many staff, students and parents who attended our inaugural Commissioning Mass on Saturday evening at the St Lawrence's Parish Church. Thank you to Father Gerard for giving our school community a special blessing and presenting the badges to our head girl, head boy and the Semester 1 ministry leaders.
P & F Annual Community Meeting
On Monday evening we had our P&F ACM. It was wonderful to see some new members of our community attend. Congratulations to our office bearers that were elected. I look forward to the many new ideas, fundraising and community events that will be planned for the coming year.
Chair - Julie O'Malley
Deputy Chair - Kara Fraser
Secretary - Sam Heirich
Treasurer - Margaret Devine
Happy Days
David Tunchon
Principal
Religious Education
Fruit of the Spirit
Fruit of the Spirit Focus: Peace
A sense of being happy – shown by our speech, words and actions.
Ash Wednesday Mass
Please join us for our St Lawrence Parish and School community Mass:
9:30am, Wednesday Feb 22nd - School Undercover Area.
Historically called the Day of Ashes, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. There are 7 Wednesdays and 40 days (excluding Sundays) before Easter. The significance of the forty days comes from Jesus spending 40 days in the wilderness before his public ministry.
Project Compassion
This year's Project Compassion focus is "For all Future Generations". Project Compassion boxes will be sent home next week. For more information please go to: https://www.caritas.org.au/
Our term one Missions focus is to raise funds for Project Compassion.
Reconciliation
Year Three will begin their preparation for the Sacrament of Reconciliation by attending a Commitment Mass at St Lawrence's Church on Saturday Feb 25th 6pm or Sunday Feb 26th 9am.
This will be followed by their Reconciliation Retreat Day on Thursday 2nd March. Classroom teachers will send out more information to parents via Seesaw.
Year 5 News
Administration News
2023 School Fees
In 2023 we are pleased to announce that we have introduced an early settlement discount for fees paid in full by 28th February 2023. The discount will be 5% of tuition (excludes HCC discounted fees). Families wishing to take advantage of this option are not required to return their payment form.
The school fees for 2023 will be sent out in the last 2 weeks of February. You will recieve a statement along with a new payment plan form. Please complete the payment plan and return to the school as soon as possible - a new payment plan is required for every account.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the following students who will be celebrating their
Birthday soon:
Violet C, Halle C, Troy G, Nate J, Wil G, Leo T, Macie N, Cove D, Scarlett J, Jacob O, Digby W, Ava T, Kyal H, Kai W, Amelia H, Zara M, Charlie O, Sunny S, Noah G, Hunter R, Kai H, Michael Mc, Iyla S, Jack T, Makai U, Fox O, Charlee J and Summer K.
Before School
A reminder that Before School Supervision begins at 8:15am. The school is unlocked at 8:00am. OSHC is available for families that require supervision/care before normal opening and closing times, please contact them directly: 0497 088 996 . Thank you for your assistance with this.
NAPLAN 2023
Testing for NAPLAN 2023 for Years 3 & 5 has been set for the following dates:
PAPER TESTING 15th March (Year 3 Writing paper only)
ONLINE TESTING 15th March (Year 5 Writing)
ONLINE TESTING 16th March (Year 3&5 Reading)
ONLINE TESTING 17th March (Year 3&5 Conv of Lang)
ONLINE TESTING 20th March (Year 3&5 Numeracy)
Further information will be made available in future newsletters and other communication mediums.
School Parking
The 2023 school year has begun and the parking issues continue at all schools in the City of Greater Geraldton. City Rangers will continue to monitor parking behaviours at local schools in the morning and afternoon, when operational requirement permit.
Can I please remind parents to be patient and park within the local parking laws and abide by all signs.
Nut Aware School
Please note, that due to the prevalence of nut allergies in our community, St Lawrence’s is a nut aware school. Therefore we ask that you:
- Refrain from sending foods containing nuts for your child’s morning tea and lunch.
- Ensure any foods sent in to be shared for birthdays or other celebrations do not contain nuts
- Foods that may contain peanuts and tree nuts include:
- Peanut butter
- Nutella
- Nut bars
- Muesli Bars
- Biscuits
Thank you for assisting us with this request.
P & F News
Annual Community Meeting
The Annual Community Meeting was held on Monday 13th February. We are pleased to say that all office bearer positions have been filled for 2023. All nominees were unopposed for their respective positions, and they are as follows: Julie O'Malley - Chairperson, Kara Fraser - Vice Chairperson, Sam Heirich - Secretary, and Margaret Devine - Treasurer.
This meeting was the first under the new model of operation for P&F groups in all CEWA schools. We are now operating as a committee of the school and governed by a Terms of Reference. The Terms of Reference was adopted at the Special Meeting that was convened on 5th December 2022.
This term there are two meetings scheduled. The first meeting is Monday 20th February (Week 4) at 4:30pm, a planning meeting to set down a budget of expenditure for teacher 'wish lists', fundraising goals and establish the subcommittees for the year.
The second meeting is scheduled for Monday 20th March at 4:30 pm (Week 8) where the agenda will be to vote for approvals of expenditures for budget items and teacher 'wish lists'. Everyone is welcome at this meeting to have a say as to how you would like to see your P&F levy contributions spent. This will also be an opportunity for you to join one of the subcommittees that you would like to contribute to over the year.
Easter Raffle
The Easter Raffle will be the first fundraiser for the year. The raffle will be coordinated again by Heidi Teakle and Sarah Murray. We are looking for more volunteers to join this subcommittee. More details will be released over the course of the next few weeks with timelines and how you can contribute. Please keep a look out for posts in our Parent Information Group as well as SEESAW, from Heidi and Sarah. If you are keen to join this subcommittee please get in touch with Heidi, Sarah or myself.
We look forward to seeing you at our meetings during the year. All meetings are held in the Staffroom, Mondays at 4.30pm.
Kind regards,
Julie O'Malley
P&F Chairperson
Community Notices
CAHDS ONLINE PARENT INFORMATION SESSIONS 2023
Term 1
The Complex Attention Hyperactivity Disorders Service (CAHDS) are offering a series of parent information sessions. The information sessions are intended for parents with children/adolescents who experience significant attention difficulties, including a diagnosis of ADHD. Information sessions are collaborative and invite discussion from participants.
All sessions are stand-alone, and parents can attend any of the sessions upon registration, although numbers are limited for each session. They will be run Online from approximately 10:00 am - 1.00pm and details regarding access will be sent to parents prior to each session. There is no cost to attend these sessions.
Prior to the beginning of each school term (February, April, July and October) CAHDS will send out a timetable of the information sessions available for the following three-month period. At this time if parents are interested in attending any of the sessions, they will need to register with CAHDS by contacting 6456 0214 or by email CAMHS.CAHDS@health.wa.gov.au.
Once sessions are full, they will be closed for the cycle.
