Newsletter 7 - May 11
Principal's Page
Dear Parents and Guardians,
This week in visiting classes a sense of excitement is flowing through the school as students and their teachers prepare for Mother's Day. Thank you to those junior classes who prepared some wonderful liturgies for their mothers.
As the countdown to Mother's Day draws closer, it is essential to remember the true essence of the holiday. Mother's Day is celebrated annually to acknowledge and show gratitude to all the wonderful women, mothers and caregivers who tirelessly work to support and care for their families. For our St Lawrence's parents, Mother's Day provides an opportunity to communicate lasting and heart-warming expressions of love and gratitude to the woman who undoubtedly holds a special place in their hearts. It’s a day to make her feel appreciated and valued through small gestures and kind words.
From what I have seen this week is that one of the most significant ways to show appreciation towards mothers is by creating personalised gifts that carry sentimental value. Handmade cards, flowers and homemade treats are inexpensive yet meaningful ways to acknowledge mum. Another way to make Mother's Day more special is by spending quality time together as a family. Whether it is a picnic in the park or watching a movie together, the simple act of spending time together is a gift in itself.
Lastly, remember that Mother's Day is not the only day to appreciate the mother figure in your life. Small acts of appreciation and gratitude throughout the year can make a significant difference in making her feel valued and loved.
Let's make this Mother's Day special by expressing our gratitude and love towards the amazing women in our lives. Let's make the day memorable by creating lasting moments and memories that we will cherish for many years to come.
Happy Mother's Day.
Welcome New Students
We welcome a few new students and their families to St Lawrence's for the start of Term 2:
William C - 1B
Camilla-Ivy S - 3 year old kindy
Byron W - 3 year old kindy
National STEM Awards
Last week the Senior Team Leader from Teaching and Learning CEWA, Mrs Karmela Messineo contacted our school with some very exciting news.
We have been selected to represent CEWA and the whole of WA at the 2023 STEM Mad National Showcase in Melbourne on Thursday 9 November 2023. Miss Vanessa Knowles and I will be taking the 7 students (now at Nagle) and a couple of their parents to Melbourne so they can showcase their 2022 prize winning inventions and receive their awards.
This is a great opportunity for these students and an inspiration for our current students to work very hard on this year's STEM projects which will be presented in Term 3.
Climate Survey
The biennial Climate Survey has been sent out to all parents this week. It will close on Friday 19 May. Please take time to complete the survey so we can gauge how we are travelling as a school. An SMS was sent to all parents on Monday with login information. Please note that all staff and students will also have a voice in completing the survey.
The aim of this process is to build and maintain a positive school climate in which your child/children will flourish. To help us in our efforts, we are inviting you to respond to the Parent and Caregiver Survey (PaCS), developed at Curtin University. Your response will provide us with the information and foundational focus points that we will use in planning our school improvement efforts.
To protect your confidentiality, the PaCS is completely anonymous, there are no names attached to the data and there is no way for us to access your individual response. All responses go directly to NSI, where the results are analysed and aggregated into feedback reports. NSI is bound by a Code of Ethics and follows strict professional conduct.
NSI will aggregate all responses and provide us with a comprehensive feedback report. To enable us to target our decision making, we may be provided with information based on your background information (e.g., are you the mother, father or caregiver). To protect your anonymity, we will only be provided with this information when responses from four or more people fall within any given category.
If you have more than one child at the school, we ask that you consider responding more than once as our students often have different experiences at school when compared to their siblings. The PaCS will ask you to indicate whether you are responding once for all your children or if you are responding separately for each child. If you decide to respond once for all your children, you will not be asked to tell us what year level each child is in.
Happy Days
David Tunchon
Principal
Religious Education
Fruit of the Spirit Focus:
Self-Control
When we take the time to think before we act or respond.
Year Four Eucharist Retreat Day
Our Year Four students have been busy completing activities based on the Sacrament of Eucharist during their retreat day at Bill Hemsley Park in White Peak. Thank you to the year four teachers for organizing and coordinating this special day to help our children begin to learn about why baptised Catholics receive Jesus in the form of Holy Communion when they attend Mass.
Communio Week:
Each year schools in the Geraldton Diocese dedicate a week to raising awareness about and money to go towards supporting the Communio agencies, these are catholic organizations that perform a variety of services to help in our Diocese. Most often these are aimed at supporting the poor and vulnerable.
St Lawrence's will celebrate Communio in week five with a whole school Mass at 9:30am on Wednesday May 24th which will be coordinated by our Year 6G class and with the following year group activities throughout the week.
Our goal is to raise $2000 for Bishop Michael's Communio appeal.
Fundraising Activities:
3YOK: Fill a love heart (shape) with coins (Thurs May 25 & Fri May 26)
K: Crazy Hair Day (Wed May 24 )
PP: " Let's Celebrate" Dress up/Fun Day (Friday May 26)
1:"Guess the Baby Photo" Competition (Across Week 5)
2: Crazy Hair Day (Thursday May 25)
3: Lap-a-thon (Mon/Tues May 22/23)
4: Guess how many Lollies in the Jar Competition (Across Week 5)
5: Dress Up: Footy Colours and Morning Tea (Fri May 26)
6: Furry, Fuzzy Friday – bring in a blanket/pillow or wear an oodie in class (Friday May 26)
Classes will post more information on Seesaw closer to the date.
Communio funds go towards supporting:
Centacare, St Vinnies, Nazareth House, The Snuggles program,
Mother's Day Prayer Services:
Our Kindy and Pre Primary celebrated lovely prayer services to pray for their Mums this week, Year Ones will celebrate Mary, the Mother of Jesus at their prayer service in week three. Our Year Two classes will celebrate their prayer service later in the term.
Administration News
Just a reminder that all Project Compassion boxes need to be returned to the office ASAP!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the following students who will be celebrating their
Birthday soon:
Finn B, Chase B, Michena-Sage S, Jasmine B, Leo D, Ivy A, Tiana P, Sayla K, Morgan F, Mary-Anna C, Gypsy-Rose K, Ethan B, Daisy T, Chase J, Saira Ann S, Imogen P, Edie P, Luana C, Kennedy F, Ellie J, Cooper R, Cooper D, Lenny O, Fletcher L and Archie J!
Year 2 News
P & F News
P&F News
Easter Raffle Report
Congratulations to the Easter Raffle subcommittee for organising another very successful fundraiser. The raffle raised a total of $3974.00 that will contribute to the P&F Fundraising goals for 2023. Thankyou to Coordinators Heidi Teakle and Sarah Murray for your careful coordination of the raffle and their dedicated team of volunteers; Sally Mills, Naomi Harrington, Bec Armstrong, Zoe Woodcock, Dwayne Jupp, Dan Murray, Kara Fraser, Renee Hapke, Jessica Sisson, Lauren Kennedy, Javier McAllister, Chantelle Tarr, Georgia Johnson and Donna Corlett. Thanks also to Mrs Kempton for her support with the process for the raffle and Louise and Tia for assisting with the money count and folding the tickets.
Congratulations to all winners, hope you enjoyed your prizes. Just a reminder the Communio from this fundraiser was the Women’s Refuge, where the two large Easter baskets were delivered in time for the Easter Weekend. An appreciation facebook post from Desert Blue Connect followed and acknowledged the generosity of our school community.
School Disco 1st June
Our annual School Disco is locked in for Thursday 1st June and this year you can expect something very different. As you would have seen advertised, the afternoon will be a Colour Run Disco. The event will be held entirely on the school oval close to the old undercover area with a marquee from Party Hire for dancing and an area that includes an obstacle course, where disco goers will be ‘coloured up’. So, this year NO disco finery, find your lightest clothing and white shirts that you don’t mind being stained with colour. We have ordered holi coloured powder from the website of the same name for our event. The colours are eco- friendly, safe, skin sensitive and biodegradable and made in India. There will be two discos – Disco 1 Years 1, 2 & 3 from 3.30pm - 4.45pm and Disco 2 for Years 4,5 & 6 5pm – 6.30pm. The Ministry Leaders and Year 7 Nagle students along with parent volunteers, will be assisting with the colour explosions for each disco. A few things remain the same, Leigh Jones will be our DJ and Ash from Opus Music will be coordinating the disco light show in the marquee.
Tickets will be $5 each student. We will be using Quickcliq to book and pay for disco tickets this time. Please keep an eye out for instructions on how to go about this in the coming weeks via the Parent Information Page. On arrival to the disco students will receive entry, a drink (juice box or water), small bag of popcorn/chips and a lolly bag. This year there will not be a lolly stall or any lollies for sale at the disco.
More instructions will follow for parents on drop off and pick up zones for each disco and signing in and out procedures. Stay tuned for posts containing this information from Nadine Smith and Kara Fraser who are coordinating the Disco Subcommittee this year. If you are keen to help at the disco, we are looking for volunteers, please get in touch with Nadine and Kara.
Revised Fundraising Goals for 2023
As mentioned in the second newsletter of Term 1, the next scheduled P&F meeting would possibly review the fundraising goals and budget communicated to the school community. This was due to changes in protocols surrounding Minor Works Projects in CEWA schools. Clarification from CEWA has resulted in these changes affecting our goal to construct shade over the tiered seating and area next to the basketball court on the northern side of the school, in 2023. At the meeting it was unanimously agreed upon to reallocate some of the funding allocation of the shade to other areas of the school. The new budget and fundraising goals now include Library Resources to support an upgrade for a space in the Library and Resources for the Fitzgerald Hall 3 and 4 Year old Kindy Program. A balance remains that will be allocated for the Basketball Court Shade construction once the application for the capital works project is approved by CEWA. This project will carry over into 2024.
Sea Container Cleanout
We have scheduled a final cleanout of the P&F Sea Container for Saturday 20th May. Heidi Teakle has already commenced posts in the Parent Information Group describing some of the treasures that have been uncovered in there. We have had a few responses to these posts and some things have been promised and collected already. This date will be the last ‘look’ and chance to pick up something for free. We will also welcome some assistance with the cleanout on the day, if you can spare an hour we would appreciate it.
The P&F have provided Communio with donations of some larger items from the sea container to the First Geraldton Scout Group, specifically the Gazebos bought for use at the Fete. They also gratefully accepted the various tarpaulins and drink containers to use at their camp outs. A large crate of fabric was donated to the local community group, Boomerang Bags.
We still have a refrigerated bain marie and a deep fryer (used for the hot chips at the Fete), if you know of anyone or an organisation that would benefit, please get in touch.
Next Meeting
Our next meeting is scheduled for Monday 12th June. Just a reminder everyone is welcome. Come along to the Staffroom at 4.30pm and join in the conversation to keep uptodate with P&F activities and contributions to the St Lawrence’s School community. If you would like a copy of the Minutes from any of our meetings, please get in touch and we will forward them to you.
Take care, have an enjoyable Term 2 everyone.
Kind regards,
Julie O’Malley
P&F Chairperson
Community Notices
