Newsletter 20 - December 7
Christmas Break Office Hours
Monday 11/12/23 - 9am-4pm
Tuesday 12/12/23 - 9am-4pm
Wednesday 13/12/23 - 10am-4pm
Thurdays 14/12/23 - 9am-4pm
Friday 15/12/23 - 9am-3pm
CLOSED from the 18/12/23 - 14/01/24
Monday 15/01/23 till 30/01/24 - 9am-3pm
Principal's Page
Dear Parents and Guardians,
Staffing News
I am pleased to announce that we have employed 3 education assistants to commence work in 2024. Congratulations Amy Minnisale, Tori Bunter and Rachel Stacey. In the front office we have also employed a new part time admin assistant - Regina Cotton. We have also employed a gap year student from Nagle - Claire O'Brien. I am sure you will help me welcome them into the St Lawrence's School community.
Reports
You can now access your child's end of year report through SEQTA Engage. Please take the time to go through the report with your child and celebrate the achievements and milestones from the 2023 academic year.
Year 6 Graduation Evening
Thank you to all that contributed to the Year 6 Graduation Evening on Tuesday. Special congratulations to our award winning recipients.
Sr Marie Townsend Citizenship Award - Annabelle T
Sr Monica Glass Christian Witness Award - Thea K
St Lawrence's High Academic Achievement Award - Asta M and Digby K
15 years of service at St Lawrence's - Mrs Vanessa Heyhoe and Mr Damien O'Malley
30 years of service at CEWA - Mrs Elaine Battilana
Staff Leaving
Natasha Zasun
Tia Baesjou
Isaac Hood
Madeline Dent
Karen Davis
Helen Bonnell (LSL 2024)
Dayne Cox (Leave)
Year 6 Parting Gift
Annual Community Meeting
Our Annual Community Meeting will be held in the staffroom on Monday 11 December starting at 4.30pm. This is a great opportunity for staff and parents to come together to celebrate the achievements of 2023 with P&F and SAC representatives. Please ensure you RSVP for catering needs.
Merry Christmas
Well 2023 has certainly been a year to celebrate. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all families a happy and holy Christmas. Stay safe over the break and we will see you in 2024. God Bless.
Happy Days
David Tunchon
Principal
Religious Education
Administration News
Term dates for 2024:
Term 1: January 31 - March 28
Term 2: April 16 - June 28
Term 3: July 15 - September 19
Term 4: October 7 -December 6
2024 Pupil Free Days:
April 15th, 2024
May 31st, 2024
September 20th, 2024
October 7th, 2024
Catholic Day - August 19, 2024
2024 School Advisory Council and P&F Nominations
St Lawrence's Annual Community Meeting is scheduled for Monday, December 11th. We are seeking nominations for both the School Advisory Council and P&F Executive for 2024. If you are interested could you please complete the nominations form below.
Kindy News
P & F News
P&F News
Carols on the Green – What a night!
As our last fundraiser for the year, the 2023 Carols on the Green was a huge success. We were lucky again with the weather which made for an enjoyable event for all who came along. On behalf of the P&F I would like to thank everyone who made the effort and came out on Thursday evening and so generously supported our annual Carols on the Green. We are excited to announce that we have raised over $10,000 for our school, that will go towards the building of the shade structure at the basketball court that was set down in the 2023 P&F Budget at the commencement of the school year.
Successful events such as the Carols on the Green don’t just happen it takes lots of time, effort, commitment, and teamwork to achieve it. I would like to acknowledge the work over the last few months of the subcommittee made up of these very organised and skilled parents:
The Raffles Team: Thankyou to Coordinator Amy Campbell who did a fantastic job, her first time at taking on such a task. Thankyou to the team of Christie Drage, Heidi Teakle, Kylie Springett, Sally Marshall, Sarah Murray and Mirika Hall for the coordination, procurement of prizes and beautiful display of the 96 raffle prizes.
The Popcorn and Lolly Stalls: Thankyou to Sam Heirich and Clare Bickers for coordinating and organising the array of lollies at the Lolly Stall and keeping fresh popcorn ‘popping’ all night. A very big thankyou to Kobie and Llewyn Connolly of Connolly Building, Jenna and Wesley Johnson of TMS and Brodie from Nouveau Beauty Studio for your generosity with sponsorship. The stall made a full profit from your donations, and we are so grateful.
The Lucky Dip Stall: Thankyou Mirika Hall and family. Mirika with her daughter Livinia, prepared 350 lucky dip bags for our children to enjoy.
The Sausage Sizzle: Thankyou to Ashe and Matt Murdock for coordinating the sausage sizzle and thankyou to the team who were involved in assisting the Murdocks to cook and prepare over 700 sausage sizzles for the crowd. Thankyou to Dan and Sarah Murray of Geraldton Dental Care again for your generous sponsorship of this stall.
The Choc Luck Stall: Thankyou to Vanessa Heyhoe for her coordination, and Michelle Taylor for assisting. There was so much fun at this stall, and it was nice to see everyone encouraging each other with their $1 throws to win a chocolate prize. Thankyou to the Nagle students and Asha H who helped the younger children with their throws.
The Basketball Hoops Arcade Game: Thankyou to Dario Heirich and Kurt Bickers for manning this stall all night, there was certainly no down time as the children lined up to make the free throws for the free bag of popcorn! The Basketball Hoops Game has now been donated by the P&F to Holland Street School, where the younger students will be able to play with it in their Undercovered Area.
Thankyou to Margaret Devine for managing the drinks stall as well as enacting her role as our Treasurer managing the finances for the event and your support to all involved.
A very big thankyou to Jasmine Lodge and her family’s business Golden West Logistics for supplying the ice for the drinks. As always so generous and happy to give back to and support St Lawrence’s.
It was fantastic to see our Nagle Catholic College Years 7, 8, 9 and 11 students returning to ‘give back’ to their old primary school and gain hours to contribute to their Christian Service Learning requirement. Thankyou to our Year 7s: Livinia H, Ava O, Jacob C, Oliver S, Year 8: Liam M, Year 9: Maddy M and Year 11: Isabella M. We really value the contribution you make to this event with some of you returning for your second and third time.
The Entertainment: Thankyou to Leigh Jones for being our MC and lending us your ‘radio voice’ for the event – you truly are a master of the microphone. Thankyou to Johnny Davis who set up the sound desk, coordinated the entertainment, sang for us and supported the other entertainers. A very big thankyou to Jenny Casey and Emma Ellis for letting us hear you both sing, such a fun way to end the year. It was lovely to see past students Keira and Aila K return as part of the St Lawrence’s Parish Youth Choir. Both of you along with your sisters Thea and Joli, truly are gifted with your musical talents. Thankyou also to Lea for your performance as part of the choir.
You may have noticed how much better the sound was this year! The two sound systems purchased by the P&F were used, and we were so excited to see how having great sound added to the ambience of the night. The second system was purchased last year after the 2022 Carols on the Green event from Opus Music.
Thank you to Ash Campbell and Amanda McKenzie for giving up your day and arriving early Thursday to setup. Your commitment to ensuring nothing had been overlooked so our event ran smoothly, was very much appreciated. Thankyou also to Grant and Tina Shadforth and Sue Clarkson for helping with setting up for the event on Thursday morning. We appreciate your effort and support.
The P&F along with Leisa Canny, would like to thank the school community for their support of local business ‘Get Grazey’ WA, with the purchase of grazing boxes. Eighty six orders were placed where $2 from each box along with the $100 site fee, was donated back to the P&F. Leisa along with her staff wanted to thank everyone for their support and were happy to be a part of the wonderful atmosphere our school community created.
Final thankyou is to you Santa for dropping in to see us again, and you didn’t disappoint. You certainly looked at home on the stage and it’s official, you have gained ‘rockstar’ status at St Lawrence’s. And thanks must go to Mr Gaby for ensuring Santa was where he should be on the night.
Lastly, I would like to acknowledge the donations and generosity of all the local businesses, individuals and families who supported the Carols on the Green in anyway. We could not do what we do as a P&F without your support. A list of our major sponsors for the raffle prizes and the various stalls is included below and we ask that in return our school community consider supporting these individuals and businesses in the future. Congratulations to all the lucky raffle winners.
Survey
We are seeking feedback about the Carols on the Green via the survey that was distributed Monday. Please take the time to complete it, any suggestions for the 2024 P&F Committee on ways to improve the event would be appreciated.
2024 Year 6 Big Day Out - Lunch Gift
Passed at the budget meeting earlier in the year it was decided to gift to the Year 6s a Leavers Lunch of their choosing. This year they have decided on pizzas, fruit and icy poles at the Foreshore after their movie morning. Thank you to the Year 6 Parents who are coordinating the lunch along with the Year 6 teaching staff. The P&F would like to wish the Year 6 Leavers all the very best for the future and every success with their transition to high school. We hope you have a fun time with your friends and make special memories on your last day of primary school.
Last P&F Meeting Update – 12th November
This meeting was our last for the year. The main items from that meeting included the remaining 2023 budget items; 2024 Year 6 Leavers Shirts and the Basketball Court Shade Structure, with a discussion about the CEWA Capital Works Approval process taking place.
Leavers Shirts are ready to be ordered with design choice and sizing complete. The shirts will be paid for from the funds set aside from the 2023 budget.
We sought clarification from the school regarding the delay of the approvals from CEWA for the shade structure at the Basketball Court. It has been confirmed that the EOI for Capital Works applications will be available in January or early February 2024. An application will be submitted by the school to progress the shade structure to be commenced and completed over the course of the 2024 school year. Funds raised for this project will be carried over into 2024 and remain in the P&F account. It was unanimously decided that all funds raised by the P&F in 2024 will go towards the shade structure.
Minutes of this meeting can be made available by request.
Annual Community Meeting 11th December
The ACM is scheduled for Monday 11th December at 4.30pm. At this meeting the current P&F Office Bearers will step down from their positions for the 2024 positions of Chair, Deputy Chair, Secretary and Treasurer to be elected. All positions become vacant and nominations will be open for all vacated positions. A nomination form must be completed prior to this meeting if you are considering a position for 2024. Please contact the Front Office if you are interested in nominating.
Thankyou and Goodbye
On behalf of the St Lawrence’s P&F I would like to extend my sincere thanks to our school community for your support of our events throughout the year. The St Lawrence’s school community are so generous and the students at our school so lucky to be the benefactors. To the outgoing families, all the best for your new chapters in life and may you remember fondly your time at St Lawrence’s.
This will be the last time I will write to our school community as the P&F Chairperson, this is my family’s last year at St Lawrence’s. After the Annual Community Meeting on Monday I will be signing off from the P&F after 5 years on the committee with 4 of those years as President, then Chairperson. In that time, I have given a lot to the role but also gained a lot. I have been very fortunate through my role to meet and work together with so many generous and talented people and make some wonderful friends while doing it. I would like to take this opportunity to especially thank Margaret Devine, our Treasurer. Thank you for your hard work, support and most of all your friendship throughout the last three years. Thankyou also to Sam Heirich for your support, friendship, and commitment to the role of Secretary for the last two years.
On Monday at the ACM, I will proudly hand over a P&F Group that can continue to provide the opportunity for parents and friends to meet, share and remain a community that supports and encourages the students and staff of St Lawrence’s, in a shared vision. A P&F Group that can add strength to the school through positive community engagement and fundraising initiatives.
Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday, a very Merry Christmas and dreams come true for 2024.
Kind regards,
Julie O’Malley
P&F Chairperson
Community Notices
