Dear Families,
Thank you to all the parents and caregivers who attended our Book Week Parade and helped their children to dress up and participate as their favourite ‘magical' book character. The children and staff had a great time. Our next whole school fun activity is the Colour Fun Run on Friday September 20. Thank you to those parents who have signed their children up to participate in this activity. The children loved our last colour run and this one should be great fun too. The additional bonus this year is that a number of staff will be ‘slimed’ depending on how much money is raised. The Colour Fun Run will take place on the oval from 2pm but there will also be a liturgy at 9am to begin the day. The children will participate in a variety of activities throughout the day based on our school’s Mercy Values.
Next Thursday evening (12 September) a number of children from the parish and our schools will celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation. This is the time when a person ‘confirms’ their baptism (being baptised into our catholic faith), which is usually a decision made by the parents when they were a baby. The confirmation candidate is now of an age where they can make their own decision about their participation in our church community and complete their initiation into the catholic church. The sacraments of initiation are Baptism, Reconciliation, Confirmation and First Eucharist. We wish our confirmation candidates (Kamsi, Chiagoziem, Sebastine, Amanda, Jaxon, Keira) and their families every blessing for this special day.
Each year as a part of our Religious Education Program we teach a human sexuality course known as ‘Made in the Image of God’ (MITIOG). It is based on the fundamental belief that humans are made in God’s image and are deserved of the utmost dignity and respect, and that sexuality, integral to the human person, is a gift from God through which we can live out our vocation to love. The program is delivered, often as a part of an integrated curriculum approach, across each year level from Reception to Year 12. Parents are acknowledged as the first and foremost educators of their children, particularly in the area of sexuality. In providing sexuality education, SA Catholic schools support parents in their primary role. Over the next few weeks we will be teaching the MITIOG program across all year levels. Please see your classroom teacher if you have any questions.
In a recent newsletter I mentioned that we are changing our phones over to a Voice Over the Internet Protocol (VOIP). Hopefully this will happen in the next few weeks. In doing this we have been given a new school number replacing our old one. Our new number is 8287 7900 and it is now active. The old number will still work for the next 6 months or so to give people time to start using the new number. Please change your contact details or address book to reflect the new school phone number: 8287 7900.
Please remember if your child is late to school, or is picked up early, they should be signed in and out through the front office. This is especially important over the next few weeks as Lisa Daniele will be taking some leave and there may be a few different people working on the front desk.
We would like to remind students and families to be wary of approaches from strangers, especially when they are unaccompanied or travelling to and from school. If they are approached, students should not respond and should not accept offers of rides or gifts. Students should seek the assistance of other nearby adults if they feel unsafe and should report any events to a trusted adult (parent or school staff member) as soon as possible. SAPOL advises that taking out a mobile phone and calling police can deter an offender and they recommend the student making a formal report to their closest police station.
Good luck to our Year 3 to Year 6 students who are participating in the SACPSSA Touch Football Carnival on Friday of this week in the South Parklands. We wish you well and remind you that you are representing our school and that we have high expectations about good sportsmanship and behaviour.
Please remember that we have the following dates set aside as Pupil Free Days for the staff to undertake professional development, staff reflection, complete hand over activities, etc. Our remaining set dates are: Monday 14 October (First Day of Term 4), Thursday 12 December and Friday 13 December. Please mark them in your diary and book in to OSHC if you require this service (spaces will be limited).
Our School Board Meets this coming Tuesday 17th September at 6:30pm in the Staff Room.
Kind regards
Peter Mercer
Head of School
‘Shaping our Future Together’
Increasing vocabulary
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