Principal's Update - 25th August

Welcome

Dear Families,

The term is certainly flying by as we bid farewell to August and Winter and welcome in September and Spring next week. Term 4 will also be soon upon us.

South Street Choir Participation

We congratulate our amazing choir for their participation in the choral section of the Royal South Street Competitions. The children were praised for their presentation, unison singing, and ability to tell an emotion-evoking story through song. We are incredibly proud of the children and excited to announce that they were awarded a Highly Commended from the adjudicators!  Thank you to all of the families and friends who supported the students on the day. A huge thank you to Ruth, Maree and Alison for their dedication and support leading up to the event. Congratulations to all involved.

Neon Disco Extravaganza

A huge thank you to our Parents and Friends for organising such a successful event for our junior and senior school students. The children were absolutely delighted to participate in the fun on the night. Both discos were exceptionally well attended.

We would like to commend our dedicated band of helpers for all their hard work in preparing such an event which provided entertainment and connection for our students' post covid and raised some much-needed funds for our playground project. The hours of planning and support on the night did not go unnoticed.

We appreciate parent support in the supervision on the night and, in particular, for everyone’s patience at the drop-off and pick-up to both events. As child safety is paramount to our organisation, your patience and diligence in signing your child in and out was the top priority to ensure there was no opportunity for error. We understand that this process was lengthy. However, we make no apologies for the fact that this ensured your child was safe and went with their designated carer. Thank you to all involved.

Book Week Dress Up Parade & Incursion for F - 2

Each year since 1945, the CBCA has bought children and books together across Australia through Children’s Book Week. This year’s Book Week theme is Read, Grow, Inspire. We celebrate this week each year to encourage students to be avid readers and enjoy the adventures and learning we gain from reading. Children are already planning how to bring their favourite book characters to life by choosing costumes ready for the big parade on Friday, 8th August. Foundation to Year Two will also participate in a Book Week presentation during Week 9.

Technology Updates

The school has recently completed the next phase of our technology integration project with updates to our server, switches and Wi-Fi access points. Alongside our building project and some recabling work in this, it ensures our school is future-proofed. This will be part of an ongoing maintenance rollover for our school’s infrastructure, providing a backbone for successful technology use.

We have also been a part of DOBCEL’s technology rollout project, and this has enabled us to work with Apple Education and visit a number of schools to explore what schools that are leading in this space are doing. We are in the process of finalising a digital device update plan and will have more information for families around this in the near future.

2024 classes

We will also begin the process of staff appointments and class lists in the coming weeks. If you have any information that may impact placement for your child, please contact us at principal@scballarat.catholic.edu.au. This relates to academic, family and social-emotional considerations. Please be aware we do not accept requests for specific teachers or social groups, nor can we promise, given the complexity of 340 students to place, that we can accommodate every consideration.

Father’s Day Stall

Father’s Day Gifts will be available for purchase throughout the morning on Tuesday, 29th August, from 9:30 am, commencing with Foundation Students. Gifts are $5 each. Siblings will be invited to attend the stall together to purchase the perfect gift for their Dad/special man in their lives. 

Payment can be made via QuickCliq. Please note that gifts are limited to one per child and a separate order is required to be put through for each child.

Father’s Day Liturgy

We would like to invite you to our Father's Day Celebration that will be held on Friday the 1st of September, which is the same day as the 5/6 Learning Community Market Day Stalls. 

At 11:30 am, students will gather in Family Groups at school with their family members or special people for a Liturgy and Response Activity. Please note that some students with a stall that requires last minute preparation (e.g. a food stall) may not take part in the Response Activity.
 
From 12:30 pm until 2:00 pm the students will have an opportunity to shop at the stalls with their special people. We wish to emphasise that children without an adult present will have an opportunity to shop at the stalls with their family group teacher. 

Piety Store at St Columba’s First Eucharist 3rd September & 10th September

The Piety store in the Church will be selling gifts for these occasions at 10am Mass each Sunday and on the days of Confirmation and Eucharist.

Here are a sample of what is available.

Student-Led Conferences

We are thrilled to inform you that our student-led conferences are just around the corner, being held on Tuesday 29th August and Wednesday 30th August from 3:30pm - 7:00pm. Bookings are now open via PAM.

These conferences provide a unique opportunity for your child to take the reins and actively engage in sharing their learning journey with you. This process encourages self-reflection, goal setting, and effective communication skills. We believe that this collaborative effort between students, parents, and teachers is crucial in nurturing well-rounded individuals who are confident in their abilities and aspirations.

The student-led conferences form an essential part of our reporting process. Alongside SeeSaw, general communication and formal semester reports provide important  information for our parent community about how students are going in their learning. The focus of student-led conferences is around developing assessment capable students, that is, students who are able to identify and discuss their learning goals, efforts towards these and their achievements. These are essential skills for successful learners to be able to develop and carry with them. Whilst students will have prepared some of their thoughts for this discussion. It can be valuable for parents also to have some prompting questions ready to go. Some suggestions for prompting you may like to use are:

• Can you tell me more about…?
• I was excited/proud to see that you….
• What did you find challenging with this task, term, or activity?
• What was your goal? Did you achieve it? Why/Why Not?
• What is something we can do together at home to support your learning?

School Closure Day - Term 4

Monday 9th October will be a school closure day for Staff Professional Development.

Important Dates for Term 3

Should you have any questions or require further information, please do not hesitate to contact our office.

Kind regards,

Bambi Afford & Shaun Mohr
Co-Principals