Welcome to the Week 3 Newsletter.

This week, schedules are busy with the Parent Teacher Conferences underway to set new insight goals for Semester 2.  It is an important aspect of the partnership between parents and teachers, and I want to thank parents for your willingness and engagement in this important process. I also want to acknowledge the commitment the teaching staff have for each child's learning everyday but during these very busy weeks of Parent Teacher Conferences. Another important role of these Parent Teacher Conferences (and the Insight Goal setting) is its integral placement in the Partners in Learning process. We invite, welcome and benefit from your participation in this.

Continuum of School Improvement 

Our School is part of and committed to a Continuum of School Improvement (COSI). In addition to the annual school improvement plan for which we work towards key, specific goals (as per above), we also go through a number of validations of our procedures and communications in a number of different areas. This week we are checking, tracking and working towards improvement in three key areas:

1. Positive Behaviours for Learning Framework 
2. Safe and Supportive Environments 
3. Planning, Teaching, Learning and Assessment of two KLAs (English and HSIE) 

The COSI process is about auditing what we do well and identifying ways in which we can do things better. By looking at 3 key areas a year, we travel a 6 year cycle of improvement (and school registration). We look forward to the learnings and validations we can gather from the three processes.  And just to be sure it is not all work instead of celebration, this Friday the students and staff are challenged to wear the green and the gold to mark the closing of the Olympics, the ultimate triumph of continuous improvement , goals achieved and personal best obtained. 

Attendance Matters

We look forward to working with parents in continuing to ensure that every day at schoool matters in 2024.

Important Dates for the remainder of Term 3  

Below is a list of important dates for the remainder of the term for parents’ reference. One key departure from tradition is a change of date for the “Fathers and Special Men in our Lives" breakfast and Liturgy. This year, we have needed to schedule this community occasion on Thursday 29th August due to an unintended calendar clash (we had not anticipated this falling in August but given Father’s Day falls on Sunday 1st September, August it is). I hope that by alerting families now, the fathers and men in our lives may still be able to wrangle a morning off to join us to celebrate this special day each year. 

Public Speaking Finals

Last Wednesday 31st July students from Early Stage One through to Stage Three competed for their place to represent our School at the Regional Public Speaking Competition on Friday 16^th August 2024. I would like to congratulate our finalists on the wonderful effort they put into preparing for their finals, your level of skill, prowess and presentation was amazing. Each of you are a credit to your families, your teacher and your school.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank our guest judges: Mrs Killen, Mrs Garven and Mrs Mulhearn for their support in judging our finalists. Also special thanks to Mrs Garven and Mrs Franks who assisted with the supervision of our preparation time.

Public Speaking finalists 2024 

The following students will now move on to the Regional Public Speaking Competition and represent our school:

Stage 1: Mackenzie Hunter

Stage 2: Scarlett Hunter

Stage 3: Charlotte Grace Carter.

We wish these students all the very best in the next stage of the competition.

Kindest regards

Miss Michelle Collins

(Acting Assistant Principal)

St Mary of the Cross MacKillop

This week we look at celebrating the feast of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop (born in Melbourne in 1842). She kept her faith in God and bravely challenged those who did not support her vision for a more caring world. Mary is an important inspiring Australian and educator, who spent her life helping people, especially children. She co-founded Australia’s first order of nuns, the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, in 1866. St Mary of the Cross MacKillop is Australia's first Saint and was canonized in 2010.

She is considered a symbol of Australian spirituality, representing the values of perseverance, compassion, and social justice that are deeply embedded in Australia’s history and culture. Her link with the Sisters of St Joseph who founded our school make her an important figure in our school.

We also celebrate and pray for the students starting their First Holy Communion preparation journey next week.

‘Holy God, you show us in Mary MacKillop, a woman of faith who lived by the power of the Cross. Teach us to live as she did, living the Gospel and respecting all in our land. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son. Amen’

Have a wonderful week,

Mrs Megan Hunt

(Acting REC)

101 DAYS OF KINDERGARTEN

Friday 2^nd August 2024 spotted Kinder celebrating their 101 Days of School. We are unsure who let the dogs out, but their two masters made sure there was lots of fun had to celebrate this achievement.

WELLBEING PROJECT - RESILIENCE

Our Wellbeing Project at St Benedict's runs in a four week cycle. I visit each class over this four week period on a Tuesday to share activities related to wellbeing. This cycle our focus has been on resilience. 

Resilience is important for a child’s mental health and wellbeing. It is their ability to bounce back from failure, challenges, adversity and stress. It’s not something that kids have or don’t have but a skill that children develop over time as they grow. Building resilience not only helps a child deal with current difficulties, but it also helps develop a resilient mindset that will help them deal with challenges later in life. All children are capable of working through challenges and coping with stress, but they require guidance and support from a adult role model.

I invite you to follow the link below that shares information on how you as a parent can support your child in building resilience.

https://edgeworth.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/resilience

God Bless,

Michelle Collins

(Acting Assistant Principal)

Another 21 students have completed the Premier’s Reading Challenge last week.

They are:

From 2 BLACK: Ivanna Bajracharya, Arham Bhutta, Priscilla Joice, Avitaj Kang, Mia Lee, Jacob Lovett, Nate Peachman, Scarlett Piper

From 2 RED: Penelope-Rose Boyle, Violet Eifler, Paige Ferguson, Amelia Gulabovski, Xavier Manusiu, Nate Toohey

From 3 BLACK: Lincoln O’Brien, Grayce Musgrave

From 3 RED: Macey Searle

From 5 BLACK: Lily Cassel-Denmeade, Allira Weet

From 5 RED: Adam Tinawin

From 6 BLACK: Xavier Lovett

Congratulations and well done.

Mrs Pam Nicolaidis

PRC Co-ordinator

School Office 

Phone: 4958 1858

Email:admin@edgeworth.catholic.edu.au

Admin/ Finance Officer Suzi Di-Nardo Monday to Friday

Admin - Tiare Collins-Grayson Monday, Thursday Friday

School Fees

As we enter term 3 it is expected that families are well on their way to extinguishing their fees for 2024. If your intention was to make your payment weekly or fortnightluy please ensure this is happening as it can be hard to catchup once behind.

School fee payments were expected to have commenced by 31 March if you have not made a payment as yet this is now overdue.

School Fees are to be finalised by 30 November 2024, please contact the school office if assistance is required to work out a best payment method or frequency to accomplish this requirement.

Payments can be made via B/pay, Direct debt, EFTPOS,  over the counter at our school or over the phone. These payment can be set up through your internet banking to be paid weekly, fortnightly or monthly.  

We ask that all Fee Payers closely review your current account, paying particular attention to:

• Only one charge for DFSBL (Building Levy) across all schools; and
• Check sibling discount has been applied at ALL schools (if applicable).

Diocesan Pastoral Contribution- This charge of $300 is a voluntary fee. Parents can decline or accept via Compass Parent Portal.

If you have not received your statement please check your Junk mail and contact our office. 

Compass

Congratulations to the following students who were recognised for their efforts in Learning, Improvement and Kindness to Others last week.