Principal's Blog

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Thursday, 14 February 2013 00:00

On assembly next Friday 22 February Fr Leo will be blessing our class visions for the year. Our class visions are created by the children and the teacher on what they need to do for their class to be productive and harmonious. It is then used as a reference point throughout the year within the classroom. Please keep the McAuliffe family in your thoughts and prayers as Brett’s Mother passed away earlier this week.
I look forward to seeing you on Sunday.

Curriculum

At the beginning of each school year teachers are very aware children need to settle in and clearly understand and practise school expectations for the classroom and playground. To assist teachers in reinforcing our school expectations can you please go over these with your children at home by asking them what they mean and what they may look like at school and even at home. With the school and parents working together children will develop a clear understanding of what their responsibility is in assisting to create a harmonious and productive environment at school. -What teacher says we do, Hands and feet to yourself, Speak to please and not to tease, Move carefully, Take Turns.

Friday, 08 February 2013 13:45

Community

Community is an important part of Holy Spirit School. It involves the children, parents, teachers and the parish celebrating together as one. It allows us to realise we are part of something greater than ourselves. There is a proud tradition of a strong community at Holy Spirit. Like many things the most rewarding aspects of life need continual effort to sustain them. Building community is no different; with this in mind I remind you about our Opening School Mass next Sunday 17 Feb at 9.30am in the church, followed by our Welcome BBQ at school. The strong community we have at Holy Spirit is something to be very proud of, we would love to see as many of you as possible come along to live that community we hold so dear.

Organisation

Inside the newsletter you will find the expectations for drop off and pick up when using your car. You will also receive home in the next few weeks a family sign (in yellow card) which we ask that you hold up when approaching the school for pick up. This helps with the movement of the cars. I remind you to please be aware of signage in Villiers and adjoining Streets of ap-propriate places to park, our priority as always is for the safety of the children. If you have any questions regarding drop off or pick up please contact the school.
Our fabulous new classrooms were completed during the holidays and were waiting for the Yr 1 children on the first day of school. The children and teachers are loving their new rooms and we will be having a chance for parents to look through them at our welcome BBQ on Sunday 17 Feb. We will also be holding a blessing and opening of the new rooms later in the year. From today the names of the students getting the student of the week awards will be on the back page of the newsletter and they will be presented their awards the following day at assembly.

Thursday, 31 January 2013 00:00

Community

I would like to welcome all our parents to the 2013 school year as well as Troy Giess in Yr 4 and Hilary Kopp in Yr 3. Thank you so much to the P & F and the middle school parents for the wel-come morning tea yesterday. It was wonderful to see so many parents attend.
It was great to see the children returning to school looking refreshed and excited about the coming year. It was also enjoyable to see the Prep children beginning their schooling life. I often think of a new school year as starting a new job. There are often different people to meet, a new boss to work with and new work to undertake. It often takes children up to six weeks to get into the routines and practices of the classroom and this is especially so for the preps starting school. At the beginning of each school year teachers are very aware children need to clearly understand and practise school expectations for the classroom and playground. To assist teachers in reinforcing our school expectations can you please go over these with your children at home by asking them what they mean and what does that look like in the classroom, playground and even at home. With the school and parents working together chil-dren will develop a clear understanding of what their responsibility is in assisting to create a harmonious and productive environment at school.

* What teacher says we do, Hands and feet to yourself, Speak to please and not to tease, Move carefully and Take Turns.
If you have any questions or are not sure of the expectations then please see your teacher.
The tuckshop is in need of more volunteers to assist with the preparation and serving of the food on a Friday. At the moment 9 people have offered their help when around 40 are needed to operate the tuckshop next week. If you have helped out in the past or are willing to give it a try can you please complete the attached form and return it to the office.

Thursday, 06 December 2012 00:00

Community

On Tuesday night we gathered as a school community to celebrate Christmas Carols followed by supper at the school. Thank you to Martin Bradley and staff who organised such a great event and to the P&F and our Prep parents for providing great food and service.

Yesterday we held our thank you assembly and morning tea for all parents to show our appre-ciation for the help that they have given throughout the year. Although not all parents could turn up it was our way of saying thank you. I would also like to say thank you to Mark Mazur-kiewicz, the Exec team and the P&F for all their assistance and wonderful work throughout the year. Thank you also to the School Board who have worked hard assisting in the design of the new buildings, policy development and sharing of wisdom. Tonight we celebrate the farewell of our Yr 7’s with a liturgy in the church followed by a supper in the hall.

Organisation

A reminder our last day of school tomorrow finishes at 12pm. We will be holding our end of year Mass at 11am, all parents are invited to attend. At the conclusion of this Mass children will head back to their classrooms, from there they will be released. Please note if you are una-ble to pick your child up from school at 12pm to contact After School Care as they will be open from 12pm tomorrow. Vacation care will also be operating during the Christmas holidays so please remember to contact Care for Kyds if you plan to use this facility. I would again like to thank all staff who have worked tirelessly this year. A special thank you must go to those who will be leaving us at the end of this year Marie Sweet, Jacqueline Manger and Jo Connors. We wish you all the best for next year. Home class lists for children in the Middle School for 2013 will be posted in the undercover area on the first day of school next year. The home classes in the Middle School represent where the children gather to take the roll before they move into their learning groups during the day. Children in Prep, Yr 1 and Yr 4 will receive a letter shortly before school begins indicating their class group and teacher for 2013. All families will receive information and school forms a week before school finishes. Please find enclosed in the news-letter an outline of the school fees for 2013, I hope this assists you with the planning of family budgets for the new year.

Thursday, 29 November 2012 00:00

At Holy Spirit all our actions come from our beliefs and values as a Catholic School community. Our Vision and Mission states that we are a “Welcoming inclusive faith community that embraces hope, quality teaching & learning, tolerance and understanding of difference.” As a school all children come from different family cultures, so we need to have set procedures that allow all children to under-stand how to get along to create a harmonious and productive environment. At times in their growing and learning children will say or do things that require them to be reminded what it takes to belong in our community, this is part of our school being a learning and teaching environment. Teachers continual-ly help to develop strategies with children on how to get along in the context of school, if we do this at the child level with help from the teacher it will help all children to develop ‘Getting Along’ skills needed as they go through life. If we attempt to solve children issues at an adult level we are risking children not taking responsibility for their actions. To assist the school it is vital communication between home and school is ongoing so any opportunities for learning can be actioned in the context of the school environ-ment.

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