Inter House Swimming Carnival
Our school Inter House Swimming Carnival is taking place tomorrow, 17 February, at the MARC, for all students in Years 3 to 6. The students have been allocated events to swim in, based on the results of the trials held last week. A program of events has been sent to families last Monday, so please read this to see the schedule of events.
Parents are welcome to come down to the MARC, to support the students and cheer for their House factions, throughout the day. At the conclusion of the carnival, students are permitted to go home with their parent(s), but must be signed out with their classroom teacher prior to existing the MARC.
Parents will not be permitted in student section of the stadium. However, the students will be permitted to sit with their parent(s) during the lunch break.
The weather is looking to be a fine day, which will be great for the carnival. I wish all of the students the very best and hope they enjoy the day as they try their hardest swimming for their house factions. Good luck, also, to our House Captains (pictured below) as they strive to lead their Teams to victory.

Parent E-Safe Cyber Safety Session
Last night, the school hosted a Cyber Safety session for Parents. The session was facilitated by guest speaker, Kayelene Kerr from ‘eSafe Kids, who discussed the use, trends and dangers of the internet by our children. She also provided some fantastic strategies for parents on how to monitor and support their child’s use of the internet and how to promote their safety in the digital world. I thank all of the parents who took the time to attend the session; I hope you found the content and suggested strategies practical and useful.
I thank Ms Kerr for presenting her workshops to the parents at St Damien’s and also thank Mr Hazebroek for organising and coordinating this worthwhile event.


'Gilberts' Donation
Today, we had Kirsty McCluskey, from ‘Gilberts and Sons Fresh Market’, come to the school to present a donation of $1,200 which was raised from all of the shopping our families have done at ‘Gilberts’ over the past few months. Thank you to all families for supporting this initiative as these contributions really assist the Environmental and Sustainability programs in the school. Well done to our ‘Green Team’, Mr Lilly and Mr Hazebroek for all of the work they do to make our school environmentally responsible.

Swimming Trials
Congratulations to all of the students who participated in the Swimming trials last week. It was great to see all of the students trying their best in the pool and are now ready to tackle tomorrow’s swimming carnival. Thank you to Miss Sanders for organising this and a special thank you to all the parents who were able to assist with timing on the day.



Pupil-Free Day
There is a pupil free day on Friday 3 March. Staff will be using this day for Professional Development in the area of health and wellbeing. Please put this important school closure day in your diaries.
Traffic
Since the beginning of school this year, there has been a considerable amount of work and construction going on around the school site which has caused some disruption to the afternoon traffic flow. I ask that parents continue to drive with patience and care in order to promote the safety of our students as they are making their way home.
I have been informed by the developers that the installation of asphalt on the new round-about on Ocean Road will be completed on 25 February, with line marking taking place about a week later. With this in mind, hopefully by early March this intersection will be back to normal operation and minimise traffic delays for families.
Carpark Update
We have had further movement on the development of the planned carpark on the Wickepin Parade side of the school. The digger has been in to start clearing the space for earthworks to begin in the coming days. Further updates will be provided as we progress through this minor build project.

Assemblies
Just a reminder to parents that our first Friday morning assembly will be held on Friday 24 February, with the Year 1 class presenting an item. All Friday morning assemblies will be held in the school hall.
School Calendar
Parents are encouraged to visit the school’s term planner on a regular basis to ensure you are informed about upcoming events during the year. The term planner can be accessed by clicking on the following link: School Events Calendar
God Bless,
Daniel Gooch
Principal