Welcome
Welcome to all students and families upon their return to St Damien’s School for 2022. I hope you all had a very relaxing and enjoyable holiday break. A special welcome to new families entering St Damien’s School; we look forward to journeying together providing the best education and opportunity and watching your child flourish.
It has been great to see all of the students begin school this week and to settle into the classroom and playtime routines. We wish all students every success as they strive to develop, learn and reach their full potential in all they do.
We welcome new staff members, Miss Tanya Pavlovic, Mrs Shelley Rasmussen, Mr Peter Hazebroek, Miss Jorjena Harman and Mrs Carly Amery into the school and wish them every blessing as they provide the very best learning experiences for the students in their care.
Over the past few weeks, the staff have been in school busily preparing for the new school year. I thank them for their efforts and dedication and wish them a fruitful and rewarding school year. On Thursday and Friday of last week, we met as a whole staff and spent the most part of each day planning and preparing for the year ahead.
Parent Information Sessions
Parent Information Sessions have been scheduled to occur in week 2 of the school term. The Parent Information Sessions will be held over three consecutive nights, from Monday 7 February to Wednesday 9 February, as per the schedule below. Each year level will be allocated a 30-minute timeslot and the meetings will take place in the Steve Dowie Hall.
Monday 7 February:
· 2:45pm: Kindergarten
Tuesday 8 February:
· 3:15pm: Pre Primary
· 4:15pm: Year 2
· 5:00pm: Year 5
Wednesday 9 February:
· 4:00pm: Year 1
· 4:45pm: Year 3
· 5:30pm: Year 4
· 6:15pm: Year 6
COVID-19 Update
Thank you to all of the families in the school who have adapted to the COVID-19 safety operations in the school, especially the wearing of masks whilst indoors. As the COVID-19 situation and safety guidelines change, I will endeavour to keep you informed as soon as possible of any implications these may have on the usual operations and daily running of St Damien’s Catholic Primary School.
In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns regarding this issue, please contact me at the office to discuss further.
Medical Action Plans
It is that time of the year again where all documentation needs to be completed and returned to school. Could I ask that all priority is placed on parents who need to return medical action forms and anaphylaxis management forms and asthma action plans to the school as soon as possible to ensure we can provide a safe environment for the students. Thank you to those families who have already provided an updated copy of your child’s medical action plans.
Testing
In the early weeks of the term the school will be conducting testing on students to gain further insights and information about their learning abilities, especially in the areas of Literacy and Numeracy. The testing schedule at the beginning of the year is an important process to enable staff to develop more effective learning plans and activities for the for all students at the beginning of the year. Please contact your child’s classroom teacher if you have any questions or concerns regarding your child’s academic progression, throughout the year.
Year 3 - 6 Swimming Lessons
Swimming lessons have begun for all students in Year 3 to 6 this week and they are all to be commended for their efforts at the beach. The lessons are going very well and the students seem to be very organised each day with all of their swimming gear each day. I thank the parents and carers for supporting this and ensuring that their child/children have everything they need to swim each day. Swimming lessons do continue until the end of next week.
Principal Awards
Over the past week some students have been sent to my office to receive a Principal’s Award for completing some exceptional work. I congratulate Hope Winder, Thomas Winder, Fiona McLaren, Imogen Lemm, Charlee Loreto, Lily Clayton and Lily Morcombe, from Year 1 Blue, for their fantastic work in their writing, and Ella-Rae Mackintosh and Milla Mulvay, from Year 1 Gold, for their great work in Italian.in Well done and keep up the great work!
God Bless,
Daniel Gooch
Principal
