SEQTA
Since the beginning of the year, the school has been working to streamline its way of communicating with parents and carers of the school. To achieve this, the school will be rolling the ‘SEQTA Engage’ platform out to families in the coming weeks as the tool to engage and communicate with families, keeping you all connected to school life.
‘SEQTA Engage’ facilitates parents’ direct communication to teachers and the wider school community in a safe online forum. It contains many features, including ability to see key notices from the school, school reports, policies, term overviews, calendars and a forum to plan school events. The parent portal can be accessed from any device via either the web portal or the SEQTA Engage App.
More information regarding ‘SEQTA Engage’, including instructions on how to set it up, will be sent out to families in the coming weeks. The school has tested the set-up procedure and we are confident families will find the process a simple one. Support will be available for any families experiencing difficulty completing the set-up process.
School Website
As mentioned in my previous blogs, the school website has had some maintenance over the past few weeks, in readiness to migrate it to a new site. The changeover to the new website will happen over the upcoming June long weekend. The same site address will be used, but the contents of the site will look different to the current site, hopefully improving the accessibility and functionality for visitors navigating through the contents and information on the website.
Confirmation
Last Sunday our Year 6 candidates received the Sacrament of Confirmation at the St Damien’s Parish. The celebration was the pinnacle of months of preparation, with Bishop Gerard Holohan being the celebrant of the Mass. Many thanks to Fr Vincent, Ms Janine Hart, Mrs Burns, the school choir, school staff and the families of the candidates receiving the Sacrament for all of their efforts in making this celebration such a special occasion for the Confirmation candidates.
Sacrament of Reconciliation
The Sacrament of Reconciliation program begins this evening, with the Parent Sacramental Information Meeting scheduled for 6:oopm tonight in the St Damien’s Parish. During tonight’s meeting, parents and candidates will receive information and formation regarding the Sacrament of Reconciliation as part of their journey beginning in receiving the Sacrament in the coming weeks.
Congratulations
Congratulations goes to Amber Reid, from Year5B, for achieving ‘Runner’s Up’ in the U9 Girls and ‘12&U Points Champion’ at the Peel Aquatic Club. Well done for these achievements!
Plastic Wrap Going Home
Thank you to all of the students and families in the school for supporting the lunchbox practices by having all plastic wrapping being returned home each day. This has enabled a significant reduction in the amount of rubbish that is being collected each week at school and also contributes to maintaining such a clean and litter free school environment. Furthermore, if given the opportunity to re-use the returned wrapping, it is also having a significant reduction in the amount of landfill we are contributing each year. Again, thank you and well done for supporting this.
Lock Down Practice Drill
As part of the school’s ‘Incident Management Plan’ (IMP), we will be having a ‘Lock Down’ practice drill next Friday 28 May. The purpose of the drill is to ensure the school is well-rehearsed in the correct ‘Lock-Down’ procedures and protocols, should it ever be required in the future. Students will be informed of the ‘Lock Down’ practice and will be debriefed prior to the event why we have them, in a sensitive manner by school staff, to ensure students are not heightened or surprised by the practice drill.
Animals on site
This is a gentle reminder that family pets are not permitted on school site, without permission from the school Administration team. Whilst most pets, particularly dogs, are cute and friendly, they do pose a risk to the students in the school, particularly those students who have a fear of them. I thank you in advance for supporting this.
Enrolments
We are currently in the enrolment period for students beginning in Kindergarten for 2022. If you have a child who is eligible to begin Kindy next year, please ensure you complete and submit an enrolment form to the school office as soon as possible.
An ‘Information Session’ for prospectus families enrolling into Kindy for 2022 will be held on 16 June, beginning at 9:00am.
National Simultaneous Storytime
Yesterday all of the students in the school participated in the ‘National Simultaneous Storytime’ event, hosted in the Hall. What made this initiative very interesting this year was that the story, ‘Give Me Some Space’ was read from the ‘International Space Station’, by NASA Astronaut, Shannon Walker.
Thank you to Mr Lily for coordinating this event. We hope the students enjoyed it.
Girls Docker’s Cup
Next Tuesday our Senior Girls Football Team will head off to Rushton Park to compete in the PSSA AFL Docker’s Cup. We had a large number of girls try out to be in the team and we are thankful for their efforts and enthusiasm. For those who have been selected to represent the school, we wish them the very best and hope they all enjoy the experience.
200 Years of Catholic Education
Next Monday, Catholic Education Western Australia is hosting a number of Masses to celebrate 200 Years of Catholic Education in Australia. This is obviously a significant milestone for our system and one that is being celebrated across our Nation. We will be sending a representative group from St Damien’s CPS to attend the celebratory Mass in Bunbury on Monday.
PSSA Sport
Last Friday our Year 5 and 6 students got another opportunity to participate in the PSSA Sports competition. Once again, all of the students are to be commended on the way they participated in the sports and for their excellent display of behaviour and fair play in all sports.
We have a couple of bye weeks in the PSSA Sports competition, with our next round happening in Week 8.
Book Fair
Thank you to Mrs Jackie Denning for coordinating the Scholastic ‘Book Fair’ over the past fortnight. I hope all students have had a chance to look through the stall and have been able to purchase a book of interest.
NAPLAN
The NAPLAN assessments are now completed, with students in Years 3 and 5 participating in them over the past fortnight. Student results will be forwarded to families later in the year, once they have been received by the school.
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 Mila Blick, Bryce McKay and Jasper Wozniuk from Year 1B for their great work in Italian; Georgia Holmes and Charlie Mann, from Year 3G for their excellent work in Italian; Alex Merks, Jesse Spencer and Lorenzo Dos Santos, from Year 4B for their great work in Italian; and Daniel Field, Chase Janse Van Vuuren, Noah Swiderski, Sienna Binder and Asia Brady, from Year 5G for their great work in Writing. Well done and keep up the great work!
God Bless,
Daniel Gooch
Principal
