Newsletter 7

Dear Parents and Carers

This weekend is Mothers’ Day.  We have many mothers, grandmothers and mother figures in our school who give their absolute best for the benefit of our children.  We thank you for what you do and celebrate having such loving, generous, caring, gentle, selfless people in our lives.  We would like to wish all mothers and mother figures a very happy Mothers’ Day this weekend and hope you will spend a great day being spoiled by your families.  This Friday morning, we look forward to welcoming all mums and grandmothers to our Mothers’ and Grandmothers’ Day Breakfast.

Thank you to our Year 6 students, Mrs Staley and Mrs McGinley for leading us in the ANZAC Day Service. This gave us the opportunity to commemorate the landing of Australian and New Zealand forces at Gallipoli on the 25^th April 1915 and to reflect on the impact of war, conflict and peacekeeping operations in Australia’s history and pray for those involved in wars, their families and for peace.

We are now in Week 3 of the term, and many students would have started to implement some of the goals established at the parent teacher interviews that occurred at the beginning of the term. Students can make significant progress by building upon habits and routines. These include completing all homework tasks to the highest standard, reflecting on the day’s experiences, reading aloud to an adult or being read to and by practising number facts. Together, as partners in education, we can provide our children with the foundation they need to grow into compassionate, responsible, and faith-filled individuals. We are grateful for your continued support and dedication to the mission of our school.

Thank you to all families who attended and participated in our Family Mass on Saturday evening.  It was great to see families demonstrating the school value of Faith: We believe in God, self and each other; and We are active participants in our Catholic community.  Thank you to Fr Cyp, Fr Errol and to Mr and Mrs Westneat, Mrs Chapman and Mr Carter for your organisation and leadership.  Congratulations also to our Confirmation candidates who made their commitment over the weekend.

Our Year 5 students recently participated in Whadjuk Gift at Mater Dei College in Edgewater. Whadjul Gift is a reconciliation initiative combining sport, creative design and culture. In the lead up to the day, students researched the histories, languages and cultures of our First Nations people, and designed a t-shirt to represent the various customs and symbols. This annual event is an important gathering of local schools to instil a deeper understanding and respect of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations, and to see First Nations culture as a gift to this country and our communities.

On Tuesday, we conducted a ‘Shelter in Place’ drill so that our children would be suitably prepared in the event that we had an emergency situation. The safety and well-being of our students are our top priorities, and we believe that preparation is key to ensuring their security. While we hope that such situations never arise, it is essential to be prepared for the unlikely event of an emergency.  The students should be congratulated on their calm and sensible response during the drill.

Students have settled into the winter uniforms smoothly and are generally wearing their uniforms correctly.  The uniform policy can be found on the following link on the school website.  Congratulations to all families for ensuring that students are attending school feeling proud of themselves and ready to demonstrate the school value Excellence – We demonstrate pride in ourselves, each other, family, and school. Pride is a crucial part of a positive culture and people who are proud of something perform better in that environment and are likely to participate in and promote the positive culture.  Students can show that they are proud of their school by wearing uniforms correctly, being welcoming, respectful and caring towards each other and giving their best.  Students can also determine whether their teachers and parents are proud of their school and this reinforces their willingness to do well.

We are well into our enrolment interviews for 2028 Kindy positions, and demand for places at WCPS is extremely high.  If you have a child who has a sibling at our school who is eligible to commence Kindy in 2028, and you have not completed an application, please contact the front office immediately to avoid missing out.  It has been a pleasure meeting the future members of our school community.

Best wishes, Happy Mothers’ Day and God Bless