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Message from Principal 4th March 2024

STUDENT ABSENCE / HOLIDAYS IN SCHOOL TIME

Whilst ensuring student attendance at school is the legal obligation of parents/ guardians/carers, supporting students to attend school each day is the shared responsibility of all parents/guardians/ carers, students, the school, and the wider community. School attendance is important as it maximises life opportunities for children and young people by providing them with education and support networks. Positive engagement with schooling enhances academic and wellbeing outcomes for children and young people. 

As Principal of St Peter’s, a Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools Ltd (MACS) school, I am required to ensure the maintenance of  rigorous attendance records ensuring every child is accounted for every school day and to implement mandated procedures for the recording and reporting of non-attendance.

This means organising to follow up any unexplained absences each day. If your child is going to be absent please use one of the methods we have in place for recording absence.

1. Call 9575 0909 and then dial 1 to report an absentee
2. Alternatively email your child’s class teacher.  

As part of this responsibility I am required to approve any holidays of five days or more during school time and organise the provision of a learning plan for the period of absence.

For an effective learning plan to be put in place I require families to give four school weeks notice of the planned holiday. If less than four weeks notice is given then a learning plan will be a proforma and may not reflect any work specific to your child’s class.

Families who decide to take holidays during the school term where students miss more than two weeks of school need to understand that there may be parts of the school academic end of semester and end of year reports that cannot be completed as  the student has missed the teaching and assessment related to that outcome.

Where families are away at short notice due to family emergencies, family bereavement or illness then no learning plans are put in place.

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact me.

EASTER EGG RAFFLE 

After the success of last year’s Easter Raffle, the Parents and Friends and the Year 6 students, will again be running this initiative, where half of the funds raised will be donated to the Royal Childrens’ Hospital Good Friday Appeal and the other half will be used by the Parents And Friends to provide resources for our students.

STAGE ONE DONATIONS

The first stage is a request for every family to donate an Easter egg, bunny or other Easter chocolate. Your child can bring these in from now until Monday, 18th March. The donations will be collected each day by our Year Six students. Members of our Parents and friends will then use these eggs to create Easter Egg Hampers that will become raffle prizes. 

STAGE TWO RAFFLE TICKET SALES

We would be very grateful if you would support this worthy cause that is synonymous with Easter, by selling some raffle tickets.

The eldest child in each family has brought home a book of 10 raffle tickets today. Each raffle ticket is $2.

You may wish to purchase all tickets or get family, friends and/or neighbours involved and ask them for their support by purchasing a ticket or two!

Prizes will be awarded to students who sell the most raffle tickets and additional envelopes can be requested from Trish in the office. 

Please ensure the following information is clearly printed on the ticket stub:

-          Contact name of purchaser 

-          Contact number of purchaser 

All sold ticket stubs and raffle money will need to be returned to the office, in a labelled envelope with the student’s name and class, no later than Friday, 22nd of March.  

STAGE THREE RAFFLE DRAWN

Our Easter Raffle will be drawn on Tuesday, 26th of March  and thanks to all of your generous chocolate donations, we will have some awesome hampers up for grabs just in time for the Easter chocolate feast!

Many thanks,

St Peter’s P&F and Year 6 students 

SCHOOL ADVISORY COUNCIL VACANCIES

Following the retirement of Ed Terkelsen and Darren Bloomfield at the end of last year we have two vacancies on our School Advisory council.

School Advisory Councils (SAC): are established at each school to provide a forum for the school community to work effectively with its Church authority, which in most cases will be the Parish or an association of Parishes. The SAC provides a forum for key stakeholders to meet and provide advice and input from a local perspective, so that parents and the wider Parish have the opportunity to be appropriately involved in the life of the school and ensure that the school retains its Catholic ecclesial identity. Each School Advisory Council’s advisory functions and responsibilities are detailed in their individual Charters and might include: 

(i) the roles of Parish Priest , Principal, parents and members of the Parish 

(ii) religious and sacramental dimensions of school life 

(iii) setting priorities within the school’s strategic plan and annual action plan 

(iv) monitoring academic and financial performance of the school 

(v) customising policies associated with the pastoral care of students 

(vi) developing the Master Plan for the school’s buildings and site 

School Advisory Councils need to be informed of certain management decisions.

Our School Advisory Council meets once a term.

If you would like more information or would like to nominate for our School Advisory Council please email principal@spbentleigheast.catholic.edu.au

PRIVILEGE OF PRINCIPALSHIP

Star of the Sea Music Festival

As principal of St Peter’s I was very fortunate to be invited to attend the Star of the Sea Music Festival on the 21st of February. It is an amazing night displaying the talents of the students. It is a celebration of singing and dance. It is organised and run by multiple College Captains (House, Music, Dance, and Art and Design), and allows students to develop leadership and problem-solving skills in real-time as they design, choreograph, rehearse and present choral and dance performances for the school community. 

Prizes are awarded for 

• Best House Choir
• Best House Dance
• Best House Design
• Meredith Tahlia Award for student accompanist
• Overall winning House

It is such a joyous occasion and one I look forward to attending every year as I also catch a glimpse of past students sharing their talents.

Joining Year Four students visiting Warrawee

Every year our Community Leader and the Year Four team organise for our Year Four students to visit the residents at Warrawee. While there they engage in a number of different activities including indoor games, art and craft and cooking. Each class attends on up to five Thursday afternoons, taking a term each.

On Thursday afternoon I had the privilege of visiting the Warrawee with 4MM. I spent the afternoon with five Year Four students and ten residents as they engaged in some indoor games. It was wonderful to watch our students calming their competitive spirit to make sure that everyone was getting a turn and was engaged, especially the residents. There were smiles all around and I was very proud of our students for their patience and understanding.

CLARE O’NEIL NAMES ST PETER’S IN FEDERAL PARLIAMENT

Earlier this term Clare O’ Neil visited St Peter’s to view the trees planted as part of a grant obtained by our Sustainability Leader Andrea Crough. While here she spoke to a group of students and mentioned this visit in Federal Parliament this week. They are mentioned at the 1:50 minute mark of this clip.

Hotham's Incredible young leaders 

THANK YOU SHED CLEAN OUT

We recently asked for volunteers to help with the clean out of our sheds. Thank you to Colleen Brown (Rochelle 6LD, Rhiannon 3MS and Jasmine 1BG) for assisting Andrea Crough and Steph Hunt in completing this task. We are very grateful.

THANK YOU FOUNDATION PLAY AND DISCO

Thank you to Rebecca Clarke from our Parents and Friends for organising the Foundation Play and Disco on Friday the 23rd of February. Everyone who attended had a great night and it was a wonderful opportunity for families to get to know each other.

DAMAGED ROOF UPDATE

The speed with which the damaged roof and the area underneath was made safe and water proof was very impressive. We have been advised that the there is no structural damage and the final stage is the re laying of the tiles. This has been held up by available tilers. Hopefully the repair is finalised this week. ?

FOR SALE - THE PINK CHICKEN

It is a rare event but the second boat lovingly restored (painted) by St. Peter's students is finally up for sale! 

The Pink Chicken as it became known by the students is an ideal training boat and it is 'sail ready'.

It suits one to two small sailors or a nimble adult and their apprentice. 

It has been tested by students and it is perfect for those light wind Autumn days. 

The Pink Chicken is just over two metres long and it fits comfortably on roof racks.

If you have any queries about the Pink Chicken as a boat  please email Peter Hurst who co-ordinated this project.  phurst@spbentleigheast.catholic.edu.au

If you are interested in purchasing The Pink Chicken please email an offer to principal@spbentleigheast.catholic.edu.au  by 4:00pm Wednesday the 13th of March. Money raised will be used to purchase another boat for the students to work on.

END OF TERM ONE

Term one will end for students at 2:30pm on Thursday,  28th March.

BEGINNING OF TERM TWO

Students return to school for the beginning of Term Two on Monday, 15th April.

LENTEN AND HOLY WEEK CELEBRATIONS HOLY TRINITY PARISH