2020 SCHOOL FEE UPDATE

At last Monday’s School Board meeting I shared with the Board details of the revised 2020 school budget. There are three main components of our school fee accounts. The first is the Family School Fee, the second is the Capital Fee and the third component is the Levies. The first two components are charged per family and the third is charged per child. I was able to advise where costs had remained the same, where costs had increased, where costs had decreased and where levies had not been spent.

The greatest expense in any school is staff salaries. Throughout 2020, in and out of lockdown, these expenses stayed the same. The fee component of the fee accounts is used to assist in the payment of salaries as Catholic schools do not receive funding that covers all salary costs. Therefore there has been no saving in the school fee amount.

The capital fee covers all building costs and supports the repayment of loans that we have in place for building projects including the Junior School building and our contribution to the Senior School refurbishment. There was no reduction on these loan repayments this year and therefore no saving to the school.

We did have savings in the areas of staff professional learning costs, transport costs for Interschool Sport and we also have ordered less stationery and art supplies for 2021 as a result of stationery not used in 2020.

The extra costs came from extra cleaning costs both during and after lockdown, fee relief provided to families and extra licensing for online programs required during lockdown. 

Overall in balancing the extra costs and savings there was no financial benefit to the school.

The levies not spent were in the areas of swimming lessons and excursions which are included in the Student Levy. 

Following the Board meeting I am able to advise that rebates of $160 per child will be available to all families at St Peter’s. This is $100 for swimming levels and $60 for excursions. There may also be an amount from the Year Six camp component of the levy. The full amount of the Year Four and Year Five Camp component is being used. 

During the Board meeting discussion took place around what would happen to this money if families did not require or want the rebate. If this was the case, the money would be allocated to capital expenditure and put aside for the next stage of the Master plan which is the refurbishment of the hall and classrooms off the hall. Planning for this project will begin next year. 

Information will be sent to families this week which will provide families with three choices.

1. For families to accept the rebate and for it to be applied to this year's or next year's fee account
2. For families to allocate the rebate to our Capital fund for the hall project
3. For families who have paid their fees in full and will not have a child at St Peter’s in 2021 to receive a refund.

There will also be the opportunity for families to also seek fee relief for outstanding 2020 fees if the COVID lock down has impacted on a families' ability to pay the outstanding fees.

Thank you for your patience in awaiting this update on our fees. If you have any queries or concerns please email fees@spbentleigheast.catholic.edu.au and I will respond.

FUN FRIDAY FOR MOVEMBER

The SRC team has been busy making sure the student voice is heard.  They have come up with a range of initiatives and special days, some of which we have already implemented.  The next special day put forward by the SRC is a day that will help Mr Joplin raise money for his Movember campaign.

We are asking that students come to school, still in their School Uniform, but sporting a moustache.  They can have one stuck on from home, painted on at home or if they would like we have staff who can either paint one on their face or on their hand so they can hold it up like a moustache.

• Friday, 20th November 2020
• Come to school wearing a moustache or have one painted on at school
• Gold Coin donation to go to Mr Joplin’s Movember campaign

SCHOOL CAMPS

Thanks to the work of our staff and particularly Justin McCarthy we have been able to proceed with all our camps this term. 

• Our Year Four students attended their camp last Thursday and Friday.
• Our Year Six students will attend camp from the 25th to the 27th of November
• Our Year Five students will attend camp from the 7th to the 9th of December

This is an incredible outcome and is a credit to everyone involved. 

CANTEEN

Across the counter sales are now allowed at our Canteen. The canteen staff are ensuring that COVID safe protocols are in place and staff are monitoring the lining up system to ensure it is done in a safe manner. The last day for Canteen in 2020 will be Friday, 11th December.

WEEK 6 ASSEMBLY

Last Friday’s assembly was live streamed into classrooms for everyone to virtually gather. The link below will allow all families to also view the assembly if they wish.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1g4CFaRp_0_Rbi4T0ZsSEBAymozu-KAG2/view?usp=sharing

SACRAMENTS

Advice from the Archbishop’s office regarding Sacraments was sent to parishes at the end of last week. We will be working with Fr Jacob to determine what the plan for St  Peter’s will be. Once this is in place it will be shared with families with children in Years Three, Four and Six.

FOOD SHARING  POLICY

We have a policy that does not allow for the sharing of food at school. This was originally put in place to address dietary and allergy concerns. With the arrival of COVID it has an even greater significance now. The policy does not allow for food to be sent to school for the celebration of birthdays. This includes lollies. It also does not allow for the use of food as a reward. A number of families have sent in lolly bags for birthdays since we have been back on site and to not allow them to be shared is very tough on the teacher and the student. This is a policy that will be reviewed in 2021 but until then will be enforced as it stands.

SCHOOL UNIFORM

With only four and a half weeks of school left I am not following up with any students not in the absolute correct uniform i.e. runners instead of school shoes. However I do have two requests. One is that any hair that extends past the collar must be tied back. This rule is to assist in reducing the spreading of head lice. This applies to all boys and girls. The second is that students are wearing their school hats as they are easy to obtain and reasonable in price. Sunglasses are highly recommended. Thank you for your assistance.

YEAR 4 CAMP TO MT EVELYN

“How long till we get there Mrs Knight?” we asked. At 9.00am on Thursday the 12th of November we left school to go to Camp Oasis. When we got there we all got a bag and went to the gym with Mr Kendall yelling, “Hurry Up Everyone!!” 

We found out who was in our cabin. Giulia and I were in the same cabin and we had Millie N, Gemma, Paige M and Paige S.

Me and Georgia’s favourite things to do at camp were Candle Making, Rock Climbing and Crate Climbing. I got six crates and Georgia got seven crates.

We really enjoyed it but we got a bit homesick..

Giulia and Georgia 4KS

When we walked into school we sat down and the teacher told us we were finally allowed to go to Oasis Camp! 

On the day of camp we were all packed and ready to go, we hopped on the bus and it felt like it was taking forever to get there, but finally we got to Oasis Camp and unpacked all of our bags.

When we got there the people who ran the camp announced the rules then we played a game of shoe and bottle, Team 2 came 1st, Team 3 came 2nd, Team 4 came 3rd and Team 1 came 4th.

After that they announced who was in which cabin then they announced who was in each activity groups. Then they started the activities.

The activities were crate climbing, archery, flying fox, rock climbing and candle making.   

On the first day we did three activities and on the second day we did two activities. At night most people stayed up talking and laughing.

It felt like camp went in a blink and before we knew it we were back on the bus and on our way home we were all really tired but we all had lots of fun.  

CAMP OASIS WAS AMAZING!!

Millie 4KS

At 6:00am in the morning we woke up and got ready for the best camp we were ever going to have. When we got to school we waited for the bus to arrive. At 9:05am the bus arrived and we hopped on the bus.

When we got to camp, we had recess and played bottle and shoe. We went to our cabins and then started our first activity. After we finished doing the activities we had morning tea. We did one more activity then we had freetime for a little bit, after that we had dinner. What we had for dinner was lasagna, salad and some bread. It was DELICIOUS.

After dinner we went to our cabins, we put our long pants on and got our torches. Then we went for a bush walk and on the bush walk we heard different animal sounds. When we got back we went to our cabins and went to bed. The next morning we had bacon and eggs for breakfast, then we did the last two activities. We had rolls for lunch and played on the oval.

Sadly we had to leave, but we wish we could have stayed longer.

Eloise, Paige M and Annabelle 4KS

On Thursday, November 12th, all the Year 4s finally drove up to Mount Evelyn. The Whole of Year 4 unpacked their bags and put them in the gymnasium. After we got all the bags out of the bus we had some fruit. Then we went straight into activities. The Activities we did were Crate Climbing, Flying Fox, Rock Climbing, Candle Making, Archery and a Night Walk. Most of the Year 4s liked all of them. We really liked the activities. Then after the Night Walk it was time for bed and we talked a little but soon after it was lights out. In the morning we had breakfast then went straight into doing two more activities. Then its was lunch time and we had burgers and rolls and played a little more. After that we got on the bus to return to school and went home to take a snooze.

Georgie 4KS

“Are we there yet”? We called to Ms. Sibley and Ms. Knight as we were on the bus to Mount Evelyn which was a one hour and fifteen minute drive by the way!

Anyway when we were there, we were fresh and ready to take on any activities that pushed us to our limit. When we came into the gymnasium we were greeted by the staff members that ran the camp. The first game we played was called “Bottle and Shoe.”

How the game works is you get a shoe and knock the bottle over, if you get a shoe from another space you will lose a point and the team you stole from gets your point. When we finished the game the first team with the most points was Team 2 then Team 3 and Team 4 came 3rd and the lucky last was Team 1.

Next we got our luggage and brought it into our cabins and we were sorted into different teams from A to D. After we were sorted into groups we headed to our activities including: Candle Making, Flying Fox, Crate Climbing, Rock Climbing and Archery. After doing 2 activities we went to the campfire and had afternoon tea.

Suddenly, we went straight to our activities again. We did another 2 activites and headed to our cabins to shower because we were really sweaty.

After taking a shower we came out and went to the cafeteria and ate dinner. When we finished eating dinner, we were ready to eat dessert which was premium vanilla ice cream.

When we finished up with the ice cream we went to the oval to play footy, when the time was up we went to our cabins and we put on long pants and jumpers. After we finished putting on our clothes we went out to go night walking. We finished up night walking and headed to our cabins to sleep.

The next morning we all headed to the eating area and we had bacon and egg muffins with cereal. Soon after we went to do our last activity to finish off for the day. After we finished the last activity we went to the grass oval to play footy or sit down.

Suddenly, we went to eat lunch on the oval instead of the cafeteria. At lunch we ate sandwiches with meatballs, cold chicken, carrots, cucumber, tomato and cheese. After lunch the bus came and we hopped on the bus with our backpacks and pillow with our luggage in the storage unit of the bus.

We were tired and sweaty while driving back to school to end our journey at Oasis Camp.

Ben, Eric & Marley 4KS

YEAR 1 ROBOT BUDDIES

Please click on the Link Below to view a video of our Robots.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/135ZgA6lOooW5fCfq9Aco7QhyiXYQr2sM/view?usp=drive_web

BUCKET FILLER AWARD - Week 6

Congratulations to the following classes on being the winners of the Walk/Ride2School Day on Thursday, 5th November.

PREP - 2 - PHP & 2IK

YEAR 3 - 6 - 6KM 

Our next Walk/Ride2 School Day will be tomorrow, Tuesday, 17th November so make sure that you Walk/Ride/Scooter to school either all the way or part of the way. Year 6's will be there to clip your Walk/Ride2 School Cards. If you need a new card please see Trish in the Office.

Kids_on_Key_St_Peter_s_Add_Nov_2020.pdf

Kids_on_Key_St_Peter_s_Add_Nov_2020 _pdf 288.14 KB

One of the great attributes about reading is that sometimes the words, phrases or sentences jump out at you.  They give you the stimulus of meaning and understanding.  In this short piece by Joan Chittister the line: It is God that religion must be about, not itself. When religion makes itself God, it ceases to be religion.

I always found it strange when countries are at war, they all believe that God is on their side.  How often have we heard the US President say at the end of a speech, sending troops to war, “May God Bless America.”  At the same time, we hear the other side they: May God Bless our particular country.  Do you really believe that God is weighing up which side to support?  When we think this way all we are doing is believing in a God who is limited rather than a God who is unlimited.  It also shows we have never understood the doctrine of Free Will.  God does not wake up one day and say, Well, Edward has been going really well so I will make him suffer.  That is not the God I believe in.

I believe in a God who works with me at every moment of every day and in every situation, which I find myself in.

I believe in an all-powerful, perfect and loving God who created an imperfect world.

Hopefully a sign of maturity or wisdom is the realisation that God is above all religions.  Religion in itself is our outward expression of our belief in God. 

If we believe that Christianity is above Judaism, Islam or Buddhism, and the only way to live and believe, then we live a very narrow life and will ultimately be disappointed.

The Priest was in the front row of a boxing match.  At the start of the match one of the boxers made the sign of the Cross.  The person sitting next to the Priest asked him, “Will that help him?”  The priest replied, “Not if he can’t box!!!!!!”

God works with us but we have to do some of the work!

Edward Dooley (Mission and Faith Leader)

A finger pointing to the moon
The problem of the nature of faith plagues us all our lives. Is openness to other ideas infidelity, or is it the beginning of spiritual maturity? What is it that can possibly take us so far afield from the initial believing self? How do we explain to ourselves the journey of getting from there to here, from unquestioning adherence to institutional answers, to the point of asking faithful questions? It took years before I realized that maybe it is belief itself, if it is real, that carries us there. Maybe if we really believe about God what we say we believe, there comes a time when we have to go beyond the parochialisms of law. Maybe, if we are to be really spiritual people, we can’t afford the mind-binding of denominationalism. In order to find the God of life in all of life, maybe we have to be willing to open ourselves to the part of it that lies outside the circles of our tiny little worlds
 
The Sufi tell of disciples who, when the death of their master was clearly imminent, became totally bereft. “If you leave us, Master,” they pleaded, “how will we know what to do?” And the master relied, “I am nothing but a finger pointing at the moon. Perhaps when I am gone you will see the moon.” The meaning is clear: It is God that religion must be about, not itself. When religion makes itself God, it ceases to be religion.
 
But when religion becomes the bridge that leads to God, it stretches us to live to the limits of human possibility. It requires us to be everything we can possibly be: kind, generous, honest, loving, compassionate, just. It defines the standards of the human condition. It sets the parameters within which we direct our institutions. It provides the basis for the ethics that guide our human relationships. It sets out to enable us to be fully human, human beings. Clearly, religion is much more than dogmatism. And thank God for that, because dogmatism would not take religion very far at all.
 
Every time dogmatism reigns, in fact, religion is diminished. When a religion knows when the end of the world will come, and the date passes without incident, that religion fails itself. When religion decrees salvation for some, for our kind, and moral disaster for the rest of humankind—and that in the face of the goodness we see everywhere in every people on earth—it betrays the very God of love it teaches. When religion divides people on the basis of spiritual superiority, rather than unites them as common creatures of a common God, it rends the garment of humanity. It gives the lie to the God of cosmic creation. Hildegard of Bingen wrote, “Just as a circle embraces all that is within it, so does the Godhead embrace all.
 
It is this awareness of the universal God that we miss in life. Our God has always been a Catholic God—or at least a Christian God. We have, as a result, missed so much of God’s revelation. So I fail to find God in the rest of the world. That makes other people so easy to kill … Indians, Arabs, Jews, and Asians don’t have much of a chance when our God wants their God eradicated.
 
Indeed, religion at its worst is a sham. But religion at its best anchors us to the best in ourselves.
 
Most of all, religion enables us to find meaning in life. It gives purpose to the human condition. It sets the human compass toward home. It requires us to be more than we ever thought we could become. It raises our sights beyond ourselves. It sets standards for us that are above the lowest level of the self.   

           —from Called to Question (Rowman & Littlefield), by Joan Chittister