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WELCOME BACK
Congratulations to everyone for such a smooth start back to the 2021 school year. The co-operation of our families in the wearing of masks and socially distancing has been greatly appreciated and assists us in remaining a COVID safe environment. We have hit the ground running and are ready to ensure that this term is an engaging one full of learning. I ask that everyone read the fortnightly newsletter carefully. This week we celebrate the heroes in our community with Hero Week. The culmination of Hero Week will be students coming to school dressed as their heroes (not superheroes) on Friday.
HERO WEEK
As a way of starting off 2021 we are using Week Two (starting Monday, 1st February) to focus on LOCAL HEROES. We will be having a range of guest speakers/focus activities involving the police force, sustainability leaders, paramedics, fire people and all Year Levels (excluding Foundation) will be participating in an Indigenous 3D experience In School Activity to celebrate our Indigenous Heroes. Over the week if you could speak with your children about what makes a Local Hero - it may even be you as their parents/carers. What impact do they have on the community? Your family? The world?
FRIDAY, 5th FEBRUARY - DRESS UP DAY
On Friday, 5th February we will be celebrating Local Heroes with a whole school dress up day. We are asking that your child(ren) come dressed as their Local Hero (not a superhero). As part of this day we will be having fun active play, so we also ask where possible that students wear their runners.
STUDENT WELLBEING NEWS
Congratulations to Anya Leontaritis, the winner of the Walk/Ride2School prize for 2020.
STAFF FOR 2021
We have an incredible team of staff at St Peter’s, all committed to providing the best education possible. The team is made up of the following staff.
Foundation (Prep)
Steph Hunt, (Junior School Leader) Anna Pullan, Monica Ryan (Community Leader), Sam Stasiak and Lisa Keppel
Year One
Carmel Godino, Ange D’Amelio, Annette Bainbridge, Chris O’Brien, Jess Reaper and Ange Bligh
Year Two
Gill Sullivan, Andrea Crough (Sustainability Leader), Megan Greetham and Imogen McKillop
Year Three
Isabella Kottek, Meg Rahilly, Wendy Gooch, Chris Joplin, Liz Opie and Helen Groves
Year Four
Michelle Knight, Jim Kendall and Mandi Mackey
Year Five
Peter Hurst, Renee Dabb, Michelle Gibson and Joyce Henderson
Year Six
Sinead Fitzpatrick, Josie Gleeson, Pat Kelly, Kerry McKee, Mia Hunt and Sean Hanrahan (Senior School Leader)
Specialist Teachers
Creative Arts - Cate Sanders, Performing Arts - Drew Lane, LOTE Japanese - Joyce Henderson, ICT and ICT Leader - Chris Joplin and Physical Education - Justin McCarthy (Specialist Team Leader) and Clare Ebden
Learning Support Team
Amy Williams, Anna Efstratiou, Donna Jemetta, Edwina Hogan, Julie DeSa, Karen Young, Kreeya Gladman, Loretta Rabel, Luana Keays, Mary Beaumont, Niamh Lavelle, Ross McAsey, Silvana Merola, Sue O’Mahoney and Tricia Taylor
Learning Diversity Leader
Joelle Diakrousis
School Psychologist
Chris Will
Literacy Intervention
Trish Mooney, Sarah Logan and Kerry McKee (Literacy Leader)
Numeracy Intervention
Louise VanCorler and Cathy Epstein (Numeracy Leader)
Wellbeing Leader
Louise Van Corler
Library
Karen Young
Administration
Trish Ticca and Loretta Ballas
Co-ordinating Principal
Michael Juliff
Deputy Principal
Mick Schinck
Principal
Michael Hanney
WHOLE SCHOOL MASS CHANGE
Under current COVID restrictions numbers allowed in our church does not allow for a whole school Mass to begin the school year. This means we are having three separate celebrations to begin our school year with each of them being held in our church.
- Years 4-6 will celebrate Mass in the Church this Friday the 5th of February at 10am. Families are welcome.
- Prep & Year 1 will celebrate a Paraliturgy in the Church on Thursday 11th of February at 9am - 9.30am. Families are welcome. Our front car park will remain open until 9:45am
- Years 2 & 3 will celebrate a Paraliturgy in the Church on Friday 12th of February at 2.40pm - 3.15pm. Families are welcome. The front car park will be opened at 2:30pm.
MEET THE TEACHER
All classrooms will be open between 3:45pm and 6:00pm on Tuesday the 9th of February. This provides an opportunity for students to show their parents and guardians their classrooms and introduce them to their teachers. It also is a time for new students to show their families where their specialist lessons are. During this time I ask that adult visitors wear face masks and maintain social distancing. I look forward to families taking advantage of the opportunity to meet their child’s teacher. It also provides our families with an opportunity to see the refurbishment of our Senior Building that took place in 2020.
SOCIAL MEDIA
This year we will continue to use Instagram to communicate with our parent community.
If you are interested in following our school instagram account the handle is: @stpeterseastbentleigh
Please be aware that we are only allowing parents with students currently attending St Peter's the opportunity to follow us. This allows us to keep any photos shared solely within our parent community.
In order to do this, I ask that if you are interested in following the school Instagram, that you complete the information via Operoo if you haven't already done so. No follow requests will be accepted until the identity of the parent/child is confirmed. Please note: if you already follow us via instagram you do not need to complete your details again, as we already have a record of them. This is only for parents who are planning to follow our account this year.
Posting on your own social media
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) have issued a warning for all parents. Images with children in school uniform, their name or indicators of their location in the background can be used by offenders to build a profile and groom parents and children. The AFP is continuing to regularly seize images of children in the collections of online child sex offenders. The AFP have advised that if you do post on social media that you lock down your privacy settings.
DIRECT DIRECT FORMS
A reminder to families wanting to have their School Fee Payments set up by the school for Direct Debit that a new Direct Debit Form must be completed and handed in to the office every year. For any queries regarding this please do not hesitate to contact Loretta Ballas lballas@spbentleigheast.catholic.edu.au
If you have a Health Care Card could you please advise Loretta Ballas as soon as possible.
HATS AND SUNGLASSES
The wearing of hats and sunglasses is part of our commitment to our students and staff being sun safe. Students who do not have a school hat or sunglasses are required to stay within shaded areas. The wearing of hats and sunglasses being restricted to first and fourth term no longer fits within sun smart guidelines. Our current policy is being reviewed and the extension of the periods where hats and sunglasses are to be worn will be communicated this term.
FOOD SHARING POLICY
To ensure safety to the health of all our students we have a food sharing policy that requires staff, students and families to ensure there is:
- No food sharing or trading during snack or lunch
- No food for birthday celebrations - this includes cakes and lolly bags (alternatives can include small gifts ie pencils, balloons etc
- No food to be given as rewards
- Limited use of food for classroom celebrations
I ask all families to assist me in enforcing this policy.
CLASS REPS
Thank you to the families who provided their contact details onto our class lists before the holidays. We hope you enjoyed the chance to catch up and meet new families before the commencement of the 2021 School year.
If any families did not get the opportunity to fill out their information onto the class lists before the end of 2020, please contact your child's classroom representative with your information if you wish to do so. Each classroom representative's information is provided below. Please note both parents can add their contact details if they wish to.
Foundation Classes:
FMR: Mel Dayton (meldayton@live.com.au) and Belinda Pantelidis (belindapantelidis@live.com.au)
FHP: Jade Recupero (jade.recupero@gmail.com) and Janine Wain (harperjanine@hotmail.com)
FLK: Maria Ierino (maria.ierino@gmail.com) and Rosa Caminiti (rosa_sansalone@yahoo.com.au)
FSS: No class rep yet
Year One:
1GD: Eliza Walker (elizaw@carmanskitchen.com.au) and Sally Chatzikyriazis (sappyk77@hotmail.com)
1CO: No class rep yet
1BR: Felicity Gallagher (flunghusenf@gmail.com) and Sarah White (sarahkatew@hotmail.com)
1BD: Dim Budic (budic.dimitra.d@edumail.vic.gov.au) and Ciara McLean (ciarammclean@gmail.com)
Year Two:
2AC: No class rep yet
2GS: No class rep yet
2GM: No class rep yet
Year Three:
3MR: Sharon Terkelsen (sharon_terkelsen@hotmail.com)
3IK: No class rep yet
3OG: Corrie Camfield (corriecamfield@gmail.com)
3GJ: No class rep yet
Year Four:
4JK: Angie Leontaritis (angieleon.tn@gmail.com)
4MM: No class rep yet
4MK: No class rep yet
Year Five:
5PH: No class rep yet
5GH: No class rep yet
5RD: No class rep yet
Year Six:
6SH: Katrina Chapman (chappys@netspace.net.au)
6MH: Sharon Devon (sharon@vigorella.com.au)
6KM: No class rep yet
Another big THANK YOU to all our parents who have taken up the opportunity to be a Classroom Representative for their child’s class this year, we have had some success in organising reps. However, we are still looking for volunteers from the following classes:
FSS, 1CO, 2AC, 2GS, 2GM, 3IK, 3GJ, 4MM, 4MK, 5PH, 5RD, 5GH, 6KM
If this is something you feel you may be interested in, please email Monica Ryan (mryan@spbentleigheast.catholic.edu.au). Remember, you don’t have to do it by yourself! Many classes have two reps which share the role and responsibilities.
LOCKING AND OPENING OF GATES
As duties before school at the entry points are covered by specialist teachers or members of leadership the gates on Florence Street and Kaniva court will be locked at 8:55am every morning to enable specialist teachers to be ready for their classes at 9:00am. If you are running late the front gates are open until 9:05am.
Gates are opened at 3:05pm in the afternoon. It is very important that families entering the front car park off Centre Road, DO NOT arrive early and queue in Centre Road. If you have other family members who help with pick up please make them aware of the opening times and remind them not to arrive early.
PEDESTRIAN ENTRANCE FROM CENTRE ROAD
If entering the school as a pedestrian from Centre Road the safest way to do this is to enter via the gate that is between the Church and front school playground. This takes you on to the yellow path marked for pedestrians.
STUDENTS’ VALUABLES
The school discourages students from bringing valuables to school. Whilst we will
take reasonable measures to find valuables that are lost or misplaced, the
ultimate responsibility for the care of these items must rest with the students.
Parents are advised to give careful consideration before allowing children to bring
valuables to school.
Any mobile phones that children bring to school must be signed in first thing in the morning and signed out at the end of the day. Year 5 and 6 Students keep their phones in locked boxes located in their level area and Year Prep to Year 4 must sign them in at the office.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Wednesday, 3rd February - PREPS DAY OFF
Tuesday, 9th February - Meet the Teacher Session - 3.45pm - 6.00pm
Wednesday, 10th February - PREPS DAY OFF
Thursday, 11th February - WALK/RIDE2SCHOOL DAY
PARENTS & FRIENDS NEWS
Monday, 8th February - P & F Meeting - 7.00pm - 8.00pm - Everyone Welcome - Entry Via Front Office.
SAVE THE DATE - Family Fun Night - Friday, 19th February - 5.00pm - 8.00pm
SCHOOL PHOTOS & SIBLING PHOTOS 2021
The Sibling photos will be taken on Friday, 26th February and the Class photos and Student Individual photos will be taken on Monday, 1st March.
World Day of Prayer 2021
NEXT NEWSLETTER
Our next newsletter will be sent on Monday the 15th of February.
Australian Football (Boys / Mixed & Girls), Softball, Basketball, Football (Soccer), Hockey, Golf, Netball, Rugby League, Touch Football and Cricket (see SSV site for more details).
Tennis is done via a Bentleigh District trial where students playing a very high level of competitive tennis can nominate by emailing jmccarthy@spbentleigheast.
Check the website for all other sports noting some years State Swimming and Athletic teams can be chosen via external competitions rather than through school-based District / Division/ Region/State Competitions, Cross Country is usually done via Bentleigh District Carnivals and beyond. When nominating your child for more than one sport you should also note that trials for AFL, Soccer, Netball & Basketball may be on the same day eliminating the possibility of going through for more than one mainstream sport.