CLASS PLACEMENTS FOR 2022

I would like to acknowledge the parent feedback we have received over the past few weeks to assist class placement of students next year. We are sensitive to the fact that some children experience anxiety around this significant change and we endeavor to support such transitions with care and consideration. Please understand that as we construct classes for 2022, we prioritise the first mentioned request in the letters or emails we receive, as many contain a number of requests. A considerable number of aspects are taken into consideration when placing students in classes, including the social, emotional and academic needs of all of our little people. Given the sheer complexity of this task, multiple requests relating to individual students can not be considered. 

FAMILY PARTNERSHIP AND FEEDBACK SURVEY RESPONSE - CHILDREN’S SOCIAL WELL BEING

The following three questions are related to how parents evaluated their children’s developing social skills and their social context at school. Please keep in mind that the graph moves from left – strongly disagree to right – strongly agree.

This is a good opportunity to extend the invitation to parents/carers to please communicate any concerns you may have regarding your children’s social and emotional well-being. 

We have a very committed Pastoral Care team who work with staff to provide our little people with a safe and happy environment. We rely very much on the communication from families and the continuing partnership between school and families to support our children’s on going well being.

WE’RE CLOSER - FAMILY PARTNERSHIP 

We are looking very forward to having our families back within the school, hopefully in 2022.

Once our families are given the ‘green light’ to return we would like to hold a meeting of interested families and look at innovative ways we can engage and use the wonderful gifts of our parents and wider community.

Our intention is to hold a meeting early in 2022, assuming restrictions allow.

Please continue to check the Newsletter for notification of this occasion.

WOO HOO….NEW LOOS 

It seems like a long process. A couple of years ago we had a family meeting and decided that the toilet blocks were an area of the school we would like to improve. Finally, we will have 3 toilet blocks to be refurbished and upgraded. The Kinder, Year 1/2 and Year 5/6 toilet blocks will all be refurbished over the next 12 months.

The Year 3/4 Block will hopefully soon follow.

The Hall toilet blocks will have new toilet units and a fresh coat of paint.

There may be a need to isolate one block for a period of time in order to complete the job.

We look forward to ‘new loos’ and possibly some ideas from staff and families on how we can decorate the spaces to provide a fresh and welcoming environment.

CLASS PHOTO ‘LOCKDOWN’ 

Unfortunately this year it will not be possible to provide school class photos due to the current restrictions in place.

Initially we planned to have class photos done within the school (rather than through an agency, which was not allowed on site) but recent communication from our Catholic Schools Office has indicated that physical distancing must be maintained, which is not very suitable for a ‘class shot.’ We will continue to share photos in more limited numbers through Facebook and our Newsletter over the coming weeks.

CARPARK CONSIDERATION AND THOUGHTFULNESS 

There have been a number of concerns raised by members of our school community regarding safety in the carpark. It has been noted that a number of families are stopping to drop children off in the bus bay. This practice is extremely dangerous for a number of reasons: 

• The  bus drivers have limited visibility around their vehicles, including several blind spots where children are not visible.
• Supervising staff are stationed at the crossing and the gate to ensure children are entering the school safely using the crossing and footpaths. The bus bay is not a designated pedestrian area, nor is there supervision for children in this congested space.
• Traffic congestion caused by buses required to wait for cars entering the wrong area, increases the likelihood of a pedestrian or vehicle accident occurring.
• Another concern is the misuse of the drop-off zone located on the eastern side of the bus lane. This zone is for immediate pick-up and drop-off of students. It is not a parking area. Families are parking their cars in the drop-off zone to wait for their children, causing increasing congestion right up to the lights and extending in both directions on Ocean Drive. Again, this practice is unsafe and inconvenient. If students are not available for immediate pick-up, cars must park in a designated parking spot to wait. 

Our primary concern is for the safety of our students and community. We ask all drivers to abide by the car park rules and please exercise courtesy and consideration in order to maintain a safe environment. We thank you for your cooperation and support in this area. 

REPORTS BEING PROCESSED

Our teachers have spent considerable time and continual assessing to construct each of our children’s final end of year Reports.

Teachers have processed insightful and professional documents for each child, which communicate their learning in essential aspects of English and Mathematics, whilst building a profile of our children’s ability to work collaboratively, engage in Blended Learning, mix socially and reflect the very important PBS values of our school.

Reports will no longer be sent home in paper form at the end of each semester. Instead they will be available in digital form via a Parent Portal Login.

If you have not already done so please register NOW... in readiness for our Semester 2 reports !

Parent Portal Login is a simple task to create - 

• St Peter's Web Page
• Parent Tab
• click Parent Portal
• follow the prompts

If families would like a hardcopy please indicate by Monday 29th November through a return email pmacp-attendance@lism.catholic.edu.au

It is scheduled for Reports to become available on the Parent Portal on Friday, December 3 after 3.00pm.

MISSION

Christmas Appeal

A fun day was had by all at St Peter’s as we dressed in our festive favourites to raise money for our annual Christmas Appeal! The money raised today will go towards providing Christmas Hampers to members or our school and parish community in need. A great big THANK YOU !!! to our St Peter's families for their generous donations. This will go a long way to put smiles on many faces this Christmas.

Faith Focus - Beauty

Helen Keller, author, disability rights advocate, political activist and lecturer, offers a profound insight into beauty. Blind and deaf from the age of 19 months, Helen had extraordinary insight into understanding that whilst beauty is often described through our senses, it is far deeper than that. Our senses are the gateway to true beauty, they bring us to the edge of what Helen Keller says ‘must be felt with the heart.’ As was suggested in our Parish School Spirituality Days this year, ‘Beauty should do more than provide a “delight to the eyes,” like the fruit that tempted Adam and Eve; it should push us outside of ourselves to lead us to what is ‘true and good’. 

Richard Rohr suggests that, “Looking for beauty all around us is a contemplative practice, an exercise in opening our hearts, minds, and bodies to the divine image.”  

Children’s author Michael Speechley in his book The Gift wrote, ‘If you look long and hard enough, you’ll see beauty in everything.’

This week, let us open our hearts, minds and bodies to the divine image and see beauty in everything. Let us feel with our hearts and allow beauty to draw us to an encounter with Christ, the way, the truth and the life.

Mission Direction in 2022

The RE Team has been working on the Mission component of our School Improvement Plan going into 2022. We recognise that COVID has had a massive impact on our Worship life and sense of community. Thus, we have made these two Foundational Values our focus for improvement going into 2022. Throughout 2020 and 2021, much of our faith life was put on pause as we waited to get back to our normal, pre-COVID way of doing things. As we approach 2022, it has become clear that this normal will never exist again, that our new normal will be a reality of learning to live and exist with COVID. Thus, we have a great challenge ahead of us, in working out how to ensure our Catholic life of Worship and Tradition continues to flourish within an environment of restrictions. The RE Team welcomes the input of our wider St Peter’s Community in this work. Please contact Rebecca Cameron, via the St Peter’s office, if you would like to contribute ideas.

LEARNING

Cool Coding in Infants

Road Safety (Part 2) Walking together safely to and from school

Walking to and from school is a great way to spend time with our children.  It also provides an opportunity to discuss safe and healthy behaviours.  

Here are a few things you can do to help keep your child safer as a pedestrian:-

Discuss with your child about being alert in the road environment.

• Practice walking to school to ensure they know where the safe places are to cross eg. traffic lights and pedestrian crossings.
• Hold your child’s hand. Sometimes children need help to spot dangers eg. cars coming out of driveways.
• Remind your child to STOP! LOOK! LISTEN! THINK! and explain why they need to do this.

All age children need reminders about walking to and from school. They are never too old to hear these safety messages.