2019 Term 1 Week 1 Newsletter

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Welcome all to the 2019 school year. I hope you had a chance to unwind and relax with those closest to you during the summer holiday period. I look forward to another productive year of working in partnership with you as we continue to challenge ourselves to make our community a place of educational excellence for the students.

We have a current enrolment of 386 students. Our Preps started school for the first time this week and we have some new children commencing in other year levels. We also have some new staff. I would like to welcome the following staff joining us in 2019:

Jen Moore – Teacher of Year 1M

Maddy Parkes-Moller – Teacher of Year 3P

Lesley Jarrett – Team teaching with Brendan Luck in Year 5

Sarah McHugh – team teaching with Siobhan Grundon in Year 2

Kristie-Lee Hall – School Cleaner

We warmly welcome all our new staff and families who have joined our community this week.

In 2019, we continue the mission of serving, supporting and educating our students here at St Saviour’s Primary.  Our dedicated team of teaching, support and administrative staff are committed to providing high quality, Christ-centred, inclusive education to our students.  We understand the great responsibility entrusted to us to shape the minds and souls of the students in our care and welcome you as parents to become a part of our great school, where we engage daily in the important work of teaching, challenging and transforming the citizens of tomorrow. 

Playground Works

Thanks to the generosity of our P & F we have a revamped Early Years playground for our Prep and Year 1 students to explore and play.  The installation of artificial turf, new shade cloth and new guttering on the walkway will help save the continual wash from heavy downpours, in this area.  Although heavy downpours seem to be a rare sight these days! 

Professional Development Days

Prior to the children commencing school, the teachers at St Saviour’s Primary have engaged in five excellent professional development days. The focus for these days was on the following:

• Planning and Implementing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in the delivery of curriculum.
• Behaviour Support Plan and Procedures
• School Routines and Processes
• Teaching and Learning expectations
• Administrative Information and Training –Workplace Health and Safety Training, and Mandatory Student Protection and Code of Conduct training. The beginning of the year is an intensive time ensuring that all staff receive the correct training in order to provide a safe learning environment for children.
• Importance of communication – schoolzine training, email etiquette.
• Mercy Spiritual Formation Day focused on the theme: Knowing Mercy… Living Mercy… Being Mercy…

 Below are a few points that all families need to be aware of:

• Parent Teacher Night (Prep – Yr. 6) is scheduled for Monday 4^th February commencing in your child’s classroom.  There will be two identical sessions offered to parents.  The first session will begin at 5:10p.m. – 5:30p.m. Then all Parents are invited to Mercy Centre to hear from the Leadership team.  The second session will be a repeat of the first session and will begin at 6:10p.m. in your child’s classroom.  Parents will have the opportunity to visit classrooms, meet teachers and receive a brief outline of plans for the year. It is hoped the evening will conclude by 6:30p.m. All year levels (including Prep) will make presentations on the night. Please note that this night is intended for adults only.
• School commences at 8.30am each day. Please do your best to ensure your children arrive at school prior to this time? Supervision commences on the playground at 8.10am. for all children. Children arriving prior to 8.10am should be enrolled into Outside School Hours Care which commences at 6:30am. Children arriving after the 8.30 a.m. bell need to report to the office to collect a ‘late slip’ before going to class.
• Bell times for School

Session 1            8:30am – 10:45am

Morning Tea      10:45am-11:15am

Session 2            11:15am-1:00pm

Lunch                  12:45pm - 1:30pm 

Session 3            1:50pm-3:00pm

If you are needing to schedule appointments for your children, please refer to the morning tea and lunch time break times.

• Have you downloaded the St Savour’s Primary School Schoolzine  app to your smart phone?  It is updated weekly with news, dates and important information.
• The first few weeks of school often bring very hot weather. While air conditioning makes a huge difference, children are encouraged to bring water bottles to school to keep hydrated. Please ensure bottles are clearly marked with your child’s name.
• Please ensure that children are dressed in correct school uniform and have a school hat (clearly marked with your child’s name) each day to protect them from the sun. The application of sunscreen before coming to school is strongly recommended. Please ensure all uniform items are clearly marked with your child’s name.
• Assemblies take place on a Monday afternoon at 2:30p.m. in the Mercy Centre. All are most welcome to join us at this time. The purpose of assembly is to set the scene for the week. We pray together, affirm children with awards, focus on our weekly behaviour and share important news and information.
• Tuck Shop will operate on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of each week. This will commence in Week 1 (Wednesday 31st).
• All are encouraged to come along to P&F meetings. 7p.m. Monday 11^th February in the room off the library will be the P & F AGM followed by a general meeting.  All parents are welcome to attend.   
• Term 1 School Fees will be issued next week. Included with these fees will be a letter outlining the various ways fees can be paid and information about concessions for families experiencing financial hardship. Our preferred method of payment is Direct Debit.
• School Photos will be held on the 12th of February. All children (Year 1 to 6) are to wear their formal uniform on this day. Prep students will be wearing their sports uniform. Information for school photos will be sent home from Owens Studios via email early next week.
• P&F Welcome BBQ will be held on Friday the 15th of February (5 to 7pm). A sausage sizzle will be provided and BYO drinks. Further information will be sent home at a later date via CareMonkey for confirmation of numbers for this night.

Enjoy the start of the new school year. It is a special time as children settle into new routines, make new friends and get to know their teacher. If you ever have any concerns or feedback, please do not hesitate to contact me. I am looking forward to the year ahead.

Thanks for reading. 

Dear Parents,

St Saviour’s Primary School is scheduled for a School Renewal and Improvement quadrennial school review from Monday the 18^th March through to Friday the 22^nd March.  This is a very informative process that helps shapes the future direction our school. 

The Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office has a School renewal and improvement framework in place which has as a key element a quadrennial school review. In this review a panel consisting of senior staff from the Toowoomba Catholic Schools (TCS) Teaching and Learning Directorate and a peer principal from another school in the Diocese visit the school for three days.

Through a process of appreciative inquiry, panel members interview staff, parents/carers, students and community members. The questions asked are “In your opinion, what is going well at the school?” and “What could be done better?” The purpose is for the panel to report to the school community its findings and suggested improvement strategies. These inform the process of strategic plan development and the annual action plans which are also linked to the TCS Strategic Plan.

The aim is to assist schools to strategically plan to improve teaching and learning and these reviews occur in all TCS schools.

The review team would like to hear from the school community and I encourage anyone who is interested to have their say. Your feedback is important and will help us to continue to achieve the two pillars of TCS: that all students will come to personally know Jesus and that all students will achieve academic success.

Feedback can be provided to the review panel in person or by telephone. All feedback remains confidential.

Please contact the school office if you are interested in speaking to a reviewer. You may also register your interest by emailing madonna.sleba@twb.catholic.edu.au or ssps@twb.catholic.edu.au .

Yours sincerely

Madonna Sleba

Principal

Welcome back to 2019 to all families of St Saviour's Primary School.  It has been fantastic to see so many happy faces of students this week who are ready for another year of learning.  Please see below a few brief notes to start the school year:

Homework Support at School

Homework support (formerly homework club) for Term 1 will commence on Tuesday of week 2 from 8am-8.30am in the music room (formerly school officer room).

A reminder that homework support is also available to children on Mondays and Thursdays at lunch time from 1.00-1.30pm.  

This service is available to all children and will be supervised by a teaching member of staff.

Adopt a Cop Award

Last week I was fortunate enough to attend the Queensland Police Service Australia Day Awards where our very own Segeant Kirsty Gleeson was awarded the District Adopt a Cop of the Year.

Sergeant Kirsty is very well known to the students at St Saviour's Primary as she is often here talking to each class about staying safe, she presents Adopt a Cop Awards at the end of each semester and works collaboratively with the school in areas of need.

SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM: The St Patrick’s Parish Sacramental Program commences on Tuesday 12^th February at 7pm with the Parent Information Session. Students will prepare for and celebrate the sacraments of Reconciliation, Confirmation and Communion over Term One and Two.

After the Information Session, the program continues with an Enrolment Mass, followed by weekly Cluster Group meetings on either Thursday (3:00-4:15pm) or Sunday (10:15-11:00am), which parent and child attend together. The Parish requires a copy of your child’s Baptismal Certificate.

An Information Sheet and Enrolment Form were sent home at the end of last year. Ideally, these forms would be complete and returned (with copy of Baptismal Certificate) by the end of Week 2. Please contact me via the School Office if you have any questions.

MERCY DAY: Last Friday we gathered with the staff of 5 other Mercy schools, to hear about, reflect and celebrate our shared Mercy heritage. The theme of “Know Mercy- Live Mercy -Be Mercy” was explained by several guest speakers, including Sisters of Mercy and those taught and influenced by the Mercy Sisters, particularly at St Saviour’s and All Hallows.

SSPS is the oldest Catholic primary school in the diocese, with the school/ church building opening at the end of 1863 and the first classes welcomed for the start of the 1864 school year. That means that this year is the 155^th year of schooling at St Saviour’s Primary. While the school opened with a lay headmistress, the Sisters of Mercy arrived in 1873, with Sr Mary Rose appointed as Headmistress the following year.

While our Mercy Day last week covered many topics and gave us much to reflect on as a staff, as leadership and also with our students, it was reassuring and reaffirming to reconnect with our history, finding links back to Catherine McAuley, the founder of the Sisters of Mercy, but who was first and foremost an educator and advocate for social justice.

Pastoral Care @ SSPS

Our Pastoral Care Team is made up of members of staff and parents. Our aim is to build community, letting our families know that we are thinking of them, in the good times and the not so good times. Over the years, we have supported over 100s of our families, including staff, mainly by providing a meal or some home baking, but we have also provided Coles vouchers, taxi vouchers, lifts for kids to school and done ironing.

We are looking for a few more parents who would be able to assist now and again:

• Cooking a meal to put into the freezer (meat, basic ingredients provided)
• Helping to set up and host a morning tea once a term here at school
• Baking some “goodies” to put in the freezer
• Letting the Pastoral Care Team know (via the Office) if someone is in need of a hand/ support

We meet about once a term, during school time, with the first meeting being on Friday of Week 3 (Feb 15 @ 8:40am) in the Community Room. If you are unable to attend meetings but would like to be a part of the team, I can email you the notes from the meeting so that you know what is coming up.

“What goes around, comes around”. We have had several families who have received a meal from the Pastoral Care Team and then down the track, they have sent in a meal to go into the freezer to be used for another family.

If you would like more information, please contact me:

(p) 46371558   (e) judy.smith@twb.catholic.edu.au

Term One Dates for your Diary:

Feb 12 (Tuesday): Start of Sacramental Program

Feb 17 (Sunday): Choir singing at 9am Sunday Mass

March 17 (Sunday): School/ Parish Mass + Choir + Readers+ morning tea etc (St Patrick’s Day)

March 29 (6pm) or March 30 (10am): First Reconciliation (Sacramental Program)

Swimming Carnival

The 2019 9-12 year old swimming carnival is next Tuesday 5 February from 9am-12pm at the Glennie Aquatic Centre.  All students have now nominated for the events that they would like to swim in and a draft program will be sent home today.  Any changes to the program need to be made tomorrow at the latest so that we are ready to go for Tuesday.

A new addition to the program this year will be a kickboard race for any child, of any age level who is not confident swimming 25m without it.  This will not appear in the program sent home today, however it will happen on Tuesday.  This race is only for children who are not swimming any other races.

Please remember that there is a bus taking the students to and from Glennie and students attending the carnival can wear house colours.  All parents and supporters are more than welcome to attend on the day.

Fitness Club

The school cross country is at the end of Term 1 and so students can begin to prepare we will once again be running fitness club.  This club is for Year 3 - Year 6 students who are interested in improving their fitness for cross country or in general.

The first session will be on the school oval next Thursday 7 February from 7.15-8.00am and will continue every Tuesday and Thursday morning until the cross country.  Various teachers will be running the sessions. Please keep an eye out for the permission form on CareMonkey prior to the first session.  

Brisbane Lions Visit

Several Brisbane Lions players will be visiting St Saviour's Primary on Monday 11 February from 12.30-1.30pm.  They will have a quick chat to the children and then be available to play games at lunch time and answer any questions.  Thanks to Darling Downs AFL Regional Manager Jeff Neumann for organising this experience.

Runnin Rebels Basketball Club

Pop Dickerson's Runnin Rebels Basketball Club is holding "FREE COME AND TRY DAYS" on Saturday February 9 and 16 at Harristown SHS on Hennessy Street.

10am for U/8, 10 and 12yrs and 12pm for U/14, 16 & 18 yrs.

Swimming Dates 2019 - 9-12year students

School Swimming Carnival - Tuesday 5 Feb 9am-12pm - Glennie

Catholic Swimming Carnival - Thursday 14 Feb - Dalby

Central Zone Swimming Carnival - Wednesday 20 Feb - Glennie

Darling Downs Swimming Carnival - Wednesday 6 March - Gatton

Welcome back! It has been so nice to see so many familiar faces and meet many new ones this week. I hope that everyone had an exciting summer and are feeling refreshed to start a new school year. 

It is my hope that this year is full of successful experiences for all students. To start us off, my focus for the first few weeks of Term will be for the students to ‘get to know the school counsellor’. It’s important for them to know who I am, what I do, and the types of things they can talk to a counsellor about. 

Additionally, this term we’ll be working on the 9th annual ‘Bullying. No Way!’ day, which gives schools the chance to take action and empower young people to be part of the solution when addressing bullying in their school community. It provides an opportunity to focus on bullying and the big changes we can make to create safer communities for everyone. The National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence (NDA) is on Friday 15 March 2019. 

If you’d like to get in touch to chat about my term plans, to discuss referral process or just have a yarn, please don’t hesitate to contact me via email: anne.woodcroft-brown@twb.catholic.edu.au 

See you around the school!

Anne Woodcroft-Brown  |  School Counsellor

P and F

The P &F meeting will now take place on Wednesday 20th February will be the Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the year starting at 6p.m. in the meeting room off the library. All positions on the Executive Committee will be declared vacant for election.  I would encourage you to consider thinking about how you may involve yourself with this very important aspect of our community. Fundamental to the success of our community is the ability to work as a team. This is a real strength of St Saviour’s Primary School. There is great respect for one another and for the various roles and responsibilities that we each have within our community.

You might like to read about the various roles associated with the P&F executive and consider if this is something you might like to support.

PRESIDENT Role

A President ensures an efficient and well-run organization by:

• Establishing good relationships – respect rights & responsibilities
• Vision of where heading and how it will succeed
• Developing a collaborative relationship with the school principal;
• Planning meetings in consultation with the Secretary & Principal;
• Following up on action from the previous meeting.
• Impartiality, Firmness, Tact, Commonsense, Confidence, Respect,
• Inclusiveness

Duties and Responsibilities

• Convene meetings
• Ensure meetings run according to constitution
• Give all an opportunity to speak
• Liaise with Principal. Ensure activities are sanctioned by Principal
• Ensure financial accountability
• Provide opportunity for parent education
• Maintain relationships with Principal & Staff & other members
• Ensure all community members are informed

VICE-PRESIDENT

The Vice President will support the President by:

• Chairing the meeting in his/her absence;
• Sharing duties and responsibilities as agreed e.g. being responsible for coordinating events.
• Being supportive and attending meetings.
• Ensure the Vice-President has a role to play – not just an understudy

SECRETARY Role

The Secretary is very important to the efficient operation of any organization. A secretary needs enthusiasm, initiative and an ability to work with the President.

The Secretary is:

• The point of contact between meetings
• Conversant with all issues
• The link with the school office staff
• Enthusiastic and invaluable\able to work with the President.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Must be alert to guide and advise the president;
• Should be prepared in advance of a meeting by:

-Notifying date/time/venue of the meeting;

-Preparing and publishing an agenda in cooperation with the President and Principal;

-Obtaining reports from sub-committees;

-Sorting correspondence;

-Noting apologies;

-Checking minutes of previous meeting;

 There is more!

• After the meeting, Minutes should be written up promptly and actions taken on any decisions
• Write letters in accordance with the instructions of the meeting or the President;
• Prepare minutes for school website
• Confirm attendance of Executive and other appropriate people;
• Keep all records and files for the Association;
• Clear the mail regularly and keep the President informed on all issues;
• Ensure close communication and cooperation between the parent Association, office staff, school staff and parents;
• Maintain a collaborative approach at all times

If you have any further questions about how you might like to be involved, please make contact with any of the executive members of the P&F (Peter Dennis – Chairperson, Peter Allan– Vice, Chelsea O’Reilly – Secretary), or alternatively, you can contact me.

We ask you to consider putting yourself forward for any of the positions prior to the AGM.

Uniform Shop open hours for February:

OPEN:  Every Friday 2:30pm till 4:00pm

If you need to arrange another time please contact Dan - 0481 318 398

Dan Eagleson

Skool Dayz - School Uniform Suppliers

Ph 0481 318 398

As parents are aware the school is working towards consolidating the apps used for communication. As of 2019, the school will no longer be using the Skoolbag app and will begin using the Schoolzine app. The app is synchronised with our website, calendar, absentee submissions and much more. We also anticipate using the app for bookings for future events.

School alerts and notifications are one of the main features of this APP where the office can send you a message about a bus being late or reminders about upcoming events. Parents will be able to access Class Communication Notes, Newsletters and any other calendar events plus several other great features.

Further information and support can be found at http://www.schoolzine.com.au/szapp

Clothing Pool

• The Clothing Pool is now operating on a FRIDAY AFTERNOON from 2.30pm - 4.00pm.
• Located in the Parent Community Room (next to the Library)
• Any enquiries please contact our Convenor, Cathy Condon 0438 647 082

Skool Dayz (New Uniform Supplier)

• Skool Dayz will be open in the Parent/Community room on Fridays from 2.30pm till 4.00pm.
• If you would like to organise another time to try on uniforms or have any queries regarding the school uniforms please contact Skool Dayz directly on 0481 318 398.
• New orders can now be placed online via the website or follow Skool Dayz on Facebook.
  Skooldayz http://www.skooldayz.com.au 

The Executive Director: Catholic Schools has responded to principal requests for additional Professional development and planning days and has approved additional days for 2019 to assist with professional learning agendas, and to reduce the number of days teachers are away from schools during each term. Please note the below dates in your family calendar for 2019. St Saviour’s Primary School 2019 Professional Development and Planning Days (previously Pupil Free Days):

School Contacts

Before/After Schoolcare

Hall Thorpe Sports
Phone: 4638 7965