Kinder Orientation

On Wednesday we held our first orientation morning for the children coming into Kindergarten next year. It was amazing how quickly the children connected with Year 5 buddies, said goodbye to their families and joined all the other children in our incredible Kinder space. We look forward to seeing them again in two weeks’ time where they get to go on a scavenger hunt and discover the different locations around the school. I’d like to share with you an email we received that highlights what a terrific experience this was.

Dear all,

Thank you for such a calm, smooth and well-organised Orientation 2022 today. 

The ‘buddy’ letter posted in the mail for the Kindy 2022 children was a beautiful gesture and a memory that will be cherished forever. 

We had a very excited and happy little boy return home today. His only let down was that he wasn’t coming back and officially starting ‘Big School’ tomorrow. 

Thank You

World Kindness Day 

In a world that seems to be getting more and more divided, it can feel like there’s not much you can do. And yet, we all know that doing small acts of kindness for strangers or people in need is one of the best ways to make the world a better place. It doesn’t take much effort, but it has an incredible impact on those around us. 

It was so heart-warming to receive an email from a parent this week who took the time to share a random act of kindness she witnessed one afternoon in the Union St pick-up line.

“I wanted to take this opportunity to commend the kindness of your students. Today at school pick up I was in my car sitting behind another car. The little Joey's student was having trouble closing her car door and tried a few times to close her door, unsuccessfully. Another student who was waiting at his witches’ hat, saw this and rushed over to help his fellow student close her car door.

I wished I had known the name of this child so I could pass it onto you. Small acts of kindness like this don't go unnoticed and it's heart-warming to see this happening, knowing that your students can see when another needs help and will go out of their way to do this.” 

Let’s help our children see that for change to occur in our world and to make it the place we want it to be, it starts with each one of us, one small step or one small act at a time. Why not engage in a game of Kindness Bingo this weekend?

If you would like some further ideas for your family around this concept, please take a look at:  Random acts of kindness

Uniforms

Now that we have been back at school for a couple of weeks and have had time to adjust from wearing PJs and casual clothes we ask that you check that your children each morning are in their full school uniform. The main things that we need to encourage you to look out for are: the wearing of jewellery; sports shoes with the summer uniform; multicoloured sports shoes with their sports uniform; and various coloured hair accessories. Our uniform policy is: black traditional school shoes worn with the summer uniform, not black sports shoes or any other coloured sports shoes; with the sports uniform it is white sports shoes and white shoelaces; there are to be no bangles, necklaces or ‘glitzy’ earrings; and hair accessories need to be in the school colours of either blue or yellow.

A great number of children, both girls and boys, with shoulder length hair or longer are leaving it out when it should be tied back. Thank you for your support in helping our children to wear their uniforms in a manner that shows pride in themselves and in our school.

Pupil Free Day

Our staff spirituality day was cancelled on a number of occasions this year due to Covid. We are still unable to undertake this, this year. In consultation with staff from the Catholic Schools Office we have arranged to have two faith formation days for next year and we will have a curriculum focus day for staff at the end of this year. To minimise the disruption to families and to keep class disruptions to a minimum, over these last few teaching weeks, we will have the staff development day at the end of this term. This will mean that the children’s last day of school is Tuesday 14th December and the staff will have their Mathematics curriculum day on Wednesday 15th December. If you require care for that day please contact OOSH thejunction@stnicholasoosh.org.au

Screen Time

A couple of parents in their conversations with staff have commented that it has become a little harder to get the children to disengage with their devices since the end of lockdown. The fact that children were limited in their activities for quite some time, and that their learning was predominantly online, led to an increase in their regular screen time and now there isn’t the need for this some children are still a little hesitant to give up their screens and engage with other things. Sharon Beckett, our school counsellor, has shared the following resources with us that you may find useful if your children have become a little too attached to their devices.

Karen