Issue 21, 16 December

Not only has this year at times, been one of uncertainty, we also have much to celebrate, as it has been a very productive year.  

Firstly, I wish to acknowledge the outstanding leadership over the past three years, by Mrs Christina Gretton.  Her astuteness, endless energy, many talents and professionalism, have helped our school become one of high achievement and offering a sense of belonging.  Mrs Gretton’s new role will have her sharing all these attributes with her new school community and we at SPC, wish her much success and happiness.

Secondly, I would like to thank our families at SPC for their partnership in helping meet the needs of students throughout the year.  Your presence, whether physically visible or visible by other means, helps make our school what it is….one of learning, nurturing and celebrating.

Thirdly, I wish to thank our teachers, support staff, administration and auxiliary staff, for their commitment to our students and delivery of quality instruction. You have done a marvellous job of helping our students and their families face this year’s challenges with courage.  

I also wish to acknowledge the support of Catholic Education Tasmania, and their commitment to guiding us in our professional development. 

Finally I wish our outgoing teachers all the best in their new roles and ask you to make our new staff members in 2021 welcome, as together, we will continue to create opportunities in the best interests of our students.

I wish you ALL a wonderful Christmas, many fun times during the summer holidays and pray that you safely experience this wonderful and unique place we call home, Tasmania!

As Saint John Henry Newman prayed: “May each Christmas, as it comes, find us more and more like Him, who at this time became a little child for our sake, more simple-minded, more humble, more holy, more affectionate, more resigned, more happy, more full of God”.  And he went on to say: “[Christmas] is a time for innocence, and purity, and gentleness, and mildness, and contentment, and peace”.  

Peace, Love and Joy

Mrs Andrea Jaffray Morf

We ask that families please continue to use the following options of communication with the school rather than face-to-face as follows:

• Calling on 6452 1431
• Emailing spc@catholic.tas.edu.au
• Writing messages in your child’s diary
• Contacting teachers via SeeSaw or email

For Assemblies, we ask that people please enter via the front office and use the hand sanitiser upon entry and sign in which is a Government requirement. Please adhere to the 1.5m social distancing and refrain from entering the school if you are unwell.

Of late, there have been some chosen hairstyles of students which do not comply with our uniform policy. It is important for students to wear SPC’s school uniform correctly, as this is compulsory. Hairstyles come under this category. 

Hair should be kept neat and tidy and extreme colours and styles are NOT permitted.

Congratulations to the following students who were presented with Aiming High awards at assembly last week:

Kinder - Millah & Wesley

Prep -  Olivia & Dawson

Grade 1 - Ella & Carly

Grade 2 -  Harper & Lucas

Grade 3 - Sabannah, Ryan, Hali & Olivia  

Grade 4 - Charli & Noah

Grade 5 -  Allirah & Alex

Grade 6 - Ella M & Brennan

Congratulations to our new School Captains for 2021.

Lillama Hamilton, Libby Buckby, Luca Smith and Jack Britton.

Congratulations to our 2021 House Captains:

Gibson - Maddison Lobegeiger and John Barker

Marian - Allirah McAllister and Jordan Grey

Term 1 - 

Students commence Monday, 1st February

Concludes Thursday, 1st April.

This includes an Easter break from Friday , 2nd April until Tuesday, 6th April. 

Term 2 -

Commences Monday, 26th April

Concludes Friday, 2nd July

Term 3 - 

Commences Monday, 20th July

Concludes Friday, 24th September

Term 4 -

Commences Monday, 11th October

Students conclude Thursday, 16th December

This year we will be doing direct to parent book orders. Orders are to be made online and will be send to your nominated address. The booklist required for each student has been sent home and uploaded on Seesaw. Each booklist has been picked by your student's teacher to suit the specific learning needs for next year. We encourage you not to alter them. 

The Compass Parent Portal is an online portal that allows you to access up-to-date infomration about our school and your child's ptogress. The portal is accessible via the web and also via the Compass School Manager App (available for download via the APP store on your device). With in the parent portal are many different features including the ability to 

• Add attendance notes
• Communicatie with your child's teacher
• Monitor your child'd homeowkr adn assessment tasks
• View semester and progress reports (these will no longer be sent out)
• Book parent teacher inteviews
• Consent to school events
• View school news items

There will be a parent partal guide sent out today via email. This guide will help you log in and show you how to access everything Compass has to offer. Unfortunately there are parts of Compass we are unable to use, like recieving payments and odering food. Once these become available correspondance will be sent out to parents. 

Parents were sent login and password detail a few weeks ago. If you no longer have these, please contact the office.

On Thursday, 21st and Friday, 22nd January parents are able to come to the school office between 12pm - 2pm to collect uniform. It is recommended that parents order new uniform items via the Qrk! app. 

A wide range of second hand clothes are also available for purchase. 

Please contact the office to book a time if these do not suit. 

Congratulations to the winners of our Christmas raffle. Thank you to everyone who supported us with buying tickets or donating items. 

The winners were:

1st - Jackie Clarke

2nd - Olivia Doel

3rd - Megan Ollington

4th - Thomas Smith

5th - Danielle Hodgetts

6th - Luca Farrelly

7th - Timothy West

8th - Nikki Groves

Congratulations to our last cake raffle winners Carly, Naite, Luca and Maddison. A big thank you to our Parents and Friends for donating cakes each fortnight for someone to win.

     

Our final Learning Treasures went off really well, despite the wind outside. We enjoyed a play at the big playground and got into the Christmas spirit with our outfits. The sausage sizzle was a nice treat to end our sunny morning with. We hope all our families enjoy a restful holiday, Christmas and a wonderful new year. 

We have had the most fabulous year at Learning Treasures.  It has been our pleasure getting to know each family, watching the children develop and grow, forming friendships and engaging in learning together.

The following link will provide families with free resources that you may like to use over the summer break: https://earlychildhood.qld.gov.au/early-years/early-learning-at-home

We wish you all an enjoyable Christmas, a safe and happy new year, and look forward to 2021!

Last Friday marked the start of the Grade 6 graduation celebrations by heading west to Arthur River. They walked along the beach until they reached the sand dunes known as ‘The Bowl’. They spent a couple of hours slipping and sliding down the bowl and got a little sunburnt on their feet. They then treated themselves to a slushy from Coles after their big day out. On Sunday, the Grade 6s and their families attended the Graduation Mass. The students read so beautifully and should be
extremely proud of themselves. Congratulations to all of those students who received awards.
On Monday, the Grade 6s then headed off to Burnie for the day. They started off at Metro Cinemas where they were greeted with popcorn and a drink to settle down and watch Dragon Rider. After that, they walked to laser tag where they battled it out between themselves for two games. They said it was great fun!
On Tuesday, the students went to Riverbend for the day. After a bit of free time where they used the jumping pillow and the flying fox. They played messy games like ‘duck, duck, barbeque sauce’, ‘flour tag’, ‘whipped cream twister’ and ‘frozen orange soccer’. They then washed off for a couple of hours on the waterslide.
Wednesday saw the Grade 6s participated in an ‘amazing race’ around the school. It was extremely tricky but all groups finished the race. All in all, it has been an exciting time for our Year 6 students, with many amazing activities that they have been able to participate in.