Principal's Message
Dear SJV Community
Welcome to the end of Wk 7.
'Almighty and ever living God,
you invite us deeper into your world, your people, your Lent.
May this time be one of outward focus;
seeking you in those we often ignore.
Help us live a Lent focused on freedom, generosity, and encounter.
Give us hearts hungry to serve you
and those who need what we have to give.'
Swimming Carnival and 2025 Swimming program
I'm looking forward to seeing parents and grandparents at our annual swimming carnival tomorrow. We are always trying to promote swimming at SJV and it will be great to see the children testing their skills on Friday.
Our annual Swimming Survey is now complete and I can report that 92% of respondents wanted a K-6 swimming program. As such swimming will go ahead this year, it is currently scheduled for Wk 9 of Term 4.
Year 4 visit from David Smith MP for Bean
It was wonderful to have a visit from the Federal MP representing the electorate of Bean. David came into our school on behalf of Julie Collins who heads up the portfolio for Agriculture and Fisheries. You might ask why?
The reason for the visit was that our Year 4 class sent incredibly convincing and beautifully written letters to her department in 2024, protesting about cruelty to animals in relation to circus'. This caught the minister's attention, so much so that she wanted to respond to the school and asked David to visit us to speak with the students. Well done Year 4, democracy in action!
Parish Feast Day - Feast of the Annunciation
Next Tuesday will see St Jude's coming to SJV so we can jointly celebrate our Parish Feast Day. We are looking forward to celebrating this day with Mass and some fun activities alongside our sister school. Look for the article from our REC in this week's newsletter.
School Disco
Unfortunately we could not get this event organised in time for next week as we did not have quite enough volunteers. The disco will be held over until next term and we will inform you of the timing as soon as we have the new date.
Co-educational Offerings at SJV vs Single Sex Schooling
In Week 9 - Wednesday 2nd April at 4:30pm, I will be presenting information concerning the advantages and disadvantages of coeducational schooling vs single sex education. I believe that parents need to know all the primary school options for their boys within the local area. Whilst this will be targeted at Year 2 and Year 3, any family is welcome to attend.
Policies - Attendance
Every two weeks I will try and place in some information from CECG Policy library which is pertinent to parents. This week I have taken some information from their Attendance Policy for parents to peruse.
2.4 Parents/carers must ensure children of mandatory school age are enrolled in school or an approved alternative education program, or in approved employment1.
2.5 Parents/carers must ensure that enrolled students attend every day of school, and every activity or event the school requires the student to attend, during the required times. This is known as the ‘full-time participation’ requirement.
2.6 Parents/carers must provide an explanation to the school for any absence, ideally on or before the day of absence, and no more than five school days after the absence occurs. Parents/carers may be liable under the ACT or NSW Education Acts if students fail to attend school without a reasonable excuse.
2.7 Parents/carers must notify the school of planned absences of up to 25 school days in a 12-month period (including 25 part days) in writing, including the reason for the absence.
NAPLAN
NAPLAN is now all but finished. The student's have worked very hard over the last two weeks and we will finalise tests tomorrow after we complete our last catch-up session for students who missed days due to illness. Thank you to parents who made sure that their children were on time for school, as this helped with the test process.
Class Contacts
A big shout out to the following parents who have put their hands up to be class contacts
Kinder - To be filled
Year 1 - Erin Robinson
Year 2 - Emily Lucas
Year 3 - Sonia Taflaga
Year 4 - To be filled
5/6P - Beth Seivers
5/6J - To be filled
We are still chasing down some extra parents for Year K, 1 and both 5/6 classes.
Leave
As I did last year, I will be taking two weeks of LSL beginning at the end of next week. As always I am leaving the school in the very capable hands of our Assistant Principal, Mrs De Rosa. Please contact Nina in Wk 9 or 10 if you need her assistance.
God Bless
Peter Rodda
Principal