Dear Parents and Carers

May of course is the month of Mary and this brings a quote from Saint Mother Teresa  to mind  "If you ever feel distressed during your day — call upon our Lady — just say this simple prayer: 'Mary, Mother of Jesus, please be a mother to me now.' I must admit — this prayer has never failed me."  I think that in times of trouble, we often turn to our mothers.  May is a special time to keep our mothers in our thoughts.  If you get the chance, try to do something special for our mums as they are always doing great things for us.    

Wonderful News

May is a very appropriate month to announce that Mrs Nina De Rosa and Mr Claude de Rosa will be expecting their first child in October of this year.  Nina is very happy to share this news with our community and is overjoyed about the prospect of being a mum.  I know that our whole community will be very pleased for Nina and her husband.  As with all families who are expecting, if we keep Nina and Claude in our prayers, I am sure they would appreciate it. 

Back to Normal

What is normal now?  Tomorrow we will begin to hold our morning assemblies outside again.  The school has welcomed volunteers back as well as health professionals, and independent contractors (eg music) will start next week.  We are now able to hold a Walkathon and begin preparing for our school musical. All of these allowances are under the guidelines of ‘social distancing’ rules.  We are not yet able to welcome parents into our school as before, but we’re hoping that this will be something that is possible in term three.    

Homework Policy

Please find attached to this week’s Newsletter the SJV Homework Policy.  This policy has been formulated after much discussion amongst staff and input from parents.  It will not necessarily please everyone.  Parent’s views on Homework ranged from having no homework to a substantial load.  From complicated, open ended tasks to straight drill and practice.   The perceived input by teachers from the community ran from teacher acknowledgements to teachers running detention classes for children who failed to hand homework in.  Given the diverse viewpoints and responses, the school believes that the attached policy best reflects community expectations. 

SJV and ELC Enrolment

Currently I am meeting with all families from our catchment area (including Weston) who are looking to enrol their child into our shared ELC.  This helps set a clear expectation that children who are enrolled at the ELC from the SJV catchment will come to our school when they are of Kindergarten age.

Molonglo & Weston Creek Strategic Direction

The consultants have finished their report and have handed this to the CEC (Catholic Education Commission) for review.  The decisions on how our region can move forward and cater for all families’ education into the future should be reported to both the SJV and St Jude’s community in the next one to two weeks.

Prayers for the Mogensen Family

I would like to ask our community to keep the Mogensen family in our prayers.  Sadly, last week, Nick’s mother passed away.  I know that the family would appreciate your prayers and thoughts at this time.   

God bless everyone and stay safe

Peter Rodda

Principal

2020_Homework_Policy.docx