Dear Parents and Carers

"When the heart is pure and simple it cannot help loving, because it has discovered the source of love which is God"- St John Maria Vianney

John Maria Vianney, patron saint of priests, someone who inspired others through his life, commitment, simplicity, humility, generosity and especially through his devotion to the Eucharist. On Tuesday, we celebrated his feast day, which was very apt, as Year 4 also celebrated their First Eucharist in a beautiful, spiritual ceremony.

May SJV's pastoral zeal inspire our modern-day shepherds to walk the way and talk the truth. May he inspire each one of us to be Eucharistic people. Especially during this pandemic let us create and nurture the kingdom of God in our family, parish family and the wider community.

Update for Families on COVID-19
I would like to remind all families that Catholic Education is committed to continuing financial assistance into Term 3 to support families who have been financially impacted because of the COVID–19 pandemic.  The position of Catholic Education is that no child will be denied a Catholic education due to financial circumstances. If you have been adversely impacted by the pandemic and need support, please contact me directly.

St John Vianney’s and Catholic Education continue to take advice from health authorities in relation to COVID-19. The Catholic Education Office has a team that is actively monitoring the COVID-19 situation as it develops, paying particular attention to local hotspots and organising support for schools where required. SJV is practising safe hygiene practices in line with government advice. We understand that the situation is fluid and we will communicate directly with you should there be any important changes in relation to our school operations in the coming weeks.

Year 6 Graduation

I have had a parent volunteer to coordinate the Yr. 6 Graduation.  If there is, anyone else interested in coordinating or co-coordinating the role, please let me know within the next 1-2 weeks, as planning needs to begin ASAP. 

When this role has been finalised I am sure that the Coordinator will be calling for volunteers from the Year 5 parent cohort.

Working Bee - TBA
This is a small advert for our one and only Working Bee to be held towards the end of term.  A date will be set by the next newsletter, but if people can try and put Sunday mornings aside towards the end of term, that would be wonderful.  Details will be given in the next newsletter. This ‘Bee’ will target the outside school environment.

Raffle for Term 4 – Coordinator Needed
Currently we are exploring our Fete Raffle to make sure that if we can sell tickets to the public, that this is done in a Covid approved fashion.  If selling tickets is allowed, we will need a Raffle Coordinator.  The role of this person would be to organise parent and student volunteers for our local shops.   If this is not allowed the council is currently exploring online alternatives.  If you feel you could help with this job please email me.

Refurbishing of Student Toilets and School Hall

Currently plans for a student bathroom refurbishment are sitting with CE architects who have called for builders to put tenders in for this work.  I hope that the work will start and finish in the Term 3 holidays.

We are also trying to have our school hall re-sanded and refinished in the same school holidays.  This project is being supported by CE and will free up our Walkathon funds for book purchases.

CECG Review into Student Counselling and Wellbeing Services

In 2019, Catholic Education Canberra Goulburn (CECG) engaged Integroe Partners to conduct an independent review into student counselling and wellbeing services in CECG schools. As part of this review, Integroe Partners conducted online surveys of parents, Principals, students and school staff. They also conducted individual interviews and face-to-face consultation forums with parents, Principals, teachers and CECG staff. Integroe Partners also conducted face-to-face and online consultations with CECG’s primary provider of student counselling services, Catholic Care.

CECG would like to thank all those who participated in the review, especially those who travelled to Canberra for the face-to-face meetings as well as those who participated in the online surveys and forums. The information gained from the review enabled Integroe Partners to deliver an evaluation of existing programs, structures, systems and processes. Integroe Partners identified a diversity of challenges across the schools in the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn, requiring a model of counselling and wellbeing service delivery that is flexible and responsive to the student wellbeing priorities of individual schools and their communities. Integroe Partners were also able to propose structures and systems aimed at delivering services to schools that reflect best contemporary practice, optimising resource efficiency into the future.

As part of its initial response to the findings and recommendations of the review, CECG have increased the school counsellor allocation for each of its schools for 2020 and have appointed a full time Student Counselling and Welfare Manager. The Student Counselling and Welfare Manager will now look to work closely with schools, Principals and CECG staff to respond more fully to the review and to develop appropriate policies, procedures, frameworks and best practice to support high quality school counselling practice and service delivery in our schools now and in to the future.

Please contact:

Student Counselling and Welfare Manager 

Shawn.vanderLinden@cg.catholic.edu.au  

God bless everyone and stay safe

Peter Rodda

Principal