Principal's Message

Dear Parents and Carers

Welcome back to Term 4.  This year has gone extremely quickly and in just 9 weeks’ time, we will be preparing for Christmas.  I would like to welcome aboard Mrs Judy Egan for Term 4.  She is a highly experienced Assistant Principal and will add much value to our Leadership Team. 

At the end of the Newsletter, you will find a letter from the CE Director concerning the ACT Elections.  Could I please ask you to look at this carefully. 

The Rosary is my favourite prayer. St. Pope John Paul II

The above quote sums up how I feel about the Rosary.  As it is the month of the Rosary, see if you can find some time to say a decade with your family.

Welcome Matteo

Mrs Nina and Claude De Rosa are the proud parents of a beautiful baby boy.  The whole family is doing well, if not a little sleep deprived.  

Break times at SJV

In our school, we hold our lunch at first break and our recess at second break.  The school would like to trial a change to these timings and what the children eat at the respective breaks, this would take place from the beginning of Wk 3 and should mean no change for parents.  Children will eat their recess at first break and their lunch at second break. 

The canteen can have between 40-80 orders on any given day and sometimes there can be a limited amount of volunteers, this is especially true since Covid started. This change will mean that the canteen has far more time to get lunch orders out to children, so no playtime is missed.  The secondary benefit is that their can be dedicated over-the-counter service at first break.

The canteen would still love to have volunteers come in to help.  It may mean that you come in for 1hr but could stay for 4 hrs starting at 9am, 10am,11am or 12:00. The canteen is flexible and can work around your availability. Any help offered in the canteen is always appreciated. 

Covid 19 – Term 4 – Updates
There have been changes issued to all CE schools around Covid 19 for Term 4. One important area that has not changed is if your child is ill that s/he need to stay home. 

Parent visitors are allowed on site and can attend scheduled school events, like the Book Week Parade below.  This means that our Year 6 Graduation will occur this year along with fun activities like 'Side Show Alley' (a fundraiser for the missions) and Yr 6 Fun Day.  We will still keep our morning assemblies short but will resume handing out our Assembly Awards on Friday morning on the playground.  Parents may be inside the fence to celebrate their child's achievement.  More information will be sent out later this term. 

Book Week Parade Wednesday, October 21st – Curious creatures, Wild Minds

All children will be encouraged to participate in an outdoors Book Parade. We are strongly encouraging children to choose a character from a favourite book rather than a character from a movie or a sporting hero. If your child would like to dress up on the day, we ask that they wear closed-toe shoes, remember their school hat, and ensure that they wear something that covers their shoulders. I know these days can inspire fear and terror into those parents who don’t regard themselves as being particularly creative. In a year where parents have been regularly disappointed when they have been unable to attend school functions, this might provide some relief and consolation! 

Parents can watch the children from the inside of our fence and the artificial turf area as the children parade around our blacktop area.  Parents need to remember to socially distance correctly. Could I also ask parents to let their classroom teachers know through Class Dojo if they intend to attend.

School Raffle – 2020 Major Fundraiser/Shoe Vouchers

Unfortunately, we have not had our Fete this year, which is normally our major fundraiser for the school, we still however will be holding our annual raffle.  One ticket book will be sent out tomorrow to all families.

The goal for this year’s raffle is that at least one book per family will be sold.  The funds raised from these type of activities have in the past gone towards such projects as our Sensory Garden, Playground Shade Covering and the Artificial Turf Project, just to name a few.

As an incentive, any family that sells three booklets will receive a $25 shoe voucher and anyone who sells four or more will receive a $50 voucher.  We are currently looking at some other great weekly incentives for the children.  Your support with the Raffle would be greatly appreciated. 

Message from the Director, Ross Fox

Over the past few months, Catholic school communities have worked hard to ensure that all candidates in the 2020 ACT Election understand our policy priorities. Thank you for supporting this effort and thank you to all candidates who were willing to engage with us.

You will be aware that our priorities for the next ACT Government are: 

1. Equitable School Funding

• Fund Catholic schools at 25% of the per-student cost of education in an ACT Government school.

• Make land available for new Catholic schools.
• Improve planning policies to include new Catholic schools.

• Provide financial support to Catholic Education Early Learning Centres to support equitable access and construction of new centres.

The Canberra Liberals remain committed to supporting our funding and land release policy priorities. The Liberals plan supports families, while also committing to a review of the curriculum in the ACT. You can find information regarding the Canberra Liberals education policy commitments here.

Despite understanding the cost of living pressures facing all ACT families, both ACT Labor and the Greens have remained committed to planned cuts to funding for ACT Catholic schools. This policy approach will inevitably put upward pressure on school fees.

ACT Labor has committed to continue capital improvement grants to non-government schools, equity grants to support disadvantaged families, and grants for non-government school parent associations. You can find information regarding ACT Labor’s education policy commitments here.

The Greens also support proposed land release for non-government schools. The Greens have stated their priorities as providing ‘nature-based’ play spaces for older schools, and infrastructure available to all schools. You can find information regarding the ACT Greens education policy commitments here.

I am aware that there are candidates from all parties that support Catholic education and who actively advocate within their party for our needs. I encourage you to consider the education policy positions of both individual candidates and parties before voting as this will directly impact the affordability of non-government school options in the ACT. 

Thank you again for your support of ACT Catholic schools. 

Good wishes
Ross Fox
DIRECTOR

Stay safe and God bless.

Peter Rodda

Principal