Staffing 2025

After a selection process I am pleased to announce that Mr Owen Gerrard will be our new Curriculum Co-ordinator and part of the school executive team from 2025. Mr Gerrard has been doing a terrific job upskilling teachers and working on our English curriculum. Our current Curriculum Co-ordinator Mr Greg Angus has stepped down from his role but will still be on staff as our Music teacher & K-2 Learning Support Teacher.

Miss Rowena Atkinson will leaving us at the end of the year to take up a role as a Mathematics teacher at Trinity College. We thank her for all her efforts and wish continue success in her new role.

Miss Grace Irving will be joining our staff in 2025. She is currently working at the Southern Highlands Christian school in the Southern Highlands. She is very excited to become a part of our school community. Mrs Brown & Mrs Yeo will be returning part time from maternity leave in 2025. Mrs Emily Delaney, Mrs Jenifer Hewitt, Mrs Emma Huggett and Mrs Nicola Bensley have all been given permanent positions from 2025. With our growing numbers we have been very lucky to attract great teachers to our school.

An Interesting Article from the BlackDog Institute - Advice for Children with Anxiety

Supporting your child’s mental health: We are in this together.

Raising kids to be mentally healthy can be hard. This is where Black Dog Institute comes in. Australian Primary Principals Association is leveraging Australia’s leading organisation for mental health research and the voice of mental health science to provide insights on children’s mental health. Black Dog Institute is providing a series of practical, research-based articles tailored for parents and school staff, empowering them with the knowledge needed to foster better mental health in children. Together, we’re working to raise mentally healthy young Australian’s who are ready for life’s challenges and opportunities.

Does my child have anxiety?

The answer to this question is yes, definitely. Every child and parent will feel anxious sometimes. It’s a normal and important part of being human. Words like anxiety, fear, worry, and feeling scared all describe this feeling. Anxiety might not feel good, but it helps us face tough situations. It’s a natural reaction when our brains think we might get hurt or someone we care about might get hurt. This hurt can be physical or emotional, like being laughed at, making a mistake, or doing something wrong. Anxiety can give us the energy to deal with these situations.

The Long Game

When a child feels anxious, it’s natural to want to avoid what makes them anxious. For example, if your child is nervous about public speaking, they might not want to present at the school assembly. But the interesting thing is, the more your child avoids what makes them anxious, the more anxious they can become. Avoiding situations keeps the anxiety going, no matter what caused it in the first place.

Avoiding teaches the child that the situation is unsafe and should be avoided, even if that’s not true. Because of this, your child may miss out on learning how to cope with anxiety. By avoiding the situation, children miss the chance to create new, strong, and safe memories about it.

It’s important to help children break the cycle of avoidance by having new experiences, even if they feel anxious at the time. This way, they can learn that they can cope, and that anxiety is a feeling that comes and goes.

When Does Anxiety Become a Problem?

Anxiety can become a problem when it happens a lot and disrupts everyday life. For your child, anxiety might stop them from going to school, playing with friends, or they might have trouble being away from you. Anxiety can also make your child very upset or cranky. If you think anxiety is affecting your child, it’s important to know that there are ways to help. Research shows that getting help early and using strategies can reduce their anxiety.

Need more help?

If you feel like you need more support your GP about your concerns. Your GP can provide suggestions about mental health professionals. There are also a number of free online help services available:

Black Dog Institute https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/news/understanding-anxiety-in-children/

We are organizing an end of Year drinks function for the School Community Council and P & F members past and present. We will have a special farewell for Darren & Tracy McMahon - both have been long time members of the group with Darren being Chair of the Community Council for many years & Tracy has been involved as a long time P & F member.

Drinks will be at the Tatts Hotel from 6pm Wednesday 27^th November .
 
Please pass this message on to others who want to join us in thanking Darren & Tracy.
Please RSVP to the office so we can get an idea of the numbers.

School student travel information for parents and students

School Travel Passes

Applications are now open for 2025 School Student Transport Scheme (SSTS) travel. 

Students who require a travel pass but have not yet applied need to apply or update their details as soon as possible.

Students living in rural and regional areas will receive their travel pass from their nominated transport operator. It may be issued via their school or be sent directly to them at home. Note: some rural and regional operators do not issue travel passes. Students/parents should confirm with their nominated operator if they do not receive a pass.

INDIVIDUAL SPORT TRIALS

Individual sports trials are open through the CECG sports website. These trials are intended for Year 5 & 6 student's ONLY. Keep up to date with trial information for next year.

CURRENT OPEN TRIALS:

Thank you to all our classes who made paper wreaths to commemorate Remembrance Day this year. Here is Henry Beardmore and Dakota Lambert from Year 4 with them.

Lest We Forget.

We wish the below students good luck at the Northern Region Chess Tournament at Mt Carmel School in Yass in Week 6.

Athwin Elanthirayan - Yr 3

Jacky Zhu - Yr 4 (absent)

Micah De Coning - Year 5

Mytra Elanthirayan - Year 6

The uniform shop is run by parent volunteers and is open on a Wednesday morning 9-9.30am for fittings and sales. The best way to organise your child's uniform requirements is to order via Qkr. Orders need to be placed by 8.30am each Wednesday so that they are able to be sent home that day; orders placed after 8.30am will not be filled until the following week.

2 Red Swimming in Week 4... so much progress!

Jumping to the nearest 10 on a numberline

CONGRATULATIONS

to our Above and Beyond Award Winners

Well Done to our Yearbook Cover Competition Winners!

Birthdays 14-30 November

STUDENT MEDICATIONS

We are able to hold student medications in the office for those children who require either short term or ongoing medication. Any medication must be supplied to us in its original packaging, with the pharmacy label attached for prescription medicine. Our system has been updated by head office so please read the following carefully if this applies to your child.

Short term medication (pain relief, antibiotics, antihistamine etc) -

• Parent/carer must visit the office to sign medication administration authorisation form so that our staff are able to administer the medication.

Ongoing medication (asthma inhaler, antihistamine, ADHD medication, etc) -

• Parent/carer must visit the office to sign medication administration authorisation form so that our staff are able to administer the medication. 
• Parent/carer to ensure medication remains in date, and that there is sufficient supply for one term, each term.
• Parents/carers of students with asthma action plans or other official diagnosis must provide current paperwork from the doctor
• Asthma Inhalers - if your child is in year 5 or 6 or capable of self-administering their ventolin, they are able to keep their inhaler with them in their bag; if this is the case there is no need to complete the authorisation form.

DROP OFF/PICK UP INFORMATION

If you remember the following details school drop off and pick up should run smoothly. Please view the map below for parking restriction details:

Morning Drop off:

• Supervision at school starts at 8.30am. Students arriving earlier than this WILL NOT be under active adult supervision so please avoid dropping your children off before this time. Between 8.30am and 8.55am students are to take their bag to their classroom and then make their way to either the hall or basketball court where they are to wait in year groups until the morning play bell rings.
• Knox Street/Princes Avenue parking (front school entrance) - ideally families with students in Kindergarten only should be parking in this area. Please be aware of the bus zone, parking restrictions and keeping our neighbour's driveways clear. We also ask that you consider our staff when parking in the morning as there are limited all day parking zones where they are able to park.
• Hall gate (Knox Street) - Bus students are dropped off here. 
• Princes Avenue/Adam Street (back school entrance) - Parents are able to park on either side of Princes Avenue (outside car line) or in Adam Street if you need to walk your children into school (please note that this part of Princes Avenue is a one-way road). Be aware of parking restrictions and keeping our neighbour's driveways clear.
• Car Line (off Princes Avenue) -  Car line is a 'kiss & go' system where parents drop their children off without getting out of the car; please do not park and exit your car in car line as this creates major traffic issues. Car line is our preferred method of parent drop off as it ensures student safety.

Afternoon pick-up:

• Knox Street/Princes Avenue parking (front school entrance) - ideally families with students in Kindergarten only should be parking in this area. Please be aware of the bus zone, parking restrictions and keeping our neighbour's driveways clear. Kindergarten parents are welcome to park and wait for their child outside the classrom. Kinder students are also able catch the bus or get picked up from carline.
• Hall gate (Knox Street) - Bus students only are collected from here. A teacher is rostered on duty at this gate each afternoon and stays to supervise students until the last bus comes.
• Princes Avenue/Adam Street (back school entrance) - Parents are able to park on either side of Princes Avenue (outside car line) or in Adam Street if you need to walk into school to collect your children (please note that this part of Princes Avenue is a one-way road). Be aware of parking restrictions and keeping our neighbour's driveways clear.
• Car Line (off Princes Avenue) - Car line is available for parents to pick their children up without having to park and get out of the car; please do not park and exit your car in car line as this creates major traffic issues. Car line is our preferred method of parent pick up as it ensures student safety. Car line can be very congested in the afternoons. If the waiting line is outside of our driveway the advice from NSW police is that you should continue around the block via Adam Street until the line moves forward. Please consider arriving at 3.30pm or after to ease this congestion; your child will be safe and supervised until you arrive. Two teachers are rostered on and supervicion at car line is until 3.45pm. After this time your child will be taken to the office and a call will be made to parents to arrange pick up ASAP.

Before & After School Care

Our newsletter, The SPP Chronicle, is normally published fortnightly (odd weeks) on a Thursday afternoon at around 5.30pm.

Each fortnight we include anything and everything that has happened in the preceding two weeks such as excursions, assemblies, sporting results and photos, liturgies, etc. We also provide information about upcoming school activities and events, student birthdays and important information and correspondence for families. We love to give shoutouts to our students and school community like thankyou's, baby announcements, special achievements and EOI's for sporting & other school or community group involvement, so if you have news that you think we could include just email it through to office.sppg@cg.catholic.edu.au.