A warm welcome back to another school year. We have many new students who have begun this year and I ask you to please make these families welcome. Feel free to introduce yourself to them and answer questions they have about the school. Our enrolments now are 311 students with office staff still fielding calls about enrolment enquiries for the current year!

P&F FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE

The P&F fundraising committee met last Thursday. Only a small group of parents were present however I encourage all families to reach out with offers to help organise and run the numerous fundraisers that the P&F committee organise each term. Last year the P&F helped to raise funds that fixed the fence on Princes Ave, bought a new BBQ and provided new laptops for the classrooms. With help & accumulated savings from the School Community Council we installed new softfall under the junior equipment (which cost nearly $60,000). We are looking forward to a great 2024 & raising funds to help improve our school. P&F meetings are open to ANY AND ALL parents, and meetings are held once per term, usually in the first two or three weeks. You are welcome to simply 'show up', or alternatively register your interest by emailing office.sppg@cg.catholic.edu.au. 

Often people ask why, when we pay school fees, are we still raising money for the school. School fees make up for a shortfall of funding; we only receive funding for about 75-80% of what it costs to run a school. Your family fees make up the shortfall which keeps us running on a day to day basis. Fundraising helps us buy some extra resources for our students and helps at times with areas of maintenance we need. I am very grateful for the enthusiasm and hard work of parents who give lots of time and energy to support our school. Your work also demonstrates to your children the high priority you place on their schooling.

 The School Community Council meets this week and will be looking at the results of the parent survey completed at the end of 2023 about our goals for 2024.

DISCO & WORKING BEE

Our first P&F fundraiser will be an ever-popular school disco on Friday 8 March. Doors for the disco will open at 5pm & music will begin at 5.30. The theme is BEACH PARTY!

The working bee will also happen on this day and will begin from 5.30pm. Jobs to tackle will be:

• cleaning the fence line around the school
• cleaning out gutters
• cleaning up the car park area
• putting fresh sand in sand pit
• cutting back the shrubs outside the library
• cutting back the hedge behind 5/6 classrooms
• tidying up the garden outside the music room and chapel

If you are able to help it would be greatly appreciated! Please bring any tools or equipment you are willing to use (such as rakes, hedge trimmers, whipper-snippers, even trailers and ladders). If you cannot make it to the working bee but are happy to come on your own or in group to do an item another day please let me know.

SCHOOL COUNSELLOR

As advised in our previous newsletter, our school counsellor from last year Maddi had her baby boy on Christmas Eve and as such she is currently on maternity leave. We are waiting on her replacement and will advise families when someone is appointed. In the meantime if your child requires counselling services please complete the online referral form so that your needs are registered.

CURRICULUM HAPPENINGS

We will use the newsletter over the next few editions to tell people a little more about the curriculum your child studies at school. The K- 6 Curriculum is set by NESA (NSW Education Standards Authority) and to be registered as a school we are bound to follow this curriculum.

Kathy Neely (Principal)

We are happy to advise that all positions have been filled. However, if you or someone you know is looking for casual teaching work please get in touch with the office as we are always on the lookout for relief teachers!

See the below flyer for the Ready, Set, Go! School Readiness program. This program is open to all children due to start Kindergarten in 2025, regardless of which school they choose to attend. Please spread the word to your family and friends!

The Sacramental information night is tonight at Our Lady of Fatima (North Goulburn) at 6pm. This is for students wishing to participate in both Reconciliation and/or First Holy Communion.

As this is a parish based program that is supported by the school, the information night with Father Joshy and the sacramental team is the best place to receive all your information. Children do not need to attend this information night. 

Any questions/concerns please contact me directly on cassandra.harris@cg.catholic.edu.au

Spanning across the six weeks of Lent each year, Project Compassion brings thousands of Australian schools, parishes and supporters together to raise funds for people living in some of the most vulnerable communities across the world.

All students have a Project Compassion box in their classroom that they are asked to donate money to over the next 6 weeks. Students have discussed ways they can raise money for these donations, some ideas included; extra chores, small change after shopping or using the canteen, collecting bottles for the return and earn scheme, etc. 

Each week the boxes will be collected with a running total of the class who has raised the most money. At the end of the 6 weeks the class who has raised the greatest overall total will recieve a prize. 

Thank you to all our families who supported our pancake breakfast, we managed to raise $100 for project compassion this morning and we will have our traditional Easter raffle closer to Easter to round off the almsgiving season. 

If you have any concerns please contact me via cassandra.harris@cg.catholic.edu.au

We always have a great time on Shrove Tuesday with our Pancake Breakfast. Traditionally during Lent, Catholic Christians would give up rich, tasty foods such as butter, eggs, sugar and fat (some people continue to do so, in fact). Shrove Tuesday was the last chance to eat them – and what better way to do so than with a delicious pancake!

Although our swimming carnival was modified thanks to the ever-changing Goulburn weather, we had a wonderful morning with our competitive students. The camraderie and sportmanship was wonderful to see, as was the numerous parents, carers and grandparents who came to watch and cheer all our swimmers on! As always our brilliant staff brought the day together, but it wouldn't have been possible to run such a successful carnival without the help of parents who took on timekeeping, ribbon distribution and lifeguard roles, as well as many other tasks through the day. Thank you everyone! 

Congratulations to our SPP Age Champions for 2024, and to all those travelling to Yass to compete in the Northern Region Carnival on 22 February.

Individual sports trials are open through the CECG sports website. These trials are intened for Year 5 & 6 student's ONLY.

Birthdays in February!

This year our school canteen will continue to operate Tuesday to Friday. Student's requiring lunch from the canteen need to submit a lunch order via the QKR app by 9am the day the order is to be received (remember you can order up to two weeks in advance). It will also be open during first break for over the counter snacks, ice creams and drinks. Miss Courtney Kozel will be our canteen manager while Mrs Bennett is on leave.

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.

Currently we have only our summer uniforms available. We will communicate with families when the winter uniform is available to purchase.

https://www.aspire-oshc.com.au/before-and-after-school-care

The Country Women's Association (CWA) Goulburn Evening Branch offers an annual grant of $500 to a local school educating a student who is being cared for by their grandparents. The grant is made to the school to support individual students or families.

The conditions of the grant are:

1. Student or students must be in grandparents' care and experiencing some financial difficulty.
2. The school is to send a brief report of how the grant was used by the first week in November.
3. If the student leaves the school or is no longer in the care of the grandparents, the school is to notify the CWA Goulburn Evening Branch to renegotiate the conditions of the grant.

If you have a child who would benefit from receiving the grant, please complete the application form attached and return the completed application to the Principal by Wednesday 6^th March 2024.

To maintain confidentiality no names are to be attached to the application.

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.

We are able to hold student medications in the office for those children who require either short term or ongoing medication. 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.

Vibesfest - 17 February

https://www.facebook.com/VisitGoulburn

Goulburn Show - 2 & 3 March

https://www.goulburnshow.com.au/

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.