DISCO & WORKING BEE

We are looking forward to catching up with people next Friday at the school disco & working bee from 5.30pm.

Our jobs are:

• Helping at the disco
  • Pizza & drink distribution
  • Lolly bar sales
  • Glowstick sales
  • Pack up and sweep hall

• Working Bee -
  • Putting new sand into the sandpit & tidying up
  • Cleaning out gutters especially around the carline area
  • Tidying up along front fence & roadway
  • Cutting back hedge outside Year 5/6
  • Trimming trees outside the library
  • Whippersnip along fence lines
  • Cutting back garden outside library & chapel area
  • Tidying school car park.

There are many jobs but I am hoping that many hands will make light work.

You can go on QKR to prepay for the school disco.

NR SWIMMING

Thanks to all who competed at the Northern Region Swimming Carnival. Special thanks to Mrs Harris who jumped in & co-ordinated the event in Mrs McCathy’s absence. Thanks also to Mrs Bensley & Mr Halder for their help on the day. We will publish the results in our next newsletter.

MERCY VALUE ASSEMBLIES

Every fortnight we hold a Mercy Value assembly led by one class or year group. These values come from the founding Religious Sisters of our school - the Mercy Nuns. Our Mercy Values are Mercy, Compassion, Justice, Dignity, Excellence, Hospitality, Stewardship & Service. These are values promoted by our school and supported in our Catholic faith. Our assembly gives us practical ideas about how we demonstrate these values in our daily livesand our school sign displays the value we are focusing on weekly. The class will find a prayer or scripture & then perform a story, poem, song, play, etc to helps us reflect on the current Mercy Value we are focusing on.  

STAFF SHORTAGES

Staff shortages are still an issue across all schools. This means at times we might need to split classes as we have no teacher relacements. I appreciate your understanding and also thank staff who step up to take on extra work load when we have people away.

MY MOVEMENTS OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF WEEKS

I will be away most of next week at the Principal’s Annual Retreat in Bowral. I will be returning Friday afternoon for the disco & working bee. I will also be away the following Monday to Wednesday at the Australian Primary Principals Association Meeting. I represent all NSW Catholic Primary schools on this group. I attend these meetings four times a year. It is a great privilege to have this role & be part of a national discussion about education. Two topics will be the ongoing teacher shortage & priorities for a new National Schools funding agreement being finalised this year. Mr Brown will be in charge in my absence & we will stay in regular contact.

Kathy Neely (Principal)

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

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

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.

Birthdays 1-13 March!

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.

Goulburn Show - 2 & 3 March

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

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.

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.

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