Dear Parents & Guardians,

Welcome back to Term Three!

On Sunday, 30th July the world celebrated ‘International Friendship Day’. One of our wishes as a parent is for our children to not only try hard with their academic work but to also know how to be a friend to others. The notion of International Friendship Day has been proclaimed to promote friendship and foster understanding and reconciliation among individuals, communities and countries worldwide. There is an emphasis on the importance of friendship in promoting peace, solidarity and mutual understanding. One of the joys of working in a school is seeing this in action on a daily basis. We continue to be proud of our students and their genuine interactions and the care and concern shown for others. Friendship, tolerance, kindness and respect are powerful in developing our student's ability to navigate their daily lives as well as pathways for the future.

We welcome to our staff Mr Sandesh (Sandy) Subedi as our IT Technician. Sandesh will be working Monday to Wednesday in this role. We look forward to having him on board! We also welcome Miss Naomi Marantelli who is teaching Prep Blue this term whilst Mrs Lisa Cooper is on leave.

CatholicCare has appointed our new counsellor - Shamilla. Shamilla will be working with Sam as our counsellors and she commenced with us on Monday. We also requested an increase from four to five days and are very pleased that this was approved. Shamilla will be working Monday to Wednesday and Sam will continue working Thursday & Friday.

Thank you to Damian Riza & Adam Taylor our Utility Officers who worked productively throughout the holidays. We have a new teepee structure in the Kinder/Prep playground that has been organised and installed, cleared garden beds at the front of the school and topped up sandpits and garden beds. The school is looking great - thanks for all your work!

What a great transformation!

Congratulations to our Ludo Early Learning Centre, partnered with CatholicCare who received their draft report following their Assessment & Rating period that was undertaken approximately six weeks ago. This is the centre’s first ever rating since they were established at the start of 2021. The Assessment & Rating team look at seven quality areas (NQS - National Quality Standard) - listed below with outcomes:

• Quality Area 1 - Education program and practice
• Overall rating: Meeting NQS
• Standard 1:1 - Exceeding NQS
• Standard 1:2 - Exceeding NQS
• Standard 1:3 - Meeting NQS

• Quality Area 2 - Children’s Health & Safety
• Overall rating: Meeting NQS
• Standard 2.1 - Meeting NQS
• Standard 2.2 - Meeting NQS

• Quality Area 3 - Physical environment
• Overall rating - Meeting NQS
• Standard 3.1 - Meeting NQS
• Standard 3.2 - Exceeding NQS

• Quality Area 4 - Staffing Arrangements
• Overall rating - Meeting NQS
• Standard 4.1 - Meeting NQS
• Standard 4.2 - Meeting NQS

• Quality Area 5 - Relationships with children
• Overall rating - Exceeding NQS
• Standard 5.1 - Exceeding NQS
• Standard 5.2 - Exceeding NQS

• Quality Area 6 - Collaborative Partnerships with families and communities
• Overall rating - Exceeding NQS
• Standard 6.1 - Exceeding NQS
• Standard 6.2 - Exceeding NQS

• Quality Area 7 - Governance and Leadership
• Overall rating - Meeting NQS
• Standard 7.1 - Meeting NQS
• Standard 7.2 - Meeting NQS

The team has worked extremely hard over their first two and half years of operation to create an excellent centre! We are so proud of the work they are doing! 

We are looking forward to working with our students and their families during the term ahead!

Kind regards

Susan McGann

Catholic Education Week is an annual event that celebrates Catholic education in Tasmania. It is typically held during August and is organised by Catholic Education Tasmania.

The purpose of Catholic Education Week is to highlight the unique contributions of Catholic schools to the education system and to promote the values and teachings of the Catholic faith. The theme for Catholic Education Week changes each year and is chosen by Catholic Education Tasmania.

During Catholic Education Week, Catholic schools hold special events and activities to celebrate their faith and their commitment to Catholic education. These may include liturgical celebrations, guest speakers, service projects, and other activities that promote the values of Catholic education.

Catholic Education Week is an important opportunity for Catholic schools to showcase their mission and values to the wider community and to celebrate the contributions of Catholic education to Tasmania.

The theme for 2023 is ‘Arise and go!’. This calls us to follow in the footsteps of Mary as she was called to arise and go with haste into the world. So too are we in Catholic education called to arise and make a positive impact in the lives of others.  

The phrase "Mary arose and went in haste" is from the Gospel of Luke (Luke 1:39) and refers to Mary's visit to her cousin Elizabeth after the Annunciation. The phrase has several meanings and interpretations:

1. Obedience to God's will: Mary's response to the angel's message was one of obedience and faith. By going to visit Elizabeth, Mary was fulfilling God's will and demonstrating her trust in Him.
2. Joy and excitement: Mary's visit to Elizabeth was a joyful occasion, as both women were pregnant with miraculous children. Mary's haste may have been a reflection of her excitement and eagerness to share the news with her cousin.
3. Service and humility: Mary's visit to Elizabeth was also an act of service and humility. Despite being chosen by God to bear His Son, Mary did not consider herself above serving others and helping her cousin in her time of need.

We have been very busy in Year 1 combining explicit teaching with hands on learning. As part of NAIDOC week celebrations in the final week of term 2 we have been gaining an understanding of how Aboriginal people traditionally used structures and on occasions quickly constructed lean-tos. Our Year 1s applied this newly acquired knowledge and applied this into our Thursday afternoon Bush Program. The children were actively exploring and developing an understanding in as part of this activity a sense of identity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. It has been wonderful to see how the children are growing in their appreciation of the local ecosystems as a part of weekly Bush program. It is evidence of the children displaying their values and social justice towards the environment as they attempt to keep the local area free of debris and show determination in creating a sustainable place to play and explore.

We have been exploring how God invites us to love and care for yourselves and others by thinking and answering the question “How can we make loving choices like Jesus?”. Throughout the first half of Term 3 Year 1 will continue to look at the concept of Christian life and how to identify loving choices and apply these throughout our lives. 1M brainstormed the idea if “Jesus was a classmate what would you think he might be like?” We then combined art and religion to share our thoughts onto our life-sized artworks. We are super proud of our creative ideas and efforts.

Karate