2025 Newsletter Term 3 Week 7
- From the Principal
- End of Year Fun Day - Colour Run Disco
- Parent-Teacher Interviews
- Father's Day Celebration
- Mothers who Pray for their Children
- Raising the Bar - Literacy Developments
- Meerkat Productions - Book Week Show
- Grandparents Day Mass
- SchoolTV - Wellbeing resources
- Before and After School Traffic Management
- Child Safety Week 2025
- Our Patch News
- Celebrating the Jubilee of Migrants Together
- Latrobe Cricket Club
From the Principal
Dear Families,
What a busy fortnight we have had. Plenty of celebrations and school events ... and some learning along the way as well. Thank you to everyone who has been involved in any way either as an active contributor or a visitor. It has been wonderful meeting and greeting so many faces either at one of our Masses, in the school or at our Auskick sessions.
Father's Day is this weekend, and we want to wish all the fathers and father figures in the St. Vincent's community a wonderful day. We want to thank you for the important role you play. Just as we acknowledge the many different forms of mothering on Mother's Day, this weekend we celebrate everyone who acts as a fatherly role model and makes a difference in the lives of the special children at our school. God bless you all!
As we head towards the end of the term we have plenty to celebrate and be thankful for. Our collective achievements have been many - some in the classroom, on the sporting fields or in our Church. Congratulations to the students for their many ‘wins’.
Please take the time to read through today’s newsletter for important information about the rest of the term as well to enjoy the different photos.
Wishing everyone a great finish to the week,
Dave
End of Year Fun Day - Colour Run Disco
Get excited .... this day is going to be huge!!
FRIDAY 28TH NOVEMBER
This year Destiny Kirkup has created the most magnificent concept to celebrate the end of the year and to farewell the Year 6's with a (colourful) BANG! Music, Colour , Laughs and Sausages - A recipe for a successful day.
Many hands do make light work plus your kids would love to see you involved. We will need help leading into the day, on the day and after the fun. Check your work roster and request this day off!
Please reach out to Destiny or Mr. Cooper to get involved.
Parent-Teacher Interviews
Interview Bookings have opened this week for families to select a time for next week. Please note that families who have a PSG this fortnight do not need to book a time. Also please note that families in 3/4B and 5/6B will be able to connect with those teachers next term.
Bookings are made using our regular booking system on PAM. If you are having difficulties please contact the office or see your child's teacher.
Father's Day Celebration
Thank you to everyone who came along to celebrate our St.Vincent's Fathers Day. Father James started our day beautifully, acknowledging all those that have a fathering role for our children - regardless of their title. Chris Dunn (Father of Dawson and Spencer) then concluded our Mass beautifully by sharing his personal reflections on Fatherhood.
We then headed outside, young and old, under the guidance of Mrs. Calafiore for a game of Soccer - Big People vs Little People. Thank you to everyone who came along, it means so much to us.
"The most important part of parenting is simply showing up"
Father's Day 2025
Mothers who Pray for their Children
Please take some time and read about this lovely initiative spreading around the globe.
Raising the Bar - Literacy Developments
Across the last three years we have been deliberately adding improved features to our literacy programs across the school. Utlising a high-quality, evidenced-based, Australian resources we have seen the MultiLit platform became central across each year level. Terms like InitiLit, Sage, Language-Life, Spell-Ex all become regular elements of teaching and learning at St.Vincent's.
This year we have made significant financial investments in our literacy resources with the successful trial of various whole class book studies. Congratulations to the work our teachers have put into these reading and writing plans ..... and to those parents who have spent many hours contacting various class sets of books and novels.
Thanks to these Year 1/2 students for modelling some of the terrific writing based around the picture story book 'Migaloo: The White Whale' as well as the industrious Year 5/6 students in the below photo gallery.
Book Studies
Meerkat Productions - Book Week Show
Meerkat Productions brought the magic of live theatre to our school with a clever adaptation of the book, Garden of Broken Things. It was an incredible opportunity to bring quality literature to life and provide our students with the unique experience of a professional theatrical performance. It was also great to see so many of our 2026 Foundation students and their families in attendance
Live theatre offers so many benefits beyond just a good story. It allows students to witness the story unfold in real time, making the characters come to life. This helps build empathy and provides a deeper understanding of the themes presented.
The show beautifully captured one of the book's core messagse: 'People don't need to be fixed, they just need to be noticed.'
A huge thank you to Meerkat Productions for their fantastic show and for reminding us all of the power of a good story and the importance of noticing one another. We can't wait to see what they bring to our stage next year.
Grandparents Day Mass
Last week we gathered again as a school community to celebrate Mass, the first Mass in our school church as Father James had been on his annual holiday. During this time the Catholic Church celebrated the Feast Day of Saints Anne and Joachim - the parents of Mary and Grandparents to Jesus, so it was an obvious choice to focus on grandparents for this celebration.
Our Mass was a beautiful opportunity to celebrate the role (and gift) of grandparenting. We thank the many visitors that came along to join with us both in the church and back in our classrooms.
Our children are blessed to have such loving role models in their lives.
2025 Grandparents Day Visits
SchoolTV - Wellbeing resources
St Vincent's subscribes to the SchoolTV platform, an online back of resources provided by experts in the field. We have a series of resoruces available on our school website under the Wellbeing menu tab. It is well worth the look - you never know when you (or someone you love) are going to the need some assistance or parenting tips.
As we head towards Father's Day, we thought it was timely to share some examples of the resource.
Before and After School Traffic Management
Just a continued reminder about the need for everyone to be safe and vigilant when in the carpark. We all have a shared responsibility to ensure all our children and families are safe. The first few minutes at start and end of the day are very busy times, and as the weather turns wet and cold we have more cars accessing closer positions to the school. Please take your time and not rush.
In the morning we ask all parents to drop off at the start of the Kiss & Go Zone, close as possible to the exit gate. This allows more students to exit vehicles safely at the same time, eliminating the build up of traffic lined up in the car park. The Kiss and Go Zone (marked with yellow paint) is also wide enough for cars to overtake each other, which again will help eliminate congestion.
Cars are not permitted in the Kiss & Go Zone in the afternoon. This allows for the increased space for students to be collected, eliminating the congestion at the bottom of the ramp.
We ask drivers not to park on the nature strips and 'No Standing' areas between the driveways on either side of Rowell Street as this reduces driver visibility creating unnecessary risks for our children.
Child Safety Week 2025
Next week, as a diocese we celebrate Child Safety Week. This coincides with the NAPCAN's National Child Protection Week which is held from 7-13 September and Safeguarding Sunday, which is held on Sunday 14 Septmember. The Child Safety Week 2025 theme is Every Conversation Maters - Shifting Conversation to Action.
Keep an eye out for resources across next week.
Our Patch News
Great news coming from the team at Our Patch HQ. We have been approved to lift our attendance numbers. This will come as great news for families that have at times hit a hurdle when they are trying to lock in permanent or casual days.
A reminder that Our Patch also offers Before School sessions that families may like to use to take pressure off a chaotic start to the day. Imagine a calm start to the day balancing school dropoff and getting to work on time (with a coffee).
Celebrating the Jubilee of Migrants Together
Last week, the students of St Vincent’s, Sacred Heart School, and Lumen Christi School came together as one community to celebrate Mass with the theme of the Jubilee of Migrants. It was a wonderful occasion filled with prayer, reflection, and a spirit of welcome.
We are so proud of the way our students participated in this special liturgy. Their respectful behaviour, joyful singing, and thoughtful engagement made the celebration truly meaningful. Many students contributed through readings, prayers, singing, and processions, showing the great gifts and talents within our schools.
The Mass was not only a chance to celebrate our faith, but also a time to reflect on the journeys of migrants and the importance of building a community that values compassion, inclusiveness, and hope.
A big thank you goes to our teachers, families, and parish community for supporting the students in preparing for this liturgy. It was inspiring to see three schools unite with such enthusiasm and respect, living out the message of welcome and love.
We could not be prouder of our students and the way they represented their school communities. This gathering was a true sign of hope for the future.
After Mass, the Year 5/6 students from each school stayed on to take part in a range of activities connected to the Jubilee of Migrants theme. They listened to real-life stories from migrants, which gave them the chance to reflect deeply on the challenges and hopes of people who have journeyed to Australia. Students also had the opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations about migration, welcome, and belonging.
The day wasn’t all serious, though! Students also enjoyed time to play and socialise with others from all three schools. This not only helped them make new friends but also encouraged them to build important skills such as:
Collaboration – working and learning together with others.
Communication – sharing ideas and listening respectfully.
Empathy – understanding and valuing the experiences of others.
Confidence – meeting new people and joining in with activities.
Teamwork – supporting and encouraging one another.
Combined Schools Mass
