Dear Families

Welcome to the 2025 school year, and in particular the warmest of welcome to our new students and their families.  Yesterday's arrival of our new Foundation students was a terrific occasion and I thank the parents and staff for the way their supported these youngsters on their exciting first day of primary school.  I really believe our extensive transition program is so important and is validated by the way the classes across the school settled so quickly.  As leaders we actively roamed the classrooms in the morning to support our children to settle, but by 9.15am we had all classrooms heavily engaged in their work.  Congratulations to all our children on their positive approach to Day One .... fingers crossed we can all maintain this level of engagement come Friday we were are all exhausted after a hot week.  I'm sure we can.

At the conclusion of 2024 and across summer our staff have been engaged in preparing for this school year.  We have completed some critically important professional learning, conducted student assessments and had some highly productive discussions as a staff group.  I feel truly blessed to lead such a competent and professional staff.  From our classroom staff through to our admin team, St Vincent's is full of such great people.  God Bless them in their work!

In regards to staffing we have had a few new faces join us this year and we look forward to contributions across their different roles.  One area that we have put additional resources into is the area of Wellbeing.  We have added to Brooke Burke's work days through the Mental Health in Primary Schools project while we have also employed Paula Vella under the National School Wellbeing Program.  We already have seen the benefit of this work with Brooke and Paula collaborating with our teaching staff to support our students and families.

This newsletter is loaded with plenty of information so please take some time to note important dates and timetables.  If you require other information please feel free to reach ou to myself or the Administration team.  Critically importantly is the need for families to have their details current in PAM and also be described to receive Schoolzine updates and notifications (like this newsletter).  This is how we will communicate primarily with families during an emergency like the 2024 February storms.  Hopefully we don't have to deal with fires and floods this year but it is important to be organised and ready to respond.

Last weekend at Sunday's Mass Fr.James shared the gospel story of Mary and Joseph presenting an infant Jesus in the Jewish temple, 40 days after his birth.  This could be described as something similar to a Christian Baptism.  What struck me was how this is very similar to school parents dropping their children off for the start of a school year.  The trust parents place in us as a school is something I do not take for granted and I give me commitment to the St Vincent's school community that I will do everything in my power to support the 200 plus children entrusted into our care.

Wishing everyone a very successful and enjoyable 2025.

Dave