Dear Families

As we turn towards the first lot of school holidays it is timely to reflect on the successes of the past term.  Last week we welcomed the Foundation students to full-time schooling and also invited parents into the school for Parent-Teacher Interviews.  Thank you to the teaching staff for the time they gave each family and importantly thank you to all the parents that took the time to visit the classrooms.  This year we are trialling conducting these important opportunities every term, I would be really interested in parent feedback about how we can really take advantage of these scheduled sessions.

This week started with our Harmony Day Awareness Day.  It ws great to see so many children and staff in the traditional Harmony Day orange .... while this year we were able to add a little Irish flair with the day coinciding with St. Patrick's Day.  St. Vincent's has a proud migrant history dating back to the reason the school opened in the 1950's and we continue to welcome different waves of migration over the decades into the Latrobe Valley.  May our continued cultural diversity enrich our school and broader community.  Thank you to Mrs. Couling and Mrs. Monacella who prepared this week's house Team Harmony Day event.  We also republished our 2024 Harmony Day video on the school's Facebook page, we hoped you had a chance to watch this great clip produced by Mr. Greenslade and our students last year.

This week we have some important and exciting announcements - both likely to draw a positive response from the students.  This week we have the long awaited installation of an additional playground piece as well as commitment of two different school lunch providers. 

The playground funding has come about from many years of fundraising from families, not just recent years.  Thank you to everyone who has contributed in any way over the long journey as we tucked away funding.  Can we use the excitement of this week as a plea to everyone to remember what they can when different fundraisers are on.  Every little bit counts, especially this year as we work with DOSCEL on o new and exciting Masterplan for our school site.  Please be aware that construction will likely mean some additional cars and concrete trucks entering and exiting the yard on both Thursday and Friday.

In the past few years, we have enjoyed Tammy's LunchRun providing a fortnightly service to the school.  This has had a few tweaks to the menu and will again run on alternate fortnights on Thursdays for families to order via the Spriggy Schools App.  Additionally, to this service Wild Moose Catering will be offering a weekly lunch option on Wednesdays.  Ordering for this service will be via CDFPay.  CDFPay has had an upgrade so please review the instructions provided to ensure your account is active.  We thank these two local providers for making these services available for our students and staff.

As we move Lent, closer to Easter, can I encourage families to continue to remember to the key actions of PRAYING, FASTING & ALMSGIVING.  This term we have our Year 4 candidates preparing for the First Eucharist (Communion) and we continue to hold these children in our prayers as they continue on their faith journey.

The Parents & Friends group have been busy mapping out the key events for the year and I thank them for their time and commitment.  This Friday we have a casual clothes day where we ask families to contribute an item for the Easter Raffles.  Please support this event as these fundraisers are critically important.

Have a great week,

Dave + the Richmond Football Club