Dear Families

Welcome to the end of Term 1.

In these busy nine weeks we have accomplished many things.  We have welcomed in our new Foundation students, sold a silly amount of Zooper Doopers and have seen classrooms settle into good learning routines.  We have had school closures because of storms, students excelling at swimming carnivals and students preparing for First Communion.  In two months we have certainly packed in plenty of learning and chaos.  Can I take this opportunity to acknowledge the efforts of the staff throughout this term, but importantly, express my gratitude to the band of parent volunteers who never let me down in stepping up to get things done for our school community.  I am truly blessed and so appreciative.

Last week I was very fortunate to attend the Victorian Catholic Primary Principal Conference.  The theme of the event was 'With Strength' and I certainly left after four intense days feeling both empowered and excited for the opportunities that lay ahead about education across our state and more particularly at St.Vincent's.  This year we have added and tweaked many things, some obvious and some quietly behind the scenes.  I hit these holidays more excited than ever about my role as a leader in a Catholic Primary School.

The Easter season in the Catholic Church starts this week with Holy Week.  On Thursday our senior students will lead us in a prayer dramatisation of the events of Easter and I encourage all families to come along to both support these performers but to also learn a little more about the story of Easter.  In a consumer-driven world, we are sometimes too distracted by chocolate and bunnies to recognise a few of the simple messages of Easter.  My prayer is that all children and families have the opportunity to deepen their understanding of Easter, and take advantage of the opportunity to reflect and be renewed.

This week we had our Year 3/4s and 5/6s at two pre-winter sports days for Netball and Football.  It was terrific to see kids both familiar and new to these sports having a great day out enjoying the events.  As a very poor local sportsman, but also as a Dad, I strongly encourage all St. Vincent's to become involve in a local sporting or community club - Soccer, Football, Scouts or Dance.  Families that are involved give their children an added advantage of being socially connected and resilient.  If you ever need advice or support in finding a local sport or club, please feel free to talk to me.

Wishing everyone a holy and safe Easter.

Looking forward to seeing everyone after the holidays.

Dave

As we journey through Lent we are called to think about others.  Project Compassion, a social justice fundraiser of Caritas Australia, gives us the opportunity to reach out to support a variety projects across the country and globe.

Take a look at this clip about Leaia.

Week 7

	Principal's Award for Positive Behaviour	Class Award
Prep MP	McKenna	Asha
1/2C	Logan	Bella
1/2F	Jordan	Charlie
1/2SJ	Sunny	Flynn
3/4B	Hope	Harry
3/4D
3/4E	Miles	Mason
5/6BM	Daryl	Shigoah
5/6KM	Madison	Jaxon
5/6W	Dawson	Blair

Week 8

	Principals Award for Positive Behaviour	Class Award
Prep MP	Ayla	Hollie
1/2C	Clara	Lincoln
1/2F	Luna	Nikola
1/2SJ	Eleanor	Isaac
3/4B	Lachlan	Indi
3/4D	Lewis	Sophie
3/4E	Holly	Kuini
5/6BM	Lucinda	Maximus
5/6KM	Stella	Brad
5/6W	Pearl	Heidi

Thank you to everyone who donated to the raffle collection last week, in particular we would like to acknowledge the very generous donation of items from Justin Presley who coordinated a donation on behalf of Woolworths Moe.  With the help from a volunteer group of parents we were able to put together a mega-draw of 137 prizes ready for Thursday Live Raffle draw after Recess.

Please have your sold tickets returned by Wednesday so we can start getting organised for the draw.

Additional Raffle books are available from the Office.

Week 9:

Wednesday 27^th March           School Athletics Carnival

Thursday 28^th March              Easter Play: Stations of the Cross (10am)

Thursday 28^th March              Easter Raffle

Thursday 28^th March              Term 1 Ends 12.30pm

Today, parents face a multitude of modern day challenges with raising happy, well and resilient young people. Whilst there is a great deal of information available, this can often be confusing and overwhelming for parents looking for guidance.

SchoolTV addresses this as a new online resource designed to empower you as parents with credible and sound information with realistic, practical ongoing support strategies.

St.Vincent's is proud to partner with SchoolTV to offer our school families a range of resources.  We urge you to check out these wonderful resources.

SchoolTV is available via our school website under the Wellbeing menu.

https://stvmorwell.catholic.schooltv.me/