Newsletter St. Elizabeth’s School

www.sedandenongnth.catholic.edu.au 111 Bakers Road, Dandenong North VIC 3175 9795 5258 5th March 2020

Dear Parents and/or Guardians,

The season of Lent is a season of encounter and it compels us to take action. It compels us to abandon what we know and bear our own crosses to follow the way of Jesus. Each encounter within the Sunday Scriptures of Lent gives us glimpses of the promise of God’s Kingdom. Lent is characterised by three overarching actions that commence on Ash Wednesday, when we are called to pay closer attention to prayer, fasting and almsgiving. At the surface level, they seem quite self-explanatory but, in light of the Lenten readings, Christ’s encounters reveal a deeper understanding of our call to action.

In these encounters, we see Jesus go beyond the constraints of what his world would have him do. Through glimpses of Jesus’ divine glory, we have the blueprints of our call to action as part of our Lenten journey. In years gone by, Lent was characterised by ‘giving something up’. As we turn to the teachings of Christ and enter the season of Lent, may we be more attentive to those we encounter in our ordinary lives and not ask ourselves what to give up, but how to give more. Director of Catholic Education Melbourne, 2020

This message is something as a staff we discuss and encourage in our children, especially during this season of Lent. It is important for all of us to engage in selfless acts where we are putting others first. The feeling and sense of achievement when we do this is an amazing feeling. We encourage families to discuss this and model this in our everyday lives as well.

This week our Parish Education Board convened for the first time in 2020. The School Education Board is a vital part of the governance of the school. There are 5 places in total on the Board for Parents/Guardians who would like to be Parent Representatives. We welcome any new parents who are interested in seeing how the Board works to come along to the AGM. This will be held on Tuesday 24th March. The meeting itself goes for approximately 30 minutes, where we will share a cup of tea or coffee after the meeting.

The School Education Board meets twice a term to advise the Principal and Parish Priest on matters pertaining to policy and procedure. The role of Parent Representatives on the School Education Board is advisory only, but we take that advice seriously. The role is also one of support for the work being done in the school, ensuring that it meets Government requirements and also ensuring that the school carries out its mission as a Catholic School in terms of teaching our faith.

Term 1 DatesMarch Friday 6th

School Closure DayMonday 9th

Public HolidayWednesday 11th

Foundation Prayers in Pyjamas @ 6:30pmThursday 12th

CyberSafety Night @ 7pmFriday 13th

3 /4 Community Mass 9:15amSaturday 14th

Nazareth College 35th Anniversary FairTuesday 17th

St Patrick’s DayThursday 19th

Literacy/Numeracy Parent information session @ 9-10am

Sacramental Information Evening for Reconciliation and Eucharist 6:30pm

Friday 20th

F/5/6 Community Mass 9:15amHarmony DaySunday 22nd

Reconciliation Commitment Mass 10:30amTuesday 24th

School Athletics Day Parish Education Board – AGM @ 7pm

Wednesday 25th

Feast of the Annunciation Mass @ 9:15amLiteracy/Numeracy Parent information

session @ 2:30-3:15pmThursday 26th

Stations of the Cross @ 2.30pmEaster Raffle drawn

Friday 27th

Term 1 ends @ 2.30pmMarket Night 5-9pm

AprilFriday 10th

Good FridayMonday 13th

Easter MondayTuesday 14th

Term 2 beginsFriday 17th

School Photo DayDivision Tennis 9am – Noon

Sunday 19th

Eucharist Commitment Mass 10:30amVision Portrait Fundraiser 9am – 4pm

Tuesday 21st

Sacrament of Reconciliation 7pmFriday 24th

Intra School cross Country Carnival 9-11:15am

Saturday 25th

ANZAC DAYTuesday 28th

Foundation/1/2 Community Mass 9:15am

Cyber Safety Information Evening:On THURSDAY 12 th MARCH we will be holding a Cyber Safety evening that I strongly recommend that EVERY family attend.

Marty and Carley who will be presenting on the evening, are experts in this area. Marty is up to date with all the latest apps and technology side, Carley is a psychologist (and a mother of three school aged children) who helps families manage this screen time obsession, anxiety and family dilemmas that this all brings.

The evening is aimed to cater for ALL AGE LEVELS. They will be looking at:

- The effects of screen time from a young age- Age appropriate apps e.g. Roblox, Minecraft, Fortnite- Social media apps e.g. TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Music-ly

As this is a PARENT ONLY session, we will be providing babysitting so parents can attend. Some of our staff have kindly offered to watch a movie with the children in Link 3 so parents can attend this session, as we all see it as beneficial and worthwhile; a MUST for all families. Hopefully I will see you all on the evening.

Coronavirus Update:

Australian context update (as of 3 March 2020) 

In Australia, the people most at risk of getting the virus are those who have:o recently been in mainland China or Irano been in close contact with someone who is a confirmed case of coronavirus

If you are at risk - You need to isolate yourself if you are at risk of getting the virus:o If you have left, or transited through mainland China in the last 14 days, you must isolate

yourself for 14 days from the date of leaving mainland Chinao If you have left, or transited through Iran on or after 1 March you must isolate yourself for

14 days from the date of leaving Irano If you have been in close contact with a proven case of coronavirus, you must isolate

yourself for 14 days from the date of last contact with the confirmed caseo You do not need to isolate yourself if you have only travelled in Hong Kong, Macau or

Taiwan Action If you develop symptoms while travelling or within 14 days of returning to Australia:

Seek urgent medical advice from a doctor. Call ahead to notify the medical practitioner of recent travel

Contact the Department of Health and Human Services on 1800 675 398 (dedicated hotline number); and

Notify the School Principal Please also contact the school to advise of absence and clearance time for an expected return to

school. While absent from school, the school will provide learning activities and support for students to stay up to date with their learning program.

Travel AdviceAs a school we are aware that a number of students and staff may have planned to travel overseas during the school holidays. The following is current travel advice:

Do not travel to mainland China or Iran Exercise a high degree of caution if travelling to South Korea, Japan, Italy, Mongolia Read the travel advice for your destination Understand that travel disruption and restrictions may develop due to the developing situation with

Conronavirus COVID-19. Visit the following website for further travel advice: https://www.smartraveller.gov.au/  Follow the above action steps if you develop symptoms while travelling or within 14 days of

returning to Australia. Guidelines from the Department of Health recommend Australian doctors consider testing people with a clinically compatible illness who have travelled to certain countries in the 14 days before onset of symptoms. The list is based on the volume of travel between those countries and Australia and China, and/or the current epidemiology of COVID-19, and is updated regularly.

Personal Hygiene and ContactAll staff and students are reminded about the importance of simple hygiene practices at all times to prevent the spread of a virus:

Wash hands regularly with soap and water, particularly before and after eating, after visiting the toilet or after coughing or sneezing.

Covering coughs and sneezes with a tissue or using the inside of the elbow to cover the mouth and nose.

If unwell, stay at home to avoid contact with others.

 Further Information

https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alerthttps://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/myth-bustershttps://www.smartraveller.gov.au/ (travel advice)

Uniform:

Thank you to all our families who ensure that their children are wearing the correct uniform to school each day. Our uniform represents who we are as a community, which therefore means it is important that it is worn correctly.

Last year the Parish Education Board made a change to the colour of the school socks. To make it more cost effective for families we changed from the royal blue socks to white non branded school socks, which can be purchased from local retailers. As a Board we agreed that a transition of 2 years may take place with the socks due to families having recently purchased the royal blue socks. We aim to have the white non branded socks as the only acceptable socks by the end of 2021.

Coloured House Sports TopAs of 2020, we would like to introduce a separate PE uniform that the students will wear the day they have PE classes, as well as on our Intra House Athletics and Cross Country. The students will be required to wear their house colour polo shirt (see image) with their maroon school shorts and runners/sneakers.

The Year 5/6 students have the option to purchase the interschool sport top to wear on these days. They must have at least of one of these tops to wear.

Both these sports tops are available from the uniform shop. Currently the uniform shop will be discounting the coloured house sports top by 50% until the end of the term, making them $10 instead of $20.

By introducing this PE uniform, it helps students to be in comfortable clothing when engaging in physical activity, along with providing parent with an opportunity to launder the everyday school uniform more frequently.

Our Uniform Order form can be accessed online

Health Care Card and CSEF (Camps, Sports and Excursion Fund):Are you eligible to receive a rebate on your school fees for school excursions and camps?

If you hold a Centrelink Health Care Card (HCC), Pensioner Concession Card (PCC) or a Veterans Affairs Gold Card, you are eligible to receive a rebate from the Victorian Government.

The Camp, Sports and Excursion Fund (CSEF) is a Victorian Government initiative which provides payments to schools for eligible students to attend camps, sports and excursions. The amount payable for primary students is $125 and this amount will be used to reduce their school fees.

If you are eligible, please collect an application form from the school office, complete and return as soon as possible. If you have yet to notify the school that you have one of the above concession cards, please let Lisa know immediately.

Payments will be made directly to schools from March 2020. Once received, these payments will be credited to school fees. Any parent who applied for and received the CSEF last year IS NOT REQUIRED to submit a new form for this year.

Wishing everyone a great week.Christina FergusonPrincipal

Dear Families and Friends,

Ash Wednesday MassLast week the school and parish community came together to begin our Lenten journey. The Ash Wednesday Mass is an important time where we can reflect on our purpose. During the season of Lent, may we find ways to turn back to God and help others, perhaps through Project Compassion.

Minnie Vinnies visit to Regis Aged CareOn Monday, the Year 6 Minnie Vinnies leaders Connor, Stephanie, Gabby and Jon and I visited some residents at Regis Aged Care on Bakers Road.

The children engaged with the residents, where they enjoyed participating

in Art activities using things from nature such

as leaves and twigs.The residents loved conversing with our

students and vice versa, showing that age is no

barrier.

Prayers in PyjamasOur Foundation students and their families are invited to attend our ‘Prayers in Pyjamas’ evening at school on Wednesday 11th March at 6:30pm. This is a great opportunity for families to come together and engage in various types of prayer with their children and other families. All families are welcome, no matter what faith you are.

Year 3 Reconciliation and First Eucharist Family EveningThis year we have 14 Year 3 children who will be receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation and Eucharist. These children and their families are required to attend a family preparation evening on Thursday 19th March at 6:30pm. This session will be held in the Year 3/4 classrooms.

As I will be taking Long Service Leave as of next week, I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday and a peaceful Easter. I will see you all in Term 2.

Education in Faith

God blessMrs. Lorraine Walker

Parent Helper SessionThis year we would love for parents to come and help in our literacy and numeracy blocks. Before parents can volunteer their time, we require parents to come to a brief information session which will outline the expectations and activities parents will be involved in.

We will be offering two sessions, to enable working parents to attend one of the sessions.

Thursday 19 March @ 9am Wednesday 25th March @ 2.30pm

Parents are only required to attend one of these sessions. They will go for approximately 20-30 minutes.

Kristine KoutroumanisLearning & Teaching Leader

Joy of Movement: This year we have been asked by Deakin University to do the Joy of Movement program. Weekly, all students in their classes have to fill in a sheet where you write down how focused you are, how happy you are and how stressed you are before doing the Brain Break. After this, their classroom teacher picks out a Brain Break game for the children to do. When all students have completed the activity students go to that same sheet and write down how happy, focused and stressed they are after doing the brain break. So far all students and teachers have enjoyed the Joy of Movement Program.   -Te’a  House Colour Points:In 2020 we have introduced “House Points” where the teachers give students house points in class. Students get the points for following the school values.The sport leaders come around every classroom and tally up the score then they reveal which house has the least points to the most points.Last week Red House came last, Green House came third, Yellow House came second and Blue House came first. It is a lot of fun. -Marley  Interschool Sports: In Interschool Sports the grade 5 /6’s have been playing really well. The 2nd Round where St Elizabeth played Keysborough P.S, the Boy’s Cricket team won 71-144. Unfortunately the Girls Team didn’t play. The Girls Softball won 7-5 and so did the boys 6-3. The boys Basketball team sadly lost 10-12 but the girls’ team carried out the win 8-12. All the students in tennis won their matches. All in all the interschool sports matches went really well.- Lochlann New Visual Arts program:

Year 6 News Leaders

Learning and Teaching

This year, 2020 we have introduced a new specialist class which is Visual Arts. Visual Arts is taught by Mrs B and so far the whole school has been enjoying all the activities like the colour-wheel, making new goals, front covers and much more.- Shacanaa 

Reporting Student AbsencesParents are legally responsible for the regular attendance of their child/ren and we require your full support to ensure we meet the required guidelines to ensure the safe arrival and attendance of all students enrolled in our school.

It is a legal requirement for the school to contact parents when a child is absent and we have had no notification from you of their absence (unexplained absence).

The following steps need to be followed if your child is absent from school:  

Advise the school of your child’s absence prior to the beginning of the school day – the preferred method is via FlexiBuzz/Absence Form

Phone call to the school – messages can be left with the school office after 8.30am.

If no notification is received from you, the school is legally required to make contact with you regarding your child’s non-attendance and the following will occur, as close as possible to the times listed below:  

A One-to-One Chat message will be sent to you by 10am via FlexiBuzz on the day of the absence You are required to respond to a notification sent to you by 11am on FlexiBuzz/Absence Form Parents who do not respond to the notification will be contacted by phone by 11.30am to verify the

absence so that the school can update the attendance register for compliance If you are not able to be contacted, your child’s emergency contact/s will be used If no contact is made by 1pm, we will be obliged to contact the police with our concern

It is the legal responsibility of parents to advise ALL absences in a timely manner – sickness, holiday, appointment, etc., and it is our legal requirement to make every reasonable effort to contact a parent regarding an unexplained absence.

If your child is going to be absent from school for an extended period of time due to a holiday please fill in the form on FlexiBuzz/Extended Leave Form. This form must be completed, returned and signed by the school Principal prior to beginning of holiday

If your child is going to be absent from school for an extended period of time due to illness please advise the school via FlexiBuzz of your child’s absence prior to the beginning of the school day.

All students who are late to school (after 8.55am) must be signed in through the iPad at the school office.

Child Safety

Icy PolesThis year icy poles will be on sale on THURSDAYS. They are $1. If there is a forecast for a hot day, we will send out a FlexiBuzz if we will be selling icy poles on another day. Please watch out for this.

School Banking ~ Every Tuesday

School Banking encourages children to save a little money each week (any amount) into their Youthsaver account, helping them learn about the value of money and develop a good saving habit.

Parents can open a student School Banking account in a Commonwealth Bank branch or online.

Click on here if you are an existing ComBank customer Click here if you are not an existing ComBank customer.

When you open a Youthsaver account, your child will receive a Dollarmites deposit wallet to use for School Banking.

The Youthsaver account is a savings account with no monthly fees and a competitive bonus interest rate when at least one deposit (excluding interest and bank initiated transactions) and no withdrawals are made each calendar month on balances up to $50,000.

How School Banking works: It's easy as 1, 2, 3:

1. Bring your deposit to school in your Dollarmites deposit wallet on Tuesdays to collect a silver Dollarmites token

2. Once you collect 10 tokens (maximum one token per week) you can choose a reward by placing the redemption slip or card and 10 tokens in your Dollarmites deposit wallet and bring in on School Banking Day

3. Kids can track their savings progress in the CommBank Youth app

School Community

Market Night Friday 27th March Our Market Night is fast approaching, so please mark your calendars.

Should you wish to hold a stall, there are forms at the front office, or email saintemarket@gmail.com to have one forwarded onto you.

On the night there will be rides for the children, food trucks to provide a scrumptious dinner for families and lots of stalls selling lots of wonderful items.

As this is a fundraising community event, we will require parent volunteers to help for an hour.

We will be advertising shortly for helpers.

Vision PortraitsOn Sunday 19th April (9am-4pm) families will be able to have some professional photos taken as a beautiful keepsake.

The photos can be of just the children or the whole family, it is up to you! We are having this fundraiser just in time so you can organise some prints for grandma for Mother’s Day in May.

The cost of the session is $20, where families will receive a framed 10 inch by 8 inch print and the opportunity to purchase other photos taken on the day.

The link to book is www.visionportraits.com.au/fundraise

Password: raisefunds

Find St Elizabeth’s and then click on TICKETS to book a time.

Holiday ideasDATES:       MAR 28 2020 - 14 APR 2020TIMES:       12.00pm - 4.00pm dailyADDRESS: 29 Brindley St, Dandenong South VIC 3175

Out of School Hours Care

Parish Community

Fortnightly Activities Tuesday 10th March to Friday 20th March

Monday Vegetable and Straw Painting, Baking Soda Science Experiments.

Tuesday Origami Bookmarks, Make a Picture With Wax & Stencils.

Wednesday Stained Glass Window Motifs & Glass Bead Bracelets.

Thursday Make & Do Puppet Show, Dress Up, Music/Drama.

Friday Play Smartie Bingo, Build A Tower With Wooden Blocks & Dominos

PUPIL FREE DAY – tomorrow FRIDAY 6 TH MARCH 2020 PARENTS,

Please note there is no school on the Friday 6th March. We (OSHC) will open from 7am to 6pm depending on numbers. Please let us know if you need care on the day so we can book the child in – no cancellations.

Thank you. For enquires or further information, please contact Elarine on 0422 803 709

Activities for the day:

Kids in the kitchen - Put your aprons on & let’s make:

Chocolate & Orange Truffles, Chicken & Lettuce Rolls, Banana Split.

Set up a Restaurant & dine with your friends

Kinetic sand with cooking set

Movie & Popcorn

Before School Care

Permanent: $13.50 /Casual $16.00 ~ 7am to 8:55am Monday to Friday during school term, excluding all Victorian Public Holidays.

After School CarePermanent: $14.50 /Casual $17.00 ~ 3:15pm to 6:15pm Monday to Friday during school term, excluding all Victorian Public Holidays.

Vacation Care / Pupil Free DaysPer Day: $50.00 7am to 6:00pm Monday to Friday (The School Holiday Program in January will be held at St Anthony’s and St. Mary’s)

Late Pick Up Fees: Per minute: $1.00 For enquires or further information, please contact Elarine on 0422 803 709 during session times..

Holiday Program for the upcoming school holidays

Remember to contact Elarine on 0422 803 709 should you wish to book your child / children into

the

program.