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St Ita’s Catholic Primary School acknowledges and pays respect to the past, present and future Traditional Custodians and Elders of this nation and the continuation of cultural, spiritual and educational practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
MESSAGE FROM THE PRICIPAL
I took a stroll through our Foundation classes late last week and was really impressed with the routines our Foundation Teachers are building in our youngest children. Its important to remember that a lot of our students have had a COVID interrupted Kinder experience and we need to support kids who may be struggling with the transition into mainstream schooling. Getting kids into routines is a great way to lay a solid foundation to build learning.
One of the key ways of supporting this transition for our students is via communication. If any parent has concern relating to your child your first point of call is always the classroom teacher. Your teacher will always listen and there is no question that can’t be asked.
It’s great to see all teachers using our WSAPB (Whole School Approach to Positive Behaviours) across our school to support classroom learning. The WSAPB is a great way of reminding all in the St Ita’s learning community that we are about respect for each other and is designed to support Students, Parents and Teachers.
The core values of St Ita's WSAPB, Compassion, Respect, Inclusiveness, Resilience and Teamwork are crucial components in each individual’s development. Each week all classes across our school will have a specific learning focus based on one of the core values listed below.
COMPASSION
RESPECT
INCLUSSIVENESS
RESILIENCE
TEAM WORK
PARKING ON VICTORIA STREET
We continue to have several cars parking inside the no parking zones at the start and end of each school day. The No Parking Zones at thevfront of school, on Victoria Street are active from 8.30am - 9.00am and 3.20pm - 3.40pm after school. We have been advised that fines will be imposed on parents parking in the zones at these times. Please don’t park there, even for a few minutes during drop off or pick up. If parents are sending grandparents or carers please let them know that it is a No Parking Zone.
NAPLAN ONLINE
The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) will take place on line this year between Tuesday 11th May and Friday 21st May 2021.
Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 participate in the annual NAPLAN tests in reading, writing, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.
The assessment provides parents and schools with an understanding of how individual students are performing at the time of the tests.
NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process – it does not replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance.
NAPLAN also provides schools, education authorities and governments with information about how education programs are working and whether young Australians are achieving important educational outcomes in literacy and numeracy.
NAPLAN assesses literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through their regular school curriculum. All government and non-government education authorities have contributed to the development of NAPLAN materials. Students are assessed on the same literacy and numeracy curriculum content, regardless of whether they complete the tests online or on paper. Results for both formats can be reported on the same NAPLAN assessment scale.
All students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 are expected to participate in the annual NAPLAN assessment. Students with disability may qualify for adjustments that reflect the support normally provided for classroom assessments. You should discuss the use of any adjustments for your child with your child’s teacher.
A student with a disability that severely limits their capacity to participate in the assessment, or a student who has recently arrived in Australia and has a non-English speaking background, may be granted a formal exemption. Please contact the office, where we can give you more information on special provisions or the process required to gain a formal exemption.
If a child is absent, schools may arrange for individual students to complete missed tests at another time during the school’s test schedule but not outside of it.
NAPLAN TIMETABLE
CORONAVIRUS UPDATES
Over the coming week’s I’m confident that schools will be more open to getting a sense of community back into them. I continue to ask all parents to exercise patience and be aware that we are doing our best to make sure schools are opening up safely.
The following is my wish list, that I’m confident we will get happening in the coming weeks at St Ita’s;
- Conducting outdoor assemblies allowing parents to join in with us
- No more QR code sign ins
- Presenting our Leadership badges to our student leaders in front of parents
- A free Sausage Sizzle per grade level where mum and dad can come into the school to spend a lunch time with their child and their friends and meet the teachers.
- Musician Andrew Chinn to conduct workshops and present a concert
- Anthony Bainbridge Golf Clinic at school as part of our sport curriculum
- Kinect to Dance school concert at the end of term
- Reconstruct our St Ita’s School Board and St Ita’s Parents and Friends
- Allow for teachers to meet face to face with parents within the classroom environment
SCHOOL COMMUNICATION PLATFORMS
St Ita’s Primary School currently uses three platforms for communication with our families;
- SCHOOLZINE – is our whole school communication method. Schoolzine is used to communicate important up to date whole school messages to our families. This is also the platform we use to distribute our weekly newsletter to families. This can be accessed as a smart phone App, or you can subscribe using the link below;
https://stidrouin.catholic.edu.au/subscribe
- CLASSDOJO – is a classroom-based communication App which families can use to communicate directly with your child/ren’s classroom teachers. Parents will need to download the App, and classroom teachers will invite parents to join the classroom and provide a unique code for secure access.
The principal has a whole school account that is used to communicate with all families. If more specific messages are required they will come directly from the class teacher. Please note that messages and comments are public to all families from the principal account.
- Simon – Parent Access Module (PAM) – is our whole school student access portal, St Ita’s use this platform to communicate School Reports, NAPLAN Results, Permission Forms for Camps/Excursions, Medical/Medication Information and Family & Emergency Contact details for all students. Please use the link below to login;
https://pam.stidrouin.catholic.edu.au/Login/Default.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2f
Platforms that are no longer used at St Ita’s are:
- Operoo which was formally, CareMonkey
- Skoolbag
SECONDHAND UNIFORM
A big thank you to all our families who have donated their good quality uniform they no longer need, we currently have a huge supply of secondhand uniform available to all of families.
If you children have had unexpected growth spurts, or have lost some of their uniform as they often do, please feel free to call the Office on (03) 5623 7222 or admin@stidrouin.catholic.edu.au we may have something to help get you through!
All items in our secondhand collection, have been washed and inspected to ensure they are of good quality. All items are for sale for $2.00 a piece, a nominal donation to the school so that we can keep this service available to families.
CONVEYANCE ALLOWANCE
The Conveyance Allowance application is now open for Term 1 for any families that qualify for the travel allowance as per the criteria below. You must lodge a new application each year.
Eligibility is assessed when the School completes your child’s application on the Government Student Conveyance Allowance System (SCAS). If approved, the allowance payable is based on the one way distance to make the journey to and from school. No private car allowance is payable if the journey to and from school could be made using a public transport service or contract school bus.
- You live more than 4.8 kilometres by the shortest practical route from our school and we are the closest Catholic school to your place of residence.
- You live more than 4.8 kilometres from our school and you cannot access a bus.
- You access a bus and live more than 4.8 kilometres from the bus stop.
Please complete the Conveyance Allowance Application Form and return to the school office by Friday 11th March 2022. Late claims cannot be accepted.
SCHOOL FEES & CONCESSIONS
Please contact the school office if you need to discuss your 2022 school fee payment.
If any families would like to set up a weekly, fortnightly or monthly direct debit schedule for school fees, please complete the Direct Debit Form below and return to the school office. For any assistance regarding calculations of payments, please contact us via email on: admin@stidrouin.catholic.edu.au
For any families that have recently received a Government means-tested health care concession card, please forward a copy of your card to the office to check your eligibility, as a fee concession may apply. The card must be in the name of the parent/fee payer for a fee concession to apply.
If your current Health Care card is due to expire this year and your card is re-issued, please send a copy of your new card details to the office as soon as possible for the concession to be checked and applied for next year's fees, if not already done so.
SHROVE TUESDAY
TWOSDAY
On Tuesday the 22/02/2022, students at St. Ita's Catholic Primary School celebrated Twsoday.
The Grade 6 Administration Leaders, Ava Upston, Holly Dignan, Sophie Gooley and Maygan Stoll, interviewed students, asking them about the significance of the date.
Ava Upston
Scarlett Jolly from Gr 3/4 Ollington had a bit to say about what today is all about.
I asked Scarlett why everyone is making a big fuss about today and this is her answer.
“The reason today is so special is because of today’s date the 22/2/22, and what makes it more special is today is that it is Tuesday. Get it, Twosday?”
She also said that it's really rare and that it wouldn't happen for a long time.
Because of this special day most of the year levels have been doing activities that have to do with this special day. For example, they were given a paper hat to draw on that said “HAPPY TWOSDAY” with their name on it.
The last thing she said was that the last time it happened was not as special because first of all it didn’t have as many twos in the date and second of all it wasn’t a Tuesday. The last date was Wednesday, 2/2/2022.
Sophie Gooley and Holly Dignan
Here is what some students in Grade 1GR said about “Twosday”:
1. What is so special about today's date?
“There's lots of 2s in the date.” Theo Sanchez-Smith
“We are learning about the number 2.” Winnie Jarred
“Making hats about the number 2.” Laken Backman
2. How often does a day like this happen?
“I don't think it happens very often.” Theo Sanchez-Smith
“Like basically every Tuesday.” Winnie Jarred
“In summer.” Laken Backman
3. How did you celebrate a day like today?
“By making hats.” Theo Sanchez-Smith
“I'm not quite sure.” Winnie Jarred
“By playing with my friends.” Laken Backman
4. When will it happen again?
“I think this will happen next month.” Theo Sanchez-Smith
“I think this will happen again in March.” Winnie Jarred
I think this will happen again tomorrow.” Laken Backman
On Twosday 22/02/22 a lot of the junior students made hats to celebrate this special, rare date.
Maygan Stoll
On Tuesday I interviewed 2 Grade 3’s from Mr. Ollingtion’s grade, Lilly McGibney and Murray Jarred. First, I asked Lilly and Murray some questions with about the date. This is what they said about Twosday.
1. When will a day like this happen again?
“11 years.”
2. What did you do to celebrate today?
“Today we made Twosdy hats and we had to colour in and write our names.”
3. What is so special about today's date?
“There are only 2s in the date”
4. When did a day like this happen previously?
“Last month.”
Lilly’s birthday is the 11th of February, she worked out that the dates are 11 days apart.
AUSSIE OF THE MONTH AWARD
I am very excited to announce the first winners of our Aussie of the Month award are Thomas Morris (3/4C), Hayden Diaz (2M) and Lexi Slaughter (1B).
LIBRARY NEWS
Teacher: Mrs Catherine McKenna
Email: cmckenna@stidrouin.catholic.edu.au
Orders close Friday 25th March for free delivery back to school.
You also have the home delivery option with an addition fee of $7.50
ST ITAS STAFF PROFILES
This week’s Teacher profile is Mrs Tash Kittelty. Tash is in her second year of teaching, and joined the dynamic 3-4 team this year. She is super consistent with all kids in her care and is all about building healthy and respectful learning relationships.
PARISH NEWS
DEACON MARKS SUNDAY GOSPEL REFLECTION
Luke’s gospel tells (Lk 4:1-13) of Jesus deliberately going into the wilderness and wrestling for forty days with the question of his vocation and how he would give himself for others. He rejects the way of power and glory, rather choosing the way of service and suffering. In our own lives, we too face those temptations to accumulate material riches, to seek popularity and to build worldly power and we ask how we might fortify ourselves to overcome these temptations.
Pope Francis has preached[1] about the temptations encountered by Jesus in Luke’s gospel (Lk 4:1-13), pointing to three ruinous and misleading paths: greed for possession, human vainglory and the exploitation of God.
Particularly in the modern western world where many of us have so much already, we easily recognise the first temptation in that crazy impulse to accumulate even more. The devil tempts us to believe “nourishment, life, fulfilment, happiness … is possible without God.” Jesus tells us otherwise.
“Vainglory”, the second temptation, we recognise too, that excessive pride in oneself or one’s achievements. The vanity, conceit or egotism of thinking we are better than others. Not so!
But what of the third temptation, “exploiting God to one’s advantage.” Pope Francis teaches us, “In response to the devil who, citing Scripture, invites Him to seek a conspicuous miracle from God, Jesus again opposes with the firm decision to remain humble, to remain confident before the Father: “It is said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God’”. Thus, Jesus rejects perhaps the most subtle temptation: that of wanting to ‘pull God to our side’, asking him for graces which in reality serve and will serve to satisfy our pride.”
Rationalising that the ends justify the means, cutting deals with the devil or taking shady short-cuts, compromises, gamesmanship, these are the temptations drawing us away from humility and confidence in the Lord.
Deacon Mark Kelly
PUBLIC NOTICES
CAMP AUSTRALIA
ANGLICARE - MARCH NEWSLETTER
DROUIN BADMINTON
GIPPSLAND WOMENS FOOTY ROADSHOW
WARRAGUL SWIMMING CLUB
DROUIN GIRL GUIDES
PIANO & SINGING LESSONS
DRUM AND GUITAR LESSONS
