The weather has been certainly interesting over the last week with some extra hot days to complete the end of week two. The children and staff have handled the difficult situation extremely well.

We have welcomed several new staff for the beginning of the school year

Mrs Nicole Crosthwaite has joined us as our new assistant principal.  Nicole has a wealth of knowledge in curriculum and the early years.  She is the cluster leader for the even classes, Pre-Primary, Years 2,4 and 6.

Mrs Mary Lynch has joined us as our new social worker.  Miss Mary as she will be known to the children has a wealth of knowledge and experience and can be contacted through the school admin or visited in her new room located between Pre-Primary Blue and Maroon.

Miss Nicole Munro has joined us from the ELC to the Pre-Primary Maroon classroom as the Education Assistant.

We also welcome our new Parish Priest, Fr Leonard who has joined us from St Anthony’s Greenmount. We look forward to a long relationship between Fr Leonard and our school and parish community.

I also take this opportunity to say farewell to Miss Lizzy Price who has taken up a position in the Northern Territory. We wish her all the best on this new move and thank her for her time at SSP as a teacher in the Catherine Centre.

Over the holidays some significant projects were completed around the school by our skilful staff. Benches from outside classes were removed and we relocated to other areas around the school to provide a more appropriate setting and to allow spaces for bags to hang outside classes.

A refit and replacement of all the glass and doors in the hall was also undertaken. This has created a much brighter environment which is also much more resistant to the weather conditions.

A complete renovation to the oval and Pre-Primary was also undertaken and the playground equipment was fully serviced with a new playground installation in the Year One area.

Also, during the holidays, a complete refit of the school WIFI was conducted under our new IT partner IT Dynamics. We decided to partner with the same company as Prendiville College to ensure a consistent approach for our families and staff so both schools can leverage the consistent approach to the use of technology in both locations.

For those new in the school, you may be unaware that I also hold an extra responsibility in Catholic Education as the current president of the Australian Catholic Primary Principal Association, a position that I have held since the beginning of 2022. This means that during the year I will be undertaking responsibilities with the association and that the two assistant principals, Miss Manifold and Mrs Crosthwaite will be the main point of school contact. To ensure that any concerns or questions that you have are answered within the appropriate timeframe I request that you direct any enquiry through to the admin account. It will be actioned at this point to the person who will be able to assist you in the most effective manner.

There has been a change to the requirement of all volunteers including parents to complete a one-time declaration regarding if they meet the requirement of a parent exemption or if they have a valid working with child card.  The change was legislated in 2023 and you can read further about the requirements here.  The form is simple to complete and is a requirement of all schools for any volunteer who wishes to assist in their school.  If you have any queries regarding the new requirement then please contact the school admin.

Warm regards
Peter Cutrona

Next Wednesday 14 February is Ash Wednesday and to celebrate the beginning of Lent. We will be having a mass at the church starting at 9am. You are welcome to join in this celebration.  

Ash Wednesday marks the first day of Lent. For Christians, it’s the beginning of a period of contemplation, when we take more time to focus on prayer, meditation and silence.