Today we welcomed our Kinder class of 2020 as they attended their first orientation day.  They brought their smiles and plenty of enthusiasm.  Mrs Veronica Trow welcomed the new Kinders whilst parents attended an information session and morning tea, hosted by the current parent representatives.  Thank you to the parents who go out of their way to ensure that new families feel welcome at St Bede’s. 

As you are aware, Julie has been on leave in Melbourne for the birth of another grandchild.  Sadly, Julie extended her leave on compassionate grounds for the passing of her father-in-law, George Douglas.  We keep Julie and her family in our prayers and thoughts at this difficult time.  Whilst Julie has been in and out during the week, she anticipates being back in full swing next week. 

On Monday night we hosted a multi-age forum for parents.  Whilst the information was pertinent to families with children in Years 5/6 next year, the evening was open to all parents.  Julie and I provided research, context and reasoning behind the decision to continue multi-age classes next year, including: temporary staffing based on increased enrolments for 2020; the opportunity for collaborative teaching; the success of the current multi-age class over the past three years; and unbalanced classes of 14 Year 6 students and 22 Year 5 students.  Parents represented 17 of the 36 families that will be in these classes next year.  Thank you to the large number of staff who demonstrated their support, along with Mary-Jane Carroll-Fajarda as a representative from Catholic Education.  Parents had the opportunity to ask questions and hear from the leadership team, parent and student perspectives. 

I met with members of the building team at Baptist Care yesterday to discuss progress at the site on Hicks Street, next to St Bede’s.  They have informed me that work will begin on preparing our school bus bay next week.  This will include drilling between the path and fencing along the front of the school and the removal of three cherry trees.  There will be traffic management systems in place to redirect foot traffic.  They will then move the temporary fencing between the two properties onto our land in order to remove and replace the current wire fence.  The bus bay construction is due to begin during the school holidays in order to minimise disruptions. 

Next year we will be changing our school bell times in order to maximise optimal learning time and reconfigure our time table to cater for 7 classes.  Our start and finish times were traditionally set to cater for ACTION bus time tables and these services no longer exist.  We have currently proposed to Catholic Education that we move to a 9am start and 3pm finish.  The details and specific arrangements are yet to be confirmed by CE and we will provide information in the coming weeks.  We wanted to provide early notice in order for families to prepare for the changes. 

2020 will bring many exciting changes for students and staff.  We had the opportunity to advertise two temporary teaching positions for next year as Katie Horsburgh will be on maternity leave for 12 months and we have attracted a new class with increased enrolments in Years 5/6.  It is with disappointment that Naomi Lamb will no longer be teaching French as she returns to a full-time position at Telopea.  We welcome Luke Morwitch to work with Ben Macintyre as Ben will be taking all classes for STEM lessons one day per week.  In light of these changes, the classroom teachers are as follows:   

Kinder – Veronica Trow

Year 1 – Nikki Dwyer & Judy Elliott

Year 2 – Levi Heffernan

Year 3 – Jessica Mead & Breen Fox (Graduate release)

Year 4 – Michelle Mangeruca & Cathy Ryan

Year 5/6 Blue – Ben Macintyre & Luke Morwitch (STEM release)

Year 5/6 Gold – Helen Garrity

Library – Liz Mihalopoulos

Music – Bethany Moores

French – TBC

Class Support Teacher – Judy Elliott

Religious Education Coordinator/Numeracy Coordinator – Nikki Dwyer

Assistant Principal/Child Advocate/Literacy Coordinator/Graduate Release – Breen Fox

Principal/Sport Coordinator – Julie Douglas

Whilst we are constantly planning ahead, our eyes remain firmly on the goals and events right in front of us for the next six weeks.  Please make sure you check the school calendar for all of the important dates and celebrations.

Breen Fox