St Benedict's Primary School - Narrabundah
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Cnr Tallara Parkway & Sturt Ave
Narrabundah ACT 2604
Subscribe: https://www.stbenedicts.act.edu.au/subscribe

Email: office.stbenedicts@cg.catholic.edu.au
Phone: 02 6295 8027

Principal's Message

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back to school! I hope families had a restful time during the school holidays. We have a great term planned including:

  • A Cross Country Carnival;
  • An Athletics Carnival;
  • Mother’s Day celebrations;
  • First Eucharist for some of our Year 3 students;
  • St Benedict’s Feast Day;

and of course plenty of reading, writing and publishing, as well as plenty of inquiry learning about new knowledge in Mathematics, Science, History and Social Sciences.

Over the last two weeks you may have seen St Bede’s, Red Hill, mentioned in the media. At the end of last term the St Bede’s community were advised by Catholic Education and endorsed by the Catholic Education Commission, that following a review of the system financial situation Catholic Education would proceed to a community consultation regarding the ongoing viability of St Bede’s.

The system review revealed that St Bede’s, is facing a range of pressures that put its future viability at risk. The school’s low enrolments, combined with changes to the Australian Government’s funding model means that, on current trends, income into the school will not cover costs within three years. St Bede’s has been particularly affected by the use of the new Direct Measure of Income (DMI) method to determine school funding. The DMI is a measure of the capacity of parents to contribute to their school through fees and St Bede’s has the equal highest DMI of all Catholic Primary schools in the Archdiocese at 115. It is currently the only school in this position.

Last night Alana Quirk and I, with other Catholic Principals, attended a St Bede’s townhall meeting at which parents, grandparents and ex-students were able to share their thoughts and concerns for what the school was currently facing. Many people in attendance shared their love of the school and the community. They talked about how it was a small school with a big community. It was so lovely to hear the community talk with much passion about what they value about the community.

We have begun this week preparations for our open days and upcoming enrolment period. Hearing the community voice last night caused me to reflect on what it is we value about our school, but more specifically the importance of the community in the promotion of our school. Word of mouth is the best advertisement and biggest contributer to any school’s enrolments. Thank you for your ongoing support with this. I encourage all community members to tell people what it is that they value about our school and community.

God bless.

Rachel Smith

Principal

  

Principal’s Notes

Clothing Pool Open Day

The Clothing Pool Open Day advertised for tomorrow, Thursday 22nd April, has been postponed to next Wednesday 28th April 2pm to 3.10pm. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

Cross Country Carnival

This Friday 23rd April we will be having our annual Cross Country Carnival across the road at Jerrabomberra Oval.  Please ensure you have returned your child’s permission note.  We are still very short of volunteers if you are able to assist on the morning please let the front office know or return the volunteer note.

Enrolment period

Enrolment period begins shortly. This is the time to enrol children for high school, primary school and preschool. If you would like to enrol a sibling into Kinder next year or know of anyone interested in looking at our fantastic school for their children enrolment packs are now available from the front office. We will be holding Open Days and Open Evenings at the following times;

  • Thursday 22nd April – 9.30am – 2.30pm
  • Friday 30th April – 9.30am – 2.30pm
  • Tuesday 4th May – 3.30pm – 5.30pm
  • Wednesday 5th May – 9.30am – 11.30am
  • Monday 10th May – 9.30am – 11.30am
  • Tuesday 11th May – 3.30pm – 5.30pm

Year 7 Enrolments

The Year 7 enrolment period will also shortly be upon us. We welcome both St Mary MacKillop Catholic College and St Clare’s Catholic College who asked to visit us to talk to the Year 6 students. It is always lovely to see some of our Year 6 students from last year come to visit us and tell us about their transition to High School.

Last year our Year 6 students went on to a variety high schools/colleges:

  • St Clare’s College
  • St Edmund’s College
  • Daramalan College
  • Marist College
  • Telopea Park High School
  • The Anglican School Googong
  • Campbell High School
  • Stromlo High School
  • Calwell High School

All were accepted into their school of first preference and have experienced great success. We are very proud of them.

Parents Welcome (but with COVID conditions)

Our present operating guidelines allow for visitors, under certain circumstances, on site. We must not allow more than 1 adult per 2m2 and always encourage physical distancing.

All parents are allowed to enter the school grounds under the following conditions. Visitors must:

  • be healthy and symptom free;
  • not have visited a COVID hotspot in the last 14 days;
  • maintain physical distancing of 1.5m with non-family members;
  • limit time on school grounds to less than 10 minutes;
  • not enter classrooms (or the classroom blocks) except for a pre-arranged appointment. If entering the buildings, visitors must sign in at the Front Office and register using the Check in CBR app;
  • Volunteers will be allowed inside once they have signed in at the Front Office, and register using the Check in CBR app. (This is a new government requirement.)

As always, if you wish to meet with your child’s teacher, or me, please arrange a mutually convenient time via the front office. When you arrive at school, please sign in using our iPad and register using the Check in CBR app.

NAPLAN

Students in Years 3 and 5 will sit the NAPLAN tests next month. Parents may elect to withdraw their children from these tests. If you do not want your child to sit the NAPLAN tests, please contact Mrs Alana Quirk at school immediately.

Winter Uniform

A reminder that students will be able to wear either their summer or winter uniform for week 1 and week 2 of this term. It is expected that all students will commence week 3, 3rd May with the winter uniform.

School Disco – Save the Date

Please mark Friday 30th April as the School Disco on your calendars. Our P&F Committee work hard to make our school discos a wonderful community event. More details to come shortly.