God of love,

You love each of us at every moment of our lives,
give us confidence in that love and help us to love as you do.
As we listen to the needs around us with our physical ears,

open the ears of our hearts to receive and respond to those who come to us in their time of need.
In your all-loving name, we pray. AMEN

I would like to thank those families that attended the P&F Welcome Sundowner on Friday evening.

There was a very good crowd in attendance and we were lucky the weather was kind. I would like to thank the volunteers that helped run the basketball and footy games that were available. I would also like to thank Rebecca Day for liaising with the Riverton Roos football club who kindly donated a set of AFL goals to our school. I’m sure these goals will be greatly appreciated by our students. Finally, I would like to thank the P&F for providing this social opportunity to our community as a way of staying connected. Stay tuned for more P&F events this year.

We are really looking forward to the Leadership Mass at 9am on Tuesday 5th March (this is a new date due to a delay in the badges being delivered to school ) in the church. At this Mass, the Year 6’s will be presented with their committee badges. Year Six parents and other community members are invited and welcome to attend this Mass.

Our Year 6 leaders have started really well and I am really looking forward to working with them over the course of the year, they play a huge role in the running of our school. I thank Ms Maloney for the work she has done to prepare the students.

Tomorrow the Faction Swimming Carnival for our Year 4 to 6 students will be held at Beatty Park Leisure Centre in North Perth. The students will depart from school at 9.30am and return to Queen of Apostles by 1.30pm. Can parents please ensure that the students have plenty of water to stay hydrated.

It will be fantastic to see a great crowd of parents at Beatty Park cheering our students on. I thank Mr B for ensuring everything is in readiness for this day.

The Government of WA have amended the Working with Children Act and the changes are now in place. These changes were implemented to better protect children. Catholic Education WA has mandated a new process for all volunteers, including parent volunteers in schools. This includes parents who wish to volunteer at sports carnivals, in classrooms and at P&F events. Could we ask that all parents fill in the Volunteer Declaration (link) even if you have no plans at this stage to volunteer at school. Your information will be stored securely in accordance with CEWA’s Information Stewardship. We highly value parent volunteers' time and contribution to our school community and thank-you for taking the time to submit the form below.

Any grandparents that wish to volunteer in the classroom or assist in the canteen will need a Working With Children Check. Please note this does not include drop off, pick up or attendance at our Grandparents Mass and Morning Tea. Grandparents that would like to volunteer at school, please contact the school office and we can assist you in the process.

The new WA Catholic Teachers Enterprise Bargaining Agreement came into effect at the end of 2023. This new agreement contains a ‘Right to Disconnect’ clause which states that teachers are not required to initiate, read or respond to electronic or other communication from school staff, parents or community members outside of working hours or when not on site.

This clause has been introduced to support our educators to achieve a healthy work-life balance by allowing them to disengage from work-related responsibilities and technology outside of their designated working hours.

This year our Kindy to Year 6 staff will conduct their Parent/Teacher interviews on Wednesday 27th March. The teachers will be available for a face to face or online meeting on this day. Later in the term you will receive instructions about booking in these meetings. Please note this is a pupil free day as is Thursday 28th March. Please keep these dates in your diary.

The P&F are again running the footy tipping competition this year. There will be weekly winners and prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd at the end of the season. Please see the poster in the P&F section of the newsletter for sign up details.

Best Wishes

Mark Ryan

Principal

Wellness Week 2024 – Term 1

Dear parents and guardians,

Next week is ‘Wellness Week’ (week 5 – Monday 26th Feb to Friday 1st March).

This is a week dedicated to promoting the physical, mental and social health of our students, teachers and community. There are some simple initiatives we are undertaking in and out of class to foster a happy and fun environment here at Queen of Apostles. Some of these include:

• Sports uniform can be worn everyday of week 5

• Extended recess Monday and Wednesday

• Icy poles Friday afternoon kindly provided by the P and F

• No homework for week 5

• No meetings for teachers in week 5

• Fun activities with buddy classes

We encourage families to support this initiative and discuss ways that you may be able to enjoy a calm and healthy week at home too. Are there practices that you can adopt that may continue beyond wellness week and become commonplace in your home?

Mr B.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the P&F 2024 Welcome Back Sundowner on Friday evening. It was a fantastic turnout, and it was great to see so many familiar faces and meet some new members of our community. Also, a big thank you to the Year 6 Graduation Committee for providing a delicious sausage sizzle and to Rebecca and all the volunteers who helped entertain the children with the footy and basketball games.

It’s that time of the year again when the Footy season is about to begin, so make sure you sign up to the 2024 Queenies P&F Footy Tipping Competition. This is a great opportunity to show off your footy knowledge and win some prizes. Please see below for information on how to sign up. First round starting 7th March and runs until 25th August. Good luck!

At the parent information night, the 2024 P&F Parent Handbook and Volunteer Form was handed out to all parents. If you don’t have a copy, it can be found on the school website under Our Community, then Parents and Friends.

We are encouraging parents to volunteer for our upcoming events this year. Your contribution doesn’t need to be big or time consuming as we have many small jobs that need to be fulfilled. Please see below a list of potential jobs;

• Cooking/preparing bacon and egg burgers/serving at our Mother’s & Father’s Day Breakfasts.

• Organise items to be used at the Colour Run/Coordinate set up/fill up bottles with colour.

• Setting up/packing away/throwing dye/squirting water/organising icy poles for each class for the Colour Explosion.

• Serving pizza & drinks/supervising/set up/pack away at the School Disco.

• Baking sweet treats/serving at the Grandparents Moring Tea.

• Organising & preparing lolly bags for various events.

So please fill out your volunteer form and send it back as soon as possible. When the event/s that you have put your name down approaches, we will send out a list of jobs that need to be completed and ask for any assistance that you can provide.

OPEN DAY

Friday 1 March 2024

St Norbert College warmly invites prospective students and their parents to tour our beautiful College, its contemporary facilities and extensive grounds. Tours will be conducted at 9.00am and 1.00pm.

Bookings can be made at https://www.trybooking.com/COTBT.

Enrolments for Year 7 in 2026

We have commenced our enrolments for 2026. Application forms may be obtained by phoning the Enrolment Officer, Mrs Hughes on 9350 5433.