Principal's Report
Dear Parents, Teachers and Students,
Swimming Carnival
Last Friday’s Swimming Carnival was a wonderful day. Thank you to Mr Ted Dunstan for his organisation of this event; it is always a monumental task! My sincere thanks also to the parent volunteers, without whom we could not run a carnival. Thanks to Mrs Emma McEvoy for her delicious catering and to all of our teachers for their support and assistance. Congratulations to the 35 students who have progressed to the Northern Region carnival in Queanbeyan this Friday; swim well, and good luck to all!
Opening Mass
Our opening school Mass and induction of student leaders will be held at 9:45am tomorrow in the PAC. Unfortunately, due to COVID restrictions, we cannot invite families to attend our Opening Mass this year, with the exception of parents of our new student leaders.
Open Classrooms
Next Wednesday 17 February from 3:30pm to 5:30pm we will be holding Open Classrooms. This will be an opportunity for your child to show you their classroom and the work they have been doing so far this year, for you to meet your child’s teacher, if you haven’t already, and to find out about routines and information specific to their class. Open Classrooms are an informal opportunity to establish relationships with families early in the school year; they are not an occasion for individual parent-teacher meetings. Because of current COVID-19 restrictions, we must limit the number of families in each classroom at any given time. Please contact the school office on 6226 3357 to book a 15-minute time slot in your child’s classroom. Families who do not make a booking will be asked to wait if the room’s quota for that has been reached.
This year Mt Carmel School will be participating in a school-wide pilot program targeting students’ Social-Emotional Learning. SSIS-SEL (pronounced by us as sizzle: Social Skills Improvement Program—Social-Emotional Learning) is an evidence-based program in alignment with the Australian Curriculum’s Personal and Social Capabilities. Each fortnight’s SEL focus will be shared with families in the Carmeletta, to keep you informed of our progress and so that you can use the same language as us when talking with your child about their social and emotional needs. Being a pilot program, de-identified data will be collected on its effectiveness, so families will be provided with a consent form later this term. This will relate only to collection of data, not participation in the program. Mrs Miller will be having a Sizzle lesson with each class in the school one per fortnight. On the alternate week at the same time, each class will have a Music lesson with Mrs Harvey. We are very excited to have these two valuable classes throughout the school this year.
Mt Carmel Playgroup
Katrina Hodges will be running our Mt Carmel Playgroup again this year, starting next Thursday 18 February, in the Playgroup Room off the Dutton Street entrance to the Performing Arts Centre from 9-11am. Cost is $3 for the first child, then $1 for any additional children and includes morning tea. All welcome!
Kindergarten Rest Days and Assessment
A reminder to all our new Kindergarten families that Rest Days will continue on Wednesdays until Week 5. The final rest day will be on March 3, with full weeks commencing in Week 6. If you have not yet made an appointment time with your child’s teacher for the Best Start Kindergarten Assessment, please contact the school office as soon as possible – bookings are filling fast!
Shrove Tuesday
Ash Wednesday this year falls on 17 February, Week 3, marking the start of Lent, the period of preparation leading up to Easter. We will be celebrating Shrove Tuesday with a Pancake Recess. All dietary requirements will be catered for; please contact the school office if your child has any dietary needs that you are concerned may not be on our records. During Lent, our school canteen will not be serving meat on Fridays; fish cocktails and fish burgers will be available to order on Fridays instead.
Uniform
A friendly reminder to all families of the importance of wearing correct school uniform, including socks, hats and jackets/jumpers. If you have any difficulties obtaining correct uniform, please feel free to contact me directly. Please also ensure that all items of uniform are clearly labelled with your child’s name.
Phones
Many families provide a mobile telephone for their child for safety reasons, especially when travelling to and from school independently. Mobile telephones are not to be used during the school day, and we ask that students leave them for safekeeping at the school office, to be collected at 3:10pm. Developments in technology have seen a variety of phone-enabled watches now available on the market; if families choose to provide one of these for their child the same policy applies: telephones are not to be used during the school day and we ask that they be left at the office for safekeeping or set to school-mode (telephone disabled) during school hours. Telephones used during school hours, including watches, will be confiscated.
May God’s peace be in your families, 
Michael Green
Principal