Today we welcomed new families to the Jurassic June playgroup, along with many of our current families. The playgroup is growing, and we look forward to the next session to be held on Friday 30 July. Feel free to invite friends or relatives who may be looking for the opportunity to connect with other parents and toddlers. Many thanks to the parents who are helping each month to organise such a great community initiative. 

Parents and Friends 

The new St Kieran’s P&F Committee is off to a flying start this year. Following the success of the Cocktail Evening there are quite a few events organised for the remainder of the year. The committee is a cross-section of our parent community, who each bring their “gifts” to organise a variety of events that bring our school closer together.  

During the week I attended the Broken Bay Catholic Schools Parents Leadership Evening, along with Ms Bombardieri and Conor Foley, treasurer of the P&F. There are many great ideas that I will share with the P&F Committee when we meet next week. The minutes of the last P&F meeting can be found via this link. 

School Uniform Update 

Samples of the optional summer and winter uniforms for girls arrived this week however we are still awaiting the new winter blouse. Some of our Year 5 students will be “modelling” these at assembly next Monday morning, weather permitting. Our hope is that all will be available at Pickles for next term. Remembering that they are optional, the new uniforms consist of long pants and blouse for winter and a skort and short sleeve blouse for summer. 

Pre-School Visitors 

On Tuesday, we hosted several of our local pre-school educators, sharing with them the ways we support our kindergarten students in Literacy and Numeracy as they transition to “big school.” The evening was very well received, and all left with a collection of resources that can be used in their pre-schools. Thank you to Ms Bombardieri and Mrs Hocking for their fantastic presentations and to Susanne Foale for organising invitations. 

Reports 

Semester 1 reports will be available from 3pm today through Compass. Teachers have put in a great amount of time and effort in completing these so please take time to read and celebrate the successes of the first two terms as well as discussing the goals set for the remainder of the year. 

Sporting Success 

During the week, Stages 2 and 3 participated in the Northern Beaches Eagle Tag Gala Days, thankfully not washed out by rain! Three of our teams won their pools while all teams represented the school proudly. Many thanks to the parents who were able to assist in supervising teams.  

A special mention to Raphy M in Year 6 who has been selected as part of the Polding Cricket Team to compete in the upcoming state trials. A great achievement! 

Parish Family Mass 

Year 3 are hosting the Parish Family Mass at 9.30am this Sunday. It will be the first Mass since March last year where we can gather for morning tea afterwards. I hope to see many of our Year 3 families, and for that matter, many of our other families this Sunday morning. 

God bless, 

   Michael Gallagher
   Principal

GRANDPARENTS and SPECIAL FRIENDS CELEBRATIONS Friday 23 July 10.00am
Planning is well underway for our special day to celebrate grandparents and significant other people in the lives of our children.

• Family slide show: We are preparing a slide show for the liturgy. In order to include as many families as possible we will only be using one photo per family. We will be working on the slideshow over the holidays and therefore request that you send your photo as an attachment to  FamiliesSKMV@dbb.org.au Thursday 24 June. 
• Handmade gifts: Each year we ask the students to make a bookmark or write a poem for their grandparent or special friend. Teachers will organise their class to make a special memento which the children can give to their grandparents. Students will give their gifts to their grandparents or special friend following the liturgy. This gift is especially important for those children whose grandparent or special friend lives out of the country or state or for some reason is unable to attend our liturgy. As a way of including all children, grandparents and special friends, handmade gifts can be sent to those unable to attend.
• Prayers for those grandparents or special friends who are now in heaven:  During our liturgy we will remember and pray for grandparents and special friends who are no longer with us. Another way to remember those deceased grandparents and special friends is to include their photo in the family slideshow.
• Playground reading: As a way of assisting grandparents and special friends on Friday 23 July we will ask the children to meet their visitors in the playground. This will save grandparents running up and down stairs and moving to different classrooms to visit all the grandchildren.  However, if grandparents particularly wanted to visit the classroom, they are most welcome to do so. There is a lift outside Yr 2 to assist moving between floors. Library picture books will be in the playground for family groups to share.

Year 3 Family Mass
All members of the school community are warmly invited to join our Year 3 students at Mass on Sunday 20th at 9.30pm. Year 3 students and their teachers are busily preparing images to reflect the Gospel and practising their role in the celebration.  

Yours in Religious Education,
     Mrs Kerrie Wetzlar

If you have a child starting in 2022 please forward their application to the school as soon as possible.  Applications are available from the school website.