Dear Parents

This week we welcomed the ease of restrictions at school.  It was wonderful to have a break in the rain to gather together for the Monday School Assembly, and once again have parents enter the gates and participate in back to normal activities.  To have your presence in the school grounds during the morning and afternoon pick up restores morale and reunites our connection and relationship with you.  We are delighted to have you back on board after so long.
 
I look forward to seeing you at the first P&F meeting on Monday 7 March, 7pm in the Stage 3 Hub.  The Hub is a beautiful and inviting space to meet and have a walk through this innovative learning space for our students. See first hand how this space supports students' curiosity, inquiry and flexible learning to explore and enhance their learning experiences.  The agenda is as follows: Welcome & prayer, P&F Committee report, Treasurer’s report, Principal & Assistant Principal reports, general business.  Find out what is happening at St Kieran’s and how you can get involved and be part of a supportive team community.  Our theme this year is to reconnect and grow our wonderful school community.  Where will our fundraising efforts go towards resources for our students this year? Engage in the conversation and be in the know!
 
Weather permitting, we will have our students participate in the Clean Up Australia Day event at school tomorrow. We will simply assign designated areas to tidy up in the school wearing protective gloves of course.  We are delighted to have join us Luke Elliot, who is an Olympic sailor, to promote the event. Importantly, we look forward to listening to him address the audience of the school as he shares with us insights to his incredible achievement as an Olympian for Australia.  We are excited about this event and Luke Elliot’'s visit.
 
After 29 years of dedicated and committed service to our school, we sadly will lose Mrs Bev Butler in her role as Assistant Admin Secretary. Bev has made the decision to retire so she can focus on her family and enjoy the privileges of this new chapter in her life.  We are in the process of recruiting.  Bev will continue in her role until we have the new staff member appointed and inducted in the role.  This may take a couple of weeks.  We will find an appropriate way to show our appreciation and gratitude for Bev’s time, care, great sense of humour and service of care and efficiency during her time with us.  She will be a great loss to the school, but we are pleased Bev can now enjoy this new phase of life with great satisfaction and an abundance of joy going further.
 
Returning to the whole school dismissal in the afternoon rather than staggered has created a new challenge that I know you will cooperate with for the safety of the students and families.  It is not appropriate or safe for drivers if you queue in the King Street carpark and the queue goes all the way to Condamine Street. When the queue is long, I kindly request that you park your car on the street and walk into the school to pick up your children. This will ease the congestion and traffic flow.
 
We will gradually roll out parent volunteering in the school with the ease of restrictions.  Keep up to date how we do this by reading the notifications on Compass.
 
It’s great to meet with you face to face and get to know each other on a more personal level.

Please remember in your prayer all those who are suffering during the current storms and floods.

A Prayer for those Coping with Floods
God of Compassion,
you hear the cries of all who are in trouble or distress;
accept our prayers for those whose lives are affected
by storms and flooding:
strengthen them in their hour of need,
grant them perseverance and courage to face the future
and be to them a firm foundation on which to build their lives;
this we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Kind regards
Anna
    Anna Marsella
    Principal

We begin LENT !

Students across the school eagerly embraced the wonderful Christian tradition of Shrove Tuesday, affectionally known as Pancake Tuesday. Hannah and her team of efficient mothers had the whole school fed in 15 minutes. Not a lick of jam or maple syrup was left on the plates.


 
Students from Years 2 - 6 participated with enthusiasm and reverence at our Ash Wednesday Mass. Year 5 students expressively proclaimed the Scriptures, dramatically depicted the Gospel and led us in Prayers of the Faithful. Let us not forget to thank Father Jepser OSA for presiding at our Mass. A huge thank you to Miss Kassis, Miss Williams and Year 5 for their thoughtful preparation and reverent prayerfulness at the Mass of Ash Wednesday. Ashes were distributed to Yr 1 and Kindy by their teachers.

For those of us who need a quick refresher on Lent this 3 minute Busted Halo clip is perfect. WATCH: Lent in Three Minutes - Busted Halo   

Yours in Religious Education
     Mrs Kerrie Wetzlar

Family photos mini session (15 minutes) for $90 is being offered to St Kieran’s families on the weekend of Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 April by our very own photographer by occupation Natasha Lorenzen Obad (Year 3 mum). This is a great opportunity for the P&F to fundraise so please support the school by purchasing this fantastic deal to make some precious family memories.

Location: Manly Dam (morning and afternoon sessions will be available) 
Once you have paid via QKR, a booking link will be sent to you to book your session time. 

P.S this could be a great Mother’s Day gift idea!

This Valentine’s day don’t say I love you with chocolate, don’t say it with flowers, say it with undies !

This year the Mission Team is organising a collection for the homeless people of the city.

We are collecting new men’s undies, ladies undies, children’s undies, granny undies to be delivered to the Wayside Chapel in Kings Cross, Sydney. At the Wayside Chapel homeless people can have a clean shower, however, when they get dressed again they have to put on their old undies. YUCK !

We want to change that so that when people have finished their shower they can put on a clean pair of undies. Next week, Week 4, we are collecting new undies. You can leave your donation under the noticeboard or in your classroom and we will collect them.
Thank you for participating in our undies project.
     The Mission Team. 

I need parent helpers for covering books. If you would like to continue or start helping in any way in the library, please email the school or fill in the linked form. We use either contact (soft cover books) or plastic (hard cover books).

If you have not contacted or covered books before or would like a refresher, I will hold a very quick session straight after school at a convenient time.
We will send home about a dozen books for covering once or twice a term at most.
     Liz McGuire

The current issue of Book Club was sent home today.  Closing date for orders is Sunday 13 March.

P&F general meeting is Monday night 7 March at 7pm in th Hub. For discussion during the general business part of the meeting please email pfskmv@gmail.com by 12pm on Friday 4 March. We look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible to kick off the first meeting of the year!
 
The Family Photoshoot is booking up quite quickly which is great as we are hoping to raise funds towards a playground upgrade - the P&F have come up with some great ideas that can happen short term as well as long term goals and we encourage parents to email their ideas as well!
 
Mother's Day Breakfast is on Friday 6 May so save the date we will have it up on Qkr in the next few weeks where you can preorder your breakfast item, which is from Mrs Jones Bakery, and a coffee van will be onsite for any purchases.  Also if you can donate any items/services to put towards hampers for the Mother's Day raffle that would be greatly appreciated. 
 
Don't forget to save the date and book a babysitter for the Parent's Night out on Friday 20 May at Little Pearl bar in Manly. We will have a live band, cocktail food and a welcome drink included in the ticket price so more info to come on this later on! 
     Conor, Tammy, Bec M, Alicia, Cath, El and Bec T

The Canteen is open for online orders only for recess and lunch.  Orders will be taken to the classroom for students.  There is no over-the-counter orders or service.  
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A big thank you to our volunteers over the past week:

• Lauren Shaw
• Emma Playford
• Nell Laime
• Kate Lydell
• Marie (Claire Sutherland’s Mum from Dublin)

 Also our helpers for Shrove Tuesday:

• Eleanor Hill
• Alicia Unkovic
• Domeniki Tsagaris
• Nicole Crane
• Kate Foley 

Product Update:

• From next week we will not be able to order Salmon Sushi. There is a temporary supply issue with the Salmon.

Please remember to update your child's class on QKR to avoid issues with your child thinking they have no lunch.

Any questions please feel free to make contact, on either 0438 433 231 or email me.
Thank-you,
     Hannah Davidson

Evergreen Music
Junior and Senior Band has commenced with Evergreen Music.  Please click here for information regarding enrolment. 

Young Investigators Science - Term 1 Enrolment
We have two classes available in Term 1 on both Wednesday & Thursday mornings.  The topic for Term 1 is 'Space - Exploring the wonders of the universe'. To enrol or for further information please click here.  
    Alana Wylie PhD - Eye Heart Science 

Term 1 Drama
To enrol click here.

     Stephanie Waites, Drama Teacher -  0407 235 914