Dear Parents

The last couple of weeks have been very busy with end of year events.

Our Christmas sing-a-long on Tuesday morning was a combination of songs sung so beautifully by each of our classes, telling the Nativity story. Thank you to Mrs Cusack for co ordinating this event. During this special season, it is so important to focus on the real meaning of Christmas and celebrate the birth of our Saviour in a meaningful way, so I encourage you to take your children to mass during the Advent and Christmas season. Our Lady of the Missions Parish is looking for children to be involved in the Nativity Play, which is a feature of the Parish Christmas Eve Mass on the oval next to the church. Children who would like to read and/or play the part of Mary, Joseph, herald, innkeepers, shepherds and angels are invited to a practice on Thursday 19 December at 9.45am in the church.

We have our Thanksgiving Mass this afternoon and it is a lovely way to conclude the year as a whole school, giving thanks to God for the many blessings and reflecting on how we can give generously to those who may be finding things a little difficult in our local community. Thank you for your generosity over the last few weeks with all the different food items you brought in for St Vincent DePaul. You have certainly helped to make someone’s Christmas this year just that little more special. Just before mass we will have our Farewell Assembly for our staff who are leaving and we will sing them a special Blessing Song and ask God to look after them all in their future endeavours.

We celebrated our Year Six children in a special way with their Graduation Mass last week and with their Farewell assembly coming up this Thursday. At their Graduation Mass last week I said to the Year Six children ‘Dreams can come true if you take the time to think about what you want in life. Live life to the fullest. Create your own dreams and follow them until they are a reality’. I would like to wish all the Year Six students well in their future endeavours at their new schools and may God bless them all as they set out on the next part of their learning journey.

Edu Dance was a hit this year with the children showcasing their dancing talents and with so many parents and grandparents coming along to enjoy the entertainment. It was priceless to see the expression of joy on the faces of the children as they presented their class dance. Well done everyone! Big thank you to Ms Bebich who coordinated the programme this year and to all staff who assisted in making it run so smoothly. Some of the staff showed their hidden talents as they grooved to Footloose this year. Many thanks to Mrs Humphries for co ordinating the staff dance.

Class teachers are currently looking at class groupings for 2020. Many factors are considered when selecting class placements for students and each child’s best interests are the main priority when these decisions are made. Class placements are a team decision made in consultation with both the year level teachers. Teachers spend a lot of time and give great consideration to the placement of children and I believe that their professionalism should be respected. Consideration for placement is made using the following criteria: gender, pastoral/social/emotional, special needs e.g. special education twins, etc, academic ability, relationships.

Every effort is made to place children where it is felt they will have the greatest opportunity to succeed. All teachers at PCPS are very professional and of an excellent standard and children will receive a high quality of education no matter which class they are placed with. If your child has special pastoral issues which may need consideration, then you needed to have met with your child’s class teacher before last Monday. Parents should understand that requests for particular placement cannot be guaranteed. Requesting a certain teacher is not a consideration. Once class groupings are finalised they will not be changed so please do not contact the teachers, Leadership Team or the office after the cut-off date nor once you receive details about your child’s class on Friday 20 December.

A few words of thanks:

The end of the year is a time for reflection of the journey that we have taken together as a school community and the part that each and everyone one of us has played. It is a time to acknowledge this journey, celebrate our great achievements as well as to look forward to what is to come in the year ahead.

It has been a privilege to be the Principal of Padbury Catholic Primary School in 2019. Throughout the year we revisited our school vision and what it truly means at Padbury Catholic Primary School to live out our school motto of “Love One Another” each and every day. In the words of Pope Francis “Love gives energy and fruitfulness to life and to the journey of faith” and this has certainly been the case at PCPS. Our work this year centred upon ensuring that our core values of Respect, Excellence, Sacredness and Togetherness have shone through in all that we do and is what is at the forefront of our Strategic Plan.

Our school is a community that places Jesus at its centre and we strive to follow in Jesus footsteps every day. The school and parish enjoy a close relationship. I would like to thank Father Cyprian for leading all of our whole-school class masses, liturgies and sacraments this year and for nurturing our spirituality.

Our beautiful Padbury Catholic Primary School children have worked very hard this year and are to be congratulated on their achievements. I am so very proud of them. I know that they are all looking forward to a break from schoolwork and spending some time relaxing with family and friends in the holidays.

I would like to thank all parents for taking such a keen interest in your child’s learning. You are to be congratulated on the wonderful encouragement and support you give to your children each and every day and the way you work collaboratively with the staff. The staff are most appreciative of your assistance which you provide so willingly in so many different ways in the classroom and throughout the school.

Thank you to all of the fantastic staff at Padbury CPS, for the professionalism and commitment that they have shown throughout the whole year. Not only have they provided excellent educational opportunities for our children but they have nurtured them spiritually, emotionally, socially and physically so that our children have been able to grow into the best person they can be.

Staff Farewells

Mrs Humphries and Mr Nettleton both started at Padbury CPS three years ago and Miss Gomez-Rivera, 6 months ago. I would like to thank them for all their wonderful work as classroom teachers and for their contributions to our school community during their time here. I wish them all the best for the future and for their new endeavours.

Mrs Papasergio has been a part time Education Assistant at Padbury CPS for the past 8 years. I would like to thank her for all her wonderful work in working with many of our children over the years in the classrooms. I wish her all the best for the future.

Miss Kostov has been at PCPS for 18 months. I would like to thank her for her time here and wish her all the best for her future endeavours.

Mrs Tammy Hunter has been our wonderful ICT person at PCPS for the past 7 years and we will certainly miss her experience and expertise. I wish her well as she commences in another Catholic school.

Both Mrs Wright and Mrs Roberts are having a year away from PCPS, so I wish them all that they have planned in the new year.

We are so very fortunate to have a wonderful school community and I thank God for blessing us all at Padbury CPS. Keep safe over the holidays, especially if you are travelling and I look forward to seeing you all in the New Year.

A Merry and Holy Christmas to all Padbury Catholic Primary School families

Mrs Margaret Williamson

Principal

Catholic Education WA

Following the Bishops’ decision to incorporate Catholic education in Western Australia earlier this year, I am pleased to inform you the new company is now registered as Catholic Education Western Australia Limited (CEWA Ltd). CEWA Ltd will commence operation from 1 January 2020, with the four diocesan Bishops as the owners, who in turn will appoint a Board of Commissioners to provide strategic governance of the system.

The Bishops have continuously improved the governance of Catholic education in WA, starting 50 years ago when they agreed to combine their four dioceses under the governance of the Catholic Education Commission of Western Australia (CECWA). Incorporation ensures your child and our school community continue to benefit from membership of a system of 76,000 students enrolled in 163 schools. The CECWA will cease its governance on 31 December 2019 and the Bishops will announce the full membership of the new CEWA Ltd Board of Commissioners in due course.

Our school will become part of CEWA Ltd on 1 January 2020. I ask you to join me in welcoming and supporting our move to a more contemporary governance structure. As in all the Bishops’ decisions, it is made in the best interests of our students in their community of faith. The change in governance will have minimal effect on the operations of our school.

This letter serves to notify you that the rights and obligations under your enrolment agreement and other laws will transfer to CEWA Ltd from 1 January 2020. Please contact me with any questions or concerns you may have in relation to this change.

The school day will run as follows:

8:30am - Doors open

8:45am - Morning block classes begin

10:30am - Recess (20 minutes)

10:50am - Middle block classes begin

12:35pm - Lunch (40 minutes)

1:15pm - Afternoon block classes begin

3:00pm - Bell for end of the day

* Pre-Primary will continue to finish at 2:50pm Monday-Thursdays.

2020 Booklists are now available!! Please go to our website to download booklists and follow instructions for ordering - https://www.padcath.wa.edu.au/booklists

Please note the ordering cut-off date is THIS Friday 13th December.

A reminder that when accessing your child's reports this afternoon, you will have 2 reporting documents to read.

1. Formal academic report (as normal)

2. An Elaborations Document - These elaborations break down the Religious Education, English and Mathematics learning areas into a range of main outcomes under each of the different subject strands, and your child's progress against these outcomes is reported through a tick-box, indicating their level of achievement. This document replaces the comments in these learning areas. Both documents will be uploaded to SEQTA Engage.

The picture with this Newsletter item shows that when you log in to SEQTA Engage, there are two areas to access Semester 2 Reports:

2019 Semester 2 and

2019 Semester 2 Elaborations

As the year ends, I wanted to say thank you to the Padbury Catholic Community for the support you have shown me in my first year at our wonderful school. I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the students, staff and families of Padbury and I look forward to continuing the wonderful work of PCPS in 2020. Next year I look forward to getting back into the classroom and spending a day in Year 4 each week, as well as working alongside Mrs Loretta Hutcheson as she coms on board as our second Assistant Principal. 2020 is shaping up to be a very exciting year for PCPS!

I wish all Padbury students and families a very Holy, safe and happy Christmas! Enjoy the holiday break and see you in 2020!

Ryan von Bergheim

Assistant Principal

Another successful Edu Dance Program was offered at Padbury Catholic School. An opportunity for children to show their creative expression and enjoy the celebrations of the end of term. A big thank you to our amazing dance teachers Jo Ravindran and Carolyn Voysey for their expertise and love of dance performing. You could see the joy in their eyes as much as the students. A big shout out and thanks to all the teachers who offered up their time to put together a staff number under the choreographer lead of Mrs Renita Humphries. The children look forward to this just as much as we do! A final thanks to all the staff for offering support with class supervision, set up and pack up and MC work. The success of Edu Dance comes from the staff community commitment that is so prevalent at Padbury Catholic.

We look forward to returning the program in 2020.

Ms Natasa Bebich

Edu Dance Facilitator

Last day for uniform shop opening & Flexischools deliveries in 2019 is Wed 11th Dec. Any subsequent online orders can be picked up at a special 1hr opening Wed 29th Jan 2020 10-11am. Otherwise deliveries to the classroom as usual once school returns.

Thank you to the uniform shop volunteers in 2019 and also extras that came to help with the stocktake last week - Marianne Thorburn, Darlene McKenzie, Jennifer Yu Marcelino, Carolin Dymock

With extra help from Lisa Benson, Cindy Aquino, Shannon Davies

Mrs Kylie Giles

Uniform Shop Manageress

Abbott, Alvarado ,Barbetti, Baron-Hay, Bertolucci, Blanco Perez, Bloomfield, Buckley, Conroy, Crockford, Deshpande, Donaldson, Drew, Eastcott, Fagan, Fahy, Hall, Harman, Hill, Holliday, Hunt, James, Kalaji, Kunzli, Lach, Larranaga, Maxwell, Menage, Michailidis, Naumoski, Ogden,Pelle, Pizzino, Shibu, Sirohi, Smart, Smith, Studman, Sutrisna, Thomson, Trofimczyk, Walford, Walsh, Wilson, Withnell, Carter, Martin, Pellicano, Sparkes, Stewart, Too

Padbury Cares is a group of school group volunteers (parents and staff) who provide assistance to families in our school community during a time of need (either short or long term) due to illness, bereavement, family crisis, birth of a newborn or any type of change.

A service that Padbury Cares also offers is the distribution of second hand uniforms to families in need. If you have any uniforms that your child has outgrown we would love to be considered for finding a new home for them. The information that is provided to Padbury Cares remains completely confidential so please private message myself or Ruth if you have any uniforms you would like to gift.

Many thanks

Marnie & Ruth - Padbury Cares Coordinators