St Jerome's Newsletter
Week 9 - Term 4 (Thursday 10 December)
St Jerome’s Primary School acknowledges and pays respect to the Traditional Owners and Elders, both past and present, of the lands on which this school is located.
Dear Parents and members of our school community
Dear God,
Thank you for all the fun and excitement of Christmas. Thank you for the amazing nativity story, that tells us about the birth of Jesus.
Thank you for sending us your Son, a gift from you into this world.
As we look at the lights on the tree, remind us of the light Jesus brought to this Earth.
When we sing songs and carols, remind us of the hope Jesus showed everyone. And as we open the gifts and presents, remind us that Jesus was the best gift ever.
And to share the light, hope and gift of Jesus to the world.
Amen.
Where has 2020 gone?
I am sure, like me, many of you have tried to think back over the year and remember all the lifestyle changes that we have experienced and managed. Although we were incredibly lucky here in WA, we have had to sit back in isolation from the rest of Australia and the world. This has brought personal challenges to many families who long to see their families. Hopefully with the promising news of an effective vaccine, we can live in hope that 2021 may have some semblance of normality.
We are absolutely blessed at St Jerome’s with a highly professional, dedicated, energetic, generous and creative staff - teachers, education assistants, office and ancillary staff. 2020 has certainly provided strong evidence of this as our staff quickly adapted to new ways of teaching, collaborating and communicating with each other, with the students and with parents.
I was delighted that my husband Kevin, daughter Stephanie, her husband Alex and our two granddaughters, Emma and Sophie were able to join in the Thanksgiving Mass and Morning Tea last Tuesday 1st December. I was deeply honoured and incredibly humbled by having so many colleagues, families and friends from my 30 year Catholic Education WA career. Through the wonders of technology, our Montreal family Nicholas, Vivian, Dominic and Isabelle were able to watch through the live stream. Thank you to every St Jerome’s family for allowing me the enormous privilege of being your principal for the past nine years. You and your beautiful children will have a very special place in my heart and my prayers for ever.
One of the many lovely surprises was having the Kindy and Pre Primary students make a guard of honour as I walked to the hall with my family. Such a very special day and one I will always treasure
Portraits of Helen
Every student from Kindy to Year 6 drew a portrait of Mrs O'Toole. This fabulous portrait was done by Lily-Ana 6G
The staff commissioned our wonderful & multi talented Year 4 teacher, Adele Fernandez to paint the lighthouse that I see every morning as I get to the crest of the hill on Beeliar Drive. Reflecting on that lighthouse has marked my morning every day for the past nine years. Thank you Adele!
Summer Reading
I do believe that something very magical can happen when you read a good book. JK Rowling.
It is so critical to keep up reading during the holidays with your children. Not only is reading exercise for the brain, it helps develop imagination and teaches children about the world around them. It also continues to develop and consolidate vital literacy skills the children have been learning at school all year. If you have some spare time, try and read TO your child even if they are independent readers.
Use some of the reading aps on your devices as listening to a well -read story is a very positive experience for children of any age. I know many teachers have put a similar message on their class SeeSaw posts. Mr Bennett-Surtees has this Summer Reading Challenge for your child to complete. Read the instructions and have lots of holiday reading fun.
Our beautiful story books that Father Christmas delivered to PPG this week!
On Tuesday evening, Year 6 students and their parents attended a Farewell Mass in the Parish Hall. This is my speech to them on that evening.
It is a great pleasure to be here tonight to reflect upon the journey our Year 6 students have been on in the years they have been here with us. The vast majority of students, close to 85% have been here since Kindy.
At a time like this as we see photos of the children over the years, I recall that very poignant song from Fiddler on the Roof: Sunrise, Sunset. If you haven’t heard it, I will include this link to Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRsciuPOWW4&list=RDlRsciuPOWW4&start_radio=1&t=36
The beautiful lyrics are:
Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Is this the little girl I carried?
Is this the little boy at play?
I don't remember growing older
When did they?
When did she get to be a beauty?
When did he grow to be so tall?
Wasn't it yesterday that they were small?
Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly flow the days
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers
Blossoming even as they gaze
Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset.
Your parents must wonder where the time has gone as to them it seemed only yesterday that you began Kindergarten. We thank you, parents, for allowing us the great privilege of having your children spend their primary school years here.
Many families are leaving St Jerome’s this year after associations of up to 16 years by the time all their children have passed through our school. I know that many of you have made close friends with other families and that these connections will continue into the future. You have supported each other through the good times and also through tragically sad times. We remember those who are not here with us tonight to share this happy event, especially Liam’s precious mum, Daniela. The Year 6 children have learnt so much this year on how the world and our lives can change in an instant.
And what a year 2020 has been for the world and for your final year at St Jerome’s. The way that you responded to the challenges of the year and the changes it created meant that you had to show such resilience. As a staff, we have been so impressed by your maturity, willingness to accept change and your generous natures.
There is a growing recognition that resilience is one of the MOST important qualities for a successful life. Recent research points to the importance of life skills or character education in enhancing teaching and student learning.
(https://www.apa.org/ed/schools/teaching-learning/3rs-defined)
Experts have identified reasoning, resilience and responsibility as key problem solving skills that, when learned, can benefit student achievement and general life success strategies.
To quote: “resilience provides individuals with skills to surmount life’s challenges competently, to persevere, and even to capitalize on setbacks” - that is, if you have resiliency, when something bad happens to you, you can actually use it to help yourself get to an even better place than you were before. This is a great thing to be able to do.
Hasn’t this Covid-19 year provided you, our precious Year 6 students, to learn how to be resilient, to take on extra responsibility & to reason that this incredibly crazy year cannot last forever?
Just don’t give up, just keep learning, just keep trying, and you too can be a creative genius! I often use the example of a teenager learning to drive, perhaps in a manual car. It seems that you will be doing bunny hops forever. However, with persistence, all your reflexes work and smooth driving occurs. You will be resilient, take on this responsibility and know that you will eventually succeed. The incredibly fast work on developing an effective Covid-19 vaccine involved massive collaboration across countries; trial and error and finally success in a record-breaking time.
There are many ways to become more resilient: When you have a challenge, say to yourself: “Challenges are normal, we all have them.” If something doesn’t work the first time, say “If at first I don’t succeed, I will try again” - and if the first strategy doesn’t work, try a different strategy.
We cannot help but recognize how parallel many of these truths are with the truths of Christianity. The Catholic tradition teaches us to express appreciation and gratitude, to forgive those who trespass against us, and to view the future with an optimistic mindset. Keeping the Golden Rule of “ Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” as a life guiding principle will always keep your decisions based on Making Jesus Real teachings.
I know there are days when we read the papers and we fear for the future, but there is still much to be optimistic about. We live in a beautiful country where quality health care is available to all, our education system is one of the best in the world, our political system certainly seems to work a bit better than our USA friends and our natural environment is the envy of the world. We are still The Lucky Country.
If I can offer one piece of advice to you, my dear Year 6 students, it is this: Next to God, the only things that really matter in life are the people around you.
Friends are important but family is “forever”. Your coming teenage years are notorious for young people like you to want to spend more time with your friends and less time with your family. Though I understand this, be careful that you remember that family is your anchor.
You won’t be spending the next 50 or so Christmas dinner meals with your home room friend.
Friendships are important but they should never mean more than your family. This includes your siblings if you have them. Invest in building up memories with your family. If you have younger brothers and sisters, be the very best big brother or sister. Go outside your comfort zone and don’t be “too cool”. Go along with them to the next big Disney movie. Your grandparents also absolutely treasure you. Spend time with them and listen to their stories. You will never regret this.
Dear Year 6 students: look back with warmth and gratitude, look forward with optimism.
You have been a great, friendly bunch of individuals with talents and gifts that promise you a future full of amazing opportunities. Everyone feels immense pride in your achievements so far and we wish you every blessing for a future full of true happiness.
Finally, I thank the parish especially Father Vijay and Father Pierangelo and all the parishioners for their prayerful support of our school. Thank you to Father Vijay for using your great artistic flair to decorate the stage so the hall became a true place of worship.
To my wonderful staff: every one of you contributes in some way to making St Jerome’s a happy and vibrant place full of faith, learning and happiness. I love coming here and I will miss the happy atmosphere of a place that has been my second home for nine years.
I wish every person in St Jerome’s school and Parish Community all the blessings of Christmas. God bless you and keep you safe into the future. Please keep me in your prayers.
Principal
Term Dates for 2021
Term 1
Students commence: Monday 1 February
Last day of Term: Thursday 1 April
NB:
Monday 1 March - Labour Day
Tuesday 2 March - PD Day
Term 2
Students commence: Monday 19 April
Last day of Term: Friday 2 July
NB:
Monday 26 April – ANZAC Day
Monday 7 June – WA Day
Tuesday 8 June – Catholic Day Holiday
Term 3
Students commence: Wednesday 21 July
Last day of Term: Friday 24 September
Term 4
Students commence: Monday 11 October
Last day of Term: Thursday 16 December (TBC)
NB:
Monday 8 November – PD Day
RE News
End of Year Mass
On Friday, 11th December, our school will celebrate Mass under the trees to reflect on our incredible year. It will be a simple celebration due to the restrictions of being outside. Children will be seated on the grass. If you believe that your child would be more comfortable on a towel, please send one in with them on the last day of school.
Parents are most welcome to join us. Bring a portable chair/picnic rug to sit on.
As you enter the school via the white gates, to comply with the latest COVID restrictions you will be required to sign in and leave contact details.
Thank you for your co-operation and support.
Sacramental Program 2021
The dates for the Sacramental program for 2021 have now been finalized. Please note that the order of the sacraments has changed for 2021.
Term 1- First Reconciliation will take place in the Easter holidays from 6-16th April. Parents can choose a day and time and are then required to book in with the parish for a Reconciliation session.
Term 2 - First Eucharist will take place on the weekend of the 26th and 27th June. There will be two masses, one at 6pm on Saturday evening and one at 10am on Sunday morning.
Term 3- Confirmation will take place on the weekend of 18th & 19th September. There will be two masses, one at 6pm on Saturday evening and one at 10am on Sunday morning.
Families wishing to enrol their children in the Sacramental Program for 2021 should download an enrolment form from the St Jerome’s Parish website and complete the requirements and hand this in to Carol Hoare at the school before 26th February 2021.
Assistant Principal RE
School Reports
School reports will be released on SEQTA Engage today for all Pre-Primary to Year 6 students. An email was sent out in July advising with the successful migration to our new computer system that your SEQTA Engage accounts would need to be set up again. Please ensure that you have access to your child’s reports.
If you have any specific issues or general questions please email admin@stjeromes.wa.edu.au outline your query and provide your name, your child’s name and your child’s class.
Students not returning in 2021
Please note that if your child is leaving St Jerome’s Primary School and not returning in 2021, it is important you login to SEQTA and print or download all their reports. After Sunday 13 December you will no longer be able to access their reports via SEQTA. If you contact us after this date for a copy of any reports, you will be charged a $5 fee per report request.
Booklists
A reminder that 2021 booklists are available at www.stjeromes.wa.edu.au under Communication>Booklists and click on the year level link on the side.
Medical Action Plans
This information needs to be updated annually as conditions, medications or dosages can change. If your child has a medical action plan in place for 2020, please ensure that you pick up a new action plan from the front office and return it to the school with any medication required for the start of the 2021 school year.
Spare Clothes
The school sickbay is always in need of spare clothes. If your child has outgrown their uniform, it would be appreciated if you can donate it to the school. We are in particular need of green sport shorts, sport shirts or white shirts. We thank you for any donations.
ALADDIN JR WAS A SMASH HIT!
If you were one of the lucky audience members on Friday night, I am sure you will agree that our production of Aladdin JR was truly amazing!
A massive thank you to all the students, parents and staff involved in the production! A special thank you to Miss Paratore, Mrs Searle, Miss Correia, Mr Tucker, Miss Murphy, Miss Comiskey, Miss Hartley, Miss McCarthy, Mrs Deeble, Mrs Benino and Mrs Scobie who were instrumental in putting the performance together.
Mrs Scobie has provided the following information to access the amazing photos that she took on the night.
The link to the photo gallery should be available from 7PM this evening.
https://amberscobiephotography.pixieset.com/stjs/
The name of the gallery is: ALADDIN ST JEROMES 20
Password to enter gallery: stjeromes (All lower case)
For further enquiries email amber@amberscobie.com.au
We have been inundated with incredible feedback. Enjoy these photos in the meantime and reading some snippets of responses below!
Thank you to our amazing sponsors!
Mandurah Catholic College for donating a large supply of costumes that our leading actors wore.
Amber Scobie and Fitzgerald’s Photo Imaging for beautifully capturing rehearsals and the performance.
The Galati Family from Spudshed Spearwood for donating all of the sausages, buns, onions and condiments for our Sausage Sizzle!
Many thanks also to The Cake Nook, The Mobile Gelato Cart, Barista Honey’s, The P&F, Christina Lanza-Volpe, Perth Bouncy Castle Hire, Magic Dale and Rosie-O who provided other food and entertainment during the picnic.
Jackson Bennett-Surtees
Uniform Shop News
Uniform Shop Holiday Opening Hours
Tuesday December 15; 8.15am - 3.30pm
Wednesday January 27; 8.15am - 3.30pm
Thursday January 28; 8.15am - 3.30pm
Lost Property - Reminder to label all property
White Sports Shoes
Also, remember when buying new sports shoes that St Jerome's uniform policy asks for predominantly WHITE sports shoes.
Hair Cuts - especially for boys
Art News
Here are some photos of some completed Year 5 (Impressionist inspired duck) and Year 6 (Giacometti-inspired sculpture) art pieces.
School Nurse News
Sun safety
With the hot weather approaching, it is important to talk to your children about sun safety and teach them good sun protection habits.
· Slip on some sun-protective clothing that covers as much skin as possible.
· Slop on broad spectrum, water resistant SPF 50 sunscreen. Put it on 20 minutes before you go outdoors and every two hours afterwards. Sunscreen should never be used to extend the time you spend in the sun.
· Slap on a hat that protects your face, head, neck and ears.
· Seek shade.
· Slide on some sunglasses – make sure they meet Australian Standards.
Extra care should be taken between 10am and 3pm when UV levels reach their peak.
For more information see the Cancer Council website: www.cancer.org.au.
Sports News
Getting ready for Christmas - Kindy
These are Kindy green children with the Nativity sets they worked on from the end of term 3. A long term project to make a special nativity set for their families which will last a lifetime. They were fired in the Iona Kiln .
VacSwim
Enrolments are now open for VacSwim swimming lessons during the summer school holidays.
VacSwim in January offers fun lessons at beach or pool locations during the long break. Not only are they a great school holiday activity, they teach valuable safety skills to help keep your child safe in the water.
Your children can start as young as five years old.
Don’t wait! Enrol your children in VacSwim now at education.wa.edu.au/vacswim
Contact Details
Email: admin@stjeromes.wa.edu.au
Website: www.stjeromes.wa.edu.au
Location: 38 Troode Street, Lake Coogee, WA, Australia
Phone: 08 9499 9500