Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Welcome to new Reception students and families
This term we welcomed our new Reception students: Archie, Elijah, Lottie, Milania, Oliver, Sabina, Sophie, Victoria and William. With our new building and play spaces it is a great time to begin school life at Tenison Woods Catholic Primary School. We look forward to our journey together over the next seven years and hope that it is a great time, full of learning, friends and fun. While some begin this new journey, others enter into their final semester of learning at Tenison Woods. We wish all of our Year 6 students the very best as they continue on their journey, at this special time as leaders in our school.
COVID - 19 update
Thank you for your continued understanding and support regarding Covid-19 and the health requirements. It is vitally important that we do not become complacent. During the holidays we saw the Australian landscape change somewhat and were given an indication of what can happen in a matter of days and weeks. We must continue to be vigilant in order to avoid outbreaks like in Victoria, NSW and now possibly Queensland. While parents are able to venture into the school grounds, I ask you to consider whether you really need to. Thank you to those parents who still drop off and collect from the gate, it is greatly appreciated and helps to build student independence and resilience.
We have done an outstanding job so far in South Australia and hence we have been able to recommence activities for our children such as the Footsteps dancing program, the Netball Carnival at Priceline Stadium yesterday and the Cross Country Carnival next week, school assemblies and Masses. However, we need everyone to keep doing their best to follow the health guidelines and keep everyone safe. Please keep reminding your children about the importance of physical distancing and the washing of hands with soap.
Building Project
Our new building is looking fantastic and is almost ready for us. There has been a hold up with the furniture due to Covid-19 and that has delayed us slightly. We were a bit ambitious in hoping we could move in so quickly. Solar panels will be installed on that building from Mon 10 to Wed 12 August. Our Year 3-6 children will move in as soon as possible after that. On Monday I took the students through to have a look at their new environment. They were certainly very excited. The P&F had their sneak peak last night and the School Board will get their opportunity during their meeting next Wednesday.
New Oval
On Thursday of last week Fr Peter joined us for a short liturgy to bless the new oval. The children all lined up along the 'bunting' as Sophie in Reception and Hudson in Year 6 cut the rope to officially open this new space. Everyone ran onto the new grass and again the excitement was clear to see. I did notice that the old oval was looking a little tired and hence we will fence that off for a couple of weeks to give it a little bit of recovery time.
Redin Street Access
Once our Year 3 to 6 classes move into the new building we will open the Redin Street gate at the end of each day so that children can depart from there. When that happens it will be important for your children to know though which exit they will leave each day. I anticipate that this will begin on Tuesday 18 August but I will confirm this in the next newsletter.
Assemblies
There has been a need to change our assembly times for Term 3. Thank you for your understanding. They will now take place as follows:
Thu 6 Aug 9am - Year 2 Green
Thu 27 Aug 9am - Year 4 and PE
Thu 17 Sep 9am - Student Leaders: Green Team and SRC
Due to Covid-19 we need to restrict the number of parents or grandparents who can attend. We will use an online booking system for this purpose (like we do with Parent Teacher Conversations).
Principal Tour Monday 10 August / Catholic Schools Open Week
I am looking forward to conducting my first TWCS Principal (group) Tour during Catholic Schools Open Week. It will be an opportunity to take prospective families through our school and see our new facilities. I am also keen to show existing parents through the new building and so will offer afternoon tours that same week from 2:45pm to 3:05pm on Monday 10, Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 August.
Also as a part of Catholic Schools Open Week parents are able to visit classrooms on Tuesday 11 August from 2:30pm-3:30pm so that the students can Showcase some of their work.
Birthday Celebrations
I know how keen some parents are to send in treats or cakes when their children celebrate a birthday. Our
Class Information Handbooks, provided at the beginning of each year, indicate that Teachers will recognise each child's birthday but ask that parents do not send in treats. This is probably even more important at the moment and will ensure that we adhere to our COVID-19 requirements and keep safe students who have food allergies.
Senior Student Leadership Activities
Our Year 5/6 students have begun leading a variety of learning activities for other students. These activities include Spelling, Reading, Craft, Coding, Art, Fitness, Keynote presentations, Minecraft Madness, Colourful Creations and World Defenders! We are extremely proud about the way our senior students have prepared and presented these sessions and look forward to their continued work in this area. They are certainly developing their leadership skills in line with our Catholic Education SA framework: "Living, Learning, Leading".
New Nature Play Space
Simon Hutchison from Climbing Tree visited our school last week to discuss our proposed new Nature Play Space to be situated on the western side of the new oval. Simon spent some time with the SRC, gathering their ideas and sharing some possibilities. He then worked with the Teachers during our Staff Meeting. Students and Staff will feed their creative ideas back to Simon and he will then design a space specifically for TWCS. The SRC fed back their suggestions during our meeting this morning. We look forward to this project being developed over the latter part of this term. It will provide another space to engage your children with challenges for all age levels.
St Mary of the Cross MacKillop Feast Day - August 8
Australia's first saint, Mary MacKillop, celebrates her Feast Day on Saturday week. We will celebrate with a Mass on Friday 7 August at 2:15pm with a limited number of parents able to join us due to Covid-19 restrictions. If you would like to join us please book via our
online booking system . Along with Julian Tenison Woods, Mary MacKillop is a very special person in the history of our school and in the church throughout Australia. From her 'Daily Thoughts' for this week comes: "We can never be sure that all that looks good is really so" which was quite insightful for 1875!
Pupil Free Day
Please remember that Monday 17 August is a Pupil Free Day as the staff continue their professional learning with St Joseph's School, Kingswood on Visible Learning.
Kind Regards,
Peter Mercer
Acting Principal
