Dear Parents and Caregivers,
I hope your children have settled quickly in to Term 4. It promises to be another fast paced term with plenty of exciting activities planned.
The first of these has been our Caritas Carnival last Friday and Book Week, including the assembly and parade that we celebrated on Wednesday. Thank you to those parents who were able to join us for the celebration or were able to help their children dress to the theme of 'Curious Creatures, Wild Minds'. The children looked amazing. Thank you to Mrs French and all of our teachers for making it a memorable week. The Book Fair has been a great opportunity for our children to explore and purchase a range of great books and other items, while raising some money for new books in the library.
This week we welcomed a new student, Renu, in Year 1 Red and seven student teachers from UniSA: Ebony Carter in R/1 Blue, Morgan Matthews in R/1 Gold, Taylah Charlton in 1 Red, Tom Humphries in 2 Green, Jack Gibson in 3/4 Brown, Giselle De Klerk in 3/4 Purple and Katherine Picariello in 5/6 White. Our pre-service teachers will be with us for four weeks and I know that our teachers will provide them with a rewarding and positive experience.
We welcome also our 2021 families who will be receiving our school newsletter for the first time. This is an opportunity for you to learn more about our school as your child prepares to enter into the big, wide world of Primary School. We are excited to have you as a part of our community.
You may have seen the new nature play area taking shape and looking fantastic, as is our oval. The children check it out most days and can't wait for it to be ready for them to use. I anticipate that it will be ready in the second week of November. There were many positive comments from prospective parents during Monday's Principal Tours about how great our school is looking. It would be a great time to be starting at Tenison Woods Catholic School.
Our enrolments are looking good for 2021 and I am in the process of determining the class structures. At the end of each year schools receive new enrolments and are notified that some students may be moving to new schools. It helps with my planning if I know these details early. If you know of people who are looking to enrol their child(ren) at TWCS, please encourage them to contact Anna Pivato as soon as possible. Likewise, if your child is moving, please let Anna know as soon as possible.
At our most recent School Board Meeting the Board approved our Fees for 2021, with a substantial reduction from the 2020 fees to $2990 (one child full fee cost). I know that this has been a very welcome change for our families. It fits well with Catholic Education SA's 'making schools more affordable' initiative.
Thank you to our P&F who have worked hard in these interesting times of COVID-19. The children (and staff) loved the Italian Pasta Day late last term. Now we have the wine fundraiser and I encourage you to support our school in this way if you are able. It is a good opportunity to stock up in time for Christmas.
Next Friday is World Teachers' Day. I would like to acknowledge the hard work that the teachers do in our school. Their task in educating and caring for your children is an enormous one and we don't always see the things that they do behind the scenes. Each day is rewarding, challenging and different. I am sure that, as a parent, you would understand the challenge of managing 24 or more different personalities on a daily basis, while maintaining high quality teaching and learning. Like most professions, we tend to hear fairly quickly when things are not going so well, but not so much when things have been going along nicely. As we celebrate World Teachers' Day next Friday, I encourage you to take the opportunity to say 'thank you' to your child's teacher and acknowledge the hard work that they do each day for your child.
Some of our upcoming events for Term 4 include: a 'Life be in it day', Year 6 Camp, Woods Week, Sports Day, Year 3/4 Aquatics, Reception Transition, Carols Picnic Evening, Graduation, Confirmation, Reports and various excursions. I wish our Year 6 students well for their camp in Week 4, it should be an exciting and rewarding experience. I have no doubt that, while this term will be busy for everyone, it will be a great time of learning, friendship and fun. We look forward to sharing it with you and your children.
Kind regards
Peter Mercer
Principal
