We have already crammed a lot into the first few weeks of school and I have a lot of thankyou's and acknowledgements to make. In no particular order thanks for:

• Office staff (Mrs Kain & Mrs Martin) or coordinating photos, uniform shop among their many tasks
• Our uniform shop volunteers for their help. They have been extra busy.
• Supporting the pie drive fundraiser. Collection of orders is this Friday.
• Students for great behaviour in Life Education. Educator, Kial, says the children get better every year.
• Year 4 for being great role models on their Pre schools visits. I have people comment that our students friendliness & good manners are one of the reasons to enrol their children at Ss Peter & Paul’s.
• Our school leaders Carter, Ava, Lily & Austin for doing a terrific job conducting tours of our school on Open Day. We are being flooded with enrolments which is keeping Mrs Kain very busy.
• To our Year 6 teachers Mrs Harris, Mr Gerard and Mr Myers for their commitment & extra hours at Camp. Thank you students for their good behaviour.
• For our Book Fair and your generous support and Mrs Bensley’s hard work.
• Miss Atkinson and her wonderful playground games paintings (more to come) and for organising little forecasters (our students reading the weather on the local radio station)
• Mr Gerard & Yr 5/6 Green who started our READY SET GO Readiness proramme this week
• All our volunteer coaches & managers for the Gilbert/Croker Rugby league this week

The list could go on & apologies for anything I have missed!

 KINDERGARTEN ENROLMENTS

Enrolments are on the rise and I think the school community staff, students, parents whose positivity about our school and what it offers are attracting more & more students.

I see every new enrolments is affirmation of the great staff & teachers we have, our wonderful students and our supportive parent community.

It’s a great community that I am proud to lead.

FUNDRAISING SURVEY

The School Community Council will be sending home a survey to families to ask families about our fundraising efforts. We are keen to know also in these tougher economic times are we putting families under too much pressure we the type & amount of events. We also want to know the type of fundraiser we should have and what we could let go. We will use this information to help future fundraising planning.

Thanks in advance for your help.

SCC EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST & NOMINATIONS

On a separate notification on Compass sent home yesterday I gave you some information of some changes to the School Community Council that Catholic Education, Canberra wish us to make regarding a new charter to run councils and the council role in the school. The main changes will be our current council moving from designated responsibilities such as fee & school budget setting to more an advisory role as explained in Catholic Education communication. This will keep parents safe from legal liabilities going forward. With these changes a new council needs to be formed & I am looking for expressions interest to be part of this group.

Information is below or I am happy to chat if you would like to discuss further.

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION

First Holy Communion lessons for our year 4 students and above are held on Thursday afternoons. The first 3 are at Our Lady of Fatima with the 4th lesson being at Ss Peter and Paul's Cathedral. The retreat day for those making Communion will be held at St Mary's Crookwell on Thursday 30th of May during school hours. More details will come on Compass closer to the date. 

Our students will make their First Holy Communion on either Saturday 1 or Sunday 2 June. Please keep them in your prayers. 

Please email Cassie Harris with questions or more information at cassandra.harris@cg.catholic.edu.au

SPP ATHLETICS CARNIVAL - REMINDERS!

• Please go to Compass and consent for your child (Yrs 1-6) to attend. (Due Wednesday 22/5) All students are expected to be involved in the day. We have been preparing for the carnival in PE lessons this term. 

• Pizza orders are to be completed on Qkr! by 9:00am Monday 20th May. This is also available for Kinder. The canteen will not be available for other orders on Friday 24/5.

• The P&F will be running a lolly bar at the carnival selling lollies, chips and chill drinks. CASH ONLY, please send notes no bigger than $10.
• If your child has HJ experience, they can enter the event via the Question section on the Compass Event. This must be done by the 22/5.

• Programs, times and more details can be found on Compass.

• Retro Beans & Brew will be attending for coffee & hot drinks!

NORTHERN REGION CROSS COUNTRY CARNIVAL

Congratulations to the following students:

8/9 Boys - Axl Armitt 4th

10 Girls - Bonnie Maxwell 2nd

10 Boys - Zaide Kearns 2nd and Noah Stephenson 3rd

11 Boys - Austin Cosgrove 2nd and Toby Boniface 4th

These students will represent the NR at the Archdiocesan Carnival in Canberra on Friday!

Our SPP Teams:

INDIVIDUAL SPORT TRIALS

Individual sports trials are open through the CECG sports website. These trials are intended for Year 5 & 6 student's ONLY.

Thank you to all the families who supported this year's Scholastic Book Fair! Mrs Bensley is happy to announce that we raised $1389.00 which will fund new book purchases for the library!

Musical Preparations are Happening!

This year we are staging a whole-school musical in Term 3! It is scheduled to be performed on the SsP&P stage Friday 13 September (Term 3 Week 8), so please save the date. Students from Kindy to Year 4 will mostly be performing in their year level's featured song. Year 5 & 6 students will be performing the major character roles. All of the classes have already started early preparations for the big show during their weekly Creative & Performing Arts classes. We have been busy learning lyrics and finding out how to sing harmonies. Others have been creating choreography sequences to express the story through movement. Some classes have already begun designing and creating props and scenery. Term 2 is when students will be cast into roles and actors' rehearsals will take place during some recess sessions. This is a huge effort, but the preparation offers us a million learning opportunities, fun challenges and many different kinds of teamwork. No spoilers, so please don't ask the title yet! 

This year our school canteen will continue to operate Tuesday to Friday. Student's requiring lunch from the canteen need to submit a lunch order via the QKR app by 9am the day the order is to be received (remember you can order up to two weeks in advance). It will also be open during first break for over the counter snacks, ice creams and drinks. Miss Courtney Kozel will be our canteen manager while Mrs Bennett is on leave.

• We currently have no Size 8 black sport shorts in stock, and the supplier is out of stock also. If you need them urgently, please purchase plain black shorts elsewhere in town, and we will advise when the stock arrives.
• Winter Jumpers are on their way, we will communicate when they are available.

Apologies for any inconvenience.

The uniform shop is run by parent volunteers and is open on a Wednesday morning 9-9.30am for fittings and sales. The best way to organise your child's uniform requirements is to order via Qkr. Orders need to be placed by 8.30am each Wednesday so that they are able to be sent home that day; orders placed after 8.30am will not be filled until the following week.

Our Yr 5/6 classes are learning about online consent and boundaries. Please see the link below for more information from the E-Safety Commission about how you can set online boundaries for apps and games.

https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-topics/esafety-guide

Thank you to 3 Red for hosting our assembly last Friday (week 2), and well done to all our Above and Beyond Award recipients!

Birthdays 16-31 May!

Is your child neuro-divergent? 

As we navigate our own journey on this path, we are keen to connect with other parents and carers in our SPPG community who have walked, or are walking that same path. If this is you, and you're interested in building a (neuro) network to offer support, increase our local expertise and share experiences, please join our WhatsApp group by contacting Lauren on 0449 720 650.

STUDENT MEDICATIONS

We are able to hold student medications in the office for those children who require either short term or ongoing medication. Any medication must be supplied to us in its original packaging, with the pharmacy label attached for prescription medicine. Our system has been updated by head office so please read the following carefully if this applies to your child.

Short term medication (pain relief, antibiotics, antihistamine etc) -

• Parent/carer must visit the office to sign medication administration authorisation form so that our staff are able to administer the medication.

Ongoing medication (asthma inhaler, antihistamine, ADHD medication, etc) -

• Parent/carer must visit the office to sign medication administration authorisation form so that our staff are able to administer the medication. 
• Parent/carer to ensure medication remains in date, and that there is sufficient supply for one term, each term.
• Parents/carers of students with asthma action plans or other official diagnosis must provide current paperwork from the doctor
• Asthma Inhalers - if your child is in year 5 or 6 or capable of self-administering their ventolin, they are able to keep their inhaler with them in their bag; if this is the case there is no need to complete the authorisation form.

DROP OFF/PICK UP INFORMATION

If you remember the following details school drop off and pick up should run smoothly. Please view the map below for parking restriction details:

Morning Drop off:

• Supervision at school starts at 8.30am. Students arriving earlier than this WILL NOT be under active adult supervision so please avoid dropping your children off before this time. Between 8.30am and 8.55am students are to take their bag to their classroom and then make their way to either the hall or basketball court where they are to wait in year groups until the morning play bell rings.
• Knox Street/Princes Avenue parking (front school entrance) - ideally families with students in Kindergarten only should be parking in this area. Please be aware of the bus zone, parking restrictions and keeping our neighbour's driveways clear. We also ask that you consider our staff when parking in the morning as there are limited all day parking zones where they are able to park.
• Hall gate (Knox Street) - Bus students are dropped off here. 
• Princes Avenue/Adam Street (back school entrance) - Parents are able to park on either side of Princes Avenue (outside car line) or in Adam Street if you need to walk your children into school (please note that this part of Princes Avenue is a one-way road). Be aware of parking restrictions and keeping our neighbour's driveways clear.
• Car Line (off Princes Avenue) -  Car line is a 'kiss & go' system where parents drop their children off without getting out of the car; please do not park and exit your car in car line as this creates major traffic issues. Car line is our preferred method of parent drop off as it ensures student safety.

Afternoon pick-up:

• Knox Street/Princes Avenue parking (front school entrance) - ideally families with students in Kindergarten only should be parking in this area. Please be aware of the bus zone, parking restrictions and keeping our neighbour's driveways clear. Kindergarten parents are welcome to park and wait for their child outside the classrom. Kinder students are also able catch the bus or get picked up from carline.
• Hall gate (Knox Street) - Bus students only are collected from here. A teacher is rostered on duty at this gate each afternoon and stays to supervise students until the last bus comes.
• Princes Avenue/Adam Street (back school entrance) - Parents are able to park on either side of Princes Avenue (outside car line) or in Adam Street if you need to walk into school to collect your children (please note that this part of Princes Avenue is a one-way road). Be aware of parking restrictions and keeping our neighbour's driveways clear.
• Car Line (off Princes Avenue) - Car line is available for parents to pick their children up without having to park and get out of the car; please do not park and exit your car in car line as this creates major traffic issues. Car line is our preferred method of parent pick up as it ensures student safety. Car line can be very congested in the afternoons. If the waiting line is outside of our driveway the advice from NSW police is that you should continue around the block via Adam Street until the line moves forward. Please consider arriving at 3.30pm or after to ease this congestion; your child will be safe and supervised until you arrive. Two teachers are rostered on and supervicion at car line is until 3.45pm. After this time your child will be taken to the office and a call will be made to parents to arrange pick up ASAP.

Before & After School Care

Our newsletter, The SPP Chronicle, is normally published fortnightly (odd weeks) on a Thursday afternoon at around 5.30pm.

Each fortnight we include anything and everything that has happened in the preceding two weeks such as excursions, assemblies, sporting results and photos, liturgies, etc. We also provide information about upcoming school activities and events, student birthdays and important information and correspondence for families. We love to give shoutouts to our students and school community like thankyou's, baby announcements, special achievements and EOI's for sporting & other school or community group involvement, so if you have news that you think we could include just email it through to office.sppg@cg.catholic.edu.au.