Term Three Week Five – Commencing Monday 12th August 2024

Dear Families,   

There was a fantastic atmosphere of vibrancy and excitement on Monday 5th August as parents and carers joined school staff for Two Way Interviews. 

After Mid Year Reports were sent home in the final week of Term Two, these Two Way Meetings were a perfect opportunity for parents and carers to speak with their child’s teachers about how their child is progressing at school. The meetings were also a great opportunity for children, parents and staff to set goals for the children to work toward before the end of the term and to have everyone on board to achieve these goals. 

At St. Emilie’s Catholic Primary School, we acknowledge parents and carers as the first and most influential educators in your child’s life. The staff here at the school use their professional knowledge and work diligently to ensure that we provide the best level of care that we can for the children and ensure that your child continues to grow and develop holistically.  

Thank you for taking the time to come and meet with us. When we work together, our children can grow to their full potential. 

First Holy Communion 
This week is a very special celebration for the children in our parish as they prepare to celebrate the Sacrament of First Holy Communion.  The children joined with their families for First Holy Communion Workshops to ensure that time was spent learning together about the Sacrament. 

Receiving communion is a special occasion for Catholics of any age. Receiving communion is our spiritual nourishment as Catholic people which allows us to ensure that we keep Jesus in our lives. After the weekend, our children will join with others in our parish in being able to receive communion weekly. We keep all involved in celebrating the Sacrament of First Holy Communion in our thoughts and prayers this week. 

Feast of the Assumption 
All members of our community are invited to join for Mass on Wednesday 14th August to celebrate the Feast of The Assumption. The Feast of the Assumption falls on Thursday 15h August this year, however, our Year Six children will lead the community in Mass on the day before. Thank you to the children and staff in Year Six for leading us in Mass on this day. 

Science Week 
This Week is National Science Week where at St Emilie’s, we get to celebrate all things Science. This year’s theme for National Science Week is ‘Species Survival’. 

National Science Week is an annual, nationwide celebration of Science, an area which contributes so much to our daily lives. The Learning of Area of Science is highly valued here at St Emilie’s and our school is guided in all things Science by the amazing Mrs Soulsby. 

Mrs Soulsby has arranged for many exciting activities across the week including incursions, guest speakers and various challenges for the children to be involved in all of which have Science as a focus. 

If you would like to know more about National Science Week, please visit https://www.scienceweek.net.au/ 

Striving for Work Life Balance at St Emilie’s and a Right To Disconnect 
The staff at St Emilie’s are a very dedicated and committed group of professionals. The staff at our school show the utmost diligence in providing for the children they care for each day. Recently, there have been some changes to the working conditions for teachers and their workloads outside of working hours. 

Below is some information that is important for you to know in relation to these new legislated changes for our teachers as part of their updated employment conditions. 

As has always been the case at St Emilie’s and is indicated in the Parent Handbook, unless a matter is urgent, it is reasonable to expect up to a 48-hour turnaround time in response to emails from school staff. In most cases, staff are unable to respond during the school day because they’re teaching for the majority of the time and have a legal duty of care over the children in their class.  

Staff also have the right to disconnect from 4.00pm each day until 8:15am the following day as per the new changes. Along with this, staff have the right to disconnect on weekends and won’t respond to any emails on Saturday or Sunday. Part-time staff are not required to respond to any form of communication on their non-working days.  

Underpinning this change is the acknowledgement that our staff at St Emilie’s have lives outside of school also. Many staff are parents, family members and friends to their loved ones and it is important that after work hours, they have the right to fulfil these roles without interruption in line with the expectation placed upon other professionals. 

At St Emilie’s, we are blessed to have such a supportive parent body and I know that you will continue to support our staff by keeping these changes in mind when communicating with them. 

Australian STEM Video Game Challenge 
In 2023, children from St Emilie’s entered the Australia STEM Video Game Challenge. We had one of our groups win the nationwide competition and another group finish in the top three.  

In good news for our school, in 2024, all five of our teams have made it through to the next round of the competition. We say congratulations to the KRENkoders, St4Rs, GGs, St Em’s Cre8tors and Starlight Crew and to Miss Harris who has worked so hard with the groups. Go St Em’s! 

Book Week Parade 
Week Seven is Literacy Week and this year, children from St Emilie’s are once again welcome to dress up as a character from their favourite book on Tuesday 27th August. This year, our children will be treating the community to a Book Week Parade on the morning and all parents and carers are encouraged to stay for a few minutes after drop off so that the children can show off their costumes. 

Parents and carers, Book Week dress ups do not have to be expensive! Where possible and as best you can, we encourage all children to try and create their costumes out of household goods! Get creative! The Book Week Parade promises to be a lot of fun! 

Performing Arts Assembly – Monday 16 September
A new date has been added to the Term Planner that I would like to draw your attention to. Please make note of Monday 16th September. On the morning of the 16th of September, our school will host a special Performing Arts Assembly to provide another forum for our children in performing arts to showcase their items. I encourage all community members to come and join the fun. 

Friday School Lunches
We are very pleased to share that Jamaica Blue in Livingston will now be providing lunches for children to order on Fridays if they wish. It has been a pleasure planning this opportunity with Jamaica Blue who are very excited to be partnering with the school. Further information on how to order school lunches can be found on the school website using this link https://stemiliescps.wa.edu.au/parents/school-lunch-orders/ 

Spirit of The Arts
The Spirit of the Arts festival is once again back in 2024. The Spirit of the Arts Festival brings together children from Catholic schools across the state to participate in an uplifting and inclusive celebration of the arts. 

St Emilie’s will once again be represented by our Choir, Christian Dance Troupe, Dance Troupe and Rock Band.
Venues, dates and times for the items still to come, can be found below: 

School Choir: Monday the 19th of August 10.45am to 11.45am Vasto Club, Balcatta 

Ticketing is via Try Booking. There will be no door sales. Tickets can be purchased from the 5th of July –
https://www.spiritofthearts.com.au/

Dance Troupe: Thursday 29th August 6.30pm to 9.30pm at Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre 

Tickets can be purchased from the 31st July. Ticketek on 132 849 or  https://premier.ticketek.com.au

Staff Profiles 
Over the course of the year, we have been sharing Staff Profiles of staff from our school. This week, we share with you the Staff Profile of Mr Paul Davis who is our school Health and Physical Education Specialist.