Junior School news
Welcome to our last term for the 2020 school year. The staff and I hope that all of our Junior School families had a rejuvenating holiday break and are refreshed ready for another exciting term of learning.
This term, Mr Galvin is enjoying some leave and Miss Williams has taken on the Acting Head of Studies role in his absence. Mr McGrath is also on leave at present; any concerns about student wellbeing should in the first instance be discussed with your son’s classroom teacher.
Mission Day and Mission Month
Friday of Week 2 will see the Junior School boys hold their annual Mission Day class stalls. Parents are reminded to keep an eye on your son’s College Diary for instructions on what they need to collect for their class stall. The boys are encouraged to find jobs around the house in the coming weeks so they have an opportunity to collect coins to spend on Mission Day. Funds raised will be given to our MSOL Appeal for 2020.
At the end of last term, the Junior School boys were introduced to the ‘Socktober – Sock it to Poverty’ initiative that Catholic Mission is supporting. The boys were encouraged to register their participation over the holidays through the Socktober website and to create their own soccer ball from recycled materials.
Service is such an important part of Marist culture and Mission Day enables our younger students to safely raise funds for people around the world who are not as fortunate as we are.
Junior School Class Placements 2021
The staff in the Junior School have a comprehensive process for allocating students to classes for the upcoming year. We take into consideration the students’ academic needs, learning support or enrichment needs, as well as their social and emotional concerns and peer relationships. Our professional judgments about class placements are made with the students’ needs and best interests in mind. These factors are always at the forefront of our final decisions. Please note: we do not allocate students to a particular ‘teacher’, rather they are placed into a class/student group. All of our teachers in our Junior School are appropriately qualified and bring to our school a wide range of outstanding teaching experiences, both nationally and internationally.
We certainly understand and appreciate that some combinations of boys, friendship groups or family connections are not always conducive to maintaining the best learning environment for the boys.
As we begin the class placement process in the coming weeks, I am more than happy to receive your thoughts and/or requests as parents, however, please understand the final decision remains at the school level and parental requests are not guaranteed. Class placements are finalised and approved by the Junior School leadership team. Families will be notified by email before the new school year begins as to which class their son has been allocated to. No changes will be made to class groups once they have been finalised by the school.
If you have any requests for 2021 class placement for your son, please put these in writing and send them through to my email by Friday 30 October at the latest so they can be considered.
Term 4 Class Captains and Semester Two Awards
Congratulations to the boys who will receive their Term 4 Class Captains badges this Friday. I am sure you will all represent your class superbly for our last term of the school year.
This week we also celebrate those boys who have been chosen for Semester Two class awards. Well done on your continued hard work this year.
Year 5 ‘My Body, My Life Puberty and Personal Development Program’
In the coming week, our Year 5 families will receive information about the upcoming program run by the Catholic Archdiocese. The puberty and personal development program comprises of an online component to be completed in the family home. This will be followed by a one and a half hour school component led by members of the Archdiocesan Marriage, Family and Relationships team and is in line with the Australian Curriculum. If you have any questions regarding this program once you receive the information letter, please do not hesitate to contact your son’s classroom teacher.
May St Marcellin continue to look over our Marist community this term.
Kirsty Bell
Assistant Head of School – Head of Junior School