St Angela of the Cross Primary school is an inclusive, respectful, persistent and safe school – inclusive of cultural diversity, respectful in the way we interact with each other, persistent in striving to do our best and ensuring everyone is kept safe. This environment has been achieved by our highly committed staff who work strategically and enthusiastically to develop and enhance a culture of learning, caring and personal development.

Although we can strive for our school wide expectations, at times students don’t always meet this mark or make the right choice. This is a part of life. These instances however, become teachable moments where we can educate a child on what is appropriate and acceptable. We use restorative chats where possible and we can explain how someone is feeling based around their actions and look at ways to restore the relationship. At times, a consequence is given, this helps reinforce the desired behaviours we are looking for.

Just recently, we have had some feedback that students are making comments about the way someone looks. These comments from little people can be just observational and lack tact and often the saying, ‘not thinking before they speak’ comes to mind. Comments such as “why do you have a hearing aid, why do you wear leg braces, why is your skin darker than mine” these questions can be inquisitive or insensitive rather than discriminatory. But as a partnership, parents and teachers need to help our children understand that we are all different and these differences should be celebrated not ostracised.

As the students reach middle to senior school, we see more understanding around discriminatory behaviour at times crossing over to being deemed racist. These comments have no place in St Angela of the Cross nor in society today. When this occurs, our school will act swiftly on the education for students, informing families to also support us in ensuring this message hits home.

At St Angela of the Cross we believe that to develop successful learners we must first develop safe and inclusive classrooms where relationships, routines, understandings and good habits are taught and developed. The first four weeks of this year have been focusing on school values, routines and expectations. Now we are working on getting to know each other, growth mindset and the concept that everyone is accepted and celebrated. I have high expectations that racism has no part in society and that we all need to play our role so that no one experiences the harm that racism or discrimination can cause to individuals, families and community groups.

Leah Missen | Learning Adjustment Leader / Student Wellbeing / Mental Health in Schools

Leah works closely and in consultation with the leadership team and school staff with a focus on improving student learning outcomes. She liaises with external specialists, such as Occupational Therapists and Educational Psychologists. Information provided by specialists is then used by teachers to target their teaching to match the needs of individual students. At times, Leah will facilitate Parent Support Group meetings alongside classroom teachers, to develop individual student learning goals and outcomes as necessary.

Leah is currently studying through the University of Melbourne to become the schools Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader. This role will allow Leah to build the capacity of school staff to identify and support students with mental health concerns. Her priority will be to promote a whole-school approach to mental health and wellbeing to students, staff and families, however, this does not provide one-to-one intervention or counselling support to students.

When families choose to engage with external providers such as, Speech Therapists, this must be done in consultation with the school. However, the school does reserve the right to allow these services permission to work during agreed school hours. Factors such as space and classroom timetables are considered. This decision process is in line with the Diocese of Sale Catholic Education Limited External Provider Guidelines.

We hope that you have found this information useful and understand Leah’s role within our school.

Leah can be contacted via the school office by appointment or email lmissen@stangelawarragul.catholic.edu.au

Parents and Friends

A big thank you to all our P&F members who helped cook over 500 sausages for our House Athletics Fundraiser on Friday. It is was a huge effort from our P&F to manage delivery of lunch to so many people in a short time frame and I know the mums and dads of St Angela’s would be grateful for the effort to make the BBQ so successful. There were many happy children, enjoying the sausages, drinks and icy poles. A big thank you to Jessie and Tyssen Morrow for the provision of the cool room.

I would also like to take this time to thank Tamielle Nichol for her work as President of the P&F. Volunteering can be really rewarding when things come together at the end, but often there is a lot of time and effort that goes in behind the scenes that often goes unnoticed. Tamelle has been an excellent coordinator, communicator and promoter of St Angela’s of the Cross and the inclusive nature that she has promoted has brought in new faces, with new ideas. I wish her well on her next adventure but it does open up a new position as president. Bel Thomson will take over as acting president until our next meeting in April. If you would like to get involved with P&F please get in touch with the office and Cassie will connect you to the group.

St Angela of the Cross Feast Day: Tuesday March 4

Parents are invited to our Feast Day Mass starting at 12pm at St Joseph’s church. As this is an excursion, parents are asked to provide permission for students to travel by bus. As the day coincides with Shrove Tuesday, students will receive a pancake and their choice of topping. P&F have offered to cook pancakes for students and I am sure they will be looking for support if anyone is free.

School Leaders

We have nearly finalised our school leaders for 2025, we hope to do this by the end of the week. We would like to announce our school captains at our St Angela of the Cross Feast Day Mass on Tuesday 4^th March. We will announce our Mini Vinnies, CHAT and School Captains.

Carline drop off & pick up procedures

A reminder that carline drop off procedures will change soon and that all entry and exiting will be off Mills Rd with cars completing a loop. Information was sent home in SZapp message early in the week with a detailed explanation of the changes. Parents can utilise the first 10 car parks to park.

House Athletics Carnival

A big congratulations to Blue House for winning the House Athletics Carnival. In a short presentation on Monday, Mrs Dennis was able to talk to the level or sportsmanship shown by our senior students when competing, with students often knowing they weren’t going to win but where participating to gain house points anyway. This attitude was the likely catalyst that saw Blue house pip second place Red house by only 10 points. Green and Yellow House had a difference of 5 points for third and forth place. For next year, I encourage all students to continue to give it a go; your little contribution can make a big difference to your team overall!

NAPLAN

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a literacy and numeracy assessment that students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 undertake. NAPLAN will begin on Wednesday 12^th March - please refer to the Information included in this newsletter.