St Kieran Newsletter Term 4, Week 8 - 28th November 2024

Principal's Message

“Rejoice, exult with gladness; do not fear, dispel your sadness. Raise your hearts, the time is near; Christ the Lord will soon appear.”  

This ancient Advent prayer-hymn is about living in hope. Hope is a sturdy virtue because it must put up with waiting, postponement and doubts that arise when it seems that what we hope for will not eventuate.  

Being a Christian is about believing and hoping in God and this firstly requires that we seek Him. Seeking God requires that we don’t expect all the answers about God at once; it’s a lifetime’s quest; being a Christian is about the whole of life. As we experience annual observations such as Christmas, Easter and Advent, we might regard each of them as a door to be opened; as we step through each doorway there is the opportunity for a new sense of direction for our life.  

Life is almost a constant Advent Season; we are constantly waiting to become…, to discover…, to complete…., to fulfil. However, Advent is also an invitation to remember, to see again the presence of God among us, God who is here from the beginning.  

“Jesus is the single human being who puts together in one life all the ‘God-light’ scattered over thousands of years from Abraham to Moses to David to Isaiah to John the Baptist to Mary and Joseph, to us here and now.” Author Unknown.  

When we look at the big screen, we find that Jesus is not just a special baby but the One who brings together all the promises, all the hopes, all the visions, all the miracles, all the dreams of all the people of God. Jesus is our promise, our hope, our vision, our miracle, our dream, because Christmas is our story and Advent is our time to remember our collective past and look forward in hope to our future.  

We all need periods of waiting in our lives for during such times we mature. We could be likened to grapes that spend time in vats and barrels, just waiting, but eventually maturing to become “full-bodied and rich with long, silky tannins”. We need times of waiting to savour the joy of fulfilment.  

Sometimes we wait in darkness, when life is not so good, before we can appreciate the coming of dawn. Expectant mothers wait nine months before they can see the faces of their new children. Seeds are buried in the darkness of the earth before they can emerge into the light of day as new shoots. Ideas need to mature in minds before they can emerge as realities. So, Advent, the Season of waiting in hopeful expectation, fits in very well with our own life’s experiences of waiting, hoping and then enjoying the rewards of our hope and trust.  

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, before he became Pope Benedict XVI wrote: “Advent’s intention is to awaken the most profound and basic emotional memory within us, namely, the memory of God who became a child. It is the beautiful task of Advent to awaken in all of us memories of goodness and thus to open the doors of hope.”  

As we wait and listen in faith, we trust that memory and hope will come alive. Hopefully, when Advent has lead us to Christmas, we will be open to the realisation that God became man, not so that He can be with us but so we can be with Him.  

Come, long-expected Jesus,  
inspire me to see and appreciate my life in a new way.  
Help me to rethink the ordinary things in my life in terms of gratitude.  
Quicken my being with Your coming this Christmas.  
Amen. 

With this all in mind - it has been a really busy term at St Kieran and especially the last few weeks with swimming and concerts. We know everyone is tired, we are tired, you are tired, the children are tired but we have one week to go! Please take the time to recover over the weekend sleep well and rest up. Take that extra breath next week and ensure that we remember the season that we are just about to embark on - Advent. 

I hope you have had a great week. 

Take care and stay safe. 

Daine Burnett 
Principal 
daine.burnett@cewa.edu.au

Calendar

A reminder to all families to continue to check the school calendar on our website for dates and events that are coming up during the term. We conclude the school year on Friday 6th December for all students. 

Final Week

Next week will be a busy week, there is lots going on to celebrate the final week of school at St Kieran for 2024. Please make sure you are following on with all the information that has been sent out via emails and Seesaw. If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to contact the staff for any clarification. 

School Term and Professional Development Dates 2025

The school administration office will re-open on Thursday 23rd January 2025 at 8am. 

All staff will return to school on Monday the 3rd February. Students will return for the first day of school for 2025 on Wednesday 5th February. 3 Year Old Kindy will commence on Monday 11th February/Tuesday 12th February 2025.

Term Dates 2025 

Term 1 - Wednesday 5 February (Monday 3 February for staff) to Friday 11 April. 
Term 2 - Monday 28 April to Friday 4 July. 
Term 3 - Monday 21 July to Friday 26 September. 
Term 4 - Monday 13 October to Friday 12 December (Friday 19 December for staff). 

Staff Professional Development Days 
Please note while these dates been set aside for 2025, there maybe circumstances that require us to adjust these during the year to cater for system and educational initiatives. The dates for 2025 are: 

Contact Details - Parents

It is imperative that parents and families update the school when your personal details change during the year. If you change you email address or mobile phone please ensure that the school administration is contacted so we can update these details for communication purposes. 

School Fees

A reminder to all families that school fees are now due and that if for any reason you are falling behind you need to make an appointment with the school principal to address these concerns and the payments required. 

Enrolments 2025

We have a very limited number of positions available across the school in a variety of year levels. Please contact the administration office for further information.

Kindy Enrolments 2026

We are now accepting Kindy Enrolment's for Kindy 2026. Please don’t leave this until the last minute as this year we have many families including siblings who we could not accommodate for an enrolment. Please submit your application and make sure you have your children enrolled at the right time - if in doubt please contact the school office. 

Carols in the Quad

Date :Thursday 28/11/24 
Time: 6.30pm Sharp 
Where: St Kieran Basketball Courts 

Once again this year we will have our Carol's in the Quad.  Last year was a great success and we would like to see a repeat of that this year with many new songs and some old ones too. We all look forward to seeing you  tonight. 

Playing After School

Children must be under the supervision of their parents and not on the playground equipment before or after school, this includes playing with balls on the courts. We please ask that after you have collected your child at the end of the day to leave the school grounds promptly. All playground equipment is out of bounds and we encourage you to take your children to Grenville Oval if you would like to catch up with other parents for a chat while your children have a play. 

Can you please ensure that family members or friends that are picking up your children are made aware of this as well. 

Uniform 2025

Just a reminder to all parents to not leave purchasing new uniforms until late in January as JFE get very busy. We have made a slight adjustment to our uniforms, now adding females navy shorts to our guidelines for 2025.The JFE showroom is open: 

• Monday 8-4pm 
• Tuesday 8-4pm 
• Wednesday 8-4pm 
• Thursday 8-4pm 
• Friday 8-1.30pm 

JFE - Unit 1/85 Guthrie Street - Osborne Park 

School Code 1005

Parents of children going in to Pre-Primary 2025 need to ensure that their children are in sports uniform. 
Parents of children going in to Year 1 2025 need to ensure that their children are in full academic uniform. 
Shoes, while we have been tolerant of these with the cost of living and pressures on families the correct shoes must be worn in 2025.  I would ask all parents to refer to the Uniform Policy on our school website. https://stkierancps.schoolzineplus.com/_file/media/2012/school_uniform_guidelines_2024.pdf 

Archiving Seesaw for Students Leaving St Kieran

To all those students leaving at the end of 2024 who are wishing to access any data or photos etc please follow the link below.

https://help.seesaw.me/hc/en-us/articles/208754866-How-do-families-save-and-download-their-child-s-Journal

Liz Watson
Maths Specialist Teacher and IT Support

JFE Christmas Closing & Extended Opening Hours January 2025

JFE will be closing for Christmas on Tuesday 17th DECEMBER 2024 at 11.30AM. JFE will reopen with the following trading hours from Tuesday 7^th January, and it will return to normal trading hours from Monday 3^rd February (Monday – Thursday 8:00am – 4:00pm and Friday 8:00am – 2:00pm). Note due to Monday 27^th January being a public holiday, the shop will be shut.

Mobile Phones and Smart Watches

If for any reason your child must have a mobile phone at school, you are asked to complete the Mobile Phone Form requesting permission. If permission is granted the mobile phone will be given to administration at the start of the day and collected at the end of each teaching day. At no time will mobile phones be permitted outside this.  
Smart Watches or other wearable devices can be worn to school; however, we ask parents to turn off any features that allow the watch to be used for anything other than telling the time while at school. If a student is using it for any other reason, then it is exactly like a Mobile Phone and it MUST be handed in to the front office. 
 Please click on the link below for more information on our Mobile Phone Usage Guideline. This is also located on the school website for further reference if required. https://stkierancps.schoolzineplus.com/_file/media/1353/mobile_phone_usage_guidelines_students.pdf 

ySafe Parents Resources

As a part of our partnership with ySafe, we have received our very own Online Safety Hub. The Online Safety Hub provides a rich source of information for you to help you manage cyber safety in the home, including engaging blogs, articles, guides and resources.  The Online Safety Hub can be accessed using the link below. https://stkieran.onlinesafetyhub.com.au/ 

Procedure to Deal with Incidents

Unfortunately at times during the school day there are incidents that may arise that require intervention or follow up by either the staff or by parents. To assist with this process the procedure is located on the website, it may give you some strategies to work through during these times of heightening emotions. The one element to remember is that mistakes can be made and as a catholic school we forgive and reconcile and move forward together. 

https://stkierancps.schoolzineplus.com/_file/media/1351/dispute_complaint_resolution_procedure.pdf 

St Joseph’s Chapel - St Kieran Parish

We will build a chapel for St Joseph and child Jesus on the opposite side of the church, where Mary (Annunziata) Chapel is. The statue of St Joseph is being carved now overseas. We encourage the parishioners to help us in this next addition to our beautiful church. If you would like to donate some money for the statue of St Joseph or the stain glass and renovation of the room, you can talk to Fr. Wilson or Judith. 

St Kieran Parish - Nativity Play - Christmas Eve

Holiday Programs at Stirling Leisure

Summer Reading Quest - Osborne Park Library

Keyed Up Music 2025