St Kieran Newsletter Term 1, Week 8 - 27th March 2025

Principal's Message

It was through the angel Gabriel that God began his conversation with Mary, “Hail, Mary, full of grace”. Likewise, with us it is God who begins the conversation and, as with Mary, often in unexpected ways. We are surprised to find ourselves moved by such events as a spectacular sunset, holding a newborn child, an unexpected phone call from a friend. In our emotional responses in particular, we are surprised to experience God’s presence through something outside of ourselves, something we find difficult to describe.  

The Feast of the Annunciation can be a time for us to review how we are progressing in our life as a Christian, since we said our “yes” to God in Confirmation. With our “yes” to God’s presence in our lives, we were asked to nurture the word of God within us and bring Christ into the world, not in the same way as Mary, but by our own personal situation. By using our own personal gifts and talents, we are asked to bring Christ into the lives of others.  

Being true or faithful to our calling to follow Christ, is no easy matter. It would have been easy for Mary to have run away, either literally or emotionally, but instead she positioned herself before God and declared herself open to God’s unexpected intervention in her life. For us, the challenge is the same: not to run away from our Christian commitment but to stay true and open to God’s conversation with us.  

God comes to us through the familiar daily routine of our lives and commitments, asking us to see in them the raw material for personal spiritual growth. As we respond with simplicity and openness to God, who is forever coming to us, we associate ourselves with Mary whose response was: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord. Let it be with me according to your word.” Luke 1:38  

Hail Mary full of Grace the Lord is with you. Help us to respond willingly to the Lord within us. Amen.  

I hope the week has been good to you all and remember if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask. 

Best wishes and take care. 

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

Staff News

I am pleased to announce that we have appointed a school nurse to St Kieran to begin Term 2. Welcome to Sarah Pfaff who will be be joining us from 8am - 3pm each day to assist the management and administration of first aid across the school. We look forward to having you be part of our community Sarah and supporting the parents, staff and students in their daily needs. Congratulations. 

St Kieran C Centre Blessing and Acknowledgement

Tomorrow, Friday 28th March we will be officially blessing the C Centre Refurbishment and Extensions. This will start at 9am and conclude around 10am. The students from Pre-Primary to Year 6 will be attending. Parents are also welcome to attend. We look forward to welcoming wider members from our school community and CEWA as we acknowledge the formal conclusion of this process. 

Please note on this day parking will be restricted at the front of the school and in the staff carpark. 

Kindy 2026 Enrolments

We are accepting Kindy Enrolments for 2026, with interviews to begin later this term for students to start at St Kieran next year. All parents need to submit an application to make sure your child is enrolled at St Kieran Catholic Primary School for 2026. 
If you have any questions or would like clarification, please ring the school Administration. 

Late Students

The main school gates are closed and locked at 8.40am for PP- Year 6 students, this when the bell goes to begin lessons, this includes the Morgan Street drop off. Once the bell has gone students are expected to be in class and therefore the teachers take the class roll indicating if a child is at school or not at school, this is all done through SEQTA. Once this is done by the class teacher a child arriving after this time is considered late and will need to sign in at the office to confirm their attendance. 
As you can see there is a process for this and while it may be frustrating when we close the gate, in actual fact classrooms have started and students are present. We understand things happen in the morning, which is fine but please beware of the process, as staff members holding open the gate creates a flow on effect for the school and the children will still need to go to the office to sign in.

Parking

We again need to remind parents about parking at St Kieran, unfortunately, this seems to be an ongoing concern and while many families do the right thing for everyone it continues to create frustrations for many. The school staff do not have the legal ability to enforce parent driving behaviours, however, if you are putting a child at risk by not following our very simple instructions we will follow up with you and address this.  

1. DO NOT turn right into the Kiss and Drive - please wait your turn in the queue down Tyler Street. 
2. DO NOT overtake the queue and push in front of the Kiss and Drive line. Be respectful of others. 
3. Keep the Corner of Tyler Street and Morgans Street free from all traffic. 
4. DO NOT pick up or drop your child off on the road outside of the Administration - find a legal parking bay or use the Kiss and Drive. 
5. If you DO NOT have an ACROD Permit, please don’t use these bays. 
6. Ciaran Centre Families are the only families welcome to use the parking at the front of Administration. 
7. DO NOT park at the Servite Friar’s house of residence and business - this is private property. 
8. DO NOT park on verges that are sign posted. 

Packed with Goodness - Save The Date!

Packing children's lunches is like trying to predict the weather—one day they love sandwiches, the next day they act like you’ve packed them a live snake. To help out, Mrs Pusey has organised a presentation for parents from the Packed with Goodness team. During this session, parents will be provided with new ideas to make lunchbox packing easier.  

There was so much positive feedback from the session last year, Mrs Pusey has worked hard in getting the team back. 

Date: Friday 16th May  
Time: 9am 
Location: Upper Learning Area.  

Easter Colouring Competition

It's back again for another year.  We are delighted to announce the return of our Easter Colouring Competition! This is a fantastic opportunity for students to showcase their artistic talent and celebrate the joy of Easter. 

How to Participate: 

Templates: Students can participate by colouring in one of the Easter templates on the competition website. 
Submission: Please submit entries to projects@cewa.edu.au 
Prizes: The most creative entries will have the chance to win fabulous prizes. A winner and a runner-up will be selected from all primary levels. 

For more details, please visit the competition website at www.cewa.edu.au/easter. 

We look forward to seeing the wonderful creations of our talented students. Happy colouring and good luck to all participants! 

Easter Raffle

Easter Raffle 

Each year leading into Easter the school holds an Easter Egg Raffle. This is our major fundraiser for the Lenten season and all proceeds are given to Caritas Australia’s Project Compassion Appeal. 

We ask each family to send in a donation of Easter Eggs or Easter Merchandise and these will be bundled up to make many prizes. Please put your donation into the baskets at administration or where students are selling the raffle tickets in the undercover area.  

  This year tickets will be $1 each and will go on sale on Monday 31st March. Cash only sales.  

Tickets will be sold before school in the undercover area from 8.10-8.40am and after school from 3.00-3.20pm. 

The raffle will be drawn on Thursday 10th April and prizes sent home with the children that day. 

Sacrament of Reconciliation

Those students preparing for the Sacrament of Reconciliation will be participating in a Retreat on Friday, April 4 and the Parent and Child Workshops on Tuesday and Wednesday April 8 and 9 respectively. Information about the Retreat will be shared by the Year 3 teachers, Miss Conti and Miss Marchesi. 

Please complete the following form to choose which Parent and Child Sacrament of Reconciliation Workshop you will be attending: Form 

Sign of the Week

This week the staff at St. Kieran we have begun to learn some Key Word Signs (KWS) borrowed from Auslan signs (Australian Sign Language). These KWS will be included in our weekly memo and displayed around our school. There is also a display poster in reception so visitors can give it a try (if you scan the QR code it leads to a KWS video). Learning one key word sign a week is a simple but powerful way to increase our awareness and inclusion at St. Kieran. By committing to learning just one sign each week, we break down barriers and build empathy. It reminds us to be more mindful of accessibility and gives us the tools to connect with more people. Over time, these small efforts add up, leading to greater fluency and a more inclusive environment for everyone. 

This week’s sign is: walk  

Swimming Carnival

On Friday the 21^st of March the St Kieran Faction Swimming Carnival was held at Bayswater Waves. Over 150 students competed in the races on the day, with some terrific achievements and sportspersonship shown throughout. Events on the day included the novelty kickboard and noodle races, as well as traditional events such as freestyle, breaststroke and backstroke.

A big thank you to the parents, staff and students who assisted on the day to ensure a smooth and fun carnival for all. Congratulations to the individual award winners, as well as Mercy faction for taking home the overall points shield for the second year in a row.

Finally an email will be sent to parents in the coming week about interschool for those students who have been selected.

FACTION POINTS

1^st: Mercy 247 points

2^nd: Francis 243 points

3^rd: Frayne 240 points

4^th: Mackillop 197 points

Enact of The Stations of the Cross for all children

Dear Parents,

The Children’s Liturgy Team at St Kieran’s Parish are planning an enact of the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday.  The Liturgy will take place on Friday the 18th of April and it will begin at 10:00am. All children are invited. 

 There will be three practice sessions on Tuesday the 15th, Wednesday the 16th and Thursday the 17th of April from 9:00 am to 10:00 am. Your child will need to meet us in the St. Kieran’s church. If your child participates in this Liturgy and is preparing for the Sacraments this year, the hours will go towards their community service. We would like children from different grades to perform in the play and we would like children from Years 5, 6 and over to help with the readings.

If you would like to participate, you can contact one of us from the St Kieran Parish or turn up on the day to the St Kieran church.  

Barb 0411309266
Ruby 0433636476

Thank you,
Ruby Wijethunga

Free Football West Girls Day Out Promotion

School Holiday Program

We Are Yokine and Yokine Bowling Club Carboot & Handmade Sale 6th April