One of our lovely mum’s has sourced a beautiful selection of gifts for your children to purchase for Mother’s Day. There is a wide selection available from $5 to $25 – Cash only

Students will be offered the opportunity to purchase  on the following days in the Primary Forum.

Tuesday 3 May

8am – 8.30am   Kindy and Pre-Primary accompanied by a parent.

8.30am – 8.45am  Year 6’s and Pre-Primary students needing assistance

8.45am – 9am Year 3’s and Pre-Primary Students needing assistance

9am – 9.15am Year 2’s

Wednesday 4 May

8am – 9.15am                 Pre Kindy’s accompanied by a parent

8.30am – 8.45am           Year 5’s

8.45 – 9am                       Year 4’s

9am – 9.15am                  Year 1’s

Thursday 5 May

8.30am – 9.30am

Anyone who hasn’t purchased and wishes to do so.

Thank you to the volunteers that have offered their assistance to run this event. Any funds raised will go towards our annual end of year family event.

Welcome Back!

We hope you spent some quality time with your family over the holidays and feel re-energised for the term ahead. Staff are looking forward to welcoming back our lovely students tomorrow 🙂! We have planned a fun-packed Term 2 and look forward to the many learning opportunities ahead.

As you would be aware, the government has made new announcements today in relation to restrictions. Please note that we are waiting for further information from AISWA (Association of Independent Schools of Western Australia) before announcing any changes to our current school COVID-19 protocols. As always, we appreciate your patience, understanding and support as we work through any changes.

Kind regards

The Primary Leadership Team

ANZAC Day Service

Our traditional ANZAC Day ‘dawn’ Service will take place this Friday 29 April at 7.45am, on the slope near the Administration building (near the flag poles). We would like to extend an invitation to you, your family and your friends to reflect and remember with respect, dignity and prayer those who have sacrificed for our country.

Primary Interhouse Cross Country (Year 2 – 6) 

Our Interhouse Cross Country will be taking place on Friday 29 April (Week 1, Term 2) for all students in Year 2 – 6. In light of the current climate and restrictions, this year’s Interhouse Cross Country has been modified appropriately, in order for our students to have the opportunity to participate. Year groups will participate in the Cross Country at allocated times throughout the day. The course will be contained within the school boundaries and students will run around a 500m track on the secondary oval.

What to Wear:

• House Sport Uniform (Physical Education shorts and House shirt)
• Appropriate running shoes

What to Bring:

• Clearly marked hat and water bottle 

Spectators

We are pleased to inform you that parents/guardians will be able to spectate from a distance. Parents/guardians may only spectate their own child’s race and must leave promptly at the end of the race. Parents/guardians will only be permitted to spectate from a designated area on the far side of the oval (closest to the road).

Icy Poles

As you may be aware the proceeds collected from the sale of icy poles are given to charity organisations. Due to the increased price of sourcing our icy poles, we have made the decision to increase the cost to $1.00 per icy pole. This will ensure that we are still in a position to donate to charity. Our captains will be selling icy poles this Friday during Recess.

Many thanks

Madame Pilote

Reminder to Parents and Carers

A friendly reminder to parents and carers to please drive slowly in the car park before and after school in order to ensure the safety of our children.

Mother’s Day Stall

More information will follow later this week in relation to timing of the stall and pricing of gifts. Looking forward to another very successful Mother’s Day stall!

Mother’s Day Stall Volunteers Needed

Crazy Hair Day

Primary Interhouse Cross Country (Year 2 – 6) 

Our Interhouse Cross Country will be taking place on Friday 29 April (Week 1, Term 2) for all students in Year 2 – 6. In light of the current climate and restrictions, this year’s Interhouse Cross Country has been modified appropriately, in order for our students to have the opportunity to participate. Year groups will participate in the Cross Country at allocated times throughout the day. The course will be contained within the school boundaries and students will run around a 500m track on the secondary oval.

What to Wear:

• House Sport Uniform (Physical Education shorts and House shirt)
• Appropriate running shoes

What to Bring:

• Clearly marked hat and water bottle 

Spectators

We are pleased to inform you that parents/guardians will be able to spectate from a distance. Parents/guardians may only spectate their own child’s race and must leave promptly at the end of the race. Parents/guardians will only be permitted to spectate from a designated area on the far side of the oval (closest to the road).

Children’s University

Today was the first passport signing session for 2022.  They will be every Tuesday in the Primary Forum between 8.15 – 8.45 am.  The next session will be the 3^rd May – as this is nearly a month away, please diarise this session and remind your children closer to the date.  New students to the program will need to come and collect their passports at these sessions.

The Autumn Challenge set by CUA has some great activities to keep students busy and having fun while learning, please see attached.  I am sure you will find some time to incorporate these into the school holidays.  School holidays is also a time when many CU families make time to visit a learning destination – maybe you could try AQWA, Art Gallery of WA, Bibbulmun track, the Busselton Jetty and Underwater Observatory, City of Joondalup Libraries or many more.  Remember, no matter what you do, always collect some evidence so that the hours can be accredited during the passport stamping sessions.  Evidence could include a photo, an entry ticket, a journal entry about the visit, a short video, a finished piece of artwork etc.

I look forward to seeing and hearing what the students get up to these holidays!

Dr Janell Morris

Year 6 Science

The Year 6 students have been learning about volcanoes in Science. On Wednesdays, Year 6 students spend their Science lesson in the Secondary Science laboratory where they do hands-on practical work to help consolidate their understanding of work covered in class. Over the past two weeks, the Year 6’s designed and built a volcano. They activated their models this week– when a combination of vinegar, bicarbonate of soda, detergent and a drop of food colouring resulted in their volcanoes blowing their tops.  It’s been amazing to see Year 6 students working in Secondary Science laboratories, getting a feel of the many opportunities ahead.

A message from Madame Pilote 

As the holidays are fast approaching, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your ongoing support and understanding in what has proven to be quite an unprecedent term. I wish you and your family a blessed Easter and hope that you will enjoy some quality and restful time with your loved ones over the coming weeks.

God Bless

Madame Pilote

Giving Thanks

In the spirit of our annual Thanksgiving worship, our Executive team is encouraging community members to take some special moments to reflect on what they are thankful for this year and join with family members to give thanks for all of our blessings. Please watch this special Thanksgiving message from our Executive team.

A MESSAGE FROM LEADERSHIP

Dear Parents & Carers

We understand that communication and information lines are very important during these current times however, should your child test positive for COVID, we would ask two things:

1. You are to contact our covidcommunications@ststephens.wa.edu.au.
2. The Head of Campus will communicate the situation to the rest of the class affected once the school has been through the process of contact tracing.

We understand that parents may feel the need to inform others of their child’s COVID status in order to protect everyone however, communicating via Social Media seems to have brought some anxiety within our beautiful community and we therefore ask that you refrain from doing so.

As always, we appreciate your cooperation and understanding in these unprecedented times.

Kind regards

The Primary Leadership Team

Crazy Hair Day

Children’s University – 2022 Membership

I am delighted to extend the invitation to any Year 3 students wishing to take part in the Children’s University program.  This program will help build independence and a sense of responsibility in addition to the love of learning.  If you are interested, please complete the below consent form and return it to Janelle.morris@ststephens.wa.edu.au at your earliest convenience.

To the families of Year 4 – 6 students who have already enrolled and completed their consent forms, you were sent an email yesterday afternoon about how to pay for your annual membership of $30 + GST which is due to be paid by Friday 8 April.  In addition, please ask your child to meet me in the Primary Forum at 8.15am on Tuesday 5 April, where I will issue them with their passports and online log in details.

CU Membership Consent Form.pdf

Lost Property

Lost property will be located outside the Reception Office from tomorrow until next Wednesday. If your child has misplaced anything throughout the term, please come along and have a look.

City of Wanneroo School Holiday Programs

What Secondary will be like!

“Wow! I can’t wait to get in to the high school!” “If this is what high school is like, I can’t wait!”

These were just some of the comments made by our Year 5 & 6 students as they experienced some Phys Ed, HASS and Cooking lessons yesterday and today. As part of our PK – 12 approach, twice a year we give these year groups the opportunity to ‘feel’ what it will be like in some of the learning areas when they get in to high school and to have a ‘taste’ of what is contained within the curriculum. They were wonderful mornings, moving around in their House groups, listening to the secondary specialist teacher explain what their subject area was and where it would lead over the years as well as participating in a variety of learning activities. Special thanks to Mrs Yana Snyman, Mr Josh Plummer and Mr Craig Thomas for facilitating the occasion.

Crazy Hair Day

Can you help the Mowamjum Aboriginal Community make hill trolleys?

We are seeking donations of old bike helmets, knee and elbow pads to assist the students in Mowamjum community to experience the thrill of hill trolleys.

No hills in Mowamjum!!

It doesn’t matter, they have that covered, all they need is the resources.

Please donate if you have any of the above items at home and you are no longer using them.

Donations can be given to your child’s teacher for collection.

Canteen Easter Meal Deal

Tech Wednesday

Please note that due to COVID restrictions the Primary Forum is currently out of bounds to minimise student interaction between year levels. To this effect, Tech Wednesday will be put on hold until further notice. We ask that students do not bring their devices to school on Wednesdays (except Year 5 and 6 students who require them for learning). Thank you for your cooperation with this matter.

Harmony Day – Monday 21 March

We will be celebrating Harmony Day, Monday 21 March and invite all students to wear something orange (t-shirt, wrist band, hair accessory etc.). Please note that this is not a fundraising activity and therefore gold coin donations will not be collected. This is a day where we will celebrate how all of our differences make Australia a great place to live!

Children’s University – Monthly Challenge

If you are one of the lucky students participating this year, please see the attachment below for the March Challenge – a great way to start clocking up your hours towards graduation.  Remember, if you have not yet completed your paper work or received your passport, you can still complete the challenge.  Just make sure you have some evidence that you have completed it – e.g. a photo of the meal you made or a drawing of your favourite part of the book.  Passport stamping sessions will start in Term 2.

A reminder to parents that paperwork is due back to me by Wednesday 23 March.  Please send to Janelle.morris@ststephens.wa.edu.au

Tech Wednesday

Please note that due to COVID restrictions the Primary Forum is currently out of bounds to minimise student interaction between year levels. To this effect, Tech Wednesday will be put on hold until further notice. We ask that students do not bring their devices to school on Wednesdays (except Year 5 and 6 students who require them for learning). Thank you for your cooperation with this matter.

Parent Teacher Interviews

A reminder that Kindy to Year 6 parent-teacher interviews will take place next week online via ‘TEAMS’ (Monday 21 March to Friday 25 March). An email with instructions as to how to book a suitable time has been sent to all families today. Interviews will be scheduled for 10-minute blocks. Please book by Thursday 17 March.

Scholastic Book Club

As Scholastic Book Club orders are completed they will be given to students during their class library time.

Parent/Teacher Interviews

Please note that our Kindy to Year 6 parent-teacher interviews will take place in Week 8 online via ‘TEAMS’ this year  (Monday 21 March to Friday 25 March). An email with instructions as to how to book a suitable time has been sent to all families today. Interviews will be scheduled for 10-minute blocks. Please book by Thursday 17 March.

Scholastic Book Club

The Scholastic book club issue 2 order deadline is 21 March

After School Clubs

A reminder that all after school clubs have been cancelled until further notice. Please disregard the automated reminders.

Can you help the Mowamjum Aboriginal Community make hill trolleys??

We are seeking donations of old bike helmets, knee and elbow pads to assist the students in Mowamjum community to experience the thrill of hill trolleys.

No hills in Mowamjum!!

It doesn’t matter, they have that covered, all they need is the resources.

Please donate if you have any of the above items at home and you are no longer using them.

Donations can be given to your child’s teacher for collection.

Dear Families

This is just to communicate that, as of this Thursday coming, Level 2 restrictions are being imposed which means the wearing of masks for students in Year 3 – 6.

With that in mind, in order to protect the School as much as possible, can I suggest that it would be prudent to limit gatherings outside of school hours and restrict numbers at events such as parties, camping and barbecues in the immediate short term.

Thank you for your support and consideration at this time.

Yours in Service

YEAR 3 – 6 Interhouse Swimming Carnival Reminder 

A reminder that our Interhouse Swimming Carnival is taking place this Friday 4 March. Due to the current COVID restrictions and advice/guidelines/mandates for schools and community sport, we will be running our carnival with two half day sessions. Year 3 and 4 students will attend the morning session, and Year 5 and 6 students will attend the afternoon session. Students will be seated in their class groups rather than House groups this year. Our goal is to manage the COVID risk as best as we can, whilst still trying to conduct some type of swimming carnival. Please see the details below.

Date:  Friday 4 March 2022 (Week 5, Term 1)

Venue:  HBF Arena Joondalup – Kennedya Drive, Joondalup 

Year 3 & 4 Carnival Time:  Bus departing school at 8.45am – bus departing HBF Arena at 11.45am

Year 5 & 6 Carnival Time:  Bus departing school at 11.45am – bus departing HBF Arena at 3.00pm

What to bring/wear:

• Students must bring all food and drink they require for the day – the Café is not accessible.
• House Uniform, towel, thongs/sandals and bathers – no two-piece bathers please.
• Labelled school bag or alternative backpack
• Swimming caps and goggles are highly recommended – we encourage students to wear swimming caps that match their House colour for extra House spirit!
• Year 3 and 4 students will be able to change out of their bathers and back into their House Uniform on arrival back at school (not at HBF Arena).

Lunch Orders

• Year 3 and 4 students are welcome to place lunch orders on Friday, as they will be back to school in time for our normal 12.40pm lunch time.
• No lunch orders for Year 5 and 6 students – as they will be at the pool from 12.00pm onwards. 

Spectators

We are unfortunately unable to have any spectators at our Interhouse Swimming Carnival this year. No parents/guardians are permitted to spectate students at HBF Arena Joondalup. Parents/guardians who have volunteered to assist on the day will no longer be able to attend the carnival. We appreciate your support in this matter and are sorry that this is the case for 2022.

We thank you for your support and look forward to seeing your children swim at our Interhouse Swimming Carnival!

Hannah Uglow

Teacher – Primary Physical Education

Icy Poles

There will be no icy poles on sale this Friday as all Year 6 Captains will be competing at the Swimming Carnival.

The Scholastic book club issue 2 order deadline is 21 March

Children’s University – CU – it’s back for 2022!

I was so proud of the six graduating CU students last year.  They had a wonderful graduation ceremony put on by ECU in November 2021 and they each deserved their moment in the spotlight. This program is designed to inspire students to learn just because it is fun.  They take on a lot of personal responsibility in choosing their learning activities which can included things like partaking in Science Club after school, building furniture on the weekend, going to a museum, cooking for the family, playing for their local sporting club and so much more.

It does not end there, they then need to be responsible for documenting their learning and getting their learning passport stamped by me.  These students did a great job of being independent motivated learners and were rewarded with their graduation celebration – just look at their proud faces in this photo.

We are happy to announce we have partnered with ECU again this year to run Children’s University at St Stephen’s School and have secured 20 positions in the program.  It is open to children who are in Year 4 and above.  Annual membership forms and an annual fee is required for acceptance into the program by ECU.  If your child is interested in participating in this program, please send me your expression of interest via email (Janelle.morris@ststephens.wa.edu.au) and I will forward any relevant paperwork to you.  Once the 20 places have been filled, we will be unable to accept any further applications.  Please send your expression of interest no later than 14 March 2022.

Happy Twos-Day Everyone (22/2/22)!

YEAR 3 – 6 Interhouse Swimming Carnival – IMPORTANT NOTICE 

Due to the current COVID restrictions and advice/guidelines/mandates for schools and community sport, we have made the decision to revise our Primary Interhouse Swimming Carnival format. Our goal is to manage the COVID risk as best as we can, whilst still trying to conduct some type of swimming carnival.

At this stage our Interhouse Swimming Carnival will still go ahead on Friday 5 March, however the carnival will be split in two half day sessions. Year 3 and 4 students will attend the morning session, and Year 5 and 6 students will attend the afternoon session. Students will be seated in their class groups rather than House groups this year. Please see the details below.

Date:                                     Friday 4 March 2022 (Week 5, Term 1)

Venue:                                 HBF Arena Joondalup – Kennedya Drive, Joondalup

Year 3 & 4 Carnival Time:     Bus departing school at 8.45am – bus departing HBF Arena at 12.00pm.

Year 5 & 6 Carnival Time:     Bus departing school at 11.45am – bus departing HBF Arena at 3.00pm.

What to bring/wear:

• Students must bring all food and drink they require for the day – the Café is not accessible.
• House Uniform, towel, thongs/sandals and bathers – no two-piece bathers please.
• Labelled school bag or alternative backpack
• Swimming caps and goggles are highly recommended – we encourage students to wear swimming caps that match their House colour for extra House spirit!
• Year 3 and 4 students will be able to change out of their bathers and back into their House Uniform on arrival back at school (not at HBF Arena).

Spectators

We are unfortunately unable to have any spectators at our Interhouse Swimming Carnival this year. No parents/guardians are permitted to spectate students at HBF Arena Joondalup. Parents/guardians who have volunteered to assist on the day will no longer be able to attend the carnival. We appreciate your support in this matter and are sorry that this is the case for 2022.

We thank you for your support and look forward to seeing your children swim at our Interhouse Swimming Carnival!

Hannah Uglow

Teacher – Primary Physical Education

Nature Playground Reminder

A friendly reminder that students need to be actively supervised by parents/guardians when playing in our Nature Playground before and/or after school. The safety of all St Stephen’s students is paramount to us and your cooperation with this matter is greatly appreciated.