Friday, 24th February
From the Principal ...
This past week we have had many programs, initiatives and events occurring.
Farm Day Meet&Greet Mini Vinnies Whole School Mass Yr 6 Induction MJR Day Bravehearts
Last Friday our yr 6’s participated in our first Farm Day for the year and by all accounts it was a great day. Our Meet&Greet evening was on Monday and it was great to see so many families attend and meet up with teachers, socialise with other families. Our Mini Vinnie group have met and sold Zooper Doopers to raise money. We had our beginning of year whole school Mass on Ash Wednesday where our school captains received their leadership badges and all the yr 6’s received a Larmenier badge. The Larmenier badge is a symbol of the leadership role and responsibilities that ALL our year 6 students are accountable for and during their MJR session with Marty, they furthered explored their accountability to themselves, their school and their families. Our P - 2 students had an incursion with the team from Bravehearts with special guest ‘Ditto,’ where they learnt about safe behaviour and keeping themselves safe. School life at Larmenier is certainly busy and full of options and events for students!
Update - Uniform Proposed Change
After community consultation and the positive feedback for the change, the School Board has met and endorsed the proposed uniform changes. Taking into account the feedback of the community regarding the transition time, the transition time can be extended beyond the initial two years for any family who would like to.
Pick up and Drop off procedures
We will continue to look for ways to make these busy times as seamless as possible. We are also grateful for your patience and support at these times.
School finishing time
Our school finishing time is 2.55 pm so students will not be at the gate for pick up until this time. Kinder students are ready for pick up slightly before this time and parents are welcome to park and greet their child at the Kinder classroom.
Parents onsite
We welcome and encourage parents to come onsite. This means parents can park their car and drop off or pick up their child.
Drop off process
As Covid restrictions have eased and parents are able to come onsite, we will no longer have a staff member assisting students to get out of cars. Parents are encouraged to park the car and walk their child in or choose a safe spot to pull up to allow their child to exit onto a footpath or directly at the gate. There is a staff member on duty before school; however, their focus is supervising students in the playground.
Pick up process - access road
Given we only have one access road into the school, the road can get very congested at school finishing time. As mentioned, students are not dismissed until close to 2.55 pm so we ask that parents do not wait in the access road until close to finishing time.
Pick up process - pick up + go
We have a large 'pick up + go' section by blocking off with witches' hats the parking spots that are closest to the school. This allows a greater number of cars to pull up for students to enter their car. Staff will have your child waiting on the footpath ready to get in. If you need to, you may need to hop out and help your child into the car. If your child is not at the footpath ready to be picked up, you may need to park the car to wait.
Pick-up process - buses
We are required to make space for the buses to use the access road as they have a schedule to adhere to and it can mean students miss connecting buses if our buses can not get into or out of our access road. When a bus comes in behind you, please make space and allow the buses to move through our access road.
Pick-up process - timeframe
Staff will be on duty until 3.20 pm so you might like to leave pick-up time to 3.10 pm or so as by that time you can generally drive straight down to the school gate without any wait time. At 3.20 pm, any students who are still waiting to be picked up will be taken to the office and can be collected from there.
Communication Platforms
We have a number of communication platforms that are used as a way of communicating and engaging with parents and the wider community. Each platform has its own purpose and hence will communicate different material.
Swimming Carnival
Our swimming carnival for our Yr 3 - 6 students is coming up, next week Wed 1st March at the Riverside Swimming Pool. We look forward to having parents and families attend the carnival. Unfortunately, I will be unable to attend due to a Principals’ Mtg in Hobart. Mrs Vogelaar will be there in my absence. I look forward to hearing all about it when I get back and seeing photos from the day.
Kind regards
Niccola Pearce
Principal
Larmenier Catholic School
Facebook Groups
Facebook groups are often created by each class as a way for parents to keep in touch. Some of the groups have used the school name or logos / branding of the school.
Public Facebook groups, or even private ones, cannot use the school name in the title or any logos or image that identify the school. It makes us, and you, legally responsible.
What you need to do if you have created a group is change the name if it includes Larmenier, remove any identifying pictures and make the group PRIVATE. You can name the groups something like ‘LCS Prep 2023’
If there are any groups out there that are no longer being used and you are the creator, or know the creator, can they please be closed down.
Our main communication on Facebook will come straight from the school. The other popular group LC Farm School Parents will be closed down soon. One of the main purposes of this group is buying & selling secondhand uniforms. A buy & sell page has been created on Facebook, LCS Buy, Swap & Sell. This is strictly for buying and selling second hand uniforms.
Tas Fire Service Visit
A firefighter from the Tasmania Fire Service (TFS) is visiting our school in week 6 (6th – 10th March) to present a Home Fire Safety Program to our Prep to Grade 6 students.
Kindergarten students, whilst not receiving a structured lesson, can expect a visit from the firefighter who will leave some free fun activites for the students to complete.
The age appropriate program is designed to raise fire awareness in children and includes fun in class activities, videos, activity books, website www.tfseducation.com.au and giveaways.
Parents and other family members are also encouraged to participate by reading the information and assisting your child with the after school activities.
The TFS aims to deliver appropriate fire safety education to every primary school child in Tasmania and is part of the TFS’s ongoing commitment to create a fire safe Tasmania.
Key Fire Safety Messages include,
Wake up - Install a smoke alarm in every bedroom
Plan and practice a home fire escape plan with the whole family
In a fire crawl low and go, go, go to the nearest exit
In an emergency call triple zero
Keep flammable material at least two metres from the heater
If your clothes catch fire, stop, drop, rock and roll
Keep matches and lighters away from children
Cooking - Turn it off before you turn away
Cool a burn under cool water for at least 20 minutes
Most house fires can be avoided. Make your home fire safe
More information www.tfseducation.com.au
EARLY CHILDHOOD
TFS receives regular requests from preschools and child care centres asking for firefighters to visit and teach children about home fire safety.
TFS does not deliver structured fire safety programs to children below primary school age. This decision was made based on research carried out by the Mental Health Services of the Royal Children’s Hospital and the Metropolitan Fire Brigade in Melbourne. This research indicated that:
- Children under the age of five had low retention of the information they had learned; and
- In some children, the information had actually stimulated their curiosity about fire and they had begun to play with fire.
TFS believes that parents and caregivers are the best people to make sure that very young children are safe from fire. To help with this, TFS has a fire safety website for parents, carers, teachers and students
TFS has also developed resources for young children that introduce them to the friendly firefighter characters that they will meet when they receive the School Fire Education Program including a colouring book and stickers with home fire safety messages for the whole family.
Free giveaways for your preschool or child care centre are available here.
MJR (Making Jesus Real)
It was my pleasure to recently work with the year 5/6’s and we focused on the theme ‘Accountability’ and how important it is ‘to claim the blame’ when we do something wrong. Teachers and parents/carers must hold young people accountable for their actions and as a class, we discussed how the ‘Art of Reflection’ will help us to correct mistakes. Tied into this was also how essential it is to understand and use manners. We looked at habits and how we need to work on changing negative habits and cultivating positive habits.
We also introduced the term ‘If it is to be, it is up to me.’ If you like to follow up on this why not visit The MJR podcasts – a GPS for Life at https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-mjr-podcast-a-gps-for-life/id1513474986
Again, the students were an amazing group due to their enthusiasm and especially their amazing listening skills. Why not ask them what they learned in the session eg about not back chatting at home or at school, saying OK with a smile, making someone’s day with a smile or a compliment etc. I hope some of you received a letter about helping your children with how to be more accountable.
God Bless
Marty Ogle
MJR - Grade 6
Outdoor Play & Learning
Please read the attached letter from our WHS Officer.
Lar - mini - ers
Setup for Success (Early Learning) has begun for the year. We had our first session last Wednesday with approximately 10 families attending. All current families with young children, and new families, are welcome to join us on Wednesday mornings from 9 - 10:30am.
Dates to Remember ...
- 1st March - Larmenier Swimming Carnival @ Riverside Pool, 9:30am start.
- 9th March - NIJSSA Swimming Carnival @ Riverside Pool
- 20th-22nd March - Grade 6 camp @ Orford.
Farm Days ...
- 3rd March - Grade 3
- 10th March - Prep
- 17th March - Grade 4
- 24th March - Grade 5
- 31st March - Grade 1
Launceston Catholic Schools Music Program
For more information, please read attached flyer ...
Launceston Youth Theatre Ensemble
Hockey - Come & Try
