https://www.australiancatholics.com.au/article/hand-in-hand-with-a-buddhist-nun

LINK TO COMPLETE SURVEY BELOW- SCROLL DOWN!!!

We all know and understand the importance of schools and families working together to get the best social emotional and academic results for our children, and while much effort is made by both teachers and parents, time restrictions are often a barrier to these partnerships existing as fluidly and as often as we would like.

As part of the MHWL role, I would like to invite parents and carers to join forces with us to try and combat poor mental health in our children. We strive to do this in various ways and using various wellbeing programs and resources, but fundamentally we want to: improve our communities understanding of mental health literacy and reduce stigma for talking about our current state of wellbeing, reducing risk factors for developing mental health conditions, embed positive psychology frameworks that educate about the neurological functioning of the brain, and explicitly teach coping strategies and resilience building  as a way of increasing protective factors to ward off poor mental health symptoms.  As part of our school’s cycle of enquiry process; to investigate our current state of wellbeing, mental health literacy and coping strategies, I am using the Beyond Blue, Be You surveys to gather baseline data from our students, educators and hopefully, those who know our children best, their families. I strongly encourage you to share your perceptions and realities with us so we can more accurately identify areas of strength and areas for continued improvement regarding our wellbeing.  Your perspective and opinion are invaluable to us when it comes to understanding what your children need. I will be asking students, educators and families to participate ONCE a year for 15 mins to initially gather, then monitor our school’s progress. Students in Year 4-6 will be asked to complete the Children’s Survey on Friday 28 March during TRP session on their Chromebook. Students from Prep- Year 3 will have a modified series of questions and anecdotal data gathered. The surveys are voluntary so if you do not want your child to participate, please contact me so we can make alternative arrangements for them during the allocated survey time. If you would like to see a copy of the questions students will be asked before they complete the survey, I can send those to you also. I encourage as many families as possible to join in partnership with us on this journey to constantly improving our collective wellbeing.  Please read the specific BE YOU survey information below if you would like to know more information about the process and function of the family’s survey and then please hit the link to complete the survey. Thank you in advance for your support and the investment of your time.

Survey Link: Please Click- survey closes Monday- Week 1 Term 2 after the holidays

https://beyou.syd1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8BrqyFHxHoJ4DXv?survey_id=11284597156 

As always, if you would like to reach out to discuss something specific or need some help about other agencies you can contact to get support, please email at any time. lgreer@stgtraralgon.catholic.edu.au

Leanne Greer

Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader

Hi St Gabriels Families,

The School Advisory Committee would like to welcome each and every family back for the 2025 year.

To the newly starting families, we welcome you to the St Gabes community and hope that the commencement to your first term has been an enjoyable one.

We will continue to focus on ensuring your child gets the best opportunity to improve their knowledge, skills and attitude to set them up on their life journey.

As a board we aim to continue prospering St Gabriels in effort to improve your child's learning experience

Reflecting over the 2024 year, we have had some great achievements. 

A special mention to the Parents and Friends committee, led by Bec, who have undertaken and executed some amazing activities for the school community. 

Leading into 2025, we have committed to some key activities, including;

• Re-commencing working bees
• Implementing further school improvements
• Continuing with the school beautification project
• Supporting the school leadership team to achieve the best learning outcomes for your child.

Kind Regards

School Advisory Committee

CLASS MASS

Families are warmly welcomed to attend our weekly class mass, held in the school multipurpose room at 9:30am.

Entry is via Gate B which will be unlocked at 9:15am on the day.

Sign in/out is set up at the multipurpose room/chapel for your convenience.

The class mass dates can be found on our dates to remember calendar in the newsletter.

St. Gabriel's Primary School is a child safe school. We are committed to embedding a culture of Child Safety, adhering to the Victorian Child Safe Standards: Managing the Risk of Child Abuse in Schools and School Boarding Premises (Ministeral Order No. 1359).

We believe that ensuring the safety of the students in our care is an integral part of who we are as a Catholic faith community. The school acts in accordance with the Ministerial Order through policies, procedures, measures and practices, staff training and, ultimately, through the strategies used in working with the students and families within our school community.

We continue to maintain and develop a safe and supportive learning environment where staff are focused on engaging students in meaningful, relevant and challenging learning experiences.

If at any time you have any issues or concerns you feel you need to raise please contact our Principal: Michelle Charlton or our Child Safety Officer: Alison Phillips 5174 5515.

Term 1 –

Last day, Friday 4^th April

Term 2 –

Wednesday 23^rd April – Friday 4^th July

Term 3 –

Monday 21^st July – Friday 19^th September

Term 4 –

Monday 6^th October – Wednesday 17^th December

Finish at 1pm on the last day of each term.

Punctuality in arriving at school is important for the smooth functioning of school programs, for developing the children’s organisational skills and for the children’s feeling of security.

If your child is late to school arriving from 9.10am onwards due to an appointment or any other reason they must be signed in at the school office.

If your child is unwell, to speed up their recovery we recommend keeping your child at home until they are fully recovered.

Absentee notifications can be entered via PAM up to seven days, if you will be away longer than this you will be required to contact the office on 5174 5515.

Please note all absentee notifications must be completed via a Parent Notified Absence in PAM prior to 9.30am.  If we have not received notification you will be sent a message via SMS with regards to your student/s being absent for the day you will need to phone the admin office on 5174 5515 to advise the reason why the student is absent as this is a legal requirement.