Christ the King School

Dear Parents and Guardians

FOCUS: Feed the Wolf

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, stubbornness, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.” The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?” The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

The tale of the two wolves portrays the good and evil that lives within us, characterised by our conscious and unconscious want and desires. If we are not conscious of our thoughts, we are at the mercy of feeding the evil wolf.

We all have the power to influence outcomes – to choose to stop feeding the bad wolf and start offering all our time and energy to the good wolf so it can flourish instead. We can make a conscious effort to change our perspective and change our thoughts from those of anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, stubbornness, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego to those of joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.

We must be prepared to reach out, proactively, for the good wolf instead of reactively attending to the bad one and behave in each small moment focused on things that are positive, productive, and beneficial to ourselves – and others. This is how you feed the good wolf – this is how good triumphs.

Lord Jesus Christ,
You are a King who cares deeply for his
people. May we search out those in need, so that Love and
Justice will reign as the Kingdom of God is brought forth
within us. We ask our prayer in your name and in the power
of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Advent marks the commencement of the Church’s liturgical year.
In this time of preparation as we wish each other well and share cards and gifts with family and friends, it is good for us to remember, each day, just what we are preparing for – the greatest act of generosity by God to us is undoubtedly the gift of His son Jesus to the world.
He came to us as one of us, a human, humble and poor.
Yet, the divinity of Christ was made manifest to us in all he did.
Is our humanity ready to respond?
Are we prepared to follow in his path?

This Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent, the commencement of the Church’s new liturgical year (Year A) and a time of preparation and waiting. It is good for us to remember each day, as we wish each other well and share cards and gifts with family and friends, just what we are really preparing our hearts for and waiting for – the greatest act of generosity by God to us, the gift of His son, Jesus, to the world. He came to us as one of us, a human humble and poor. Yet, the divinity of Christ was made manifest to us in all He did. Are we prepared to follow in his path? As we celebrate Christmas this year, let us reflect on the most important reason for celebration, the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ!

 

Staffing 2023

Just as we know that the process of primary schooling encourages and supports our children as they stretch and grow towards transition to secondary schooling, so too, do the teachers and staff continue to develop in their profession and from time to time move on.

We say farewell to Chisato McArthur, Clare Stott and Melissa Fusari who have been shining lights in our school this year. We thank them for the contributions they have made to the lives of the students in such a short period of time at CtK. All three will be moving on at the end of the year. We say goodbye to Damian Albuquerque  for 2023 as he is taking next year off to move to Canberra. We wish him well and we hope to see him back in 2024 as he is a wonderful teacher and person.

We wish Anna Fanning, Lily Hartley and Julie Gummer the very best six months of long service leave ever, and we look forward to seeing them back for semester two, 2023.

All parents have been sent the CtK Staffing 2023 YouTube link.

 

School Advisory Council and Parent & Friends Annual Community Meeting 2022

I wish to thank my wonderfully talented staff and lovely parents for attending last Wednesday night’s Annual Community Meeting. At this meeting we presented reports from the Chairperson, Mary-Rose Di Tullio, Board Treasurer, Alan Pecotic and my Principal Report. There is only one change to the Advisory Council for 2023 with Mary stepping down. We thank her for the wonderful contributions she has made to our school and for being a great support to me as Principal. The P&F held their meeting with Angela La Rosa stepping down as Secretary, however, Angela is staying on the P&F Exec as Vice President. The Secretary role does need to be filled for 2023. Research shows that when parents are positively involved in all aspects of their children’s lives, children develop into positive, well-balanced adults who realise their full potential. Thank you to everyone involved.

 

Fathering Group – Paper Planes and Pizza Event

We had 95 Attendees (39 Fathers and 56 Children). Following registrations, Mr Kelly welcomed all attendees and The Fathering Introduction Video was shown. Fathers and their children then got busy making and testing paper planes while feasting on Pizzas. The ‘runway’ was then cleared, and competitions began. After determining finalists from each year group, 3 final ‘flyoffs’ were held, and prizes awarded to the following winners

1. Kindy to Yr2 – Kaiden Baddock – (Moster Jam Lego Techic Prize)
2. Yr3 to Yr6 – Diego Naglieri – (Formula Porsche Lego Technic Prize)
3. Dads – Jeremy Baddock – (Fermented Grape Juice Prize)

Thank you to Mr Geaney for being there too as he was a fantastic support and help on the night.

 

Kindy and Year Four Buddies on CtK Day

The Year Four children wrote their own storybook, and the Kindy children designed a new cover for the book. Awesome learning!

 

Christ the King Day

What a fabulous day we had yesterday with our prayer service, buddy activities and then to finish off we had our CtK stalls. A huge thank you to Mrs Gummer and her team for coordinating the day. It was a wonderful feast day celebration. I hope all the children enjoyed the day as much as I did! Thank you to my brilliant staff for being such awesome people; they are sensational gang.

Move-Up Morning Monday, 9 December will be an opportunity for the children to visit their new classroom, meet with their new teacher and any new classmates for 2023. The morning will involve some schoolwork, or art, social mixing games and informal discussions about expectations for next year.

A reminder, we have our Christmas Carols next Wednesday, 30 November, which is now starting at 6:30pm in the Quad. Each class will sing Christmas Carols. The focus will be on the Spirit of Christmas as I have changed award presentations to Tuesday, 6 December. There will be a sausage sizzle available with all money going to the P&F.

Here are the Events for the last week (Week 9) of 2022:

Monday, 5 December – Move Up Morning for Kindy-Year Five children. The children will meet and work with their new teacher for 2023 from 9:00am until 10:30am.

Tuesday, 6 December – at 9:00am in the Hall, we will be having our Year Six Graduation Awards, Head Boy and Head Girl announcement for 2023 and the Cheryl Babich Scholarship Award. This will be attended by the whole school and we would love to see parents attend this very special and important ceremony.

Wednesday, 7 December – At 9.15am at CtK Church, we celebrate the 2022 Graduation and Thanksgiving Mass. This year, our Year 6 students have been outstanding leaders of our student community and have led various ministries and roles that assist in setting the tone of our school. We take this opportunity to thank them for their dedication to our school and for the way they have conducted themselves this year. I hope all the Year Six families will make the effort to attend this celebration and give thanks for the blessings of this school year. When we look back over the year, and as our Year Six students reflect on their years at Christ the King, we realise that there is so much to be thankful for. Please help to make this a time when our Year Six students remember with pride, that they were part of a caring and supportive faith community who came together to honour and farewell them.  

After Mass, we will have a morning tea for the Year Six parents in the Hall followed by a Graduation lunch and disco for the Year Six students in the Hall.

Thursday, 8 December – Year Six to attend King’s Park. Reports will be available via SEQTA Engage. Parents are most welcome to make a time to meet with their child’s teacher to discuss any aspect of the report on Tuesday, 13 December between 8:30am and 10:30am. Please make the booking with your child’s class teacher and not through the Office.

Friday, 9 December – Christ the King Fun Day. Last day of the 2022 school year.

 

Pupil Free Days (Staff Professional Development), Public Holidays
 School Start and End Dates for 2023:

 

TERM 1

Teachers Return – Monday, 30 January and Tuesday, 31 January
Students return – Wednesday, 1 February
Labour Day Public Holiday – Monday, 6 March
Staff PD Day – Tuesday 7 March

Last day of term for staff and students – Holy Thursday, 6 April
Good Friday – Friday, 7 April
Easter Sunday – Sunday, 9 April

TERM 2

Staff PD Day – Monday 24 April
ANZAC Day – Tuesday, 25 April
Students return – Wednesday, 26 April
WA Day – Monday, 5 June
Friday 30 June – Last day of term 

TERM 3

Staff and Students return – Monday, 17 July
Staff PD Day – Friday, 18 August
Last day of term for staff and students – Thursday, 21 September
Catholic Day for all staff and students – Friday, 22 September

TERM 4

Staff and Students return – Monday, 9 October
Staff PD Day – Monday, 6 November
Last day of the 2023 school year – Friday, 8 December
Last day for staff 2023 school year – Friday, 15 December

This is a hectic time of the year and there are many events, tasks and dates in our minds. Despite all this, we need to ensure that we take the time to do the important things with patience and with the right attention to detail. The most important of these is how we treat each other. Students are tired, parents and staff are very busy and, in this time, we can help each other immensely by being kind and being thankful for having each other in our lives. A happy supportive community is one where children feel safe to grow.

Andrew Kelly
Principal

To: All school community

Dear school community,

Recently the School Advisory Council (SAC) invited families, teachers and students to complete a survey to collect feedback on the current school uniform, as we wish for the uniform to be one that children are comfortable to wear, is cost effective for families and continues to reflect the pride we have in our school.

We would like to thank everyone who participated in the survey and providing such rich and detailed feedback that will help to shape the future uniform. We received a total of 177 responses, with 86% of respondents supportive of changes to the current uniform. On this basis, we’re moving forward with making changes to the uniform.

We’ve attached a summary overview of the responses for your reference, including some of the feedback received. Overall, there were several themes from the survey:

• The most common feedback centred around the comfort of the uniform for students in both learning and play
• Positive response to offer the girls either shorts, skorts or pants as an option
• The girls winter uniform (pinafore) is difficult for girls to dress in and is outdated
• The tie is unnecessary for primary aged children
• Simplify the uniform so there aren’t so many options, i.e. summer and winter uniform plus two sports tops

Uniform design and transition plan

Based on the outcome of the survey, the SAC has started planning the transition. We envisage 2023 to be focussed on designing the uniform in consultation with the school community, and the transition to the new uniform commencing in 2024. The transition will take place over 2-3 years, giving families plenty of time to adjust and purchase new uniforms where needed. During this period, we do expect we’ll see students wearing the old and new uniforms, particularly in the year 5 and 6 cohort.

Changes for 2023

Given we will be transitioning to a new uniform in 2024, there are some minor changes that will be acceptable in 2023:

• Year 1 students will continue to wear the sports uniform every day instead of purchasing the summer and winter uniforms;
• All students may wear plain white, non-branded ankle socks
• Boys can wear their summer shorts in winter if preferred

In addition, uniforms that have been purchased but not yet worn (tags still attached) may be returned if needed.

The SAC would again like to thank everyone who provided feedback. It is imperative the community voice is heard and reflected in the new uniform designs so we have a uniform everyone is proud of, the decisions are supported and embraced by all.

We look forward to consulting with you further on the new design in 2023. Until then, if you have any queries or concerns, please discuss with Andrew Kelly, Principal.

Kind regards,

School Advisory Council

 

School Uniform Survey Results. October 2022

Executive summary

Background

• Christ the King (CTK) School provides children with a vibrant and caring environment where each child is encouraged to explore, learn and play in in their own unique way.
• CTK is a school that caters to diverse needs, with dignity and respect at the heart of what we do – Care for and respect everyone.
• The School Advisory Council (SAC) has discussed ways that promote 21st century learning and how we can support our students to be readily equipped for play based learning and contemporary experiences.
• One of the ways the SAC have considered this is through tabling the idea to review the school uniform and uniform policy.
• The SAC would like our uniform to be one that children are comfortable to wear, is cost effective for families and continues to reflect the pride we have in our school.
• The SAC has consulted with the school community (families, students and teachers) to gauge interest in reviewing the school uniform via surveys.

Purpose

• The purpose of the survey is to test if there is support to change the uniform, and if so, what aspects would the community like to see changed.

Approach

• Families, teachers and some students were invited to participate in the survey. The family surveys were distributed via the school newsletter, text and email messages.
• The survey opened Thursday 20 October and closed on Tuesday 1 November. Outcome
• 206 participants completed the survey: 124 parents, 10 teachers and 71 students.
• The survey results have demonstrated 86% of participants support to makes changes to the current uniform.

Next steps

• The SAC to engage with Tudor Uniforms and plan the design and consultation phase.
• New uniforms to be available for students to wear in 2024.
• A lengthy 2-3 year transition period to enable families time to transition to the new uniform.

Summary of results

Overall, 86% of participants (177 parents, teachers and students) are supportive of changes to the school uniform (based on data taken Friday 28/10/22 @ 5pm – to be updated)

In total, 206 participants responded to the survey:

124 Parents – 81% of respondents support changing the uniform:

• 35% respondents with 1 child
• 45% respondents with 2 children
• 20% respondents with 3 or more children
• 48% with children in kindy to year 1, with some siblings in older years
• 50% with children in year 2 – 6 only
• 30% with female children only
• 40% with male children only
• 30 with both male and female children

10 Teachers – 100% of respondents support changing the uniform:

• 40% respondents from ECE
• 30% respondents from year 6
• 20% respondents from ECE and years 3-6

72 Students – 94% of respondents support changing the uniform:

• 47% respondents in year 3
• 4% respondents in year 4
• 45% respondents in year 5
• 4% respondents in year 6

*N.B.: Where responses do not add up to 100%, some participants left the question blank

The most common feedback received as to why the uniform should change centred around comfort, being able to play unrestricted and it is outdated: Family: “Ultimately it’s important that the children be comfortable in their uniform. Parts of the uniform can be restrictive and uncomfortable form them” Family: “To ensure the students are comfortable and not restricted by tight, itchy materials” Family: “The current sports uniform is great but I would like to see small changes made to the formal uniform to make it more comfortable and easier for the children to play in ie: no tie, no woolly jumper and the girls in a skort or similar.” Teacher: “Our current uniform is old fashioned. Students need to be comfortable in order to concentrate and focus on their learn” Teacher: “Changes that modernise the winter and summer to become more practical and comfortable.” Yr 3 student: “Because the jumpers are itchy and the ties choke me and the white shirt is annoying because there cold and I don’t like the winter uniform because it’s so hot after lunch” Yr 4 student: “I would change the winter uniform because it takes a while to put on, the tie is unnecessary and the pinafore is very uncomfortable.

 

CTK CARERS – ETIQUETTES AND DEALINGS

CtK Carers is an initiative of Christ the King catholic school community, organised through CtK Parents and Friends, to assist families within the school community that may be struggling, either short term or long term, due to illness, bereavement, family crisis, birth of a child or any type of change.

CtK Carers has been very specifically created to perform this single and very important service. Therefore, no other organisation or persons for example class groups or individual groups, should be organised to serve the same purpose.

To ensure the effective running and continued service that CtK Carers provides, the following etiquettes are requested to be adhered to.

• Family or known person of family makes direct contact with the Coordinators of CtK Carers, requesting their support.
• Coordinators to notify School Leadership Team about the case presented.
• Coordinators contact family requiring / requesting support to assess their needs e.g. providing meals, performing ironing or pickup and drop off students.
• Volunteers (organised through CtK Carers only) are contacted and requested to complete nominated services like those mentioned above, which they have nominated on the CtK Volunteer sheet distributed to them by request from CtK Carers or downloaded from the school web site.

 CtK Carers has only operated for a year now and has successfully assisted families within our school community. They have carried an important role in providing the types of support requested of them.

To ensure the continued success, a request for support from all of the school community is being made for CtK Carers to act freely in providing the service that it has been designed to provide by adhering to the simple etiquettes specifically established for its intended purpose.

If you would like to help, please become a volunteer. Volunteers are always required. Please note that this is not a full time commitment and that it is totally understandable that there may be periods of time that you are unavailable to assist. If you feel that you would like to know more please contact CtK Carers to inquire how you could be of assistance. 

Please contact Naomi (0427400781) or Brian (9487 9900).

Thank you in anticipation of your support.

CtK Carers with the support of Christ the King Parents and Friends.

 

Colour Fun Run

Wow! You’ve done it again Christ the King community. Another superb effort was demonstrated in the fun run on Monday. The students look to be having a great time and thanks to the parents and family members that came along as a show of support for their children and to our AMAZING P&F. A huge, huge ‘Thank you’ to all of our volunteers on the day for their time and effort.

 

Brian Dobbie, Assistant Principal

 

Messages from the P&F

What a wonderful afternoon we all had on Monday for the colour run, what a great amount of money raised, well done to the students and their families for their fundraising efforts. The total profit was an impressive $7,463.12. Congratulations to our highest fundraising students, Adriana Martino ($640), Kaiden Baddock ($520), Beau Heritage ($510) and Lily Heritage ($510), and a shout out to our Kindy class for being the highest fundraising class with an amazing $2,380! Prizes will be going home with the students next week.

The P&F will be running a Sausage Sizzle, and selling snacks and drinks, prior to Carol’s by Candlelight, next Wednesday, November 30th, from 5:15pm until 6:15pm.

We will also be selling more tickets for the raffle on the night, there are some amazing prizes to be won this year, including two scooters, a trampoline, gift cards, wine and more!!

Alison Reddyhough, P&F President