听

As we near the end of term, students and staff are visibly tiring (I hesitate to comment on the state of parents!), but I am confident we will all make it successfully to the Pesach and Easter break. A phone call from my son yesterday, describing his miserable symptoms as he lies in bed with another bout of COVID reminded me to arrange the next booster vaccination for myself in the holidays and prompted me to reflect on the year so far and to compare it to 2022. At that stage, so many things were impossible due to COVID restrictions 鈥� this year, we have been very grateful to be able to welcome parents and families onto the campus as well as being able to run activities with other schools.

As always, the term has been a whirlwind of activity at Carmel. The fantastic talent on show in the school musical The Wedding Singer was simply outstanding 鈥� I was so impressed by the singing, dancing and performing skills of our students. Both the Year 7/8 and Year 9/10 Ultimate Frisbee teams won the grand finals of their competitions this week and these sporting triumphs were very much appreciated and celebrated.

At the time of writing this, I have enjoyed three Pesach sederim 鈥� one with the Pre-primary children, one in Kindy and a huge one in the hall with Years 1 to 5. In 2022, I attended seven sederim, one for each year group as COVID restrictions meant they could not be combined into one big seder. So I will only have four this year 鈥� the last one with Years 6 and 11 in the hall yesterday evening. I hope your family Pesach seder is meaningful 鈥� it is good to know that your children are well-equipped to help run their family seder with enthusiasm.

The end of the summer term is a good time to send a reminder to dig out winter uniforms and check that shirts still fit and skirts are sufficiently long (to the knee when standing), as children have an inconvenient tendency to grow during the term. Anyone who feels the cold like me is welcome to wear a school jumper underneath a school blazer; puffer jackets are not part of the High School uniform this winter. If you need to visit the uniform shop to stock up ready for the winter, you will find its opening times HERE.

If you haven鈥檛 yet signed up for the Glen Gerreyn parent presentation on 3 April, please click to book a place - I realise that many of you will be busy preparing for Pesach, but it is such a win to have secured Glen for a visit, I want as many in our community as possible to take advantage of his thinking 鈥� please do feel free to sign up a friend to accompany you. Click for more information on Glen Gerreyn.

Thank you to all of you who have supported our students and teachers throughout the term. Whether you have carried out your security duty, supported students at the musical, cooked soup and cupcakes with the P&F or simply made sure that your offspring arrive at school on time each day, we are grateful for your assistance.

I hope you enjoy the break from school and the family Pesach celebrations. The holiday provides a decent length of time for the students to catch up on sleep, read, spend some time in nature and relax with friends so that they can return refreshed and ready for Term 2.

Chag Pesach Kasher ve鈥橲ameach.

听

Julie Harris

Principal