College Updates Term 1 Week 10 - 10 April 2025

Reminders

18 April Good Friday

21 April Easter Monday

25 April Anzac Day

Please note the following pupil free days for 2025:

Term 2 - Monday 28 April and Friday 4 July 

Term 3 - Monday 21 July and Friday 26 September 

Term 4 - Monday 13 October and Friday 19 December

These dates may be subject to change at the discretion of the College. Any changes will be advised to parents and carers via Schoolzine.

Secondary Reports and Interviews

Yrs 7-10 Interim Reports will be sent home on SENTRAL this afternoon.  This gives a snapshot of how your child is going in their classes before interviews in weeks 3 and 4 next term

Yr 12 Half Yearly Reports will be sent home in week 1 next term as some subjects have only recently completed their first assessment task and time is needed for marking. 

Yr 11 Half Yearly Reports will be sent home Monday 12 May.

Yr 7-12 Parent/Student/Teacher Interviews

These will be held on the afternoons of Wednesday, 14 May and Thursday, 22 May.  It is a great opportunity to meet your child's teachers and discuss goals and strategies to overcome any potential challenges in the year ahead.  Bookings will be available to make on SENTRAL on 1 May.  

Yrs 2-10 Progressive Achievement Testing

In week 2 next term, students in Yrs 2-10 will participate in PATMaths and PATReading, online adaptive tests.  We have access to the students' results immediately and will send these home prior to the interviews.  All schools in our Catholic Education Canberra Goulburn system run these tests twice a year.  The tests are 40-50 minutes and conducted in a classroom.  If you would like further information on PAT, please contact Antoinette.Woods@cg.catholic.edu.au

Lumen Christi Catholic College Uniform Strategy March, 2025

Lumen’s College uniform is distinctive. It positively reinforces the perception of our College and our students within the community and is an educational, pastoral and reputational asset.

You will be aware that we changed uniform providers in late 2023, partnering with Lowes for the provision of a high-quality uniform. Through the transition the College has taken the opportunity to consider and refine our thinking about the many items of our uniform. At the forefront of our thinking are matters such as student comfort, the symbolic power of the uniform, cost, and commercial viability for our supplier.

In College frameworks, we value growth, inclusion and relevance, and the Lumen Community Council Uniform Working Group (UWG) has been re-formed to develop a long term Uniform Strategy. College Leadership, along with the Community Council endorses the strategy, which is to ‘Streamline and Standardise’.

The strategy is underpinned by seven goals, shown below. These have been used to identify and assess our strategic uniform initiatives. They will continue to be the guideposts informing uniform decisions under and alongside the uniform strategy.

STRATEGIC UNIFORM GOALS

So far, 2 broad initiatives have been proposed and approved in principle under the strategy. They are:

1. Discontinuation of extraneous uniform elements. This includes elements that only serve a small proportion of our students, have a poor uptake and/or where other suitable alternatives exist within the uniform set. Expected timeframe: within 12 months
2. Standardise the girls uniform in line with the boys in terms of fabric and general style.

Expected timeframe: approx. 5 years.

A third initiative is to explore and discuss options for an everyday primary student uniform. This will take some careful deliberation and is not yet approved.

The expectation is that through these strategic initiatives, Lumen will be in a better position to enjoy a long and successful partnership with our uniform supplier. More detail on each proposed initiative will be provided in future communications.

We are aware that change brings disruption, uncertainty and that some changes may not satisfy everybody. The UWG are committed to minimising the impacts of any change through clear and timely communication, transparency in decision making and generous transition timeframes.

Uniform decisions will be made by the College Leadership Team based on what is best for the College as a whole in line with our strategic goals. Where appropriate, the College community will be consulted and the responses considered in the final decisions.

What do you need to do?

For now, nothing. Continue to purchase uniform items from our supplier as your children need them. You will be informed well ahead of time of any approved changes via our standard College communications channels.

Next steps

As part of Initiative 1, the UWG will identify candidate uniform elements for discontinuation at their next meeting in Term 2.

Regards

Raelene Forbes UWG Chair

The Lumen Community Council Uniform Working Group (UWG) is an advisory group of College executives, teachers and parents with a particular interest in the ongoing suitability and viability of our College’s uniform. If you have questions, suggestions or feedback relating to uniform and/or the uniform strategy, please contact the UWG by emailing lumencommunitycouncil@gmail.com.

NSW Community Health will visit the College to provide Yr 7 vaccinations to students on 10 June 2025.

Please ensure consent for your child has been completed prior to the day. Consent for vaccinations is to be completed online via your Service NSW account, please see below flyer for further details. For parents who are unable to provide consent online, paper consent forms will be available at the Front Office.

NESA HSC Examination Provisions - for Yr 12 2025 

If students would like to apply, please contact Helen.Bigelow@cg.catholic.edu.au 

Link for information about Disability Provisions:

Dear Parents,

We need to work together on student drop-offs in the College. What follows are detailed notes about how we use this shared space.

Executive Summary.

• Kiss and drop is the safest and most efficient place to drop students each day. It is staffed daily, and teachers will walk your child up to the playground if required.
• Parents are not permitted to let students out of cars in any roadway. This includes within the bounds of the carpark.
• The carpark is a one-way system. Keep moving forward at walking pace only.
• The carpark is a shared space. All users are expected to adhere to Lumen Christi and community values of courtesy and respect. Take your time in the carpark, take turns, give way and treat each other in word and deed with courtesy.

Your observance of the following guidelines will help keep the carparks at Lumen Christi safer place for everyone:

Speed Limits and Penalties

• Carpark speed limit is 5kmph (walking pace).
• The speed limit in school zone Culgoa Crescent and Pambula Beach Road, is 40kmph between 8:00am and 9:30am and 2:30pm and 4:00pm. At all other times it is 50kmph.
• Please observe all safety and parking signs. Failure to follow signage could result in a monetary fine and loss of licence points.

Where’s the best place to drop off and collect my child?

• Exercise patience when entering the Kiss and Drop Zone and College car parks. 
• The Kiss and Drop Zone is the bay directly in front of the Primary building (Block 6), on Culgoa Crescent, is the preferred option for dropping your child/ren to and from College.
• Parents dropping off children within the College car park must use the designated parking area which has been set aside for them. This is the first  bay on the right as you enter the College car park (staff have been instructed to not use these parks so as to keep them available for parents).
• Do not allow your child/ren to get out of your vehicle unless you are actually parked in the designated parking zone or within the Kiss and Drop Zone.
• Do not pick up or drop child/ren off in the middle of the car park, or double park at any time. This holds up other vehicles and slows down the progress of Kiss and Drop and movement of traffic through the College car park. This is a particularly dangerous for small children who are then required to move in and around moving vehicles.
• Never do a U-turn or a three point turn outside the College, in the Kiss and Drop zone or College carparks as it puts children at risk of harm.

Please refer to the map below for traffic flow in College Car parks.

What else do I need to know about College Car Park Safety? 

• Do not park in the loading zone – this is clearly marked by signs and needs to remain available for deliveries.
• Do not park in the Bus Lane entry on Pambula Beach Road or along the Bus Lane exit on Culgoa Crescent.
• Do not park on grassed areas or mount the curb to park your vehicle on College grounds.
• Do not park in the small parking area closest to the College Front Office.
• Do not park in the Disabled Parking unless you have the appropriate permit.
• Do not walk through the parking area outside the Block 1 Administration offices. Please follow the yellow pedestrian markings.
• Do not park in bus lanes, at the southern and western sides of the College.
• Students are not permitted to ride bicycles/scooters through the College carparks. They are required to walk their bicycle / scooter off the College premises via a footpath. Helmets should be worn at all times.
• Lumen Christi students are not permitted to park vehicles in the College carparks. Parking is available at the Pambula Sporting Complex.

Remember to model safe and considerate

driving behaviour for your child

They will learn from you!

Dear Parents & Carers

I am a little embarrassed to write this message in Schoolzine. We are experiencing ongoing issues with students  in the secondary using toilets incorrectly and inappropriately. Over the course of Term 4 last year and continuing through Term 1 this year, students have been mistreating the facilities in what seems to be a targeted way. This includes, using the toilet as a space for socialising, for meeting and for eating lunch. Vandalism of the common and vital facility is also occurring.

College staff monitor the toilets as far as practicable, and our aim is to safeguard children while maintaining private and hygienic space. No doubt you will recognise the immediate impacts of poor community behaviours regarding toilet use. All student bear the brunt of this, but staff are often in the front line of cleaning up the mess, our facilities and maintenance staff are  stretched to limits in their response each day and our cleaning staff are demoralised by what they confront.

Adrian Wels and I have been working with teachers and our student leaders to address the problem, and our College captains work with student groups in a spirit of cooperation, even addressing the College assembly about the problem and appropriate use.

I implore you as parents to take up these conversations with your children, making the following points.

• The toilets are private and sensitive spaces.
• Toilets need to be available for all to use
• Toilets need to be looked after
• Eating in toilets is a social taboo as toilets do not present for hygienic eating spaces.
• Toilets are not meeting, conversation, or recreation places.
• Flush and wash.

Once again, I am sorry to raise this issue with you, but as a community it is necessary to have these very basic understandings shared and followed.

Shane Giles.

The University of Sydney presents Your Path to Sydney: Yr 10 Subject Selection Evening  

"Your Path to Sydney” is designed to help Yr 10 students navigate the subject selection process for their senior years. This event offers a comprehensive overview on how these choices can impact future pathways, including university and career opportunities.   

Hosted by our Future Students Team with presentations by our UAC Admissions Manager, and a current University of Sydney student, we will also share information about:  

• The ATAR and key university terminology 
• The student experiences 
• Tips for admission and scholarships 
• An overview of the University of Sydney. 

Students can also have their questions answered by our expert staff and student ambassadors.  

To register for the session, please click on one of the event registration links below:   

• Online session: Thursday evening, 15 May 2025 - Register here.