School News

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Important School Expectation

• UNIFORM - correct uniform every day
• MANNERS - no swearing, please, thank you, may I, and use adults names
• RESPECT - for all adults, peers and resources
• LEARNING - every day be ready for learning, engage in learning, 
• SAFETY - keep myself & others safe, hands & feet to self, respect property

2024 Parent Handbook

New England Sings 2024

Tickets for New England Sings! There are only 500 tickets available per concert so NOW is the time to book your seats to avoid missing out.

Ticket prices are Adults $30, FT students $20 and can be purchased through the following link:

www.trybooking.com/CUFFT

Do I need to purchase a ticket for my child?

Children (and teachers) performing in the concert do not need to purchase tickets as seating is provided on stage.

Which concert should I book for?

Secondary schools will be performing at BOTH concerts. Primary schools are DIVIDED between two concerts: Primary Choir 1 will sing at the 11am concert and Primary Choir 2 at the 2:30pm concert:

GENERAL SCHOOL REMINDERS 

Arriving Late or Leaving School Early

PLEASE NOTE that all students arriving late, or being collected early for an appointment, MUST REPORT to the Office to be signed in or out by a parent /guardian.  

Parents, please note that students are not to be collected early from school unless they have an urgent appointment. School finishes at 3:10pm.

Compass entry is not required for partial absences (eg late arrivals or early pick ups).  When you bring your child into school or pick them up, entering the arrival or departure in the Foyer Kiosk explains their absence.  If you are picking your child up early for an appointment, please call or email the school office so we can endeavour to have your child ready for you to collect.

Attendance 

Thank you to families who explain their children's absences from school. Please remember to reply to the SMS sent or contact the school by phone. The Office also sends a reminder email which you can reply to with an explanation. You can explain planned absences in advance by writing an email or phoning the school. Absences of more than 10 days require a form to be filled out to apply for "Extended Leave" which requires approval from the Principal. 

Due to Government regulation, notification of your child's absence must be received no later than 7 days after your child's last day of absence. 

Students must attend school regularly so they can achieve their educational best and increase their career and life options. Just one absence per fortnight adds up to 20 missed days per year; this equates to 260 days from Kindergarten to Year 6 or 1.25 school years!

Please contact the Office either by phone or email regarding attendance matters. 

School expectations

SCHOOL UNIFORM - We wear it with pride!

At St Mary's we have high expectations with wearing our uniform with pride. We therefore seek parent and student support with wearing our uniform correctly each day. 

1. Term 4 Summer Uniform
2. Clean tidy hair.  Hair that is long must be tied back (general rule if it touches your shirt collar) 
3. Uniforms are to be worn correctly and appropriately daily (if circumstances prevent this communication with your teacher is required). 
4. General rule is no jewellery except for: watch, earrings studs or sleepers
5. No fingernail polish
6. No writing or drawing on self - arms, legs, hands
7. No writing or drawing on school hats
8. No chewing gum at school
9. All children are to speak politely and have outstanding manners
10. Swearing at school is not appropriate
11. No hands or feet. Students do not use hands or feet to hurt others.
12. Respect school and others property

Manners Matter 

Manners matter - not just some of the time, but ALL the time. 

Students are encouraged to stop, look at the person speaking and use the person's name to ensure they are using their best manners. 

Parent Messages for Students during the Day

Please make sure where possible you phone the school by 2pm with any messages for students to be given before home time.  This would be greatly appreciated so we have minimal interruptions in class time. 

Contacting Your Child's Teacher

Teachers welcome contact from parents, if you need to talk with staff please either contact the class teacher by phoning the school – 67724441 or email the school on smaadmin@arm.catholic.edu.au

Please do not expect teachers to be able to speak to you while they are on duty or once class has begun. If you require an urgent conversation, please phone the office on the above number so that a message can be delivered by office staff and the teacher will contact you as soon as they can. 

School Hours

8:20am Doors Open & Student Supervision begins.

8:50am Classes start.

Students who arrive after 8:50 am will need to be signed in by Parents at the Front Office, if this doesn't occur parents will receive an unexplained notification for late attendance.

Thank you for signing your child in if they are late as this ensures our attendance records are accurate. 

10:50am-11:30am First Break

1:30am-2:10pm Second Break

3:10pm Classes end

3:15pm Buses are loaded

3.10-3.20pm Pick up top gate Dangar Street

3:15-3:30pm Pick up Rusden Street. 

All students are to be collected by 3:30pm.

After School Care is available for families from 3:10-6pm on site at school.

School Office Hours

The School Office hours are 8:20am - 4pm Monday- Friday. 

Lost Property

Please make sure that you check and label or re-label clothing items so we can return items to their owners and please remember to rename items purchased from the Clothing Pool - if the previous owner's name is still on it, we will send it home with them!  Unnamed uniform items are donated to the clothing pool. 

Apart from many items of unlabelled uniforms we also have large amounts of unlabelled lunchboxes, lunch containers and drink bottles in our lost property baskets.  It is impossible to return these items to students. 

Clothing Pool - Term 4

The Clothing Pool will open on the following dates during Term 4 2024. If you require items, please contact the School Office on 67724441 or via email to book your time to attend.  Please note that it will open Friday one week and Tuesday the next (9.30am to 10.30am):

Tuesday 15/10/2024     Friday 25/10/2024 

Tuesday 29/10/2024     Friday 8/11/2024     

Tuesday 12/11/2024     Friday 22/11/2024

Tuesday 26/11/2024     Friday 6/12/2024

Tuesday 10/12/2024    

Uniform Days 

Monday

All children wear their school uniform

Tuesday

Kindergarten and Years 5 & 6 (stages ESI and S3) wear their sport uniform with yellow shirt

Years 1, 2, 3 and 4 wear their school uniform

Wednesday

Years 1, 2, 3, 4 (Stages 1 & 2) wear their sport uniform with yellow shirt

Kindergarten, Years 5 and 6 wear their school uniform

Thursday

All children wear their school uniform

Friday

All children wear their sport uniform with coloured house shirt

Canteen Menu

In Term 4 m and for Term 1 in 2025 the Canteen will be serving the Summer Menu. 

After School Pickup

When picking up students in the afternoon from the Rusden Street entrance, please bring your family name sign so that we can call students as quickly as possible and it makes it much easier to identify families with the sign.  If you require a new sign or additional ones please contact the School Office.

Buses: Students are supervised by teachers until their bus arrives in Jessie Street.

Esteem After School Care: Is located in our School Hall Building. Please collect your child by entering and exiting through the southern gate in Jessie Street. 

Keep connected with what is happening at school through Compass & the Newsletter

Please make sure you are connected to COMPASS and receive the newsletter.

All families need to subscribe to the St Mary's COMPASS portal. Regular information comes from this site to families. Each parent is given a login. If you have lost your login details or are having difficulty logging in please call the School Office for assistance.

It is also really important to read the newsletter fortnightly.  The Newsletter can be found electronically on COMPASS.

Mobile Phones and other Electronic Devices

When students arrive at schoolthey musthand in their mobile phone, smart watch or other electronic device at the school office. Devices will be returned to the students at the end of the day. 

If a student doesn't hand their phone or device into the Office when they arrive at school, the phone or device will be removed from the student and kept in the Office for parents to collect. 

All electronic devices that are brought into school are at the owner's risk. No liability will be accepted by the school in the event of loss, theft or damage of the device.

Year 6 Canberra Excursion - PACER Rebate

Our Year 6 Students will soon be undertaking, an education tour of the national capital. Students will be given the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia's history, culture, heritage, and democracy.

The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion the Australian Government is contributing funding to our school in the amount of $45 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program towards those costs. The rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion.

Complaint Management

Please see below a guide for parents and caregivers.