Principal's Message
Dear parents, students and families,
We have entered the first week of Advent! Advent Sunday is what many Christians call the first day of Advent. The theme of the first week of Advent is hope. I don't know about you but I certainly have a hopeful feeling. Hope for a joyful end of the year for the students, hope they don't have too many nerves about their coming change of class or school, hope that I find time for stillness in this busy and fun time as we enter into Summer. Time for reflection, appreciation, gratefulness and the promise that Jesus' birth brings. Formally this theme emphasizes the hope Christians have in the coming of Christ, reminiscent of the anticipation of the Messiah in the Old Testament. We are having an Advent Liturgy each week as we develop with the students their understanding of preparation and waiting.
Our Market Day has been and gone and, despite the weather, was a big success. Michele has reported that we earnt around $8250 which given the weather conditions is really an amazing achievement and one the organising committee, and parent body as a whole, should be proud of. Thank you.
We are still not entirely sure of what was raised from the Lapathon for the Christmas Hampers to be supplied to families in need by our local St Vincent de Paul's chapter. I will let you know hopefully in next week's newsletter.
Last Friday our students had a chance to hear their peers who take part in "Kids on Key" perform. Our young musicians had obviously worked hard this year and their parents, staff and peers must have been very impressed. Though this is an 'extra' it is easy to see that it is something that many students have enjoyed doing and has improved their skills whether as a guitarist, keyboardist, ukelele player or singer. To have an audience made up of your peers must have been a little bit daunting. I thought they were great and didn't want it to end.
Our Foundation 2025 students have now had three Orientation sessions and the students must be very confident about beginning their schooling at St Anne's in February next year. They have their Teddy Bear's picnic on Friday 29th between 2-3pm and their final Orientation session on Tuesday 3rd December.
Today we have had Frankston City Council Youth Workers meeting with our Year 6 students about their transition to secondary schooling. We hope this has helped them to manage the transition even more successfully as their time at St Anne's draws rapidly to a close.
Next week we have the classrooms open Monday morning for a while as Mr Sullivan has shared via seesaw. We like to celebrate our students as they have worked very hard this year with some great results with our testing showing so much growth for so many. Wednesday night is our Christmas Concert at 6pm. Our classes are all singing and all dancing at the moment in preparation and it looks like a lot of fun!
In preparation for next year I am finalising staffing and I will be in a position to share this with you all in next week's newsletter. In talking with other Principals the market is still very tough out there for finding quality teachers so I am very grateful for the great team we have assembled at St Anne's. I can however let you know who will be leaving us at the end of the year. As you may be aware Mrs Jemima Holmes will be taking maternity leave, which we wish her all the best. Mrs Tracey Di Paolo is retiring after being on leave this year. She has had a long and distinguished career in Catholic Education and her passion for Literacy in particular has been second to none. It has been a pleasure to have her working with many of your children over the past decade. We wish her and her husband Emilio a fantastic retirement. Our final person moving on is Mrs Lauren Lacey who began her teaching career here at St Anne's about 6 years ago. She will continue the next stage of her teaching career at Botanic Ridge PS and I'm sure that they will be as excited, as we are sad, to have her join their team. Best wishes to you Lauren.
Next Friday 6th December and the following Monday 9th December we will have sessions for the students to be with their teacher and class for 2025. We have found this helps alleviate at least some of the anxiety that comes for some of our children with change.
God bless
Rod Shaw
Principal
School Attendance and Unexplained Absence
Please contact the school if your child is going to be absent by leaving a message on
9786 4736 and press 1. Please give details of your child’s name and class with areason for their absence such as: unwell, appointment, holiday or family reasons. Alternatively an email can be sent to office@saseaford.catholic.edu.au with cc to the child’s teacher.
If you are running late, (after 9:00 am) please attend the office to sign your child into school and collect a late pass.
If you are picking up your child early you will need to collect them and sign them out from the office.
As per our policy this will be our morning routine for absences:
Parents will be contacted as soon as practicable on the morning a student is absent via a text message.
If parent does not contact the school after receiving the text message, the school will contact the parent by phone. If the parent is unreachable the emergency contacts will be contacted by the school.
If there is still no response, and the school feels that the child is in danger, the police will be contacted.
Ongoing unexplained absences or lack of cooperation regarding student attendance will result in a formal conference being organized. Unresolved attendance issues will be referred to D.H.H.S.
This is a legal requirement.
Democratic Principles
The six (6) principles of Australian democracy include:
(a) elected government; and
(b) the rule of law; and
(c) equal rights for all before the law; and
(d) freedom of religion; and
(e) freedom of speech and association; and
(f) the values of openness and tolerance