Dear parents, students and families,

As we look forward to Pentecost this weekend when we celebrate being gifted with the Holy Spirit it was interesting to have this lens on while enjoying our Mothers Day/Cancer Council Biggest Morning Tea on Tuesday morning. The love, joy and grace of the morning was so evident as our students interacted with each other, their parents, grandparents and the staff through a variety of activities. We are truly blessed to be part of such a wonderful faith community and this was so evident with approximately 120 adults in attendance. My thanks to the staff who organised the activities and the Biggest Morning Tea, members of our community who donated raffle prizes and those who bought tickets for the raffle as part of fundraising for the Cancer Council. $440 dollars was raised on the morning. Thank you, in particular, to Mrs Winduss and Mrs Brooking for their leadership on the day.

Today our Foundation classes had their excursion to the Zoo which will greatly support their learning. I had many of the students read me their sentences and share their drawings of the animals they hoped to see prior to the excursion during one of my regular visits to the Foundation classrooms. I'm sure they will be both very tired and excited tonight but should have a story or two for their parents.

Tomorrow is our termly Emergency Drill. But more importantly we will celebrate as a whole school our Pentecost Mass- the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birthday of our Church. The students may wear casual clothes with a touch of red, orange and/or yellow should they wish to. After Mass our students will have the chance to do a variety of cross-age activities as organised by our "Our House Spirit' Student Leaders. Hopefully it will be a memorable day for our students.

Saturday sees many of the Year 3's, with a sprinkling of other ages, from our School, St Joachim's and our Parish receive their First Reconciliation at 3pm. This is generally their second Sacrament so an important occasion within our School and Parish. Please keep these students in your prayers.

Next week:-

From Monday- Friday next week our Year 3-6 students will be participating in their annual Swimming Program. Thank you to Mrs Ary for her organisation with this.

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 a reason 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

Wellbeing

Relationships

Precious time with our families on Tuesday...