GENERAL SCHOOL REMINDERS

Students Departing St Mary’s At The End Of This Term

While we have had many new families seeking enrolment for 2024, we have letters from families who are moving and will not be returning to St Mary’s next year. We would like to thank these families for their support and wish those students every blessing for the future. The process for all students departing from the school is:

• Parents/carers advise the principal in writing of the date that their daughter/son is leaving and provide the name of their new school and their new residential address. Please note this is a legal requirement.

• Complete the Student Exit Form.

• Parents/carers pay any outstanding balance on school or other fees and arrange the return of school resources such as library books, home readers.

If your child will not be returning to St Mary's in 2024 and you have not yet informed the school please contact the school office so we can send the appropriate documentation to you.

If your child is leaving St Mary's at any stage, please ensure you download school reports from Compass prior to your child's last day as your Compass account becomes inactive at the end of their last day. This is relevant for students graduating from Year 6 as well.

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.

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.

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

School expectations

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

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 – 6772 4441 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.

Student Absence

Absences, Illness & Notifications

It is that time of year - cold and flu season plus COVID-19! Please let the school know if your child has tested positive to COVID so we can alert our families of COVID in the school.

Parents please let the school know the reason for your child's absence by responding to the SMS or by contacting the school by phone, 67724441 or email smaadmin@arm.catholic.edu.au

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

Due to government legislation, notification of your child's absence must be received no later than 7 days after your child's last day of absence. Please respond to all student absences requests through the school office. Ph 67724441 or email smaadmin@arm.catholic.edu.au

If your child is unwell and requires an absence of longer than 3 days, please obtain a medical certificate for this absence.

Please note that partial absences (eg if you need to pick your child up early for an appointment or dropping them off after an appointment) should not be entered via the Compass App. An email or phone call to school to let us know you need to pick your child up early will help us have them ready for you to collect at the required time. When you pick them up, please sign your child out using the Kiosk tablet at the office window.

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!

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. Unnamed uniform items are donated to the clothing pool.

Clothing Pool

The Clothing Pool is open by appointment every second Friday morning. It will next be open this Friday, 20th October from 9.30 am - 11.00 am.

Please contact the school office on 6772 4441 or smaadmin@arm.catholic.edu.au to book a time. If you are paying for second hand clothing items via Compass, please contact the school first, so that we can confirm that your required size is available.

Sports Uniform days are as follows:

Kindergarten and Years 5 & 6 (stages ESI and S3) wear their yellow sports shirt on Tuesdays.

Years 1, 2, 3, 4 (Stages 1 & 2) are to wear their yellow sports shirt Wednesdays.

All students wear their coloured house shirt on Fridays. Thank you.

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.

Canteen Summer Menu

In Term 4 the canteen will be serving the Summer Menu. Please see below.

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 to avoid congesting the corridors. If you require a new sign or additional ones please contact the the School Office.

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.

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.

School Travel Passes

Information for parents and students from Transport for NSW

2024 School Travel applications are now open. Please see the newsletter below for useful information to assist with student travel.

Students/parents should confirm with their nominated operator if they do not receive a pass.

Parents should contact their local bus operator to discuss their travel needs.

New Student Travel Passes will be sent to the student’s nominated postal address within two weeks of their application being approved. Students living in rural and regional areas will receive their travel pass from their nominated transport operator. Note: some rural and regional operators do not issue travel passes. Students/parents should confirm with their nominated operator if they do not receive a pass.

Mobile Phones and other Electronic Devices

When students arrive at school they must hand 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.

Complaint Management

Please see below a guide for parents and caregivers.

Community Information

Holiday Program at St Marks UNE

Centacare Pool Party

Armidale Regional Council School Holiday Activities for Armidale and Guyra

Challenge Community Services

Benevolent Society

ADIG News