Dear Families,

Welcome back, everyone, to a brand new school year filled with endless possibilities! As Denise Witmer aptly puts it, a new school year marks the beginning of exciting adventures, friendships and challenges. The slate is clean, offering all of us the opportunity to create memorable experiences and overcome our challenges together.

I trust that each of you had a restful and enjoyable summer break, filled with many moments of joy shared with families and friends. Holidays are now over, and as we begin our new academic journey, our children have returned to school with enthusiasm and energy. Our staff were so excited to have their children return last week and watched them reconnect with old friends and eagerly share their holiday stories with them.

Our dedicated staff has been working hard preparing classrooms and lessons so our children have a smooth transition to the new school year. They are eager to foster positive relationships that will lay the foundation for growth and development throughout the school year. Our staff are ready to guide and inspire our children and we look forward to our children absorbing knowledge and embracing challenges. Over the next few weeks our children will settle into their new classrooms, adapt to new routines, set learning goals and build connections with their new classmates. The air is buzzing with the anticipation of new discoveries and accomplishments

The beginning of the school year is always an exciting time. I thank our families for entrusting us to care, educate, guide and nurture your child throughout 2024.

My dream for 2024 is that as a community we make this year, a year that is filled with joy, learning and growth. Here’s to a fantastic year ahead!

I am transitioning to retirement this year. I will be at school Wednesday to Friday. On Monday and Tuesday, Stephen Arthurson will be our principal and Leona Dean will be our deputy principal. I will be finishing at the end of Term Two. Stephen and myself will be working closely together to ensure the school’s operations continue to run seamlessly for our children, families and staff.

Our theme for 2024 is ‘Growth, Wisdom, Love’ which is our school motto.

St Anne is often depicted as a seated woman with a book upon her lap and the child Mary leaning against her, eager to learn. She modelled to her daughter a life of prayer, love and humility. In doing so Mary was able to open her heart to be the Mother of Jesus. Hence Anne is the inspiration of our theme to support others and in particular, Mary, to grow and develop wisdom in a loving environment.

Our goal will be to support our children to

Grow - spiritually, intellectually, physically and emotionally
Be wise - knowing what is right and doing it. Making good decisions and live life well
To know they are loved - by God, by family and community, and they share this with others

Welcome to our new families and staff members.

To our new families, we want to assure you that we are here to support you every step of the way. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out to your child's teacher or our administration staff. We believe in fostering strong partnerships between the school and our families, and we look forward to building positive connections with each and every one of you.

Congratulations to our Prep children, who have impressively embraced the school routine and navigated the challenges with enthusiasm. Their excitement on their first days was amazing. We appreciate the efforts of our Prep parents in preparing your children for this new chapter, and we thank you for your calm and positive approach to this important milestone.

Here's to a fantastic journey ahead filled with learning, growth, and wonderful experiences for all our students and their families. If there's anything we can do to enhance your experience at our school, please let us know. Together, we make our school community strong and supportive. Welcome!

We welcome new staff who have joined us in 2024

Karryn Grunden - Prep

Sinead Pease - Year 2

Stephanie Young - Year 5

Susan Bourke - Year 5

Carlo D’Amico - Italian

Glen Beaumont - LSO

Jenne Bowen - LSO

Ciana Bourne - LSO

Mikayla Filla - LSO

Michelle De Brincat - LSO

We welcome back Trish Brennan, Shayna Grice and Sam Smith from leave.

Morning and Afternoon Routines

Our gates open at 8.35am and our children will walk to their classrooms and enter them when the bell rings at 8.40am.

If children are at school before 8.00am you will be contacted and asked that you enrol them in our Out of Hours Program.

Our classes will begin at 8.50am so all children are expected to be in their classrooms by this time.

The crossing in our drop off area will be supervised from 8.30am.

At the end of the day the gates will be opened at 3.10pm.

Due to the busyness of our car parks, I strongly encourage you to arrange a meeting place outside our gates and park in the side streets and walk.

Absences

If your children are absent from school due to illness you are asked to contact the school via the Operoo app and complete the Student Absentee Form.

Positive Behaviour For Learning - PBL

Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL), is a comprehensive integrated whole school approach to student wellbeing and behaviour. It brings together our whole school community to contribute to developing a positive, safe and supportive learning culture. PBL at St Anne’s assists us to improve our children’s social, emotional, behavioural and academic outcomes. Our children are clear about our values, their expectations and follow up rewards or consequences.

Our purpose statement is;

“Our commitment is to ensure a shared understanding is owned by all our

learning community to promote a stimulating learning environment. We value

respect, resilience, responsibility and safety. Therefore all members will have

opportunities to maximise their spiritual, academic, personal and

interpersonal growth."

At St Anne’s we have four values;

Respect - our actions and words need to consider the the feelings and wellbeing of ourselves and others
Responsibility - we do the things we know we need to do and accept the outcomes of our actions
Resilience - we learn from our mistakes and bounce back
Safety - we keep ourselves and others safe

Throughout the next few weeks our teachers will be focussing on our values with an emphasis on being respectful. I will publish ways you can support us at home in future newsletters throughout the year.

There are several events that have been planned this term which I would like to highlight;

Getting To Know You Conversations - Parents are asked to make an appointment so you can share information about your child to their class teacher. They will be held on the afternoon of Wednesday February 14th and Tuesday February 20th . At this meeting you will have the opportunity to meet your child’s teacher and ask any questions you may have about the year ahead. Please click here to book.

Ash Wednesday - we celebrate Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent on February 14. Our children in Year 1-6 will attend mass at 9.30am.

Prep / Year 6 Information Session - Our Prep teachers would like to meet with parents to share information about the curriculum, special events and expectations. This will be held on Monday, February 12 at 5.00pm. It will be recorded if you cannot attend.

Our Year 6 teachers will share their expectations, important dates with parents via a google meet on Monday, February 12 at 7.00pm. Information will be sent to you shortly.

Sunbury School Sports Association Swimming Carnival - will be held on Thursday 22nd February. More details about this will be forwarded to you shortly.

Beginning of the year School Picnic

Our school picnic will be held on Thursday February 29. More details will be forwarded shortly.

School Closure Day - Friday March 22 - Our staff will be participating in a professional learning day on Friday March 22. There will be no school for our children on this day.

A reminder to parents that we have children who have anaphylaxis and therefore cannot be exposed to nuts. To avoid situations where these children may come into contact with nuts, I ask that you refrain from giving your child any form of nuts (peanuts, cashews, pistachios, walnuts etc.) peanut butter or nutella in your child's lunchbox. I would appreciate it if you follow this request so we can ensure the health needs of all students are being met.

Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools have approved changes to the policies listed below. These can be found on our school website by following the Quick Links button.

Anaphylaxis Policy
Excursion Camps and Travel Policy
Camps Procedures
School Excursions Procedures
Supervision Policy
Supervision Procedures

May God bless you and take care

Ms Noelene Hussey

Staff Photographs