Principal's Message

Dear Parents, students and the wider community,

How good is it to have all the students back! As a staff we were genuinely excited yesterday.  I know a day at school won't often have fairy floss, hot chips, a bouncy castle, mini-golf and other fun activities but with all that our school community have missed it was time well spent. Thanks again to Mrs Ary and Mrs Winduss who organised a a most wonderful day.

Just reflecting back on last Friday and what a crazy weather event we were faced with. Thank you so much for those who accommodated their children at home as we were informed that it would be at least midday before we had power restored which was not an ideal situation for our school. We had some damage at school that you may have noticed with a significant limb crashing through our front fence and a neighbour's shed roof blowing into our yard next to the bike shed. This was an amazing occurrence and I can't believe something of such weight and dimension could even fly through the air, let alone into our yard! Fortunately Mark, our handyman, and Darren, our gardener, were able to respond quickly and have the school looking far better this week. I expect Mark to fully repair the front fence next week. 

Speaking of school improvements I am waiting for confirmation that the new games will be placed on the surface outside the hall tomorrow morning. It may be best to plan to access the school through the main gate or the carpark in that case. In very pleasing news I also received notice yesterday that we have been successful in our grant application for $25000 to renew the shade sails at the rear of the school.  We are waiting on one final quote before going ahead with selecting an installer. 

With just under 6 weeks until the end of term these will certainly be jam-packed with activities. Central to this will be our students re-establishing relationships and we have had a very positive start. Of course we will assess to see where our students are at so we can plan the activities we need to have the children learning whatever it is that they need to learn next. I take tours and always discuss this ''point of need'' teaching as I firmly advocate that St Anne's should not just be a great school to be at, but also one in which high academic achievement is expected. 

A priority among our activities during this time will be our students who will be continuing their Sacramental journeys. We will have students receiving First Reconciliation, First Eucharist and Confirmation and I ask you to join with our staff in praying for these children as they continue their learning and preparation in these areas. 

Next week we have our first Foundation Orientation for 2022. We really look forward to having these little people on-site formally for the first time. I know both Miss Holmes and Mrs Winduss are very excited and have arranged some fun activities so the new students can begin to get used to coming to ''their'' school. This will be happening on the afternoon of Tuesday 9th November. On Friday 12th November we will be having our annual review of our emergency practices for which we will hold a drill. Obviously with so much time away from on-site learning it will be good to practice our routines with this as we usually do one per term. In the evening of Monday 15th November our students receiving Confirmation will share Mass with Bishop Tony Ireland and Fr Martin which, as a staff, we look forward to sharing with them and their families. 

As I mentioned last week we are beginning to look at our class arrangements for next year. If you would like staff to consider something of an academic or wellbeing nature for your child when forming our classes please provide this in writing to principal@saseaford.catholic.edu.au no later than Friday 12th November for our consideration. We use a variety of factors in determining class placement and as such any requests are not guaranteed. 

Please see the Community page for our new lunch order process.

God Bless You All

Rod Shaw

Principal

School Attendance and Unexplained Absence

Please ensure you contact the school before 9:30am if your child is going to be absent or late  by leaving a message on 9786 4736 and press #1.

If you are running late (after  9:00 am ) please attend the office to sign your child into school. 

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 phone call or text message.

If parent does not reply or 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.