Principal's Message
Dear parents, students and families,
Our Parents and Friends (PNF) committee with helpers have again been busy this week cooking and serving pancakes on Shrove Tuesday as our community made the most of the last day of Ordinary Time before entering Lent. Thank you all so much for the time and effort put into this to enable us to really celebrate our Catholic faith.
Lent commenced with our Ash Wednesday Liturgy in the Church. Thank you to Mrs Winduss as our RE Leader for preparing this and for staff and students who participated to ensure it was the prayerful time that we join together for each year. Lent of course is the season leading up to Easter Sunday. Staff and students received crosses on their foreheads in the sign of a cross. Ashes have been used for centuries in this wy as a symbol of humility, penance and our commitment to becoming better in our attitudes, values and actions.
Tonight we hold our initial meetings so parents can meet with their child's class teacher on-site. The aim of these meetings is for you to share as much information about your child with the teacher, look at some potential goals and to discuss how your child has settled into their 2023 class. Thank you to all parents who have made time for these important meetings.
Monday 27th February at 9.30am is our first OPEN MORNING for prospective 2024 Foundation enrolments. These tours are aimed at new parents wanting to join our school community for the 2024 year. Please let anyone you know who may be considering our school for their child/ren to ring the office for further details. We have 25 siblings already for 2024 so there really are limited spaces with a maximum of 40 enrolments. We have already had strong expression of interest for our upcoming tours. It is great to know that so many local families want to join our community.
Other dates to be aware of in the next month or so are:-
School Advisory Committee and AGM- Wednesday 1st March
House Cross Country - Friday 3rd March
School Closure Days- Staff PL on Literacy and Numeracy Curriculum development on the Thursday 9th March and RE with musician Andrew Chinn looking at the Liturgical calendar on Friday 10th March.
NAPLAN Testing period commences 15th March
Welcome to our Foundation students who next week begin school fulltime. We can't wait to have you here!
May peace be with you,
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