Whole School News

2019 Teaching Staff Email Addresses

School email addresses have been provided for the 2019 teaching staff for use by parents to make contact with staff.  As teachers have a commitment during the course of the day, many mornings and afternoons, please do not send urgent  communication to their email account.  A time frame of 24- 48 hours is an acceptable response time.

2019 Student Leaders

The 2019 Student Leaders were inducted during our Opening School Mass on Monday 11 February. Fr Abmar blessed their badges and their chosen mentors attended to the pinning. The students also signed a pledge of responsibility to commit to leading the school for 2019. The students are looking forward to the various roles of responsibility and are very eager to get involved in helping with the running of activities, starting off with K-10 Assembly this week. Congratulations to captains Nathaniel Yeatman, Demi Thorburn, Tom Barnes and Lily Haddad and prefects Ellie Rae, Fred Finlayson and Sophie Hunter.

School Attendance

All children from six years of age and under the minimum school leaving age of 17 years are legally required to attend school.

All New South Wales students must complete Year 10. After Year 10 and until they turn 17 years of age students must be in a school or registered for home schooling, or full-time in

Further education and training (e.g. TAFE, Traineeship, apprenticeship)

Paid employment of an average 25 hours per week;

Or a combination of both of the above.

Absence from School

There are many glamorous alternatives to a day at school.  To help keep unauthorised absences to a minimum, you are asked to follow the procedures outlined in the following table. School rolls of student attendance are legal documents and can be called upon for the purpose of legal evidence. Patterns of unexplained absences will be officially followed up. Late arrival is also absence from school.

Participation in regular private music, drama or language lessons offsite will be recorded as absence/unapproved.

Must I send my child every day? YES.

Children are expected to attend all school activities, on time. Regular attendance

Helps your child develop the skills needed to access the world of work and other opportunities.

Helps your child to learn the importance of punctuality and routine

Ensure your child can make and keep friendships.

What if my child has to stay away from school?

If your child has to be absent from school, you must inform the school and provide a reason for your child’s absence.

A small number of absences may be accepted by the principal. For example, if your child has to

Attend a special religious ceremony

Is required to attend to a serious and/or urgent family situation (e.g. a funeral)

Is too sick to go to school or has an infectious illness.

Work for students during planned absences:

During planned absences, you are invited to access the multitude of online educational websites  that are available, especially those that allow skill / drills practise of important number facts or spelling rules.Some students may be able to participate in Google Classroom as are set for the class group.

What are school Principals responsible for?

Principals help to ensure the safety, welfare and wellbeing of your child. Principals have to keep accurate records of student attendance and the reasons for any absences and are responsible for accepting or not accepting a parent’s explanations for their child’s absences. Principals can request medical certificates or other documentation for long or frequent absences even where they are explained by parents as being due to illness.

When absences are unexplained by parents, or the explanations are not accepted by the principal, schools work together with parents to help address the issue. The main aim is to sort out what is preventing the child from getting to school and putting strategies in place to help. Sometimes the school will ask regional support staff and other agencies to assist.

What might happen if my child continues to have unacceptable absences?

It is important to understand that the Catholic Schools Office may take further action where children of compulsory school age have recurring numbers of unexplained or unacceptable absences from school. Some of the following actions may be undertaken.

Attendance meetings and compulsory attendance conferences. Parents (and sometimes their child) can be asked to go to a meeting with school personnel and other Catholic Schools Office staff members. The aim of the meeting is to help identify strategies to support the child and family. Other agencies may also be asked along to help. If the school and other CSO staff members have tried to help improve a child’s attendance, without success, parents (and sometimes their child) can be asked to go to a compulsory attendance conference. The conference will be run by a trained conference convenor. The aim of the conference is for the school, parents (and sometimes their child) and other identified agencies (“the parties”) to further the issues which are impacting on a child’s attendance. The outcome of a compulsory attendance conference is for the parties to agree to certain actions to improve the child’s attendance. These actions are written in the form of undertakings.

Applications to the Children’s Court- A  Compulsory Schooling Order Legal compliance can be sought through an application to the Children’s Court for a Compulsory School Order. The aim is to assist a family and/or child to address the issues which are preventing satisfactory school attendance but has the added force of a Court’s powers.

Prosecution in the Local Court. If all attempts by schools and regional support staff fail to improve a student’s attendance, action can be taken in the Local Court and the result can be fines up to a maximum or $11,000.

For more information

About school attendance see the website address http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/gotoschool/a-z/attendance.php

About school leaving age see the website address: http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/leavingschool/index.php

Absence Procedures

Learning commences for secondary students at 8:45am, therefore students  are required to be here on the premises by 8:40am.

Learning commences for K-6 at 9:00am, therefore  students are required to be here on the premises by 8:55am.

Late arrival (partial absence) is disruptive for your own child’s learning and has an impact on that of others.

The first instalment of school fees was issued last week, via email. If you have not received an account, your email has changed, or if you have not previously given us this information, please contact the office to update your records.

5% DISCOUNT

St Philomena’s offers a 5% discount on school fees for any family who would like to pay the whole year in advance during February. Payments must be received by 28 February for the discount to apply.

If you would like to pay this way, please contact the school office for a calculation.

Payment options

The tuition, building levy and major excursion fee is an annual charge that is divided into three (3) instalments for convenience. Account instalments are issued at the beginning of terms 1, 2 and 3. Unless a prior arrangement has been made with either the Principal or the Finance Officer, all accounts are expected to be finalised promptly by the end of week 4 of Term 1, 2 and 3.

The following options are available for payment:

Qkr! App for smartphone. (School fee and excursion payments, as well as uniform and canteen ordering.)

Direct debit from bank accounts.

Centrelink payments via Centrepay.

EFTPOS.

Cash or Cheque.

If you would like to pay via Direct debit or Centrepay please contact the office for relevant paperwork.