PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Term 4 - Week 1

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Welcome back to Term Four. I trust that your family had a relaxing holiday break and are feeling refreshed and ready for a big term of learning, sporting and community activities. It was wonderful to see and hear the excitement from the children on the first couple of days this week, as they returned to school. Term Four is always a dynamic time at our school with many events, so our staff are very keenly focused on maximising learning time in classrooms to get the most out of every day. The first week of the term is Wellbeing Week, where we put a little extra emphasis on Student Wellbeing. During this week, we begin learning about our Respectful Relationships topic Positive Gender Relations and also revisit routines/expectations/rules so the children and staff can operate at their best throughout the term. We have started the term with a high number of enrolment enquiries for next year, so thank you again to all families for advocating so wonderfully for our school in the local community.

See below, a snippet of our incredible Preppies straight back into Handwriting...

Massive Term Ahead

Like always, the first newsletter of the term is a big one with details about many activities and events for the term. I encourage everyone to get a cup of tea, coffee or grapejuice and input the important dates into your family calendar. Classroom Newsletters will be provided in the coming week to provide more detail about the curriculum and specific activities for your child’s class. The Events Details page of the newsletter is always a good one to have a detailed read.

Staff Leave - Naomi Field

Some of you will have noticed that Naomi was absent from the front office at the end of last term. In late August, it was discovered that Naomi had a large tumour in the front-right of her brain. This growth was successfully removed on Tuesday 3rd September and later found to be benign, with no further treatment required. This was obviously a huge relief for Naomi, her husband Jonathan and their three daughters. Naomi will remain on sick leave for the foreseeable future and hopefully return to work in a reduced capacity later in the year. As they say, all is well that ends well and we are very grateful to know that Naomi has a positive health outlook for the future.

Holt District Athletics

On Monday we had an athletics team consisting of 67 students from Years 3-6 attend the Holt District Athletics Carnival, competing against 7 other schools from our region. Our school finished 3rd in terms of points per student and 4th in overall points scored. Returning to school, again we were proud to hear about the attitude, effort and behaviour of the students attending from St Agnes’. Based on results from Monday, we will have a smaller team head off to the Beachside Division competition on Tuesday 15th October. Congratulations to:

Estelle Warnes, Daisy Russell, Ivy Jones, Alice Johnson, Niamh McGoldrick, Charlotte Puli, Lily Gray, Ayman Yilmaz, Callan Duddy, Edward Harris, Hudson Kunc, Logan Vien, Aiden Pham and Alex Brantner. Information regarding the Beachside Division has been communicated via Operoo. Best of luck to these students.

Public Speaking - Year 5 and 6

Each year, our senior students participate in a public speaking and debating course led by expert Toastmaster Sandra de Geest. This is one of the terrific extra curricular opportunities provided to our senior students, readying them for the rigours of secondary school and beyond. This program commences this week and runs for 8 weeks. You can see them in action below.

Visual Arts Show

Throughout this year, our Art Teacher Mrs Nicci Murdoch has been busily working with the children to prepare work for our biennial Visual Arts showcase. The Art Show will be held on the evening of Wednesday 27th November from 6-8pm and we ask all families to please make this event a priority; as it is a whole school event, all children are expected to be in attendance. At the Art Show, there will be multiple pieces of art on display from all students and we will also have those with instrumental music prowess, performing throughout the spaces. There will be food and drink for parents/children as part of the ticket price. This year, the Art Show will take place in conjunction with Grandparents Day, which will follow the day after. This allows more people the opportunity to see the amazing work completed by the children. More information will be shared as the event edges closer.

Transition to Summer Uniform

From the beginning of Term Four, students can start wearing Summer uniform. Until the Melbourne Cup long weekend, students can wear either Summer or Winter uniform, but it must be one or the other, not a mix of both. Hats are compulsory during playtime and outside lessons from the beginning of the term, so please ensure these come back to school as well.

See below the Summer uniform requirements:

A reminder that the Bomber Jacket is only to be worn as part of the sports uniform and the maroon soft-shell jacket is only to be worn as an outer layer on cold days.

Punctuality and Parking

It’s been tricky with daylight savings coinciding with the return to school, but I would like to offer a gentle reminder to all families that the children need to be at school by 8.45am to ensure a positive start to the day. If a child arrives late they miss opportunities to connect with peers and teachers, while also missing some critical learning. 

I would also like to remind parents that the parking zone Peterson Street is a 5 minute, drop-and-go zone in the morning and afternoons. If you wish to park and come into school, please park in other areas. Thank you for your understanding and compliance with this.

2025 Prep Orientation

Next week, our Prep Orientation program will commence for our 2025 Prep children. We are very much looking forward to welcoming two classes of Preps to our school community next year. There are two components to our Prep Orientation program: a Parent Information session and three orientation sessions for the children with school staff and new classmates. Below are the dates and times for these sessions:

• Student Orientation session 1 - Wednesday 16th October from 9am-11am
• Student Orientation session 2 - Wednesday 30th October from 9am-11am
• Student Orientation session 3 - Wednesday 13th November from 9am-11am
• Parent Information Night - Tuesday 19th November at 7.30pm

A communication will be sent directly to Prep parents very soon.

St Agnes’ Walkathon - Friday 18th October

The annual St Agnes’ Walkathon is one of the great events on the school calendar. With a focus on being active and healthy, the community spirit of our school is always on show at this event. All students will walk down to Peterson Street Reserve (top oval) and will commence running/walking laps at 9.30am. The children will be moving for about an hour. They will complete laps of the oval and are asked to seek sponsorship for the event. Prizes will be awarded for the most laps and most fundraising completed. Parents are welcome to join in the walk/run and assist with lap marking. Sponsorship forms will be sent home in the coming days. This year, we are striving for a cashfree Walkathon, with the P&F Bank details included on the sponsorship form, as well as a link to sponsor via the P&F Website. We encourage all of the children to seek sponsorship from friends and family and the link to the P&F page should make this super-easy. All funds raised will go towards the resurfacing project. We are aiming to have this completed early in the new year. More information is located on the P&F Page of this newsletter.

Tuckshop - Friday 11th October

Tuckshop will commence this Friday 11th October. Orders can be placed online at https://www.salutecatering.com.au/tuckshop using the code: lunch2024.

School Fees

Term Four School Fees Statements will be sent by the end of this week. Fees are payable via EFT, cash or credit card. Please contact Shannon (sshine@sahighett.catholic.edu.au) in the office to organise payment. All fees for 2024 must be settled by Friday 25th October 2024, unless you are on an agreed payment plan.

Assembly

Assemblies are in the Hall on Wednesday afternoons. Parents are welcome to attend. At assemblies, there will be presentations from classes, student awards, birthday acknowledgements and special announcements from student leaders.

Wednesday 16th Oct - Year 6

Wednesday 23rd Oct - Year 1

Wednesday 30th Oct - Year 5

Wednesday 6th Nov - Year 3

Wednesday 13th Nov - Year 4

Wednesday 20th Nov - Prep

Wednesday 27th Nov - Advent & Christmas Appeal - Mini Vinnies

Wednesday 4th Dec - Advent - Year 2

Wednesday 11th Dec - Year 6 Final Assembly

Looking forward to a great Term Four.

Have as great week.

Kind regards,

Lachie.