Principal's Message
Dear parents, students and families,
I trust everyone enjoyed and made the most of the long weekend with our public holiday for Labour Day on Monday.
Yesterday our NAPLAN assessments commenced for our Year 3 and 5 students with the major testing concluding on Monday 17 March. I remind families that it would be beneficial for our Year 3 and 5 students to be here on each of these mornings to enable these assessments to be completed within the set timeline.
Last night the School Advisory Committee met for their first meeting of the year. We warmly welcomi Anjuli Plozza and Pip Cafiso on to the team where they join other parent members Luke Richardson (Chair), Samantha O'Connor, Kirsten Haywood, Ben Cadd, Georgie Mowbray and Andrew Woff. The Committee's major roles are to act as a conduits between School Leadership and our parent body offering suggestions for school improvement and Parish initiatives. Mrs Winduss presented our school priorities for Wellbeing and RE which are her two key areas of leadership. A variety of other topics were discussed including the upcoming senior school re-build, P and F plans for the year, our school uniform, grounds improvements, future enrolments and approaches to Literacy.
A final reminder that the P and F are holding our annual student Disco tomorrow night between 5.30-6.30pm. If your child is attending it is important that they are accompanied by an adult so that the evening is fun for all.
Next week is Catholic Education Week. St Anne's is governed by Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS). This organisation was established by Archbishop Peter Comensoli to be responsible for the governance and operation of approximately 300 Parish Primary Schools and Regional and Archdiocesan Secondary Colleges in the Archdiocese of Melbourne. Next week is a celebration of all the great things that happen across our system culminating in the St Patrick's Day Mass held at St Patrick's Cathedral on Friday 21 March with a celebration in the gardens afterwards. We will be sending Mrs Thomas, Mrs Winduss and 10 of our Year 6 leaders to be part of this great day.
Our school photos will be held on the morning of Wednesday 19 March and we would appreciate your children being in full summer uniform for this.
God Bless and have a great week.
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