General School News
Canteen Lenten Menu
Lent has started, the canteen will be serving up the Lenten menu on Ash Wednesday and Fridays.
See attached Menu.
Attendance
Parents are asked to inform the school if their child is absent from school. Please contact the school by phone, email, compass attendance note. A SMS reminder will go out if a student absence is not recorded by 11am. stmadmin@arm.ctholic.edu.au
Being on time for school is really important. At the beginning of the day, teachers set the plan for the day and give reminders. We ask that families make every effort to be on time. Students who arrive after the bell must sign in at the Front Office.
Afternoon Process
Buses are loaded at 3:15pm.
Children being picked up are collected from Rusden Street from 3:15pm - 3:30pm (please make sure your children are collected by 3.30 pm. If you are unable to collect your child by 3.30 pm please consider using our After School Care service run by Esteem Kids.
Top Gate
Please be advised that the top gate ((Dangar St) will be open each afternoon for children to be collected. Please note that only students with a parent waiting at the gate will be allowed to leave via this exit. Children who are riding their bike will also be allowed to leave via this exit. This gate is opened at 3:10 pm and closed at 3:25pm and students who have not been collected by this time will be sent down to the Rusden St exit to be collected. Children walking home MUST exit via the Rusden Street exit.
Crunch and Sip
‘Crunch & Sip’ is a time at the beginning of the school day where students eat an extra serve of fruit or vegetables to support good health and to help learning.
Students simply bring a piece of fruit or serve of vegetables into the classroom to eat during the morning session, while continuing with their regular routine.
Please send your child to school each day with an extra piece of fruit or serve of vegetables to eat in the classroom. Something that can be easily taken into the room and eaten without causing too much mess is ideal, for example:
- An apple, banana, carrot, celery sticks.
- A small container of sugar snap peas, cherry tomatoes, grapes, strawberries, cucumber or capsicum sticks or broccoli bits.
- Fresh is best. Dried fruit like sultanas or apricots are allowed but should be limited as the dried fruit clings to teeth and is a concentrated source of sugar, increasing the risk of tooth decay.
Please don’t send fruit or vegetable products (e.g. fruit straps, popcorn, fruit or vegetable breads), fruit canned in syrup or jelly or with artificial sweeteners, flavoured or marinated vegetables.
Please make sure your child always has a water bottle each day.
Uniform Days
Year 5 and 6:
Monday School Uniform
Tuesday Sport Uniform with Yellow Shirt
Wednesday School Uniform
Thursday School Uniform
Friday Sport Uniform with Coloured House Shirt
Year 3 and 4:
Monday School Uniform
Tuesday School Uniform
Wednesday Sport Uniform with Yellow Shirt
Thursday School Uniform
Friday Sport Uniform with Coloured House Shirt
Year 1 and 2:
Monday School Uniform
Tuesday Sport Uniform with Yellow Shirt
Wednesday School Uniform
Thursday School Uniform
Friday Sport Uniform with Coloured House Shirt
Kindergarten:
Monday School Uniform
Tuesday School Uniform
Wednesday Sport Uniform with Yellow Shirt
Thursday School Uniform
Friday Sport Uniform with Coloured House Shirt
Clothing Pool
We are able to open the Clothing Pool by appointment only on Friday mornings. Please contact the school office on 6772 4441 or smaadmin@arm.catholic.edu.au to book a time for Kylie to show you what is available.
Please make sure that you check and label or re-label clothing items so we can return items to their owners. Also please remember to rename items purchased from the Clothing Pool - if the previous owner's name is still on it, we will send it home with them!
We continue to find many items of unlabelled uniforms, often brand new, in our lost property baskets. It is impossible to return these items to students and unnamed items are donated to the clothing pool.
UNIFORM and Expectations
I ask all parents to please support the staff by ensuring your child/children are fully dressed in their correct uniform each day. This includes the correct hat, shorts, socks and black shoes.
I have a high expectation around the school uniform and it is an expectation that everyone wears the uniform with pride. The expectation is the correct uniform is worn everyday.
If your child is not able to wear the correct uniform please send a note to school explaining the reason.
If a child is out of uniform with out an explanation a uniform ticket will be sent home the parents.
Jewellery, Nail Polish, accessorises need to meet the school policy. No makeup or nail polish to be warn at school. Minimal jewellery is to be warn to school: Signet ring, watch, studs or small sleepers are acceptable. Hair ribbons are to be school colours, Hair is to be neat and tidy. If hair is past collar length then it needs to be tied back.
Thank you parents for your support to ensure that the children are in the correct school uniform in a neat and tidy manner each day. This is a very important aspect of school, it teaches the children to understand that standards are important in their lives, as well as respecting the community they belong to.
Contacting the School & Your Child's Teacher
Teachers welcome contact from parents, if you need to talk with staff please either contact the class teacher by phoning the school – 6772 4441 or email the school on stmadmin@arm.catholic.edu.au.
Arriving Late or Leaving School Early
PLEASE NOTE that all students arriving late, or being collected early for an appointment, MUST REPORT to the Office to be signed in or out by a parent /guardian.
Parents please note that students are not to be collected early from school unless they have an urgent appointment. School finishes at 3:10pm.
School Hours & Supervision
Teachers commence duty at 8:25am and finish duty when the last bus leaves St Mary's at approximately 3:35pm.
Supervision begins at 8:25am, School starts: 8:50am
Recess: 10:50am – 11.30am, Lunch: 1.30pm – 2:10pm School finishes: 3.10pm.
School Office Hours
The school office is open from 8.30 am to 4 pm Monday to Friday during term time.
2022 Residential Address and Other Information Collection Notice
Edwards Buses for Students
Transport for NSW (TNSW) has rolled out the Transport Connect Bus (TCB) Program to Armidale and is going live, delivering state of the art technology to rural and regional NSW to help customers plan their journey and receive real-time trip updates for buses. Students and parents now have the ability to plan their journey to and from school, and to track the location of the bus and estimated arrival times. Please refer to the flyer below.
NSW Government Parent Vouchers
The NSW Government has launched Parent NSW vouchers to reward and thank eligible NSW households for their efforts to support learning from home in 2021.
Families with children attending school last year can apply for these vouchers. To apply please visit the Service NSW website or app.
When searching for our school search by Armidale as this will ensure only the Armidale schools will appear, rather than St Mary's as there are many of those across the state.
Partial Absences
We ask that families try to keep medical and other appointments to after school hours but understand that this is not always possible. If you need to drop your child off late or pick them up early for an appointment, please do not enter this partial absence in Compass. When