Principal's Message
Dear parents, students and families,
What a wonderful day our Market Day was last Sunday- despite the weather!! It really is a day when our community shines and is testament to the great deal of effort our P & F Committee put into the organisation. Thank you to all the parents, students, former students and whomever else stepped up to 'man' the stalls. Thank you to all those who donated something- some of you were extremely generous. It was also a great way to showcase our school community to the wider community and bring in funds that are not directly out of our parents' pockets. Mrs Wain and Mrs Trower are still working out the exact income generated. If there are any outstanding approved invoices or receipts that were incurred please bring them to the office.
Tomorrow is the second of our Transition sessions for our Foundation 2026 cohort. The remaining program for Transition are the Teddy Bears' Picnic on Tuesday 25 November and the final Transition session on Monday 1 December when they will meet their teacher for next year.
Last night I proudly represented our school at the Archbishop's annual Celebration of Principalship and retiring Priests. It consisted of Mass at the St Patrick's Cathedral, with over 200 Principals from the Archdiocese, before a shared celebration at the Park Hyatt. It was a tremendous evening and a great celebration of so many of the great things about Catholic schooling.
This weekend is the final week on the Liturgical calendar with the great celebration of Christ the King this weekend. Advent commences next week as we all begin our preparation for our celebration of the birth of Christ.
Tomorrow our students who have been part of the instrumental program will have a chance to perform to their peers. This will be in the middle block of the day and will be subject to the weather as we will use the front deck of the junior building for our stage. Congratulations on all your hard work for those who perform.
In staffing news we will farewell our Performing Arts teacher Mrs Cathie McArthur to retirement. Having had the privilege of working with Cathie over the past 21 years with 10 years at St Jude's Langwarrin and now 11 years at St Anne's I can honestly say this is a great loss to the students across the wider Frankston area. Thank you Cathie for all you have given to your students and to education. Mrs Brooke Ary will be taking Long Service Leave for 2026 and we wish her all the best on her sabbatical and hope she returns for 2027. Her work with the students in Art, PE, Sport and leading our student leaders in the House Spirit Team has been exemplary over the past 11 years. Mrs Danielle Coulsen who has been teaching PE this year, will be commencing a job at Loch PS which is far closer to where she lives. Her positivity will be greatly missed. Of course the other staff member moving on is Mrs Hannah Ward who will be commencing her maternity leave. We wish nothing but the best to Hannah and Nick on the arrival of their first child.
Of course with people departing we have staff who will be arriving. We warmly welcome Miss Michaela Torpey who is currently teaching at St Justin's PS in Wheelers Hill after recently graduating and will be teaching a Year 3/4 class. We welcome Miss Molly Pender as a Year 5/6 class teacher who is moving across from Tauranga in NZ after commencing her career there. Local, and acclaimed opera singer, Mrs Jacqueline Porter will commence her primary teaching career as our Performing Arts Teacher. Experienced Visual Arts teacher Mrs Laoise O'Toole will move from one day per week teaching a Year 3/4 classroom at St Anne's to being our Visual Arts teacher for 2026. Mrs Justine Le Griffon will return from Maternity Leave to be our PE Teacher for 2026. We are absolutely thrilled to have such quality educators joining our community at St Anne's.
As such I can now share our teaching staff for 2026.
Classrooms
Foundation - Mrs Gill Brown, Mrs Alex Reid
Year 1/2 - Mr Michael Bright, Mrs Dorinnia Burns, Miss Heather Eagling/Mrs Toni Chiodo
Year 3/4 - Mrs Melanie Briggs, Mrs Ceri de Veer, Miss Michaela Torpey
Year 5/6 - Mrs Kaleigh McKenzie, Miss Molly Pender
Specialists
Italian - Signora Maria Morina
Performing Arts - Mrs Jacqui Porter
PE - Mrs Justine Le Griffon
Technology- Miss Heather Eagling
Visual Arts- Mrs Laoise O'Toole
God Bless
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.
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