Dear parents, students and families,

Monday was our first Open Morning for prospective 2026 Foundation enrolments. It was a very exciting tour with 17 families in attendance, numerous pre-schoolers and a couple of grandparents as well. It was very affirming for the learning community we have built here with the very large number of families potentially wishing to join St Anne's. We have already received a couple of applications for enrolment for next year following on from this. Our next tour is Monday 24 March so please continue to spread the word and any existing families with children starting in 2026 please put in your applications.

Yesterday and today we have held our Parent-Teacher meetings for Years 1-6. We trust these meetings have set up our students/your children for a great year ahead.

Next week our Year 5/6 students will be at CYC Urban Camp from

Monday 3 - Wednesday 5 March and I thank the staff Mrs McKenzie, Mrs Ward, Mrs Thomas and Mrs Canavan who will be attending.

Shrove Tuesday is Tuesday 4 March and I thank members of our P and F who are making this a bit memorable after school with the traditional cooking and eating of pancakes.

Lent obviously then commences on Wednesday 5 March with Ash Wednesday.

Finally Thursday 6 March is the Preparation Evening for students and families receiving First Reconciliation in the Church.

Of course I realise not everyone in our school comes from a Catholic background so I have 'borrowed' this from the Catholic Australia website to perhaps explain it better for our parent community. This may help you with any discussions that arise as a result of the Lenten journey that the students will be making in their classrooms and as a school as a whole.

"Lent is a 40-day season commencing on Ash Wednesday and ending at sundown on Holy Thursday. During this season Catholics are called to enter more deeply into the mystery of Jesus’ suffering, death and Resurrection at Easter. The season of Lent offers Catholics an opportunity to reflect on where they have failed to love God, their neighbour and themselves and to seek ways to heal what is broken. Alongside this reflection on how they are living their lives, Catholics commit more fully to prayer, fasting and almsgiving".

I think whether you are Catholic or not, there are certainly elements of this that all could participate in.

I would like to thank Anjuli Plozza and Pip Cafiso who have put themselves forward to join the School Advisory Committee. Both of these parents currently have sons in Year 2 with Pre-schoolers who will join our school in the coming years. Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 12 March at 6.30pm commencing with our annual AGM before moving to our first formal committee meeting for the year.

Finally a reminder that, although most before and after school times in our playground are joyful and also a great time to connect, if you have concerns regarding behaviours that are not in-line with how we operate please contact the office.

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 a reason 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

Wellbeing

Emotions