Dear Families and Carers,

Every year all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) on school children with disability. The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about support provided to learners with disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Discrimination Act (1992) and the Disability Standards for Education (2005), in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019).

Information provided about learners to the Australian Government for NCCD includes:

Years of schooling.
Category of disability: physical, social/emotional, sensory or cognitive.
Level of adjustment provided: support provided within the quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary, substantial or extensive.

This information assists the school to:

Formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to learners with disability in schools.
Consider how we can strengthen the support of learners with disability in our school.
Develop shared practices so that we can review their learning programs to improve educational outcomes for learners with disability.

The NCCD provides state and federal governments with the information they need to plan more broadly for the support of learners with disability.

The NCCD will have no direct impact on your child and your child will not be involved in any testing process. The school will provide data to the Australian Government in such a way that no individual learner will be able to be identified – the privacy and confidentiality of all children is ensured. All information is protected by privacy laws that regulates the collection, storage and disclosure of personal information. To find out more about these matters, please refer to the Australian Government privacy information.

Further information about the NCCD can be found on the NCCD portal. Please also refer to the NCCD Fact Sheet for Parents, Guardians and Carers.

If you have any questions, please contact our Leader of Learning Diversity and Inclusion: Liz Chapman lchapman@smechuca.catholic.edu.au

St Mary's 2025 Term Dates

Term	Dates	School Closure Dates
Term 1	Tuesday 28th January - Friday 4th April	TBA
Term 2	Tuesday 22nd April - Friday 4th July	22nd - 24th April 9th June - Kings Birthday
Term 3	Monday 21st July - Friday 19th September	TBA
Term 4	Monday 6th October - Friday 19th December	3rd November 17th - 19th December

PLEASE NOTE - EXTENDED BREAK: St Mary's children will not be returning to school until Monday 28th April 2025

Bus Travel - UPDATED

St Mary’s consistently teaches explicit behaviour appropriate for the school environment. We also work collaboratively with staff and learners to establish expectations for safe bus travel. We ensure that children travelling by bus are seated and calm while waiting to go home, and we emphasise expected behaviour and manners when entering and being seated on the bus. We will continue to support our learners and families in this manner.

St Mary’s also collaborates with our local bus companies, representing our learners and families. We recognise that bus travel is ultimately a parent's choice and responsibility; however, we understand that a unified partnership is best for all stakeholders in our community. St Mary’s has no jurisdiction once the buses depart from the school and understands that parents have signed and committed to codes of conduct to allow their child to travel. St Mary’s will continue to investigate concerning behaviours of our travellers, and if trends of inappropriate behaviour persist from an individual child, families will be asked to seek alternative travel for a week.

Today, we received communication from the bus companies informing us that if behaviour is unsafe, inappropriate, or intentionally defiant, the bus will return to St Mary’s and drop the children off. Families will then be called for collection.

St Mary’s will continue to support all stakeholders in this situation and hopes for the continued support of parents for safe and appropriate bus travel.

Bus travellers who arrive prior to 8:30 AM will be separately supervised in the Brigidine Centre by support staff. Children in this setting sit in rows, waiting patiently for the 8:30 AM start time of teaching staff. At 8:30 AM, learners will begin their daily routine.

At the end of the day, bus travellers will sit at allocated waiting bays, ready for the buses to arrive. Familiar staff facilitate these duties to best support the learners and the bus drivers. The highest standards of behavior are expected from our bus travellers while traveling to and from school, and St Mary’s works in collaboration with our local transport companies.

If your child is in Foundation and catching the bus for the first time, please inform your child’s classroom teacher and seek support if needed.

HATS

Can all parents/carers please check names on hats in their childrens bags. There have been alot of hats go missing and think these may be being picked up incorrectly in the yard without checking names.

Drop Off & Pick Up

One of St Mary’s greatest challenges is pick-up and drop-off during the school day. We face challenges due to the increased residential and commercial development and the high volume of learners and families we have. As a community, we all need to commit to the process to ensure a safe and swift pick-up and drop-off daily.

In Week 4, drop-off and pick-up will have only four options: Wilkinson Drive (Top Gate), bus drop zone, car drop zone, and Senior Gate. These points are supervised from 8:30 AM when staff begin their workday, and supervision concludes at 3:25 PM when staff finish their official duties. Parents are expected to drop off and pick up in accordance with these times to ensure that we can collectively care for and supervise all children.

At the end of the day, please ensure your child is familiar with your pick-up collection point so that they can move quickly to that location. Families are welcome to meet their children at classroom doors, and our external gates will open daily at 3:00 PM.

Car Pick-Up

Car pick-ups are required to wait outside the gate, in front of the Chapel glass, just outside the Brigidine Centre. Teachers will call child/family names to ensure a continued flow of traffic, accommodating all in the community who use our surrounding roads. Families using car pick-up are to remain in their cars, and if the waiting period exceeds two minutes without your child presenting, you may be asked to circle the loop to allow the flow to continue. Please support and respect staff if this request is made. In the coming week, families who use car pick-up will be invited to use a sign on their left visor with your family name, so that school staff can prepare your family for prompt collection.

Bus Travellers

Bus travellers who arrive prior to 8:30 AM will be separately supervised in the Brigidine Centre by support staff. Children in this setting sit in rows, waiting patiently for the 8:30 AM start time of teaching staff. At 8:30 AM, learners will begin their daily routine.

At the end of the day, bus travellers will sit at allocated waiting bays, ready for the buses to arrive. Familiar staff facilitate these duties to best support the learners and the bus drivers. The highest standards of behavior are expected from our bus travellers while traveling to and from school, and St Mary’s works in collaboration with our local transport companies.

If your child is in Foundation and catching the bus for the first time, please inform your child’s classroom teacher and seek support if needed.

Bikes & Scooters

All bike and scooter travellers are to dismount at the gates and walk their bike or scooter to the designated parking bay. All bike and scooter travellers, by law, are required to obey traffic rules and wear a helmet.

Parent Pick-Up / Walking to and from School

Parents who collect children from agreed points and walk to and from their cars are expected to use our signed crossings at all times during peak school hours. We know that our parents serve as models of safety for their children and those in our wider community.

Can all Conveyance information please be returned to the office ASAP.

Bus Travellers - CONVEYANCE ALLOWANCE

Students living in Echuca Town area (VIC) need to contact Echuca-Moama Town Services on 5480 2181 for further details of times and bus stops.
If you are travelling on an Echuca town bus (Blue and Yellow bus), you do not need a bus pass but you must pay $1.40 each way. (It is best to have correct money)

Please note, if your child is a town bus traveller, there is a fee of $1.50 each way fee that needs to be paid by the student.

If you live in Victoria and are on the town bus network (blue and yellow bus) and are residing more than 4.8 km from St Mary's Primary School, you are entitled to a conveyance bus pass. Please complete the 2 forms below and return to the office. If you reside within the 4.8 km zone, there is an each way fare that is payable by the traveller.

If you are in Victoria and live outside the township of Echuca, your child will be on a country bus and will need to fill in the below form and return to the office.

If you live in Moama, you require a bus pass please go to the below website to apply.

Under Name of school the student is attending in 2024 please type Echuca, then select

St Mary's from the list.

If you live outside Moama - Dyson (eg Winbi, Perricoota Run)

If you live within town - James Newton Bus Service

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