Welcome to 2025.

It was so nice to see all our new school children who are beginning their school journey. The foundation class has settled into school nicely. They will continue to have Wednesdays off for a rest during the month of Februrary then will be full time students from March. We have had many new families start with us and are happy to have you join our school community.

To our returning families, we look forward to working with you again.

It has been a busy start to the year.

the Gr 3 to 6 students partipating in the swimming program, the swimming carnival and the upcoming district swimming and division swimming at the Korumburra Pool.
The Opening Mass was celebrated on Friday 7th February. It was so nice to see so many families join us.
The Reconciliation family workshop was held last night in Korumburra. Please see the Sacraments page of this newsletter for the complete sacramental program.
The grade 1 and 2 students will walk up to the town library for a special session on Tuesday 18th.
Parent Teacher Interviews will be held on Tuesday 18th and Thursday 20th Feb. Bookings can be done via PAM. Please note that appointments are strictly 10 minutes. If you think you will require more time, please make an alternative time to meet with the classroom teacher. If your child is on an Individual Learning Plan (ILP) or Student Adjustment Plan (SAP) you will NOT need to make a parent teacher interview time.

SAFETY AT OUR OGILVY STREET AND BRUMBLY STREET CROSSING

A reminder that there is to be no parking outside of the school on Ogilvy St during bus times. This includes dropping/picking up children. This also applies to the school driveways. At no time should parents be using the school driveways unless instructed to do so.

Please remember that when the school crossing flags are out, you must stop for pedestrians who are waiting to cross or who have started crossing regardless of whether there is a crossing supervisor on duty.
1. It is important to keep our crossing supervisors and our school children and school community safe.
2. Please come to a complete stop when waiting and also do not proceed until the pedestrians and supervisor are safely off the road. It is never OK to ignore the crossing supervisor who has the responsibility of keeping our children safe.
3. At the St Laurence's crossing on Ogilvy St, our supervisors and children do not have a safety space to protect themselves whilst crossing (as they do outside the secondary college) in the event that drivers ignore the request to stop . Disappointingly, this is an all too common occurrence.
4. A reminder that it is 40 between 8am and 9.30am and 2.30 pm and 4pm.
5. Bus Zones are activated during these times as well.

Please keep our crossing supervisors and children safe.

Late arrivals, early departures and Student Absences

To have less interruptions to your child's class and to your childs learning, please ensure that your child/ren arrive to school on time. Remember that you are legally required to ensure your child attends school every day.

Please submit student absences on the day of the absence via PAM by 9.30am on the day, to avoid a call or *SMS from the office. *(Please note that the SMS messages are a no-reply service). If you are leaving a message on the phone, select option 1, give your child's name, grade and the reason for the absence. If no reason is provided, Parent Choice will be the default reason for the absence. If your child has been away for more that three consecutive days, a medical certificate is required.

Ideally, please avoid planning holidays or making routine medical appointments during school time and where possible, you should inform the school in advance of upcoming absences.

A reminder regarding taking family holidays during school time.

Victorian Government regulations state that you must request to take holidays during term time. Please view the link below for for more information: http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/parents/behaviour/Pages/attendance.aspx

To this end, St Laurence O'Toole Primary School requires that a Holiday Request Form must be completed prior to holidays that are taken during the school term.

The Holiday Request Form is available by request from the Principal, Liz O'Loughlin, at principal@stlleongatha.catholic.edu.au Once this has been filled in and emailed back to Liz, an acceptance response form will be issued.

The acceptance response form will suggest some things that you can do during your holiday time that have an educational outcome - such as reading a map, taking photos and writing a sentence or two about exciting events as well as collecting and discussing items you have discovered during each day.

Please take the time to refresh yourselves on school protocol, which can be found on page 5 (Bell times, Bus details etc).

Thank you for taking time to read this newsletter. We look forward to another fantastic year.

If at any time you have any concerns or questions, please do not hesitate to contact me on 5662 2192 or email me on principal@stlleongatha.catholic.edu.au

Prayer