The Principal's Desk

Dear parents, students, families and friends,

Welcome back to school for Term 4, the final term for the 2024 school year. As the term started we had bushfires followed by floods in Sale and Gippsland. We have also had the escalation of violence in Israel and Gaza. October is the month of the Rosary, when Catholics dedicate themselves to praying the Rosary to Mary, Our Mother in Heaven, to intercede and help us, particularly during troubled times. During our prayers this month, let us ask Mary and Jesus to bring about peace locally and globally.

We welcome Fr Trac Nguyen to St. Augustine's Parish, to act as Parish Priest for the time being until Fr Werner is able to take up this position. Fr Trac took up residence during the school holidays. You will see Fr Trac about the place, obviously in the church, but you will also see him at the gates before or after school as he begins to meet the students and families in our school community. 1/2 LM and 5/6 C met him last week at mass and he came to visit the staff last Thursday at lunch time.

Please keep Rachel English (Darcie in 5/6) in your thoughts and prayers. Rachel has ben diagnosed with breast cancer and will undergo surgery and treatment. We offer Rachel, Marc her husband, Darcie, Neave and Lucy her daugthers our support during this time.

Fang Run Fundraiser

The excitement is growing for the Fang Run Fundraiser. If you haven't yet registered your child, we encourage you to do so as soon as possible. Currently we have about 57 students registered.

The Fang Colour Run will now be held on Monday 30th October, the eve of Halloween. It will be held during the second half of the day starting at about 1.00pm on the senior basketball court. All children are to bring clothes to change into for the Fang Run, with a white t-shirt highly recommended to get the most impact of the coloured slime and water.

2024 Class Groupings

It is that time of year again when we begin making preparations for the next school year. One of the many important tasks to organise are the class groupings. Next year we will have the following class structure:

2 x Prep Classes

2 x Year 1/2 Classes

2 x Year 3/4 Classes

2 x Year 5/6 Classes

This will be the first time in a few years that we have returned to 8 classes across the school. Shortly, teachers will be asking their students to nominate possible friendship groupings (3 students from their current Year Level and 3 students from the other Year Level that will make up their grade for 2024). There is no order of preference for these names, however, the Class Solver program will give them at least 1 friend/name from each group.

At this point in time I ask that any parents that have requests for particular desired groupings/pairings or combinations to be avoided, to email these to me as soon as possible. There are no guarentees for requested groupings or pairings, however we will do our best with the assistance of the Class Solver Program. The requests we can guarentee are those for combinations to be avoided. It is also important to note that requests for separations will take precedence over requests for pairings.

Uniform Refresh

This week I sent out a letter to inform families of the changes to the school uniform that will be implemented for the start of the 2024 school year.

Thank you to all parents who completed the voting and survey for the uniform refresh. We have listened to and valued your feedback and used this to make informed decisions about new and existing items of uniform. We have decided to retain the polo shirt as part of the everyday uniform as it is easy to wash and doesn't require ironing. We are not going to introduce the blue woollen jumper, instead the current blue sports windcheater will replace the grey windcheater as part of the everyday uniform. Grey trousers and shorts will be changed to unisex navy-blue trousers and shorts to maintain consistency and uniformity. Below is a list of the uniform that will begin to be introduced at the Prep Level from 2024. The uniform refresh will take a number of years to be gradually phased in. The second-hand uniform shop will continue to operate, providing a valuable service to the school community.

Everyday Uniform:

Royal Blue Windcheater

Light Blue Polo shirt (short & long sleeve)

Navy Blue Shorts

Navy Blue Skorts

Navy Blue Trousers

Navy Blue Slacks

Summer Dress

Winter Pinafore/skirt (can be worn as a full pinafore or detached and worn as a skirt)

Navy Blue Tights

Royal Blue Bucket Hat

Rain Jacket

Scarf

Beanie

Navy Socks

Navy Tights

Black Leather School Shoes

Sport Uniform:

Navy Blue Tracksuit (zip up top with matching pants)

Sport Polo Top (New)

Navy Sport Shorts/skorts

White Socks

Runners (any colour)

Please see below a colour presentation of the St. Augustine's School Uniform

BYOD (Buy Your Own Device) Program

Again, thank you to all parents who completed the BYOD survey. You feedback was invaluable in being able to make a decision that will benefit the school community and considers the individual needs of families.

The BYOD program will be introduced at Year 3/4 for 2024, and then from Year 3 for each year following after that.

Year 5s and 6s will continue to have access to school devices (Chromebooks) as per normal. The current devices in Year 3/4 will be moved down to Prep and Year 1/2 to bring the ratio of devices to 1 per child. Outdated devices will be removed and replaced with new devices purchased from the Fundraising Budget as a result of all the hard work of the Parents & Friends Committee and the generous donations of all those who have contributed to fundraising events throughout the year. Prep, Year 1 and Year 2 students will continue to have access to school devices as per normal. 

You will see a variance in levies with Years 3 and 4 paying a $25 ICT levy, while Preps 1s, 2s, 5s and 6s pay a $125 ICT levy. The $100 difference accounts for the cost of the Chromebook being deducted over a 4-year period (Year 3 to 6).

The BYOD Program is not optional, however, any family in Years 3 and 4 who are not able to participate in the program due to financial reasons, please make a time to speak with me so that we can make alternative arrangements. As I have mentioned earlier when speaking about this, no child in 3/4 will be excluded from having a device and taking it home when required, the same as those students participating in the program.

The aim of the BYOD is to provide students from Years 3 to 6 with their own personal device that they will be able to take home and return to school daily. It will develop skills of organisation and responsibility as they learn to take care of their device, ensuring it is charged and in their bag ready to take to school or home each day. It will allow for students to access and complete homework tasks and activities online via Google Classroom.

Here is the link to the portal which is now officially live and ready to go: 

https://staugustine.orderportal.com.au/

Please note that the “Order by” date is Sunday 19/11/2023, with a bulk delivery to the school in the week of 22/01/2024.

Reminder

No Hat, No Play began on Monday 9th October. All students from Prep to Year 6 must have their school hat at school each day. They will need to wear their hat during lunch, recess, physical education lessons and when going on excursions. Students without a hat or the appropriate school hat will need to remain in the shade (courtyard on junior yard veranda on the senior yard) participating in passive play games only. All classrooms have a sunscreen dispensers at their doors for the students to apply before going outside.

Upcoming events:

Thursday 26th October - Fang Run Fundraiser

Friday 3rd November - School Cross Country Carnival

Monday 6th November - School Closure

Tuesday 7th November - Melbourne Cup Public Holiday

Friday 10th November - Year 3 - 6 School Swimming Carnival

Monday 13th to Wednesday 15th November - Year 3/4 Camp at Sovereign Hill

Friday 8th December - Year 6 Big Day Out

Tuesday 12th Decemebr - Three Parish Schools Combined Christmas Carols

Wednesday 13th December - Whole School End of Year Fun Day

Thursday 14th December - Whole School End of Year Mass

Thursday 14th December - Year 6 Graduation Liturgy, Ceremony and Dinner

Friday 15th December - End of Term and Year 1.15pm Dismissal

A reminder for all adults to vote in the Referendum this Saturday 14th October.

Kind regards,

Matthew Stead