TERM 1 EVENT DETAILS & KEY DATES
Term 1 Events and Information
Sacrament of Reconciliation (Year 3)- Thursday 27th March and Family Faith Night- Wednesday 26th February
Our Year 3 children will commence preparation for the Sacrament of Reconciliation with a family faith night on Wednesday 26th February at 7pm. There will also be a Reconciliation Reflection Day on Wednesday 19th March, to assist with preparation. Due to the number of children, the sacrament will be held over two liturgies at 5pm and 7pm on Thursday 27th March. Families will be asked to book into either of the liturgies following the faith night.
St Agnes’ Parents and Friends Welcome Picnic- Friday 28th February
The St Agnes’ Parents and Friends Committee warmly invites all families to join the Welcome Picnic on the evening of Friday 28th February at Thomas Street Park. More information will be communicated in the coming weeks, but please mark this important date in your calendar!
District Swimming Trails- last Training next Tuesday 18th February
On Tuesday 4th, 11th and 18th February, our staff are running swimming trails and training for the School Swimming Team. This is for Year Three to Six students only. Interested students must attend both sessions in order to be eligible for selection to the swimming team and be able to swim 50 metres confidently. More information has been sent via Operoo, but if you have any questions, please contact our Sports Coordinator Mr Simon Kost (skost@sahighett.catholic.edu.au). Unfortunately the SSV swimming carnival clashes with the 5/6 Canberra Camp in 2025. Year 5 and 6 students are welcome to attend the swimming trials even though they will be unable to compete at the SSV swimming carnival.
Year 5 and 6 Canberra Camp - Monday 17th - Friday 21st February
Early on the morning of Monday 17th February, our Year 5 and 6 students will travel to Canberra for a week of camp. The children will explore many of the various experiences Canberra has to offer, from the War Memorial and the National Gallery to Parliament House and Scienceworks. They will return in the afternoon of Friday 21st February. Levi Otto, Josie Miller, Nicci Murdoch, Maddi McKee and Aggie Gorski will accompany the children. I thank the staff for giving up their family time to go away with the children. More information has been communicated via Operoo.
SSV Interschool Swimming Carnival - Friday 21st February
The St Agnes’ School Swimming team will head to SSV Interschool Carnival to compete in various swimming events against other schools. Students need to attend at least two of the training sessions to be eligible to be part of the swimming team.
Public Speaking Program (Debating) - Commences Tuesday 25th February
Our Year 5 and 6 students will continue to experience instruction around public speaking and debating from toastmaster Sandra De Geest this year. This course commences on Tuesday 25th February and will run for 5 weeks. This is a tremendous opportunity for our senior students to continue to develop this skills in this area.
Clean up Highett Day - Friday 28th February
As we have done over the past few years, our school community has gone out into Highett to help keep it clean. This coincides with Clean Up Australia Day on 2nd March. More information will communicated via Operoo.
Preps full time - Monday 3rd March
Our Prep students will be full-time at school from Monday 3rd March, as their testing will be complete.
Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday-Wednesday 5th March
Ash Wednesday is on Wednesday 5th March February and, this year, we will mark the beginning of Lent by coming together for a whole school paraliturgy in the Church at 9am. Parents are welcome to join us for this. We will acknowledge Shrove Tuesday the day prior, with the cooking of pancakes; we will be looking for parent helpers to make this happen. Please contact your Class Rep if you can help out.
Parents’ and Friends’ Committee meeting - Tuesday 4th March at 7.30pm
The P&F is meeting for the first time this term on Tuesday 4th March at 7.30pm in the Staff Room. All parents are welcome to attend and we ask Class Representatives to make a special effort to be present.
School closure days
The school will be closed on Thursday 6th and Friday 7th March for the staff to undertake professional development. I thank you in advance for your understanding and trust you will make the most of the extra long weekend. The school will also be closed for the Labour Day Public Holiday on Monday 13th March.
NAPLAN
NAPLAN testing for Years 3 and 5 will take place from Wednesday 12th March to Friday 14th March (Week 7). The children in Years 3 and 5 will be tested in Reading, Writing, Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation, and Numeracy. The school will work with the children over the coming weeks around test-taking strategies.
School Advisory Council meeting - Tuesday 18th March at 7.30pm
The first School Advisory Council (SAC) meeting will be held at school on Tuesday 18th March, commencing at 7.30pm. The SAC is an advisory body that supports the Principal and Parish Priest on matters relating to the education of the students at St Agnes'.
St Agnes’ Dads’ Night - Pot and Parma - Thursday 20th March
After a very successful inaugural effort, the St Agnes’ Dads Pot and Parma night is back. We are aiming to establish a St Agnes’ group to strengthen connection amongst St Agnes’ fathers and father figures.
Please register your attendance with Year 4 Dad Bart Carroll (bartscarroll7@gmail.com or 0421 877 991).
Parent Helper Course- Training session
This year, we again welcome the support of parents to assist in our Prep and Year 1 classrooms during the morning literacy block. You will enjoy participating in your children’s education – we are in partnership with you and your support is invaluable. All parents are welcome to help. We require that all helpers assisting in the classrooms are fully trained and have a current Working with Children Check, which must be uploaded to your child's Operoo profile prior to the commencement of the training sessions. We need helpers from 9.45am to 10.45am each day. There will be a compulsory training session (approximately 1 hour) for all new Prep parent helpers and any new helpers in Year 1. The training session will be run by Amanda Baker and Judith Barton in the Hall on Thursday 20th March at 9.00am. Please contact Judith Barton (jbarton@sahighett.catholic.edu.au) to confirm your interest.
Year 5/6 Parish Mass
The Year 5 and 6 children will participate in Parish Mass on Friday 21st March at 9am. All parents and families are welcome to join this mass.
Prep Resilience Seminar - Tuesday 25th March
On Tuesday 25th March, we will be hosting an information night on Resilience for our Prep families and any families new to our school. The night will be facilitated by Student Wellbeing expert Georgina Manning, with a focus on how parents can help children to be resilient young people. It is essential that at least one parent from each Prep family attends, but it would be even better if both parents could be present.
St Agnes’ Sports Carnival
We are expecting our annual Sports Carnival to held on Friday 28th March at Rowans Road Athletics track. Details regarding this will be confirmed soon.
Last day of Term 1 - Thursday 4th April
On the final day of Term 1, we will have our traditional Easter Bonnet Parade and then acknowledge the events of Holy Week, with an Easter paraliturgy. We will then move into a whole school activity day, focused on promoting positive relationships between our students. More information will be provided closer to the day. Students will finish at 1.30pm on this day.