PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Dear Parents/Carers,

Welcome back to Term Four! I trust the school holidays were a restful period for your family and the children are refreshed and ready for a big 11 weeks of learning and events. The September school holidays were just in time, with many students and staff starting to succumb to illness and depleted energy stores. The children bounded into their classrooms earlier this week though and have quickly settled back into the routine of learning. As always, being the first newsletter of the term, this one is a long one. You will find a list of important dates and related information for each of the major events. This will be complemented by the Term Four Class Newsletter which will be sent out by teachers later next week, outlining the curriculum foci for your child this term. 

The final term is always a lively one, and 2023 will again deliver on that front. Our school community has plenty to look forward to with Prep Orientation, the Walkathon, swimming lessons, Beach Program, Public Speaking, Year 3 and 4 camps, Grandparents' Day, Christmas Carols and finally, Year Six Graduation. Excitingly, for the first time, our school will host a St Agnes’ Swimming Carnival on Tuesday 28th November at BlueFit Swimming School, Tulip Street Sandringham. This event will take place after all of our Prep-Year 4 Swimming lessons and Mr Kost has been working hard in the background to develop a program of events. We look forward seeing if it will be Blue, Red or Yellow house taking the honours! Parents will be welcome at this event and I can assure you, we won’t be asking parents to bring ‘togs’ for a parent race.

Trash and Treasure Market

On Sunday 15th October, the St Agnes’ Fete Committee are hosting a Trash and Treasure Market in the school grounds from 9am-12pm. This is part of the fundraising efforts to bring the 2024 St Agnes’ Fete to life; it will help the committee to fund the much loved assortment of rides. We invite all families to sort through shelves and sheds to rid them of items that you no longer need! All donations are welcome and can be taken to the portable for sorting. If you are available to assist on the morning for a 90minute shift on the school stall or BBQ, all assistance is greatly appreciated and everyone is welcome. Please refer to the Operoo note sent on Monday 2nd October to nominate a time on the roster! Thank you so much for supporting our biggest fundraising initiative. I would like to thank Amy Anderson, Shannon Shine, Georgia Sotiroski, Bree Walsh, Gerry Murphy, Alishia Boot, Amanda Schultz, Anna Wassell, Sarah Gardner, Jenny Cummings and Sally Forbes for their continued efforts to bring our 2024 fete together. Thank you in advance for supporting them with your contributions and/or assistance.

Respectful Relationships at St Agnes’

This year at St Agnes, we have ‘stepped up’ the focus on student wellbeing and engagement. One aspect of this has been through our Student Wellbeing specialist offering, facilitated by Wellbeing Leaders Anthea Georgiou and Josie Miller. The focus of these sessions has been around social and emotional regulation, managing worries and conflict. The other significant component of our approach to support Student Wellbeing has been the re-introduction of the Respectful Relationships program. So far this year, we have had whole-school focus on Emotional Literacy (Term 1), Positive Coping (Term 2) and Personal Strengths (Term Three). Together with daily mindfulness, this three pronged approach has seen a clear strengthening of relationships within and across student cohorts, as well as a drop in conflict on the playground and in the classroom. This term in Respectful Relationships, we move onto Gender and Identity. Research shows that children become aware of gender norms and make efforts to fit within gendered expectations by the time they are in kinder. As children learn about gender, they may also begin to enact stereotypical values, beliefs and attitudes. They may, for example, insist that some games are for boys and others for girls, and actively reject peers from certain games. This means that it is important to start work on building positive gender relationships within these early years. Classroom activities can be used to help children to challenge stereotypes, to value and show respect for diversity and difference, and learn how to apply these attitudes within positive gender relationships. The work done in classrooms this term and into the future, will continue to build positive, respectful relationships across our school community. The aim is for our students to be leaving St Agnes’ as kind, compassionate and respectful citizens, who are able to develop and sustain positive relationships. And, we know that positive relationships in schools supports strong academic growth.

Transition to Summer Uniform & Uniform Shop

From the beginning of Term Four, students can start wearing Summer uniform. Until the Melbourne Cup long weekend, students can wear either Summer or Winter uniform, but it must be one or the other, not a mix of both. Hats are compulsory during playtime and outside lessons from the beginning of the term, so please ensure these come back to school as well.

See below the Summer uniform requirements:

A reminder that the Bomber Jacket is only to be worn as part of the sports uniform. It is expected that all children (with the exception of Year Six students) will have a v-neck woolen school jumper to wear with their school uniform in Winter and cooler days in Term One and Four. 

2024 Prep Orientation

Next week, our Prep Orientation program will commence for our 2024 Prep children. We very much looking forward to welcoming a full class of Preps to our school community next year. Amanda Baker will again be our Prep teacher in 2024. There are two components to our Prep Orientation program: a Parent Information session and three orientation sessions for the children with their teacher and new classmates. Below are the dates and time for these sessions:

• Orientation session 1 - Wednesday 11th October from 9am-11am
• Orientation session 2 - Wednesday 25th October from 9am-11am
• Orientation session 3 - Wednesday 8th November from 9am-11am
• Parent Information Night - Tuesday 31st October at 7.30pm

Walkathon

On Friday 20th October (Week 3) the school will hold its annual walkathon. This fun and fitness focused event is one of the major fundraisers for the year. All students will walk to Peterson Street Reserve (top oval) to participate in the Walkathon. The students will commence running/walking laps at 9.30am and will be moving for about an hour. The children will complete laps of the oval and are asked to seek sponsorship for the event. Parents are welcome to join in the walk/run and assist with lapmarking. Sponsorship forms will be sent home in the coming days. This year, we are promoting a cashless Walkathon, with the P&F Bank details included on the sponsorship form. As per the shared responsibility of our P&F, our Year 3 and Year 5/6 parent groups are responsible for this event. Thank you to the Class Reps and all helpers.

Beachside Division Athletics - Tuesday 10th October

Next week, we have an enthusiastic team of 13 students heading off to the Beachside Division Athletics at Duncan McKinnon Reserve in Murrumbeena. All of these children were successful at the Holt District Athletics Carnival and go on to the next level of competition. We wish them well and know they will compete to the best of their ability!

Victorian Track and Field Team - Mackenzie and Callan

I would like to publicly congratulate both Mackenzie and Callan Duddy for their recent selection in the Victorian Track and Field Team. Mackenzie will compete in the 100m Sprint and Long Jump. Callan will compete in the Combined event. They will both represent St Agnes’, themselves and their families at the School Sport Australia (SSA) Championship in St Leonards, Tasmania from Thursday 23 November to Monday 27 November, 2023.

Year 6 Graduation Meeting - Tuesday 10th October

A follow up meeting will be held for all Year 6 parents to continue planning the graduation celebrations for the Year 6 children. The meeting will be held at school at 8am in the upstairs meeting room. After a limited attendance at the first meeting, we encourage as many parents to get to this meeting as possible.

Staff Appointments for 2024

With our school numbers growing considerably next year, we have made some appointments of new staff to join our community in 2024. Joining our teaching team will be Melinda Phyland from St. Joseph's Black Rock and Levi Otto from St. Joan of Arc Brighton. Melinda is an experienced teacher and current Learning Diversity Leader at St Joseph's. Levi has been teaching for around six years and is the Middle School Leader at his current school. Joining our support staff will be Rebecca Emmerson and Kristina Eterovic, both Learning Support Officers from St Joseph's Black Rock. We are excited to welcome these people to our school community and I thank you in advance for welcoming them when the time comes. Further information regarding staffing and classroom allocations will be shared later in the year, as these things are often subject to last minute change.

Tuckshop reopening on Friday 20th October

Sally from Salute Catering is away on an overseas family holiday (lucky them) and as such, the school tuckshop will be closed for the first two weeks of Term Four. Orders can be placed for Friday 20th October.

Staff Leave in Term Four

• Our Office Manager Shannon Shine will be taking three weeks leave from Monday 23rd to Friday 10th November (inclusive). Shannon is also taking an overseas holiday with her family! While Shannon is away, Naomi Field will be working full time in the office. We are lucky to have two great staff in our front office, who know each other’s roles so well.
• Lynn Miller is taking four weeks long service leave (23rd October to 17th November inclusive) to support her son while he finishes Year 12 exams. 
• I will be away for two days at the end of this week to attend two family funerals in country Victoria.

School Fees

An updated School Fees statement will be sent out to families before the end of this week. Please contact Shannon in the office to finalise your fees for the year. We appreciate prompt payment.

Assembly

 Parents are welcome to attend. We ask that you come through the school office on Peterson street and enter the church via the rear entrance. We will continue to have class presentations, awards, birthdays and special announcements each week.

Wednesday 4th Oct - Environment Leaders

Wednesday 11th Oct - Prep

Wednesday 18th Oct - Year 6 (Leadership)

Wednesday 25th Oct - Arts Captains

Wednesday 1st Nov - Year 2

Wednesday 8th Nov - Remembrance Day Service (Social Justice Captains)

Wednesday 15th Nov - Year 1

Wednesday 22nd Nov - Music Showcase

Wednesday 29th Nov - Advent Week 1 (Year 3)

Wednesday 6th Dec - Advent Week 2 (Year 4)

Wednesday 13th Dec - Advent Week 3 (Year 5) & Year 6 Final Assembly