Welcome Back to Term 2

As we now settle into the new term with the daylight hours getting shorter, and winter approaching, we remind you of a number of important items.

Attendance Reminders

As part of our continual monitoring of student attendance and absence, we remind all of our families of the importance of informing us of student absence.

We have a dedicated phone line to leave messages to record student absence. Once roll call has been taken in the morning, the office will begin to call to verify all student absences that have not been confirmed via the phone system or email. Obtaining an explanation of student absence is a government expectation of all schools.

Families of students that have five unexplained absences and have not responded to the absence follow up letters distributed by homeroom teachers, will receive a letter from the College asking for reasons for the absences.

With all of the data collated for Term 1 we will now send these specific letters to families asking for a reason for the absences.

Those students who have continual absences will be followed up with parent meetings that will focus on ways the school can support the family in getting their child to school.

We know that every day counts in terms of student learning as well as their ability to meet the benchmarks for them in their growth as a learner.

We thank all of those families who support this process by contacting us to inform the College of the absence of their child.

Uniform Reminders

Over the last couple of weeks there have been long lines at the uniform shop on Wednesday and Friday as students continue to work on getting their uniform organised for the term.

We have now moved to our winter uniform and some points to note are:

The Marian winter skirt or the Marian school pants are to be worn
With the winter skirt both blue tights or long white socks can be worn
The school tie is a compulsory item with the winter uniform
The school tracksuit pants should not be worn as an alternative to the Marian school pants. Students will be followed up should they not follow this expectation
Other visible tops under the sports polo should not be worn as the school provides both a rugby top and jacket for warmth
Hoodies are not part of the sports uniform at any time

We understand that many students have been purchasing the school scarf for warmth as well but this is an optional item for the uniform.

Any family that is struggling to organise their child’s uniform for financial reasons please contact your Year Level Leader to assist with this process.

Concerns regarding VAPING

We have been alerted by members of our community of the concerns related to the issue of VAPING and the possibility that this may be taking place on our bus services travelling to and from school.

Students are to be reminded that the same consequences will apply if found vaping in school and whilst travelling on our bus services, whilst waiting for the bus service or walking to school. The consequence will be that the student will be suspended and a re-entry interview will take place with the family before they can return.

The same consequence will apply to those students are found in areas around the school with students who are vaping eg the school toilets.

We recognise that this has become an issue in society and are working with the community police and outside agencies to make our students aware of the concerns in relation to their health.

The government has recognised the significant problem this has become and have made changes to both the selling, purchasing and labeling of vaping products, particularly to young people.

Later in the term, we will ask the Community Police to work with our students to explain these changes.

Development of our Wellbeing Program

Over Term 1, our Year 9 and 10 teachers have worked enthusiastically and diligently on developing our Wellbeing program for the middle school.

This program covers the areas of Body, Mind, Heart and Spirit and encompasses aspects of our Health and PE, Religion, Science and Pastoral Program. We look forward in later editions of the Marian News of giving our community an insight into the development and achievements of the program.

Many of the students in Year 9 and 10 will be part of the focus groups in the coming weeks to discuss the program and give some input into the ways that it can be improved from a student perspective. We will share these insights with you once they are collated.

Wellbeing thought..

As we approach the cold, dark and winter months we remind everyone of the importance of looking after yourself and this means if you are unwell remaining at home until you recover.

If the last few years have taught us anything it is so important to look after your health but by doing the right thing you also look after the health of other members of our community….

Kerrie Williams

Assistant to the Principal – Student Wellbeing

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