From the Principal

Dear Families

We celebrated the feast day of our only Australian saint, Mary MacKillop who is known as St Mary of the Cross. Mary began the Sister of the Sacred Heart (Josephite) order of nuns whose charism is ensuring the dignity of all, being humble, compassionate, reaching out to the marginalised and carrying out the mission of Jesus. Mary was passionate about education and seeing it as the doorway to opportunity. Our Lady of Mt Carmel school began as a Josephite school in 1881.  Mary of the Cross has left an amazing legacy and is a great example of assisting those in need, being inclusive of all, promoting education and following the gospel values. One of Mary MacKillop's quotes is something we can all remember

 ‘Never see a need without doing something about it.’

I would like to congratulate our Year 4 and 3 children on the way they have adapted to the move into new classrooms due to our building project. They have all settled extremely well into their new classrooms. They are working diligently and collaboratively with all their classmates. The teachers are also extremely proud of the children and are very positive that the children will continue to be engaged and motivated to achieve very positive results. 

We had our school closure day today, which allowed us to continue on our ReLATE journey. It was facilitated by MacKillop Family Services. We covered the following modules

• Enhanced teaching and learning
• Sustainable whole school culture change
• Behavioural insights
• ReLATE school conflict framework

OSHClub will be available if there are enough families needing care on this day.

School Uniform

In previous years the School Advisory Committee agreed that shorts for our girls should be an option. We looked at various styles and agreed upon one that is sold in our Uniform Shop. I have noticed that we have an increase in girls choosing to wear shorts instead of tunics and summer dresses. However, many are wearing our sport shorts which should only be worn on sport days. I will meet with the girls in Year 5 and 6 and have shown them the correct uniform. 

I would like to remind you about socks. Logos should not be on the socks our children wear. Boys wear grey socks with their uniform and white socks with their sports uniform. Girls wear white socks with their summer uniform and sports uniform and navy tights if they wear a tunic. At the moment we have some girls wearing navy long socks with their tunic. They can continue to wear navy socks and this will be discussed at our next SAC Meeting. 

I have also noticed girls wearing jewellery and nail polish to school. This is not part of our school uniform.

I ask for your cooperation to check if your children are in the correct school uniform before they leave home. 

School Advisory Committee

Our SAC met last week and our discussions focussed on the welcoming of new families to our school and our school uniform, some of which I have mentioned above. 

In our next meeting the SAC will look at procedures to ensure all families feel welcomed and are informed about events, procedures or policies at St Anne’s.

The Committee will also review the school uniform, particularly focussing on the pants girls wear.

The quality of our school photos was also raised. If you have a concern please let me know and I will feed this back to Arthur Reed. The other option is for you to contact Arthur Reed directly to voice your disappointment.  Each year we review the quality of the photos and we are happy to seek out further options for our 2023 school photos.

If you would like to offer any feedback about these matters, please contact one of our SAC members. 

Soccer Team

Congratulations to our soccer team who made us extremely proud by the way they played at the Divisional Championships last week. The team were successful in their first game but were unlucky to lose their next two games. They showed great sportsmanship during all their games. Thank you to our parents who came along to support the team and to Sarah Cornall who coached the team. 

Building Update

The builders compound has been set up and demolition of the classrooms will begin soon. This is an exciting time for St Anne's as we continue to upgrade our school.

Long Service Leave

I am on Long Service Leave for the rest of this term. Stephen Arthurson will be Acting Principal, so please contact him with any questions or concerns. 

I will see you at the beginning of term 4.

Positive behaviour for Learning - PBL

BEING RESPONSIBLE is our next focus for our children both in the classroom and when playing outside. 

Social responsibility is about children recognising their role in the world and learning to be proactive and 'accountable'. The benefits of social responsibility go further than 'doing good' or 'helping out'. Social responsibility helps build vital social and emotional skills.

We are encouraging our children to take care of their friends and to follow our expectations. We are also encouraging our children to take ownership of their actions. It has been pleasing to see many of our children being recognised for showing they are able to be responsible when playing in our school yard. 

At home you can support us by talking to your children about ways they can be responsible so they can continue to develop positive relationships with yourself, their siblings and friends

God Bless,

Ms Noelene Hussey