General Notices
Twilight Swimming Carnival
The “firsts” continue to roll out for St Anne’s College and last Wednesday’s was another
opportunity to create another new tradition with our inaugural swimming carnival.
Games in the wading pool for the School of Wonder students kicked off the afternoon with
26 eager contestants scrambling and splashing as they collected ping pong balls,
dodged a “poison” ball and waded for the relay. This was an excellent turnout, particularly
given that our Foundation children are not yet attending school on a Wednesday.
The action then moved to the main outdoor pool where students from the School of
Innovation commenced their programme of events with the rather challenging under and
over noodle race. Standard and modified races and relays continued throughout the
evening with placegetter points fairly evenly distributed across the four houses. The
carnival concluded with a hotly contested line rope rescue and medley relays and Cooper
House announced as the inaugural swimming carnival victor.
Although a novel concept, our carnival was positively supported by the St Anne’s College
community with a significant number of families taking the opportunity to come and cheer
their children. As spectating students shifted their attention from the first finishers to
competitors still making their way down the pool, a real sense of camaraderie arose as
shouts of encouragement filled the air.
A big “Thank You” to all of the students and families who attended for their support and
participation and to our College staff who took time out of their own evening to step into
the many roles required to be filled. We look forward to holding our second twilight
carnival in February 2021. The St Anne's College inaugural Twilight Swimming Carnival was held at Aquamoves Shepparton on February 12th.
- Stephen Kealy, School of Innovation Learning Mentor
il giornale Publication Day Change
Il giornale, the St Anne's College newsletter, will continue to be published fortnightly, however the publication day has been changed from Thursday to Friday for 2020.
Cardboard Boxes Needed
The School of Wonder children love to use cardboard boxes to create things during Wonder Play. If you have any cardboard boxes that you do not need we would be happy to take them off your hands! Please leave them on or near the craft trolley in Studio 2.
Concerns And Queries Communication Steps
If you have a concern or query please follow these steps to ensure you can
access the right people to respond in a timely manner:
Initial Concern/Query: Pastoral Group Leader
If further clarification/support is needed: School Leader – School of Wonder: Laurel
School of Innovation: Ebony
If further clarification/support is needed: Deputy Principal
If further clarification/support is needed: Principal
Snake Policy
Preventing and managing snake bites
In these warmer months there is an increased risk that snakes will be around.
Snakes come out of hibernation during the warmer months and in urban areas will inevitably move into, or near places where people live and work in search of food or a mate.
Snakes may have found quiet shelter at your workplace. Cool, dark protected areas such as under buildings and near sheds, around rubble and stored materials, and in long grass are typical areas that snakes may be found. As with all Australian native animals, snakes are protected under the Wildlife Act 1975 and cannot lawfully be killed or taken from the wild and held in captivity.
It can often be difficult to tell the difference between a venomous and non-venomous snake therefore people are wise to call for professional help as snake bites can easily occur if inexperienced people interfere with snakes.
Snakes are not usually aggressive and do not seek confrontation with humans but may retaliate if provoked. The important thing to remember is to never attempt to catch or kill a snake – most snake bites occur when people are trying to do this. It is not necessary to try and identify the type of snake as if a person is bitten, physicians may be able to identify the type of snake from residual venom on the skin. Also, for many Australian snakes, a polyvalent antivenom (antivenom that is effective for multiple species of snake) is often sufficient for treatment of snake bites.
All parents and carers are asked to talk about our Snake Policy below with their child/ren:
Snake policy at St Anne’s College
If a snake is seen or reported on or near any locations at St Anne’s College:
- We note the location of the snake and ensure that this area is isolated until the snake is removed.
- We remove all staff and students from the immediate area or evacuate the room until snake is removed.
- We DO NOT approach, attack or otherwise provoke the snake. WE REMEMBER - IF PROVOKED IT MAY STRIKE.
- We contact our local snake catcher or we contact through DELWP who authorise controllers for the purposes of snake removal in populated areas (136186)
Camps, Sports & Excursions Fund (CSEF)
CSEF is provided by the Victorian Government to assist eligible families to cover the costs of school trips, camps and sporting activities.
Please read the following information to see if you are eligible. Printed copies of the forms are available from the College Reception.
Information for the public - NOVEL CORONAVIRUS
'The recommendation is that parents/guardians/carers of students should ensure that any student returning from mainland China (not including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) who was in mainland China on or after Saturday 1 February 2020 is isolated at home and should not attend school until 14 days after they were last in mainland China.'
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Maintaining good health hygiene at school
Everyone can protect against infections by practising good hand hygiene and respiratory hygiene. Here are some tips that everyone at your school can follow:
Cover your mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing with a tissue, or cough into your elbow.
- dispose of the tissue into a bin and then wash your hands afterwards
- wash your hands regularly, after using the toilet, and before eating.
SIMON/PAM
Letters have been sent home which contain the instructions and login details for the Parent Access Module (PAM) for our learning management system (SIMON). PAM is an important source of communication between the College and families.PAM is the portal through which parents can check on learning areas, send parent notified absences, access school activity permission forms and check daily messages. It is also the portal through which you will access your child's reports. It is important that you log in to PAM daily to check any updates or notices.
If you have misplaced or forgotten your login details you can contact administration at office@sackialla.catholic.edu.au
Fee payments - direct debit
St Anne's College tuition fees are inclusive of sports, excursions and all curriculum needs.
The fees are charged annually in February. School fees can be paid weekly, fortnightly, monthly or by the term. Weekly and fortnightly direct debits began on 7th February. Monthly, term and annual direct debits will be processed on 15th February.
Music Lessons
Shannon will also be offering keyboard lessons in 2020 during school hours at St Anne's College. Contact her directly to discuss her availability.
Catholic Schools Parents Victoria
To read the current issue of CSPV use the following link:
https://vcspb.schoolzineplus.com/streamnews?nid=6
School Wide Positive Behaviour Support
Schools today are facing intense scrutiny and are under tremendous pressure for improvement compounded by major issues that place significant demands on our schools. Some of the issues are:
- Increasing diversity of student demographics;
- Changing home structures and complex family relationships;
- Decline in students’ social skills, coupled with increased social media issues and cyber safety;
- Antisocial behaviour in schools is on the rise and becoming increasingly more complex;
- Increase in mental health and school attendance concerns;
- Students with special needs and/or complex backgrounds coupled with diminished behaviour management skills of staff and subsequent increased stress levels;
- Stringent academic accountability positioned against low or underperforming student academic achievement;
- Inefficient and ineffective school organisational systems and procedures for the management of student behaviour.
St Anne's Colleges expectations from all its members are quite simple:
Respect everyone and everything
Do your best
Help others succeed.
At St Anne's this looks like:
- Calm, quiet and peaceful
- Equipment and materials neatly stored
- Sharing our space
- Returning materials to their place after use
- Waiting for your turn
- Lead by example
- Offer a helping hand
- Being patient, thinking twice, acting once
At St Anne’s College, in faith, wisdom and learning, we:
are wise about what we do, we know our impact.
What does this look like in your home?