Principal's Message
Dear Parents, students and the wider community,
We held our first Foundation Open Morning on Monday. The families who visited our school were very complimentary about the facilities, the students' behaviour and the learning they witnessed. It is nice to hear this perspective from families who are at this stage unaligned with the school. It was particularly pleasing to receive an enrolment form the next day!
We celebrated Shrove Tuesday on the 1st March with our wonderful P & F cooking pancakes so your child could have one after school. Particular thanks to those parents who did the cooking and preparation. Good events like this don't happen without the efforts of many. The next day we began Lent with a whole school Ash Wednesday Liturgy in the hall. Our students will be focusing on the messages of Prayer, giving up something and taking up something over the forty days.
Sometimes in our yard you may witness a situation involving your child and another child. It is always best if these are brought to the staff's attention rather than handling these yourself. Please keep this in mind.
Next week is an extremely busy one for our school. Our Year 5/6 Portsea Camp is between Monday 7th- Wednesday 9th March and I know our students are very excited about this. I thank our staff attending Mrs Ary, Miss O'Donnell, Mr Bright and Mrs Brooking for juggling their own home lives to provide this invaluable learning experience for our students. A final reminder our school closure days this term are on Thursday 10th March (Curriculum Development) and Friday 11th March (Catholic Identity). If you require care from Happy Kids (Moira), they will open up day programs in the hall on both of these child-free school closure days. I thank you for making alternate arrangements to enable our staff to continue their Professional Development. With these closure days leading into the Labor Day long weekend it may enable some families to have a mid-term break and we wish anyone that travels a happy and safe time.
May God bless you all,
Rod Shaw
Principal
School Attendance and Unexplained Absence
Please contact the school if your child is going to be absent by leaving a message on 9786 4736 and press 1. Please give details of your child’s name and class with a reason for their absence such as: unwell, appointment, holiday or family reasons. Alternatively an email can be sent to office@saseaford.catholic.edu.au with cc to the child’s teacher.
If you are running late, (after 9:00 am) please attend the office to sign your child into school and collect a late pass.
If you are picking up your child early you will need to collect them and sign them out from the office.
As per our policy this will be our morning routine for absences:
Parents will be contacted as soon as practicable on the morning a student is absent via a text message.
If parent does not contact the school after receiving the text message, the school will contact the parent by phone. If the parent is unreachable the emergency contacts will be contacted by the school.
If there is still no response, and the school feels that the child is in danger, the police will be contacted.
Ongoing unexplained absences or lack of cooperation regarding student attendance will result in a formal conference being organized. Unresolved attendance issues will be referred to D.H.H.S.
This is a legal requirement.
Democratic Principles
The six (6) principles of Australian democracy include:
(a) elected government; and
(b) the rule of law; and
(c) equal rights for all before the law; and
(d) freedom of religion; and
(e) freedom of speech and association; and
(f) the values of openness and tolerance