PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Dear Parents/Carers,

Last night, the first Parents and Friends Committee (P&F) meeting of the year was held and there is an exciting calendar of events planned. Keep an eye out for the calendar on the P&F Page of the Newsletter. The Parents and Friends Committee have three main roles within the school; fundraising, social events and pastoral care. It’s a bit cliched, but the P&F are the ‘heartbeat’ our school and without the efforts of our committed parent cohort, our school simply could not function as it does. Further to this, our school would not have the same sense of community and connection that we all value so highly. There are so many amazing opportunities to be involved in our school through the P&F and there is an array of research that support the significant benefits that this involvement will yield for your child. In Term One, it’s the opportunity to make pancakes or sell icy poles and in Term Two/Three, our after school barbeque on a Friday is a great opportunity to get involved. The beaming smile on the face of your child as you stand behind the barbeque or icy pole stand, I personally guarantee, will make your day. The sense of connection and belonging that then stems from this can have a profound effect on your child’s academic, social and emotional outcomes from school.

This Friday, we have the annual St Agnes’ Welcome Picnic, to be held at the Highett Bowls Club from 5.30pm-8.00pm and I encourage all families to get along for the evening. There is barefoot bowling for the adults and ‘giant games’ for the children including Connect4 and Giant Jenga! Drinks are available at bar prices and it’s BYO food and a picnic rug/chair.

The next significant event for the P&F is the Dad’s Pot and Parma night at the Highett RSL on Thursday 23rd March. Tables have been tentatively reserved for all dads to catch up for a Steak, Parma, a drink and some footy on the big screen. Please RSVP to Bart Caroll (0421 877 991) so numbers can be confirmed. All dads, new and ‘not so new’, please come along. Thank you to those who have already confirmed attendance.

St Agnes’ School Production - Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6th September

I am pleased to confirm that the 2023 St Agnes’ School Production dates have been locked in for Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6th September at Kilbreda College in Mentone. I would ask that all parents please mark these dates in your calendar, because all students are expected to be present to perform on both nights of the production. It is a terrific whole school event and we are so very excited about it all, as are the children. Kilbreda have a new, high quality Performing Arts auditorium which is perfect for the size of our school and they have kindly let us have the use of it for two nights.

The Year 5 and 6 students will soon be auditioning for roles in the main cast and once these roles have been decided, rehearsals will commence. Our Prep to Year 4 students will form part of the supporting cast and will all appear on stage for at least one song. It will be a ticketed event and we will be extending invitations to anyone connected to our community, including parents, grandparents, cousins and friends. We will require the support of parents with things like creating sets, sorting costumes and make up. Our first ever production in 2021 was big; Cinderella and Rockerfella; this promises to be even bigger and better! Watch this space for an announcement of the musical we will be performing!

NAPLAN Results in Herald Sun

In the Herald Sun last Wednesday an article was published releasing NAPLAN results for Year 5 in 2022. The scores are an average of the five areas of testing: Numeracy, Reading, Writing, Grammar and Punctuation and Spelling. Year 3 results were not included in this data set. We are proud to share that our Year 5 results from 2022 have us ranked in the top 25% of primary schools in the Southern Region of Melbourne (consisting of 220+ schools) and also that we have exceeded all of the primary schools (Government and Catholic) in our immediate vicinity. We are proud of this cohort of children and acknowledge the partnership between the parents and staff to provide an increasingly high-quality educational experience at St Agnes’. We know there is always room for improvement, but it is important to ‘stop to smell the roses’ to celebrate achievements like this.

NAPLAN 2023

This year, NAPLAN testing is happening in March instead of May. In the week following the Labour Day Long Weekend, our Year 3 and 5 students will sit NAPLAN Online. All tests are completed using the school’s Chromebooks, with the exception of Year 3 Writing which is handwritten. The Year 3 and 5 students will complete the following tests:

• Writing - Wednesday 15th March
• Reading - Thursday 16th March
• Conventions of Language - Thursday 16th March
• Numeracy - Friday 17th March

It is expected that all students complete NAPLAN assessments, unless there is a valid reason for exemption. Results will be received around September and an individual report will be provided to families displaying your child’s achievement. Please click here, for parent information regarding NAPLAN in 2023.

Year 5/6 Canberra Camp

Last week our Year 5 and 6 students spent the week in our nation’s Capital, Canberra. I was lucky enough to join the camp on Wednesday afternoon for a couple of days to finish the week and it was a privilege. When visiting so many of the attractions and places of interest, many of the guides and educators we came into contact with commented on the children’s behaviour, manners and engagement levels. They are an excellent example of our school community. I would like to thank Aggie Gorski, Louisa Di Pietro, Georgia Pafumi and Josie Miller for taking time away from their families and friends to take the children to camp.

Extra Curricular at St Agnes - Health, PE & Community

In addition to the incredible Year 5/6 Canberra Camp, there is a series of extra-curricular events happening for our Prep to Year 4 students, as part of their Term One unit on Health and Community. Our Year 3 and 4 students start Bike Ed next week with an external professional and they are also heading to Basterfield Park for an excursion focused on health, activity and wellbeing on Wednesday 8th March. We have an educational visit from the local member of Victoria Police coming in to talk to our Prep-Year 2 students about rules and laws. As a whole school action, we also have our students heading out into the local community this Friday for Clean up our Community Day, which is linked to Clean Up Australia Day this Sunday! What an amazing term of learning to start the year!

2024 Fete Committee Meeting

Yes, it’s time to start getting organised for the 2024 St Agnes’ School Fete. We have locked in Saturday 16th March 2024 for the big day. We are looking to put together a large team of parents, with well-defined roles to lead our fete in 2024. Our last fete gave an amazing ‘lift’ to all in our community after two very tough years, but it also helped raise close to $30,000, which is going straight back into our classrooms in the form of new furniture when our renovation is finished. The meeting will be held in the staffroom and all parents are welcome to attend. Your contribution is valued and appreciated.

2024 sibling enrolments

We are still asking those current families to complete the enrolment process for any siblings who will join our school in Prep in 2024. We are expecting a large sibling cohort, so we need all families to enrol as soon as possible so we know how many places we have to offer new families. Forms can be downloaded from our website or you can pick one up from the office

Sacrament of Reconciliation Family Faith Night

Tonight we have the Sacrament of Reconciliation Family Faith Night. It will be held in the upstairs Year 5/6 classrooms from 7.00pm-8.00pm. We ask that all children receiving the sacrament are present, with at least one parent. Fr Alan and our RE Leader Aggie Gorski will facilitate this session in preparation for the sacrament later this term.

School Closure Days - March 9th and 10th

A reminder that the school is closed on Thursday 9th and Friday 10th March for staff professional development. Our staff will be working with Anna Glynn, a specialist in thriving teams and strengths based ways of working to ensure our staff teams are functioning at an optimal level, to provide the best possible learning environment for your children. Our staff team is in a really strong place in 2023 and I thank our parent community for your understanding as we continue to develop our staff capacity in this way. Extend have confirmed they will be providing onsite care/supervision on both of these days as there are more than 10 bookings for each day.

2023 St Agnes Footy tipping. 

Exciting news as Footy Tipping is up and running for Season 2023!

To play this year , the fee is again $25-  $15 goes towards prize money and $10 towards the P&F. Prize money will be for 1st, 2nd and 3rd, with allocations settled once players are finalised. Please ensure you have paid and are registered by Wednesday 15th March. You can click the button below to join using the Password: stagnes2023 Please pay the $25 -the account details are as follows,

Name: St Agnes Parents and Friends 

BSB: 083347 Account No: 173603985

- Jake McMahon (Year 1 Teacher and Footy tipping co-ordinator)

School Photos

School Photos will take place on Tuesday 21st March. While this is usually a day for PE, we are asking that all students wear their full summer school uniform, including their new v-neck school jumper. Long hair needs to be tied back, the correct colour socks to be worn, as well as black leather school shoes. They can bring their runners to school to change into for PE with Mr Kost. Please see the Ordering School Photo page for further information.

Extend Vacation Care

After two efforts to get a vacation care service happening in our school, I can confirm that it will not be running in the upcoming school holidays. We will look to prioritise the essential elements of the OHSC service, being before and after school care. We are aiming to build the before school care service to increase the offering to more than two days per week. I encourage all parents who require vacation care to get together with other families and look to enrol your child(ren) in one of the multitudes of holiday care services/experiences available in the community during school holidays. I know that this will be disappointing for some, but unfortunately after two trial runs, we have discovered it is not a viable or reliable option for our school at this time.

Before and after school care

Extend are currently offering before-school care on Monday and Tuesday mornings and after school care every day. Please complete your enrolment and bookings via https://www.extend.com.au/school/st-agnes-primary-school/-Or click button below.

Term 1 school fees

2023 school fee invoices have been sent out and are due to be paid by Friday 24th February. Please contact Shannon in the office to set up a direct debit or to make payments.

Assembly

For the duration of the renovation project, Wednesday afternoon assemblies will be held in the Church from 2.40pm. Parents are welcome to attend. We will continue to have class presentations, awards, birthdays and special announcements each week.

Wed 1st March - Year 5/6

Wed 8th March - Year 3

Wed 15th March - Year 4

Wed 22nd March - Year Six Leaders

Wed 29th March - Year 1

Wed 5th April - Prep

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Kind regards,

Lachie.