Dear parents, students and families,

It has been a a great joy visiting classes this week. The school is very settled and student learning has indeed commenced. Our Foundation students seem to be managing their transition pretty well to school but it is harder for some than others. Our staff will continue to support our more reluctant preppies overcome their anxieties.

On Monday we had an arborist in assessing all of our notable trees, placing a marker on them and recording this data. I am sure many of you would agree that our beautiful trees are a key part of both our school and local environment. He has suggested some further work to either help them regain full vitality or, in most cases, keep them as healthy as they currently are. I look forward to receiving his report in the near future and actioning the key recommendations.

Our Parents and Friends (PNF) committee had their inaugural meeting for the year on Tuesday. Our PNF has three roles- build community, support school events and raise funds. Please keep an eye and ear out for how you can support with this through the year.

A reminder that our Opening School Mass will be held tomorrow morning in the Church at 9.15am should you wish to worship with us.

A reminder that assemblies will be held fortnightly of a Monday commencing 13th February. As always parents are warmly invited to join the school at these times.

Next week our Parish Scarental will meet. Pleasingly Fr Martin appears to be approaching full fitness again after an extended period of illness over the Summer. Firstly please keep Father Martin in your prayers and also keep your eyes on future newsletters if your child is due to receive a Sacrament this year. Mrs Winduss will seek to ensure you are fully aware in her role as our Religious Education Leader. This generally relates to our Year 3, 4 and 6 students.

Our Year 5 and 6 students will be attending the Urban Camp between Monday 6th and Wednesday 8th March. There will be a Camp Information Night held on Wednesday 15th February at 6.30pm onsite that parents are warmly encouraged to attend.

On Thursday 23rd February we will be holding initial meetings where parents can meet with your child's class teacher on-site. You can book your 10 minute timeslot between 3.40-8.00pm at https://www.schoolinterviews.com.au and enter the event code jhnra. The aim of these meetings is for you to share as much information about your child with the teacher, look at some potential goals and to discuss how your child has settled into their 2023 class.

Monday 27th February at 9.30am is our first OPEN MORNING for prospective 2024 Foundation enrolments. These tours are aimed at new parents wanting to join our school community for the 2024 year. Please let anyone you know who may be considering our school for their child/ren and ask them to ring the office for further details.

Other dates to be aware of in the next month or so are:-

Shrove Tuesday 21st February

Ash Wednesday 22nd February

House Cross Country Friday 3rd March

School Closure Days- Staff PL on Literacy and Numeracy Curriculum development on the Thursday 9th March and RE with musician Andrew Chinn looking at the liturgical calendar on Friday 10th March.

A reminder for parents that our policy is that students do not have dye in their hair. I realise this may have been ok during the holidays but please rectify this for your children if this refers to you. The school Uniform Policy states :Extreme hair colors (eg: green, pink, blue or purple rinses) and/or extreme hairstyles are not permitted.

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

School Fees & Levies for 2023