Principal's Message
Dear Parents, students and the wider community,
Welcome back.........kind of! Like you all I only wish it was to a school full of children!! I hope over the past two weeks you were able to recharge your batteries to some extent with a break from remote learning. At least the Premier has finally given us some light at the end of the tunnel with school's opening fully on Friday 5th November. I don't doubt these past 18 months or so have been some of the most challenging times of your lives.
I am not sure who thought the return to school should be planned as it has been, but our job is to put it into practice. As such I have tried to simplify the table that was provided via Seesaw and Facebook during the holiday. Please see below.....
Weeks 3- 5 Timetable of Student Attendance for Classes:-
Foundation
Monday 18th - Wednesday 20th October
Monday 25th - Wednesday 27th October
Wednesday 3rd November
Year 1/ 2
Thursday 21th - Friday 22nd October
Thursday 29th - Friday 30th October
Thursday 4th November
Year 3/ 4
Tuesday 26th October - Wednesday 27th October
Wednesday 3rd November
Year 5/ 6
Thursday 29th - Friday 30th October
Thursday 4th November
All students return to on-site schooling Friday 5th November
With the partial return of classes from Week 3 I ask that from Monday 18th October all students on-site are to be in full uniformwhether they are here because their class is rostered on or whether they are here to complete their remote learning on-site. As we are a Sunsmart school sunhats are also required for all students this term please.
During Weeks 3-5 the staff will be involved with 3 forms of educating the children- setting and teaching the remote learning curriculum, supporting the remote learning students who need to do this on-site and finally teaching their classes. It will be a challenging period but I know our staff will do a fantastic job with this as they have strived to do throughout the entire pandemic.
Please note Monday 1st November is a School Closure Day for Reporting and Tuesday 2nd November is Melbourne Cup Day.
In terms of school improvements over the next two weeks we should see some significant changes to the area outside the hall . Contractors have begun their work with this space. I am also currently getting quotes to try and take advantage of the sunshade grant offers available from the Government. As a part of the junior school refurbishment we lost our shade sails that were part of the garden area so I will see how I go getting funding to replace these in this outdoor learning space.
We are having a lot of interest from families wanting to go on tours to potentially join our school. Obviously I can't take tours at this stage. Equally some of our current families may have changed family circumstances and will be looking to move on from St Anne's at the end of the year. Can you please let me know if it is likely your family will be moving on as we will soon be looking at classroom allocation of students for 2022.
This week we have had Mrs Michele Wain come in to work alongside Mrs Trickey. They will continue to work alongside each other until next Thursday when Mrs Trickey finishes up after 17 years at our school. We surely will miss her but are excited to have Michele join us! As part of the changes in the office, Mrs Trower will not work Fridays. As she is responsible for sending out the newsletter you will find that from Week 3 you will receive your newsletter every Thursday instead.
Confirmation this year is now booked in for Monday 15th November. Further details will be forthcoming for those preparing for this sacrament. Please pray for all our students preparing for their sacraments this term as we hope that regulations will allow us to support our students in receiving these.
God Bless You All
Rod Shaw
Principal
School Attendance and Unexplained Absence
Please ensure you contact the school before 9:30am if your child is going to be absent or late by leaving a message on 9786 4736 and press #1.
If you are running late (after 9:00 am ) please attend the office to sign your child into school.
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 phone call or text message.
If parent does not reply or 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.