Dear Parents/Carers,

We are so very grateful to have everyone back at school. I would like to start by thanking all parents in our school community for assisting your child to recommence onsite learning and playing your part in making the transition so very smooth. It has been terrific to see the children run towards their classrooms each morning and have such enthusiasm for being back at school. With Melbourne Cup week now behind us, it is going to be a busy finish to the school year with only 25 school days left. At this moment, teachers are busily undertaking assessments and are beginning to write end of semester reports about your child’s achievements this semester. Reporting will look different to Semester One due to the significant period of remote learning throughout Terms Three and Four.

In Semester Two this year, the reporting requirements state that schools must:

prioritise learning in the fundamental areas of Religious Education, English and Mathematics, and include content from the other curriculum areas in their learning programs.
endeavour to cover the other five learning areas as much as is reasonably possible to ensure students continue to receive breadth of learning across the curriculum.
provide a written report (print or digital) for Semester Two that is easy for parents/carers to understand and in an accessible format.
provide a short description of what was taught in English and Mathematics.
report achievement by making a teacher judgment against the Victorian Curriculum achievement standards.
report progress from the last time that curriculum area was reported on
include an age-related, five-point scale (this should also be automatically generated by your reporting software).

End of Semester Two Reports will be sent home to families as a paper copy on Friday 10th December and will also be available electronically via the nForma Parent Portal.

Parents and Friends Committee & School Advisory Council

At St Agnes’, we have two parent forums which play a vital role in the functioning of our school: the Parents and Friends Committee and the School Advisory Council. These forums are quite different in terms of their contribution to the school, but are both very important for collaboration, connection and shared leadership.

The role of the Parents and Friends Committee is to organise social events, raise funds and assist in building a real sense of community within the school through these events. It has been a difficult two years for the community in a broad sense, so we are looking to reinvigorate our Parents and Friends Committee and calendar for a big 2022. We of course have the Fete in March, which will be an ‘all-hands-on-deck’ effort, but it would be terrific to get some social events happening in our school community once again. To do this successfully, we need contribution from the parent community. It can be said that the strength of our school culture is a result of an active parent community and I believe for continued success, we need to continue to further develop this forum. The P&F Annual General Meeting will be held at school on Thursday 25th November at 7.30pm. All parents are invited and welcome.

Fleur Luke, who has been President of our P&F for four years has decided to step down from this role at the end of 2021. We thank Fleur for her dedication and commitment to the P&F, especially recently during lockdowns where she led things like our Mother’s and Father’s Day stall. Sally Forbes, our Class Rep Coordinator will continue in this role next year. We are looking for parents to join the P&F Committee in 2022, especially from the Junior year levels of our school. There are various roles within this committee that are critical to the effective functioning of our school. Attached are the position descriptions for the P&F Exec Team and the role of Class Representative. Class Rep’s are the connector between the P&F Committee, the school and the parents of your child’s class. It is an important role which is centred around communication and social connection, to ensure all members of the school community are kept up to date. Please get in touch with Sally Forbes (OwenSally@hotmail.com) or myself if you are happy to be a Class Rep in 2022.

The role of the School Advisory Council (SAC) is to advise the Principal on matters pertaining to education and the community, meeting 6-8 times per year. The SAC aims to work in the best interests of the St Agnes’ community and to foster the growth and development of Catholic Education in our area. Members are also responsible for communicating new developments and progress reports to the school community. Membership on the Council (except Ex Officio) is generally a term of two years ending on the conclusion of the second year following their appointment, with the option of being reappointed for a total of three consecutive terms. The commitment is not huge; the greatest contribution is your opinion, discretion and attendance at meetings. Please feel free to speak to me or Anton Duddy (Chair) if you would like to discuss what the role involves. The Annual General Meeting for the School Advisory Council will take place on Tuesday 30th November at 7:30pm and we are calling for nominations from parents who would like to be considered for this parent body.

Face Masks

I have been incredibly proud of the way our Year 3-6 students have adjusted to the requirement of wearing a face mask indoors at school. We are finding that a number of our students are misplacing or forgetting facemasks. It is expected that students bring their own face masks to school and I recommend having a spare one in their bag.

St Agnes’ School Sports

We have been fortunate enough to secure a booking at Rowans Road Athletics Track this coming Friday 12th November for our School Sports Carnival, commencing at approximately 10.30am. We had previously scheduled this event to be onsite, but with the easing of restrictions it was possible to secure our usual external venue for this Friday. The students will simply wear their sports uniform for the day and are welcome to add some ‘accessories’ in their house colours such as headbands or wristbands. I realise it is short notice, but all parents and family members are welcome to come along to watch. Lunch orders can still be ordered as students will return to school by 1pm for lunch. For Covid-complience, we ask all adults to check in on arrival at the venue using the Service Victoria QR Code provided. Further information will be communicated via Operoo.

Sacraments - First Eucharist and Confirmation

We are very grateful to Fr Alan for working with us to once again find a date and time for our Year 4, 5 and 6 students to celebrate their First Eucharist and Confirmation. These sacraments have been postponed multiple times both in 2020 and 2021, so a conscious decision was made to organise these for during the week to ensure they will happen before the end of the school year. Fr Alan has the responsibility for delivering sacraments across both Highett and Cheltenham parishes and has a significant number of students completing First Eucharist and Confirmation in the next few weeks. This approach also poses less of a risk to our school community and minimises the complexities of the restrictions. Parents are of course welcome to attend these masses and are asked to indicate attendance via Operoo. All adults in attendance are required to be fully vaccinated and evidence is required on arrival. The children can wear their uniform or, if they wish, they can wear special clothes for this mass. The children can come to school wearing their special clothes or alternatively, we can provide a safe space for changing.

First Eucharist mass times:

Year Four First Eucharist - Friday 12th November at 9am
Year Five First Eucharist - Friday 19th November at 9am

In a similar fashion, the Sacrament of Confirmation will be held at 9am mass on Friday 26th November. We are looking forward to making this occasion a special one for our Year Six students as they receive the gift of the Holy Spirit before they finish their time at St Agnes’.

Italian Day - Monday 15th November

On Monday 15 November, St Agnes’ will celebrate the famous Italian horse race ‘Palio di Siena’.

There will be several activities during the day including a costume parade, colouring competitions, pasta picture frames, replica horse races and a whole school incursion (comedy show) titled ‘La Festa’ - ’The Party’ performed by ‘La Comica’ Variety Productions.

Students are asked to come to school dressed in either:

A jockey representing a ‘contrada - district’ from Palio di Siena
Colours of the Italian flag

Please do not hire any costumes as this is not necessary and please keep the weather in mind for your child’s outfit. Please do not allow your child to bring expensive/precious items to school. Students will need to wear comfortable shoes. No soccer boots please.

The students will be provided with 2 pieces of pizza (margarita/hawaiian), chocolate/vanilla gelato and a juice drink for lunch. Students will also receive a special shortbread biscuit to take home as a gift. Please ensure students are provided with a fruit snack and morning tea and if the students do not wish to have pizza for lunch, your child will need to come to school with their own packed-lunch. Allergies: If your child is allergic to margarita/hawaiian pizza, gelato or juice drink, please provide your child with lunch on the day.

Grazie mille (many thanks) for your continued support.

Signora Talarico

Italian teacher

Plant Stall

Year 5 & 6 students Jara M and Maggie H will be selling plants this coming Sunday 14th November from 10am on the corner of Tweed & Peterson Street Highett. Please come along and support the girls as funds raised are going towards our school fete. See the Fete section of this newsletter for further details.

Icy poles

The selling of icy poles at lunch time and after school each Friday will recommence this week, please refer to the P&F section of the newsletter for further information.

Assembly

Assemblies are now returning to face-to-face on a Wednesday afternoon, with students and staff present.

Wed 10th Nov - Year 5

Wed 17th Nov - Prep

Wed 24 Nov - Year 3 (advent theme)

Wed 1st Dec - Year 4 (advent theme)

Wed 8th Dec - Year 4 (advent theme) and Year 6 Final Assembly

Kind regards,

Lachie Foott

St Agnes' Primary School Newsletter

Issue 19 · 09 Nov 2021

In this issue