Office News
School Contact Details
35 Hamilton Street. SHEPPARTON VIC 3630
SCHOOL (03) 5821 3163
KINDER (03) 5821 9982
OSHC 0438 213 163
WEB http://www.smshepparton.com
E principal@smshepparton.catholic.edu.au
Office Hours
8.30am - 4.30pm Monday - Friday
UPDATED - November STATEMENTS will be in your Inbox on Monday 5th December
THANKYOU to all of our families who have paid their outstanding 2022 school fees or have had discussions with us to organise payment plans. We truly appreciate you and and rely on your ongoing contributions.
It is important to remember that the school fees received by St Mel's directly contribute to the resources used by our students (e.g. stationery, technology, excursions) and the running costs of the school. We rely on these payments to provide a positive and engaging learning and teaching environment for your children.
LAST CALL FOR OUTSTANDING FEES:
Any outstanding fees that have not been discussed with Chris Summers or our Finance Admin Team need to be paid now or urgent contact needs to be made with us to discuss financial issues which may be preventing or delaying fee payment.
Whilst the COVID years and the more recent floods have been disruptive, we are now hoping to get back to some level of normality for our families.
Whilst we understand there are ongoing impacts from recent events, we still have an expectation that all families contribute to their school fees and that they are paid in full by November 30th annually or termly in advance, unless specific payment plans and agreed arrangements have been made.
Families are urged to be proactive and to contact the school if needed to discuss financial hardship, rather than waiting for the school to follow up payments. We are very understanding and work closely with our families to find payment methods and plans that suit their specific needs.
TOP TIP: From our experience, those families who pay small amounts regularly achieve greater success in paying off their school fees on time than those who aim to pay large or irregular amounts. For example, those who pay by direct debit weekly or fortnightly on pay day, or have deductions from their Centrelink Family Tax Benefits or other payments have great success in maintaining a reliable payment schedule.
Thankyou so much for your understanding and ongoing support.
Chris Summers and the St Mel's Finance Admin Team.
Direct Debits
As per Audit requirements, we need to have a new signed Authority form each year for Direct Debits to continue, we will be following this up again at the start of 2023. This will allow us to discuss with families their situation and a payment plan to ensure the annual school fees are met.
Centrepay
Centrepay is now available for those families who wish to use this option to support payment of the school fees. This is a convenient way to make payments as it is deducted directly from your Centrelink payments prior to you receiving them each fortnight.
An Information sheet and application form are attached below. Once application form is filled in and signed, please return to school office.
Families Email Address
We ask families to ensure that the office has the correct and up to date email address for billing purposes and sending of fee statements.
This is the main form of communicating relevant information.
If you have not received your Fee Statement it may mean we have an incorrect email address. Please check your junk folder or contact the office with up to date information.
School Fees & Levies - 2023
Our School Fees & Levies for 2023 are being finalised and will be commnicated to families next week. There will be an increase overall to the fees in line with the recommendations from Catholic Education Sandhurst Ltd.
St Mels on PAM
School Stream will no longer be used by St Mels from 2023 for parent communciations and upload of absences. We have moved to PAM (Parent Access Module) which can be accessed from your phone through Simon Everywhere. Emails were sent out to parents last week with instructions on how to login. If you have not recieved this please contact the school office.
Please see the St Mels Simon / PAM page in this newsletter for more information and instruction on how to access your PAM account.