Assistant Principal's Message
Welcome to Week 8.
It is another busy week especially for Kindergarten who are practising their Nativity performance and Year 6 who are preparing for their Graduation.
2023/2024 Class Transition
On Tuesday 12th December at 11.30am the students will move to their classes for 2024. They will spend from 11.30am to 1.20pm in their classroom getting to know their 2024 teacher and classmates.
Bongiorno Day Celebration
On Friday 1st December we will celebrate Bongiorno Day. Parents are invited to our liturgy at 10.15am where students will hand over our gifts to a St Vincent’s De Paul representative. Thank you to all our families who have supported this appeal. The generosity of this community never ceases to amaze me.
Parents are also invited to our ‘St Anne’s Got Talent’ where many of our students will showcase their talents. This will begin at 11.45am and conclude at 1.20pm.
Student Council Handover
At the conclusion of our Year 6 Graduation replay on Tuesday 12th December at 9.30am, our current Student Council will hand over their duties to our new 2024 Council. All parents are invited to attend this celebration.
Looking forward to seeing you at one of our many celebrations within the next couple of weeks.
Regards,
Lea
Key Dates - 2023
- Wednesday 29th November - Kinder 2024 Transition Session #4
- Thursday 30th November - last day for donations to Vinnies 'Christmas Toy Appeal' (details in 'RE News' below)
- Friday 1st December - Bongiorno Day & 'St Anne's Got Talent' event (details below)
- Friday 1st December - School fees to be paid in full by this date
- Friday 1st December - all library books due back for stocktake
- Sunday 2nd December - Children's Liturgy @ Sacred Heart Church
- Monday 4th - Friday 8th December - Kinder-Yr 2 Swimming Program
- Wednesday 6th December - notes for 2024 Swimming Carnival due (from students currently in Yrs 2-5)
- Thursday 7th December - raffle tickets due back (sold or unsold)
- Friday 8th December - Yr 3 excursion
- Sunday 10th December - Children's Liturgy @ Sacred Heart Church
- Monday 11th December - Yr 6 Graduation (details to be advised)
- Tuesday 12th December - Yr 6 Graduation review & Christmas Raffle drawn (from 9.30am)
- Tuesday 12th December - 2024 Class Transition session (11.30am-1.20pm)
- Wednesday 13th December - Yr 4 excursion
- Thursday 14th December - Kinder Nativity (9.45am in the hall)
- Friday 15th December - Last Day of 2023 School Year
- Friday 17th December - Children's Liturgy @ Sacred Heart Church
Key Dates - 2024
- Thursday 1st & Friday 2nd February - Maths Assessment Interviews Yr 1-6
- Thurs 1st, Frid 2nd, Mon 5th, Tues 6th & Wed 7th Feb - Kinder Best Start Assessments
- Monday 5th February - First day of the School Year for Yr 1-6
- Thursday 8th February - First day of the School Year for Kinder
- Monday 12th February - Yr 3-6 Swimming Carnival (details below)
School Fees
A reminder that fees are to be paid in full by Friday, 1 December. Any families experiencing genuine financial hardship may contact the office to organise a meeting to discuss their fees.
Canteen News
Raffle
Due to the overwhelming generosity of our school families and wider community, we have a number of goods and vouchers remaining from our Country Fair. Therefore, we are holding a Christmas Raffle, with fantastic hampers to be won. A book of tickets was sent home with the eldest child in each family last week. Tickets are $1 each ($10 for a book of ten). Please return all raffle books (sold or unsold) to the office by 7th December. The raffle will be drawn on Tuesday, 12 December.
2024 Yr 3-6 Swimming Carnival
Our Carnival will be held at the Lavington pool on Monday, February 12th. This week, a note will be sent home with all students in Years 2-5 regarding individual events, thus allowing us to start creating the program of events. Regardless of your child’s ability in the pool, please return this note to your 2023 class teacher by Wednesday, December 6th. Further details regarding the day will be provided next year.
Mr Lewis
Sports Report - Thankyou!
I would like to thank all staff and parents for their support this year in regards to sport. We have had many wonderful representatives and students have had great opportunities, but only through such support. To all our drivers, staff who have given up lunch times to run games and not least of all our enthusiastic students…thank you! To those heading to high school we wish you well in your future sporting endeavours.
Mr Lewis
RE News
Bongiorno Day
Bongiorno Day will be held this Friday. We will be holding a 'St Anne's Got Talent' event. Students wishing to showcase their talents are asked to register on the sign up sheet, outside Mrs McCowan's (5-Goanna) classroom.
Students will be required to provide all their own music, props, technology etc for the event. Due to safety concerns, no gymnastics performances please.
St Vincent de Paul - Christmas Appeal
The St Vincent de Paul Society has invited St Anne’s Primary School to participate in their 2023 Christmas Appeal.
St Anne’s has always responded in demonstrating the generosity of our parish and school communities. Last year they were successful in servicing over 100 families at Christmas and they are hoping to achieve a similar result this season.
Families that have been assisted over the past 12 months are eligible for special support over the Christmas period and this appeal is asking us to assist by providing presents for children up to 12 years of age, and should remain unwrapped within its original packaging.
Donations can be brought to the office by Thursday and we will present these gifts to a St Vincent de Paul representative at our annual ‘Gift Giving Liturgy’ which will be held on Bongiorno Day, on Friday 1st December. The Liturgy will commence at 10.15am in hall, families are welcome to attend.
Thank-you to all the families who have already sent in a gift.
Sacred Heart Parish - Children’s Liturgies
A reminder that our Sacred Heart Parish Children’s liturgies will be held on Sunday 3rd December, Sunday 10th December and Sunday 17th December.
Year 1 excursion to Jindera Pioneer Museum
Last Thursday, to coincide with Year 1’s learning about the Past and the Present, students boarded a bus to the Jindera Pioneer Museum. In small groups we investigated the museum, seeing many various items, all previously owned and used by people in Albury and its surrounding areas. We discussed how life in the past would have been and recognised the transformation of many items we use today.
Prior to our visit we learned that there was an object in the museum that was brought to Australia from Germany by Olive C’s great, great, great Grandfather and Grandmother. George Krautz and his family brought this box with their possessions in it on the ship to Australia and the box was then in their family home in Lavington. We made it our mission to find this box, and the mission was successful! (If you would like to read more information about this, please follow this link https://storyplace.org.au/story/a-trunk-tale/
We finished our excursion with a trip to the park where we enjoyed our recess in the shade and some fun on the equipment! Thank you to Mrs Harris, Mrs O’Callaghan, Miss Vogel, Sharlene, Mrs Burke and Mrs Allibon for all their organisation and a fabulous morning out and about.
Yr 6 Canberra excursion
Students from our school have recently undertaken an education tour of the national capital. Students were given the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia’s history, culture, heritage, and democracy.
The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion the Australian Government is contributing funding of $30 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program towards those costs. The rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion.
K - Yr 2 Swimming Program
Students in Kinder, Yr 1 & Yr 2 will be involved in an intensive Swimming Program at Gould Swim Academy. This will commence on Monday 4th of December and conclude on Friday 8th December. Details of the program have been shared via Compass. Consent and payment for this program is to be made via Compass.
Upcoming Excursions
Year 3 - Friday, 8th December
Students will travel by bus to the Inflatable Fun House, Wodonga (further details, consent & payment via Compass).
Year 4 - Wednesday, 13th December
Students will travel by bus to Sumsion Gardens then to 3D Lanes for bowling (further details, consent & payment via Compass).
Bus Travel in 2024
2024 school travel applications are now open.
- St Anne's students who had a bus pass in 2023, and remain eligible, should automatically receive a new pass for 2024 (there is no need to reapply).
- A new application will need to be submitted for any student who is applying for the first time, or if the request relates to additional travel entitlement because of new shared parental arrangement (e.g. joint custody). These applications can be made here.
- Students who have changed their home address will need to have their details updated here.
Absences for after-school-care
If your child attends after-school-care and they are absent from school, please remember to advise the care provider. We often have providers waiting/searching for children who are absent from school.
Extended Leave
A reminder to families that if your child will be away for 10 or more consecutive school days (eg. for a family holiday), then you will need to submit an 'Application for Extended Leave'. See the 'Compass Attendance' information towards the end of this newsletter for further details.
Volunteering at school
We are very grateful for the assistance that parents/grandparents provide in our school. Any helpers/volunteers (including canteen, sport, fundraising and classroom helpers) will need to either -
- Provide the details of their Working With Children Check (if they have one). We require full name, date of birth, WWCC number and WWCC expiry date. These details need to be verified before a volunteer can help in our school, so please email this information to the office (sana-info@ww.catholic.edu.au) well in advance.
- Complete a CEDWW Volunteers Declaration and show an identity document (eg. drivers licence). These forms are available from the office. This declaration needs to be completed annually, therefore anyone who completed a form last year will need to complete a new form.
Uniform Shop
Our Uniform Shop is open each Friday from 3-3.30pm. Please email sana-info@ww.catholic.edu.au with your requirements if you can't make that time and we will pass your request on to Luisa to process.
We have lots of good quality second hand uniform items for sale as well as new hats, bags and art smocks.
Qkr! App
Our Qkr! App is the platform that we use to process transactions for our Canteen Orders and some special events, like the School Disco.
Qkr! is an efficient and accurate way of tallying our daily canteen orders and a brilliant time saver when collating and organising our students' lunch orders.
Recently we have had several students report that they have not received their lunch orders, only to find that the canteen has no record of their order. We would suggest that parents check their receipt on the Qkr! App to ensure that their order has been processed for the correct date and for the correct menu items and quantity.
Compass School Manager
Our Compass School Manager is the platform that we communicate with parents about all aspects of their child's school life. Our school attendance, calendar, news feed, student reports, parent teacher conference bookings, event consent/payments and many other services are accessible.
We strongly advise all parents to ensure that they have access to their Compass account on a mobile App or a desktop computer. All parents are issued a username and temporary password when their child is enrolled at St Anne's. If you are experiencing any difficulties accessing your account, please don't hesitate to contact Karon on grimmerk@ww.catholic.edu.au.
Compass Attendance
A reminder that all students who arrive at school after the morning bell at 8.55am, must be accompanied by an adult into our office to sign in on our Compass kiosk. This is a legal requirement and students may not sign themselves in. You will now be asked to provide a reason for the late arrival.
If you are picking up your child during the school day, for any reason eg. medical appointment or early departure, please send a written note in with your child to their teacher with all relevant details. Compass can not be used to notify teachers of early pickups. Compass is only to notify the school of full day absences. If you arrive at school to collect a child without prior notification, please allow extra time to locate your child on the school grounds, especially during break times and when at music, science or sport.
Parents/carers are required to submit an attendance note for any full day absences of their child from school. This can be done in the Compass App or in the Compass portal online. Please ensure you provide all the relevant details for why your child/children are not at school, as any notes added without a comment or details will be recorded as an unjustified absence. Please see the relevant link below for guidance on how to record an absence on the Compass App.
When families take students out of school during the school term for holidays, there are strict legal requirements that need to be met. If a student is going to be absent for up to 9 days, no formal application is required and parents may enter the absence on Compass under the 'Travel' option. If the absence is for 10 days or more, an application is required to be completed by parents prior to travel and approval will be required by the Principal or officials from CEDWW. If the leave is 21 days or more, parents are required to provide an educational plan to the school for approval. Extended leave forms are available from the school office.
Bus Pass applications
Bus Pass applications for travel between home and school, can be made via this link
Past Newsletters
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