Principal's Message
Dear Parents,
This Thursday, at 11.40am in the hall, we will celebrate the beginning of the school year with Mass. Our student leaders will receive their badges during this Mass. We thank Fr Martin for leading this celebration and all our families are very welcome to attend.
Today we welcome Belinda Brereton (CEDWW) who is visiting our school, to work with our Year 1 teachers in the area of Literacy.
This Thursday and Friday the Principals of the Diocese will come together for a meeting in Wagga regarding moving forward with the Diocesan Strategic Plan.
We are pleased to announce that from the beginning of Term 2, 'TheirCare' will be offering before and after school care, here on our school grounds. Interested parents/carers are invited to attend their Information Session.
Keep smiling and have a great week, Bede
Key Dates - 2024
- Tuesday 20th & Wednesday 21st February - Yr 1-6 Parent Teacher Conferences 3.30-6pm
- Wednesday 21st February - Library Lovers' Day competition entries due
- Thursday 22nd February - Opening School Mass 11.40am in our school hall
- Wednesday 28 February - School fee Instalment Agreements due (otherwise fees due for payment in full by 29th Feb) see details below.
- Wednesday 6th March - School Photo Day
- Monday 11th March - Welcome BBQ
- Friday 22nd March - Gold Cup Half Day Holiday (Students do not attend as staff complete PD in the morning)
- Wednesday 27th March - Stations of the Cross (details to follow)
- Friday 29th March - Good Friday holiday
- Monday 1st April - Easter Monday Holiday
- Wednesday 3rd April - Canteen closed
- Monday 8th April - Yr 4 Reconciliation evening
- Tuesday 9th April - 'TheirCare' (before & after school care) Parent Information Session, 5pm in the Library
- Friday 12th April - Last day of Term 1
- Friday 14th June - Yr 6 Confirmation
- Friday 26th July - Grandparents Day celebration
Canteen News
Qkr! App
There have been some ongoing issues accessing the Qkr! App on new android phones. Qkr! are aware of the issue but have not provided a solution to date. If you are experiencing difficulties with the App, please access the Qkr! website on a browser (eg. Google Chrome) on a computer or on your phone via the link below.
Volunteering at school
We are very grateful for the assistance that parents/grandparents provide in our school. Any helpers/volunteers (including canteen, sport, event 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 may take several days 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.
It is worth noting that a WWCC for volunteers is easily obtained through Service NSW, is free for volunteers and lasts for five years. Check out further information here.
School Fees
School fees are due to be paid in full by 29th February 2024, unless you elect to pay by instalments (weekly, fortnightly or monthly payments). If you choose to pay by instalment, please follow the 'Instalment Agreement' link in the fee email to select your preferred option, before 29th February. Please note that BPAY is our preferred payment method. When setting up your payments, please use your BPAY reference which can be found at the bottom of your statement.
Medication / Medical Conditions
Every year, we require updated medical plans for our students. Therefore if your child has Asthma, Anaphylaxis, etc, you will need to supply an updated plan, supplied by your child's doctor, to the office.
We also need all Medication Consent forms to be updated for 2024. Therefore if your child takes any medication at school (eg. for asthma, hay-fever, etc.) you will need to complete a new form. Parents need to supply any medications required for their child. Please note that any prescribed medication must be provided to the school in the original, labelled packaging supplied by the chemist. Medication Consent forms are available from the office and must be returned to the office, with the relevant medication, by the parent/carer.
RE News
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark 1:12-15
"This is my Son, the beloved; listen to him. Right away God's Spirit made Jesus go into the desert. He stayed there for forty days while Satan tested him. Jesus was with the wild animals, but angels took care of him. After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee and told the good news that comes from God. He said, "The time has come! God's kingdom will soon be here. Turn back to God and believe the good news!"
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Reflecting on the Gospel - discussion questions. Part of Jesus' struggle in the wilderness was to work out his priorities, what was most important to him.
- What things are really important to you? To your family? To your friends?
- Do you think you value the same things that other people value? Why or why not?
Sport News
Our annual Swimming Carnival was conducted on Monday the 12th of February at the North Albury Swimming pool. It was another successful day, with record participation in the 50 mtr races, alongside the 25 mtr events. This was most pleasing as our focus was on student involvement throughout the day. Those that felt more comfortable were involved in the novelty events, meaning every attending student was in the water at least twice throughout the day.
A huge thank you to Mr. Lewis who’s time spent organising the day allowed it to run professionally, succinctly and efficiently. A big thank you to all the other staff who volunteered time in the lead up, and on the day. Thank you also to the band of parent volunteers who time kept, or assisted in any way. A huge thank you to Judy Foley and Pam for their officiating throughout the day.
The swimming was of an extremely high standard across the board, and many races were competitive right to the end of the pool. It was a fantastic opportunity for many students to showcase their swimming skills, following many hours of training. This year’s age champions were as follows-
- Junior Girls age champion Matilda McI.
- Junior Boy age champion Taylor D.
- 11 Yr Girls age champion Amelia Sc.
- 11 Yr Boys age champion Ethan W.
- Senior Girls age champion Emmi DM.
- Senior Boys age champion Jude F.
Our House Results were as follows…
- 4th 203 points Bongiorno (Red)
- 3rd 246 points McAuley (Gold)
- 2nd 273 points Flanagan (Green)
- 1st 296 points Mercy (Blue)
Good luck to the many swimmers who will get the opportunity to participate at the upcoming Deanery carnival.
Mr Jason Hollard
Welcome BBQ
Save the date - Monday 11th March!
School families are invited to come along to our Welcome BBQ evening to meet new friends and catch up with old friends. Classrooms will be open for families to visit between 5-5.30pm, followed by a free BBQ between 5.30-6.30pm. Further details will be included in next week's newsletter.
Before & after school care at St Anne's from Term 2
Centacare - Wellbeing Boost
Library Lovers' Day Competition
Entries close tomorrow for our Library Lover's Day competition.
Bus Travel in 2024
- St Anne's students who had a bus pass in 2023, and remain eligible, should have automatically received 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.
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.
Past Newsletters
- Term 1 Week 2 - https://new.express.adobe.com/webpage/xjZOLa0hKtUQF
- Term 1 Week 2 - new.express.adobe.com/webpage/p5yuHwLheVjaE