St Anne's Newsletter - Term 2, Week 7- 11th June, 2024 St anne's primary school, cnr curlew cres & lowry street, north albury - phone: 0260251281 - email: sana-info@ww.catholic.edu.au - Website : WEB.SANAWW.CATHOLIC.EDU.AU

Principal's Message

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a good long weekend, maybe a chance to take a breath from the busyness.

On Friday our staff were led through a Spiritual Day, and gaining a better understanding learning about our local first nations people, their journey and their beliefs. I wish to thank all at Burraja for welcoming us so openly and for such a special experience.

This Friday Bishop Mark Edwards will visit our Year 6 students to spend some time with them before Confirming them on Friday night. We welcome Bishop Mark to our school and parish. I thank Fr Martin, Lea Allibon, Nick Goode, Leanne Newth and Bec Taylor for all their efforts and support in helping our students to prepare and celebrate this special Sacrament. We ask that you please keep these students in your prayers as I know a number of our parishioners have been doing this as well.

This Wednesday evening our senior girls will be representing our school in the final of the Paul Kelly Cup. We wish them and their coach Mr Bourke the best of luck on the night.

A number of children have been bringing balls etc from home to play with at recess and lunch. I ask that they don’t bring these from home as it can lead to arguments over who leads the game and their belongings can get lost or damaged. We have plenty of equipment here from careful budgeting and gaining sporting grants.

Next Monday Mr Michael Gallagher who will be the interim principal until the end of this year will be visiting the school to meet staff and students. He will also be involved in a handover with our leadership team and myself during Monday and Tuesday of next week. I wish him all the best during his time at our fantastic school.

As you are aware, last term we surveyed parents, staff and students in regard to wearing of our sports uniform for five days or remain at the current two days. Also it has been explained that the Diocese would like us to wait for the new Principal to make a final decision. At last week's meeting the Parent Council moved to allow the students to wear their sports uniform on three days. Those being Monday, Wednesday and Friday with their formal uniform being worn on Tuesday and Thursdays. This will allow more flexibility for teachers and students in regard to certain learning activities. This will commence immediately, but of course families will be given time to accommodate this transition.

Keep smiling and enjoy your short week.

All the best, Bede.

Key Dates - 2024

  • Friday 14th June - Yr 6 Confirmation, 6pm at Sacred Heart Church
  • Friday 28th June - Farewell for Bede Hart from 4pm at St Anne's
  • Sunday 30th June - Farewell Mass & Morning Tea for Bede Hart's Farewell 9.30am, Sacred Heart Church
  • Tuesday 2nd July - Liturgy and farewell assembly for Bede Hart 9.30am
  • Friday 5th July - Last day of Term 2
  • Tuesday 23rd July - First Day of Term 3 for Students
  • Friday 26th July - Grandparents Day celebration
  • Wednesday 7th August - Yr 1, 2 & 3 Albury Wodonga Eisteddfod

Canteen

School Fee Statements

School fee statements were emailed to families last week. These are May statements and therefore will not show any payments made in June. If you did not receive your statement or if you have any questions, please contact Tina in the office. Thank-you.

Farewell to Bede Hart

To farewell our Principal, Bede Hart, we have several celebrations planned.

Friday 28th June - Informal farewell from 4-6pm at St Anne's school. Everyone welcome to join us for a relaxed celebration and sausage sizzle at the school hall.

Sunday 30th June - Parish and St Anne's School Mass at 9.30am in Sacred Heart Church. All children, families and the wider community are invited and welcome to attend and join us for morning tea in the Parish Hall following Mass. If possible please bring a plate to share.

Tuesday 2nd July - Formal Assembly and Liturgy at 9.30am followed by morning tea in the school hall.

Sports News

Deanery Athletics

A reminder that this carnival is on this Thursday, June 13th from 9am at Les O’Brien Precinct. If your child is attending and you are yet to register them via the CSNSW site, please do so today. We still have a number of competitors unregistered. A further reminder that transportation is the responsibility of parents - we are not travelling via bus. If you are taking a child other than your own from the carnival, the appropriate paperwork from the office to be signed ahead of time.

Messages regarding changes to after-school plans

We are always happy to pass on messages to students from parents/carers regarding changes in after-school plans (eg. regarding catching or not catching a bus). However, please contact the office as early as possible in the day so that we can pass on such messages efficiently. In the afternoon, the office can become very busy and it can be difficult to locate specific students quickly (especially on sport days). Thankyou.

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 -

  1. 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.
  2. 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.

Uniform Shop

Our Uniform Shop is open weekly on 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.

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.

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.

Student Attendance

On occasion, your child may need to be absent from school. Justified reasons for student absences may include:

  • being sick, or having an infectious disease
  • having an unavoidable medical appointment
  • being required to attend a recognised religious holiday
  • exceptional or urgent family circumstance (e.g. attending a funeral)

Following an absence from school you must ensure that within 7 days you provide your child’s school with a verbal or written explanation for the absence. This can be via Compass or by phone, email or in written form. Parents will receive a Compass notification with a link for parents to provide this information in Compass.

Principals may decline to accept an explanation that you have provided if they do not believe the absence is in the best interest of your child. In these circumstances your child’s absence would be recorded as unjustified. When this happens the principal will discuss their decision with you and the reasons why.

Principals may request medical certificates or other documentation when frequent or long term absences are explained as being due to illness. Principals may also seek parental permission to speak with medical specialists to obtain information to collaboratively develop a health care plan to support your child. If the request is denied, the principal can record the absences as unjustified.

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. Extended leave forms are available from the school office.

Past Newsletters