St Anne's Newsletter - Term 3, Week 10- 24th September, 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

Dear Parents / Caregivers

With school holidays around the corner, teachers and students are busy finishing their term’s work and preparing for a jam-packed Term 4. Mercy Day and Footy Colours Day promise to be a fun way to end the term and a chance to reflect and give thanks for the great work the Mercy Sisters did in establishing this wonderful school.

Fr Richard Leonard SJ is a Jesuit priest, author, educator, and film critic, and will be speaking in the Sacred Heart Parish Hall this Thursday evening (see invitation). He is an engaging presenter and well worth listening to. I encourage you to come along if you have the opportunity to do so.

Next term we welcome two new families to our St Anne’s community. The Travis family joins us from Queensland and will be starting in Kindergarten and Year 5 while the Sengoz family joins us from Balranald and will be starting in Year 4 and Year 6.

School supervision begins at 8.25 am. This morning there were several students at school from 8 am. During this time, students were unsupervised, putting them at risk of injury. If students need to be dropped off early, please use TheirCare which provides supervision from 7 am. TheirCare will also be open for the first day of Term 4 providing supervision on the pupil-free day.

I wish everyone a safe and restful holiday and look forward to seeing you in Term 4.

God bless,

Michael.

Key Dates - 2024

  • Tuesday 24th September - Orders for Footy Food Menu due by 4pm
  • Wednesday 25th September - Yr 5 Movie Excursion (payment and consent due by 23rd Sept, via Compass)
  • Thursday 26th September - Conversation with Rev Dr Richard Leonard (details below)
  • Friday 27th September - Mercy Day (please note change of date)
  • Friday 27th September - Last day of Term 3/Footy Colours Day
  • Monday 14th October - Staff PD Day (Students do not attend)
  • Monday 14th October - TheirCare operating all day at St Anne's
  • Monday 14th October - Kinder 2025 Transition Session Bookings OPEN
  • Wednesday 23rd October - Kinder 2025 Transition Session One 9.15-10.45am
  • Tuesday 15th- Wednesday 16th October - Yr 5 Ballarat Excursion
  • Monday 4th & Tuesday 6th November - Kinder 2025 Transition Session Two 9.15-11.30am or 12.15-2.30pm
  • Monday 18th & 20th November - Kinder 2025 Transition Session Three 9.15-11.30am or 12.15-2.30pm
  • Monday 25th November - Wednesday 27th November - Yr 6 Canberra Excursion
  • Thursday 28th November - Yr 7 Transition Day Xavier
  • Friday 29th November - Bongiorno Day/Gift Giving Mass
  • Wednesday 4th December - David Enever Christmas Community Concert (details closer to the date)
  • Thursday 5th December - Kinder 2025 Transition Session Four 9.15am-12pm
  • Saturday, 7th December - 2024 school fees due to be paid in full
  • Monday 16th December - Yr 6 Graduation (details to follow)
  • Wednesday 18th December - Last day of school year for students

Assembly Dates for Semester Two

  • Year 6 Assembly - Friday 1st November @ 11.40am (please note change of date)
  • Year 3 Assembly - Friday 22nd November @ 11.40am
  • Kinder Nativity Assembly - Tuesday 3rd December

Canteen

The Footy Food Day menu orders must be placed no later that 4pm today, Tuesday 24th September.

Lions Club Public Speaking State Final

Congratulations to Sophie in Year 3 for her success at the Lions Club Public Speaking State Final on the weekend. Sophie was crowned the State Champion and we are very proud of her achievement. It was reported that Sophie delivered her speech beautifully and represented St Anne's wonderfully!

Mission Australia Competition

Congratulations to Henry in Kinder who was a winner in the recent Mission Australia Colouring Competition. Henry wins a fabulous cinema pack, which will be wonderful for the holidays!

Parish News

Sacred Heart Parish North Albury

Invites you to

Christianity is not a private feel-good collective. We are sent out to live and proclaim our spirituality. What does the world look like to which we are sent? What questions is the world posing to us, and what questions do we have as we go out?

Fr Richard has been published in America Magazine, Eureka Street, US Catholics, is regular columnist with The London Tablet and is often on ABC Radio. He is the author of 13 books including:

  • Where the Hell is God?
  • What are we doing on earth for Christ’s sake?;
  • What’s it All About? Living lives of faith, hope and love.
  • The Law of Love: Modern Words for Ancient Wisdom
  • His latest book, "Why God?" has just been released.

Thursday 26 September 2024, 6.00-7.00pm Sacred Heart Parish Hall

All members of our St Anne's Community are welcome to join us at this event. Finger food and drinks provided. To help with catering, please RSVP here today, Tuesday 24th September.

Mercy Day

This Friday, 27th September we will be celebrating Mercy Day in recognition of the founders of our St Anne’s School.

We have invited the Sisters of Mercy to join us for a Liturgy in the Hall at 10.15am and families are welcome to join us at this time.

Every year we raise money for the valuable work that the Sisters of Mercy do at the Mercy Hospital, while at the same time, sharing our talents while busking.

Students are invited to bring in coins to throw in the buskers buckets.

Hopefully all students who wish to perform have already let Mrs McCowan know. It's not too late though, so get your information in and start planning to entertain us with your talents!

Performances can be up to 5 minutes in length and all monies raised will be donated to Mercy Hospital. Don't forget to bring along your coins on the day, so you can support your favourite act. Families are welcome to join us in the fun!

Some acts may need access to power points, so can you please make a note of this. Students are to provide all equipment (for example bluetooth speakers), power can be provided.

As we are combining Mercy Day with Footy Colours Day this year, students are invited to wear blue coloured clothes or footy coloured clothes on this day and there is a special footy themed canteen menu on the Qkr! App.

If you have any questions or queries, please see Mrs McCowan.

TheirCare Service for Pupil Free Days

Please be advised that TheirCare are offering places for students to attend their service at St Anne's School on the first and last days of Term 4. On Monday 14th October and Thursday 19th December, students do not attend school as teachers are involved in Professional Development.

Even if you do not regularly use the service, you are able to register on the ThierCare website and book your child in for these days.

Unclaimed Book Club order

We have an unclaimed Book Club order from issue #5. This order was submitted without a name on the order-form, and paid for with cash. If anyone is missing their item (it is not a book), please contact Tina in the office.

Compass School Favourites

Did you know that the Compass Parent Portal offers a 'School Favourites' tab that has quick links to things like an extended leave application and the school fee instalment calculator?

When you open the Compass App, simply select more from the bottom right of the menu and you will see the School Favourites tab on the left.

Upcoming Excursions

Yr 5 Movie Excursion - Wednesday, 25th Sept

Our Year 5 students will be travelling by bus to Regent Cinemas, Albury, to watch the movie 'The Wild Robot' (PG). The students have been reading and analysing the novel, written by Peter Brown, on which the movie is based. The cost for this excursion is $17. Consent and payment is due by Monday 23rd September, via Compass.

Year 5 Ballarat Excursion

Students in Year 5 will travel to Ballarat between Tuesday 15th - Wednesday 16th October. Consent and payment of $290 is due by Friday 4th October. Thanks to the many families who have already committed to pay via the payment plan. We ask those families to please ensure that there are sufficient funds in your nominated account on the dates of payment. The last payment of $72.50 is due on 4th October.

Year 6 Canberra Excursion

Students in Year 6 will travel to Canberra between the Monday 25th - Wednesday 27th November. Consent and payment of $420 is due by Friday 8th November. Thanks to the many families who have already committed to pay via the payment plan. We ask those families to please ensure that there are sufficient funds in your nominated account on the dates of payment. The last two payments of $84 are due on 11th October and 8th November.

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 2.45-3.15pm. 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.

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