St Anne's Newsletter - Term 1, Week 9 - 26th March, 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

Welcome everyone to Week 9,

Last Friday our staff spent time looking at how we support the wellbeing of our students and specifically how we acknowledge student achievements. We looked at how we align our actions to the values of our school. These Values can easily align to our House patrons in Fr Bongiorno, Fr Flanagan and the Mercy Sisters. More to come in this area.

Clarification of St Anne’s Approach to Teaching English

It has come to our attention that some members of our community, and professional educational services, may be misinformed about our approach to teaching English at St. Anne's School. We want to clarify that we do not implement, or practise the Whole Language Approach and have not practised this for at least 30 years. Rather, our English instruction is grounded in the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model (I do, We do, You do), as outlined in the NSW English Syllabus. Our teaching methodologies are supported by credible, peer-reviewed research and meta-analyses.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

This Wednesday from 6.00pm to 7.30pm we will be holding the Stations Of The Cross here at St Anne’s in our classrooms. This night has been very popular over the past few years. We ask that after visiting the classrooms, and out of respect for this evening, that you don’t gather in the courtyard for a chat. It can become quite noisy and we appreciate your support in this matter.

Also on Wednesday we will conduct our school Cross Country between 9.30 and 11.00am. All are welcome and thanks to Mr Singe for organising this event.

Our students in Yrs 2-6 will be attending Xavier High School on Thursday for an Easter ceremony.

We are surveying our students and parents in regard to whether our community wants to wear the sports uniform all week or remain as we are and wear the sports uniform on sports days and our formal uniform on the other days. Our Parent Council has asked for a community survey, as this question has been brought up by a number of families. Our students were surveyed yesterday and families were sent a link to the survey also. Could all families please complete this survey by 3pm this Thursday 28th March.

Uniform Survery

I wish everyone a happy and Holy Easter.

Take care, Bede.

Key Dates - 2024

  • Wednesday 27th March - School Cross Country Yrs K-6
  • Wednesday 27th March - Stations of the Cross 6-7.30pm
  • Thursday 28th March - Yr 2-6 @ Xavier High School Stations of The Cross
  • Thursday 28th March - 2.15pm Kinder Easter Hat Parade & Cross Country Presentation in the hall. All welcome!
  • Friday 29th March - Good Friday Holiday
  • Monday 1st April - Easter Monday Holiday
  • Wednesday 3rd April - Yr 1 & 2 Albury League Stars Tag Gala Day
  • 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
  • Thursday 11th April - School Disco K-2: 5-6pm & Yrs 3-6: 6.15-7.45pm
  • Friday 12th April - Last day of Term 1
  • Monday 29th April - Staff PD Day (Students do not attend)
  • Tuesday 30th April - 1st day of Term 2 for students
  • Wednesday 1st May - Years 3-6 Athletics Carnival
  • Wednesday 1st May - Applications for Kinder 2025 close
  • Friday 10th May - Mothers' Day Breakfast and Liturgy (more details to follow)
  • Wednesday 22nd May - Flanagan Day/Simultaneous Storytime
  • Thursday 6th June - Yr 6 Confirmation Reflection Day
  • Friday 7th June - Staff Professional Development Day (students do not attend)
  • Monday 10th June - King's Birthday Holiday
  • Friday 14th June - Yr 6 Confirmation
  • Friday 5th July - Last day of Term 2
  • Tuesday 23rd July - First Day of Term 3 for Students
  • Friday 26th July - Grandparents Day celebration

Canteen News

RE News

Holy Week - Stations of The Cross

This Wednesday 27th March, St Anne's will host our Stations of the Cross Evening from 6-7.30pm. The Stations of the Cross is a form of prayer used in Lent. Each of the 14 classrooms will present a different station as a prayerful reflection of the events that lie at the heart of Catholics – Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. We look forward to sharing this special evening with you.

On Thursday 28th March, our Yr 2 - 6 students will walk to Xavier to watch the performance of Stations of the Cross. Our Yr 5 & 6 students will be joining in the performance.

Sacred Heart Easter Ceremonies/Mass Times 2024

  • Holy Thursday 28th March Mass of the Lord's Supper 6.00pm
  • Good Friday 29th March - Stations of the Cross in Sacred Heart Church 10.30am and Hot Cross buns afterwards in the Parish Hall. The Lord's Passion at 3.00pm.
  • Easter Saturday Vigil 30th March 6.00pm
  • Easter Sunday 31st March 9.30am Mass

ALPHA - Save the Date

Do you want to get connected and share faith with others?

You’re invited to come and try Alpha, beginning Tuesday 30April at 10.30am (morning tea provided) in Sacred Heart ParishHall, Mate Street, North Albury. Alpha is an opportunity to explorelife, faith and meaning in a friendly, open and informal environment.

For more info contact Fran 0408 268 518. Web: alpha.org.au

School Photos

Our annual school photos have been taken and are now ready to order. Arthur Reed Photos uses an online ordering system where you can view your photos prior to ordering.

On photo day all students received a flyer which includes a code unique to them. You will require this 2024 code to register online and view your photos. If you have already registered, you will receive an email or SMS from Arthur Reed Photos with a link to view your photos.

If you have not yet registered, please go to order.arphotos.com.au and enter your code to complete your order. If you have misplaced your registration code, please contact the Arthur Reed Photos customer service team directly on 5243 4390 (option 1) or customerservice@arphotos.com.au

Please note that you will need to register online with your 2024 photo code to gain access to this year’s images.

All photo packages will be sent directly to your nominated address, so please ensure that you enter the correct details and nominated shipping address upon checkout.

If you require any assistance ordering your photos, please contact Arthur Reed Photos directly on 5243 4390 (option 1) or email customerservice@arphotos.com.au

School Disco

  • Entertainer Steve Bowen will be our DJ for the night - Thursday 11 April 2024.
  • K-2 disco runs from 5-6pm with hot food available 5.40-6pm. Years 3-6 runs from 6.15-7.45pm with hot food available 6.30-7.15pm.
  • Pre-pay for entry and hot food via Qkr! by 4pm on Tuesday 9th April. Snacks also available for cash purchases.
  • Parents can stay with children or leave given teacher supervision.

Sports News

K-6 Cross Country

A reminder that our school cross country carnival will be held tomorrow. Spectators are most welcome - just be mindful of staying clear of the track during races.

A guideline of our Cross Country program is as follows (approximate times) -

9.30am -

  • 12 Girls
  • 12 Boys
  • Yr 2 Girls
  • Yr 2 Boys

9.50am -

  • 10 Girls
  • 10 Boys
  • Yr 1 Girls
  • Yr 1 Boys

10.10am -

  • 11 Girls
  • 11 Boys
  • Kinder Girls
  • Kinder Boys

10.30am -

  • 8/9 Girls
  • 8/9 Boys
  • 8/9/10/11/12/13 FUN RUN Boys and Girls

Boys AFL

Good luck to Mannix, Hunter, Charlie, Joe and Cruze who compete today at the MacKillop trial.

Swimming

We wish Bodie, Charlie, Jude, Ethan, Gus, Mickey, Taylor, Mitchell, Ed, McKenzie, Emmi, Alira and Amelia well as they prepare to compete at the MacKillop carnival on April 4th.

Hockey

Best wishes to Hugo who will compete at the MacKillop hockey trial on Friday, April 5th.

Coming Soon

Students in Years 5 and 6 are invited to participate in a lunchtime touch football competition starting in Term 2. The games will be played on Wednesdays. No experience is necessary.

Kinder 2025 Enrolment

Enrolment Information

Bus Passes - Yr 3 students

All eligible students, in all year levels, should now have received a bus pass.

Please note that when students reach Year 3, they must satisfy a 'minimum distance' criteria in order to remain eligible for a bus pass. If your child is in Year 3 and has NOT yet received a bus pass for 2024, please follow this link to update/confirm their details in order to be assessed for a bus pass.

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.

Before & after school care at St Anne's from Term 2

More information regarding this service was shared via Compass.

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.

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.

SMS Link to Attendance Notes
iOS Attendance Notes
Android Attendance Notes

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