Term 1 Week 4
Tuesday saw us celebrate our Whole School Beginning Of Year Liturgy. This was held outside under blue skies and fine weather. We are blessed to have such a unique and beautiful environment where we can gather outside and celebrate who we are. Each class brought their prayer cloth to the front with symbols indicating their class and in recognition of our 2023 theme, ‘Let Your Light Shine’. We also had a staff prayer cloth parent prayer cloth. These were also brought to the front table. Together these thirteen prayer cloths represent our whole school community and will be used throughout the year. Thank you to Mrs Walsh who organised the liturgy with Ms Vanessa and staff assistance.
Our student leadership roles were also announced at the liturgy. The Yr5/6 children nominated a few of the roles they would like to undertake and were then placed in these groups. I look forward to working with the children and teachers in the various positions as they all develop their leadership qualities.
It has been great to see the students wearing their St Augustine’s uniform proudly. Children are in brown school shoes and those who are not have spoken to me about why this is the case. A reminder that correct uniform is expected each day. PE uniform to be worn only on PE days (Yr 6 wear PE uniform on inter school sports days too). Ensure any hair longer than shoulder length is tied back in a ponytail for both girls and boys. Please note that girls are to wear fawn school socks and tights not chocolate brown. School hats are to be worn during first and fourth term. The Yr 6 children have been presented with their personalised Yr 6 graduation shirt and wear these on sports days. Michelle Ivkovic will open the second hand uniform shop throughout the year. Find out when by continuing to read the newsletter each week.
Even though the school year has just begun, we have begun to think about 2024 prep enrolments. 2024 prep enrolments have opened. Please go to the ‘Noticeboard’ page with details on how to enrol if you are a current family and details you can give new families on how to enrol. There will be two information sessions for new families on February 27th at 9.30am and another on March 8th at 6.30pm.
Thank you to families and teachers for being available for the Parent/Teacher conversations last Tuesday. These conversations were a great way to form and consolidate connections with our families and for parents to meet the new teacher and for teachers to learn about your child.
School photos will be taken on Tuesday 28th February. This is a completely online ordering system. Please contact Advanced Photography if you have any queries. Children are expected to wear full school uniform including fawn socks and brown shoes. Long hair is to be tied back. Earrings, such as sleepers and simple studs, may be worn. Click on the link for school photo orders..
At St Augustine’s we encourage ongoing communication between home and school. Children will often come home with stories about their day that bring joy but at times may concern you. The appropriate way to communicate with the school is to first make an appointment with the teacher to discuss the concern. We know that stories can be misconstrued or take on a different perspective through the eyes of a child. A teacher can help clarify the issue and assist in helping the distressed child. Email is an efficient and effective tool that supports timely communication. It strengthens the goodwill and the positive partnership between parents, students and the school to enhance the well being and learning opportunities for students. Emails are an efficient way to set up a suitable time to speak to a teacher rather than become a discussion about your child’s academic progress, learning expectations or behavioral issues. Emails should be short, to the point and contain only essential facts. Teachers will take the discussion offline and call for a meeting if they feel that ongoing discussion is required. Be aware that ‘out of hours’ or ‘in class time’ emails may not be answered immediately nor will staff respond to abusive or aggressive emails. They will be responded to within 2 working days from receipt of the email. Parents should contact the office to inform a teacher of matters of immediate urgency eg. a child needing to go to after care, a change in pick-up arrangements as emails might not be read in time to act upon requirements. Teacher emails are the first letter of their name followed by their surname and @sakeilor.catholic.edu.au eg. Selena Tonzing – stonzing@sakeilor.catholic.edu.au. A list of staff is included here.
A reminder to use the school app to report a student absences. Open the app and the ‘more’ link where you will find the link the ‘absentee form’. It has become a mandatory requirement to inform the school of your child/rens absence. We know that some parents are not able to open the newsletter link in the app in the main message. We are working on this as it appears to only affect android phones. Suggestions would be to ensure your phone is updated to the most recent software, uninstall then reinstall the app or turn off your phone and then turn it back on. You can open the newsletter by clicking on the word ‘Newsletter’ at the bottom of the app.
A reminder that we are a ‘No food sharing’ school. We have children at St Augustine’s who have life threatening allergies so it is most important that we do not share food which includes bringing birthday cakes, cookies etc.. to share. Please do not be offended when they are send back home.
There will be a school closure day on Tuesday 7th March where staff will be participating in Professional Learning. We will be working with a facilitator and will be focussing on literacy, particularly looking at Grammar and how we make connections between grammatical patterns, the meaning of texts and transferring this to writing. There are no students at school on this day.
A reminder that the Parents Auxiliary have organised a Parent Night Out for Friday March 3rd. This has proven over the years to be a great night to catch up with friends and make new ones (especially if you are new to the school). Follow the link for more information. We are looking for donations to be used as prizes on the night. If you can donate any goods or services please call the number on the flier.
A reminder that there is a 2023 prep information session tonight, Thursday 16th February, at 6-7pm. Prep teachers will be talking to current prep parents about what to expect in prep this year. We will be meeting in the prep rooms.
Cathy
