Dear Parents

Welcome to Term 3 - Semester 2

I hope the holidays were restful and students have returned refreshed and ready to embrace the second semester with enthusiasm.

The year 2 and 4 students have commenced their practical swimming program. 

Grade 6 students will undertake their program in Term 4 and all other levels will undertake water safety sessions with Life Saving Victoria later in the year. 

Assembly took place on Friday and we tried it a little differently this time around as the weather was not conducive to an outdoor assembly.  Parents were welcomed into classrooms to participate in the assembly with our students. This appears to have worked well and we will continue with this process on wet days. 

The Grade 5 and 6 students attended a session on Friday run by the Proactive Policing Team to talk about the legal ramifications of posting online and the digital footprint left when using social media and posting/commenting online. This was a very informative session and left the staff and students with great discussion points. 

We ask that parents monitor the use of devices and the platforms they are on. Many of our students have accounts which have age limits restrictions, many of which are 13 years and over.  We will continue to educate and engage services with expertise in these areas but ultimately parents are responsible for their child’s access and use of devices outside of school. 

The grade 6 students will participate in Inter-school sports with other Catholic Schools in our area. Students will play Netball, Football and Newcomb. St Catherine’s have 2 teams playing so some students will be travelling off site each week and others will be playing netball and Newcomb at school. Parents are welcome to spectate but are asked to follow the sign in procedures and preferably have a current Working With children card which needs to be presented at the time of signing in. For child safety reasons, all visitors will be required to remain at the area where your child’s sport is being played and cannot use the student toilets or enter any building other than the administration building. 

Family Learning Conversations will be held via Google meet next week. Please see the flyer below for details about arrangements for these. 

I would like to remind our families of our processes in regards to raising concerns for your children. The first port of call is the classroom teacher. We ask if it is a detailed or lengthy question, of a sensitive nature or something needing a longer conversation, to please make an appointment  via the office so we can ensure the teacher is available to devote the appropriate attention to your concerns. 

If they deem it necessary, the classroom teacher will escalate this to the appropriate member of leadership. 

We raised $541.05 for CRAZY HAIR DAY, it was a great day with lots of crazy hair styles, which you can view in this Newsletter.  Thanks to all families who helped make this day a success! Keep an eye out for our next fundraiser which will incorporate our School Disco on Thursday 5 September!

Building:

Although I still have nothing more to report on the building at this stage, I am aware that there is work going on behind the scenes and once we have information I will share it with the community. 

Staffing

We welcome back Ms Gabby Mifsud. She will be teaching RE in Years 2 and 3 on Mondays to give the classroom teachers release to meet the requirements of the changes to the enterprise bargaining agreement. Jasmine Bentley has come back in Term 3 at an increased time fraction and is teaching PM4 on Tuesdays, Prep and year 1 on Mondays, giving release to Prep and year 1 teachers and continuing to teach year 5LA2 on Fridays. 

COVID, illness and student and staff illness. 

Our school community has again been hit hard by illnesses of all kinds. Our staff have also been hit. We have COVID amongst us and remind all staff and students that if they test positive we recommend that they stay home. If they are unwell or have any symptoms of any kind they should not attend school. 

Any student presenting as unwell will be sent to the sick bay and parents will be asked to pick them up. 

I assure you that splitting classes is our last resort but at times we have needed to do this to ensure the appropriate supervision and consistent learning of all children. 

Absences and Late arrivals 

We ask all parents enter student absences in the PAM platform or to call the office to inform us of an absence. If children are absent with no communication,  our absentee process is triggered and contact with carers will be made.

Student access and child safety

We request all students accessing the administration Office and who may be coming in late do so via the SFX driveway. Students are to walk down the St Francis Xavier side of driveway on the footpath and cross at the Chapel crossing behind the bollards. 

We remind parents the driveways are limited to 5 kilometres an hour for the safety of our students. The 5 kilometre speed limit continues through the whole school during pick up and drop off times.  We are continuing to monitor this but will be reminding any parents or carers to slow down if they continue to speed through the school . 

Staff are on hand to assist until just after the bell. All students who are late should be walked into the office by an adult and be signed in for legal reasons. The orange arrows are areas where they need to wait for a staff member as there can be car traffic.

Crossings  and Parking

We ask that all students and parents use the crossings that are clearly marked and manned as these are safe ways to cross the road. The council have also notified us that this is a concern  and have asked that parents and students use the designated crossings when crossing Ridgemont Drive and Meadowlands Way. 
We are aware that parking can be problematic but also ask that parents do not park in the Great Beginnings child care Centre carpark or block the entrances as there are cars coming and going from here at all times. 

Whole School Positive Behaviour Approach 

A SIMON email went out regarding our Whole School Approach to Positive Behaviour Support on Friday of last week. As a reminder: 

• At St Catherine’s we are safe.
• At St Catherine’s we show respect. 
• At St Catherine’s we are resilient.

Parent Access

We understand that, during COVID, access to the school was restricted. We are trying to provide more opportunities for families to have access to the school. Times have changed about this and we as a school have to adapt. The fact that our driveway goes through the middle of the school grounds also creates many risks in the afternoon to all of the members of our community. 

Please be assured that you can walk students into school in the morning and come onsite in the afternoon to meet your children at the rebound wall. This limits foot traffic through the school in the afternoon to assist with our driveway and student collection processes. 

If  you ever have any concerns or want to chat with staff or leadership, please contact the office to make time to meet that suits everyone. 

NAPLAN

The preliminary NAPLAN scores have been released to schools but individual reports will be sent to the school soon. Once these have been received we will distribute them and notify parents that they are coming home. Please file these as some secondary schools request these on enrolment. 

The process for accessing this information has changed and is more  complex due to confidentiality. It is much easier for all parties if the original reports are retained and submitted on enrolment application. 

Student Attendance 

Our classes start at 8.50am, students are expected to be at school and ready to start instruction at 8.50am. Any child arriving after this time is late and will need to be signed in by an adult as per legal requirements. If a child arrives late and does not have an adult accompany them to sign them in, parents will be contacted to come and fulfill their legal responsibility.

Any students coming after the bell are impacted as they can miss vital instruction and the beginning of Specialist subjects. Students on scheduled out-of-classroom intervention programs may also miss their session, as many of these start as soon as the bell goes in the morning.

Any student arriving late must be signed in by a parent or carer via the office. This is a legal requirement and we have noticed many more students arriving after 8.50 am.  As a part of our continual review of our processes and procedures, we will be following up with parents and carers.  Classroom doors open at 8.30 am. Students are encouraged to enter the classroom and get ready for the day’s learning then participate in quiet activities until the commencement of instruction.

Regular late arrivals will trigger our attendance/absence processes which means parents and carers will be contacted by classroom teachers at first but may be escalated to other governing bodies. 

You may notice that emails are starting to be sent to those families of students  who regularly arrive late. 

Hats and Uniform 

All students should be wearing the winter uniform as we are well into term 2. Hats are not necessary but recommended.

We are noticing a large number of students who are not wearing the correct uniform and we will be addressing this with the students and after repeated warnings , parents will be contacted.

School closure day

A reminder that there will be a school closure day on Thursday 1 August, for a teaching staff Time in lieu day and one on the 19 August  for an RE Day. 

Out of School Hours Care Program

Contact Camp Australia if you’re interested in your child participating in the Holiday program offered.

2025 Enrolments

We are currently taking 2025 Enrolments. If you are an existing family please get your forms in asap to guarantee you a spot. We have limited positions available. If you know of anyone considering St Catherine’s for their child please ask them to contact the Office for a tour as soon as possible.

School fees

Our Canteen runs from Wednesday - Friday. To register please follow the following link Quickcliq registration,  then once registered you can login to Quickcliq.  When registering if your child is in Prep you will need to click foundation.  Your UID (student ID) number can be found on the home page of your Simon App. For further information please see the attached flyer.  Ordering cut off times will be the day before at 8pm, to receive your child's order the very Our next day, any orders placed after 8pm will automatically be placed with orders placed the following day, this allows for time to purchase any extra items needed on the day.  For those children with dietary requirements there will be a folder placed in the school office outlining ingredients of certain items. Please see the attached Menu, which will also be available when ordering through Quickcliq.