Dear Parents,

Well here we are at week 6 already!

These weeks seem to go so fast. 

Hayfever Season

As we move from winter to spring we are starting to see the new shoots and growth on trees.  Although a lovely time of year, this can be problematic for some of our students with allergies. 

Please ensure all medical plans are updated on PAM and any medications and associated paperwork are submitted to the office. 

Sacrament of Reconciliation

Our Grade 4 students are preparing for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This sacrament will be celebrated with all of the students receiving this on the one day in our Chapel rather than across a number of days as done so in the past. 

Professional Learning day on Monday

The staff of St Catherine’s took part in a Professional Learning day on Monday. This day had an R.E scripture focus and was led by Dr. Alice Youlden from DOSCEL and Rian Prestwich. The staff spent the day looking at breaking apart scripture to make it more accessible to our students. Our goal as a Catholic School, is to provide all our students with the opportunity to access the Catholic teachings and use them in their daily lives regardless of their faith.

We ask that if any families who know that circumstances are changing next year and do not require a place at St Catherine’s please inform us asap. We have a waiting list and that position can be offered to another family.

Book Week / Book Week Parade

We are looking forward to the Book Week Parade and author’s visit on Friday. These activities culminate a series of activities and a week looking at the shortlisted book in this year's Book week theme of “ Reading is Magic”.  As communicated in the past few weeks the students are invited to dress up as their favourite book character this Friday 23 August. 

Students will participate in a special ‘Book Week’ parade at 9am. Parents are welcome to join us and watch the parade that will take place on the basketball courts. Parents are reminded to come early and park outside the school.  We will open the vines area for those to wait. You will need to sign into this event using the sheets provided along the Vines area.  The viewing area for the Parade will be near the chapel at the end of the basketball courts. 
Please refrain from taking photographs during the parade for child safety reasons.  Please see the flyer attached for more information.

Father's day and special person 

Our Father's and Special persons day has come around so quick and is next week! Thursday 29 August. We currently have only 28 families who have purchased a token from CDF Pay. There is a limit of one gift per student costing $5. Please follow the instructions on the flyer attached to this newsletter so your child doesn't miss out on a gift for their special Dad/person.

Glowtastic fundraiser / Disco night!

The Glowtastic disco fundraiser has started with the Disco taking a slightly different look to the last one.  The Disco will take place on Thursday 5 September.  We only have 84 students participating in the glowtastic fundraiser so far and only 15 days left to register.  Please see the information added to this Newsletter to be part of raising money for our Shade Sails.

Schedule for the Night

Grades Prep, 1 and 2 will run between  4.30pm-5.30pm

Grades 3 & 4 will run between 5.45pm-6.45pm

Grade 5 & 6 will run between 7.00-8.00pm

Our feedback from last year that the hour for each group was the perfect amount of time. 

Bottled water will be supplied to all students along with glow sticks and spot prizes will be awarded on the night. The drop point will be through the gate near the administration office, with pick up being via the Prep Gate.  This allows for wet weather back up plans. More information and maps  will be sent out regarding the pick up and drop off arrangements and other logistics for the night soon!

Annual Review Meetings

Our 2025 planning has started and we are working through our Annual Review meetings with all staff. 

A staff of this size means that these take some time and coordination. These meetings are a requirement to talk through many areas of each staff member's development but also to obtain feedback for the leadership team.  Although these can be time consuming, especially with a staff as large as ours, they form an important part of the constant review of our practices and procedures at all levels of running the school. 

Prep Enrolments

Our 2025 Prep enrolments are filling fast. 

The current prep team will hold a Prep Information meeting on Tuesday the 3 September at 7.00pm via Google meet. 

Use of Devices

We are continuing to have parents contacting us regarding online issues between students. We ask that parents continue to consistently monitor the use of devices and the platforms their children 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 on personal devices. 

Grade 6 interschool Sport

The grade 6 students have been  participating in inter-school sports with other Catholic Schools in our area. Students are playing  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. 

This week Interschool sports games! 

 Netball and Newcomb at St Catherine's and Football at Heatherbrae Reserve in Officer 

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. 

We ask all parents to abide by the expectations sent out when wanting to raise concerns over teams, umpiring or process. The Grade 6 students have all signed a Code of Conduct and this will be adhered to with appropriate sanctions to be placed should this Code Of conduct not be adhered to. 

Communication Processes

I would like to remind our families of our processes in regards to raising concerns for your children. The first port of call is always 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. The classroom teacher may escalate this to the appropriate member of leadership or if a request by parents after first speaking with the classroom teacher. 

Parking inspectors

We have been made aware that council parking inspectors have been around. They will be looking for cars parking in no parking zones and traffic not adhering to road rules. 

Help Needed

One of our families need help with ferrying their 2 children home each day to Narre Warren, if you are able to assist please contact Marian on 0457097995.  Willing to pay. 

Whole School Positive Behaviour Approach 

As a reminder: 

Our Whole School Approach to Positive Behaviour Support language is:

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

These values are referred to regularly and explicitly taught in classrooms.

District Athletics

The School Sports Victoria District Athletics for Casey South Division  was on Wednesday with students from St Catherine’s competing at Casey Fields. We congratulate all students who participated and wish those who qualified to go to the next level luck.

Building:

Although I still have nothing more to report on the front 3 story 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. 

We are continuing to work on our master plan. 

All schools continuously have master plans in place and once complete, a new master plan is initiated. Our current master plan was initiated in 2022 and as part of the preliminary planning we are having some investigations done so you may see some workmen and markings done in the school grounds.

COVID, other 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.  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. 

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

Absences and Late arrivals 

We ask all parents to 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 the 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.

Decking Renovation /Sandpit, Playground

We have contracted a company to renovate the decking around our sandpit, located adjacent to the Adventure Playground. While the decking remains safe, we want to refurbish it to extend its longevity for our students' use. As a result, the area will be closed tomorrow, Friday, and next Monday, weather permitting. I will ensure that the area is securely fenced off and will keep teachers informed so they can relay updates to the students.

Crossings  and Parking

We ask that all students and parents are using 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. 

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 parents and carers can come onsite walk students into school in the morning before 8.50am. In the afternoon please meet your children at the rebound wall if walking or parking in the vicinity of the school and coming to meet your children. This limits foot traffic through the school in the afternoon to assist with keeping our community safe as well as alleviating traffic on our driveway and streamlining the 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. This ensures the correct person is available at a mutually convenient time. 

Student Attendance and Late arrivals 

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 after 8.50am 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 8.50am.  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 8.30am. 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 however after September 1 hats will be compulsory as we follow the Sunsmart guidelines.

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.

Out of School Hours Care Program

Contact Camp Australia if you’re interested in your child participating Out of Hours School care or 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. Our Prep numbers are increasing fast and we are conducting multiple tours a day. If you know of anyone considering St Catherine’s for their child please ask them to contact the Office for a tour.

Change of Address

Please advise the office as soon as possible if you have had a change of Address.  You can email info@stcberwick.catholic.edu.au  

School fees

Warm Regards