Dear Parents

As we move into week 8 of an 11 week term, teachers are working hard on reports . These will go live in week 11 and will be accessible via the Simon/PAM platform. They will be accompanied by a digital portfolio which has work samples from your child/ren. These work samples are not the only form of assessment used to guide reporting but are a snapshot of work that is happening in the classroom and your child’s abilities and efforts. 

We have also moved away from the 5 point scale indicating your child’s behaviour and effort as these are things that will be discussed in Family learning conversations or via phone calls if necessary. This scale proved to be ambiguous for some parents and our school direction is that these are phone calls or conversations that happen throughout the whole year. 

Year 5 students had a wonderful time at Lady Northcote Camp. They spent 2 days at the adventure camp and one day visiting Sovereign Hill in Ballarat. The students came back exhausted but had a wonderful time. I thank the staff who volunteered to attend and are spending time away from their own families to ensure the students could attend and experience this.

The year 4 students are gearing up for their camp starting Tuesday next week. 

They will be heading to Phillip Island Adventure Camp for one night. This is a busy camp where students will be asked to push themselves to try new things. It is always lovely to watch the students overcome their hesitations and accomplish something they don’t think they can. 

Year 1 level mass will be celebrated in The Chapel this Thursday, 6 June at 9.30am. Parents of year 1 are invited to join the students for this mass. We also extend an invitation to all members of our school community. We had a great parent attendance at the Grade 2 mass last week which was quite special.

Building:

There are background works going on at DOSCEL regarding the building at the front of the school. At this stage I have nothing more to report but once we have information I will share it with the community. 

Staffing

This week Miss Ella Bell started with St Catherine’s on Monday and is the permanent 6LA5 teacher. We welcome Ella to the St Catherine’s community and look forward to working with her. 

In Term 3 we also welcome Ms Jasmine Bentley back for 3 days a week. 

She is currently teaching in 5LA2 on Fridays and will continue to teach 5LA2 on a Friday until the end of the 2024 school year. As of the beginning of term 3 , she will be working on Tuesday in PM4 until the end of the 2024 school year  as well as providing release to the prep teachers for their language allocation as the classroom teachers teach Auslan.

COVID 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.

Over the last couple of weeks, we have had some days where our regular programs have not been able to run due to being short staffed and our casual staff also pulling out at the last minute due to illness. 

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. 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 are using the crossings that are clearly marked and manned as these are safe ways to cross 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 around the rebound wall.

We are endeavouring to provide special opportunities for parents to come onsite. We have our Assembly this week celebration Catholic education Week on Friday afternoon.  Please see further details below.

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 around the 15 July. 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 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.

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. 

We ask all parents to enter student absences in the SIMON 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. 

Hats and Uniform 

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

School closure day

A reminder that there will be a school closure day on Friday 28 June, for staff Professional Learning the data day mentioned above. 

Out of School Hours Care Program

 If you’re interested in your child participating in the Holiday program offered, please click on the below link.

 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.

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.