Hello Parents and Friends of St. Anne’s
Last week may have been a short week, but it was a busy one. The Year 5/6s enjoyed their excursion to Parliament House last Tuesday, and on Friday we had 27 Year 3/4 students involved in an AFL lightning premiership at Gordon Barnard.
Staying or Going
This term we are asking parents to indicate whether their child will be returning to St. Anne’s in 2020. This is early to be asking but already we need to be making plans for the 2020 school year. Of course, parents have the right to choose which school they send their children to, and parents make their decisions on their child’s education for different reasons. As a school we must offer a place that our parents and children see as high performing in all areas. Certainly schools like St. Anne’s and other local Catholic schools continue to perform extremely well, and in many cases better than many of the independent schools yet costing a fraction of the price.
As principal of our school it would be remiss of me not to talk about the advantages of a child completing their primary school education (that is, Foundation to Year 6) at St. Anne’s. A primary school such as St. Anne’s only educates primary school children and therefore specialises in the education of children between ages 5 and 12. We do not have to fit into a structure that includes a secondary school and have decisions passed down from the senior school. I believe educating children in primary school is very, very different from secondary school. Children in primary school are taught completely differently to children in secondary school and at St. Anne’s we believe that the level of teaching in our school is equal to or better than anywhere else.
As the children move through to the senior classes at St. Anne’s, they are expected to take on different leadership roles.
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Our Year 6 students attend an annual GRIP leadership conference in March.
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Year 6 children are given leadership roles in the school and it is evident that they take these responsibilities seriously and are expected to carry out the roles that go with these positions.
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This year all of our Year 6 students belong to one of the following leadership groups: Captains (school/sport), ICT, Faith and Social Justice, Library, Arts and House Captains.
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These children also learn about being responsible with the younger children in the school through the buddy program and by being friends with many of the younger children.
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Our Year 5 students are trained to be peer mediators, and they are most vigilant in fulfilling this role at every recess and lunch break.
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A few of our Year 5 students are Green Team leaders, responsible for looking after our environment.
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Our senior students set a fine example to the younger students in the school and this is why we have so few discipline and bullying problems.
The students are given many more opportunities in a school like ours.
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All the students in Years 3-6 have the chance to participate in extra-curricular activities such as inter-school sport, school concerts, Mad Music Mondays, Fun Fit Fridays and coding club.
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For our Year 5 and 6 students, there are many different sports on offer e.g. football, netball, athletics, soccer, cross country, hockey, basketball and swimming. This exposes all of our students to these sports, and it develops their skills, teamwork, fitness, school spirit, sportsmanship and capacity to overcome obstacles.
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Regular pre-school and after school sports training is conducted by our teachers for our students.
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Our senior students have the opportunity to coach basketball teams at the Year 3/4 Hooptime carnival.
At our weekly assemblies and school concerts, students in our school have a significant role to play.
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Each week at our assembly you will hear a report from our school captains, sports captains and other student leaders.
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The captains also present the teacher awards - their charter is to basically run the assembly.
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Our senior students also report each week at assembly on W3 – Walking, Wheeling Wednesday.
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Assemblies are also a forum for students from other classes to share their work or ideas with our “tight knit” school community – students, staff and parents.
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At our fabulous school concerts, our senior students are heavily involved in script writing, compering, music production and props design.
School camps, our Graduation mass and dinner, and the Sacrament of Confirmation – celebrated with their classmates at St. Anne’s Church - are all “value added” components of completing your primary school education at St. Anne’s.
At St. Anne’s, every child knows all the other children in the school and all of the teachers. Each staff member knows each child.
Research has shown that children will only learn to their full potential when they feel safe and secure in their school environment. I know that we have created an environment where every child feels safe, secure and is valued for the gifts and talents that they have. At larger schools, children can become lost in the pack if they are not exceptional at something.
Parents have to make the decision of when to send their child to the school they will be attending at secondary level. On visits to these schools parents are sometimes told that if they do not move their child in Year 5, they will miss out on a place in Year 7. Any school that places pressure on a family to move their child at Year 5 level because they cannot be guaranteed a place in Year 7 is not being totally truthful with parents. Often this is a line to maximize their numbers in the primary section of the school and to maximize their income. Like any business they want to maximize their income revenue and in a school this is about filling up classes. To substantiate my point, this year in Year 7 we had five girls join Genazzano and three boys join Xavier. These eight students were the only ones who applied to join these two schools from St. Anne’s in 2018 and they were all
accepted!
We are very proud of our school and the education we provide to your children. We are always looking to improve in areas and will continue to introduce new programs and improve the ones we have operating. We value your support and I would be more than willing to discuss this issue with anyone if they wish. I hope that we are able to educate your child until they finish in Year 6.
Every day counts – school attendance
We all want our students to get a great education, and the building blocks for a great education begin with students coming to school each and every day.
Missing school can have a major impact on a child’s future – a student missing one day a fortnight will miss four full weeks by the end of the year. By Year 10 they’ll have missed more than a year of school.
There is no safe number of days for missing school – each day a student misses puts them behind, and can affect their educational outcomes.
Coming to school every day is vital, but if for any reason your child must miss school, there are things we can do together to ensure they don’t fall behind:
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Speak with your classroom teacher and find out what work your child needs to do to keep up.
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Develop an absence learning plan with your teacher and ensure your child completes the plan.
Remember, every day counts. If your child must miss school, speak with your classroom teacher early as early as possible.
From 1 March 2014, new laws mean that parents can be fined for not sending students to school without an acceptable reason.
If you’re having attendance issues with your child, please let your classroom teacher know so we can work together to get your child to school every day.
Enrolments
Please grab an enrolment form if you have a child beginning school next year. Once completed could they please be returned to the office? Thank you.
Late Arrival
If your child will be arriving late to school it is very important that a parent accompanies them to the office as they are required by law to be signed in by their guardian.
School uniform
We are currently in a uniform “transition” stage. Until Monday 13th May children may wear either summer or winter uniform. As from 13th May, students are required to wear their winter uniform.
Arrival to school
A reminder that children are supervised in the school yard from 8:30 onwards, and no children should be “dropped off” prior to this time. We do offer before school hours care from 7am at Kew East Primary school. Thank you.
Cross Country
An invitation is extended to all Year 3,4,5 and 6 students to join in cross country trials tomorrow (Thursday) at 8am and Friday at 1:40pm. The trials will take place at Outer Circuit Trail (corner of Belford Rd and Asquith St, Kew East.) Further trials will occur on Thursday 9th May and Friday 10th May. Participants are to wear their sports uniform on these days.
Chicken Pox
Please be aware we have been notified of a case of Chicken Pox in the school.
