Year 6 have returned from a terrific camp at The Pines, a facility for school camps at Tuross Head, New South Wales. The students enjoyed lots of time outdoors and we were very fortunate with the weather. Many students cited the food and surfing as highlights of the camp. Thank you to Mrs Millar, Mr Sidorko, Mr O’Rourke and Mr Fox for taking time away from your families to be with our Year 6 students for this important excursion.
Co-Curricular Activities – An email was sent out with information on how to sign in to Clipboard. Signing in to Clipboard will help you see all information regarding co-curricular activities in one place. We ask Junior School parent/carers to sign their son/s up to activities. At present we have had just over 50% of parents/carers sign their son/s up to activities. We would ask that you complete this process by Thursday 29 February. You will find the link to Clipboard on your Eddies Dashboard (just use your new St Edmunds email – Single Sign On). Once we have all students’ data you should hear from your son’s activity coordinators. Generally speaking, Junior School activities such as debating, chess, etc. begin in Week 5 or Week 6 and Winter Sports around Week 5 or 6. Homework Club begins in Week 3. If you decide you would like your son to join another activity, please do not hesitate to contact the activity coordinator. Your son’s classroom teacher can assist you with this as can Lee Boswell (lboswell@sec.act.edu.au)
Trouble Signing in to Dashboard!
After the change to our online portals you will need to sign into the Parent Portal using the following email format: firstname.lastname@parent.sec.act.edu.au
The first time you sign in you will need to go through the ‘Forgot my password’ option available underneath the password entry box.
Try to sign in with the above email format on one of our portals here: Canvas – https://sec.instructure.com Dashboard – https://dashboard.sec.act.edu.au Parent Portal – https://parent.sec.act.edu.au (The excursions and consent forms are located here)
Tuesday – Cultural Club (Yuko Leffers yleffers@sec.act.edu.au) , Debating (Julia Roche jroche@sec.act.edu.au) , Homework Club (Holly Ellem Hellem@sec.act.edu.au)
Wednesday – Sports trainings (training times/match days will be visible on clipboard), Homework Club (Holly Ellem Hellem@stedmunds.act.edu.au)
Thursday – Steam Club (Margie Maher Mmaher@sec.act.edu.au)
Friday – Chess/cardistry Club (Bridget Cusack bcusackAsec.act.edu.au)
Please be aware that some activities, such as sports, require official registration (usually via an online platform) in order to be accepted into that activity.
Year 4-6 After School Homework Club
Tuesday & Wednesday after school
3.30pm – 4.30pm
Junior School Library lab
Boys are to bring work with them that they may need assistance with. This could be homework, assignments, extension work or additional work set by their classroom teacher. Email hellem@sec.act.edu.au should you wish your son to attend.
Year 6 Runners Program – As a part of our Year 6 into High School transition program, we will be enlisting the assistance of Year 6 students to help as runners. As runners, the students will get to know the school layout very well ahead of Year 7. The students will work in pairs for a full day (learning remotely between jobs). The students will rotate through on a daily basis for semester 1 only. This program begins Term 1, Week 2, beginning with 6 Blue.
Thursday 29 February – Junior School Assembly 11.30am in the RJ Wallace Hall. Next week we will have our first formal academic assembly. Up to four students who have been achieving well in each class will receive academic awards. Parents/carers of these students will receive communication regarding this assembly and are welcome to join us on the day.
Friday 1 March – Junior School Swimming Carnival at Queanbeyan Pool. Notes have been sent home and consent is to be provided online through the parent portal.
Tuesday 5 March – Moderation Day (Pupil-free Day Years 4-12). This is a pupil-free day. Junior School teachers will be involved in professional learning on this day.
Thursday 7 March – Junior School Athletics Carnival on Owens/Lonergan Oval. A schedule of events with approximate times will be publicised closer to the carnival. Parents/carers are most welcome to attend.
Pokemon Cards – please note Pokemon cards are no longer welcome at school. We tried but unfortunately having them at school causes some students’ emotions to run a little high.
Racist remarks – unfortunately we have had some instances of students using inappropriate words in the playground. My understanding is that a great majority of this stems from one of the latest Youtube crazes giving passes to students to use poor language. I also believe many popular songs do not assist some of our students in understanding what is appropriate. I have spoken with the whole Junior School about this and there is zero tolerance for anyone referencing skin colour or using racist remarks. I would ask that all parents/carers discuss the expectations with their son/s so we can have a united front against unacceptable language/remarks in our school.
Hair Policy – Thank you to all parents/carers for keeping your son/s haircuts in line with the school’s uniform and hair policy. At times barbers may make mistakes. If they are informed of their mistake, many will fix the haircut (in line with our policy) at no extra charge. Could I please ask that all parents/carers familiarise themselves with the hair policy so that students can get about their daily work without teacher’s asking them about their haircuts. Thank you for your assistance with this.
Hair should be kept neat, tidy and clean at all times and not grown or styled into an extreme or exaggerated fashion.
Hair should be uniform in length (or blended gradually) and no shorter than a number ‘two’.
Students are not allowed to have lines or designs shaved into their hair nor grow long sections of hair that can be fashioned into ‘top buns’, plaits, undercuts, braids, ‘rats tails’, ‘mohawks’ or ‘mullets’ etc.
Student Drop Off and Pick Up – Please do not use the staff carpark (off Canberra Avenue) to drop or collect students before and after school. This is a dangerous place for our students to be moving through and we would like to keep this area for staff only. Thank you for helping to keep our community safe.
David Kelly
Assistant Principal – Junior School