Junior School News: Term 1, Week 4 2025

Year 6 are returning from camp today from Narrabeen Sport and Recreation Centre in Sydney. The students enjoyed lots of time outdoors and we were very fortunate with the weather. Many students cited the food and aquatic activities, such as stand up paddleboarding, as highlights of the camp. Thank you to Ms Roche, Mr O’Rourke and Mr Roberts for taking time away from their families to be with our Year 6 students for this important excursion. 

Co-Curricular Activities – We now have most students’ data in Clipboard and you should hear from your son’s activity coordinators if you haven’t already. Generally speaking, Junior School activities such as debating, chess, etc. begin in Week 4-6 of Term 1 and Winter Sports around Week 5 or 6. Homework Club began 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) 

Afternoon Activities 
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 Club (John Bell jbell@sec.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. Please note that Bridget Cusack (bcusack@sec.act.edu.au) is looking after Homework Club until Mrs Ellem’s return in Week 6. 

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. 

Friday 28 February – Junior School Swimming Carnival at Queanbeyan Pool. Swimming Program will run from approximately 10.00am –1.30pm. 

Tuesday 4 March – Moderation Day (Pupil-free Day)  

Friday 7 March – Junior School Athletics Carnival. Students are currently completing long jump, discus and shot put trials in PE classes. If they make the final (approximately top 10 per age group) based on performance, they will be able to compete in these disciplines on the day. There are no qualifications for the sprint races or 800 metres event and all are welcome to enter these events on the day.  The Junior School Athletics Carnival will be held on the school ovals. 

St Edmund’s College
JUNIOR SCHOOL ATHLETICS & SPORTS DAY PROGRAM 
Friday 7 March 2025 

MORNING SESSION: 
9.20am Event 1a – Field Events qualifiers (qualification via PE classes or scheduled trial – students to be notified of qualification prior to carnival) only group Lonergan Oval (selection process for College team – top 4 to be chosen if they meet minimum standard) 

– Shot-put  
– Discus 
– Long jump 

9.20am Event 1b – Multi Sports  
All students Years 4 to 6 who did not qualify for field events will participate in a multisport activity program. Students who finish their field events will return to the multisport activity program. 

10.35am Back to Grandstand – Students Released to Recess 10.45am 

11.20am Track Program will commence. This will allow students an opportunity to be selected for the College team (top 4 best times).  It also provides students of all abilities an opportunity to participate in running events and house team activities. 

OWENS OVAL

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’. Longer hair (below the collar) needs to be tied back during the school day.  

-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