I wish to extend a very warm welcome back to all of our Junior School families. I trust the break was a good chance to spend some time with your son/s and perhaps even a chance to relax with them ahead of another school term. It was great to see many parents/carers utilise the face-to-face opportunity at Parent/Teacher interviews last week. Earlier this week I mentioned to the Junior School students about the many events and opportunities we have at school over the first few weeks of Term 2. I have listed some of these events below. Not all of these events will impact on you or your son but being aware of them will give you an idea of what lies ahead for students, staff and our community as a whole. On Friday we will enjoy Founder’s Day, which is always a highlight on the school calendar.
ANZAC DAY Assembly – Last Wednesday, 26 April, the whole College gathered respectfully to mark ANZAC Day. We had many of our Defence families join us for this special assembly. The students were respectful during proceedings, and it was very moving.
Founder’s Day Mass and Activities – Friday 5 May. Students are to wear their formal Winter uniform to school for Mass in the morning. Mass will be held in the College Hall. Celebration activities will be held after recess. Students may change into PE gear for the remainder of the day. There will be no need to change back into formal uniform at the end of the day. Please note canteen lunch orders can be ordered as normal, although Hospitality students will be taking pre-orders for optional snack packs ($8) and gourmet sandwiches ($10) on Wednesday and Thursday this week at lunchtimes in the Quad. After lunch there will be a market stall where students can play little competitions and participate in fun activities (think throw a sponge at a teacher). These stalls will cost $1-2 per activity.
12/U ACT Swimming Championships – Tuesday 9 May. Information has been sent home with students involved. We wish Owen Edwards, Oliver Winn, and Andre Susic, all the best for the competition.
ACT Oz-Tag Gala Day (South) – Wednesday 10 May. Congratulations to the boys selected to represent St Edmund’s on this excursion. Good luck to all and thank you to Ms Manenica for organising.
Mother’s Day Mass and Morning Tea – Friday 12 May (9.30am – 11.15am). Please note information regarding this wonderful community event has been placed in a previous Vortex article and details were also on the school’s Facebook page. Please note that ticket sales for this event have now closed.
Matt Giteau Cup (Rugby Union) – Thursday 18 May. Mr Fox will be conducting trials in order to enter teams into this event. He will communicate trial information with the students at some point next week.
School Sport ACT Representative 12/U Opportunities – School Sport ACT has changed the process for applying and participating in Sporting Trials.
Anyone interested in trialling for the various regional sports, now need to log onto the ACT Sports Website and register for the sport that your child wishes to trial. It is the responsibility of parents/carers to monitor the website for any upcoming sporting events, if your child is interested in competing in the regional competitions.
Please also note if your child is successful in being selected for an ACT team to participate in a national or regional tournament, a formal written letter is required, addressed to the College Principal to seek permission for absence from school during this period. Once the College has received such a request it can then be formally approved for your son’s participation in this activity with School Sport ACT. Secondly, we will also be able to acknowledge his achievement here at school.
Year 4-6 After School Homework Club
Tuesday and Wednesday after school (Weeks 2-9)
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@stedmunds.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.
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 above the shoulder in length (above the bottom of the school shirt collar) 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