Year 4 and Year 5 enjoyed their respective camps at Tuross Head last week and I am sure many memories were created. We were fortunate with the weather, and it was great to see so many smiling faces and our students having fun outside the regular school environment. A huge thank you to Ms Cusack, Mr Bell, Mr Rutter, Ms Janes, Mrs Millar, and to Angela Scherer, Jacob Fakhouri and James Coate, for attending and assisting with supervision and activities. After Year 4 camp left for Canberra, we welcomed about 10 families for the father/parent and son camp, which was a wonderful opportunity for relationships to be strengthened and new bonds to be formed.
Year 7 Orientation Day – Monday 31 October. On this day current Year 6 students will be involved in activities and testing as a part of their transition to High School. Students are to wear School PE Uniform for the whole day.
Year 7 Orientation Evening – Monday 31 October. 6pm -7pm. This evening is for parent/carers and students new to High School. The evening is designed to inform parents/carers of the structure and opportunities afforded to our Year 7 students and will be useful for parents/carers not familiar with the High School. Current Year 6 students are to attend with at least one parent/carer and may wear casual clothing.
St Vincent de Paul Appeal – please note the school is conducting a drive to gather items for those in need. Junior School has a particular focus this year which is non-perishable food items or Christmas treats. These can be brought into school and given to your son’s class teacher. The appeal will finish on Friday, Week 8, before a presentation to St Vincent de Paul.
Junior School Camps – please note that due to postponements of earlier camps, we will now have a busy Term 4 with camps at Tuross Head, NSW. I had advertised that costs would be included in Term 4 fee statements. Whilst this is true for families that pay termly, this is problematic for families that pay via direct debit or 12 months in advance. Our Finance team will be in touch if any adjustments are required, and parents/carers can contact the Finance team directly if there are any issues or questions. An email was sent home last week with details on how to pay for camp should your family fall into one of the affected categories. Unfortunately, the main server we use for external emails was affected by outage issues last week (many Catholic Schools were affected) and emails may not have come through to @live and @hotmail email addresses until early this week. Apologies for this. Year 6 parents/carers – please also note that camp permission and information will be available online through the parent portal.
Year 6 Camp: Monday 7 November – Wednesday 9 November (Term 4, Week 5) Students need to be behind the Grandstand by 7.45am for roll call. The bus will depart at 8am sharp. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to wait if you are running late. The bus will return on Wednesday at approximately 2.30pm (behind the Grandstand).
Junior School Retreats – Wednesday 2 November. Please note on this day, Junior School students will be involved in ‘on campus’ retreats. Students are to wear PE uniform on this day and lunch will be provided. A note will come home next week with further details. Students have been asked to bring in a glass jar.
Year 6 2023 BYOD Reminder – all Year 5 students have had a reminder that our BYOD program begins in Year 6 at St Edmund’s. Students will need a laptop computer that has word processing, Wi-Fi access and basic capability. Laptops do not need to be expensive but must have a sturdy protective case. Please note Chromebooks are not recommended. More detailed information on our BYOD program is available on the College website: https://sec.act.edu.au/academic/device-program/
Staff Carpark (off Canberra Avenue) – Parents/Carers are asked not to use the staff carpark as a drop off or pick up location before or straight after school. This is due to safety considerations for our students. Please use the main semi-circular driveway or other exterior boundary options.
Homework Club – Mr Kelly will be running homework club from Weeks 1-9 this term on Tuesdays/Wednesdays. Please email him dkelly@stedmunds.act.edu.au with a day’s notice should you wish to book your son/s in.
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, dreadlocks, braids, ‘rats tails’, ‘mohawks’ or ‘mullets’ etc.
– Hair should be evenly graded and/or blended, of natural colour, warn off the face and should not obstruct sight. Hair requiring to be tied back off the face may be necessary but only as a low bun.
David Kelly
Assistant Principal – Junior School