Dear St. Clare’s Community,

Welcome to the final week of Term 1. Thank you to all our students and parents for making Term 1 at St. Clare’s so very enjoyable. I would also like to express my gratitude to all staff for the amazing effort that they put into each and everyday. I am constantly in awe and deeply grateful for the dedication with which the staff of St. Clare’s take on challenges, and wish all staff and families some time over the break to take a moment to recharge the batteries.

We are about to enter into the holiest time of the year, with March 28 marking Holy(Maundy) Thursday and the beginning of the Triduum. These days, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday are our way of remembering and reflecting on Jesus’ final days on earth and His glorious resurrection.
Holy Week for Christians is a very special  time. It is a week during which we do things that we don’t usually do and hear things we usually don’t hear. Holy Week is definitely a week with a difference and spiritually rewarding for Christians who, willingly, are part of its unfolding.

Attendance - currently 81.4% of St. Clare’s students have attended school 90% of the time. 8.3% of absences are unexplained, please remember to contact the office to notify of student absences. If you are experiencing difficulties with attendance/ lateness for reasons not related to illness, please make contact as we may be able to offer support to assist reluctant or anxious students.

A bright future for your child starts with good school attendance every day - all day. While good attendance doesn’t automatically guarantee positive outcomes for students, positive outcomes in academics, personal growth and wellbeing and social emotional health can be impacted by low attendance.

Ten minutes late, or ten minutes leaving early every day soon adds to 50 minutes per week.  This equates to almost 1.5 weeks in a year. If the pattern continues, over the course of the student’s 13 years of schooling, this equates to about half a year of school that is missed. A day here or there, or a missed afternoon on several occasions each term may not seem like much, but 15 days of school missed across the year (the equivalent of 4 days per term) will add to an entire year of school missed by the time your child completes Year 12.

Attendance matters - every day counts!

AEDC Census

Next term we will be participating in the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC). The AEDC occurs every three years and is a population measure of how young children have developed by the time they start their first year of full-time school. Next term, more information will be emailed out to families that have a child in Prep.

Sent to the Principal's Office

I have enjoyed being able to share the hard work of our students over the term. Last week I had some more visits from student that are really working hard to improve their writing skills. Well done!

Blessing and best wishes to you all for the Easter Season.

Karran Burzacott
Principal