St Clare's School Tully eNewsletter

Dear St. Clare’s Community,

Dear Father God,

Thank you for holiday times

For freedom, family and friends.

Help us to keep these happy times in our hearts.

We are excited to start school.

To spend time with our teachers and class friends.

Help us to settle back into this new year!

Help us to learn, to grow in confidence

And to have lots of fun.

Amen.

Welcome to the 2024 school year. It would seem students and staff are just excited about the start of a new school year as the parents. To witness so many smiles and catch up’s delivered with genuine enthusiasm to be back at school is truly wonderful.

We welcome our new staff, Melissa Murphy (Year 3) and Carolin Schoch (Year 5).

Unfortunately, at the end of this week we will say goodbye to Kate Mason as our HPE Teacher. Kate has made a very tough decision and is looking forward to having more time for her beautiful family. We all thank Kate for her time at St. Clare’s in the role of HPE Teacher and for all the tremendous effort she put into ensuring our students had all available opportunities to learn and grow in this area.

For Term 1 the following changes will be put in place. Penny Irvine will take Health for Years 1, 2, 3, 5 & 6 and Sharon Chappel will take Year 4 Health on Wednesdays. Cherie Jenkins will take PE lessons for all Year levels and Prep Health on Mondays and Tuesdays.

This does mean we need to make changes to uniform days for Term 1.

From Week 3 (5th Feb) onwards uniform days will be:

Sports Uniforms - Monday & Tuesday
Academic Uniforms - Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Some students may only have one Sports Uniform. If wearing the Sports Uniform 2 days in a row is problematic for you, students will be allowed to wear Cooby & Woomera shirts on Monday or Tuesday for Term 1.

The uniform requirements are attached to this newsletter as a reminder of expectations, please take particular note of the requirements around hair and the wearing of jewellery. Hair is to be kept off the face and if it is shoulder length or longer it must be worn tied back - this applies to boys and girls.

Staff 2024

Karran Burzacott - Principal
Sharon Chappel - APRE
Chris Edwards - Leader of Diversity / Leader of Learning and Teaching
Helen Andrews - Leader of Diversity
Rosanna O’Kane - Admin & Finance
Antonina Dal Zilio - Admin Support
Vera Borgna - Library Assistant / Admin Support / WHS Officer
Gita Sima - Prep
Zanelle Collins - Year 1
Amanda Baston/ Sharon Chappel - Year 2
Melissa Murphy - Year 3
Melissa Leonardi - Year 4
Carolin Schoch - Year 5
Kaitlyn Marsilio & Cherie Jenkins - Year 6
Kate Mason (Weeks 1 & 2) - TBA - HPE
Jo Wall - The Arts
Penny Irvine - Teacher Librarian
Pauline Colombini - Student Support Officer
Alicia Johnson - Student Support Officer
Marie Vipiana - Student Support Officer / Tuckshop
Steph Grimaz - Student Support Officer
Jenny Sollitt - Student Support Officer
Natasha Johnson - Student Support Officer
Carla Low - Student Support Officer
Janine Burns - Student Support Officer
Jodie Costa - Cleaner
Luke Mason - Grounds & Maintenance

COVID

It seems the Tully area is experiencing quite a spike in COVID cases at the moment. Please see the key points from Cairns Catholic Education Operating Guidelines. Thank you for your support in keeping the spread to a minimum.

UNWELL STUDENTS

If students are unwell or have flu-like or gastrointestinal symptoms, they must not come to school; or if already at school, the students should be kept in a safe and comfortable area away from others, and the parent or caregivers should be contacted to take the student home. This is not an explicit COVID requirement, but a universal infection control measure. If the student has flu-like symptoms, the school may offer the parent or carer a RAT to take home and administer to the child. This will be dependent upon school stock, and whether the parent wishes to take a RAT kit. Students staying home when sick are likely to have a positive impact on attendance levels, as a reduced incidence of an illness in the school translates into a reduced likelihood of other students being away sick. So rather than being a competing priority, these two-work hand in hand. Ensuring students stay at home when sick should not just be an infection control response, but rather a logical step to improve the wellbeing and academic performance of our students.

COVID POSITIVE STUDENTS

To assist the school in managing cases within the school community, parents and carers are required to notify the school if their child tests positive for COVID, but there is no requirement for parents to provide proof of infection.
Schools are no longer required to maintain explicit records of COVID infections.
It is recommended that students stay at home to isolate for 7 days if they test positive.
If 7 days isolation is not possible, student MUST observe at least 2 days isolation, and can return to school after this period if they remain free of acute respiratory symptoms.
If symptom free and returning to school within 7 days of testing positive, students aged 12 and over should wear a mask for 7 days from the date of the positive test, if they are indoors and unable to physically distance.
No negative RAT is required to return to school.

Students on buses

For families that use the bus services, if you have not already sent through the days your children are on the bus, could you please do so as soon as possible. It is extremely important we know which days students are catching the bus home.

From time to time you may need to let us know about changes to these days - please ring the office with any changes, before 2pm if possible.

Drop off & Pick-Up

Supervision for students begins at 8:20 am. All students arriving before this time are to remain seated in the eating area until they are dismissed. We ask that students arrive no earlier than 8am if possible. I appreciate that earlier drop offs are required from time to time due to appointments. Please let us know if you need to drop off significantly earlier than usual.

Please be mindful that the pick up zone along Mars Street is a no stopping zone. If your child requires assistance to get in the car, or with seatbelts, please park elsewhere and walk into the school to collect them. If your child is not ready for collection, or the pick up zone is full, please do a lap around the block. We need to be careful not to block Mars Street to other traffic using the area.

ATTENDANCE

Attendance data to date - 91.2% of students have attended 90% (or more). Our goal is 90% of students attending 90% of the time. Currently less than 1% of

student absences are unexplained. Our goal is 0 unexplained absences. Thank you very much and please continue to notify the office if your child will be away from school for any reason.

MEET & GREET

We invite you to mark Tuesday 20th February in your calendar to join us for a meet and greet afternoon. Come and meet your teachers for 2024 and have a look around your child's classroom.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or concerns and I look forward to catching up with you all over time.

Blessings for the weeks ahead

Karran Burzacott

Principal

Faith Knowledge Community Respect

Welcome back to the new school year! I witnessed much excitement on the children’s faces when they returned to school after a long break and were reunited with their friends. To officially welcome the St Clare’s community back to school, we will be holding our Opening School Mass at St Clare’s Church on Friday, February 9 at 9am. This mass is particularly special for our Year 6 students, who will be commissioned as our 2024 Leaders at the ceremony. We always enjoy having our families and friends join us for these celebrations, so please feel free to come along.

As part of our Back to School routine, students have been learning about St Clare’s

Church. Fr Joby will be spending time with each class visiting the church and helping us to learn about our history. If there are any children who have received their First Communion and are interested in reading or altar serving at weekend masses, notes have gone home this week. Please select dates that are suitable for your family and return to school.

We are very excited to be participating in a new social emotional program this year at St Clare’s. Our staff spent some professional development time recently familiarising themselves with The Resilience Project and we will start to roll this out in our classrooms this term. I encourage you to take some time to have a look at what this entails as it is aimed at people of any age and can quite easily become a part of your family’s daily routine. Please see the attached flyer at the end of this newsletter for further information.

With Blessings,

Sharon Chappel

Week 2	No class
Week 3	No assembly Opening School Mass
Week 4	Year 6
Week 5	Year 2
Week 6	Year 1
Week 7	Year 3
Week 8	Year 4
Week 9	Year 5
Week 10	Public Holiday Good Friday

St_Clare_s_School_Uniform_Requirements_2 pdf 327.52 KB

VISITOR REGISTER - SIGN IN

All parents and visitors are required to report to the school office before entering the school grounds between 8.10am to 3pm. A Visitor Register is located at the door entrance for you to sign in and collect a visitor badge. When you are leaving the school you will need to go to the office and sign out and return the badge. Please include any children who are with you also (younger siblings). This is a requirement in the case of school emergencies.

STUDENT COLLECTION REGISTER

Parents must report to the school office before collecting students throughout the day. A Student Collection Register is located at the door entrance for parents to sign out their child during the school day.

If the student is returning back to school you are required to sign them back in.

LATE ARRIVALS

The late arrival book is located at the door entrance. Parents please use the book to sign in and give the Late Slip to student to give to class teacher.

(Indicate Reason - Personal, Appt / Notified - who is dropping the student - Mum, Dad, Grandma etc).

Catholic School Fee Discount for 2024

Dear Parents/Carers

In 2024 Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Cairns will provide a discount on tuition fees for holders of means-tested Health Care and Pensioner Concession Cards.

The discount applies to tuition fees only and not to school levies and charges.

This year for term one and two a discount of 70% on tuition fees will apply to holders of eligible cards.

The cards must be current and list as dependents, the students for whom the discount is sought.

Parents and carers should now present their eligible card to the school office for verification. The office secretary will make a copy and provide a Health Care Card Tuition Fee Discount Scheme Form for the Parent/Carer to complete. The fee discount will then be applied to tuition fees for term one school fee for 2024.

For families with children at other Cairns Catholic Schools; this process will be repeated for each school. The discount arrangement will expire on the expiry date of the card or at the end of the school year.

Parents/Carers receiving the discount have a duty to inform the school of any renewal or change in eligibility cards.

Families seeking a discount on tuition fees must visit the school office to verify and copy their Heath Care/Pension Concession Card and complete the Health Care Card Tuition Fee Discount Scheme Form no later than next Thursday, 8th February in order for the discount to be applied to Term 1 school fees.

For those who applied in 2023 a form was completed in the office and a copy of HCC card was taken for their 2024 application. For those with an expiring card (end of 2023) please come into the school office to complete a new form. A copy of new HCC card is required by next Thursday.

Thank you to those who have completed their forms for 2024.

IMPORTANT: Once the Fees are generated, unfortunately we are unable to process any claims for the respective term. Full fees for that term will be charged. (no credit can be done for that term).

Please make sure you come into the school office and complete the form with your HCC card by next Thursday.

If you have any questions, please feel free to phone (40659550) the school office.

2024 Term 1 fees will be sent out in week 3 or 4.

Invoices will be sent by email to all parents. Please contact the school office if you do not receive the invoice so we can check your email address, or if you require a hardcopy of fees to make payment.

Please check your junk or spam mail.

Families have the option of paying weekly or fortnightly. Internet banking, or direct debit can be arranged with your bank.

Please note:-

There is NO EFTPOS available at the school office.

Preferrably no cash but if paying in cash, we appreciate that correct money be given as we do not carry any change in the school office.
If paying by Bpay or EFT direct debit or internet banking, please use the school bank account details shown on the term one statement.
IMPORTANT: Please use your Ref: 966000….....(under Biller Code). This number is to be used when paying by Bpay, or EFT -direct debit, internet banking.
Remittance slip at the bottom of the school account to be returned to the school office with ALL payments. (cash, cheque, direct debit or internet banking).

Thank you.

Monday 5th February at 5.30pm. All welcome.

2024 Sport Dates

Please see the below calendar for the 2024 dates for the 10-12yrs representative sport. If your child is wanting to trial for one of these sports, nominations are to be submitted through the HPE teacher. The school will send out information throughout the year informing parents of upcoming trials.

I have checked the school swimming carnival times to see if any students meet the Peninsula Swimming Qualifying times, however none of our students have this year. If your child is competing at club meets and has times to submit, please let me know asap so that I can see if they meet the nomination requirements.

All students in Years 4, 5 and 6 will participate in the Rugby League and Netball Gala day on Friday the 23rd of February as well as the Touch Gala Day on Friday the 8th of March. Information will be provided to parents via the Parent Slip for these gala days. The school Cross Country will be held in week 9 of Term 1 with the specific date to be confirmed, however we will let you know as soon as it is confirmed. Please also add our school Athletics Carnival dates to your calendar for Term 2:

Monday 10th of June (half day of events for 8-12yr olds)

Thursday 13th of June (whole school full day carnival)

If you have any queries or concerns about this information please feel free to send me a message on seesaw or email - kmason2@cns.catholic.edu.au .

Aquathlon Queensland Championships

Three of our very talented students, Layla Morris, Kade Murphy and Eddie Brunello, are all heading down to Hervey Bay next week to compete at the Queensland State Aquathlon Championships. These students will compete as part of the Peninsula Team and their event will see them doing a 1km run followed by a 200m ocean swim and straight back into another 1km run to finish their race off. We are very proud of Layla, Kade and Eddie for being selected to compete at this level and we wish them all the best at their big competition next week.

SZ_Representative_Sport_2024.pdf

SZ_Representative_Sport_2024 _pdf 156.01 KB

Kind Regards,

Kate Mason

The annual screen printing of house shirts will occur on Wednesday February 28 at 9am in the Hall. If your child requires a shirt, please ensure it is clearly labelled with their name and handed to either the class teacher or the office before this date. It is recommended that children wear a collared polo style shirt for their house shirt as per sun safety guidelines.

If you are able to assist with the printing of these shirts, please contact Tracey Dore on 0407 223 358.

TUCKSHOP 2024

Welcome, our School Tuckshop runs every Friday with the help of Parents and Myself. A note has gone home asking for helpers for this year, if you have already replied to me, Thank You. If you would like to help or bake and haven’t sent your note back please do so or you can send me a text.

Ordering is online using the Flexischool App, if you haven’t downloaded this please do ASAP. Once registered you can start placing orders immediately. To all new parents a flyer was in your child’s pack regarding Flexischools.

PLEASE if you haven’t done so already change your child/children’s grade in the Flexischools app otherwise his/her lunch will go to the wrong classroom. To do this just click PROFILE, SELECT CHILDS NAME AND THEN CHANGE THE YEAR LEVEL AND CLASS TO WHAT GRADE HE/SHE IS IN THIS YEAR AND THEN SELECT SAVE.

If you require any further information or help with downloading the app please let me know, I’m more than happy to help.

STUDENT ORDERING

Orders are to be placed via the FLEXISCHOOL APP.
Orders need to be in by 10am Thursday, if you try and place an order after 10am it will go into the following week of Tuckshop.
No purchases will be able to be made over the counter.

Any issues please let me know on 0418 158 872.

Thanks Marie

TUCKSHOP ROSTER - Term 1

Friday 2/2/2024

Coordinator: M Vipiana Helpers: R Hodgson C Aspinall

Bakers: Chantel Lizzio R Salleras (Cupcakes)

Friday 9/2/2024

Coordinator: M Vipiana Helpers: R Lizzio N Lizzio

Bakers: G Parsons S Noonan (Cupcakes)

Book Club Edition 1 for 2024 will be coming home with your child this week. All orders must be placed using the LOOP app or by visiting the scholastics website, scholastic.com.au/loop and following the steps to complete your profile. You will be able to select St Clares School Tully, your child’s class and complete your order and payment online. Orders can be placed up until 5pm, Tuesday 6th February 2024.

No cash orders will be accepted at school. Once the orders arrive, they will be delivered to your child’s classroom unless requested otherwise.

If you need any help or have any questions, please give me a ring – 0427 920 109

Happy Reading

Steph Grimaz

Introduction_to_TRP_for_Parents_1_.pdf

Introduction_to_TRP_for_Parents_1 pdf 503.40 KB

Emergency transport forms were given out on Monday.

It is very important these forms are returned by Monday 5th February.

Thankyou

Newsletter and absentee notification can be accessed via SZapp.

Instructions below to download app. Any queries please contact office.

In order to access your SZapp, you will be required to enter the following four-digit passcode:

3648