Filter Content
Dear Parents and Carers
Welcome to our school year, I trust everyone has had a restful break and that you are now all enjoying the return to school schedules. It has been a wonderful start to the year, with all classes settled and ready for learning. I would like to acknowledge the work of our staff who were in classrooms well before the return of students to ensure that the learning spaces were bright and inviting, inspiring our learners. We are looking forward to a wonderful year.
On Wednesday, we welcomed our beautiful new Kindergarten class for 2024. There is nothing like watching the smiling faces of parents and new Kinders arriving into the school for the first official day so full of expectation and joy. Mrs Lee and Mrs Treweek have prepared a beautiful classroom with plenty of things to discover for our Kinder students. There were just a few tears as the parents left for morning tea at the Parish Centre, enormous thanks to the Parish team, as always for providing such wonderful hospitality.
This Friday, weather permitting, we will have our Swimming Carnival at the Milton Pool. These are always really fun days for all our students in Years 1-6. It is a little bit too early for our Kindergarten children to be participating yet! Please come along and encourage your child by being present for them. A big thanks to Mrs Reid for organising another great Carnival Day.
Just a few quick reminders to start the year:
Student phones are not permitted at school, if your child requires a phone for contact out of school hours they must bring the phone to the Office for safe keeping and collect it before going home. All smart watches must be locked during school hours, if the device is active it will be held in the Office for the day, and regarded as a device.
If you wish to contact teachers you can reach them through the following:
- Phone call to the Office
- Email to the school Office at info@sosmdow.catholic.edu.au
- Please do not contact staff via personal email
- Please allow 48 hours for a response
Every school day counts, there is a very strong relationship between consistent school attendance and high academic achievement from the very early years of education. Please make sure your child is at school each day, even being regularly late has an impact on learning. Consider these interesting statistics.
Morning/ Afternoon Drop Off and Pick Up
Duty Teachers are on the playground in the mornings at 8.45am, please ensure your child is dropped off after 8.30am. Students must remain seated until 8.45pm when the morning teacher starts duty. To keep everyone safe, if you are just dropping your children off, pull into the zone in front of the main gate. If you would like to come into the school or the Office please park near the oval on Cork’s Lane. When picking students up in the afternoon please park and enter the school grounds, do not park and call students to cars during the after school busyness.
Thank you for your support,
Yours in partnership
Lindy Nelson
| WEEK 2 | |
| Friday 9 Feb | Swimming Carnival, Year 1-6, Milton Pool |
| WEEK 3 | |
| Monday 12 Feb | |
| Tuesday 13 Feb | |
| Wednesday 14 Feb | Ash Wednesday Mass, 12pm |
| Thursday 15 Feb | |
| Friday 16 Feb | Whole School Welcome Mass, 10am |
| WEEK 4 | |
| Monday 19 Feb | |
| Tuesday 20 Feb | |
| Wednesday 21 Feb | |
| Thursday 22 Feb | |
| Friday 23 Feb | |
| DATES TO REMEMBER | |
| Friday 1 Mar | Milton Show Weekend |
| Monday 4 Mar | P&F Meeting, 5.30pm |
| Thursday 7 Mar | St John's Year 7 2025 Open Night |
| Friday 29 Mar | Good Friday, Public Holiday |
| Monday 1 Apr | Easter Monday, Public Holiday |
| Friday 12 Apr | Pupil Free Day, Last Day of Term 1 |
| Monday 29 Apr | Term 2 Commences |
Our front gate is for Kiss & Drop only, there is no parking between 8.00am-9.30am and 2.30pm-4.00pm. Please remain with your vehicle within this zone. Drop and drive off in a safe and timely manner so others can do the same and please avoid getting caught up chatting with others. We welcome you to come into the school, please park at the end of Corks Lane.
Lunch Meal Deals:
All orders must be provided with the correct money (cash only) in a clearly labelled envelope/paper bag/zip lock bag with your child’s name, class and the order details on it. Unfortunately, we do not supply lunch bags.
Labelling uniforms:
We already have uniform items coming up to the office with no name on them. Please label all items of clothing and lunch boxes, drink bottles etc so we can ensure your child’s items are returned to them.
Some of our parents used this wonderful site, plus there are many more available.
https://www.brightstarkids.com.au/name-labels
If your child needs some help with what bus to take, they have great bus tags for backpacks.
Uniforms:
> A Flash Sale will be on offer during term 1 as we still have several brand-new (limited sizes) items available that will be heavily discounted. Keep an eye on Compass for sale date and times.
> If you would like your child to try on uniforms prior to placing an order with Lowes, please call the office to make an appointment.
> Pre-Loved – We are happy to take your pre-loved uniforms, however, please ensure they are stain-free, no rips and are in very good condition.
SCHOOL HATS $15 AVAILABLE AT THE SCHOOL OFFICE
School fees for 2024 have now been invoiced and statements will be issued by the end of Week One with annual or first instalment payment due on 28 February 2024. You may also view your school fee account in the Compass Parent Portal. Please note that if you have instalments, they will only be visible on your school fee statement and not in the Parent Portal.
Please note the following:
- The invoicing of school fees and the distribution of school fee statements each month, is now a function carried out by the Catholic Education Office.
- Payment of fees, whether as an annual payment or payment by instalments is due on the date/s provided on your school fee statement.
- If an amendment is made to your school fee account eg your child changes subjects in a secondary school, you will be emailed a statement which will provide a new schedule of payments and due dates. Please review this schedule to make any changes to your payments that are necessary.
Reminders for Late Payments:
SMS and email reminders are automatically generated by our accounting software based on the number of days a payment is overdue and are distributed by the Catholic Education Office. For those families that may have difficulty in paying their school fees, these reminders may cause some distress. This is not our intention. Our intention is to support the collection of school fee accounts centrally and in so doing, alleviate some of the administrative work of our schools.School Fee Account Enquiries:
Please note, despite the centralisation of various functions, your school/s will always be your point of contact for matters pertaining to fees. If you wish to discuss your school fee account, please contact your school office. The role of the Catholic Education Office is to action centralised tasks on behalf of schools.If you wish to pay by Instalments:
Many families have already elected to pay their school fees by instalments. If you wish to avail yourself of this option please complete a Request to Pay by Instalment Form which is available on your school’s website or at your school’s office. On completion of the request either email it to instalments@dow.catholic.edu.au or submit at your school’s office. Following receipt of the request, instalments will be generated on your account and a schedule of payments and due dates will be provided on your next school fee statement. Please note it is only necessary to complete this form once during the period of child/children’s enrolment unless you wish to amend your payment frequency.Difficulty with Payment:
If you are experiencing financial difficulty, we encourage you to contact the school in which your child/children are enrolled to discuss an arrangement that will assist you meet your commitments. This may include the completion of a Diocesan Application for Fee Concession which is available from the administration office of each school. Be reassured that your situation will be treated with strict confidentiality and respect for your circumstances. If you wish to submit an application, please do so at your child’s school. Please note, if you have children in more than one school, it will only be necessary to submit one application.For those families that received a Fee Concession in 2023, you will receive an email prior to your annual review date attaching a further Application for Fee Concession. You may also initiate an earlier review if you wish to do so by contacting your school office.
For further information regarding school fees, please access the Diocesan School Fee ManagementPolicy and Frequently Asked Questions which is available on your school’s website.
Year 1 have begun to settle into another exciting year of learning! We have discussed how we are different to each other and that it is something to be celebrated. We drew self portraits!
