Filter Content
| DAY | DATE | EVENT |
| Thursday | 6 February | Kindergarten commence half day |
| Friday | 7 February | Kindergarten half day |
| Monday | 10 February | Kindergarten commence full day |
Important Reminder
School hours are 8.55am - 3.20pm. Supervision is provided from 8.30am until 3.45pm.
If you are unable to provide transport for your child/ren within these hours, please arrange for before/after school care.
Dear Parents/Carers,
I join with Fr John in welcoming you all back to the start of the school year for 2020. I thank those of you who went out of your way to welcome me to St John’s late last year, and I even had family members greet me this morning with a warm smile. I am very much looking forward to being a part of this community, working with you to support your children in being the best version of themselves as possible.
We also welcome four new staff members: Courtney Clapson, Kelly Glen, Suzanne Johnson and Kathleen Afchal, as well as several new students. I hope that their time at St John’s is rewarding and life-giving.
I know that for some of you the recent summer holiday break may have been disrupted with the recent bushfire situation that our country has experienced. I hope that you were able to remain safe and that the experience was not too traumatic for you. Please let me know if there is any support that we can provide for you and your children.
I encourage you to keep up to date with all that happens at St John’s. Schools can be very busy places at various times during the year and so we will use the Compass app as a regular source of information for you. It would be a good habit for you to check the app each day to ensure you haven’t missed any notifications. The weekly newsletter distributed on each Wednesday will also provide you with extra information.
In Week 3 of this term you will have the opportunity for a ‘Meet and Greet’ session with your child’s teacher. Information will be forthcoming as to how you can book one of these sessions. We see this as a wonderful chance for you to share some things about your child that will assist their teacher as they work with you to support their growth and development.
I pray that you have a smooth start to the school year as your family transitions out of the holidays and into the routines of school life.
Yours sincerely,
Paul Moroney
Principal
SCHOOL FEES 2020 – NEW ARRANGEMENTS FOR PAYMENT BY INSTALMENT
The Catholic Education Office and its system of schools are in the process of a business transformation. Part of this transformation involves a new administration and accounting package being rolled out to schools. As you would be aware our school has been introducing Compass as our administration system over a period of time. It is now fully functioning together with a new web based accounting system called Technology One.
This will allow for school fees in 2020 to be invoiced centrally by the Catholic Education Office under advice from schools. Additionally, families will still be offered the opportunity of paying their school fees by regular payments over the school year as is the existing practice. However, the new system also allows for instalments to be calculated and advised to families with a Schedule of Payments and the dates that they are due. This replaces our current process of School Fee Agreements and the necessity for families to calculate their own payments.
Please note, families may elect to pay school fees by instalment under the following terms and conditions:
- The family must complete a Request to Pay School Fees by Instalment and present a separate request to each school in which their child/children are enrolled.
- Families may have only one instalment frequency. If the family has multiple accounts due to children at different schools, they may only elect one payment frequency eg fortnightly in both schools.
- The instalments must pay the school fee account in one school calendar year with an end date of the first week in December.
- On receipt of the Request to Pay School Fees by Instalment, an Instalment Schedule advising dates and amounts, will be generated by our accounting system and forwarded to the family by email so that payments can commence.
- The Request to Pay School Fees by Instalment will continue year to year until a further notice is received from the family.
- If instalments are not paid as agreed and there is serious default, the school may withdraw the offer of payment by instalment at any time and all fees will be due and payable until such time as a further arrangement is agreed upon with the school. Please note, families will be informed of the withdrawal of instalments in writing by email.
FAMILIES WITH EXISTING SCHOOL FEE AGREEMENTS
If you have an existing School Fee Agreement and are meeting your periodical payments as set out in the agreement, you will automatically be allocated to the instalment process in 2020 with your payment frequency. Therefore, it will not be necessary for you to submit a Request to Pay School Fees by Instalment.
FAMILIES WITHOUT AN ACTIVE SCHOOL FEE AGREEMENT
If you do not have an active School Fee Agreement in place and would like to pay by instalments, please obtain a Request to Pay School Fees by Instalment from the school office. By submitting this request you may elect to pay your school fees next year by weekly, fortnightly, monthly or quarterly instalments. When fees are invoiced and issued in early 2020, you will be provided with a Schedule of Payments and due dates with your school fee statement to enable you to commence payments. Please note, if you do not elect to pay by instalments, your school fee account will be payable in full 30 days after annual invoicing.
FAMILIES WHO MAY BE EXPERIENCING HARDSHIP
For those families who are experiencing financial hardship, please do not hesitate to contact the school office to access an Application for Fee Concession, either when your 2020 school fee statement is received, or in the case of an existing Fee Concession arrangement, on the date of your annual review.
SYSTEM REMINDERS
With the introduction of the new system, we now have the ability to generate system reminders for late payments. Should you default in your payments, reminders will be issued for each payment missed and they will continue to be issued until your account is brought up to date.
You will also have the opportunity to contact the school, if necessary in these circumstances, to provide explanation and make a further arrangement for payment.
Updated advice ahead of school returning
The NSW Government has today requested that children who have visited China in the past two weeks not attend school or childcare services until 14 days have lapsed from their date of departure from China.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard and Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said although the risk to children is very low, the NSW Government has taken this step as a precautionary measure.
“I’ve been advised that it’s not medically necessary, but the NSW Government has acted in line with community expectations to ensure the safest possible environment for our students,” Mr Hazzard said.
“The internationally recognised incubation period for the coronavirus is 14 days, so this is the logical timeframe to ask students to refrain from attending school. After this time, there is no risk.
“Advice about not attending school has already been provided to any close contacts of confirmed cases.”
The Commonwealth Department of Health has confirmed that all passengers disembarking from planes from China are being given comprehensive information about coronavirus in both English and Mandarin.
NSW Health has been contacting passengers who were on the same planes as confirmed cases to provide appropriate advice and has processes in place to identify any close contacts of cases confirmed in Australia.
Ms Mitchell said the Department of Education has issued guidance to schools and childcare services across NSW on protocols in the event of a child becoming sick.
“Although the risk remains very low for children, we believe it is the right thing to do to take this extra step and will continue to update the community with advice,” Ms Mitchell said.
There are currently four confirmed cases of novel coronavirus in NSW. All cases had travelled to Wuhan, China or had contact with a confirmed case in China.
Parents with concerns can contact their local Public Health Unit on 1300 066 055 for advice or visit the dedicated NSW Health information page at: www.health.nsw.gov.au/
Anyone who develops a fever, cough, sore throat or shortness of breath within 14 days of travel to Hubei or contact with a person with confirmed coronavirus, should immediately isolate themselves from other people, contact their GP or local emergency department or call the healthdirect helpline 1800 022 222.
Please ensure you advise the school office of any change of details such as Address, Emergency contacts or Medical Details.
Email addresses and phone numbers should be updated by parents via the Compass App.
Sport days for each class will be advised to all students and parents by next week.
The canteen will be open for over the counter purchases at breaks 1 & 2 each day.
All lunch orders MUST be made via the Flexi Schools App.
Please pack any required cutlery for your child's lunch in their lunch box each day and remember, canteen is unable to reheat any food brought from home due to Health & Safety.