Dear Parents and Carers

Welcome everyone to Term 4.  It promises to be a busy one with our 2025 Concert, Year 4 camp, Foundation and Year 1 Swimming, First Communion, Foundation 2026 Orientation Sessions, Annual Twilight Market and Year 3 Camp Experience just a sample of what is happening.

Please ensure you check dates, keep an eye our for PAM permissions and enjoy all the opportunities on offer for our students and broader community.

Uniform - As we enter the warmer weather and increased UV, students will be required to wear their hats for Term 4, those without hats will be directed to the shaded areas to play.  There will be a 2 week change over from winter to summer uniform. All students will be expected to be in summer uniform from Monday 20 October.

School Concert - please ensure you read the information provided regarding our School Concert which will take place on Wednesday 22 October and Thursday 23 October.  After 2 nights of concert performing, students will have a rest day on Friday 24 October - so NO SCHOOL on this day. 

On Tuesday 14 October students will be attending Bunjil Place for an orientation and familiarise themselves with the venue.  We ask ALL parents to ensure they have completed the permission on PAM for this. On Wednesday 22 October as well as the evening performance we will have a full dress rehearsal during the day.  Again there will be a permission for this that we require everyone to complete via PAM.

Students are expected to participate in both evenings (Wednesday and Thursday) - we appreciate that for some this may not be possible.  We will be sending out a survey for parents to provide this information and also any further information regarding collection of students at the end of the performance each night.

Here is the link to ALL Infomation Concert related - Concert Information. If you have any questions please email concert@stclaresofficer.catholic.edu.au

First Holy Communion - we ask you to keep in your prayers the year 4 students who over the next 2 weekends will be participating in the Sacrament of First Holy Communion. May the grace of this sacrament strengthen their faith and bring them closer to God each day.

2026 class placements - during this term teachers will commence grouping students for next year's Learning Groups.  We ask if parents have any particular class placement requests based on educational requirements, that these are emailed by 23 October 2025, confidentially to myself at principal@stclaresofficer.catholic.edu.au Please do NOT send these to the office or teachers.  Allocation of teaching staff has not been completed as yet and we are unable to take requests for specific teachers.  We cannot guarantee that all requests can be met but will endeavour to accommodate any reasonable requests where possible. Emails regarding this receieved after the above date will not be able to be considered.

UPCOMING DATES:

The Concert is fast approaching and we are very excited to share the amazing work of our students. Please find information regarding the processes throughout the nights

Additional information on also be found on our specific Concert 2025 Page

The Concert is on Wednesday October 22nd and Thursday October 23rd at 7:00pm. The concert will finish at 9:00pm with a 20 minute intermission between 8:00pm-8:20pm. The concert is being held over two nights so that all families can access tickets. Tickets are still available for both nights online through the Bunjil Place Website and can be purchased by clicking on the following link. TICKET SALES . There is no longer a limit on how many tickets can be purchased. St Clare’s students do not require a ticket. Families do not have to purchase tickets for both nights. Please see drop of and pick up procedures below. It is expected that students attend both nights of the concert. 

On the Night 

The Concert Program  will be available via QR code on the night. Students will wear their ‘Base’ costume to and from the theatre. They will need to bring a named refillable drink bottle.

Drop off

Students will be dropped off at 6.15pm in the Forecourt out the front of Bunjil Place. Students will sit in their class line that will be indicated by a labelled cone where they will be checked in by St Clare’s Staff. Students will be supervised by staff throughout the concert. 

Pick Up

At the conclusion of the concert students can be collected at 9pm.

Foundation to  Yr 3 Students will be collected at the Function room door.

Yr 4 to 6 students will be collected from the Studio internal doors. 

All students must be ticked off by their teacher before being able to leave. 

Video Recording 

Video of the Wednesday 22 October Night performance will be made. Parents can purchase either a DVD, Bluray or the new format style of online downloading and streaming. The online version is highly secure as it will be exclusively linked to the family's email address. It is not for public viewing, is not searchable and is password-protected. All privacy concerns are protected.

• Cost to parents via  online store 
• $20 inc GST for the HD Digital Video (Stream & Download)
• $25 inc GST for DVD including postage & handling
• $25 inc GST for Bluray including postage & handling

Note: these are pre-sale prices. An additional $5 per format will be added for orders received after the concert has been produced.

Here are the dates for the Secondhand uniform shop for October

Please remember CASH only sales

Tuesday 7th 2:30-3:15pm

Thursday 9th 8:30-9:15am

Wednesday 15th 8:30-9:15am

Friday 17th 2:30-3:15pm

Monday 20th 8:30-9:15am

Tuesday 21st 2:30-3:15pm

Tuesday 28th 8:30-9:15am

SCHOOL FEES

Term 4 statements will be issues shortly and we remind families that our policy is to have all current year fees paid by the end of November. If your family is having financial difficulty with payment of fees, please email the school via finance@stclaresofficer.catholic.edu.au to arrange a confidential discussion and receive a Special Consideration Application Form.

SCHOOL ATTENDANCE 

REPORTING AN ABSENCE

To report your child's absence please do so via PAM, email absent@stclaresofficer.catholic.edu.au or call 5940 6777

Here is the link to access PAM

Your usernsame is the email address you have registerd with the school.  If you have forgotten your password please use the "forgotten password" feature to set a new one.

How to Help Kids Stay Safe Online

Adapted from:  https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/blog    Office of the eSafety Commissioner

1. Start the chat

It’s not possible to be at your child’s side every second of the day, so it’s important to talk with them about online safety issues to help develop their critical thinking and ability to make good choices. It’s also good to let them know they can come to you for help if they have any concerns. You may feel they know more about the latest technology than you do, but you have more life experience to guide them.

• With primary school aged children use online devices in the open living spaces at home to make parent supervision part of the expectation for your child.
• Take the opportunity to set some boundaries around when and where they can use devices  like tablets, smart TVs and gaming consoles, to help limit potential tech tantrums — you could even fill in an Early Years Family Tech Agreement 
• Screen free time before bed is important for good sleep. Consider charging devices in a central location at a regular time each night to allow an hour screen free before bed.
• While you are all at home more, it’s a great time to co-view and co-play with your kids, so you can understand what they are doing and experiencing online.
• Learn about the games, apps, social media and platforms they are using at The eSafety Guide, including how to protect their information and report inappropriate content or conduct.

2. Use parental controls and safe search options

Parental controls can help block your child from accessing specific websites, apps or functions. They can also monitor your child’s use of connected devices and set time limits. But beware! You cannot always rely on them — they should be used in combination with other online safety strategies.

• Parental controls are available on most tablets, smartphones, computers, TVs and gaming consoles.
• You can also download family safety controls or buy robust filters out of the box. 
• You can set up child-friendly search engines, or select safe search settings on digital devices, to help prevent your child from stumbling across inappropriate sites and content.

3. Check smart toy settings

It’s surprising how many toys or devices can connect online these days, from drones and smart teddies to tablets and wearables. While they can be both entertaining and educational, they can reveal your child’s personal details and location — and allow other people to contact them without you knowing. You can help keep them stay safe by:

• setting strong passwords
• turning off location settings 
• limiting the amount of personal information shared.

The eSafety Gift Guide has advice on what to check for and how to stay safe.

4. Look out for unwanted contact and grooming

Unwanted contact is any communication that makes your child feel uncomfortable or unsafe, even if they initially welcomed the contact. It can come from a stranger, an online ‘friend’ or even someone they actually know. At worst, it can involve ‘grooming’ — building a relationship with the child in order to sexually abuse them.

You can help by:

• making sure their accounts are private — including chat functions on games
• encouraging them to delete requests from strangers and any contacts they don’t know in person
• checking in with your child as they use online devices in the open living spaces at home
• reporting and blocking anyone suspicious on a website or service 
• remembering that if suspicious online contacts become aggressive or threatening you should contact your local police.

5. Know the signs of cyberbullying

Kids who are bored by long periods at home can pick at each other, and that happens online too. So it’s important to keep an eye out for cyberbullying. It can include mean posts, comments and messages, as well as being left out of online group activities like gaming. 

• Remember, when they are away from school, kids have less access to their usual support systems, including friends, teachers and counsellors. 
• eSafety research shows that girls are more likely to be affected than boys and the person doing the bullying is generally someone they know from school.
• Watch out for signs such as your child appearing upset after using their mobile, tablet or computer, being unusually secretive about their online activities or becoming withdrawn.
• Cyberbullying can make social isolation worse and the longer it continues, the more stressed kids can become, impacting on their emotional and physical wellbeing.

What to do if your child is being cyberbullied

As parents, our first instinct may be to ban our children from social media, disable the wi-fi or turn off the data access. But this can actually compound the problem, making your child feel as if they’re being punished and heightening their sense of social exclusion.

There are four simple steps that can help minimise the harm:

• report the cyberbullying to the social media service where it is occurring
• collect evidence of the cyberbullying material
• if the material is still public 48 hours later, make a report to eSafety — we work with social media platforms to have the harmful content removed.
• block the offending user.