Dear Parents and Carers

We remind you of the upcoming Parent Teacher Meetings.

On Tuesday 18 February and Wednesday 19 February staff will be available after school for Meet & Greet sessions with parents or carers from 3.30pm to 5.30pm.  These ten minute face-to-face sessions are not compulsory but provide an opportunity for you to meet your child’s teacher(s) and vice versa.  You can also discuss how your child has settled into the year.

Road Safety

It’s timely to remind parents and students about Road Safety particularly as the the number of vehicles increases. Please ensure you travel safely through the carpark and with patience as both pedestrians and cars use the area.  We also ask everyone to use the designated school crossings when they are crossing Majestic Drive. Also, please ensure you follow all directional signage in the surrounding streets.

School Grounds

We remind all parents and carers that the school gates are locked between the hours of 8.50am and 3.00pm.  Any visitors to the school must report to the school office.  Likewise, after school the gates close at 3.30pm and we therefore ask familes to have vacated the internal school grounds by this time.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Monday 17 February - School Photos

Tuesday 18 February - Parent Teacher Meetings

Wednesday 19 February - Foundation Rest Day #3, Parent Teacher Meetings

Wednesday 26 February - Foundation Rest Day #4, SSV District Swimming

Wednesday 5 March - Ash Wednesday

Friday 7 March - School Closure

Monday 10 March - Labour Day Public Holiday

PUPIL FREE DAYS FOR THE YEAR

Friday 7 March

Friday 6 June

Friday 4 July

Monday 25 August

Friday 19 September

Friday 31 October

Monday 3 November

Beginning School Year Mass

On Friday we celebrated the beginning of the 2025 school year with a whole school mass led by our Parish Priest, Fr Jeff.  It was lovely to have parents and parishioners joining us as we begin a new school year, full of hope for the opportunities that lay ahead. Our leaders were also presented with badges before doing an amazing job of leading the school in our final song - Pilgrims of Hope.

This year is a Jubilee Year in the Catholic Church.  The theme for this year is ‘Pilgrims of Hope’.

What is a Jubilee?

A Jubilee is a special year of grace and conversion, involving prayer, pilgrimage and sacramental repentance, held every 25 years, or during other years as called for by the Pope. Through a series of concrete rituals, acts and commitments, the goal of a Jubilee year is to inspire and encourage holiness of life among the faithful and therefore to strengthen the Church’s witness to God’s loving mercy in and for the world.

The word “jubilee” is derived from the Hebrew word jobel, which means “ram’s horn”; since it was precisely that horn which was used as a trumpet, whose sound indicated to everybody the beginning of the jubilee year.  The book of Leviticus, in the code of holiness, is the source which tells us of the significance of the jubilee year, a year of liberation “par excellence,” which is at the end of seven weeks of years, the fiftieth year.

Parent Teacher Meetings will be held on Tuesday 18 and Wednesday 19 February from 3.30pm to 5.30pm.  These will be a 10 minute session to allow you to meet with your child's teacher and provide information about your child that may be useful for the teacher.

Bookings are now open via PAM

Please take note of some important school dates for 2025.  

We will also advise of other upcoming important dates in the weekly newsletter.

We are calling for interest from our Parent Community in our 2025 School Advisory Council (SAC).  Our SAC needs replenishing having had member's youngest children move on to SFX. 

Meeetings are held twice a term.  Days/Times will be established based on the availability of the members. 

Complete the link to express you interest in joining the SAC.

Year 3-6 Assembly in the modular

On Mondays at 2:30-3pm

Week 3, 10 February

Week 5, 24 February

Week 9, 24 March

Year 6 assembly in the learning space

On Mondays at 2:30-3pm

Week 8, 17 March

Year F-2 Assembly in the modular

On Mondays at 2:30-3pm

Week 4, 17 February

Week 6, 3 March

Week 8, 17 March

SCHOOL FEES

School fee payment options 2025

If you would like to set up a direct debit please contact the office 5940 6777 or email finance@stclarsofficer.catholic.edu.au

If you have a Pension or Health Care Card please ensure you have provided the school with your current card.  If our records show that your card expired in 2024 you will be charged full fees in 2025

Statements have been emailed.  If you have any questions please contact the school or email finance@stclaresofficer.catholic.edu.au

If you family is having financial difficulty with payment of fees, please email the school via finance@stclaresofficer.catholic.edu.au  to arrange a confidential discussion.

PAM - Parent Access Module

Here is the link for the St Clare's Parent Access Module (PAM)

St Clare's PAM

You username is the email address that you have registered with the school.  The first time you log in we ask that you use the forgotten password feature to set your own password.

ALL parents must access PAM to receive up to date information and grant necessary permissions.  Students will miss out on events if permission is not granted.

We are very excited to announce Mr and Mrs Alanci - Congratulations Cailin

The St Clare’s second hand uniform shop will be open on the following dates in Febrtuary 

Monday 3rd - 9-10am
Tuesday 4th - 2:30-3:15pm
Friday 7th - 8:30-9:15am
Wednesday 12th - 8:30-9:15am
Thursday 13th - 2:30-3:15pm
Monday 17th - 8:30-9:15am
Friday 21st - 2:30-3:15pm
Tuesday 25th - 8:30-9:15am
Thursday 27th - 2:30-3:15pm

This is a good opportunity to buy pre loved uniform at a great price! 


Please note that sales are CASH ONLY.

We are excited to announce active club will continue in 2025! If you and your friend would like to join in on the fun, then please see Mr. Murphy and Mr Wells every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning on the Basketball Court and Athletic Field between 8:30am and 8:40am. We hope to see you there!

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.