Term Four Week Nine – Commencing Monday 2nd December 2024

Dear Families,    

Welcome to Week Nine and the final week of the year for the children here at St Emilie’s.  

This week will be our final full edition of the Weekly Reminders. In next week’s edition of the Weekly Reminders, we will simply share some important dates for next year, information about the sharing of 2025 Class Lists as well as the Staff List for 2025. 

This year has been another wonderful year of ‘Growing in Grace’ at St Emilie’s with our children and staff striving toward living out our school values, of respect, excellence, wellbeing and safety, supported by the parents, carers and parish in our community.  

In our community this year we have welcomed many new faces and walked with them as they commenced their journey at St Emilie’s. We have also said farewell to some community members and we wish them all the best as they go. They will forever be part of our community and our story here at St Emilie’s. 

To the families who are moving on from our community at the end of this week, we wish you all the very best. Some of our children in Year Six have been at our school from Kindy and they move on to high school next year carrying the lessons that they have learnt from our school with them as they go. We thank these children for all that they have contributed to our community in their time here. 

As we continue to develop our own faith story and unique history here at the school, it is amazing to note that one of our families leaves our community after 20 years of involvement. Considering that our school is only 22 years old, which is quite young in comparison to some Catholic schools, this is an amazing commitment to our community. 

We also formally farewell the wonderful Mrs Jane Reed this week. Mrs Reed commenced the year enjoying some much deserved Long Service Leave. Jane enjoyed the leave so much, especially spending time with her granddaughter, that the decision was made to finish up her time teaching. Jane has been a sensational contributor to our community, leaving behind a legacy of many lives touched and enhanced by simply coming in contact with the children and families at the start of their school journey. Jane will join us for our Thanksgiving Mass on Wednesday morning followed by our Community Morning Tea. I encourage all parents, carers and community members to join us if they can. 

To all of those leaving us at the end of this week, we wish you well as you go with the words of the Irish Blessing. 

May the road rise up to meet you,
May the wind be always be at your back.
May the sun shine, warm upon your face,
And may the rain fall soft upon your fields.
Until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of his hand. 

We officially enter the Liturgical Season of Advent this Sunday 1st of December and we are now also in the Nyoongar season of Birak where we can expect hot and dry conditions right up until the end of January. 

Before sharing some reminders with you all for the final time, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas and a restful and re-energising holiday break. Thank you for all that you contribute to our community. We look forward to seeing you all again in 2025. 

There are some very important and final reminders in this week’s edition of the Weekly Reminders. I would encourage all in our community to read the reminders carefully. 

Thanksgiving Mass & Morning Tea – Mrs Jane Reed Farewell
All community members are invited to join together for our final Thanksgiving Mass on Wednesday 4th of December. Our Community Thanksgiving Mass will be a good opportunity for us all to slow down and give thanks for all of the blessings we have received this year. On Wednesday, we will also have an official opportunity to farewell Mrs Jane Reed who will be departing St Emilie’s, as well as thank those members of our community who continuously go above and beyond. 

After Mass, a morning tea will be available and all are invited to stay. We ask that if you would like to contribute an item for morning tea this is brought to the Small Hall before Mass. 

Children must be in full school uniform for the Mass. 

Graduation Mass & Assembly
Graduation Mass will take place in the Parish Church on Tuesday 3rd of December at 5:00pm. This is our chance as a school community to farewell our wonderful Year Six children before they move to high school. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Ms Amy Dreyer and Mr Ben Hewitt for preparing this celebration for the children. I would also like to thank Mrs Sheree Taylor and Mrs Josie Lofts, the Year Six Year Reps for their time and energy in setting up the School Hall with the Class Teachers and Year Fives, as well as our P & F Committee of Mrs Jain Chow and Mrs Pam Lawrence and the many other helps from other year levels who have offered up their assistance for the evening. Graduation Mass and Assembly promises to be a beautiful celebration centred on our Graduating Class. 

End of Year Reports
This Thursday, End of Year Reports for children between Pre-Primary and Year Six will be shared with families through Seqta Engage. To ensure that you receive your child’s report, please be sure to have the Seqta Engage app downloaded on your phone and ensure that your log in is working. If you need assistance logging in, please contact the school. 

It is essential that you read your child’s End of Year Report and celebrate the growth with your child. Please also make note of the areas where your child still has room to grow. Over the six week period, this is a great time to assist your child in these areas before school commences again next year. 

Edu-Dance Concerts
Not only was the weather boiling hot today but so was the action at the Edu-Dance Concert. It was so exciting to see a packed house in the School Hall to cheer on our children and get some inspiration for dance moves for the festive season. 

A huge congratulations to all of the children at St Emilie’s between Pre Primary to Year Six for their efforts across the term, with Edu-Dance. This morning was a culmination of your efforts and energy and you put on an amazing show. 

2024 Transition Day (Step Up)
This Tuesday 3rd of December, boys and girls across all classes will have the opportunity to move to their new spaces for 2025 as part of our transition process. Some of our children have already been trialling the different play spaces for next year and have done an amazing job in transitioning. Whilst the children will not know who their new class teachers are or who is in their classes on Tuesday, this will be an important step in the children acclimatising to their new learning spaces. 

The transition will take place in the morning block.

Christmas Accessories
Coming into Christmas we understand that the excitement levels are high. Some children have asked if they are allowed to wear some Christmas accessories with their school uniform. Next week on Thursday and Friday, children may wear some Christmas accessories with their uniform. Children must still dress in full school uniform, however, they may wear an accessory, for example, a headband, Santa hat or earrings if they want to share the Christmas joy. Children must be dressed in their full school uniform for Thanksgiving Mass on Wednesday and all accessories if worn must be appropriate and safe for use at school. 

Black Shoes for the Start of 2025
A reminder that the School Uniform Procedure at St Emilie’s states that children must wear full black shoes only. Coming to the end of the year, we understand when shoes start to come apart due to a year’s use or, that children may have outgrown their shoes. 

At the commencement of the 2025 school year, all children must have black school shoes as per our expectations.

Appropriate Haircuts to Start 2025
This is also a good opportunity for parents and carers to be reminded of appropriate haircuts to start the year. While we understand that the school holidays may bring with it some funky haircuts, it is important for the start of the school year in 2025 that haircuts are in alignment with our School Uniform Procedure. Essentially, haircuts should be modest with no extremes in length or need for excessive styling with product. These type of haircut are not in alignment with our School Uniform Procuedre and can often distract from learning. 

For more information about the School Uniform Procedure, please visit the School Website page here.

Graduating Class Guard of Honour
Please join us on Friday 6th of December at 2:30pm so that we can farewell our Year Six children in style with a guard of honour. All children will come out of their classes at this time. It would be great to see as many parents and carers join us as possible. 

Interschool Chess Champions
For the third year in a row, St Emilie’s has taken home the interschool chess championship shield. The Interschool Chess Team has been hard at work over several Mondays this term and has received fantastic reward for effort. Congratulations to all involved. 

2025 Year Reps 
Thank you to all of those parents and carers from the community who responded to the Year Rep Nomination Form. Today is the official closing date for nominations. Next week, the School Leadership Team will look over the nominations and speak with those who have been nominated. We are still looking for nominations for Year Reps in Year Three, Year Four and Year Five if any parent or carer from this year level is interested in nominating. 

To add your nomination for one of these year levels, please complete the form using the link https://forms.office.com/r/aPRPuKRiJg 

Speech Therapy @ St Emilie’s in 2025
In very exciting news, Mrs Elle Mangan who works at St Emilie’s as part of Be Vocal Speech Therapy, will be taking some parental leave next year to welcome her baby into the world. We are pleased to announce that next year, Canning River Speech Therapy will be joining our community to not only work with children who are currently accessing this service at school but also to conduct our Kindy Speech Screening. 

We wish Elle all the very best in her year ahead and welcome the team from Canning River Speech Therapy to our community. 

Christmas Cards and Sweet Treats
As we enter Week Nine, inevitably, some children will want to share a small Christmas token with their friends in their class. Can we please ask that if your child would like to do this no lollies, chocolates or small gifts are brought to school and that children instead simply share a heartfelt Christmas card message. This is largely due to allergies present at our school as well as trying to avoid any unnecessary small gifts making their way to landfill.

2025 Booklists 
A reminder to please ensure you have organised your child’s book list for 2025. Today is the last day for orders for home delivery, however, book lists can still be ordered online and can be collected after this date. 

Contact Form Details Sent Home
Families have received an email inviting them to update their parent contact details to be shared with other families in their cohort for 2025. This email is usually sent early in Term One with the Parent Contact Lists being distributed toward the back end of the first term. For 2025, we are going to trial sending the invite to update parent contact details in Term Four and aim to have this list ready for parents and carers before the end of the 2024 school year. I would like to reiterate that this list is invitational, however, does assist parents and carers with being able to organise play dates and birthday parties. 

Is your child returning to St Emilie’s in 2025?
As we draw closer to the end of the year, planning has commenced at the school for the commencement of the 2025 school year. If your child is not returning to St Emilie’s for the 2025 school year, can you please email the school Administration at stemiliesadmin@cewa.edu.au to notify the school. 

Fee Balances
As we enter Term Four, it is timely for families who have remaining fee balances to work toward closing these balances for the year. The school fees that parents and carers pay at St Emilie’s are a vital source of income for our school and ensure that we can resource the school in the best way for the children in our care. 

We recognise from time to time that families may have difficulty in paying school fees. If this is the case, I would ask that you contact the Administration Office to arrange a confidential conversation with myself. 

Staff Profiles
Over the course of the year, we have been sharing Staff Profiles of staff from our school. This week, please enjoy finding all about Mrs Sara Tonkin, one of our School Assistant Principals.