Dear Parents and Carers, 

I hope you have had a safe and happy holiday period, filled with joy and quality time with family and friends. I was fortunate enough to travel back to Melbourne for the break to spend quality time with my family. It was a special time being able to connect with my extended family during Christmas celebrations, as many of us live in different states.  

As we begin the 2025 school year, we are excited to welcome you and your children back to the Our Lady Help of Christians school community. This year promises to be filled with new opportunities for learning, growth, and collaboration. We are committed to working together with you to support your child's educational journey and ensure they have a successful and enriching experience while here in our care. 

I’d like to take this opportunity to update you on some operational details of Our Lady Help of Christians for the 2025 school year.  

School Times 

A friendly reminder that the first bell to signify the beginning of the school day for students rings at 8:05 am. It is expected that students are here by this time and are lined up outside their classroom areas to meet their teacher. Any students arriving later than 8:10 am, when the second morning bell rings, will be considered late and will need to enter via reception.  

The gates on Balaclava Road and Mestrez Street open at 7:45 am each morning. A staff member will be on duty in these areas to welcome you in and monitor the stop, drop and go areas. These gates will remain open until approximately 8:10 am. If you find yourself still on the premises after this time, you will need to exit through the reception area.  

The school gates will be opened by our groundskeeper between 2:20 – 2:25 pm. At the end of the day there will be two staff members on duty at the gates, ensuring a safe departure for all and monitoring the flow of traffic through the stop, drop and go areas.  

The school day finishes at 2:30 pm with gates being closed at 2:45 pm. We kindly ask that students are picked up promptly at the end of the day. If for some reason you will be late picking your child/ren up, please phone through to reception and speak to Lindy or Madonna.  

Family Leave Form 

In 2025, we are introducing a Family Leave form. If at any time you will be taking your child/ren out of school during term time, for a week or more, we kindly ask that you fill out this form and return it to reception at your earliest convenience. This will ensure we can keep accurate records and communication about student attendance throughout the term. Copies of the Family Leave form can be found in reception or by clicking the link here.   

Throughout Term 4, 2024, Brendon made mention numerous times in the newsletter and at school assemblies that uniform would be a big-ticket item we will be focussing on throughout 2025. We believe in respecting our school and our community by wearing the Our Lady Help of Christian uniform correctly and with pride. Please find below details regarding the correct Our Lady Help of Christians uniform, including details around hairstyles.  

Staff will be looking out for those students who are wearing the correct uniform and linking this with our school values. For those students who repeatedly show up in the incorrect uniform, an Out of Uniform slip will be sent home. This slip will outline details of the uniform violation, ask for a parent or carer signature and is required to be sent back to school for the classroom teacher to keep record. If the uniform infringements continue to occur, you may be contacted by either Brendon, Toni or myself to have a further conversation around the wearing of the correct uniform.  

If for any reason, you are unable to provide your child/ren with the correct uniform, please reach out so we can have a conversation about this and support you and the family.  

We look forward to representing our community with pride by wearing our uniform correctly in 2025.  

School Hats 

All students will be required to wear a school hat during morning tea and lunch playtimes. If for some reason a child is not wearing the school hat, they will be redirected to either the Library, Hall or Silver Sail area (for Prep – Year 2 students). We kindly ask that you check your child/ren’s hat is clearly labelled with their name so if it is lost, it can be returned promptly. 

Finally, I would like to send a shout out to our amazing staff, who over the past week, and for some over the holidays, came in to prepare, clean and set up the spaces ready for the students' return on Wednesday January 29. It has been heartwarming to see the teams come together and support each other in the setup ensuring we are providing the best learning spaces for our students. Setting up learning spaces takes a considerable amount of time, and I want to acknowledge the efforts of the staff over the last few weeks.  

Thank you for your continued partnership and trust in your child/ren’s learning journey. I’m looking forward to reconnecting with you over the coming weeks before and after school. Let's make this school year a memorable and productive one!