Principals Message

Dear Parents,

I would like to send a very warm welcome to all new and continuing students and their families to the 2016 academic year at Sirius College Primary.

We are proud of our tradition of academic excellence and our ongoing commitment to maximizing the personal growth of each of our students. Teaching children is a tremendous responsibility and we will do our best to ensure that each student develops academic and creative excellence through their learning experience this year. However, apart from school; the success also depends on the commitment and determination of each student and the support of their parents. We are all partners in the learning process. In order for your children to benefit from school, as much as our efforts are important, your help is also vital.

Talking with your children about their day at school can prove crucial for their wellbeing at school. Communicating with the school and being involved in your child's progress is very important. Sirius College offers several communication and information tools that assist you in keeping up with your child's education, such as; meet the teacher's day, parent teacher interviews, SEQTA online information system, email and telephone, student diary for some grades.

Parents should follow up on their children's education along with their teachers. Both the academic and behavioural growth of our students requires parental support. It will be highly beneficial for your child if you always stay in touch with your child's teacher during the academic year.

If you have any ideas or concerns you are very welcome to approach the appropriate people, such as your child's teachers, coordinator, deputy principal or the principal. Please make sure you arrange an appointment to ensure that you and your child can benefit from the meeting to the maximum, as the person you are meeting will be able to prepare for the meeting and have a more established idea of what your child might need.

During the school year there will be a variety of activities and celebrations. I encourage you to attend these functions when possible. Your support of school activities makes your child feel important and sends the message that you value the school.

I would like to inform you that this year, newsletters will be released online twice a term. We have decided to not print copies of the newsletter for every student to minimise the negative impact on the environment. The newsletters will be available on the Sirius College website and will be easily printable for those who will want to do so. There will also be some printed copies available at the office.

Again, inspired by the motive of a cleaner environment, we now get parents' consent for school activities such as excursions, camps, etc online. I kindly ask of you to correspond to these forms by the due date. Avoiding this responsibility will result in your child to miss valuable activities.

SEQTA ATTENDANCE

Parents, the safety of our students are a major concern for Sirius College, as we have a duty of care for your child. I am sure you are all aware of our messaging system we use in the school to verify the attendance of your child. In the morning from 10.30am onwards if your child is absent you will receive a message. It is very important that you promptly respond back to this message. Your reply should confirm that you are well aware of your child's absence and should clearly state their name, form and reasoning of absence. This makes it a more efficient process for our administration department to verify the absence of your child.

Despite reminding students about late passes, we kindly ask parents to support us by kindly mentioning and reminding your child to stop by at the front office to get a late pass if they are late. If the student is late and does not notify the receptionist they will appear as absent and parents will receive a message advising their child is not at school. On many occasions this has caused distress to parents, thinking that their child is not at school when really they dropped them off in the morning.

On behalf of the school I'd like to thank you for your trust to Sirius College and wish you all a year of success and happiness.