A Warm Welcome from the Junior School
Dear Y2-5 Junior School Families
I would like to warmly welcome you back to the new school year and trust that all of our families have had a restful and enjoyable summer holiday filled with quality time with loved ones. I am certain that your children are very excited to come back to school and share some stories with teachers and classmates, and we are looking forward to hearing the adventures that were undertaken over the break.
New Students to St Mark's
This Thursday between 10am and 11am new Y2-5 students are welcome to drop in and see their classroom and teacher (students must be accompanied by a parent or guardian). This is an optional and informal offering and there will not be any activities or lessons, and the intention is to support new students in their transition to St Mark’s. Please note that students are to wear casual clothing on this day.
Screen and sleep time
As always, children have plenty of time to spare during the holidays and their time spent on devices often increases considerably. With just under a week to go, it is now time to reduce this screen time so that children are ready for the concentration and engagement that school requires. A steady reduction in screen time over the week makes for a much easier transition than going from a considerable amount to zero overnight. While students may not like this reduction in screen time, it will help them to be ready for school.
Likewise, bedtimes are often extended during the holidays. Moving this back to the regular term time routines makes an enormous difference to how children cope with their first week of school when they will be very tired. Understandably students will be very excited on Sunday night, so I suggest getting school sleep routines in place well before the weekend so that they can have the best start to the school year that is possible.
Uniforms
All students in the Primary School (ELC and Junior School) are to wear their summer uniform. School shorts and polo shirts for the ELC students, with predominantly white sports shoes and school sport socks. Summer uniform for the Junior School, with the exception being those students who have Physical Education classes; these students are to wear their school sports shorts, polo shirt and sports shoes and socks. Junior School students who have Physical Education lessons on Monday will have this communicated by their class teacher this week.
Hats will be required from Monday and hair should be neat and tidy, pulled back off their face and tied up if longer than their collar. It is advisable to get in early for the new school year haircut rather than waiting for Saturday or Sunday. As per our guidelines, hair styles are to be appropriate and conservative in style. ‘Mullet’ style haircuts are not considered conservative nor is close shaving the sides in order to create a mohawk look. I regularly note that it makes for awkward and uncomfortable conversations when these hairstyles have to be addressed on the first day with parents and children and I thank parents in advance for supporting the School’s standards on these. Only school coloured hair accessories are permitted, and the wearing of jewellery is limited to a wristwatch and studs or sleepers if a child has their ears pierced. Students are able to wear medic alerts if they are needed.
First day reminders
The first Monday of term is always a very exciting time, for both children and parents. Sorting out school bags, lunchboxes, ice blocks beforehand makes the morning much less stressful. Likewise, having bags packed and uniforms out the night before helps enormously on Day 1. Please don’t forget to label all items of clothing, lunch boxes and drink bottles as the magnetic properties of our lost property containers are significant!
Our 'Back to School Survival Guide 2024' is full of very useful information and was emailed to families last week - for ease of reference, this can also be found here: https://www.stmarks.au/news-and-events/publications
Our staff are very much looking forward to having our students back and I look forward to seeing all the smiling faces next week. Have a wonderful Australia Day holiday and final weekend before school resumes.
Kind regards
Mark Douglas
Head of Primary School