Dear Parents and Carers

It is with great pleasure that Dino and I would like to welcome you back to school. A special welcome to families of new students and to Year 7 parents and carers who are experiencing our high school for the first time. We have lots of exciting activities, cocurricular events, house competitions, and more planned for our 2025 year and we hope that you encourage your child to take part in experiences that take place beyond the classroom.

Should you ever need to chat to either of us, please know that we always welcome an opportunity to talk with you and want to help you and your child have a positive experience at Calvary. As parents, we know raising children is both a highly rewarding and difficult path and we are keen to provide our families with tools and resources to help you raise capable, independent, and well-adjusted young adults. This year we have several events available to help you connect with people who can support you as a parent and we are particularly pleased to bring parenting expert and author Judith Locke to our College on the 16-17th of July. We have listened to parent requests to help provide a tool to support positive use of technology at home and we are very excited to offer you access to Qustodio from 2025, which will help you assist your child in making wise and productive decisions about technology use at home.

INTRODUCING QUSTODIO

This year, we are excited to offer parents the ability to monitor their child's use of College laptops outside school hours, as well as one additional smart device, through the Qustodio platform. To register an account, please click here and use your personal email address you have on file with the College. After registration, you will be able to monitor and guide student use of College laptops outside of regular school hours. To monitor a home-based device, click this link to follow this guide to install the Qustodio app on a family device. With Qustodio, parents can ensure their child stays focused on homework by disabling distractions, explore the internet safely by blocking inappropriate content, and establish healthy screen habits by scheduling screen-free times. To learn more about Qustodio, parents are encouraged to attend our MSS Information Night & Meet the Teacher event at 6 PM.

IMPORTANT DATES (EARLY TERM 1)

Friday 24 January

• Year 7 Book drop off and meet the teacher opportunity
• Student Leadership training day (Student Leaders were notified at the end of last year). 10am-2pm

Monday 27 January

• Australia Day public holiday

Tuesday 28 January

• First day of school – students to wear sport uniform with House shirt.
• MSS Information Night & Meet the Teacher 6pm at the CCC (Calvary Community Centre)

Friday 7 February

• Year 12 Formal

Wednesday 12 February

• MSS Leadership Induction 9am

19-21 February

• Stages 4-5 Camps (Parents will be receiving communication about the various camps early next week)

28 February

• College Bush Dance

WHAT TO DO/BRING FOR THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

What to wear:

• On the first day (28 Jan) please wear your House shirt and sport shorts with the correct sports shoes.

What to bring:

• Please bring your stationery and books to put in your locker.
• Students with laptops should bring these.
• Ensure you have a hat and food (the Mango Café is open and available that day).

Where do I go at the start of the day?

Supervised areas in the morning include the Western Carpark hanger, the Pavilion and Café areas until 8:35am. There will be lots of teachers out and about on the first morning and at 8:35am they will direct students to their respective student areas for the start of the day. We will sort out lockers, etc., after the start of the day.

What will happen on the first day?

The first day of school for 2025 has been thoughtfully planned to foster community and engagement as students transition into the new academic year. Students will bond with their form classes, participate in various assemblies, and conclude the day with interhouse activities, offering a fun and friendly opportunity for competition. To ensure all students in Years 8–11 are fully prepared for learning, laptops handed into the College at the end of 2024 will be returned on the first day of school, enabling a seamless start to their academic activities.

STAFFING UPDATE

We have several new staff joining the College in 2024. We are pleased to welcome Louanne O’Connor to our team, who is coming to run our burgeoning Hospitality program. Kelly Flanagan is joining us as our Dance Instructor. Leighton Davis is joining our Liberal Arts department replacing Rahnia Collins. We are very blessed to add these passionate and competent educators to our team.

KEY 2025 INFORMATION

What follows is a summary of key information that is available on our website under the parent information section. We have modified and changed some requirements from the start of 2024 which we have outlined below. If you want more in-depth information, please consult the website.

BOOKLISTS

Our booklists are structured around allowing you to make choices that suit your budget and child’s personal taste. I would like to stress the need for all students to have some type of a physical notebook for every subject. Each week, some lessons in classes will require students to use a notebook and not a laptop. Please ensure your child has the stationery they need to start the year.

SHOE REMINDER

Please note that students cannot wear sport shoes as formal shoes (as per our communications from November 2024), e.g. Nike Airforce would be considered sport shoes.

HAIR

If your child’s hair style is in breach of our uniform policy, they will be excluded from returning to school until their hair is compliant with our uniform policy:

Hair must be neat, tied up (if long), and presentable.

• It must be a natural looking colour
• All forms of mullets, rat tails, undercuts and extreme hair styles are not permitted.

Hair length:

• Hair at the sides and back of the head must be similar length and suitably blended.
• Hair at the top of the head must be tied up if it is long and falls over the sides and back.
• Hair must be off the ears, off the eyebrows (1cm above), and off the collar.
• You may shave your head, but you are not permitted to carve patterns, symbols, lines, etc. into your hair.

HATS

Students must have both a formal hat and a sport hat. You are expected to wear the right hat with the right uniform every day. Hats may be left in lockers to assist students in meeting this expectation.

JEWELLERY/MAKE UP

Jewellery

• Necklaces and rings are not permitted.
• Earrings must be one single plain stud or sleeper (6mm or less) in the lower lobe of the ear.

Smart watches are not permitted (students may wear a standard watch).

Make up (mascara/visible foundation/eye shadow, etc) is not permitted. Fake eye lashes are not permitted.

Our extended uniform policy can be found here:

UNIFORM SHOP UPDATES

Online Orders 

A pickup notification will be sent to you when your order is ready for collection. 

Carbrook Online Orders

Orders ready for collection at Carbrook, can be accessed from Monday 13 January 2025 onwards anytime from 9:00am to 4:00pm.  The Uniform shop at Carbrook will be closed on Monday 20 January 2025.

Uniform Walk Ins

All appointment times at both campuses have been filled for January 2025.  However, the Uniform shop will be open at Carbrook for walk ins on Friday 17 January and Tuesday to Friday 21-24 January 2025. No prior bookings are required.  The Uniform shop at Carbrook will be closed on Monday 20 January 2025.  Please be aware, you may have to wait whilst others are being served.  

Once school resumes, the Uniform Shop at Carbrook will be open on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday during Term Time from 8:00am to 3:00pm. Parents can access uniforms from the Springwood Campus on Tuesday 21 January 2025.

Uniform out of stock – some sizes, grey formal socks.

If you have been unable to acquire grey formal socks for your child because their size is out of stock in the uniform shop, you may replace these with standard grey business socks for Term 1. We will notify the community when all sizes are in stock and from Term 2, all students will be required to have the correct socks.

Please ensure all your child’s uniform items are named/labelled

ACCESSING COMMUNICATIONS, LEARNING PROGRESS, AND ESSENTIAL INFORMATION

Our key channels of communication are the College App, website, MSS Facebook page and email. Every Thursday we publish our MSS Communications on the website and College App. Communications contain important information about school life and upcoming events.

If you would like to see photos and videos of events across the year, please join our 2025 MSS Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/18e19otcHJ/ Please note, the 2024 MSS Facebook page is no longer active and will be closed in the coming weeks.

Parent Lounge (accessible via the website and App) is where you can update your details, child’s medical data, etc. Across the semester, we would like to strongly encourage parents to access the ‘Curricular Activities’ section of Parent Lounge as this is where you will find our ongoing feedback on your child’s learning progress across the semester and report cards. All other pertinent information should be accessible in the Parent Information section on our website.

We eagerly await the return of our students to school and pray that your child’s experience at Calvary in 2025 is exciting and rewarding.

Mr Josh Wilson
Deputy Principal - Middle and Senior School