“Let your hearts not be troubled; believe in God and believe also in me.”

John 14: 1

(from the Gospel for fifth Sunday of Easter, Year A)

Dear parents and carers

We have begun the month of May which in our tradition is “Mary’s month”. Traditionally during May there has been an additional focus on saying the rosary. Devotion to Mary, mother of Jesus is a characteristic that is distinctly Catholic. So why does our church place such an emphasis on Mary?

This weekend, we celebrate Mothers’ Day. The relationship between mother and child is the first and foundational relationship in our lives. Mother’s Day is a celebration of that love and recognition of the essential role mothers play in our lives. The lessons learned from our mothers we carry with us for life. This is demonstrated nowhere more clearly than in the relationship of Jesus with his mother Mary. Mary, who despite all the challenges for a young, unmarried woman in first century Palestine agreeing to be the mother of Jesus, was a constant presence in Jesus. Throughout the liturgical year, the church celebrates the full cycle of Jesus’ mission from His birth, teaching and evangelising, proclamation of the Kingdom of God, His death, resurrection and ascension into heaven. At each step along His life journey, Jesus was accompanied by His mother, right up to and including being present at his death. The loving regard for Mary by Jesus is noted tenderly throughout scripture.

Mary’s example of unconditional love, steadfastness and selfless, care filled attention are the hallmarks of motherhood to this day. On Sunday, we acknowledge and celebrate our mothers and the mother figures in our lives. We thank God for each and every one of them. Happy Mothers’ Day!

Term 2 arrangements

You will be aware that governments at all levels are grappling with the complex task of balancing COVID-19 restrictions in the interests of public health outcomes as well as trying to keep the economy afloat. This complex work has direct bearing on our school.

As our society begins to move slowly towards a return to normal life, there is a lot of information, speculation and frankly opinion being reported in the media. This is confusing for everyone.

We need to be mindful that Catholic Schools in NSW fall under the jurisdiction of the NSW government. Our diocese is obliged to conform to the directives of our Premier, Gladys Berejiklian and NSW Health. This is the basis of all our decision making at a diocesan level and locally.

To help with clear and accurate messaging for our school communities, Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong have developed a website for parents and community regarding current advice for the management of COVID-19. This website will be updated regularly with the latest advice from the government and our system of school. This website is our “source of truth”.

All information and updates regarding our school and system’s response to COVID-19 will be published on this website. A link to the COVID-19 Information Centre has been placed on our school website home page. It is also available on the CEDoW website. You can access the site from this link.

https://www.dow.catholic.edu.au/about-us/general-news/covid-19-information-centre

What has happened at St Paul’s this week: we moved our Kinder to Year 2 children into Google Classrooms to better manage the digital resources the children are already accessing as part of their learning. This was quite a job. Thank you for your patience and support in getting this tricky task done. The children are now working happily in this digital environment for part of the day. The digital work compliments the paper based learning which will also continue to be offered daily. If you are having difficulty with accessing the digital resources or Google Classroom, please call us. We are here to help!

From Week 3: we have planned to bring children to school for one day per week. We have been directed to continue remote learning as the single mode of delivery during the scheduled school days. We have ensured that families attend school on the same day and that siblings will be together at school.

We sent a list detailing your child’s “scheduled school day” to you via COMPASS last Friday. I will resend this information again tomorrow, Friday 8 May.

On the scheduled school day, children will have the opportunity to check in with their class teacher, spend some time with classmates and review how their learning remotely has progressed.

ZOOM meetings: next week our Year 3 to Year 6 students will engage in a daily ZOOM meeting with their class. Year 5 and Year 6 have already begun using ZOOM. If your child has a school managed iPad the ZOOM client has been pushed out to your child’s iPad. If you do not have a school managed iPad, please visit www. Zoom.us to “download zoom client” available under the Resources tab. Please DO NOT sign in or create an account. Your child simply needs the zoom client installed on the iPad in order to be able to join a Zoom meeting invitation from the teacher.

The school remains open for supervision for children of essential workers and those who need this service. If your child is attending school for the day, she or he will need the learning materials we have provided and ideally an iPad.

Student Attendance during Remote Learning

We are required to continue to keep an attendance roll. The Google classroom roll marking for all classes (“Are you learning with us today?” in the Classwork tab under Roll) has worked well this week. Your child simply needs to click “yes” to indicate attendance. We would like this to be done by 9:30am daily. If we do not hear from your child before 11am your child will be marked as absent. If your child is late, we will treat this like a late pass at school. Could you send an email to info@spmvdow.catholic.edu.au to let us know your child is now learning. We will adjust the roll accordingly. Similarly, if your child is unwell and unable to participate in the learning experience, please send an email to let us know. Please be aware that we are required to report attendance daily to CEDoW who in turn report the NSW government as part of the COVID-19 monitoring.

Wellbeing and self care

Maintaining a healthy balanced mindset is important always and especially during this difficult time. Along with exercise, a healthy diet and good sleep, looking after your spiritual and emotional health is important. Children can’t learn if they are stressed or worried or sleep deprived.

We have selected three free apps to assist with children’s wellbeing and self care. The apps are Smiling Minds, Dreamy Kids Meditation and Stop,Think, Breath. We strongly encourage you to download these free apps if your child does not have a school managed device.

You will notice that the teachers have incorporated mindfulness time into your child’s daily schedule. Consider using these apps yourself- they are kind of wonderful for everyone!

We hope these tools and suggestions will help keep the children in a positive, ready to learn mindset.

Children will continue to access these well being resources on their scheduled day at school.

Building Project- school office moved to the Hall and access is via the church stairs

Our building project is now well underway. The footing for the access ramp has been poured, most of the internal demolition has been completed and interior walls in the Year 6 classroom are starting to go up. There are some pictures below to give you a sense of how well we are progressing. The building project has of course necessitated some changes.

School Office and school access: for Term 2, the school office will be in the Parish Hall. Access to the school from Garrett Street for everyone will be via the church steps and the side gate near the Infants Eating Area. We ask that you do not use the driveway between the church and presbytery as a pedestrian access. The driveway is in use all day. The builders have put temporary fencing beside the church pathway for children’s safety and as a guide to use the church path. 

Safety: the children’s safety is always our highest priority. There have been some safety measures put in place. Inside the building, a temporary wall has been erected outside the Kinder classroom to isolate the learning spaces from the building works. There are temporary fences around the Infants eating area to prevent access into the building by the children. The building site is thus isolated from the rest of the school.

Timeline: we hope that by the time the children return to school full time in Term 3 that the project will be close to completion. It is great that our school is having this much needed upgrade to our Year 5 and Year 6 classrooms, access and the administration area.

Awards

We have awards named in the newsletter this week. Congratulations to all our children receiving recognition. There will be a video shared later where we publicly celebrate our award recipients. We will give the children their awards at morning assembly next week on the child’s scheduled day at school. We will re-commence the Mission Star awards next week.

LOLS: Lessons and Liturgy and Scripture

Keep your eye out for the weekly edition of LOLS - Lessons and Liturgy and Scripture. Each week, I will be working with Fr Richard to create a short spiritual reflection video as a way of connecting with the school community. Each video includes a scripture focus, a short ‘homily’ and a song. The video will be posted on Facebook each week.

St Paul’s Parish YouTube Channel

Here is the link to the St Paul’s Parish YouTube Channel where you can watch live and recorded Masses and prayers:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL9F08CA4ayKjhG-3ke-2rQ

The Remote Learning - Parent Portal has been updated. Please check in regularly to see the updates and access new resources. New additions this week include:

• Term overviews on the class pages with a message from the teacher,
• Link to a Social Story about COVID-19 and returning to school,
• Link to a podcast from CEDoW called “Ripples Inspired Voices Treasured stillness”.
• Additions to the Frequently Asked Questions Page.

We would love your feedback about the, “Remote Learning - Parent Portal”. There is a feedback form on the portal.

Year 6 2020 Sport Shirt

Families who would like to order the Year 6 sport shirt for 2020 must place an order by Friday 8 May with NSW uniforms. The sport shirt is a keepsake of your child’s time at St Pauls and has the class names on the back of the shirt. The cost of the shirt is $40 and the sizes are standard child sizes from size 8 - 16.

To place an order and pay for the shirt you contact NSW Uniforms - Ethne Drew:

Mobile number: 0400 805 596

Facebook page: NSW Uniforms

Please note - due to the building works, the entry to the school is via the church steps and then head towards the hall: