Filter Content
“I am with you always, to the close of the age.”
Matt 28:20
(from the Gospel for the solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, Year A)
Dear parents and carers
On Monday (25 May) all our children will return to school full time for face to face learning and teaching. We are so excited to have the children back at school! We have certainly missed them. Overall, the children have reported their happiness at returning to school too!
That being said, there will be some understandable nerves or even potentially anxiety for some children. They have been away from school since the COVID-19 restrictions. There have been changes to the physical environment at school as well as the varied experiences of children during the COVID-19 pandemic. We have considered all this in our planning. The children’s wellbeing and safety are paramount.
We will “reboot” the 2020 school year commencing Monday. We will be reviewing and re-establishing our procedures and practices with the children. We want school to feel as safe and predictable as possible. We want the children feeling comfortable and ready to learn.
CEDoW COVID-19 website remains our “source of truth”.
The website aims to provide clear and accurate messaging for our school communities. 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 is happening next week at St Paul’s in Week 5 - commencing Phase #3
We are entering what our diocese has called Phase 3# of the COVID-19 learning continuity plan. In Phase #3, children will attend school for five days per week. Remote learning will cease at the close of school tomorrow Friday 22 May. Face to face learning and teaching is the sole mode of delivery commencing Monday.
In many regards we have not returned to “business as usual”. There are still many precautions in place that we will continue to observe. These precautions have been directed by our diocesan system of schools in response to NSW Health directives.
The COVID-19 precautions that remain in place are:
- Twice daily cleaning of all high touch surfaces in the school
- No whole school assemblies on Friday afternoon (virtual award assemblies will continue)
- No sporting carnivals or inter-school sporting events
- No excursions
- Regular teaching and reminders of COVID safe hygiene practices with all children
- Continued adherence of social distancing protocols, especially for adults (parents are welcome to escort children into the school grounds and stay briefly for morning prayer without congregating)
- Any child or staff member presenting with symptoms of a respiratory condition will be sent home
- COVID-19 response plan remains in place and active
- Staggered afternoon pick up from Innes Road (see below)
Staggered pick up from Innes Road: children travelling home with parents or carers, will be assembled in colour house groups. We will walk the children down to Innes Road to you one colour house at a time. The intention is to stagger arrival and departure times for families picking up children. We ask that families arrive close to pick up time, and move off promptly after collecting your child. We must remain mindful of social distancing during this process.
- Blue House will leave the top playground at 2:55pm
- Red House will leave the top playground at 3pm
- Gold House will leave the top playground at 3:05pm
We will practice this with the children on Monday to familiarise them with this small adjustment. The pick up process remains the same. Parents enter via the “In gate”, wait to collect your child at the yellow line and then exit via the” Out gate”.
Once you have picked up your child, we ask that you move off site promptly. Again, this is entirely about safety. Parents and carers should not park on Garrett Street in the afternoons to pick up children. This is a designated bus zone. We do not want to mix pedestrians and buses.
What your child needs to bring to school on Monday
- Learning packs especially non completed work
- Return all loan iPads (these will be re-deployed in to Kinder to Year 2 classrooms for at-school only use)
- A drink bottle (bubblers are turned off)
- Winter uniform, hat and lunch (sport uniform on normal scheduled days - see below)
- Kindergarten to Year 2 children who have been bringing an iPad from home, no longer need to bring these devices to school.
Sport Uniform Days by Class
Your child will need to wear the sport uniform on the following days each week.
Kindergarten- Friday
Year 1- Friday
Year 2- Friday
Year 3- Wednesday & Friday
Year 4- Wednesday & Friday
Year 5- Wednesday & Friday
Year 6-Wednesday & Friday
Student Attendance
As of Monday 25 May, all children are expected to attend school. If your child has a medical reason to not attend school, please contact us and we will make case by case arrangements to meet your particular circumstances. If you child is in this position please complete the form at this link:
Commencing on Monday, we have activated an SMS notification if your child is absent. You will now be able to reply to this message to provide an explanation for your child’s absences. Please keep your message of explanation short and precise. “Sick” or “attending an appointment “is satisfactory as opposed to “away”.
Otherwise, all school attendance procedures return to pre-COVID-19 status.
Safety at school is everyone’s responsibility
The children’s safety and wellbeing is always our highest priority. There have been additional safety measures put in place to ensure the children’s safety especially during the building project as well as in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As we begin Phase #3, I would like to draw your attention again to several procedures of which we all need to be aware and to adhere to for every child’s safety.
COVID-19 safety during Phase #3: we are teaching and reminding children of good hygiene practices daily. There is additional signage with the same reminders prominently displayed around the school. We have placed tissue only bins in every classroom and a bottle of hand sanitiser for use by children. The water bubblers are closed. Children need to bring a water bottle to school. Refilling stations are available. Our regular regime of hand washing of course has continued and has stood us in good stead in responding to the pandemic. Our cleaners are conducting an additional clean daily between first and second break. They are cleaning bathrooms, high touch surfaces (including door handles, railings, water bottle filling stations) as well as emptying double bagged bins. This cleaning is in addition to our scheduled daily cleaning. If your child is showing even mild symptoms of respiratory illness, please keep them home. If your child is presenting with respiratory illness symptoms at school, we will ring you to pick up your child from school.
Building safety: inside the school building, a temporary wall has been erected outside the Kinder classroom to isolate the learning spaces from the building works as well as mitigate construction noise and dust. The building site has been isolated from the rest of the school by construction fencing. There are temporary fences around the Infants eating area to prevent access into the building by the children. We work closely with the builders to ensure safety and good communication. We hold regular site meetings to review the project including safety.
Access to the school: 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 or vehicular 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.
Traffic safety in the morning: please continue to adhere to our school routines in relation to the morning drop off of children. If you need to park, please do so in the vacant block opposite the school and escort your child across Garrett Street. Alternatively, park further down on Garrett Street (near the presbytery) and walk up to school. In both cases access is through the church gates, not the driveway. Do not park in the bus zones or do a U-turn across Garrett Street. It is dangerous.
Traffic safety in the afternoon: afternoon pick up is from Innes Road. All children being picked up by parents or carers to be driven home should be collected from Innes Road only. We will walk the children to you.
Building Project Progress:
We have had another very productive week with the building project. The builders are making great progress. There are some pictures below to give you a sense of how well we are progressing. 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. The side gate near the Infants Eating Area is the access to the school. Please check in at the school office in the hall if you need to come to the school during the day.
Building 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- virtual assembly video and award presentations
We will continue with the virtual assembly for the time being. We are not permitted to hold whole school assemblies. We will continue to name the award recipients in the newsletter and distribute the awards at morning assembly on Friday. When the COVID-19 restrictions are finally lifted we will resume our normal assembly routines. We will inform you of this when it eventuates.
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
Catherine du Bois
Religious Education Coordinator
Take a look at our Remote Learning - Parent Portal - Remote Learning - Parent Portal
There is a new link to a website about play on the classpage tab. Play is a foundational activity that supports a child's development. It is through play that children learn to investigate, be creative, take risks, socialise, take turns and problem solve along with many other necessary skills that prepare them for life. Play is not just for children it is for everyone.
There are other links to resources the teachers and students are using and will continue to use with the return of full time face to face teaching. Our Parent portal will continue to be updated and grow over time as we return to full time face to face teaching and learning so take some time to take a look and see what's new.
https://www.playaustralia.org.au/play-today-covid19
Attached is the first Parish News since Covid-19, so we have included the whole publication this week.
| YEAR | STUDENT NAME | REASON |
| KINDERGARTEN | Harvey McDade | Helping other students and his teacher with his behaviour |
| YEAR 1 | Eadie Babula | For being a good friend |
| YEAR 2 | Emily Pizzata | Being a helpful class member |
| YEAR 3 | Lexi Wotton | Being kind and caring to others |
| YEAR 4 | Liam Bailey | Being a good friend |
| YEAR 5 | Luca Rochiax | For helping a classmate who was in need |
| YEAR 6 | Isaac Hucker | For having a positive approach to everything and encouraging others. |
On May 16th it was World Education Support Personnel Day. Today we recognised our own SSO's for all of the hard work that they do, with a positive attitude and a smile each and every day. Thank you :-)
