“Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” 

Mark 6: 31

(from the Gospel for the sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary time, Year B)

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to Term 3! The children have returned to school full of energy, ready to learn. Much has happened in the past month with our world changing yet again. We are currently in the fortunate position of being able to come to school and conduct face to face learning and teaching. Let’s spare a thought and a prayer for the school communities across our diocese and beyond who have been returned to challenges of remote learning. This weekend’s Gospel Jesus speaks of the need to “rest a while”. Self care and care of each other are more important now than ever before. Looking after our well being and mental health are not luxuries. They are important elements of a balanced life. As adults we have a duty to teach our children to be resilient and how to draw together as a community when things get difficult. We have been doing that in the manner in which we have cooperated and worked together managing the challenges of COVID. We will continue to do so - together!

SENIOR SCHOOL SUPPORT OFFICER (SSSO) APPOINTMENT- welcome Mrs Norman

This week we welcome Mrs Norman to our school community as she takes up her role as SSSO. Mrs Norman has a range of experience in a range of school offices across different school systems. We are very fortunate to have her work with us at St Paul’s. I’m sure you will make Mrs Norman feel very welcome as she joins our school community.

COVID-19  UPDATE- Level 2 restrictions

The emerging COVID-19 situation in Greater Sydney, Blue Mountains, Wollongong and the Shoalhaven has triggered updated school management measures for all NSW schools. We are in the fortunate position of being at Level 2 restrictions. St Paul’s is one of only seven schools within our diocese which is not currently at Level 4 which requires remote learning. 

Level 2 restrictions mean that parent access to the school is limited. This is inclusive of morning drop off and afternoon pickup. Whilst we will continue to conduct our weekly whole school assembly at 2:15pm on Thursdays, we are not permitted to have parents and community members at the assembly. 

Masks are recommended for all adults at school. Children do not need to wear masks. Children under 13 years of age are not required to wear masks on public transport.

If you need to come to the school office you will need to wear a mask and sign in. We have two (2) QR codes that all staff and visitors are required to sign in with at the school office. One is the Service NSW QR and the second is the CEDoW iPad sign in. Both are required.

Thank you for the sensible, cheerful and cooperative manner in which you have adopted the changes to our school routines. I am pleased that the children’s school day has remained largely unchanged and that their learning is continuing as usual. 

I think we can anticipate that there will be changes to planned events within our diocese. The Year 6 Activate Fire day that we were scheduled to host next Monday has been postponed until later in the year. Once other postponements come to hand we will notify you via COMPASS as soon as possible.

We will continue to remind the children of good hygiene practices (wash your hands; cover your cough/sneeze; wash your hands; stay at home if you are sick). We have maintained our regular, daily regime of hand washing and hard surface cleaning. 

As a community, it is advisable for everyone to be vigilant with social distancing, hand sanitising, mask wearing and using QR codes. Those who are eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccination are being strongly encouraged by NSW Health to take up this prevention measure.

I thank you for your patience, understanding and cooperation in helping to keep everyone safe. We are all doing our bit. The updated measures I referenced above are noted on the  current COVID- 19 guidelines for Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Wollongong for your information. This website is regularly updated to reflect the current measures in place. I suggest you check in regularly in order to stay up to date as well as seeking clarification.

VISION AND MISSION REVIEW

We are undertaking a review of our school’s vision and mission as part of our school’s annual School Review and Improvement (SRI) plan. These two documents are central to who we are as a school and what we want to achieve together. 

To draw a metaphor, if our school was a car, the mission statement would be the engine (what we do) and the vision statement would be the GPS (the direction we want to go). We want to review our vision and mission in order to be clear as a community as to what we hope for the children at our school in the future.

The first step in this process is a brief survey seeking your feedback and thinking. As well as parents and carers, a similar survey will be conducted with the primary children and school staff. The link to the survey is here. I ask that you take some time to complete the survey by Friday 30 July (Week 3). Your voice in this process will be highly valued.

Once we have collated the survey data from each stakeholder group, we will conduct a community forum to review and respond to the feedback. We will hold this forum on Thursday 19 August. 

KINDERGARTEN ENROLMENTS OFFERS FOR 2022 ARE DUE 23 July

We have made a first round of enrolment offers for Kindergarten 2022 at the end of last term. The acceptance for these offers is due back to school by Friday 23 July.

We still have a couple of places available for Kinder 2022. We will also maintain a wait list. If you know of anyone who has a child ready for school in 2022, they can still apply. Applications can be picked up from the school office or downloaded from the school website. 

Parent Portal

Please take some time to familiarise yourself with our Parent Portal. You will find the following information:

• Links to online subscriptions teachers use with the students to support learning in the classroom.
• Reading Interventions at St Paul’s.
• Positive Behaviours for Learning and what it looks like at St Paul’s.
• Drop off and pick up routines (when we are not under restrictions).
• Links to COVID-19 social stories.
• Links to a range of websites that offer parenting advice.
• Links to a range of websites that provide well being resources.
• Technology support in helping your child access google classroom.
• Frequently Asked Questions. These have been updated and we will continue to update them as best we can with the changing restrictions.
• A Feedback form. We would love to hear your feedback about the Parent Portal.

Should we return to remote learning this is the place where you will find information to support your child at home with remote learning. 

Here is the link to the portal.

https://sites.google.com/dow.catholic.edu.au/st-pauls-moss-vale/home

Regards,

Katie Browne

Assistant Principal

SOME CHANGES TO SCHOOL ATTENDANCE MANAGEMENT PROCEDURES

Regular attendance at school is a legal obligation. I have attached a link to information regarding regular school attendance here. If your child is away from school, you need to notify the school and explain why your child was absent. You currently receive a message via COMPASS informing that your child is away from school. 

Commencing this term you will be contacted directly after your child has had three (3) consecutive, unexplained absences. You will also begin to receive reminder notifications for any unexplained absences from school for your child via COMPASS. 

TIME TO FRESHEN UP OUR COMPASS USAGE

COMPASS is our school’s communication app. Whilst this weekly newsletter remains the “source of truth”, COMPASS is one of the modes of delivery for the newsletter (website and email being the others). It is important that our COMPASS app and usage is working for us.

In COMPASS, you receive push notifications, updates, letters, school reports and attendance notices directly to your device. Staying in touch is important in maintaining good communication and the home/school partnership. I would like to draw you attention to a few COMPASS related actions to help us all stay connected. 

How to get COMPASS

If you don’t have COMPASS, you can download the free COMPASS app from your app store. Search for “Compass School Manager”. It is a free to download app for both Apple iOS and Android. If you need help with the setup, feel free to contact the school office.

Your Contact Information

It is important that you keep your contact information up to date in COMPASS. This is especially true of your email contact. Please make sure that your email listed in COMPASS is the email you most frequently use. You can change your address or telephone number in COMPASS

Forgotten passwords

If you have forgotten your COMPASS password, you will need to ring the school office. We can reset the password for you. Please be aware that each COMPASS account has a unique password. The password that one parent uses is different from the other parent’s password.

Pie Drive- Thank You!

Thank you for your excellent support of the P&F pie drive. As you will recall the P&F are attempting to raise $10,000.00 this year so that we can have some beautiful and useful playground stencils added to the playground. Here is a link to the company website where you can view a range of examples of their designs. We will consult with the community to have some input into choosing the final design choices.

Sport Uniform days for Term 2

Sport uniforms are to be worn on the following days for each class:

Kindergarten - Wednesday and Friday

Year 1 - Wednesday and Friday

Year 2 - Wednesday and Friday

Year 3 - Wednesday and Friday

Year 4 - Wednesday and Friday

Year 5 - Wednesday and Friday

Year 6 - Wednesday and Friday

School Terms for 2021