“Do not worry “

(from the Gospel for the solemnity of St Mary of the Cross Mackillop, Year B)

Matthew 6: 25

Dear Parents and Carers

Our Pyjama day last week was a hoot! 

The children loved the day and certainly “shared the joy”. In fact, Year 5 has lobbied me to make every Friday a PJ day!! You’ve got to love their enthusiasm and advocacy for fun! You can see photos on our facebook page if you have not already done so. The joy on the children’s faces is palpable. Pyjama day was all about a positive mind set and well being. I think we can safely say, “Mission accomplished!” Thank you for your support. We will have more “fun days” in the future just because it is good to smile and have fun together.

VISION AND MISSION REVIEW- what you said!

As you are aware, 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. 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. Over the past few weeks we have been seeking feedback from you about our school. We have received feedback from one third of the school’s families. This is a statistically valid level of feedback. This means what was received is representative of the community perception of the school. I would like to give you some initial feedback based on what you said in response to the prompt, “List three words that describe the culture of St Paul’s School (e.g the vibe, sense of community, how we do things around here)”. The word cloud below records responses. The larger font size of some words indicates that this particular word was used more frequently. What wonderful feedback!

BOOK WEEK PARADE Thurs 19 August (Week 6)

Whilst on the theme of joy, we will conduct our annual book week parade on Thursday 19 August. The book week theme for this year is  'Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds'. We have been reading the shortlisted books to the children. The children can come dressed in a costume for the day. This year’s theme is very broad and allows for a wide range of costume options. We will hold a parade where every child will have the opportunity to show their costume. This is an annual highlight. Start thinking about your costumes!

COVID-19- Let’s focus on our well being!

 It is important for everyone to intentionally maintain a positive mindset and manage our mental well being. This is undoubtedly a difficult and uncertain time. None of us have lived through a pandemic of the scale we are currently enduring. To feel challenged or overwhelmed is quite a normal response. There is help available. I would like to draw your attention to the “Well Being” page on our school’s Parent Support site.  There are links to resources you can use with your children including “Smiling Mind”, “Dreamy Kids'' and “Stop, Breathe and Think Kids”. These free resources provide guided meditations and mindfulness activities for children. We have been practicing Christian Meditation with the children at school as part of our Social and Emotional Learning program. Mindfulness and meditation help nurture self awareness and self management in children. You will also find a link to “Pray as You Go” which you may find useful for yourself. Self care is not luxury or indulgence. It is an important part of a balanced life. Please take a moment to look at the many resources we have pulled together for you. As Jesus said we may “have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10)

Thank you for your patience, understanding and cooperation in helping to keep everyone safe during this latest COVID outbreak. 

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. 

The current measures in place in Level 2 schools are detailed on the  current COVID- 19 guidelines for Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Wollongong . You will also see on this website the restrictions in place for Level 4 schools (that do not apply to us). 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.

Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) update to procedures

Our PB4L framework aims to create a safe, supportive school learning environment. We have defined and explicitly teach the children our expectations. We then “catch them being good” with the affirmation system which the children both love and respond positively to. Sometimes children don’t make good choices. These mistakes are responded to in a fair and procedural manner as part of our escalation sequence. You can read more detail about our PB4L systems on the Parent Support site. We have had feedback from the community that you, as parents, would like to know promptly when your child has made poor choices that require attention. We have developed a small refinement of our current system that we will introduce this term.

In the future, if your child receives an orange card (minor level) or a red card (major level) you will now receive via COMPASS a brief note outlining the incident. Formerly, we emailed or called regarding minors. We printed and sent a hard copy Reflection Letter for majors. The new system simply systematised the minors contact and moves the Reflection Letter to electronic format. This ensures the letter gets home and is more efficient in you receiving the updates in a timely manner as you have asked for. 

If you do receive an electronic major Reflection notification for your child, your child will come home with an acknowledgement slip. Our system doesn’t currently have the capacity to offer an electronic acknowledgement. That will come in the future.

Additionally, if your child has received three minors in a two week period you will also receive a note. The intention of this correspondence is for you to talk with your child about their choices and how to make better choices in the future.

We hope that this refinement will enhance and strengthen the home and school partnership so that we can all focus our attention on the shared task of raising fair, kind and resilient children.

MORNING SUPERVISION begins at 8:20am

School supervision begins at 8:20am each morning. Children are not able to be supervised prior to this time. If there are circumstances that make this impossible, you must make contact with the school. We will discuss the possibility of making reasonable, short term solutions to help families on a case by case basis. It is not safe for students to be left at school unsupervised before 8:20am.

If you require your child to be cared for before this time you can access care at Moss Vale OOSH. Children who attend OOSH are accompanied onto the bus from OOSH at Moss Vale Public School and arrive at St Paul’s during mooning supervision. Please do not drop children at school before 8:20am.

TRAFFIC SAFETY IN GARRETT STREET IN THE MORNINGS

It is important that the road rules be followed for the safety of all our children. People have been again observed parking in the bus zones, dropping children on the far side of Garrett Street and allowing the children to cross the Garrett Street unescorted, parking in the drop off zone whilst walking children into the school. Drivers have been observed doing U-turns across Garrett Street.  

Aside from being illegal, this behaviour is dangerous.

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 school and escort your child across Garrett Street. Alternatively, park further down on Garrett Street (past the presbytery and beyond the bus zone and drop off zone) and walk up to school. It is a short, easy walk. Safety is everyones’ responsibility. We all need to do our part.

HELP NEEDED TO INSTALL SIGNAGE

We have a school sign ready to install on the front of the building facing Garrett Street. The suppliers won’t be able to install for a few more weeks.If you have the skills to fit the aluminium sign (2400 x 1200 mm) to the building please let us know. It is definitely a two person job and will require ladders. If you can help, contact the school office.

School Terms for 2021

ATTENDANCE

On a weekly basis you will receive an email regarding your child’s outstanding/unexplained absences. To explain the absence:

• You can go into compass to your child’s records and update the unexplained absence OR
• You can print the email and fill in the reason for the absence and return it to the office OR
• You can ring the office and the office staff will enter the reason for the absence.

If your child has been absent from school and has had to have a covid test, a copy of the negative result needs to be sent to the school prior to your child returning to class.  This is a requirement from CEODoW.

MORNING SUPERVISION

School supervision begins at 8:20am each morning. Children are not to be dropped off prior to this time as there is no supervision.  If there are circumstances that make this impossible, you must make contact with the school. If you require your child to be cared for before this time you can access care at Moss Vale OOSH. Children who attend OOSH are accompanied onto the bus from OOSH at Moss Vale Public School and arrive at St Paul’s during morning supervision.

MEDICATION

Only medication that is prescribed by a doctor is permitted to be dispensed at school upon completion of a “Consent_to_Dispense_Medication_Form” which is available to download or you can pick up from the office.  The form and the medication are to be given to the office staff in the original packaging with the student’s name and dosage.  We are not permitted to administer over the counter medication such as  Panadol unless prescribed by a doctor and the necessary form is completed.  Thank you for your cooperation with this.

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

UPDATES TO SCHOOL ATTENDANCE MANAGEMENT PROCEDURES

Regular attendance at school is a legal obligation. We 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. You can respond in COMPASS to provide an explanation.

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.

Last week you received in your COMPASS feed a troubleshooting handbook for your information. We are always happy to help if you are having trouble with COMPASS. You simply need to call the school office and we can assist.

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.

CANTEEN ONLINE SERVICE ON THURSDAYS 

Our school canteen service has recommenced this week and operates on Thursdays each week. The service will be an online ordering service only. Please note that there is no canteen counter service at school. 

Orders for the canteen will need to be submitted each Wednesday before Thursday service. Our canteen supplier, Fresh Start Canteens, have moved to an online ordering system called QuickCliq. Your child’s ordered lunch will be delivered to the school in time for first break each Thursday. 

If there is a problem with your child’s order please let our canteen supplier Fresh Start Canteens know. They will be only too happy to assist. If a child misses a lunch order, the school will make sure that your child has something to eat! We don’t want any child being hungry or unhappy!

How this new system works:

1. Set up your QuickCliq account: you will need to set up a free account for your family with QuickCliq in order to place orders and pay. The instructions for how to set up this account are attached to this newsletter.
2. Order and pay for your child’s lunch on Wednesday through QuickCliq. 
3. Lunch will be delivered to your child in time for the first break on Thursday.

Sentral_QuickCliq_Family_Register_flyer_Canteen_1_.pdf