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- Principals Report Week 2 Term 2
- Media Release Regarding Schools Reopening
- ACT Health Advice for Returning to Face to Face Learning
- Religious Education News
- Dates for Your Diary
- Kindergarten 2020 Health Checks - Cancelled
- Book Club Online
- St Joseph's Early Learning Centre - Enrolling Now
- News from the Royal Australian Mint - A New Collectable
- Coughing and Sneezing Etiquette Poster
- Hand Washing Poster
- Family Well-being Support Resources - COVID-19
- 10 Tips for Learning at Home
- Parentline ACT Telephone and Skype/Zoom Counselling Services
- SZapp Download Instructions
Principals Report Week 2 Term 2
Dear Parents and Friends,
In the Catholic faith tradition, the month of May is one of devotion to Mary, the mother of Jesus. It is a good time to pray the Rosary and the Hail Mary and to share these special prayers as a family. At the scene of the Crucifixion, Jesus declared Mary to be our mother too as we are represented by James the Apostle: ‘Seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, “Woman, this is your son.” Then to the disciple he said “This is your mother.” And from that hour he took her into his home.’ John 18: 26-28
How very blessed we are to be able to call Mary our mother too. Let us always make her welcome in our hearts and homes and pray a prayer of thanks to God for the gift of Mary on Mothers’ Day.
MEDIA RELEASE – ACT CATHOLIC SCHOOLS PLAN FULL RETURN TO SCHOOL
Please read the attached Media Release from Catholic Education and Letter from the ACT Chief Health Officer in addition to the information below.
I express my deep appreciation to each of you for your support and loyalty to the school during what has been a challenging time for you and your families. You have been wonderful in supporting your child with their learning during this period. Staff have been incredible in the way they have adapted to provide a remote learning program and we have all missed your children and their energy, humour and joy.
From an academic and welfare perspective it remains our priority to return to face to face teaching when it is safe to do so. Australia’s Chief Medical Officer has continually informed us that it is safe for children and staff to return to school for those who are not vulnerable. Health experts advise us that children are infected with COVID-19 at much lower rates than adults.
Following extensive discussion, review of the medical advice and guidelines, and considering the regional context with regard to reported cases of Covid-19, the Director of Catholic Education has authorised that all students from Kindergarten to Year 6 may return full time (5 days a week) to Rosary Primary School beginning on Monday 18 May – Week 4. If for any reason there is an increase in the safety concerns for the students and staff before the 18 May, this decision will be reviewed.
Please be aware that we will continue the Remote Learning Program next week (Week 3) in the same way that we are now for all students whether they are at home or at school. Parents are encouraged to keep students at home wherever possible next week but the school continues to be open to the children of essential workers and children who need to attend for personal or family reasons.
As we prepare to have the children return to school for face-to-face teaching, it is essential that measures relating to personal hygiene and the health and safety of all members of our community are known and understood.
Below is some clear information on the arrangements and measures based on the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) guidelines which aim to establish, where reasonably possible, best practice in relation to health and hygiene at schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The full document can be found here:
We hope this will give you confidence in your child’s return to school and assist you in supporting the staff as we welcome students back into classrooms.
Extra hygiene and safety practices in place:
- Increased cleaning schedules and resources on site during the school day to wipe down and disinfect high-touch areas, including classrooms, fixed play equipment and common spaces, in addition to regular daily cleaning.
- Provision of hand sanitiser across the school.
- Provision of extra hand soap in classrooms and installation of automatic soap dispensers in toilets for children to wash their hands frequently, particularly before and after recess and lunch time.
- Frequent reminders to ensure children are practising good personal hygiene. This means, covering mouths and noses when coughing and sneezing, frequent hand washing, not sharing food or drinks and minimising physical contact
- Please ensure your child brings a water bottle to school each day
- No child is to attend school if they are showing any cold or flu-like symptoms. They must remain at home, and stay away from school until they are no longer showing symptoms or have attended a GP who has instructed that they are fit and safe to return.
- If your child, or family members or other close contacts are tested for COVID-19, your child is not to attend school until the results of those tests are known and are negative. Please advise the school if this situation occurs.
- If your child has a medical condition that places them at greater risk from a return to face-to-face teaching at this time, please contact me so that we can discuss their needs in greater detail and develop an appropriate plan for their circumstances.
- We are attempting to minimise the number of adults coming onto the premises to reduce the possible risk of COVID-19 transmission. Please use telephone or email as the preferred method of contacting the school or your child’s teacher.
- If you are collecting your child from school during the day, please remain at the front office and we will send for your child to come to you.
- Parents are asked not to stay longer than necessary during drop off and pick up times and ensure physical distancing is maintained between adults.
- From May 18, we will begin each day with a brief morning assembly but there will be no other assemblies or large gatherings for the remainder of this term. An exception to this is any evacuation or emergency procedure that may be required.
- After 18 May, if a situation arises where it is deemed unsafe by health authorities for students or staff to be on site, we will return to our comprehensive remote learning program.
I again thank you for your ongoing support of our school. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like any further clarification on any of these matters.
Remote Learning
A very wise Principal colleague of mine referred to ‘remote learning’ as ‘connected learning’ because we are working remotely but also working to stay connected! This colleague also refers to ‘social distancing’ as ‘physical distancing’ because we are certainly wanting to maintain our social contact during this health crisis but also keep physically apart from one another to reduce the risk of infection. I have adopted this terminology in signage around the school and asked that parents do not stay longer than necessary when dropping off or collecting children.
I am happy to receive feedback from parents as to how the remote learning program has been working at home for families. I have had some unsolicited feedback from parents which has been very positive and supportive of the school’s endeavours but would welcome any additional feedback that you might like to provide. Please feel free to email me directly at the following address: vicky.vandersanden@cg.catholic.edu.au
I take this opportunity to thank parents whole-heartedly for the work you are doing in supporting your children’s learning during this time. It is not an easy task by any means and the staff really appreciate the juggling act you are performing to make this situation work the best it possibly can for your families.
I wish all the mums in our community a very happy Mothers’ Day on Sunday. May God bless you for the wonderful role that you play in the lives of your children. May you, in turn, be blessed with the gift of their adoring love now and forever.
Thought for the week:
“Mothers hold their children’s hands for a short while but their hearts forever.”
Unknown
REPEAT NOTICE:
Catholic Schools Enrolment Period For All Catholic Schools
The Catholic Schools Enrolment Period is from Monday 4 May – Friday 22 May (Weeks 2 – 4 inclusive, Term 2) for students commencing in 2021. If you know of anyone outside of our school community who has a child at a Pre-school or Early Learning Centre, please notify them of the opportunity to enrol at Rosary Primary School during the above period. Enrolment forms can be found online via the school website. At this time, school tours, the Open Day and enrolment interviews have been suspended until further notice.
Vicky van der Sanden
Fifth Sunday of Easter - Year A
10 May 2020
“I am the way, the truth and the life.”
https://litedliturgybrisbane.weebly.com/family-prayer-week-by-week.html/
Liz Higgins
Religious Education Coordinator
- Mothers Day - Sunday 10th May
- Remote Learning to continue Week 3 - Monday 11th - Friday 15th May inclusive
- Book Club Issue 3 online orders due - Monday 18th May
- Return to Face to Face Teaching - All Students - Week 4 - Monday 18th May
Kindergarten 2020 Health Checks - Cancelled
Due to the redeployment of Registered Nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic response and the closure of schools, the 2020 physical component of the Kindergarten Health Check has been cancelled. The Academic Unit of General Practice questionnaire data, completed by parents at the beginning of the 2020 school year, has been collected as usual. The results of the questionnaire will be sent to the GP if consent has been given to do so. If parents have concerns regarding the physical check we recommend they see their GP for assessment. For more information please contact the School Health Team on 5124 1585.
As a result of Covid-19, from this term on all Book Club orders will be placed online by parents.
Please find below the link to the Virtual Book Club for Issue 3. The cut off for orders from this issue is May 18th 2020.
http://scholastic.e-newsletter.com.au/link/id/zzzz5ea112bace9a6948Pzzzz53a3c28e3c6e7297/page.html
When ordering online on LOOP, you will need to look for your childs class and then their name. Should you require assistance with the online ordering process please use the link below to the Book Club ‘Tool Kit’ which includes LOOP instructions for parents.
https://www.scholastic.com.au/book-club/toolkit/
Book Club orders will still be delivered to the school and sent home with your child if they are at school. Should your child be at home learning remotely, parents will be called to organise collection of their order.
Please note: we still have a few orders at the school from the last Book Club issue. If you have not collected or recieved your order, can you please stop by the front office to collect it (perhaps when you are at the school to collect your resource pack tomorrow).
Happy Reading!
Sandy Vincent
Teacher Librarian
News from the Royal Australian Mint - A New Collectable
The Royal Australian Mint has released the first of three commemorative coins featuring Aboriginal Astronomy. The first release depicts the "Emu in The Sky" by Wiradjuri artist Scott Towney of Peak Hill, New South Wales. The "Emu in The Sky" can be seen in the dark dust lanes of the Milky Way between the Southern Cross and Scorpius.
This has been a 3-year collaborative effort between the artist, members of the Australian Indigenous Astronomy group, and the Royal Australian Mint.
The remaining two coins in the series will be released in good time and will feature the artworks of two more Indigenous artists and their interpretation of night sky ‘Dreamings’ from their respective countries.
https://eshop.ramint.gov.au/star-dreaming-emu-in-the-sky
Miss Blom,
Contact Teacher for Aboriginal Education
NOTICEBOARD