Dear Parents,

Last night we had our last Advisory Education Board meeting for the year.  I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank Marti Sharp, Gary Forrest, Amy Condon, John Golja, Tamara Purvis, Rosa Mitchell, Meg Escalante, Jacki Taylor, Jennifer White, Arthur Solomon and Morwenna Harder for their efforts this year.  They have been a wonderful source of support and advice.   In particular, I would like to congratulate Marti Sharp and Jennifer White for wonderful jobs they have done as Chairperson and Secretary.

We do have a couple of Board positions available for next year.  If you are interested please contact the School Office.  It is not an onerous undertaking, we meet five times per year and discuss various aspects of the school.  It is a wonderful opportunity to be involved.

Classroom Layout /Specialists Classes 2021

Next year we will be redefining our learning spaces to create more defined Junior, Middle and Senior areas of the school.  We will have 21 Grades consisting of 3 streams across the school (3 Foundations, 3 Grade Ones, 3 Grade Twos, 3 Grade Threes, 3 Grade Fours, 3 Grade Fives, 3 Grade Sixes).  Classroom physical locations will be as follows;

A Block Senior Building (Classrooms adjoining Admin Building) – 3 Grade 6 classes and 2 Grade 5 classes.

B Block Middle Building (Centre building) – Grades 3 & 4 and one Grade 5 class (this Grade 5 class will be located in the classroom opposite the Staff Room so that they are not physically very far from the other Grade 5’s).

E Block Junior Building (building near hall) – Grades P/1/2 (one Grade 2 class will be located in the two portables behind the E Block to allow us to accommodate all grades).

As mentioned last week there will be some changes to the specialist classes in 2021.  All children across the school (F-6) will participate in the following lessons each week;

• Music – 45 minutes per week
• Japanese – 45 minutes per week
• PE – 1 hour per week
• ICT/STEM – 1 hour per week

We will be converting the building currently known as D1 (wooden yellow building) into our Discovery Centre.  This is where the ICT/STEM lessons will operate. We are allocating significant resources towards developing the ICT/STEM equipment available to students for use both within the Discovery Centre and classroom learning areas.

2021 Foundation Transition  / (Prep) Enrolments

Letters will be sent to all Foundation families tomorrow confirming the dates and times for our Foundation Transition.  We are just awaiting final advice regarding procedures that need to be followed due to the COVID restrictions.

We continue to take 2021 Foundation enrolments.  If you need enrolment forms, or know of someone else who does, can you please request them at office@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au  Unfortunately, during this pandemic we cannot take tours or hold large gatherings, however we are holding meetings over the phone with those that inquire.

Grade 6 Graduation 

We have just received further advice on the easing of restrictions in regards to graduation.   Once all the details have been finalised we will send home information to parents. 

Sunscreen

We ask that all families please apply sunscreen before your children come to school and your child brings a small sunscreen that they can re-apply if required.  Due to regulations we are not able to provide sunscreen at school.

Assembly

This week, our Advent assembly will be the Jesse Tree Assembly presented by 5TA.   Please use the link below on Friday at 2:20 pm to view the assembly. 

Parking

Again, I remind parents to be aware of road rules and regulations when parking in and around the school.  We have had council inspectors monitoring the parking areas and several local residents contact the school.

COVID Procedures

I remind parents that the following COVID safe procedures remain in place;

• No child is to be dropped at school before 8.40am. Parents are not to park but rather use the drop off lane. 
• As per last term when we were on-site we have a staggered afternoon collection. Families with a surname beginning with A - K need to collect their children at 2.55pm. Families with the surname beginning with L - Z collect their children at 3.10pm.  Again: we ask that you do not park and if you place your surname inside the front window it assists us enormously to hasten up collection.  
• If you are running late for whatever reason please park in the service road at the front of the school and call the Office from the front gate. Admin staff will then come out and meet your child and take them to their classroom.
• There will be no before school play and students will go straight to their classrooms.
• Birthdays – we are very happy to acknowledge and celebrate your child’s birthday with them in the classroom. However, due to COVID, children cannot bring chocolate, lollies etc. to share with others for their birthday.
• The children are not to bring sports equipment from home. It will be provided at school and sanitized regularly.
• Promoting age-appropriate hygiene practices for all students.
• Every child must have their own drink bottle, bubble taps are switched off.
• Reminding all students to wash their hands with soap and water or when this is not possible, use an alcohol-based hand sanitiser on arrival at school and regularly throughout the day.
• Reinforcing with students the following hygiene practices;
  • cough and/or sneeze into their elbows or a tissue,
  • place used tissues straight into the bin,
  • avoid touching eyes, noses or mouths,
  • not to share food or drink,
  • not to drink from water fountains or bubblers directly (they will be switched off).
• Extending school cleaning programs during the school day, including cleaning school playground equipment after use.
• Communication with teaching staff is via email, dojo or phone.
• The School Office is open by appointment only.
• Remote Learning work will not be provided for those parents that choose to keep their children at home.
• A critical aspect of the return to on-site learning will be a strict enforcement of the community requirements to maintain physical distancing especially at the start and finish of the school day.

For parents and guardians;

• Practise physical distancing and avoid long periods of time in close contact with other adults.
• Use the telephone, dojo or email to contact staff rather than visiting the school.
• Do not enter the school grounds.
• Adhere to the school’s pick and drop off requirements for students.
• Parents, guardians and carers will also be required to wear a face mask when attending the school, including when dropping off or picking up your child(ren) or if you are required to collect an unwell child(ren) from school, unless an exemption applies.
• If your child is experiencing signs or symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19), they must not attend the school until their symptoms resolve and appropriate medical advice is obtained. This includes those showing even mild symptoms of COVID-19. Medical clearance confirmation needs to be emailed to the Office prior to return.
• The symptoms to watch out for are fever, chills or sweats, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, runny nose, loss of sense of smell.

Regards,

Simon