Principal Talk with Mrs Lowe
This week we have experienced many changes to our usual routines. This can be an unsettling experience for families, students and staff however I would like you to be assured that we are trying to keep things as usual here as possible.
Throughout the week we have seen our numbers slowly drop from 70%, to 50%, to 45% to 35% today. We understanding if people wish to keep their children at home and also if they wish to send them to school, and we are supportive of your choice.
Staff have prepared resource packs of activities for the students learning at home. They are also still providing face-to-face teaching and preparing for Remote Learning, in the event we are asked to close the school. We have had a few staff, late this week, requiring leave until the end of the term, for various reasons. As our numbers reduce classes will combine, however, I can assure you our supervision requirements will still be met.
If we close the school and the staff still have access to the school we will be able to provide a blended learning approach - activities through Google Classroom and parallel print activities, for those who require them. If, however, we are asked to lockdown, staff will not have access to school facilities which means all our delivery will need to be online or via email. This I realise will create issues for a small number of our families with no or unreliable internet service. If this is you, and you did not complete the survey I sent out last week could you please call Belinda this afternoon or tomorrow. By working together I am sure we can cater for every child and a way that suits every family.
Your child's education, both academic, social and physical is important and remains our top priority.
Remote Learning
As mentioned above, staff are currently preparing to move to Remote Learning in the event that the school is closed.
Our St Mary's Remote Learning Hub can be accessed from our school website www.stmarysc.nsw.edu.au
Go to the Education option in the navigation bar and then choose 'Remote learning Hub' from the drop-down options. When this page opens click on "St Mary's Remote Learning Hub'. This will take you to our weebly site http://stmarysc.weebly.com/
The Remote Learning Hub has been designed to support families who are accessing the curriculum from home. The Hub contains the necessary information and links to access learning platforms and resources.
The main platform we are using is from the Google EDU suite for education - Google Classroom. This platform allows teachers to post work and provide feedback. Parents will be emailed with your child's email address and login instructions next week. Students can work through set tasks at their own pace throughout the week, in a manner that suits each family. We are mindful that families will be sharing devices and that some internet connections are sporadic, so keeping this in mind staff will set a variety of digital and print activities.
Now might be a good time to stock up on your home office resources including paper, scissors, glue, pencils and ink.
If the school is closed and you are having trouble accesses materials or completing tasks, your child's teacher can be contacted via email or you can email Belinda or me for administrative or technical support through Office.Stmarysc@cg.catholic.edu.au. The School phone will also be diverted during this time.
Please be aware, unless your child has been told to access Google Classroom already by their classroom teacher, the activities will not be available on this platform yet. Teacher planning and professional development are currently still occurring.
School Fees
We acknowledge the unprecedented economic impact on families as a result of COVID-19 and associated government directives.
Consistent with our enrolment policy “no child is to be denied Catholic schooling simply because of an inability (as opposed to an unwillingness) of a parent/guardian, to meet financial requirements”.
Effective immediately are the following fee relief measures:
- Credits (for amounts paid) will be placed on fee accounts for cancelled excursions (excluding non-recoverable deposits), sporting events or activities as a result of COVID-19.
- All debt collection activities will be suspended until further notice
- Fee concessions will be available on outstanding fees at the end of Term 1 for those families eligible for Government COVID-19 supplement payments.
- Fee concession will be available for Term 2 fees for families eligible for Government COVID-19 supplement payments.
We anticipate delaying fee statements for Term 2 until there is greater clarity about the duration of the pandemic. General fee concession arrangements are being considered and will be communicated once finalised.
If you have been financially impacted by COVID-19 or have any concerns around fees, please contact me directly.
Reconciliation
Congratulations Rorey, Katyanna, Riley, Ava, Lauren, Zoey, Addin, Joe, Ava and Chloe who received the Sacrament of Reconciliation last Thursday evening.
Thank you to Fr Joshy, Sr Rosemary, Belinda Cudaj, Janet Haynes, Sharon Hickey and Therese Skelly for their involvement in the organisation and delivery of the program.
CleverTouch Interactive Panels
Our new Clever-Touch panels have arrived and are due to be installed tomorrow, Friday 27 March.
We are giving away three interactive whiteboards with projectors to anyone who would like them, the only catch is you will have to remove them yourself. They would make a great addition to a man-cave!
Harmony Day
Last Friday we celebrated Harmony Week with a mufti day and tabloid activities provided by our responsible Year Six students. It was a fantastic day focusing on the fact that Everyone Belongs and we're all it this together!
Nut Aware School
Please be aware that we have students at St Mary’s who suffer from a severe anaphylactic reaction to peanuts/tree nuts. These reactions can be serious and even life-threatening.
We need to take all precautions necessary to minimise risk of life-threatening anaphylaxis.
As a community, we can work together to minimise risk associated with being exposed to these foods that act as a trigger to such attacks.
Management at School
- Parents/caregivers being encouraged not to send food that contains nuts to school with their children. This includes peanut paste, Nutella, Muesli Bars, all nuts and cooking oil containing peanut oil, as well as foods containing nuts (but does not extend to ‘foods that may contain traces of nuts’)
- Staff supervising students whilst they eat their lunch.
- The Tuckshop will not have ‘for sale’ food items that contain nuts, but does not apply to food labelled ‘may contain traces of nuts’.
- No food sharing between children.
- Staff participate in annual First Aid training to assist with understanding and dealing with anaphylaxis (severe allergic reaction).
- Awards of food/sweets will not be given that contain nut ingredients e.g. chocolates.
For Parents
- Parents are asked not to send peanut butter or nutella on sandwiches, biscuits etc. (to minimise the risk from person to person contact).
- Emphasise the importance of washing hands when eating food at home and at school.
NAPLAN Online - Education Council Communique
Education Ministers met last Friday 20 March and decided that NAPLAN will not proceed in 2020. The NAPLAN test window was scheduled to be held from 12 to 22 May.
All Education Ministers acknowledge and thank all of our school leaders, our teachers and support staff for the essential work they do every day educating our children and young people, particularly during these challenging times. They are all playing a vital role in managing the response to COVID-19.
Education Ministers reiterated that the National Cabinet has agreed, on the advice of the chief health and medical officers, that “pre-emptive closure of schools are not proportionate or effective as a public health intervention to prevent community transmission of COVID-19 at this time.”
The decision to not proceed with NAPLAN in 2020 has been taken to assist school leaders, teachers and support staff to focus on the wellbeing of students and continuity of education, including potential online and remote learning.
Further, the impact of responses to the COVID-19 virus may affect the delivery of NAPLAN testing, including the operation of centralised marking centres and the implications for nationally comparable data if an insufficient number of students are available to do the test.
The decision to not proceed with NAPLAN in 2020 also means that the scheduled testing of the NAPLAN Online platform, known as the Coordinated Practice Test (CPT), will not proceed. Ministers acknowledge the work that departments and schools have undertaken in preparation for the anticipated CPT which was due to commence next week on 23 March.