Newsletter 31/1/2022 Term 1 Week 2

Our Prayer

From the Principal

Dear parents, carers and community members,

After the task of preparing for the school year, it was delightful to have students back on site today. The classrooms are full of excited chatter as students share the adventures of their holidays and the fun of meeting their new classmates and Teachers. Thank you to all the parents I have met so far for making me feel so welcome to the St Patrick's community.

Our New Foundation Students

Despite the need to ask parents to bid farewell to their children at the gate rather than walk them to their classroom, our new foundation children have all settled very well into school life. Thank you to the staff members and our Grade 6 leaders who helped make this an enjoyable beginning to the year.

Foundation Rest Days

To avoid exhaustion for our Foundation students we give them each Wednesday off in the month of February.

Wednesday 2nd (Tomorrow)
Wednesday 9th (Testing Day 1)
Wednesday 16th (Testing Day 2)
Wednesday 23rd 

We ask parents to bring them to school for a 40 minute assessment appointment on either the 9th or 16th of February. Parents can book this appointment in PAM when it becomes available later in the week.

Student PE Timetable

Swimming will commence on Tuesday the 15th Feb, more information will come.

Swimming Sports

Our Swimming program will commence on Wednesday 16th Feb and  conclude on 1st March with our swimming carnival, pending confirmation from all parties concerned .

School uniforms

Laffs are currently experiencing delays with their uniform orders, please check out the St Patrick's  swap,buy and sell site on facebook, there may be some uniforms for sale to suit your needs.

COVID SAFE Practices

Rapid Antigen Tests

Thank you to the families who have been able to pick up their rapid antigen test already. For those yet to receive their tests and have indicated that they wish to receive them, we will give them to the oldest student in the family today to bring home. Information regarding the use of the RAT test is available on the Vic Gov website using this link.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__1wUcb6fss 

Students and staff will do the tests at home and must report any positive test results to their school.

 If staff or students receive a positive test result at any time, they must report this through the Department of Health system (Rapid antigen tests | Coronavirus Victoria) or via the coronavirus hotline at 1800 675 398. 

Students (or their parents) must also report a positive result to their school, either by phone or written notification; this is so the school can support them, record that they will be absent while in 7-day isolation, and let the rest of the school community know there has been a positive case onsite and that they should monitor for symptoms

School Operations Guide  pg 4

Communication of Positive Cases

A daily message will be sent informing you of any cases in our school. You will be told the Year Level and Room number where the case/s have occurred. This information will be generic so that no individual can be identified. 

Air Purifiers

Our air purifiers were delivered to the school over the holidays and they have been placed in areas of the school where there is limited natural ventilation. 

Natural Ventilation

Doors and windows will be kept open as much as is practical in Western Victorian climate.

Triple Vaccination

All staff are required to be triple covid vaccinated by Friday 25th February, 2022.

Visitors to School

All visitors to school must QR check in and show their vaccination status via the office.

The only exception to this is for short visits to the office counter e.g. collecting a sick child, collecting computer etc. 

Masks

• Students in Grade 3 and above must wear a face mask indoors at school, on the bus to and from school unless a lawful exception applies. Students must wear face masks even if vaccinated. Students are not required to wear masks outside. 
• Visitors to schools aged eight and above must wear a face mask in all indoor spaces, unless a lawful exception applies.
  

Wellbeing

Wellbeing check-ins take place regularly in each classroom. and teachers will also allocate classroom time to activities that develop social and emotional resilience, co-operation and a positive classroom atmosphere.  These are normal routines to begin a year however there will be a heightened focus this year. 

Staff Shortages

In the event that staff are absent from school the following procedures will be implemented:

1. Casual Relief Teacher to be employed to teach the class or a part time St Patrick’s teacher to teach the class on their unallocated days. 
2. Non-teaching staff e.g. principal, assistant principals to teach the class.
3. Specialist classes e.g. Art or PE to be cancelled and those teachers teach the class.
4. Class group to be shared among year level e.g. the four Year 3 classes be reallocated into 3 classes.  
5. Co Opting staff from neighbouring schools or DOBCEL (if available).

In the unlikely event that we cannot guarantee a safe learning environment with adequate supervision for your children, we will have to investigate temporarily closing all or part of the school.

COVID-19 Exposure or a Positive Result?

If a student tests positive to COVID19, either through RA test or PCR test

• Isolate at home or in private accommodation for 7 days (inclusive of weekends) and do not attend school during this period.
• Inform the school, that they have tested positive to COVID-19.
• A negative test is not required to return to school following completion of 7 days of isolation.
• Follow the Checklist for COVID cases located at: https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/checklist-cases

A student is a household contact to a positive COVID-19 case: 

• You have spent more than four hours with someone who has COVID-19 inside a house, accommodation, or care facility.
• Follow the Checklist for COVID contacts. https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/checklist-cases
• Student must quarantine for 7 days (inclusive of weekends) and must not attend school during this period.
• Contact at school is not included in this definition

A student has been in contact with a case of COVID-19 at school:

• If asymptomatic, students should continue to attend school and monitor for symptoms.
• If symptomatic, all students must stay or return home, take a rapid antigen test, or get a PCR test if a rapid antigen testing kit is unavailable.
• On receipt of a negative test result, and if well enough, the student can return to school. If students are too unwell to attend school, usual leave/absence policies apply.

Follow the Checklist for COVID contacts. https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/checklist-cases

Stay home when unwell and get tested

The most important action school communities can take to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19 is to ensure that any unwell students remain at home and get tested, even with the mildest of symptoms. Everyone should consider their health before they attend school, and ensure that they are free from coronavirus symptoms and have not had recent contact with a person confirmed or suspected to have coronavirus.

Notification

As principal I will notify the school community through a daily email when a student or staff member has (or multiple students or staff members) have returned a positive COVID-19 test result and have attended the school or school activities. The notification will protect the privacy of the individual but will include:

• Dates of attendance
• Affected group/cohort/year levels
• Any relevant extracurricular activities undertaken

 Learning During Isolation

Each year level teaching team has developed a generic set of activities to support learning whilst children are isolating from school.  These will be sent home after notification of a positive result.

Sacramental Program

We are currently in the process of setting up our Sacramental Programs for 2022 which includes the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Confirmation and First Holy Eucharist. Due to restrictions, we are unable to hold the parent meeting so this will now be completed through notes and phone inquiries. Children in grade 2 are able to complete the Sacrament of Reconciliation on Thursday 10 th of March at 6pm. Children in grade 3 are able to complete the Sacrament of Confirmation on Friday 29th of April. Children in grade 4 are able to complete the Sacrament of First Holy Eucharist on Saturday 16th of July in Cobden at 6:30pm or on Sunday 17th of July in Camperdown at 11am. Forms will come home with children in these grades who are listed as Catholic on our records. If you haven’t received a form, please contact the office. These forms need to be completed and returned to school with payment, due by Friday 11th of February. If you have any further inquiries, please contact Tracy at the school on 55931962.

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