Dear Parents & Guardians
It was wonderful this morning to welcome back all grade levels. From the conversations of the children walking through the gate, they really enjoyed their long weekend, whether it be camping, trick or treating, visiting family or down the beach. The weather was much kinder than last Friday.
As the students return, we have put into place a number of procedures to minimise the risk of COVID transmission.
They include:
ensuring any workers and visitors on-site meet the current vaccination requirements
taking all steps possible to maximise external air flow and good ventilation
wearing and encouraging the wearing of face masks
implementing separate play areas and limiting mixing of student cohorts
implementing staggered pick-up times to reduce congestion
maintaining physical distancing between staff and, where possible, students
maintaining strong hygiene practices.
The most important action families can take to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19, is to ensure that any unwell children remain at home and get tested, even with the mildest of symptoms. Everyone should consider their health before they attend work or school and ensure that they are free from coronavirus symptoms and have not had contact in the past 14 days with a person confirmed to have coronavirus or a person suspected to have coronavirus.
Last weekend the Catholic Community celebrated the feasts of All Saints and All Souls days. All Saints Day is a special feast day on which Catholics celebrate all the saints, known and unknown. While most saints have a particular feast day on the Catholic calendar (usually, though not always, the date of their death), not all of those feast days are observed. And saints who have not been canonised, but whose sainthood is known only to God—have no particular feast day. In a special way, All Saints Day is their feast.
You may be interested to know that Halloween is connected to this Catholic recognition of those who have died. The eve of this festival is Halloween, also known as "All Hallows Eve." All Saints Day is celebrated November 1.
End of Day Operoo Form Reminders:
Parents are required to complete this each day.
The form opens at approx 3:30pm for the following day and closes at 12noon on the day it relates to - please ensure this is completed at your earliest convenience prior to the form closing to avoid unnecessary followup.
If your child is absent please select the “My child will not be attending school on this day” option.
School Hats: During Term 4, school hats must be worn at recess, lunch and all outside activities. This is in line with our SunSmart policy. If students do not have a hat they will need to stay under the veranda. Hats can be purchased online from the uniform shop.
Canteen: Canteen will recommence on Monday 8th Nov
Canteen days - Mondays & Thursdays - lunch orders only (no over the counter sales)
All orders must be placed via CDFpay, orders close at 8:45am on canteen days
Families with credits in their CDFpay account are encouraged to use their credit balance before the end of the year
Whole School Liturgy: This Friday (5th November) would have traditionally been our Grandparents Day, however due to restrictions we cannot run this event. We still wish to recognise how special Grandparents are with a whole school Liturgy at 11:30am. Further information and ZOOM link will be sent out soon - please share the link to Grandparents and invite them to take part.
Class Structure 2022: Our classroom structure will remain the same as this year:
2 x Foundation
3 x Gr 1/2
2 x Gr 3/4
1 x Gr 4/5
2 x Gr 5/6
Shortly we will begin the process of planning our class lists for the 2022 school year. Whilst this is a difficult and time consuming task, we are blessed to have knowledgeable staff who are aware of student needs and work collaboratively to make professional judgements in relation to class planning and student placement.
When deciding our individual class structures, a number of factors are taken into account, which include:
- Student’s social, emotional, academic and physical development
- Student’s cognitive development
- Student relationships
- Smallest class sizes possible
- Family dynamics, eg sibling placement
- Teacher knowledge, skill and expertise
- Enrolment numbers at the various levels
If your child has a particular need or there is important information that we should be aware of when considering class placement for the 2022 school year, we ask that parents put this information in writing and submit via email to principal@stjohnskwr.catholic.edu.au before Tuesday 9th November.
Regards
Chris Dortmans, Princiapl
