SACC News
BOOK WEEK DRESS UP FUN
Students across the Primary School enjoyed some fun dressing up last week as their favourite book characters to celebrate Book Week 2020.
A short parade was held outside on the Basketball courts, as each class took turns doing their lap of honour to reveal their clever costumes.
PERSONALISED CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS
St Andrews Netball Club is having a Christmas fundraiser, to raise money to run netball clinics to improve the players skills plus provide new equipment for the teams!
They are selling personalised Christmas ornaments for $15 each. Please see the attached order form for details and photos of the ornaments below.
For any last minute orders please hand in the form into Reception by Monday 16th or email a copy to cpajor@standrews.vic.edu.au OR netball@standrews.vic.edu.au
The ornaments will be delivered by Monday 30th November.
For any enquiries or to see a sample ornament please contact Cheryl Pajor at Reception on (03) 8847 8300.
WELCOME BACK YEAR 8 & 9
We are so glad to have you back at school!
To share our joy and happiness at their return to on campus learning, there were some grand decorations to welcome our Year 8 and 9s on 26 October.
On Friday 30th October, we had a pizza lunch party followed by 2 periods of fun games and competition.
Mrs Rajes Krishnan
Year 8 Teacher
FROM THE LEARNING SUPPORT TEAM
In changing times, stand confidently on the unchanging character of God.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
– Proverbs 3:5-6
Change. We have seen so many changes this year and it has been wonderful to observe the resilience of staff and students as they have risen to the challenge and faced it head on. Has it been easy? No! But God has been there every step of the way. Change brings us the opportunity to choose. To choose how we react, to choose who we will trust and the choice to recoil in fear or to embrace the change and step out in faith.
Learning Support has seen many changes – working face-to-face with students, online remote learning, and now back to face-to-face learning! We have expanded and grown our team, as well as continuing to develop new skills. It has been wonderful to re-establish relationships, build new ones, celebrate the growth of each student and for ALL students to be back on campus together.
We are in the process of conducting Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT) in Reading Comprehension and Mathematics. As well as this we are conducting some individual testing to ascertain students’ points of need. We will then use some of this information to inform our planning as we look ahead to 2021.
If you have concerns about the impact of online learning on your child, or other concerns please feel free to contact your child’s teacher and/or Learning Support:
Shirley Gillie - Head of Learning Support: sgillie@standrews.vic.edu.au
Wendy Punay - Learning Support Teacher - Primary: wpunay@standrews.vic.edu.au
Kerryn Terrington - Learning Support Teacher – Secondary: kterrington@standrews.vic.edu.au
Blessings,
Shirley Gillie
Head of Learning Support
WEEKLY ZOOM PRAYER MEETING -
Tuesdays 8:00 - 8:30pm
Dear St Andrews Community,
You are all welcome to join us as we pray for St Andrews Christian College and all our community – students/staff and families.
As you know the St Andrews Weekly Zoom Prayer Meeting is hosted on Tuesday Nights, now running for only half an hour, from 8:00pm – 8:30pm. Our next meeting will be held Tuesday 17th November. Together as a community we can express our thanks to God, as well as praying for our world, College and each other.
In this way, we can continue connecting and caring for each other. No one should feel that they should pray aloud if they would prefer not to. Just pray in your heart as others lead us.
You may like to write your prayer points in the “chat” section of Zoom and during the evening we will be sure to pray for those things. Please mute yourself, unless you are speaking/praying so we are not battling with background noise during this time together.
We hope you can join our College Chaplain, Warwick Grant and myself for a time of prayer. We will conclude at 8:30pm, but feel free to leave earlier if you need to. Details to join the meetings are emailed to the College Community each week.
Blessings,
Mrs Catriona Wansbrough
Principal
EPIDEMIC THUNDERSTORM ASTHMA
- People who have asthma or hay fever can get severe asthma symptoms during grass pollen season when high amounts of grass pollen in the air combine with a certain type of thunderstorm.
- Epidemic thunderstorm asthma is when a large number of people develop asthma symptoms over a short period of time.
- Epidemic thunderstorm asthma events are uncommon and don’t occur every year. In south-east Australia they can happen during grass pollen season from October through December. They are not the cause of seasonal increases in asthma symptoms seen every year.
- Thunderstorm asthma can affect those with asthma or hay fever – especially people who experience wheezing or coughing with their hay fever.
Protecting your child if they have asthma
If your child currently has asthma, make sure you have yearly reviews with your GP about their asthma to ensure that they have the right asthma medication, know how to use it properly and that your child has good control of their asthma.
It is also important that the student has an asthma action plan and that they see the GP to ensure that it includes advice for thunderstorm asthma. Ensure the student has a reliever medication like ventolin along with a spacer stored in sick bay.
Protecting your child if they have hay fever
If your child suffers from hay fever, understand that they are at an increased risk of asthma, including during an epidemic thunderstorm asthma event. If you think your child may have symptoms of asthma, for example if they wheeze, are short of breath or cough with their hay fever, then talk to the GP about determining whether it could be related to asthma.
If your child has hay fever only, see your GP or pharmacist about a hay fever treatment plan and what you can do to help protect yourself from the risk of thunderstorm asthma. This may include having an asthma reliever puffer appropriately available – these are available from pharmacies without a prescription.
If you the student develops asthma symptoms, the four steps of asthma first aid will be followed and then your child will need to be reviewed by a GP.
A suggestion for all parents with a child that suffers from asthma or hay fever is to visit the Melbourne Pollen Count and Forecast website or download the app on your phone for alerts especially in the high risk months of October through to December.
Please remember if your child has symptoms of hay fever in the morning prior to the start of the school day, please give them an anti-histamine and/or allergy eye drops.
If your child is at risk of developing hay fever or asthma symptoms throughout the day, please provide the appropriate medications which can be stored in sick bay. The student’s Operoo (formerly known as CareMonkey) Care Profile should be updated with any current medical information.
Any questions regarding asthma and hay fever treatment at school, please contact Mrs Cheryl Pajor at reception.
Cheryl Pajor
School Nurse & Student Services Administrator