From the Principal

Dear Parents and Carers

Welcome back to the beginning of another school term. I hope you were able to spend some quality time with your children and family over the Easter holidays.  It was wonderful to see them come back into the school on Tuesday  morning with enthusiasm and smiles, ready to see their classmates and teachers and get back into learning for another term.

A reminder to parents that our first bell rings in the morning at 8:45 am.  All students should be at school well before this time, ready to begin the day as our gates open at 8:30 am.  Being punctual is an asset that will be needed in all walks of life and a habit that will stand children in good stead for life.  Whilst at school we can emphasise and support families in teaching this habit to children. It is parents who have to take responsibility for making sure children know, understand and develop the habits related to being punctual.  The best way to do that is to model being punctual on a daily basis.

Morning Routine

Parents should ensure their child is at school between 8:30 and 8:45am, ready to start their first session at 8:50am.  This is an important time for children to learn the routine of unpacking their own bags, putting notes in tubs and changing readers before class begins.  It is very disruptive to the class and the children’s learning for students to be arriving at the classroom after the bell. 

Late Arrivals

As we no longer have density limits in the front office, we will revert to our previous requirement for all parents to bring their children to the office and sign in late arriving students using the ipad at reception. Gates are all closed at 8:50am so after this time you need to come straight to the office together.

 After School

Car park drop off has been excellent this year, however pick up after school has not been as smooth.  Ensuring the safety of your children is our priority.  

You must park outside the school grounds or in the carpark and pick up your child either from the classroom, or ask your child to meet you at a designated spot. It is not safe for children to be walking in the car park without a parent. 

It would heavily reduce traffic if families used the skate park car park and then walked, rode or rolled the short distance to our playground.  We worked with the council to construct the new footpath into the school.  The gate near the senior playground is open before and after school. 

The Blue Zone outside the school on Everingham Road is a drop off zone only, you are not permitted to be more than 3 metres from your car and stop no longer than 2 minutes. The local council are actively policing this area and a number of parents have been booked in the last weeks.

Please do not pick up children in front of the office from your car, or park in a disabled car spot. Always use the yellow crossings in the car park.

Covid Safe Update

Face masks

Face masks are no longer required in any school setting. This means students in years 3 to 6, staff and visitors in primary schools are no longer required to wear face masks. Any student or staff member who wishes to wear a mask may do so, including those who are medically at-risk.

Screening requirements

Students and staff who have tested positive for COVID-19, and have completed their 7-day isolation period, now do not need to undertake rapid antigen test (RAT) screening for 12 weeks after their release from isolation. This was previously 8 weeks.

Household contacts

Students and staff who are household contacts of a COVID-19 case are no longer required to quarantine. They can return to school as long as they undertake rapid antigen tests (RAT) 5 times within their 7-day period and wear face masks indoors if they are aged 8 and above unless they have a valid exemption.

If any household contact returns a positive RAT result during this period, they must isolate for 7 days and not attend school.

Vaccination requirements for visitors to schools

Parents, carers and other adult visitors (not performing work) are no longer required to show evidence of two doses of COVID-19 vaccine. 

As such, any volunteer performing any work at a school is as an education worker and they must be fully vaccinated (boosted).  Education workers include volunteers that attend an education facility and that work in close proximity to children, students or staff.

This includes parent helpers, reading helpers, excursion supervisors or classroom volunteers.

RAT Screening Program Extension Reminder

The supply of RATs will continue for the first 4 weeks of this term.

Assemblies 

We are pleased to welcome parents back to our Assembly on Monday afternoons. Our first Assembly for term two will be hosted by the Year 6 students on Monday May 9 at 2:30pm. Assemblies will then take place every fortnight. We are looking forward to welcoming everyone back.

ANZAC Day

Thank you to Mr Craig, Ms Vella, Mr Carlisle, Ms Te and our Year 6 students for  representing the school at the Altona ANZAC Day Dawn Service.  

NAPLAN 

In the beginning of May, the children in Years 3 and 5 will be participating in the National Assessment Program Online (NAPLAN Online). NAPLAN Online assesses literacy and numeracy – important skills that each child needs to succeed in school and life. The NAPLAN tests are designed to help teachers ensure children are on track with their literacy and numeracy development. The children in Years 3 and 5 will participate in NAPLAN Online tests for reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. The yYear 5 children will complete the writing test online however, the Year 3 children will use pen and paper. The children do not need to be digital technology experts to take the NAPLAN Online test. Making sure our children have digital technology skills is part of our school curriculum, and our teachers will ensure your child is familiar with the NAPLAN Online format. 

One of the main benefits of NAPLAN Online is tailored (or adaptive) testing, where the test automatically adapts to a child's test performance. The test presents questions of higher or lower complexity, depending on the children’s responses. Tailored (or adaptive) testing is designed to assess a wider range of abilities and to measure children’s achievement more precisely. Your child should not be concerned if they find questions more challenging than usual; they may be taking a more complex test pathway.  To see the types of questions and interactive features of NAPLAN Online, visit the public demonstration site. 

For more info:

Information for parents and carers 

Watch a video that explains NAPLAN Online

NAPLAN Online timetable beginning at 9:00am

2022 School Closure Days

Listed below are our school closure days for 2022. These are student free days.  Staff use these days to further develop their learning and keep informed of current practice and procedures.

• Tuesday 14 June  (Term 2) - School Improvement Plan facilitated by external review 
• Monday 15  August (Term 3) - Catholic Identity
• Monday 31 October  (Term 4) - Report Writing Day
• Friday 25 November (Term 4 ) - Planning for 2023

NOTE: These dates are subject to change due to circumstances beyond our control.

Warm regards

Darren Gibbons

Principal