Dear Parents and Carers,

We are very much looking forward to our upcoming Parent Function - Studio 54 - this Saturday night in the hall. This event has been a long time coming - twice we have had to cancel due to the pandemic. I can not thank Jo Greenham and Sherryn Hogan for their commitment to this project enough. Their dedication and attention to detail (together with their band of helpers) has been truly awesome and we are extremely grateful to have such willing and capable parents prepared to mobilise these types of events.

Looking forward to an exceptional night this Saturday!

Whilst we are enjoying some very crisp days in Melbourne at the moment, please be reassurred that all classrooms and learning spaces are kept very warm and comfortable throughout each day. We keep all students in during playtimes or lunchtimes only if it is raining. During a typical wet day program the students might be involved in games, creative activities, quiet time and possibly mixing with the class next door, always fully supervised. We feel incredibly lucky to have such fantastic warm classrooms and access to many under cover areas throughout our school. The good news is there are only 89 more days of winter in Melbourne!

We are currently experiencing an usually high number of school absences due to sickness (flu symptoms) and some covid related illnesses. We urge all of you to continue to be vigilant regarding the monitoring of flu symptoms in your children. Thank you to all parents who are continuing to heed the advice to keep anyone home who is not well. Whilst this can be inconvenient and not what we were hoping for this year, it is so important that we continue to keep all in our community safe by making sensible decisions and not taking risks. The days of "it's just a sniffle" or "it's only a little cough" are behind us. Thank you also to all parents who are continuing to inform us and keep us in the loop regarding any sickness that is keeping our students at home. Please remember, if your child is a close contact, they must wear a mask indoors at school if they are in Grade 3-6.

As we approach winter and flu season, the vaccination of children aged 5 to 11 and booster shots for students 16+ remains the best way to ensure protection for students and staff. If you have any concerns about getting your child vaccinated, please get in contact with your GP or another health professional who can answer your questions.

Home Learning Packs

We are very aware that we have experienced an enormous rise in absent students due to the flu and not just Covid, and that there have been parents now requesting work packs - even for flu related absences. In normal times, we would not be providing this.

Previously, this has been our practice regarding absent students:

Covid = yes, work packs provided

Flu = no packs provided

In order to provide an appropriate response to this issue, we are proposing that we provide the following options that can provide upwards of a week of age appropriate work for any student absent for an extended period of time. This could include both Covid or Flu related absences.

During this period of isolation, the school has 3 options for support in regards to a continuation of age appropriate work.

The 3 options are as follows:

1. Your child’s classroom teacher may provide some specific activities that could be collected from the front office.

2. Your child’s classroom teacher may provide a link which will allow you to download and print off a range of suitable age appropriate activities for the isolation period.

3. Your child’s classroom teacher may direct you to the following link to Primary online learning packs resources, which provides online learning pack resources at each grade level. Please take a look at this link and feel free to access the work included if your child is away sick this term for any extended period of time.

Please note that our Foundation Year is listed as “Kindergarten” in this resource.

There may be a combination of these options. This will be directed and explained by the classroom teacher. Please keep in mind that the exact curriculum that is being taught in the classroom will not be able to be perfectly replicated for the student who is quarantined or absent with the flu. Nevertheless, we will ensure that sufficient resources and appropriate tasks are available for this short period of time.

This can of course be complemented with specific tasks from the classroom teacher if desired or required. This would also not require correction from the teacher and the direction would come from the parent (who would be best served to determine the health status of their child and their capacity to complete schoolwork while they are at home unwell).

Xavier College - new model

As you may know, we have a number of families who elect to leave St. Cecilia's at the conclusion of Year 4 to continue their child's academic journey by attending any one of a few local private schools.

Ms Kathleen Upfold (Director of Connection) at Xavier College, visted me recently to discuss this issue. Xavier have identified the impact exiting students can have on the local Catholic Primary Schools. Ms Upfold informed me that Xavier was shifting their college structures and redefining their campuses.

I urge all of our current parents that are considering Xavier College as an option for future schooling to speak to Xavier directly and inquire about this new direction. Essentially, they are moving away from their middle school model and instead will offer P-6 Primary School followed by Year 7-12 Secondary Education. Indeed for Xavier to indicate that it will be now possible to secure their main intake in Year 7 instead of Year 5, will allow many students to complete their primary schooling at their parish primary school, with their peers and conclude these important forming years in the place where it began.

The Board Room

In further important news, I was lucky enough to enjoy a yummy lunch with some of our students in The Board Room today. These students were lucky winners of either Spin It To Win It, or present as a thankyou for some recent contributions to our school.

It was an absolute pleasure to spend some time with Chloe, Millie, Luca, Isla, Jack, Hugh, Gabby, Audrey, Eleanor and Chiara.

It really was a hot chip kind of day....

Parent Function

The Parent Function is finally happening this year!

The theme is set. Studio 54 DISCO!

The DJ is booked!

Drinks are ordered from Deeds Brewing!

The food is ordered!

Have you got your outfit ready?

Only hours to go!

2022 St Cecilia’s School Fair

The Fair date has been set - make sure you put Saturday, 22nd October 2022

in your diaries now. The Fair will return to being a whole community event this year,

which is very exciting!

The rides are booked and planning and preparation is underway.

Please click on this link below for more information.

A reminder...

Just an important safety reminder regarding duty of care before and after school. Now that we are back to mostly normal arrangements, we would like to remind all parents and students of some guidelines to know and follow to help keep everyone safe.

Staff commence yard duty at 8:30am (no student should be on the school grounds before then as they will be unsupervised)
After arriving, once their schoolbag is placed in their line, students move to SCG (back playground) or the undercroft
No footy before school (too many bodies and parents/toddlers entering the yard)
Staff will be on yard duty after school until 3:45pm
We ask that no ball games are played after school (the yard duty teachers are supervising traffic and students hopping in cars)
We ask all parents in the schoolgrounds to supervise their child(ren) immediately after school as this has been a period of recent accidents
If you require care for your child before 8:30am or after 3:30pm, you will need to access Camp Australia (our out of hours care provider). You can register at www.campaustralia.com.au and search for St Cecilia’s in Victoria. For further information ring Camp Australia on 1300 105 343.

Monster Pumpkin

Next time you visit our school office, be sure to check out this monster - proudly produced in our very own St. Cecilia's Veggie Patch!

Warm regards,

Marty McKenna

Principal

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