Dear St Joseph’s School Community

Thank you for the calm compassion you have all showed during the past week. There have been a number of new initiatives implemented to ensure that we are meeting all of the requirements set out for us during the time of an infectious pandemic.

COVID-19 has changed the way that we operate currently at St Joseph’s Wee Waa. We need to be more mindful of Social Distancing, there is no handshakes or high fives. Even from these simple measures, children realise that there is something serious going on around them. At school, we have been talking age-appropriately with students about COVID-19. In particular, the things that we can do to keep us healthy. I have added some resources to this newsletter that will help you as parents communicate the seriousness of the pandemic that is hitting Australia.

We are enacting a number of other measures to help ensure the safety of your children and also that of the staff here at St Joseph’s. Firstly the cleaning schedule has been increased here at school, all teachers also have wipes for them to wipe high touch areas throughout the day. Each school day we have every door handle and handrail disinfected and wiped clean. Our taps are disinfected each day and soap is available at each sink surface. From today our bubblers are being switched off. All students need to have their own drink bottle. If your child does not have a drink bottle, we have some single-use bottles. Please let your child’s Leader of Learning know, or give the office a call.

Looking at the next few weeks, there are a number of events that have been cancelled or postponed. These will also be further communicated to you closer to the time. During the final weeks of term, there will be no Easter Liturgy for our students, we have to also postpone our Student Progression meetings. These will happen near the end of term 3. Lastly, NAPLAN 2020 has also been cancelled. This affects students in years 3 & 5 at St Joseph’s School.

Foward Preparation:

Thank you to all of the families who took time to answer the Distance Learning Survey that went out last Tuesday (This can be filled out by clicking https://forms.gle/vfZWN3vHiWGuCRPb7 ). This survey indicated to me that there are a large proportion of families who have access to the internet and devices at home that students can use. I also thank those families who let me know that their internet access is restricted because of poor bandwidth due to satellites and geographical interference. I understand your concerns and we will work with families like this to enable a solution to help with your child’s learning.

As stated by our Prime Minister and State Premier, we will not be closing our school. However, we do need to be prepared to provide a blended learning environment that uses elements of online learning, video conferencing as well as physical work in workbooks and paper. Our teachers have worked hard this week to get a plan on how we could deliver our curriculum in a different way if we ever do have to close. Over the coming weeks, we will be increasing the use of devices to practise logging into each Stage’s Online Classroom. Thee they will be able to access extra resources to assist them to complete learning that is happening face-to-face in the classroom. This is to help prepare them if we ever do have a direction to shut down for a period of time.

Healthy procedures:

This week we have been explicitly teaching students how to wash their hands, and how to cough into their elbow. Please help us by promoting this within your homes too. If your child is sick, has a fever, cough or runny nose, please organised for them to stay at home. If they were to do this at school, you will be called to come and pick them up. This is a directive from the Catholic Schools Office Armidale.

Student Awards:

Early next week we will be live streaming in classes as they hand out their student awards. This will be done via our school’s Facebook page I will post times when this is happening, so you can all tune in.

Yours in faith

Alistair Stewart

Principal

St Joseph's Primary School

Issue 3 · 20 Mar 2020

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