Dear Parents

Thank you to the P&C for their organisation of the Mother's Day Breakfast and Mother's Day Stall last Friday. We had a great number of families come along to the breakfast and the stall was very well received by the children. Thank you to all the volunteers for your work. It is very much appreciated by all the staff and children.

Last Friday, we had the great pleasure of welcoming our new Director Educational Leadership, Mrs Adelia Fuller. Mrs Fuller was greeted by our captains and then went on a tour of the school grounds and met some staff and children. Welcome to Bathurst, Mrs Fuller.

Our school netball team have had two fantastic wins this term to progress through to the 'Round Of 16' of the PSSA Knockout Competition. In round 1 we played Kelso Public School and came away with an 18 to nil win, demonstrating great sportsmanship throughout. In round 2, last Thursday, we played Bathurst West Public School winning 19 goals to 13, showing some fantastic skill development in our play down the court. Thank you to our umpire, Keira Ivory, who has generously given up her time to umpire both of our games. Our next game is against Raglan Public School on Thursday 25th May. Good luck, BPS Netball Team!

Last Friday, the school District Cross Country team ran at Mt Panorama. The team of 33 students represented our school with excellent sportsmanship, cheering on their team mates in every race. They gave 100% effort in their races and each runner finished the race running strong towards the finish line. Super congratulations to Harvey Glasgow and Kyle Tredinnick who won the 10yrs boys and 12yrs boys races, and to Adelaide Fulthorpe who finished 2nd in the 11yrs girls. Further congratulations to the following students who finished in the top 6 of their race, and will also represent Bathurst District at the upcoming Western Carnival on 14th June in Orange: Jax Brennan, Lilly Guihot, Sophie McPhee, Cruz Fischbeck, Lachlan Abbott, Tom Hamer, Beau Francis, Max Naylor, Elena Noonan and Lara Glasgow. Well done to all our runners.

A reminder that our Athletics Carnival will occur over 2 days later this term. Day 1 will be held on Wednesday 7th June at MacKillop College. This day will focus on Track (running) events. Some field events may occur as trials only. Day 2 will be held to hold the finals of the field events at Bathurst Public School on Friday 16th June/Friday 23rd June (weather pending). We look forward to seeing everyone at the carnivals, and further information will be sent home soon.

School Concert 2023 - Our School Concert will take place at the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre (BMEC) on Wednesday 9th August, 2023. There will be a matinee and evening performance. All children K-6 will be involved in this years concert. The theme for the Concert is 'Disney 100 years'! We are so excited about the plans we have. Tickets will go on sale through the BMEC box office of online through the BMEC on Wednesday 19th July. Please mark these dates in your calendar.

COVID UPDATE

Thank you to the families who have informed us that they have children and/or family members that have tested positive to COVID. This information assists us to support our staff and children to stay well. Our school has had a circuit breaker introduced by the Department's Health and Safety Directorate in an attempt to reduce the spread of COVID and the flu like symptoms that have occurred across the school in the past week. All staff will now where masks whilst indoors for the next 5 school days. This provision has commenced today, Thursday 18th May. Rapid Antigen Test Kits are available from the office for any staff or family who require them. Please contact the office for test kits and they will be sent home with children.

While the community continues to live with COVID-19, NSW Health has advised that the unpredictable nature of the virus will continue to present a health risk to the community, especially during the winter months when other respiratory illness circulate. Accordingly, our school will continue to operate with our baseline COVID-smart measures in place throughout this term to minimise transmission while prioritising student and staff wellbeing. The DoE has set out some ways which includes a combination of layered safety measures such as:

Staying home if unwell and test for COVID-19 if showing any symptoms
Boosted day cleaning of high-touch areas in our schools
Strongly encouraging masks to be worn by all students, staff and visitors, particularly when indoors or outdoors when physical distancing is difficult to maintain, and if exposed to COVID-19
Maintaining natural ventilation with windows and doors open whenever possible, including when cooling/heating systems are in use
Continuing to provide RATs and other hygiene products

I have attached the current information that has been provided by the Department of Education regarding the COVID protocols.

If any parent has any concerns regarding any aspect of school life, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kate White

Principal

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