Dear Families,

One week to go until we have our Year Prep, One and Two students back here at St James learning in their classrooms!

Two weeks after that we will welcome our Year Three, Four, Five and Six students back into their classrooms too!

In the meantime the usual arrangements will apply; students whose parents are essential workers or who cannot work from home are able to attend St James to participate in the same remote learning here at school. I understand that some parents will be asked to return to a worksite other than their home over the next few weeks. If this is the case please email me at school asking for the days you require assistance in supervising the remote learning of your children.

Carmel Foster and I met with our cleaning company this morning and are in discussions regarding additional cleaning procedures that we will be putting into place throughout at least the rest of this term. We discussed issues such as; regularly sanitising all touch areas, cleaning and sanitising of the playground equipment, drink taps and continuing the sanitisation of the computer lab and equipment.

Please be assured that we are aware of our obligation to prevent the spread of the virus and are implementing a variety of measures to do so. As a community, we all share this responsibility. While the government has reduced some of our isolation conditions, it's important to remember that the ability of COVID-19 to be transmitted has not changed.

Parish Information

Father Dispin wanted to communicate once again that he is available for any families who require pastoral or spiritual assistance. Feel free to call him 0413 683 153

Please see the parish website for the weekly mass and other information

Website: St John's Mitcham

School Closure Day Monday 25 May

The government has scheduled a school closure day for all students on Monday 25 May so that staff may prepare for the transition back to classroom learning. At this stage we plan to spend the day preparing for;logistics and organisation, hygiene and safe practices, planning for learning, assessment and reporting for the end of the term school reports.

Camp australia are available for care of students whose parents are not able to work from home on that day.

Let's Keep Working Together and be on the same page

Feedback has suggested that most families and staff were able to have some "screen free time" last Wednesday. This was most important for staff and students in the Year 3 - 6 area because they have another three weeks of the remote learning setup.

Just to clarify, once classroom learning commences, there will not be a combination of onsite and remote learning set by the teachers. All teachers will be planning a return to the usual classroom learning and teaching program. If students are unable to attend school due to COVID19 health reasons please contact your child's classroom teacher and myself just as you would if you were going on a family holiday or your child had an extended illness or medical condition. We will then discuss what learning you could provide your child at home.

All students attending our St James site from Tuesday 26 May are expected to wear their Winter school uniform. PSW are arranging to have all retail stores open from this Wednesday 20 May. They will have retail stores open each Wed - Fri 9am - 5pm and Saturday 10am - 1pm. Parents also have the option of ordering their uniform needs via the PSW website.

New Kiss and Drop and Pick up Procedures

We are going to implement the following procedures from Tuesday 26 May until at least Friday 5 June. I ask all Prep - Year Two families to take careful note of this.

We will keep the practice of parents dropping off and collecting students from outside of the school property. The clear preference is that you kiss and drop from the car. We must ensure that adults do not congregate at any of the school entrance points. This process has been occurring throughout this term for students attending St James and worked very well
We will be taking the temperature of all staff and students as they enter the school property. This practice has also been in place throughout Term Two
Instead of staggered start and finish times we will implement a system og staggered gate use. All families are to use the gate designated to the youngest sibling attending school please.
Preps - Top main gate next to the driveway
Year Ones - Top single pedestrian gate on the West side of Centre Rd
Year Twos - Bottom gate next to the Kindergarten in Frank St.
Students will also be dismissed from the same gate

2021 Prep Enrolments

We currently have over 50 applications handed in! I have invited our new families to a "meet and greet" session here at St James in a safe environment.

For health and safety reasons to reduce the risk of contamination, Father Dispin will not be attending and all current families will not participate in this process until term three.

COVID-19 and Wellbeing

Coronavirus: A Guide for Parents delivered by Dr Michael Carr-Gregg

Emerging Minds - Supporting Children During three COVID-19 Pandemic

Managing the disruption caused by COVID-19

Scholastic Books

There are some orders at school to be collected. Please ring to arrange collection. Special thanks to Janine ( and Shane!) Piper for all their work in making this happen.

We will resume orders once we are all back at school.

Extra Curricular