Principal's Report

Welcome back Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 students!

Dear Parents and Guardians,

What an absolute delight it was to see our years 3, 4, 5 and 6 students returning to the school grounds this morning. In some ways it was the perfect winter welcome back with a cold start and no rain, clear skies and the Sun trying desperately to warm us all up!

As I wandered about the school entry ways I saw lots of examples of students walking confidently and with great excitement as they returned to a face to face school experience. 

There were a few, understandably, nervous looking mums and dads watching their children venture into the school, many of which had a brave face also.

This week there will be more than the usual number of staff on duty at the school entry points to provide a friendly reassuring face for students as they continue this week’s return.  Our students in prep, year 1 and year 2 have settled well back into classroom and school routines, and so I am confident in the coming days the older students will have a similar experience.

Practising Physical\Social Distancing

It is extremely important that parents and carers who come to the school site at drop off and pick up time continue to practice social\physical distancing between themselves and other people outside their immediate household.

Physical distancing is one of the key pieces of advice given by the Chief Health Officer to prevent the virus from being caught or transmitted.  

Thank you for your ongoing cooperation.

Clarification regarding School Pick Up

With the year 3-6 students returning this week I would like to clarify a number of matters in relation to the staggered school pick up process.  These clarifications are a summary of some of the commonly asked questions that have been asked at the school office in the last couple of weeks.

• Families are still able to make pick up arrangements for their children at the appropriate dismissal time where a family member meets the child\ren in the park opposite the school.  Younger siblings should be collected by older brother\sister to ensure safe walking to the family’s agreed pick up location.
• Families who have arrangements in place where their child\ren walks or cycles home may continue.  Please note the earlier dismissal times for some students may mean they are returning home earlier than usual.
• The car park at peak times for drop off and pick up works best when families use this as “kiss and drop” or drive through pick up function.  School staff will be supervising these movements at key times at the beginning and end of the day.
• During afternoon pick up time families are asked not to park or wait in the car park ahead of your family’s nominated house colour pick up time.  This type of behaviour affects the smooth flow of traffic for other families driving through to complete the pick up process of children.
• A copy of the maps for the drop off and pick up procedures have been included for your reference in this week’s newsletter.

School TV - SPECIAL REPORT: Coronavirus - The Transition Back

 A special report from Michael Carr-Gregg  Click here

No School Closure day Monday 15th June

Please note there will be no School closure day on Monday 15th June as indicated in the take-home School Calendar.

Enrolment 2021 - Existing Families: Spread the Word

“Word of mouth” is our biggest asset when it comes to building our enrolment so I encourage you to consider sharing with your family, friends and neighbours what you value the most about St Simon’s School. This is a way of promoting our school in the community and any family who is interested in enrolment needs to go to the school website and click on “Enrol Now” to find out more about the process.

Parish Pastoral Council - a message from Fr Kevin

Dear St. Simon’s Parishioners,

On Tuesday (2nd June), our recently-formed (well, pre-Corona) Parish Council met for two hours in a Zoom meeting, with fourteen members present. The discussion was wide ranging, including reports of how our parish is faring amid the many changes we are all having to manage.

The most valuable part of the discussion centred on four questions proposed by the Archdiocese of Melbourne as worthy of reflection by both parishes and parishioners during this time.

So now we would invite you to reflect on two of those questions this week, and if you wish, reply via email with your own responses. Alternatively, just consider them as “food for thought”.  However, a written response from a variety of parishioners would be a wonderful resource for our next Parish Council meeting as we look towards our future over the next couple of years.

So the first two questions to which we invite your response are:

1. Before the crisis, what would you have considered essential?
2. During the crisis, what have you done without?

 These two questions form the background of Questions 3 and 4 (next week!), which will help us determine the way ahead as a parish.

Please send your response to frkd@stsimonsparish.com.au.  Your thoughts and opinions really matter, for St. Simon’s in YOUR parish. If you indicate you would like your thoughts to be “Confidential”, just indicate accordingly on your email and your response will remain totally anonymous in any discussion or consideration.

And our link to St. Simon’s Parish Bulletin.  If you can’t open the bulletin through this link, please go to our website on www.stsimonsparish.com.au.

May you have a healthy and peaceful week.

God bless,

Fr. Kevin and the Parish Staff of St. Simon’s

God bless

Tom Wursthorn

Principal