Term 1 Week 2 2022

It's been great to see all our students back on site this week.  Uniform, conduct, mask wearing - all have been fabulous.  Classes are settled and I've enjoyed visiting a number of rooms and seeing students hard at work.  

Covid-19

I'm sick of writing about it, and we're all sick of hearing about it!!! Nonetheless it is going to remain a newsletter item for some time to come.  Mask compliance has generally been very good, with only a handful of students resisting wearing them correctly .  Please make sure your child has sufficient masks to get them through the school day - disposable masks should ideally be changed three times during the day.  

I will be sending out a daily notification via Compass of the positive cases here in the college, and the student groups affected.   If your child is in one of the affected cohorts, there is no need to panic.  Just monitor for symptoms. Interestingly, of our 30 plus cases so far, most have been identified through the RAT test.   This is voluntary, but we can already see that using the test has saved the infection of a number of people.  Ideally, RAT tests should be undertaken on Tuesday and Thursday, or Monday and Wednesday.  

Most importantly, please don't send your child to school if they are unwell.  Even a headache can turn out to be a positive Covid-19 case.  And remember to notify me if your child tests positive - AskLeadership@sthelena.vic.edu.au

Camps, Sport & Excursion Fund (CSEF) 

Please see the attachment regarding eligibility and application process.  

Privacy Policy - annual reminder

Please find the DET Privacy Policy here.    It is also available from our website www.sthelena.vic.edu.au  

Lost property

Any items that are found in the school should be brought to the General Office.  Our students are very honest and we usually have a large collection of FOUND items.

Students who have lost items should ask at the General Office.  Parents may email AskLeadership@sthelena.vic.edu.au     Please note that found items will not be kept for more than two weeks.  

Volunteering at St Helena

Prior to Covid-19 the College was very fortunate to enjoy the volunteer efforts of a large number of parents, community members and alumni.   We would love to get our volunteer program up and running again.  You will shortly receive information about how to nominate for College Council, but apart from this more formal involvement we welcome parents to support us in sport coaching, working in the library, assisting with reading programs, supporting our Friends of Music and Friends of Performing Arts, ..... just about anything you can think of!  You will need a volunteer Working with Children Check and be triple vaccinated.

If you are interested in finding out more, please email me at AskLeadership@sthelena.vic.edu.au with an area you may be interested in, or a skill or qualification you think you could bring to a volunteer role.  You don't have to make an ongoing commitment.

Volunteering not only assists the school, and our kids, it also leads to some great friendships being formed! 

Performing Arts 

Last year we farewelled Chris Hewitt, our Director of Performing Arts, who gave our students so many opportunities in the performing arts.   We are very fortunate to have Laura Zinghini join us in Chris's role.  Laura has a long history of experience in teaching and leading in the Performing Arts and has some exciting plans for the year.   The production team determined the Musical for this  year just last night, so watch this space for an exciting announcement.  

St Helena Pool Party & Swimming Carnival

Friday 25th of February.   All students are required to attend.  Consent is via Compass.  This is a CovidSafe event, and there will be lots of fun activities for non-competitors in swimming races.  

Building Program Update 

I have been in the new VCE building this week and it is sensational!!!  We hope to have it handed over by the end of next week.  I promise some photos in next week's bulletin!  

Frankie & Ash - our School Support Dogs

Frankie and Ash have had a great summer holiday.  Ash learnt to swim at the beach (although hasn't quite got the hang of not swallowing sea water yet).   They had a fabulous first Christmas - Santa brought them a wading pool that doubles as a ball pit!  Frankie's first birthday on the 2nd of January was celebrated with McDonalds Happy Meals and party hats.

They have been looking after our foster puppy Robbie for the last week, teaching him his manners and having a great time wrestling and running around in the garden.  They will be very sad to see him go to his furever home on Sunday.  Robbie came to us through a rescue organisation called Starting Over Dog Rescue.  They rehome hundreds of dogs each year, and depend on donations and rehoming fees to fund their weekly trip to Mildura and back, rescuing dogs from pounds along the way, and to fund veterinary bills.   If you are looking for an animal organisation to support you couldn't choose better!  Starting Over Dog Rescue runs purely on the generosity and commitment of volunteers.  

I will miss Robbie too (this was almost a foster fail!), even after our Robovac found a little deposit he had left in a corner of a bedroom and spread it all over the place.   I spent last Friday night meticulously cleaning Alfred (the robovac) and steamcleaning the carpet. Trigger warning for a gross photo in the gallery below!!

Frankie and Ash are very happy to be back at school with all their human friends.

Raising resilient children

Apologies for the short notice on this one.  You can also book here:

Online Parenting Course - 'Raising Resilient Children' (mj.am)