Dear Families,

Welcome Back to you all. I hope you were all able to enjoy the holiday break. The weather was wonderful and I hope you were able to get out and enjoy time with family and friends in the fresh air, even though it might have been a bit cold! It was lovely to enjoy sleeping in and not having to answer an alarm! I have enjoyed listening to the children's stories of the fun times they had going away on holidays, staying at home, watching movies, going to the park, and spending time with families and friends just chilling out. I look forward to Term 3 and all the amazing learning experiences our children will be engaging in.

Staff News

I am pleased to welcome back Hayley Kermonde to our school. Hayley has spent the last 9 months on maternity leave after the birth of her beautiful boy Jed. Hayley will be at school two days per week, continuing in her role as ELearning Leader and working across Year 5/6 class groups.

We welcome two new staff to our school, Michael Gowland and Nataliia Plakhta. Michael will be working as our New Arrival Teacher 2 days per week and Nataliia will be working as a New Arrivals Learning Support Officer 4 days a week. It is wonderful to have them join our staff team.

We also welcome back Steven from his Long Service Leave, we hope he had a fabulous time.

COVID Update

Face Masks

It is strongly recommended by the Department of Health that face masks are worn in indoor settings, with face masks mandatory for those aged eight and over who are household contacts and attending school. This is because wearing masks is effective in reducing the transmission of COVID-19.

Masks are not required to be worn outdoors but can be worn when physical distancing is not possible.

Isolation Exemption Period

The period of time when someone is considered a recently confirmed case and therefore exempt from testing and isolation requirements has been reduced from the previous 12 weeks to four weeks. Therefore:

~ staff and students who are household contacts of people with COVID-19 are not exempt from the testing and isolation requirements after four weeks of completing isolation with COVID-19 themselves.

~ a student or staff member who is a household contact and wishes to attend school must take five RATs over seven days and receive negative test results, and wear a face mask (if over eight years old) in indoor spaces.

~ families and staff need to report being a household contact to their school after this four-week period.

Rapid Antigen Tests

RATs will no longer be provided to families and staff fortnightly. Each family will receive 1 box of 5 tests this week. If you require further boxes of RATs please speak to our Office staff as after this week they will only be given to families when requested.

School Closure Day

This term all Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) have been allocated an additional student-free day to release teachers for professional practice time. MACS have stated that, due to the number of disruptions related to COVID and the critical staff shortage, many teachers and LSOs are missing out on professional development opportunities due to needing to cover absent and unwell staff.

St Michael's will be holding a School Closure Day on Friday, September 9. Learning Consultant Deb Vietri will work with us on this day to focus on professional learning around Inquiry Learning.

YLV will provide a full day's program on this day, please ensure you make a booking.

Library Books

Our children love borrowing books from our Library and I am pleased to report we have just purchased over 400 new books to add to our collection. But it is disappointing to say that we have children who are not returning books or are returning damaged books. Damaged books have to be removed, therefore decreasing our collection.

I am asking families to ensure library books are taken care of and I ask that your child has a waterproof library bag in which to carry these books to and from school.

In order to be able to maintain our library collection families will now be charged $20 for each lost or damaged book. If your child does lose or return a damaged library book unfortunately they will not be able to borrow another book until the damaged lost book fee is paid.

Please do not contact Susan directly regarding library books, please direct your queries to either Rita or myself.

New Building

An updated progress report of the building will be provided next week but you can now see what the outside of the building will look like with the removal of the scaffold on the basketball courtside.

Attendance at School

I ask that if your child is unwell that they stay at home, even if they test negative for COVID, until they feel better.

If your child is absent please inform the school via the Operoo app or by ringing the school and leaving a message on the absence line. Please do not contact your child's teacher via Class Dojo.

Late Arrivals

Being late for school has an unsettling effect and can be embarrassing for children. It is also setting your child up for bad habits in the future, how many of our workplaces would accept adults turning up late every day for work? The beginning of the day is when the classes learn the program of the day, hear important instructions that will help them set up for the day and share stories with the class. Their late arrival also disrupts the class they are in, as they get organised for the day.

Please be on time for school. Each day the children move into school at 8.45am and need to be in their class at 8.50am when the bell rings. Students arriving late to school (after 8:50am) must enter the school building via the office in order to receive a late pass. I understand that being late occasionally might be out of our control but being late regularly is not acceptable. Your support in regards to this would be greatly appreciated.

School Fees

Many families have now paid their fees in full - thank you. For those paying instalments, thank you for continuing to commit to these payments. It is very important that all school fees are paid in full and on time to enable the school to meet its financial obligations. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like to discuss your account or contact our Office Manager, Michelle Scheggia, if you wish to set up a direct debit payment plan. Final invoices will be sent out shortly and I ask you to finalise your accounts at your earliest convenience.

Denise Hussey

(Principal)

'The most simple thing I can do is to be good today but better tomorrow'

Catherine McAuley - Mercy Sisters Foundress

All students attending St Michael's Primary School have the right to feel safe. The care, safety and wellbeing of children and young people is a fundamental responsibility of all within our school.

Prayer