Principal's Message

Dear Parents, Guardians and Friends,

Today concludes the first phase of remote learning. Well done to you all. What a rollercoaster ride it has been. The Foundation to Year 2 students return next Tuesday 26th May, with Monday 25th May set by the Premier as a Teacher Only day. A reminder that Moira has asked me to let you know that Whole School Day Care will be offered by her company on Monday in our hall so if you are going to require this please contact her. Our Year 3-6 students will continue at home until Tuesday 9th June when they will return to school for the final 3 weeks of term which will conclude Phase 2 of Remote Learning.

I have repeated a lot of content from last week's newsletter around organisational details as I think it will be supportive of the procedural changes expected.

Please remind your children that when they return to us it will be a different school than that which we were all used to, for at least the remainder of the term. The key COVID 19 limiting factors of extremely regularly washing hands, using hand sanitizer, trying to not touch their faces and appropriate coughing and sneezing techniques will be expected. Children will be expected to only drink from their own water bottle. Though social distancing of students is not required in the school setting we will continue to encourage our students to be aware of this to limit the close proximity of one to another within the school.

Drop off and pick up will be through all 3 normal gates to spread families out. Class Teachers will be in their rooms from 8.45am. Students will need to be arriving at school until at least the end of term between 8.45 and 9am and going straight to their classes. We do not want groups of students congregating either before or after school. At this stage adventure playgrounds are still closed and given that the government have said parents and carers are not to enter the school grounds unless it is essential this is obviously not the time for parents to socialize before, during and after the school day in the yard.

We have been asked to stagger arrival and departure times for students. The above paragraph explains how this will be best achieved for arrival with the 3 entrances to the school open and the arrival times to be between 8.45 and 9am. In the afternoon I think it best that the Foundation students conclude their day at 3.15pm as I think that it will be essential for many parents to come onto site to pick them up. If all parents needing to be onsite could use social distancing measures of 1.5 metres and wait outside the grey double doors and not come inside, as we were doing at the end of last term, that would be much appreciated. The remainder of the school from Years 1-6 will be dismissed at the usual time and be able to exit through each of the 3 usual gates as quickly as possible.

If, you as a family, elect to keep your children home once their year levels return full time to school due to the COVID crisis you need to be aware of the Premier's expectations. Once each year level returns to on-site schooling, schools will no longer offer a remote learning program for those students. If parents choose to keep their child at home, they will be responsible for maintaining student learning and need to advise the school of their child/ren's absence. There may be an opportunity for students to access online reading programs and mathletics to support families who make this decision. This does not apply to children who need to be absent for health or medical reasons, such as children with a compromised immune system. For those families, schools will establish a plan to meet their circumstances. Please contact your the school office if you will need to take this option.

Return to school will be a challenge for some students. If you feel it will be beneficial for your child to have an adjusted starting time or length of school day please contact our Diversity Leader, Mrs Sally Thomas, through the office to confirm these adjustments.

As far as break times, with 135 students in grounds designed for 350 I see no reason to stagger playtimes. As such they will be 'business as usual' with staff encouraging social distancing wherever possible.

On Tuesday 26th May students are invited to come to school wearing casual clothes that are any of the colours of the Aboriginal Flag. We hope to see lots of black, red and yellow! You don’t need to wear your school uniform on Tuesday if you choose to wear either black, yellow or red.St Anne’s is a proud Fire Carrier school. FIRE Carriers is an acronym for Friends Igniting Reconciliation through Education. The FIRE carrier project is an initiative of the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry which seeks to keep the Reconciliation flame alight in schools.

This weekend our masses commemorate the bodily Ascension of Jesus into heaven. It is a time when we reflect on Jesus having achieved what he needed to and handing over reponsibility to his followers for continuing his mission. As such, God is with us -so let your light shine!

I can't stress this enough- congratulations to all our students and their teaching assistants for the work they have produced again this week. I would also like to not publicly my appreciation for the staff of St Anne's who I challenged to make this a meaningful learning period for our students - they certainly rose to the challenge.

God Bless

Rod

School Attendance and Unexplained Absence

Please ensure you contact the school before 9:30am if your child is going to be absent or late by leaving a message on 9786 4736 and press #1.

If you are running late (after 9:00 am ) please attend the office to sign your child into school.

As per our policy this will be our morning routine for absences:

Parents will be contacted as soon as practicable on the morning a student is absent via a phone call or text message.

If parent does not reply or is unreachable the emergency contacts will be contacted by the school.

If there is still no response, and the school feels that the child is in danger, the police will be contacted.

Ongoing unexplained absences or lack of cooperation regarding student attendance will result in

a formal conference being organized. Unresolved attendance issues will be referred to D.H.H.S.

This is a legal requirement.