Message from the Principal

Dear Parents and Guardians

Welcome back to Term 3. I trust everyone enjoyed a relaxing time with their families and feel energized and ready for another term.

COVID

As COVID continues to challenge us all please note that our covid safe procedures continue.

If your child is a household contact, they are no longer required to quarantine and you are required to:

Notify the school that they are a household or household-like contact and that they are attending school during the 7-day period.
Follow the checklist for COVID contacts.
Undertake rapid antigen testing 5 times within the 7-day period.
Wear a face mask at school when indoors during the 7-day period if they are aged 8 years or above unless they have a valid exemption.
If symptomatic, stay/return home, take a rapid antigen test, or get a PCR test if the RA kit is unavailable.

If a student has been in contact with a case of COVID-19, including at school, they should:
If asymptomatic, students should continue to attend school and monitor for symptoms.
If symptomatic, all students must stay/return home, take a rapid antigen test, or get a PCR test if a rapid antigen testing kit is unavailable.
On receipt of a negative test result, and if well enough, the student can return to school.
The school must report positive student cases via the process established by the diocesan education office.
The school will continue to notify school community that there has been a case at the school using the communication templates available.

Please continue to closely monitor your child’s health and do not send them to school if they are unwell. If your child is unwell at school, parents will be contacted and are required to come and collect them. We thank you for your continued support in keeping our community safe and minimising the spread of illness.

Staffing Updates

At the end of Term 2 we were in the unfortunate position of having two teaching positions here for Term 3 at our school. These roles were advertised and unfortunately, we have been unable to find suitable candidates to fill these positions. We are using our existing staff to support teaching and learning in these classrooms and this will continue, moving forward. Whilst l appreciate that these circumstances are not ideal, l trust that you will appreciate the school’s efforts to prioritise the continuity of learning for our students. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Meetings and assemblies

At this stage, we have not been advised to change our procedures regarding onsite meetings and assemblies. We are currently reviewing our practices to ensure we maintain the safety and wellbeing of everyone. If we are advised to change procedures, we will update families as soon as possible.

School Absentee

Just a reminder that if your child is going to be absent from school, you must submit the Absentee eForm via Skoolbag or leave a message with the office. If your child is absent from school and you have not informed us, your child will be marked as Unexplained and you will receive an SMS notification about this.

Photographs and Videos

A friendly reminder that under our child safety requirements parents are only allowed to take photos of their own children. We kindly ask all members of our community to respect our legal obligations.

Enrolments 2023

If you are a current family at our school and have a child who is turning 5 by April 30th next year, can you please complete an enrolment form and forward it to the office as soon as possible. Thank you for your assistance with this.

Are your children cyber safe?

It is very important that all online environments promote safety and wellbeing and minimise the opportunity for students to be harmed. By getting to know the online services your child is using, and by monitoring how they are using these services you can help reduce the potential risks of your child being online.

Tips to help kids be Cyber Safe

Never give out personal information such as their name, home address, school name or telephone number in chat rooms or on bulletin boards.
Get to know the services your child uses. If you don’t know how to log on, get your child to show you. Monitor your child's online interactions.
Never send or provide a picture of themselves to someone they chat or communicate with.
Remember that people online might not be who they say they are. Someone who says that “she” is a “12 year old girl” could really be an older man.
Children should tell their parents immediately if they read anything that makes them feel uncomfortable.
Never allow a child to arrange a face-to-face meeting with another computer user without parental permission.
Set reasonable rules and guidelines for computer use by your children. Discuss these rules and post them near the computer as a reminder. Check regularly to see that children are following these rules, especially when it comes to the amount of time your children spend on the computer.
Consider keeping the computer in a family room rather than the child's bedroom. Get to know their “online friends” just as you get to know all of their other friends.
Stand up and speak out! If you see or know about cyberbullying happening to someone you know support them and report the bullying. No one has the right to bully another person. At its most serious, cyberbullying is illegal and can be investigated by the police.

If you have any questions regarding your child’s internet use or safety concerns please discuss them with your child’s teacher or visit the government cybersafety website http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/

CSEF Applications

If your financial circumstances have changed due to COVID-19 and you now have a Health Care Card, please fill in the attached CSEF application form and email it to the school on admin@sjwreservoirnth.catholic.edu.au

Link to CSEF Application Form: https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/about/programs/health/CSEF-Application-Form-2020.pdf

If you have already submitted a CSEF form for 2022, you do not need to resubmit this form.

School Fees

A friendly reminder that all fees and levies need to be paid by 31st October 2022 unless you are direct debiting. 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 Marisa or myself if you would like to discuss your account or wish to set up a direct debit payment plan.

May St Joseph the Worker bless you and watch over you and your family at this time.

Maria Barnes