Dear Parents and Carers,

Lockdown 6.0 Restrictions School Update

On Saturday, the Victorian Government announced changes to current restrictions across Victoria until 11.59 pm Thursday 2 September.

Please find information below taken from the Catholic Schools Operations Guide,

Permits for onsite supervision

From Monday 23rd August, parents and carers who are accessing onsite supervision at school for their children as an authorised or essential worker must provide a worker’s permit to the school for recording keeping. Families are asked to send their permits to office@ssrowville.catholic.edu.au as soon as is practical. Please see below for more information.

Children where both parents and/or carers are considered authorised workers who cannot work from home, work for an authorised provider and where no other supervision arrangements can be made.

Where there are two parents/carers, both must be authorised workers, working outside the home for their children to be eligible for onsite provision at school.

For single parents/carers, the authorised worker must be working outside the home for their children to be eligible for onsite provision at school.

In rare circumstances, a parent/carer does not need a worker permit. This includes people employed in law enforcement, emergency services or health care workers who carry employer-issued photographic identification.

Key health advice - Face masks at school - onsite supervision

Based on advice from the Victorian Chief Health Officer, the following requirements for wearing a face mask apply to all schools.

It is now recommended primary-school-age children wear masks while indoors and outdoors, except when in the home or when an exception applies. However, it is not mandatory.

School staff and secondary school students aged 12 or older must always wear a face mask indoors and outdoors at school, including when attending an Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) program, unless a lawful exception applies. This includes while travelling to and from school on public transport and when in taxis or rideshare vehicles.

For communication purposes, teachers and education support staff are not required to wear face masks while teaching onsite, but it is recommended that they wear face masks while teaching onsite wherever practicable.

School Review - Closure Day - Monday 23rd August

Today the school staff gathered together via Google Meet to continue a collaborative School review process, which is part of the Catholic education system’s school review program. Staff gathered (virtually) in smaller groups to discuss and collate evidence related to the way we as a school engage in teaching and learning programs.

This day was critical to empowering and giving genuine whole staff voice to the school review program. In Term 4 St Simon’s School will engage with an independent school reviewer to validate our school improvement reflection and to set new directions for the next four years.

I would like to thank the St Simon the Apostle families for their support of the School during the closure day and I appreciate that the timing is far from ideal, particularly whilst we are still in Lockdown 6.0.

Book Week 2021

This week we hope that some of the celebration and sentiment of Book Week makes its way into your home. Year levels will be engaging in a variety of book week activities including a daily release of a special guest storyteller video! (4 videos to view!)

We would like to gather some pictures of how Book Week is celebrated during remote learning so please share your photos with office@ssowville.catholic.edu.au over the next week or so.

100 Days of Prep

Just as Lockdown 6.0 began a few weeks ago, our school was about to celebrate the wonderful milestone for our prep students completing 100 days of school.

Despite the challenges of the Lockdown and remote learning, we are determined to celebrate this amazing time for our prep students.

On Tuesday 24th August, the prep students and their families will be gathering with the prep teachers via Google Meet to celebrate 100 days of Prep! We look forward to sharing some of the excitement of the day with you in a later newsletter.

The Resilience Project - GEM TV

This week, The Resilience Project announced that GEM TV will be returning. GEM TV are short sharp daily videos that embrace strategies and activities focused on Gratitude, Empathy, Mindfulness, and Emotional Literacy.

This may be just what your children need as the reality of lockdown continues!

GEM TV

https://theresilienceproject.com.au/at-home/gem-tv/

God bless

Tom Wursthorn

Principal

Book Fair