PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

Dear Parents/Carers,

The weekend brought some positive news with Richmond Tigers making their third AFL Grand Final in four years and the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, with (hopefully) a few more to follow on or before November 1st. There is certainly a sense of optimism in the community with a single case number reported again today. Hopefully this trend continues and we move closer to normal daily activities.

We are now more than a week into our return to onsite learning and the buzz of student voices is filling the school once again, which is fantastic. The children have settled back into onsite learning very well, readjusting to the routines of school quickly. Since returning to school, teachers have spent time revisiting expectations regarding their work and behaviour, to which the children have also responded well. It has been great to see the smiles on the students' faces each morning as they chat to their peers on the playground; they are certainly making up for lost time. While the children are very happy to be back together with their friends, there were some tired children leaving the school grounds late last week.

COVID-19 has forced the cancellation of many school events this year, so over the next couple of weeks the school will be running a couple of special days for the children. These days have been planned in the interest of the health and wellbeing of our students, after what has been a challenging six month period for them and all local families. On Wednesday this week, we have our onsite athletics day, which usually happens around this time of year.  Mr Kost has put together a rotation of activities which students will be competing in, against other children in their year levels. These activities will be completed in a COVID-Safe manner with appropriate safety measures in place. The students will need to wear their sports uniform on the day and ensure they have their hat and drink bottle at school with them. Not all families will have had the opportunity to source a coloured t-shirt due to COVID-19 restrictions in place and this is why we are asking students to wear normal sports uniform. They can display their house colours of Red, Blue or Yellow by wearing ribbon, zinc or using a bit of hair spray, this is optional and by no means a requirement.

Next week, the school will hold the Book Week celebrations (Mon 26th to Fri 30th Oct), with many opportunities to read and engage in a range of activities, read some great Australian literature and watch a fantastic virtual performance by Perform Education about the commended books. The week will culminate on Friday 30th October with our Book Week Dress Up Parade. This will be an individual class presentation and with the students having the time on this day to respond to the books read with some creative art works. We encourage all children to dress up as their favourite book character on this day. A recording of each class parade and the artwork responses will be made to share so that we can all celebrate the wonderful Australian authors and illustrators represented and further explore the theme “Curious Creatures, Wild Minds”. 

We say thank you to Mr Simon Kost (Sports Coordinator) and Mrs Julie Grace (Literacy Leader) for their work with these special activities for the children.

Temperature Screening

As was communicated yesterday morning via Operoo, schools are no longer required to carry out temperature screening on the children as they enter the school grounds each morning. This change was brought into place by the State Government and Catholic Education Melbourne due to the low level of community transmission. Students will still be asked to sanitise their hands upon arrival at school.

Uniform

In the last week or so, there have been a number of emails and phone calls regarding the uniform and especially school shoes. We have noticed that the children have grown since the end of Term Two and therefore there will be some latitude with regard to the school uniform, but we ask families to stick to the uniform policy where possible. The secondhand uniform shop will be open from 3pm on Friday 6th November and we ask you to please contact Leanne Cooke (0406 602 111) if you wish to access the school’s second hand uniform shop, please see the Uniform Shop update section of the newsletter. 

The reopening of barber shops and hairdressers is quite timely, as we have a number of boys in the school who have quite long hair at the moment. From now on, the school’s policy on boys' hair length will be that it needs to be above the collar and away from the eyes, so we expect that if it is touching the collar, that it is cut shorter. There will also be a change to the arrangements regarding the wearing of the sleeveless sports tops, worn by the Year 5 and 6 students on sports days. As these tops are not in line with our SunSmart policy, students are asked to wear their sports polo on sports days please.

Term Four School Fees

Term Four school fees are now due and payable over the phone, via EFT or direct debit. As outlined previously, costs of school camps and other events which have been cancelled due to COVID-19 will be credited to school fee accounts. The school relies on school fees for the maintenance of the school and it’s curriculum delivery. Updated statements will be sent out this week. Please contact Naomi in the office (nfield@sahighett.catholic.edu.au) if you do not receive your statement.

Public Holiday - Friday 23rd October

A reminder that Premier Daniel Andrews has declared that this Friday will still be a public holiday for all Victorians. The school will be closed on this day.

Kind regards,

Lachie