Dear Parents and Friends of St Therese's Primary School,

Last Friday the staff were involved in a professional learning day that involved learning about the new English as an Additional Language (EAL) curriculum, and inclusive education. At St Therese's many students come to school with an EAL background. Speaking two or more languages fluently is such a bonus and gift. I congratulate any family who encourages their children to continue speaking their first language while learning English. For our teachers, this means that the teaching of English must be done in a systematic and closely monitored way. Students who speak an additional language will be reported against the new EAL curriculum.

PARENT/TEACHER INTERVIEWS

Today our teachers were involved in parent-teacher interviews via teleconferencing. The teachers reported that they went smoothly with some families opting for a phone meet rather than a video link. I'd be interested to know what you thought of them. Please email me if you would like to let me know principal@sttcbourne.catholic.edu.au

COVID-19 Updates

I am sure you are all concerned about the rising numbers that are being published each day on the National News of people who are testing positive to coronavirus. From the last newsletter, I have seen the numbers increase from 70 active cases in the City of Casey to 178 active cases as of yesterday.

Please help to stop the transmission of this disease by staying home if you or a family member has any symptoms no matter how minor, for example, runny nose, sore throat, fever etc. Please get tested and stay at home to await your results. It is important if anyone in your family is awaiting test results that all members of the family stay away from the school, this includes the children from essential workers or those who meet the vulnerable/disability criteria for attending on-site learning.

ATTENDANCE

I would like to remind all families to contact the school as soon as possible and preferably before 9am if your child is unable to attend to their learning either on-site or remote learning. Staff will contact emergency contacts if we have not heard from you on the day that your child has not completed their attendance form. This is to ensure that everyone in our school community is safe.

ENROLMENTS 2021

Enrolments for 2021 are now open. If you have a child who is due to begin school next year, please contact the office on 59967525. Enrolment forms can be downloaded from our website. www.sttcbourne.catholic.edu.au

Enrolment interviews will be conducted on Google Meet until further notice and unfortunately, school tours can not be conducted in person. Please check out the video on the home page of our website to see what our school has on offer.

SCHOOL FEES

Statements for school fees will be sent out this week. If any family is experiencing financial difficulty as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic please contact myself or Colleen Johnson in the office at cjohnson@sttcbourne.catholic.edu.au as soon as possible.

I have uploaded some terrific photos of home learning in the News from Remote Learning 2.0 page.

Please remember to keep sending in any photos of your children learning from home for the newsletter. They are great to see.

Michelle Bruitzman

Principal

Dates for the Diary

Please keep these dates in mind

TERM 3 DATES

July