Dear Parents, Families and Community members,

Welcome back to Term 4.

I am sure like me, you have all got everything 'crossed' in anticipation of a Lockdown and Remote Learning free Term ahead. It has been great to have all of our Grade Prep-2 students back this week and we are really excited to have our 3-6 and Secondary School students back over the next couple of weeks.

Communication regarding the Staggered Return for students in Years 3-11 has been sent to these families. More information regarding school operations and COVID Safe procedures will be shared with families over the next week.

Whilst transitioning students back in a supported and efficient way is really important at the moment, ensuring that the health and safety of our school community is the greatest priority.

You may have seen information in the media today about face masks in schools for students in Grades 3-6 and I will communicate more information when I have clarity on this. I can assure families there is no change to these requirements for next week.

Book Week in the 3/4 Learning Community

Although we couldn’t all be together for Book Week, the 3/4 Learning Community loved getting into the spirit of things and sharing their love of books and costumes. We celebrated from home and school in costumes of all genres! We’ve loved listening to books in our Google Meets and sharing the books that we enjoyed reading throughout the week.

During our recent reading sessions, students have been focused on making text connections (text-to-text, text-to-world and text-to-self) to support and develop their reading comprehension. Can you have a chat to your students at home about the connections they’re making to the texts their reading?

Here are some examples from our students -

Abby has been making connections from ‘Dry to Dry’ because Ella lived on the dry land.

Ashrael was making connection between the text he was reading and an experience he had with ‘hundreds of flying geese darkening the sky’.

Marley’s connection was between the text ‘Dry to Dry’ and the TV show ‘Australian Survivor’!

Lana’s connection was between herself and the character in her text because they both live in Australia.

Book Club

Issue 7 of the Scholastic Book Club is here! Please note that this will be the final issue of Book Club for this year, and it is filled with lots of Christmas goodies!

Please see the Compass newsfeed for more information & how to order.

You can view the catalogue here: https://www.scholastic.com.au/media/6530/bc721final.pdf

Hats are Back!

A reminder that students are required to wear a hat at recess and lunch play and during all outside activities in Term 4.

Please ensure your child's hat is clearly labelled with their name.

Staying Home when Unwell

As students return to school for on-site learning over the next few weeks, we ask that students and staff stay home if they are unwell or waiting on results of a COVID-19 test.

If a child has any cold/flu symptoms, they should stay home from school and get a COVID-19 test as soon as possible.

Conducting regular screening for symptoms and ongoing self-monitoring throughout each school day can help reduce exposure to COVID-19. If a student develops symptoms throughout the day, they must notify an adult immediately.

Please also keep in mind that children will still get sick with illnesses that are not COVID-19. To err on the side of caution, additional safety measures will be taken regarding all health issues.

Medication at School

A reminder to families that all medications required to be taken at school by students must be accompanied by a completed and signed Medication Authority Form from parents \ carers.

All medication is to be handed in to the office in original packaging.

Medication will then be administered to students at the allocated time by a first aid trained staff member. These include medications such as anti-biotics, Panadol, Neurofen, Ventolin etc.

The Medication Authority Form is available in hard copy from the office upon request or for ease of access at any time, you can locate it on Compass by clicking on the Community Icon \ School Documentation \ Parent Information \ Medical \ Medication Authority Form.

Collecting Students Early

If you are collecting students early please ensure to allow enough time for staff to retrieve students from their Learning Communities. This can take longer than expected especially if they are in Specialists Subjects and not in their learning Community.

If you are able, please call the office prior and advise them of the collection time and we will do our best to have them ready for you when you arrive.

Take care and enjoy!

Evan Savage

Principal

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