Principals' Message

A message from Alison and Lisa

Dear Parents/Carers,

Hello everyone and welcome back!

It was so fantastic to see all of our students back at school on Monday. We are so proud of the way that the St Edward's School Community has worked together to ensure that we continue to stay safe and follow the health and safety guidelines set for schools. As you may be aware we featured on Prime News and in the Northern Daily Leader this week. A big thank you to Darryl Martin (Marketing Manager for St Edward's) for organising this for our school. 

Thank you for your support!

Unexpectedly this week, all staff received an amazing gift of picnic boxes for recess and lunch. To the person or people who organised this truly generous gift, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We respect you wanting to remain anonymous, but whoever you are, you need to know how your thoughtfulness touched everyone who works at the school. 

We still have some way before we get back to how things were, but all the emails and phone calls we have received from parents, mean the absolute world to all who work at school. It is so wonderful to have everyone back at school. St Edward's is truly an amazing school community to belong!

Three Way Learning Conversations - Semester 1 Reporting

This year we are conducting a Learning Conversation between the student, parent/carer and teacher. This will replace the written Semester 1 Report. Three way conversations are an opportunity for learning to be discussed between students, parents/caregivers and teachers. The aim of these conferences is to celebrate success, highlight student strengths and current achievement and then determine the next learning steps. It also allows for student ownership of learning. Following these meetings parents/caregivers should have a clearer picture of their child’s developmental learning needs and goals for Semester 2. We are excited to be able to use the Parent Portal in Compass to offer online booking for our Semester 1 Learning conversations. Parents can log in to Compass and book a convenient time with your son/daughters class teacher.  If you have not yet logged into Compass, please contact the office to have your login details sent to you. Learning conversation are scheduled fro week 8 and 9 this term. The portal will be open in week 6 for bookings. We look forward to these learning conferences and thank you for your on-going support in working together to provide quality educational opportunities for all our students. Please make sure that you do make an appointment to engage in these very worthwhile learning conversations. 

Kinder 2021 Interviews

It's hard to believe but very shortly we will commence our Kindergarten 2021 interviews. This will include phoning each of our prospective 2021 Kindergarten families and organising times to meet and tour our facilities. Next week, we will be visiting the local preschools to get the word out there that we are open for enrolments. If you are aware of anyone wishing to enrol their child for 2021, but are yet to complete and hand in an enrolment form, please encourage them to contact our Infants Campus office as soon as possible to ensure they do not miss the opportunity for an interview. 

Winter Uniform

We wish to advise parents that the official date for changeover from summer to winter uniform is after the June long weekend (Tuesday 9th June).  However, as the weather has turned very chilly, we are now allowing students to wear either full winter (INCLUDING A TIE) or full summer uniform during this transition period. The following new school winter items are available for purchase:  jumper ($35), jacket ($70), tie ($25), girls navy knee high socks ($10), girls winter navy tights ($10), scarf ($10).  To help minimise parent contact, our preferred method of purchasing uniform items is via the Qkr! App and your clothing order will then be sent home with your child.

Sports Uniform

Starting next week (week 6) we would like all students to wear their sports uniform to school on Wednesdays and Fridays. 

High-risk Students and Staff

Students who meet the NSW Health definition of ‘higher risk’ should not attend school for any reason. Students who are displaying any signs of illness must also remain at home. Please be aware that we have some members of staff at our school who meet the NSW Health definition of ‘higher risk’, and these staff members will continue to work from home. Staff will also be required to stay away from school if they are displaying any sign of illness. 

Our whole school community is to be congratulated on working together so that we can welcome all students back to full time face to face teaching. To ensure the HEALTH and SAFETY of our students and staff we must not become complacent. We need to continue to follow the Current COVID 19 Measures for our school attached below.  We have come so far, so let us continue to work together to ensure St Edward’s continues to provide full time face to face teaching.

Health and Hygiene

We remind parents that your child’s mental health and well-being is an important consideration in the decision to have them return to school.   Centacare has expanded its services to ensure that support can still be provided during this period. Students are still able to access the free and confidential counselling service by calling Centacare Armidale on 6738 7200.

Students Who Become Unwell at School

Knowing whether a child is well enough to attend school can be tough. Attached is a guide to help you decide if your child should stay home:

Any students showing symptoms of illness will be required to go home until symptoms are resolved.

Cakes at School.

Even though we are back to full time face to face teaching, there are some things we still cannot do at school eg: sport and assemblies. Unfortunately another activity we can't partake in at present is the sharing of birthday cakes. We thank you in advance for supporting us in this matter.

Assisted School Travel Program (ASTP)

The Assisted School Travel Program (ASTP) continues to operate under the NSW Health social distancing and hygiene Guidelines. 

Out of School Hours Care 

Early Childhood Education and OOSHC Services are still considered an essential service by the Federal and State Governments and therefore will remain operational unless we are informed otherwise.

Term 2 Sport

All Diocesan and Inter Diocesan School Sport scheduled for Term 2 remain cancelled.

Have a great week everyone!

Alison Hatton and Lisa McSweeney