Messages

Dear Families,

Whilst we are enormously disappointed to once again not have our students returning to school, we are very aware that the current COVID-19 situation is much bigger than us, and reliant on each of us following the advice and guidelines for our best possible chance of returning to school.

On 12 July, Premier Daniel Andrews announced: ‘On the advice of the Victorian Chief Health Officer, students in Prep to Year 10 at government schools in metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire will learn from home from Monday 20 July until at least 19 August, following five pupil free days already scheduled for the coming week.’ 

Arrangements beginning on Monday 20 July Due to Parent/Teacher Learning Conversations (more information below), Remote Learning will begin on Tuesday 21 July. Optional Learning tasks will be provided by the Classroom Teacher. 

Due to the potential stage 4 lockdown, collection of devices and materials will now take place tomorrow, Friday 17th July.

Surnames A - K 12.00 - 1.30pm

Surnames L - Z  2.00 - 3.30pm

Students attending GOSH tomorrow will be given a class pack to take home but if they need a device, it must be collected and signed for by a parent/adult at the above times.

To minimise the number of people onsite, please do not bring your child/ren (if possible). You may organise another parent to collect materials for you. 

Parents will be asked to wait at the School entrance (Bank St) and must follow physical distancing protocols. Parents will collect materials for each of their children from the appropriate table. If Chromebooks/iPads are required, they can be collected from a separate table. Students/parents who are unwell or exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms should not enter the school grounds. Families are encouraged to bring a bag and wear a mask.

Term 3 Remote Learning

All students will begin Remote Learning with their Classroom teacher on Tuesday 21 July. A reminder that optional activities will be provided on Monday 20 July. Please take the time to read through the letter that was emailed earlier today outlining how Remote Learning will look this term. Some changes have been made to daily and weekly schedules for all year levels based on feedback from staff, students and parents last term. The letter is attached below.

What is different this time?

• Classroom Teachers will upload the weekly timetable and activities for the following week (including Monday’s instructional video) every Friday, by 4:00pm. This will allow flexibility for students to commence tasks, if necessary. Classroom Teachers will be setting activities for Monday-Thursday only.
• Classroom Teachers will post instructional videos and/or additional resources on morning of the lesson with exception listed above.
• Friday will be a dedicated Specialist Day. Specialist Teachers will upload their lesson outlines and resources on Thursdays, by 4:00pm, and students will be given until the following Thursday 4:00pm to complete tasks (unless otherwise stated by the Specialist Teacher).
• Specialist Teachers will be contactable on Fridays via email and Dojo.
• More Hangouts for all students with classroom teacher, including daily conference and weekly focus groups in English and Maths. Classroom teachers will communicate times for focus groups.
• Hangout Times - Prep-Year 3: 9:00am & Years 4-6: 10:00am.
• Classroom Teachers will use Friday as their planning/meeting day to prepare for lessons and begin pre-recording instructional videos. They are not available to parents and students on this day. Staff meetings will also take place on Fridays.
• Monday - Thursday daily attendance/absences will be recorded every morning at the whole class Google Hangout.
• On Friday, to record students’ attendance/absences, students are to click on the Google Hangout link their teacher will send to them at 9am, write ‘here’ or ‘hello’ or click a ‘thumbs-up’ in the Google Hangout chat function and then leave the hangout. This brief action will record attendance so the child does not need to stay on. It will not be an opportunity for students to talk to their teacher.
• Online School Assemblies won’t take place until we have further clarification on the duration of Remote Learning.
• Classroom Teachers will allocate all students to two small online focus groups per week, one for English and one for Mathematics throughout Monday – Thursday.
• There will be a greater number of staff onsite. Be aware that on occasions, your child’s teacher may be combining onsite supervision with online learning.
• TheirCare will provide before and after school care for those students who have attended school on that day. At this stage it will not be a free service and families will be charged for the service.

Please read below for more details in the letter sent home today.

Parent/ Teacher Learning Conversations

Our Term 3 Parent/Teacher Learning Conversations which are scheduled next week will go ahead as planned via Google Meet. An email was sent last term from Wendy (subject: Galilee Parent Learning Conversations Booking Information Term 3 Week 2) with instructions for bookings to be made through PTO. Your child does not need to be with you during the conversation. Bookings close 9am tomorrow morning, Friday 17th July.

A reminder that Monday 20 July is an early finish for students onsite. 

1:00pm - Siblings 

1:10pm - Prep/Year 1 

1:15pm - Year 2/3 

1:20pm - Year 4-6

TheirCare is available for onsite students to attend from 1.30pm, however, bookings are essential.

Term 3 Overviews

Please take the time to read through the Learning and Teaching that will take place in Term 3. The Overviews have been written to allow for modifications made to Learning and Teaching during Remote Learning.

Sacrament of Reconciliation

Please be advised that the Sacrament of Reconciliation at StsPP next Tuesday 21 July, WILL NOT proceed due to the COVID 19 restrictions. 

Please contact the parish with any enquiries about this decision.

Helen Rochecouste

Year 5 Teacher and REL 

Technology Parent Support Line - 9998 6392

We have again provisioned a dedicated support phone number that will be resourced with dedicated team members to provide parents/guardians with general IT support for their children throughout this remote learning period. We expect to be able to help them with issues such as;

• My device won’t connect to the wireless;

• Internet isn’t working;

• I can’t print;

• I can’t open Google Apps for Education;

This general support for parents/guardians can be accessed by phoning 03 9998 6392 between the hours of 8:30am and 5pm Monday to Friday, excluding Public Holidays and will continue to operate throughout the remote learning period. The service will be active from Monday the 20th of July 2020. It is important to note that in the interests of child safety, the team at Centorrino will only be able to provide support to parents/guardians and not the child themselves. 

Wellbeing

Using Belly Breathing to Relieve Anxiety

Belly breathing is a useful tool to support your child to cope with anxiety and other emotions.

By consciously increasing our awareness about breathing and by practising breathing exercises it is possible to: 

• improve our sense of well-being
• decrease our level of stress
• regulate our emotions
• help to bring about interconnectedness between our minds and bodies.

Breathing Exercises

https://copingskillsforkids.com/deep-breathing-exercises-for-kids

Elmo showing the benefits of belly breathing

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mZbzDOpylA

Book Club

Book Club Issue 5 is out now. Orders due in by 3rd August. You now have the option to get books delivered straight to your home. 

GOSH - TheirCare Holiday Program

In the past 2 weeks the children have been having a blast in Holiday Program Space Explorers. The children loved the Animals of OZ incursion and they learnt new words such as invertebrates and exoskeletons and also learnt  other interesting information about insects. 

The children explored their creative side as they made their own special tea towels using tie dye. The children watched the colours sink through the material and were amazed by the patterns that formed. They all couldn’t wait to take their new tea towel home for their parents to start using it in the kitchen.

Darcie and Abi said they enjoyed making and eating the chocolate moon balls and playing with their friends in the playground.

Fantastic Fingerprints was an activity the children found exciting and they were a real wow factor when completed. Sehr, Lara, Abigail, Ishaan, Max and Saanjh used the template provided with a grey lead pencil and clear sticky tape.

Lastly, the most fun, funny and entertaining activity was Eat the Asteroid Challenge. The majority of the children had to try and eat their doughnut without using their hand that was hanging off the monkey bars. Lots of laughs and facial expressions were had by all!

This Friday the 17th of July, is National Pyjama Day. The children are looking forward to coming to Gosh in their Pyjamas -

"I'm jumping #InMyPJs to help raise vital funds to support kids in foster care".

The return to Term 3 has seen the return of lockdown and challenges for families and TheirCare.

Families took advantage of the end of Free childcare in our Holiday Program.  We averaged over 100% of normal attendances and had a waiting list for some of our services.  Our funding arrangements with the Commonwealth Government meant that we only received payment for about half of those children attending.

Unlike most providers, TheirCare chose to accept as many bookings as possible (at our cost) because we wanted children and families to have a bright spot in what has been a challenging time for everyone.

We hoped you enjoyed the efforts of our team to provide a sense of fun these holidays.

Gemma

Uniform 

We have been informed that PSW have reduced the original style uniform pieces (excluding ink elastic waist shorts and pants) by 40%. Items can be purchased from PSW in Port Melbourne.

Simon Millar

Principal