Student Health - Chickenpox Alert

We have recently been notified of two cases of Chickenpox at our school. Chickenpox (varicella) is a very contagious disease. It causes small itchy blisters on the skin.

How is it spread?

The virus is spread through the air by infected people when they sneeze or cough, and by touching the chickenpox blisters, then touching objects or other people.

The illness starts 10–21 days after being exposed.

Chickenpox is contagious from 1–2 days before the blisters appear. Avoid close contact with other people, stay home from work, keep children home from school and early childhood education centres from the appearance of the rash until all blisters have dried.

Chickenpox can also spread through touching the blisters and then touching objects or other people.

Wash your hands often, especially if you’re the caregiver of a child with chickenpox and make sure they do the same.
Discourage children from scratching the blisters.

For more detailed information on Chickenpox, please click here.

Kinder Parent Reading Workshop - Tuesday 16th March

Please come along to our Kindergarten Parent Workshop to learn about what Oral Language is, how Oral Language improves your child’s learning and what you can do to help your child.

2021 Medical Action Plans

Last week all parents who have children with a medical condition such as Asthma, Anaphylaxis, Seizures & Epilepsy, Diabetes were sent a Medical Action Plan from the school. It is very important that these Action Plans are signed by the Parent/Carer and your GP and returned to school as soon as possible. In most cases an appointment will need to be made with your GP to have the Plan completed. If you have misplaced your child's Action Plan, please contact Sue Kellett at the Infants Campus on 6765 8569 or by email (skellett@arm.catholic.edu.au) and another Action Plan will be sent home. Special thanks to the families who have already returned their child's Plan.

Dental Visit

Last Thursday Darling Dental, a private Tamworth dental surgery, visited the Infants Campus to talk with our Year 1 students about dental hygiene and also conducted a free dental screening. We sincerely thank the Darling Dental team for committing their time to visit and share their knowledge with our students.

Student Drink Bottles

Water bottles are an essential item for every student but we need to ensure they are both safe and fairly indestructible. We ask that parents do not send children to school with glass drink bottles as there have been a couple of incidents where glass bottles have been dropped on the asphalt and this creates a real risk of harm from slips and cuts.

School Drive Subsidy - Transport for NSW

If you live a long way from public transport and need to drive a student to a public transport pick up point or to school, you may be able to get financial assistance. The School Drive Subsidy provides eligible parents and guardians twice-yearly payments to help cover some of the expenses of getting children to school.

To find out if you’re eligible, and to apply online, visit

https://apps.transport.nsw.gov.au/ssts/#/applyNowSchoolDrive

or call 131 500.

Lost & Found

The items shown below have been found at the Infants Campus and are looking for their rightful owners. Please see the ladies in the Infants Office to claim.

Primary Clothing Pool

The Primary Clothing Pool is currently over flowing with good quality second hand uniform items at affordable prices. We encourage parents to please phone ahead of time and the helpful office staff will check and see if the items you require are available.

Bishop Kennedy's Statement re COVID-19 Vaccines

With the roll out of the COVID-19 vaccine across Australia, some Catholics have questions of an ethical nature. Please find below a link to our Bishop's response to these questions.

McCarthy Catholic College Visit

Please note the new online process for enrolling at McCarthy for Year 7 2022. Enrolment applications were emailed out to all our Year 6 families via our Compass News Feed in Week 6.

Sport and School Activity Levy - due now

A huge thank you to the families who have now paid the Levy. A reminder that this Levy covers the cost of sport and extracurricular activities that ALL students participate in (ie. School Cross Country, Gymnastics, Tennis, Eisteddfod, Swimming & Athletics Carnival, buses between Campuses). This Levy saves parents having to find small amounts of cash throughout the year and is a great time saver for our teaching staff by not having to count and record cash.

The Primary Levy is $70 per child and the Infants Levy is $50 per child, with payment due last Friday 26th February. The levy can be paid direct to either school office by EFTPOS or cash or via the Qkr! App.

Change of Details

We ask all parents to please log into Compass, or contact either school office, to advise us of any changes to phone numbers, addresses or student medical details.

Attendance

Children are required to attend school from 8.45am to 3.00pm. It is essential that children are always present at school, except in the case of sickness.

Whenever a child is absent, parents are required to explain this absence through the Compass App. An SMS message is sent to parents on the morning of the absence if no notification of absence has been received before 10.00am. If an absence is not explained within 7 days, through Compass, your child will be marked as Absent Unexplained and this will also be documented on the semester report. After 7 days this cannot be changed.

2022 Kindergarten Enrolments - ENROL NOW

Applications for Kindergarten 2022 are NOW OPEN and close on Thursday 1st April 2021. Please contact either school office for an enrolment pack. Enrolment Forms will not be processed until all supporting documents are received: Birth Certificate; Immunisation Certificate; Baptismal Certificate (only required if your child is baptised Catholic) and proof of student’s residential address. Please spread the word if you know of anyone with a child wishing to start at St Edward's School in Kindergarten in 2022.

School Fees - due Friday 12th March

Term 1 school fees are due by this Friday 12th March and payments can be made with the Qkr! App, CentrePay, direct credit to the school's bank account or direct debit through ADIG. Thank you so much to our families who have already paid. If you wish to set up an ADIG direct debit, please see either school office for the relevant form. When accessing Qkr!, payment can be made under one child's name (school fees only) and when paying direct into the school's bank account please use your account no. (located under the date on the statement) and your surname (or first four letters if insufficient space).

We ask that all parents sign up for the Qkr! App as this enables you to pay for most school activities online. You will need to have your location services turned on your device to be able to pick up St Edward's Tamworth as an option.

Packing a Healthy Lunchbox

It is essential that students are coming to school each day with a well balanced lunchbox. Foods high in sugar, artificial colours and flavours and fats are not suitable for school lunchboxes. If we want students to be working hard in the classroom, we need to ensure they are fuelled with healthy foods. The following linked document may be of interest when planning your child's lunchbox:

A Balanced Lunchbox

Bus Safety

Community News

Lowes

Good for Kids Snippets...

O'Grady Drama School, Tamworth