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- Principal's Report
- RE Week 3 - Be still and know that I am God
- Library News
- Friday 15 May - Harry Potter dress up day
- Return of School Equipment
- Back to School
- Canteen News
- Winter Uniform Term 2
- May Birthdays
- Partners: Parenting Ideas
- Photos from MATES Day Friday 8 May
- Congratulations
- St Anthony's ELC Enrolment and Tour Information
Dear Parents/Carers,
We here at St Thomas’ are certainly looking forward to the return of our students for face-to-face teaching next week. I am pleased to see that the Remote Learning has been successful and quality teaching and learning has continued over these weeks of staying at home. I am also aware of how much the children are craving the social interaction with their friends and the teachers are missing having their students in the classrooms. But a return to school is far from a return to how school life was 8 weeks ago before COVID 19 came upon us. We want our school to be as safe as it possibly can be for our students and of course for our 30 staff members. So these are the measures we are taking to make the return to school and the on going day to day life here, COVID 19 safe.
- Only students and teachers are allowed into the school building and onto the school grounds. The exception is for adults signing in / out children from TEAM KIDS. At this stage this will be for all of Term 2. But we will make sure we keep in contact with phone calls and video chats. The last thing we want to do is to isolate our parents and carers from our community. We will make sure we utilise ways to stay connected.
- Children will be washing their hands as they come into school in the morning, after recess and after lunch. They will also do this before eating.
- Extra soap dispensers and paper towel dispensers have been installed in the break out spaces.
- There are bottles of hand sanitisers in the front office and in each classroom.
- Extra cleaning will be done every day. This will include the sanitising of desks, door handles and all high touch areas. The playground equipment will be sprayed with disinfectant each afternoon.
- Frequent announcements and increased signage around the school to ensure that children are practising good personal hygiene. This means, covering mouths and noses when coughing and sneezing, frequent hand washing, not sharing food or drinks, minimising physical contact and practising social distance techniques where feasible, particularly in relation to dealings with teachers.
- Communal bubblers will only be available for children to re-fill their own water bottles. Please ensure your child brings a suitable water bottle to school each day.
- We will not be gathering as a whole school. This will mean that when children come to school from 8:30am in the morning, they will not place their bags on the stage but will place them in a line at their classroom door (Year 5/6 B will be the exception to this as their classroom door faces the carpark)
- We will still have Awards and they will be presented to the children in front of their classmates and a photo taken and sent home to parents and carers.
We have prepared this FAQ document for all families to provide clear information on the arrangements and measures that we have in place to protect all members of our community from any potential spread of illness. We hope this will give you confidence in your child’s return to school and assist you in supporting our St Thomas the Apostle community as we welcome students back onsite.
What if my child has cold or flu-like symptoms?
No children are to attend school if they are showing any cold or flu-like symptoms. They must remain at home, and stay away from school until they are no longer showing symptoms or have attended a GP who has instructed that they are fit and safe to return. All regular absentee procedures regarding advising the school of absence apply.
What if my child, a member of our family, or close contact has been tested for COVID-19?
If a child, or family members, or other close contacts are tested for COVID-19, children are not to attend school until the results of those tests are known and are negative. Please advise our Principal if this situation occurs.
What if my child, a family member, or a close contact tests positive for COVID-19?
If a child/ren, or family members of children or another close contact tests positive to COVID-19, all instructions and directions from ACT Health must be followed. This includes instructions and directions provided to the school regarding such an eventuality. Additionally, we would ensure that appropriate support is provided by the school to persons and families affected.
Can I send hand sanitizer to school with my child?
Yes, in fact we would encourage you to do so. Whilst the school has adequate supply in key locations across the school, should students wish to use their own in addition to that, this would further enhance our hygiene measures at school.
What if my child becomes unwell during the school day?
Our usual first aid/sick bay procedures apply and you will be contacted to collect your child should he/she become unwell at school. We ask that if you are contacted to collect your child that you do so as soon as possible so we can limit the number of students waiting in our front office. Our front office staff are first aid trained.
Can my child purchase a lunch order through the canteen?
Yes, but only via online ordering, Flexischools. See further in the newsletter for details of this.
What uniform is to be worn?
The full school winter uniform will be worn upon return to school. Please refer to our website to further details regarding uniform requirements. If you require second hand uniform items please email the front office with your requests. Please note that items are limited and we may not be able to supply all items. New uniforms can be purchased through Savvy.
Can I drop off/pick up my child?
Drop off and Pick up of Children – In the mornings, please drop your child/children at the ‘Kiss and Drop’ area where they will walk in the school gates. A teacher will be on duty in the playground from 8:30am to welcome and supervise the children. If you need to get out of the car to assist your child, please park in the designated car park (behind the red line) and use the pedestrian crossing to walk them across the road to the entrance gate.
In the afternoons, we are requesting parents who are picking their children, do not park but use the drive through service. There will be no parking on the courts in the afternoons as we want to keep the area clear for drive through.
We will have two designated pick up areas for the children. All cars drive in the normal entrance. Families with a surname between L-Z will continue to the right of the trees (black arrows on the diagram) and drive around the carpark to the normal pick-up area outside the school (this is the same as what has always happened). A teacher will be there to direct children to their cars. Families with a surname between A – K will stay left when they enter the carpark (red arrows on the diagram) and drive along the paved road. Children of these families will be congregated outside the church and a teacher will be there to call the children to come to their car. Once children have been collected, keep driving to the large hedge and turn right to enter the stream of traffic. A teacher will be there with a stop sign to stop cars in the L-Z stream to allow cars to cross over so they are now in the right lane. These cars will then drive across the courts and exit at the usual place. This diagram shows a visual of how this will work.
If you do need to park to come into the front office, use the designated parks in front of the courts and between the coppers log fence (see diagram).
With a change in arrangements, our priority is moving students safely to the carpark and having smooth pick up procedures in place. Please be patient. It will help if everyone didn’t come at 3:10pm but spread arrival times between 3:10pm and 3:30pm. That way we will be able to avoid traffic being backed up on Boddington Crescent.
As a parent or carer am I able to come into the school?
No, not at this stage. We are attempting to minimise the number of adults coming onto the premises to reduce the possible risk of COVID-19 transmission. You are welcome to come into the front office (observing social distancing) and Jodie and Lynette will be able to help you with anything you may need. You can contact your teacher directly through email and we can set up appointments over zoom. Whilst we cannot meet in person, we certainly can keep in contact.
Will there be large gatherings such as assemblies this Term?
At this stage, there will be no assemblies or large gatherings of cohorts of students for the remainder of this term. An exception to this is any evacuation or emergency procedure that may be required. (Fire alarm etc.)
What about Excursions?
All Excursions scheduled for this term have been cancelled or postponed. Information about rescheduling will be forwarded to parents when confirmed. If these are unable to be rescheduled, they will be cancelled.
Will incursions/external presenters be allowed onsite at the School?
Any incursions/presentations proposed onsite involving external presenters will be assessed on a case-by-case basis, using our risk management procedures and having regard to the educational value of the proposed activity.
What if the situation arises where students will not be able to attend onsite schooling again?
Moving forward, if a situation arises where it is deemed not safe by health authorities for students or staff to be onsite, we will be able to pivot back to our comprehensive Remote Learning program as required. As per all our decisions, we continue to be informed by relevant health authorities in response to circumstances that may exist at that particular time.
It is important to remember that the COVID-19 pandemic is by no means over. It is essential that all members of the St Thomas the Apostle community are fully committed to ensuring that they are practising the mitigation strategies outlined above, so that the return of students to school can be undertaken as safely as possible for all those involved.
This is not the time to relax our vigilance. In fact, quite the opposite. Our children must normalise new ways of practising healthy and safe personal hygiene methods and ensure that at all times they follow our instructions and guidelines that are designed to keep our children, teachers and the broader community healthy and safe, as they continue to undertake their education and maximise their learning opportunities.
I will be in contact next week about how Reports will be prepared this Semester.
Finally, thank you to our parents and carers who have been so accommodating in these times of Remote Learning at home. You’ve done a great job! Although being socially distanced from you these past months, I feel that the relationships we have fostered with you could not be stronger. We want to keep that going as we traverse the next chapter of 2020. Let’s hope it’s a positive one.
See you Monday!!!
Kind regards
Ursula Jamieson
Principal
RE Week 3 - Be still and know that I am God
It has been so encouraging to read the positive responses from students and families regarding our Community Prayer. We have decided to continue to provide a Community Prayer on Friday that you may like to participate in as a family at some stage during the week. These will be posted weekly on SeeSaw for K-2 and on Google Classroom for Year 3-6. They will continue to explore various forms of meditation.
We are feeling so blessed to have families return to school. We continue to pray for each of you, recognising that, while we have all been affected by the pandemic, the impact has been experienced in different ways for different people. Our focus remains on our understanding of a gracious God who is always with us, nourishing our hearts with His unfailing love. We are encouraged to be still, knowing that God holds us in the palm of His hand.
Penny Vanzwol
REC Coordinator
A reminder also about our reading challenge. I know that many children have taken advantage of the time to catch up on reading so make sure you have recorded your reading and we will do a tally next week to see how things are going.
Penny Vanzwol
Friday 15 May - Harry Potter dress up day
This Friday all staff and students (at school and home) are invited to dress up in Harry Potter theme.
Please send in your photos if you are at home learning, so we can include them in the next newsletter.
Photos can be sent to the office.sttapkambah@cg.catholic.edu.au or lynette.wilson@cg.catholic.edu.au
Desks/Chairs
If you borrowed desks/chairs from the school, could you please return on Friday between 8.30am and 2.30pm.
They can be dropped off outside the hall and please ensure that they are thoroughly cleaned before returning them.
Computer Devices
Devices (iPads and Chromebooks) can be returned on Friday or Monday.
Parents are requested to return them to the Front Office, fully charged, so that they can be marked as returned and thoroughly cleaned.
If you have any questions please contact the Front Office on 6231 4144.
Books and other school equipment
Please return all school books, readers and whiteboards to school on Monday.
The canteen will be open from next week on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. At this stage we will only be accepting online orders through Flexischools. There will be no cash sales.
You can pre-order your child's recess and/or lunch orders via Flexischools.
Please note that there will be limited menu items as we gradually increase our supplies through our wholesalers.
Paula Papandrea
Canteen manager
A reminder that all students should now be wearing the full winter school uniform.
School Uniform Shop
Our school uniform shop is online through Qkr! We are currently in the process of stocktaking and developing an online ordering process and will advise once that is available.
In the interim, parents wishing to purchase second hand uniforms, should send an email to office.sttapkambah@cg.catholic.edu.au. Please include items, size and quantity and we will advise on availability. Please note that sizes and quantities of second hand uniforms are limited and we may not be able to supply all of your requested items. Once your order has been collated, we will advise you via email on collection and payment.
The new blue polo shirts with the logo (both short and long sleeve) are also available through the school uniform shop. Unfortunately, we do not have any new size 6, 8 or 10 long sleeve polo shirts with the logo. We have reordered and will advise once we have stock. These are the only new items available at the school.
Prices:
Short sleeve polo shirts with the school logo are $19.00.
Long sleeve polo shirts with the school logo are $25.00
All second hand uniforms are $5.00 each.
Savvy
Savvys is the supplier for all other new uniform items. Savvy Tuggeranong has uniforms available online via the following link and is the preferred method of purchase. They are still encouraging families to purchase online but would also like to encourage families to call ahead to ensure the store is open and theavailability of uniform.
The current trading hours for Savvy Tuggeranong are:
Monday & Tuesday 11am to 4pm
Friday 11am to 4pm
Saturday 10am to 2pm
Happy Birthday to the following students/staff who are celebrating a birthday this week
Lucy Cameron | Clyde Lipton | Geoffrey Olivetti |
Pippi Town | Lilly Killip | Graydon Read |
Lynette Wilson |
Photos from MATES Day Friday 8 May
What is your favourite happy colour or outfit?
Wearing the Australian soccer jersey which I received to watch my first live international soccer game - Australia versus Nepal last year in Canberra. Year 5/6G also had ‘bring your pet’ day so this combined both things that make me happy – soccer and dogs - Josh Ulrich
Ebony, Dempsey and Rufus McNally wore their favourite clothes with the books they’ve been reading during home learning.
My favourite dress colour is black and represents dark and when it’s dark it’s time to go to bed and I love sleeping. The bright pink represents the sun and also that I’m a girl - Dannii Griffin
My favourite outfit is Power Rangers. The red colour represents my power and the blue is me because I’m a boy - Nick Griffin