Dear Parents and Carers,

Last week we celebrated the Feast Day of St Anne and St Joachim, the grandparents of Jesus, with a wonderful Grandparents Day. We started our celebrations with a packed church and enjoyed a beautiful Prayer Gathering together. After our Prayer Gathering, our grandparents joined with their grandchildren to do some craft activities that expressed the love we have for our grandparents. We finished the morning with a delicious morning tea provided by the staff of St Mary’s. This was a wonderful celebration and was cherished by our grandparents and their grandchildren. We thank all of our grandparents for joining us for this special celebration.

Thank you to our parents for attending and supporting our recent Parent/Student/Teacher meetings. These meetings enable us to work with you to ensure we are meeting the needs of your child and to continue to build the relationship between school and home. These meetings were a great success and highly valued by the staff of St Mary’s.

We have been advised that there is an Increase in Pertussis (Whooping Cough) Cases

MAIN POINTS

The Department of Health, Victoria has issued a health alert, Increasing pertussis (whooping cough) cases in Victoria.

The key messages are:

• cases of pertussis are increasing in Victoria, mostly affecting children aged 10-12 years
• pertussis is a highly contagious respiratory illness known for causing a cough and can lead to life threatening infections in babies
• symptoms of pertussis may be very similar to other respiratory infections, especially in the early stages, meaning diagnosis by a doctor as soon as possible is important.

If a student at our school is diagnosed with pertussis, the diagnosing doctor will be responsible for notifying the Department of Health.

The below exclusion periods apply to diagnosed cases and contacts:

For diagnosed cases:

• students diagnosed with pertussis should be excluded from primary schools for a minimum period of 21 days after the onset of cough, or until they have completed five (5) days of a course of effective antibiotic treatment
• the treating doctor will complete the required notifications to the Department of Health

For Contacts of diagnosed cases:

The exclusion requirement only applies to contacts who meet all three (3) of the below criteria:

• aged less than 7 years;
• in the same class as the student with the diagnosed case; and
• have not received three (3) effective doses of pertussis vaccine.

Students meeting these criteria should be excluded for 14 days after the last exposure to the infectious case, or until they have taken five (5) days of a course of effective antibiotic treatment.

Kind regards,

Lisa