Since being back in term 4 the students of Year, 5/6B have immersed themselves into school life once again. There have been many grumbles because sleeping in is not an option any more for some and getting up in the morning can be challenging. Others are glad to be back to socialise with their friends once again and being able to play team games at recess and lunch. It took some time for us to re-energise and settle back into the routine of the classroom but now we are beginning to establish good learning habits again.

We recently have engaged in the sports dress up day and book week activities and are looking forward to making sockballs on Friday for Socktober. We have been working on our poetry, creating acrostic poems, cinquains and alliteration poems so far. Here is one we created to reflect our feelings about remote learning.

Remote Learning

Rising out of bed at lunchtime.

Eating what and whenever I want.

Meeting on Google with my teacher and classmates.

Oh no! I forgot to upload my work.

The internet keeps dropping out.

Enjoying finishing my schoolwork early.

Learning new things everyday.

Everyone enjoyed spending time with family.

Always checking Google classroom or Seesaw for my work.

Running, jumping, riding for exercise.

No distractions from anyone else.

Indoors, staying inside everyday - boring!!!

Netflix movies with family.

Great to be back at school.

We are looking forward to more experiences of school life in the coming weeks. Here are some photos of us back at school learning.

Dear Parents

A huge and heartfelt thank you to all of you for the way you have engaged in the extracurricular activities we have been having recently. It is very important to us that the children are able to look back on 2020 with fond memories and experiences, rather than just the challenges COVID has created. While our priority is always on the learning for the children, we are doing our best to ensure that 2020 has given your children many opportunities and times to treasure long after this year is over.

Our Bookweek day was wonderful and the costumes were fantastic. The Footy Day went extremely well too as the classrooms buzzed with rich learning, complete with footy themed activities. We are having our Crazy Sock Day tomorrow and I’m sure we will see a great range of crazy socks on display. We have more activities throughout this term and you will hear about them as soon as the details can be finalised. We are so pleased to be back together at school and sharing these fun experiences in the best way COVID guidelines will allow.

I was very excited to be out at the Kiss and Go this morning to greet and support the children without needing to take temperatures. It enabled the process to go so smoothly and the children were excited to be able to come into school without their daily check. The removal of the requirement to temperature test all children is a positive sign that things are slowly but surely returning to a more ‘normal’ experience of school for the children, staff and families.

At this stage, we are in the process of organising our Foundation Transition days and our end of year activities for our senior children. As you would understand, we are reliant on the information that continues to filter through to our school regarding the guidelines we have to follow. As new information comes to us, we are ensuring that you are being informed. We are creating a range of plans to ensure we are able to provide opportunities for our students within the COVID safe guidelines.

Recently, we sent home information about how to support our mission month of October, with an online fundraising platform. The response from our school community has been quite overwhelming and speaks so strongly of our commitment as a community to look after those in need.

I thank you most humbly and sincerely for your generosity and commitment to helping the poor and marginalised. Your thoughtfulness and generosity will definitely make a difference in the lives of those in need.

Kind regards

Lisa Broeren

This term we are introducing CDFpay, which is a cash-free solution for our Uniform Shop. Orders are placed online and paid for without the need to send cash into the school.

Click the link below to access the shop (save it to your favourites);

You will be notified by the school when your order is ready.

We are encouraging all parents to use this simple, cash-free platform in the future.

The benefits of our school going cash-free with CDFpay are:

Greater security: a safer option where you don’t have to be concerned about your child losing cash from their bags.
Anytime, any device: order and pay for uniforms from your mobile, tablet or computer at any time.
Fast & easy payments: it allows credit card or bank transfer payments.

Please see the links below for information on how to access and use CDFpay.

CDFpay_Existing_Parent_Guide.pdf

CDFpay_New_Parent_Guide.pdf

We hope to be able to use CDFpay for other items in the future; P&F fundraisers for example.

If you have any questions please contact Sandi.

If members of our school community elect to trick or treat this Halloween, you need to stay safe. The following information regarding Holloween has been provided by the Department of Health & Human Services:

• If you have any symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) get tested and stay at home. By staying at home this Halloween, you help to keep your friends, family and community safe.

• Wear a face mask with your costume, but remember that a costume mask that is part of your Halloween costume is not a substitute for a face mask. Consider making your own mask and decorating it.

• Keep at least 1.5 metres between yourself and people you don’t live with. This means no hugging or kissing when greeting people. Don’t share food or drinks.

In addition, it is safer not to hand out lollies or treats to trick-or-treaters this Halloween. This is because the virus can spread on surfaces, including food or packaging. Under current restrictions traditional trick or treating where you knock on someone’s door is not permitted. If you can’t resist handing out lollies this year you can do so by having candy available outside of your home.

• Don’t use communal bowls for lollies or treats. Putting lollies in a shared bowl will mean everyone is touching the same food and surfaces which isn’t safe.

• Instead, put individually wrapped lollies or treats in bags for non-contact collection.

• Place bags on your fence, at your front gate or outside your home for collection.

• Wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds before preparing the bags or individually wrapped lollies or treats.

Further information on how to stay safe this Halloween is available on the DHHS website.