Remember it's RAT test day tomorrow!   

**Please see latest Covid protocols below this message**

Dear Parents and Carers

The beginning of the school year is a truly blessed time for all of us. It is so easy to see God in all things at school: the teachers, who are brimming with enthusiasm and creativity, as they prepared over the last few weeks for the start of the year; the smiles on the faces of the children in Year 1 to 6 who seek out their friends on their first day and their smiles as they settle into the routine of their new class; the calm purpose of the classrooms as they begin an exciting year of discovery together and our new Kinders who started this morning with their eyes full of wonder and emotion at finally being at Big School.

A very warm welcome to our twenty one new children who started in Years 1 to Year 6 and our new Kinders who started today. Thank you for choosing to join our community. We hope to officially welcome you over this first term via Zoom and hopefully in person.

Our students and teachers have settled in well. As we are all used to Covid rules it has become a part of our lives and the way we work around problems in a resilient and flexible way. Our response has always and we hope it continues to be, a Catholic one of support for those who are unwell or impacted and understanding that at least for the next few months things may not be what we wanted, but we will endure if we work together to manage this latest spike in Covid cases.

The Basketball Court has been renovated over the holidays. Many thanks to the Sports Club and to David Livermore who have been very supportive and helpful during the planning of the upgrade. Thank you to Liam Jowitt and his Vacation Care team who moved out of the school so the work could go ahead safely during the holidays.

Basketball has long been a community based sport at our school and I encourage any of our new parents to join our school based netball, soccer and basketball teams as a way of getting to make friends and enjoy team work and sport. Congratulations to our past students Elise and Cassidy Thomson who both competed in the National 3x3 Basketball Championships in Victoria. Both Cassie and Elise’s teams qualified and both girls were named as National Champions in their age groups. Congratulations to both girls.  A quote from Elise (our Vice Captain 2021) on this achievement:

“As long as you work hard to achieve your goals you can succeed in almost anything you do. Having self belief and a positive mindset is going to do a lot for you. So always remember when you want something and you set your mind to it that it’s not going to come easily to you unless you truly put in the work and have courage in yourself that you can do it”. Elise

Our Opening Mass will be held this Friday via live stream. Year 6 will attend in the church and all other grades will watch via Zoom from their classrooms. Sorry but parents and carers may not attend this mass.  Parents may like to watch the mass via zoom as we will be announcing all leadership positions and presenting our Year 6 leaders with their leadership badges. Please see Religious Education update in this Newsletter for the Zoom link.

Our Parent Information Sessions will again be held over Zoom in Week 3. The dates and time of these will be sent out shortly.

Our staffing for this year has undergone a number of changes. We welcome Sarah Morgan to Year 1, Bec Burrowes as our new school counsellor, Alisa Stackpool in Arrowsmith and Daniela Dlugocz as an aide in Kindergarten. The staffing for 2022 is as follows:

Thank you for sending your children dressed in their correct uniform to school. We will be focusing on the correct uniform this term to ensure that all students proudly represent our school by wearing the correct uniform.

Students' internet agreements will be sent home this week to be signed. Please send them back as soon as possible so students can begin work on their devices. As there are a few children who have internet capability on their watches please note the rules around the use of these at school in the agreement.

Have a wonderful week!

Regards

Julie Caldwell

School Covid Update- Please read as these guidelines are more up to date (as they change often) than even the NSW Health websites. Sydney Catholic Schools has a large team who meet on a daily basis and let the schools know what the latest advice is. The advice below is our operational guideline for the coming weeks.

Now that school has begun, if a student at the school (who has been infectious while at school) tests positive:

• Please log the case with NSW Health
• Let the school know so they can alert the grade the child is in. No names will be provided.
• Isolate for 7 days

This information should be sent out in an alert by the school only. School WhatsApp groups should never be used for this information as it is strictly confidential medical information.

• Classmates are not required to isolate - just monitor for symptoms
• Positive students must isolate for 7 days after their positive RAT test
• There is no need to get a PCR as RAT tests are now deemed more relevant
• Students can return to school after seven days if they are symptom free - no test needed to prove this. Sick days should be entered in Compass
• Students who test positive are exempt for RAT testing for the next 28 days
• Siblings of positive cases should isolate for 7 days as household contacts unless they have been positive for Covid in the last 28 days.