St Mary's Primary School Newsletter Term 3 Week 9
- Acknowledgement of Country
- Key Dates
- Principal's Report
- Enrolments for 2023
- Change to COVID-19 Isolation Rules Effective 9 September 2022
- Little Desert zone level - Congratulations to all competitors!
- Curriculum - A busy day of learning!
- Transition for Primary to Secondary school
- Community News
- Parish Bulletin
Acknowledgement of Country
St Mary’s Primary School respectfully acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the
Wimmera Mallee area, the Wotjobaluk, Jaadwa, Jadawadjali, Wergaia and Jupagalk
peoples, and pays respect to the ongoing living cultures of First Peoples.
As partners in Catholic Education and open to God’s presence, we pursue the fullness of life for all. St Mary's Catholic Primary School is committed to the safety and well-being of all students.
Key Dates
| Week 10 | Tuesday 13th September Chickpeas Assembly Wednesday 14th September School Advisory Council meeting 6:30pm Friday 16th September - last day of Term Finish 2:15 pm Footy and Sport Team Colours Day - special lunch provided by Parent Club - more details to follow |
Term 4 Week 1 | STOMP program 1:45pm-3:15 October 3rd 4th 5th and 7th Thursday 6th October - school closed Warracknabeal Show Day |
Week 2 | Tuesday 11th October Lentil Assembly |
Week 3 | School Advisory Council Meeting 6:30pm and AGM Thursday October 20 Lentil Assembly |
Week 4 | Monday 24th October Barley Assembly Tuesday 25th October School Closure - Fullness of Life Staff PD |
Week 5 | Friday 4th November Mission Day (more information to come) |
REMINDER - SCHOOL CLOSURE DAY Thursday December 1st Learner Agency whole school implemention. |
Principal's Report
Welcome to Term 3 Week 8
Congratulations to our teacher Eilish Flagg !
It is with great pleasure to announce Grade 3/4 Barley teacher Eilish Flagg has been selected to be a delegate for Australian Catholic University to participate in the III Uniservitate Symposium to be held in Rome, Italy in late October this year. During her undergraduate studies Eilish was selected as a participant in an ACU program involving service learning in Solomon Islands. Recently, this long-running program won the Asia-Oceania Uniservitate Award, an international award recognising outstanding contributions to service learning in Catholic Higher Education.
Eilish has been selected based on her contributions to the program both during her official participation in Solomon Islands, and in a number of activities following this where she has offered her services voluntarily to support the staff, other students, and people in Solomon Islands. Eiish has returned to the Solomon Islands at her own expense a number of times to continue the service contributions she began in her initial involvement. Her outstanding contributions make her very worthy of this opportunity to liaise with other graduates and scholars of service learning from around the world, to explore the ways in which service learning in Catholic educational institutions can assist to enhance social responsibility and overcome global inequity.
We are very proud of Eilish's selection for the program. We look forward to hearing of Eilish's experience and her sharing knowledge and ideas from the symposium for continuing and growing the Catholic mission of social justice at St Mary's.
Congratulations Eilish!
Travel safely with God's blessings
Nerrida Holland
Principal
Footy team and sport colours fun day Friday 16th September
In anticipation of sporting finals occuring through the school holidays and into next term, on Friday 16th September, (last day of term), all students are invited to wear their favorite sporting team colours and sport attire to school. Parent Club have kindly offered a free lunch for all students. Students would have now let their teacher know if they want a pie or a hot dog this day, or bringing their own lunch. If your child has been absent please email you child's teacher of their lunch choice ASAP for catering purposes. Thank you to Parent Club for your generosity in preparing and organising this day for the students.
URGENT - SIMON Everywhere app upgrade
There has been an upgrade to the SIMON everywhere app system. Parents will now need to upgrade to the new version of SIMON Everywhere via the App Store which is now available. Please see the flyer below as to how to upgrade the app, as the old version will cease to function after the rollout.
Enrolments for 2023
Dear families of children beginning Foundation year in 2023. Please bring your enrolment forms to the office as soon as possible so we can confirm numbers for our classroom structure planning for 2023. Transition dates will be confirmed next week in consultation with the Kindergarten and Warracknabeal Primary school. Further information to be provided.
Change to COVID-19 Isolation Rules Effective 9 September 2022
The Victorian Government, in step with the National Cabinet, announced changes to isolation rules for individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19.
Those changes come in to effect, Friday 9 September 2022.
Report your result and isolate for at least 5 days.
If you tested positive using a rapid antigen test, you must report your result to the Department of Health online, or by calling 1800 675 398. You don’t need to report your result if you tested positive from a PCR test.
Your isolation period begins on the day you took your positive test.
How long your isolation period goes for depends on whether you have symptoms, which include a fever, sore throat, runny nose, cough or shortness of breath.
If you have tested positive for COVID-19, you must isolate for at least 5 days from the date you took your rapid antigen test or PCR test. For example, if you took your test on Monday, you can leave isolation on Saturday if you have no symptoms.
You must isolate whether you have COVID-19 symptoms or not.
When you may leave isolation.
If you are in your 6th day of isolation and you have symptoms – no matter how mild – then you must continue to isolate. If you have a sore throat, runny nose, cough or shortness of breath, you may still be infectious and you may infect others with COVID-19.
If you have no symptoms on the 6th day of isolation, you are free to leave isolation on that same day. You do not need to take a test to leave isolation. For example, if you tested positive on a Monday, you may leave isolation any time the following Saturday.
If you are in your 7th day of isolation and you have symptoms – no matter how mild – then you must continue to isolate. If you have a sore throat, runny nose, cough or shortness of breath, you may still be infectious and you may infect others with COVID-19.
If you have no symptoms on the 7th day you are free to leave isolation on that same day. You do not need to take a test to leave isolation. For example, if you tested positive on a Monday, you can leave isolation any time the following Sunday.
If you leave isolation after 5 days, there are important rules you must follow for those two days:
- you cannot visit a hospital or aged care facility
- you cannot attend work at a hospital, residential aged care facility, disability care facility and in-home care premises (including disability and aged care in the home).
For more information about isolation rules for COVID cases click here: https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/checklist-cases
Little Desert zone level - Congratulations to all competitors!
After postponement due to rain, and then a change in venue from Horsham to Stawell, our Little Desert Zone Athletics participants had a fantastic day, with terrific achievements. All children should be incredibly proud of themselves on their flexibility of the change, travelling to Stawell and competing strongly. Thank you families in taking time from work commitments and driving the children to Stawell. Congratulations to the following students who have made it through to Regionals in Ballarat on Friday 7th October (Friday Week 1 Term 4).
Charlie 2nd 800m Isaac Credlin Triple Jump 1st and Long Jump 2nd
Pippa 2nd 1500m Aleah 1st Discus
And for our other competitors - well done and congratulations, with many achieving personal best results!
Campbell High Jump 3rd and 100m 3rd
Eljah 800m and 1500m Harlow 200m and High Jump Evan 200m and 1500m
Curriculum - A busy day of learning!
On Tuesday 6th September the students were very busy engaged in their afternoon classes - terrific to see their learning in action!
Wet weather lunchtime activities
Transition for Primary to Secondary school
Moving to secondary school is full of new challenges: lockers, timetables, public transport, moving classrooms, new friends. Below is a link to a Podcast by Dr Sue Larkey with Joan Shanahan, who is an an expert educational adviser, about the transition from primary school to high school.
Discussed in this Podcast:
✅ When to Start Transition
✅ How Long should you do Transition
✅ Must Do for successful Transition
✅ Ideal to Do as part of Planning
✅ Extra Ideas to support Transition
✅ What do to if Transition wasn’t Successful
✅ Plus information on Vaping, Catching the Bus and more
More Tips and Information from Joan Shanahan
Community News
Warracknabeal Show October 6th
Please see the link below for a document containing the categories primary students can enter for the Warracknabeal Show on October 6th. There is a terrific range for students to show their creative talents. Good luck to all those who enter!
