On All Souls’ Day the universal Church prays for all those in purgatory, people who were much like us, whose offense may have been less than ours. By pleading for them, we are inspired to lead purer lives. On that day, and during the entire month of November, we remember our departed brethren as we go to the cemetery where they are buried, attain indulgences for them, give alms, do some good work, ask for Masses to be said in remembrance, all on behalf of those close to us and to others we may have neglected during the year.

Return to School

Now that we are a week and a half back with all students, I would like to congratulate students and parents on how well this transition has gone. The children are happy and settling in well to our, almost, normal routines. We are still operating on Covid restrictions which mean we have to make every effort to keep grade cohorts separate at all times. This has required a few changes most notably having staggered recess and lunch times. This has required constant monitoring and tweaking of our procedures, but all seems to be working well. Last night, further changes were announced to the Government guidelines but at this stage, this news hasn’t filtered through Catholic School NSW. Until this occurs, no changes will be made to our current procedures.

Student Drop Off

Parents will continue to be able to use Kiss & Drop in the usual places on Powell St as well as near the hall gates on the basketball court. This will mean that there will be NO PARKING on the basketball court in the morning. This is in keeping with guidelines to separate students as much as possible and not to have parents congregating around school entrances.

Kiss & Collect from Basketball Court

This commences at 2.50pm. All students should be collected no later than 3.20pm - after this time, any students still here will be taken back to the office.

Student Pick-Up by 3.30pm

All students should have been collected by 3.30pm unless parents have notified the school office. Delays, unfortunately, do impact staff who are involved in meetings and personal commitments.

Local Residents

With all students back onsite, this again raises the issue of traffic congestion on local streets particularly between 2.50 and 3.10pm. I ask parents to please be patient and consider local residents particularly the blocking of driveways.

Out Of School Hours Care (OOSH) 6.30am - 6.30pm

Catholiccare OOSH services operate out of the school hall during the above times. Please make contact with Catholiccare (see Louise in the office for details) if you would like details / costs for this service. No children should be at school before 8.15am as they are unsupervised. OOSH provides a fun, safe environment where children get breakfast or afternoon tea.

It’s great to see that numbers of students attending OOSH has increased for both morning and afternoon sessions. I urge parents to consider this service, particularly in the morning, as it can create a more relaxing, stress free start to the day for everyone.

Hair Styles

As part of the transition back to normal routines, I ask parents to be aware of the uniform requirements and school guidelines around hair styles. In saying that, I am aware that there is a 3 month backlog of barber/hairdresser appointments so I am not expecting things to happen overnight.

Building Update

It’s exciting to see framework finally going up for the extensions at the church end of the building. With most of the in-ground and structural work completed, progress should become more obvious over the coming weeks. Unfortunately, the completion date is still unlikely to occur before the end of February next year.

Learning Labs

The University of Wollongong invites our students to LITTLE and EARLY LEARNING LABS, an academic and creative arts enrichment holiday program. We are targeting students from Year 1 to 6 who are passionate, self-motivated and curious learners.

Dates: Little Learning Labs (Years 1 and 2): 10^th – 12^th January 2022

           Early Learning Labs (Years 3 to 6): 17^th – 21^st January 2022

Venue: University of Wollongong (Wollongong campus only)

Applications close: Wednesday, 17^th November 2021

LITTLE AND EARLY LEARNING LABS program brochure