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Newsletter Week 1
Welcome back to 2022!!
Welcome back to 2022!! I hope all our families have found some time to relax, rejuvenate and reconnect over what was a very mixed bag of weather conditions. A number of our families and staff have been impacted by Covid, either directly or indirectly, but I am pleased to say that to my knowledge in these cases, symptoms have been low to mild in their severity. As we begin another year of many unknowns, we will be endeavouring, as always, to keep our students safe as per the covid guidelines sent last week. I encourage all parents to have their children vaccinated and to use the Rapid Antigen Tests that have been made available - these initiatives are in place to keep your child/ren safe and others within our school community.
This week I was notified that two of our families from Iraq will not be returning this year. Both dads have secured work in Melbourne so they are moving to start the next chapter in their life. It was with very mixed emotions to see these families leave as they came to us with no English, no jobs and facing a huge culture shift. Now 5 years later and heading off to Melbourne, these families are comfortable in their adopted country, confident in their English and seeing hope for their future. The parents were eager to pass on their sincerely gratitude for the opportunity that they were given here at St Therese in the way the parents and children were accepted and and made to feel welcome.
As announced in newsletters last year, we have a number of new staff joining St Therese this year:
Miss Stephanie Shalala - Year 1 Gold Teacher
Mrs Stacey Martinoski - Year 2 Blue Job Share Teacher
We also have returning staff:
Mrs Anne-Marie Gilmore - returning from 12 months at St Columbkille’s, Corrimal
Mrs Rita Crofts - returning from 6 months at St Patrick’s, Port Kembla
Change of School Times
As mentioned last year, we have decided to change our start time each day. The school timetable is as follows:
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8.20am Teacher supervision on the back playground 8.40am Morning assembly 10.20am Recess - Years 4, 5 & 6 10.50am Recess - Kinder, Years 1, 2 & 3 12.20pm Lunch - Years 4, 5 & 6 1.00pm Lunch - Kinder, Years 1, 2 & 3 2.50pm Dismissal
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Staggered recess & lunch breaks are required under current covid guidelines. We will revert to the second timeslots once guidelines allow. |
PE & Sports Days
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SPORTS DAY(S): |
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Grade: |
Days: |
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Yr3 & Yr4 |
Monday & Friday |
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Yr1 & Yr2 |
Monday & Thursday |
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Yr5 & Yr6 |
Tuesday & Friday |
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Kinder |
Tuesday & Thursday |
School Buses
Covid Restrictions
An update was sent to all parents last week however as we know, these change fairly regularly.
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Kindergarten parents will be allowed to walk their child to the kinder classrooms for their Best Start Assessment and then return an hour later to pick them up.
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Kinder parents will also be allowed to walk their child to the Kinder classroom for the first week when they commence on Tuesday, 8 February.
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Rapid Antigen Tests - Two weeks supply have been distributed (please call into the office if you haven’t collected these yet). Testing all students at home twice a week is highly recommended.
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Face Masks - All staff are required to wear a mask indoors, unless this impacts learning in certain lessons. Students in primary school are encouraged to wear masks but this is optional.
Afternoon Dismissal
Student dismissal is from 2.50pm. Please don’t arrive much before this time as the basketball court may be used for Sport of PE lessons.
Student Council 2022
Congratulations to our Student Council for 2022. These 8 students were selected after a voting process involving staff and senior students. Voting for Sports Captains will take place tomorrow.
Student Council Members
Jack Thompson Georgia Cummins
Gavin Kumar Annabelle Dellis
Seth Momirovski Gus Tunbridge
Fabian Gaudiosi Faith Semaan
School Swimming Carnival - Thursday, 10 February
This is a competitor’s only carnival which means only students who can swim 50m in any discipline will be attending. We don’t take students who will not be swimming. If your child can swim 50m (one lap of the pool), please encourage them to participate. Mr Bernardi distributed permission notes yesterday. Please return by Friday at the latest.
Swimming races are based on the age students are turning this year - regardless of the month this occurs (eg born in September, 2013 would swim as a 9 year old). The youngest age event is 8 years freestyle. Any students in Year 2 must be very competent swimmers as they will be competing against 8 year olds in freestyle and 10 year olds in all other strokes.
As mentioned in the Swimming Note, parents are required to drop children at Unanderra Pool from 8.45am and pick them up at 12pm. Only parent helpers will be allowed to stay during the carnival.
School Counsellor
Our school counsellor, Mrs Simone Potter, has unfortunately resigned her position from Catholicare to pursue a new venture. At this stage, we have not been informed of a replacement but I will notify parents as soon as we hear from Catholicare.
OOSH - Before & After School Care
Nicole and Emily continue to coordinate the St Therese Before and After School Care program. This service is available to all St Therese students with operating hours of 7.00am to 6.30pm. Please contact CatholicCare if you would like further details.
P & F Meeting AGM
The next P & F Meeting will be on Tuesday, February 15 which will be the Annual General Meeting. At this meeting all executive positions will be declared vacant and nominations called. I ask that you please consider standing for any of the executive positions or even just becoming part of the meetings which keep you informed of what is happening at the school.
Building Update
The general feeling from staff returning was that not a lot has happened over the holiday period. In actual fact, the scaffolding is hiding the progress. Most structural work is now complete with the final section of the lift shaft nearing completion. The new roof is also nearing completion which will allow for some sections of scaffolding to come down. Internal walls are being erected in the church end while classrooms towards the Powell St end are being painted. Completion date is now the end of March.
Religious Education
St Vincent De Paul
During the holidays I received a lovely email from Louise Pinson, President of the West Wollongong Chapter of SVDP. Louise wanted to pass on her thanks and appreciation for the generous contribution towards Christmas hampers by the students (families) of our school. Altogether they put together 52 hampers that brought a lot of Christmas joy to 91 people. It was estimated that more than $4000 of donated goods were distributed. Thanks once again for your continued support and generosity.
Sacramental News
Term 1 - Sacrament of Holy Communion (2021 - Cohort) postponed due to lockdown last year. Registered last year in 2021.
Term 2 - Sacrament of Reconciliation (Year 3 or older) - Registration/ Parent Meeting will be held Term 1
Term 3 - Sacrament of Confirmation (Year 6 or older) - Registration/ Parent Meeting will be held Term 2
Term 4 - Sacrament of Holy Communion (Year 3 or older) - Registration in Term 1 with Reconciliation.
Information and Registration details for 2022 Sacramental programs will be sent out next week.
Our Commissioning Liturgy for our Year 6 Leaders will be held in Week 4.
MEET & GREET PARENT INTERVIEWS YEAR 1-6 2022
Personalised Planning Meeting Term 1 2022
Personalised Planning Meetings are being scheduled for Term 1 (beginning 21st February) to discuss your child's individual Personalised Plan. This plan is aimed at supporting your child’s specific needs whether they be medical, emotional, social or learning support. Meetings are scheduled for 30 minutes. To facilitate these meetings in a COVID-19 safe environment, the interviews will be held via ZOOM. An Invitation only Letter and link will be sent to those parents who have a PP Meeting this week.
Please be aware that you do NOT need to book a Meet and Greet meeting.
MEDICATION 2022
The Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA) recommend that Action Plans should be reviewed and re-issued every 12 months by a doctor, or when a new Adrenaline Auto-Injector is issued.
The National Asthma Council Australia recommend that Action Plans should be reviewed and reissued every 12 months by a doctor, or more frequently if there has been any change in medications or in the child’s condition.
Upon return of the Students in 2022 could you please provide an updated plan and/or medication for 2022. Please ensure that you provide the school with an updated ( Asthma Action Plan / ASCIA Anaphylaxis Action Plan / ASCIA Action Plan for Allergic Reactions) applicable to your child's medical condition ASAP, completed by your doctor as it provides important information for the school if we need to administer medication to your child in 2022.
If we currently hold your child's medication such as Ventolin, Epi Pens etc. could you please either call, email or come into the office to check the expiry date and if required please update the medication and Action Plan for your child for 2022 upon the commencement of the school year 2022. Could you please update your child's medication plans by Friday 11th February 2022.
School Birthdays
2 February 2022 - 8 February 2022
Happy Birthday:
Eugenie Ters, Ben Kari, Layla Saunders.
Happy Birthday
CONGRATULATIONS & WELCOME
During the holidays, two of our families welcomed:
Principal's Awards
NO AWARDS THIS WEEK
St Therese School Facebook Page
www.facebook.com/westwollongong.sttherese
School Vision Statement
“St Therese Primary School – a dynamic, Catholic community
educating and empowering learners for life’s journey.”
PB4L at St Therese School takes the approach that opportunities for learning and achievement increase if:
- the school environment is positive and supportive
- expectations are consistently clear
- children are consistently taught desired behaviours
- children are consistently acknowledged for desired behaviours
- children are consistently responded to in a fair and equitable way
School leaders, teachers, support staff and students, are all involved.
Our school is fully committed to being a Positive Behaviour for Learning school in 2022
Ms Panozzo and the PB4L Team
Dear Parishioners,
As mentioned in my communication on Sunday, we begin public Masses this weekend, 23-24 October, with 6pm Saturday Vigil and 8am Sunday Mass at Unanderra, and 10am and 5pm Sunday Masses at West Wollongong, followed by usual weekday and weekend Mass timetable.
Having met with Immaculate Conception and St Therese (ICAST) PPCs last night, we have decided upon the following:
PUBLIC HEALTH REQUIREMENTS
As per the Diocesan Directives (attached):
- Vaccination is encouraged but not mandatory
- Masks must be worn inside the church
- 4 square metre rule applies at this time
- No congregational singing at this time
- Strong hygiene practices will be maintained
- QR Registration
REGISTRATION PROCESS
There will be no pre-registration for Masses. That process was demanding in terms of admin hours, and we will need to ensure ready availability of digitized records at short notice to the government in case of a Covid case. All attending Mass will be asked to use the Service NSW QR Code at first, and if unable to do so, the monitors will sign you in using a parish QR code.
IF YOU ARE RELUCTANT TO ATTEND PUBLIC MASSES AT THIS TIME
We understand that some are concerned about attending public Mass during stage 2 as churches are among the only venues allowing "mixing" of vaccinated and unvaccinated. If you are concerned for this reason, please do not hesitate to contact us, and we will do our best to organize Communion to be brought to you at home. (All ministers attending your home will be double vaccinated.)
RECONCILIATION
Normal times for Reconciliation to resume from 5pm Saturday 23rd October, please refer to the weekly bulletin this Friday for the details. In addition, Fr Jerzy will be offering Reconciliation from Monday 25th October until Saturday 30th October after Mass as needed.
BAPTISMS
We are in the process of rescheduling baptisms that were postponed during lockdown. For any new requests please contact Kathy at the Parish Office (email: westwollongong@dow.org.au any time or call 4229 1074 on Tuesdays 9am-3pm).
God bless you all,
Fr Duane
CANTEEN MENU 2022
OPEN THURSDAY'S & FRIDAY'S ONLY
Calendar Dates 2022
February 2022
1 - Students Return
Best Start Assessments commence
7 - Best Start Asessments conclude
Year 6 visit from Edmund Rice and St Mary's
8 - Kindergarten 2022 commences
Safer Internet Day 2022
10 - Swimming Section Trials at Unanderra Pool
11 - Census Day
14 - Meet & Greet Parent Meetings commence
Year 5 Visit from Holy Spirt College
18 - Year 6 Leaders Commissioning Mass
Meet & Greet Parent Meetings conclude
21 - Perosnalised Plannng Parent Meetings commence
28 - Kinder Meet & Greet Parent Meetings commence
March 2022
1 - Virtual Launch Caritas Project Commpassion
Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Tuesday
2 - Ash Wednesday - Grade Liturgies
11 - Year 4 Excursion Ports Excursion
16 - St Patrick's Day Mufti Day - Fundraiser
17 - Cross Country - Kembla Joggers, Kembla Grange
21 - Harmony Day
23 - Maths Olympiad/Maths Explorer Day
April 2022
3 - Daylight Savings Ends
6 - Holy Week Liturgy
8 - Last Day Term 1
10 - Holy Week
14 - Holy Thursday
15 - Good Friday
16 - Holy Saturday
17 - Easter Sunday
18 - Easter Monday
19 - Easter Tuesday
25 - Anzac Day
26 - First Day Term 2 - Staff & Students Return