School Cross Country

It was great to support the children as they participated in the cross country last week Interestingly all of the races, regardless of the age group followed the exact same pattern:

• The children were excited and full of energy on the starting line.
• They started with a burst on the go signal.

Quickly it became difficult and they fell into three distinct groups:

• Those who are good runners and/or who are fit and/or have trained.
• Those for whom cross country is a challenge yet persisted and struggled even though it was difficult.
• Those who quickly gave up.

Congratulations to those in the first group who received their certificates and ribbons at assembly and will represent the school on Thursday at the district event. However, I am particularly interested in and admire those in the second group. The children for whom cross country is hard. They probably don’t enjoy it and don’t receive the positive feedback from finishing towards the front yet they continued, persisted and did their best.

Last week the choir sang at the Mother’s Day morning tea. These children were also well out of their comfort zones, taking a risk. Similarly, the children who volunteered to do the maths competition. This competition is designed so that no child can get all of the problems correct, like the cross country and choir these children volunteered to be challenged. 

STEM Program

Finally, I met with a team of Year 6 girls who are participating in a Science, Maths and Engineering project through Deakin University. The girls are working on a project focussing on Russells Creek and are at the stage where it is becoming hard work because of a deadline and the need to filter their wonderful ideas.  It was a pleasure to listen to this team puzzling things out together. 

The Learning Pit

These are four examples of children entering what the educationist James Nottingham describes as the ”Learning Pit”. Our role as teachers and parents is to support our children in “Learning Pit” to develop the tools and dispositions to persist, collaborate and create when faced with challenges.

Covid Safe Practices 

There seems to be an uptick in the COVID cases in Warrnambool and at St Joseph's.  A reminder of the current protocols to help keep our community safe and our school open. 

Screening requirements

Students who have tested positive for COVID-19, and have completed their 7-day isolation period, now do not need to undertake rapid antigen test (RAT) screening for 12 weeks after their release from isolation. This was previously 8 weeks.

Household contacts

Students who are household contacts of a COVID-19 case are not required to quarantine. They may return to school as long as they undertake rapid antigen tests (RAT) 5 times during their 7-day period. They are required to notify the school that they are a household contact.

Students aged 8 years and above who are household contacts are required to wear face masks when indoors at school unless they have a valid exemption.

If a student household contact returns a positive RAT result, they must isolate for 7 days.

Vaccination requirements for visitors to schools

Parents, carers and other adult visitors (not performing work) are no longer required to show evidence of two doses of COVID-19 vaccine.

RAT screening program reminder

The testing recommendations will remain the same this Term for students and staff with to test at home twice a week. RATs were sent home at the end of last term. Should you have not received yours please contact our office.

Notification of Positive Cases at School

Parents and carers will be notified of positive cases in their child/children’s classroom.  This change means that most families will not receive a daily update.

Thank you for your ongoing support in keeping our school safe and open.

Mother’s Day Morning Tea

Thanks to the PSA for organising the inaugural Mother’s Day Morning Tea. A special mention to Catherine Lee for her support and the choir who performed beautifully.

Another big thanks to the PSA for coordinating the Mother’s Day Stall.

PSA Meeting

A reminder that the PSA is meeting tonight at 7:30pm in C19.  Enter through the foyer.

Election Day BBQ and Cake Stall

The PSA will be running an Election Day BBQ and Cake Stall. I urge you to support this event as a fundraiser for the school.  (The Mother’s Day stall and Morning Tea were designed purely as community building activities.) The Federal and State  Elections are an opportunity for us to fundraise. As reported in a previous newsletter the PSA is contributing $39,000 to continue to grow our school in 2022. This support is crucial to maintaining and improving our facilities and programs. Further in this newsletter is information on how you can get involved in the Election Day BBQ and Cake Stall.

Online Safety

The eSafety website has some clear information for parents and children to support everyone staying safe online.  As an adult it is hard to stay up to date with the latest apps, games and websites.  This link provides an easy to understand description about the latest tools including age level recommendations, purpose and warnings.

A quick search shows all of these apps are designed for children 13+.

We are working with the Warrnambool Police station to provide student and parent sessions focussing on online safety early next term. More information to follow.

NAPLAN

Our Year 3 and Year 5 students are participating in the NAPLAN tests this week. This year the testing is online and adaptive i.e. as a child progresses through the test the questions become easier or harder depending upon their responses. NAPLAN data along with school assessments and observations provides us with information regarding individuals and groups of children which helps in targeting learning for students and teachers alike.

Regards
Matthew O'Brien, Principal