Dear Friends,

This week we begin seeing great hope and light after a long period of uncertainty. Our staff are very excited to have our students back to learning at school beginning with the staggered return next week. I know for some, return to school will be exciting and welcomed and for others this will be a time of anxiety and some fear. Please be reassured that the health and well being of students, staff and our wider school community is given the highest priority and we will continue each day on return to school to take measures to minimise the risk of COVID-19. 

We are looking forward to welcoming our ELC,  Kinder, Year 1, Year 2 and Year 6 children back to Holy Trinity next Monday, the 25 October, and Year 3, 4, and 5 on the 1st of November.  We have a COVID-19 safety plan in place to ensure the health and safety of children, families, and staff for their return. Please read below the updated procedures for the dropping-off and pick-up of children. ELC families, please refer to the ELC section of the newsletter for the updated procedures.

Furthermore, to increase safety the ELC and school will undertake the following measures

• mandatory mask wearing for staff and essential visitors.  The wearing of  masks for primary students is at the discretion of the student and their parent/carer.  However it is not recommended for children in the ELC or for Kindergarten to Year 2.  This is because masks are unlikely to be correctly worn by very young children and may represent a choking hazard. 

• Classrooms have increased ventilation, and when possible, classes will optimise outside learning.
• High levels of cleaning of high touch areas, equipment and other classroom materials will continue by staff, as well as the daily clean of the school and ELC  by contracted cleaners.
• It is now mandated for all school and ELC staff to be vaccinated, first-dose vaccinations will be required by staff no later than 1 November 2021. Staff must then be fully vaccinated - that is have received two doses of a COVID D-19 vaccine - no later than 29 November 2021. To date there has already been a very high uptake for vaccination amongst our staff. 
• NDIS staff, music tutors and therapists are able to continue visiting the school and ELC and have the same vaccination requirements as all staff. Essential volunteers, such as those working in the tuckshop and uniform shop also have the same vaccination requirements. 

Other measures in place will include limiting the mingling of classes and year groups, increased use of outdoor spaces, limitation of on-site visitors to essential visitors only, environmental cleaning, and high vigilance around not allowing anyone with symptoms of illness to attend. Please monitor your child for signs of sickness and do not send your child to school if they have cold or flu-like symptoms. Any children showing signs of sickness whilst at school will be required to be collected from school promptly. 

The reopening of schools reflects the need to have students return to the classroom to support their well being and minimise educational disadvantage. As such, now that the ACT and NSW Government has declared that schools are safe to open we are once again obliged to ensure that the requirements of school attendance are met. Students who do not return to school on an extended basis will require a medical certificate from a medical practitioner.

Please note:

• With our multi aging in Year 5 and 6, Year 6 will be attending school in Week 4 and Year 5 will continue remotely for this week. Year 5 return on Monday 1 November. We are still,  however, in Week 4 open for students in Years 3-5 of parents/carers who are unable to provide care for their children. Our school will also remain open for vulnerable students. If you require supervision of your child/children in Year 3-5 during Week 4, please complete the following form- this will ensure we have appropriate supervision ratios. 
  

  httpssssholytrinitypscurtinnschoolzineplussss.com/form/295

• Please note that there is one mode of learning employed for children needing on site supervision, the remote learning model. This is where the same learning is delivered to students both at home and on site at school. ( For Week 4, this will be Year 3, 4 and 5) 

As we enter Term 4, we will be farewelling two of our School Board members, Penny O'Connell and Jan Ridd.  We will have opportunity to formally thank both these members for their wonderful contribution to our School Board and community later in the term.  The School Board now encourages other parents in our community to nominate for positions on our school board, whose functions are as follows:

FUNCTIONS OF THE SCHOOL BOARD

The Board has responsibility to advise on decisions in the following areas:

• Supporting the development of the Catholic identity, ethos and mission of the school.
• Supporting pastoral care strategies in the school community.
• Promoting the school in the local community.
• Supporting the implementation and continuation of the IB PYP curriculum framework and Professional Learning opportunities. 
• Developing, approving and monitoring the annual budget, including school determined levies, loan commitments and the fees collection and remission policy.
• Developing and monitoring school enterprises, eg. Holy Trinity Early Learning Centre, Outside School Hours Care (Kids Biz), sports associations, hall hire.
• Developing capital and maintenance programs.
• Developing local strategic plans (finances, buildings, resources) and contributing to Archdiocesan educational strategic planning.
• Facilitate local school community debate in response to System leadership by the CEC and the CE in lobbying governments in school funding campaigns.
• Approving school uniform items decided at school level.
• Ensuring that the Parish and school community receives the Annual School Board Report. (Yearbook)
• Consulting with the P & F Association on the expenditure of levies or funds in keeping with Archdiocesan regulations.

Please click here for the nomination form  due to me via email next Wednesday 27th of October. 

Thank you again to Cheryl and the volunteers from the Uniform Shop who came to school on Sunday and organised our click and collect system for summer uniform orders. it is hoped that when the children return to school over the next to weeks, they will be in full summer uniform, with a hat.  Of course we understand that children may have grown out of shoes etc and we will certainly be making allowances for this until retail is safely accessible. 

Today we also farewell the Morel family (George, Amy, Beatrice and Alice) who fly back to Ireland (Limerick) tomorrow.  We will dearly miss them all and wish them  the best for the future in Ireland and beyond. 

Please do not hesitate to reach out for anything at all and continue to stay safe. I look forward to seeing you in the car park over the next two weeks! 

Warmest wishes,

Philippa