Newsletter Thursday 28^th April 2022

Good afternoon Parents/carers and guardians,

Welcome back after the Easter break! I am sure for some families it has been a time of joy and happiness as they reunited with friends and families after two years of lockdowns. I am sure that many in the community took advantage of the opportunities to travel both interstate and overseas and were able to experience the wonders our world has to offer.

These holidays are also a very important time in the life of the Catholic Church as we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Easter celebrations see believers go from the low to the highs as we reflect on the story of Jesus’ last few days on earth and the sacrifices he made for us. Thankfully the story ends with the good news of His Resurrection after the torment and suffering of being denied by His own friends and the pain of crucifixion. It is important that we remember the sacrifices He made for us and that we continue to show care and compassion to those around us.

At St Patrick's we strive to follow the teachings and example of Jesus Christ in supporting the community. With this in mind it has been disappointing to be exposed to the constant sledging that our politicians chose to take part in. We strive to instil the growth, wellbeing and acceptance of all students in a respectful manner. 

We remember all the people affected by the war in Ukraine and pray for those living and being affected by these troublesome times.

Easter blessing

Take care and God Bless

Meg

Covid Update

VISITORS AND VOLUNTEERS PERFORMING WORK AT A SCHOOL

Any visitor or volunteer performing work at a school must be fully vaccinated (boosted) (with three (3) doses) with an approved COVID-19 vaccine or have a valid exception to attend on-site for the purpose of working.

• Visitors or volunteers working on school sites include, but are not limited to:
• Parent and Friends Committee members
• School Advisory Committee members
• Volunteers performing volunteer work at the school (for example, parent helpers and those participating in a school working bee outside of school time)
• Volunteers attending school camps or excursions
• Schools must collect, record and hold vaccination information for all workers, including visitors or volunteers performing work at a school whether inside or outside

This term, the covid mask mandate for teachers and students in years 3-6 has been scrapped. However if you would still prefer your child to wear a mask whilst in the classroom, that is not a problem. The school still has plenty of masks on hand. The latest Covid information is listed below so please read carefully.

Staff Updates

We welcome Ms Pei Lim who has been employed as a tutor teacher, joining Jen White as part of the government funded tutor initiative program once again launched for 2022 to support students learning after the covid lockdowns. Pei will be working with the grade 3 team and their students. She will be a part of their planning each week and will be working with small groups of students needing extra assistance with the curriculum. Jen is continuing her work in the Junior school.

SCHOOL Tours and ENROLMENTS for 2023

Please contact the school office if you have a child that is due to begin school in 2023. If you would like to come for a tour, please contact the school office to make an appointment. Please let your friends and families know about us.

Head Lice

There has been an outbreak of head lice in the school once again. Can I please ask that parents are checking their children for any signs that they may have this and go through the correct protocols to ensure it does not spread in school. Please see the link below for advice.

https://www.health.vic.gov.au/infectious-diseases/head-lice-resources

Teacher emails

Please note that teachers will NOT be replying to emails after 5pm. If you send an email to a staff member after this time, it will be responded to in the following 48 hours. As I am sure you will agree, teachers have their own families and other responsibilities to attend to after this time. If the matter is an emergency, please contact the office at office@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au or call 5943 9000

Thank you for your understanding in this matter.

Assembly link for Friday

meet.google.com/udx-znsu-map

LATEST Covid Update

WATCH FOR SYMPTOMS

If your child is unwell, even with mild COVID-19 symptoms, you must keep your child at home until their symptoms resolve and get your child tested with a PCR test (nose and throat swab) or complete a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT).

If symptoms continue, your child should stay home and take another RAT or PCR test in 24 hours. If that test is also negative, your child may return to school if another diagnosis is confirmed (such as an underlying health condition or medication).

Checklist for COVID contacts

Checklist for COVID contacts

VACCINATIONS 

All students and their families are strongly encouraged to get vaccinated.  Children aged 5 to 11 can now get vaccinated. Parents, guardians and carers are encouraged to book their child in for a vaccination at the first available opportunity.

TESTING

RATs will be provided to all staff and students at no charge. Schools will inform parents, guardians and carers on how these kits can be collected from the school. Students and staff should take a RAT twice-weekly on the morning before attending school. Test kits will continue to be supplied by schools during this time.

HOUSEHOLD AND HOUSEHOLD-LIKE CONTACTS

Household and household-like contacts are no longer required to quarantine but are required to undertake the following additional safety measures in the seven (7) days that would have been their quarantine period: 

• Notify the school if returning during their seven (7)-day period;
• Undertake daily rapid antigen testing five (5) times within the seven (7) days;
• Wear a face mask indoors (if aged eight (8) and above) unless a lawful exemption applies; and are not permitted to visit hospitals or care facilities unless an exemption applies.
• Household and household-like contacts are still permitted to participate in school activities, including camps and excursions, as long as they wear a mask when indoors (if aged eight (8) and above or have a valid exception) and complete five (5) rapid antigen tests within the seven (7)-day period that would have been their quarantine period.
• A household or household-like contact attending an off-site activity during this period must notify the school they are attending under these requirements.
• If a student, parent, guardian or carer cannot comply with the additional safety measures at any time, they must quarantine immediately for the remainder of their seven (7)-day household contact period to get tested on Day one (1) (or as soon as possible) and on Day six (6) of their household contact period and not attend school until a negative Day six (6) test result is received.

COVID-19 POSITIVE CASES

If your child has no symptoms and there is a positive COVID-19 case in their household, class, year level or other grouping, your child can continue to attend school in line with Victorian Department of Health advice.

Staff and students who receive a positive RAT result must register it on the COVID-19 Positive Rapid Antigen Test Self-Reporting Form available on the Coronavirus Victoria website https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/report as soon as possible.

Staff and students who receive a positive RAT or PCR test result must tell their school as soon as possible, and follow Victorian Department of Health advice.

Students who test positive to COVID-19 must isolate for seven (7) days and not attend school during that period.

Students who have recovered from COVID-19, are not required to get tested or isolate if they are re-exposed to a positive COVID-19 case within 12 weeks of ending their isolation period. If more than 12 weeks have passed since their isolation period concluded, students must follow the relevant testing and isolation advice depending on the type of contact they are.

Schools will regularly communicate to parents, guardians and carers about the presence and impact of COVID-19 in their school community. Parents, guardians and carers should expect to be provided with details of any impacted grade, year level or other grouping.

VENTILATION

The Victorian Government has provided air purifiers and new filters for all schools.

Fresh air is the most effective form of ventilation to minimise the risk of transmission.

Schools are required to increase fresh air flow into indoor spaces (including shared spaces, staff areas and thoroughfares) whenever possible.

Using outdoor spaces will continue to be encouraged, where practicable.

FACE MASKS

Staff and students are no longer required to wear a face mask indoors or outdoors at school.

Everyone aged eight (8) years or over must wear a face mask when travelling to and from school, on public transport, taxis or ride share vehicles, unless a lawful exemption applies. This includes when travelling to and from activities, school camps and excursions on school buses or via public transport.

Visitors to primary schools are no longer required to wear a face mask indoors or outdoors at school.

Any students or staff members who wish to wear a face mask may do so, including those who are medically at-risk.

ACTIVITIES

COVID-19 will continue to be considered in all activity risk assessments. Guidance will be provided to schools on applying appropriate safeguards across a range of activities, including school camps and excursions.

Parents, guardians and carers will be made aware of the risk of exposure and will need to provide their permission for their child’s participation in extra-curricular, out of school hours or off-site activities.

VISITORS

Visitors on school sites should be kept to a minimum to support essential school activities or student needs.

Visitors will be required to comply with COVIDSafe measures, including physical distancing requirements and practise respiratory etiquette and good hand hygiene.

The use of Service Victoria QR codes for electronic record-keeping is no longer required in school settings.

Parents, guardians, carers and other adult visitors are no longer required to show evidence of two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine if not performing work or volunteering at the school. 4 April 2022

VISITORS AND VOLUNTEERS PERFORMING WORK AT A SCHOOL

Any visitor or volunteer performing work at a school must be fully vaccinated (boosted) (with three (3) doses) with an approved COVID-19 vaccine or have a valid exception to attend on-site for the purpose of working.

Visitors or volunteers working on school sites include, but are not limited to:

• Parent and Friends Committee members
• School Advisory Committee members
• Volunteers performing volunteer work at the school (for example, parent helpers and those participating in a school working bee outside of school time)
• Volunteers attending school camps or excursions
• Schools must collect, record and hold vaccination information for all workers, including visitors or volunteers performing work at a school whether inside or outside

KEEPING SCHOOLS OPEN 

Parents, guardians and carers are asked to respect the rules at their child’s school to help keep the community safe.

Schools will do everything they can to maintain continuity of face-to-face learning including the increased use of casual staff.

Schools will continue to make localised staffing decisions to ensure appropriate supervision can be maintained.

Schools will not be able to guarantee particular staff for any cohort and students may not have their regular teacher for a class.

LEARNING FROM HOME

We will continue to monitor the situation and where face-to-face learning is not possible, learning from home options will be supported for short periods.

Students who are required to isolate or quarantine will be provided with learning materials to support their continued learning. Schools are not expected to provide a full remote learning program in these circumstances.

TERM DATES

Years 3 and 5 have NAPLAN testing this year. The dates are as follows:

PROJECT COMPASSION BOXES:

Thank you to everyone who has brought back their Project Compassion Boxes.

If you have not yet returned your box please send it to school as soon as possible.

Have you set up your PAM account yet! 

Operoo is no longer being used!!!

From the start of 2022 PAM will be our main form of communication.  All emails, Student Attendance, Sick Bay notes, School Reports, commonly used forms, excursion/camp permission notes and Family Learning conversations, will all be communicated via PAM.  

A new app (SimonEverywhere) will soon be available to download to allow easy access to PAM but for now please save the PAM log on screen to the home page of your device or bookmark it in your browser.  

Access PAM via this link   Link to PAM 

SIMON -  a Learning Management Software solution for schools.

St Patrick’s Primary school is now using SIMON in the classroom to keep track of your child’s progress and learning as well as attendance.  SIMON will also be used for School Reports and Student Wellbeing.

PAM, SIMON’s Parent Access Module

PAM (Parent Access Module) is our new Parent to School communication platform.   PAM will provide real time access to keep parents updated with their children’s progress, important dates and messages. Relevant resources – calendar events, student reports, parent notified absences, absence data and sick bay notes will all be accessed via PAM.

Parents will be able to easily book Parent Teacher interviews through PAM, and access teacher email addresses. 

PAM accounts are linked via your email address that we have in our systems.  If you have recently changed your email,  please call or email us on office@stppakenham.cathlic.edu.au

Click on the 'forget password' link to set your password and then verify your email address.  (Email addresses must be verified for PAM to work properly).  Once your email is verified, your email can be used as the username for your account.

Once you have successfully logged in, you can save PAM to your homescreen on your device.

If you have any issues or need help with PAM please contact the school via email, office@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au

PAM Instructions

Parent Notified Absences via PAM

Once you have PAM set up and saved to your home screen you can easily send in Parent Notified absences.   Please use this platform going forward as this automatically syncs with the class roll.   This will fix the issues of receiving SMS notifications even though you had already notified the school. 

Please remember to update your contact details and any relevant medical details for your child.  

Most medical profiles have now been updated. Please remember to keep them up to date and upload any asthma/allergy plans that may be relevant 

To update any contact details please contact the school office. 

CSEF Applications are now due! 

The applicant must be one of the following:

1. a parent/carer (of a student attending a registered Government or non-government Victorian primary or secondary school) who is:
   • on the first day of Term 1 (31 January 2022), or the first day of Term 2 (26 April 2022)  a holder of one or more of the eligible financially-means tested cards (Centrelink Health Care Card or a Pensioner Concession Card), or
   • a temporary foster parent

The parent/carer must submit an application to the school by 24 June 2022.

If anyone has any questions or would like to discuss their school fee account, please contact Cindy in the school office cbyrne@stppakenham.catholic.edu.au   

Please download and fill in the form below if you qualify.

 Please read the flyer below from our School House Captains. 

We’re very excited to be starting our Joey Ranger program on May 4, running every Wednesday with June 8 being our final session in the 6-week program.

Registration is free and it opens on April 8 and closes on April 29.

More info can be found at www.scoutsvictoria.com.au/joey-rangers

Our much awaited Church Renovation is about to begin and is anticipated to cost in the order of $4.2 million. After contributions from Parish funds, the “Be a Sponsor of Church Renovation” programme aims to provide extra funding for the Sacred Artwork that will adorn our new church as well as reducing the loan repayments to Catholic Development Fund and thereby reflecting our strong Parish Community.

Please see the flyers below for more information and keep up to date on the Parish webpage.   https://stpatrickspakenham.com.au/fundraising/