St Augustine's Primary School Creswick eNewsletter

From the Principal's Desk

BOOK WEEK

This year, we celebrate Book Week in the week beginning 23rd – 29th August. The theme is "Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds."

Here at St. Augustine's this year, we are setting aside Friday 27th August as our special day to celebrate this event, beginning with a Book Character Parade in the morning at 9 am. You are most welcome to come to the parade. Weather permitting, we will have the parade outside.

We would like to invite children to come to school dressed as their favourite book character, author or as an expression of this year's theme.

Books, or more importantly, good literature, is an important avenue to foster creativity and imagination. Through the immersion in good literature, students gain a sense of the world in which they live.

Literature enables us to develop our minds analytically and promotes an open mindset. We see the world through the eyes of different writers from different cultures and learn how to deal with things happening around us.

Without literature, we lack insight and understanding of human nature.

Values Awards

This fortnight’s award is a focus on ' Teamwork.' Young children are egocentric by nature. This self-centredness is developmental, which means it's something they should grow out of, but some children never bridge, they become takers rather than givers. Developing a sense of sharing and teamwork in children has plenty of positives. Children who can share their time, their space and themselves and work together, generally have more friends and experience more success than those who don't.

Here are some practical ways to develop a sense of sharing and teamwork in children:

Expect children to help: expect your children to help without being paid. Regular chores and activities that benefit others, such as setting the meal table or helping a younger sibling get dressed, teach them that their contribution is valuable and required.
Think 'gang': encourage children to make allowances for each other which may mean everyone watches a sibling's special concert, rather than some children missing it because 'it’s boring!’ We put ourselves out for each other is a great family strength that often needs to be reinforced by parents.
Don’t let them get away with meanness: children wear L-Plates when behaving generously. They don’t always get it right, which means that we as adults need to remind children when their words and actions are intolerant or mean-spirited or when they need to put their own needs behind the needs of others.
Develop a sense of others: children don’t live in a bubble.

NCCD - Nationally Consistent Collection Data

In August, schools complete the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). It counts the number of students who receive additional adjustments or ‘help' at school because of a diagnosed or imputed disability. The NCCD helps governments plan for the needs of students with disabilities. To count a student in the NCCD, schools must consider the following:

Does the student require adjustments to be made to access the curriculum on the same basis as their peers?
Does the student have a disability according to the Disability Discrimination Act?
Have the student’s parents or caregivers been consulted concerning these adjustments?
Is there clear evidence of the above to support the inclusion of the student in the NCCD?

Key Operational Guidelines

Masks must be worn on the school grounds and inside the building.

Entry to admin area via the front door only for essential purposes, e.g. First Aid, medication, fees, drop off of children's supplies, etc. These measures across the school ensure the interaction between children and families is minimized as much as possible.

Drop off - at either the front gate or back gate. Please do not linger.

Pickups - at either the front gate or back gate.

If you are entering any school buildings, it is a Victorian Government mandate that you check-in via our QR code.

Stay home when unwell!

The most crucial action our school community can take to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19 is to ensure that any unwell students remain at home and get tested, even with the mildest of symptoms.

Students with underlying conditions (such as hay fever or asthma):

Suppose a student has persistent symptoms due to an underlying condition such as hay fever or asthma. In that case, the student should still be tested for COVID-19 if they develop symptoms different to, or worse than their usual symptoms. Students whose symptoms are typical for their underlying condition can continue to attend school. Parents/carers should also consider getting a medical certificate from the child’s treating GP to confirm that it is safe for them to attend school with persistent symptoms that may overlap with some of the symptoms of COVID-19, such as cough or runny nose.

Things to look forward to

At the moment, schools are restricted to one person every 4 square metres. Our largest room is the hall at 120 square metres to put that into perspective. This means that we can only accommodate 30 bodies in that room at any one time. Using school staff and students, we have no limits, but if we introduce one person outside the school, the numbers drop to cater to 1 person per 4 square metre limit. Where we can hold things outside, we will endeavour to do so.

Melissa has introduced a gymnastics component to her PE program this term, so all classes will complete a program focusing on gymnastics skills. We have some exciting things planned across this term, please refer to the 'Dates to Note' for details.

- Terry Brennan -

POSSIBLE Lockdown for Friday 6th August

We are aware there are talks of a possible snap lockdown for 3 days commencing at midnight tonight. A 'Student Attendance' activity has been created, to allow all to be prepared and we ask you to please complete this activity AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, in the event this 3 day snap lockdown does go ahead, to assist teaching staff with student numbers tomorrow. Should the lockdown not go ahead, all details regarding this activity, will be disgarded.

NOTE: If this lockdown does go ahead, Tuck-Shop orders will again be pushed to Friday week, the 13th August. We will keep everyone informed via Seesaw as more details are announced.

In the meantime, we ask you to assist us by completing the most recent activity ASAP via PAM. Thank you!!

Tuck-Shop

A big THANK YOU to both Shondra Baker & Fiona Trounce for assisting us last Friday 30th July in the Tuck-Shop at such short notice!

A reminder we now seek more volunteers to assist across Term 3. Dates we need filled are listed below. We require 2 volunteers each Friday for approximately 1 hour (10:45 - 11:45 am). Should you be free and willing, please email Mandy with the date you are available as soon as possible, to be placed on the Term 3 roster. Thank you!

06/08/21: Olga Torgovnikova & Shondra Baker
13/08/21: HELPERs NEEDED PLEASE!
20/08/21: Josie Stephens & Fiona Trounce
27/08/21: Jac Keating & HELPER NEEDED PLEASE!
03/09/21: Amanda Chamings & Shaun Dossor
10/09/21: School House Sports Day (no tuck-shop on this day)
17/09/21: Olga Torgovnikova & HELPER NEEDED PLEASE!

THANK YOU!!

A big Thank You to Alicia Achterbosch from Collins Book Sellers Ballarat for donating some wonderful new books to our school library. The students will get many years of enjoyment from these books. Mrs P.

Our Diocesan Community

There has been ongoing discussion about the future distribution of Our Diocesan Community (ODC), the Catholic Diocese of Ballarat magazine, to school communities.

School principals were notified in the Catholic Education Newsletter on June 23 that DOBCEL has made the decision that schools will provide a digital edition of ODC to align with current practices of distributing information to parents (eg. electronic newsletters). The advice is that the use of digital communications is the preferred option for the distribution of information to families as it balances school’s environmental sustainability responsibilities and reflects the leading communication method for parents.

A link will now be provided for inclusion in school newsletters to share the 'Diocesan Community' news with families, rather than the booklet being distributed to schools to be sent home with students. The value of this publication as a means of communication across the diocesan education community is important, in sharing stories and good news of the diocese.

Please view the ODC Newsletter via the link below

https://www.ballarat.catholic.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/ODC-July-2021-web-hr.pdf

Dates to Note!

TERM 3

AUGUST

Monday 9th to Thursday 12th: Parent/Teacher Meetings to be held across week 5 (Bookings via PAM for Parent/Teacher Meetings. Classroom bookings will vary, depending on each classroom teachers availabily. NOTE: bookings close at 4 pm SHARP on Friday 6th August).

Tuesday 24th: Celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation at 10 am (2^nd round of students)

Friday 27th: Book Week Parade Dress-up Day

Saturday 28th: St Augustine's Feast Day

Monday 30th: Celebration of St Augustine's Feast Day (internal activities & celebrations)

SEPTEMBER

Friday 3rd: Father's Day Morning Tea (more information to come)

Friday 10th: School House Sports Day

Monday 13th: Footy Colours Day being run by the SRC (more information to come)

Friday 17th: Teddy Bears Picnic (more information to come)

Friday 17th: Last day of Term 3 - students finish at 1:45 pm

TERM 4

NOVEMBER