Yamandhu….hello in Wiradjuri.

My apologies for not submitting a newsletter report last week. Like so many of our community I was sick with one of the different viruses that are doing the rounds of our school. We are struggling with a range of different illnesses that we have returned to some of the COVID period protocols like hand sanitizer, cleaning, masks and a measure of social distance to ensure that we keep our community as well as we can. If you child has symptoms of illness please keep them home to prevent the spread of the “bugs”. If you are in need of any COVID tests please contact the school and we will send some home until we run out of our supplies.

Today our Stage 3, Year 7 and First Nations students will be involved in the recreation of the walk from Cootamundra Train Station to Bimbadeen for the First Nation girls of the Stolen Generation. This is a Cootamundra schools project and we are excited to be a part of this significant event in recognizing the experiences of our First Nation people. Hopefully we will have some photos for next weeks newsletter.  There will be presentations and games at Bimbadeen and a shared lunch for all involved. 

Another reminder about uniform and the expectation that students wear the correct uniform on the nominated days and that they are not just choosing to wear the sports uniform whenever they choose and it is not a sport day. If this is unavoidable then students are asked to present a note from home explaining the reason for being out of uniform. Please also remember that we have a school coat that is the perfect complement to our uniform on the colder days. These are very reasonably priced and are available from Baileyana Embroidery.

Parents have adapted incredibly well to the processes and procedures with the new parent consent, payment and news on COMPASS. If you are experiencing issues with COMPASS or are having difficulty with the processes please come into the Front Office and we will help you through any problems. In regards to CONSENT/PAYMENT we now have the option of cut off dates which means that if you haven’t made consent by the nominated date then you will be unable to interact with the event notice after the time and date. This is to help us manage the confirmation, catering and staffing of events. Unfortunately we may have to get tough and students without consent or payment (unless it has been prearranged) will not be permitted to go. We will endeavour to try and send reminders and earlier notification to allow parents adequate time to respond. Our apologies with the Reconciliation Walk we were unaware that by changing the date of the event, due to the inclement weather, that it would wipe the original CONSENT permissions.  Thank you for your patience as we adapt to the new processes.

We are always vigilant in monitoring who is going past our school and stopping to interact with our students over the fence. Sometimes this is very innocent and harmless but we are always concerned in case it is not a positive interaction. To make this easier to monitor and supervise we encourage parents to meet students at the front office rather than bring lunches to the fence. This is a much easier and safer process for all concerned.

We are also requesting – quite strenuously – that parents do not pick students up from the bus stop of an afternoon which necessitates students walking from the kerb between or in front of buses to the waiting cars on the opposite side. This is a very dangerous practice that can have dangerous possibilities. Please make arrangements to pick up children from Morris St or Temora St or again meet them at the front office rather than the Sutton st bus stop. Each afternoon it is very congested with buses arriving quite quickly and departing quickly that we are trying to keep all our students safe all of the time. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

Term Two fees are due on 9^th June. Please contact the Front Office to make an appointment to speak with me if there are any concerns. This is confidential.

Please remember that there is always a reason to be kind and that we may never realise or understand the benefit that it may have to someone’s day if we are kind.

God Bless

Ms Nicky Trinder

Principal