Sacred Heart Central School Cootamundra eNewsletter

Yippee! We are back to face-to-face teaching from Monday 13 September and I am sure that students and parents are rejoicing at the idea of returning to some level of normality around school. Some students are lamenting not being able to complete class in their pyjamas or from their bed but overall everyone is glad to be returning to school. Staff are now working to smooth the transition back to the classroom and we are looking forward to seeing our students again after a long 4 weeks. A huge thank you to all the parents who stepped into the breech to facilitate the remote learning platform and who were tireless in their efforts to provide their children with the opportunities to continue learning. We acknowledge the enormous investment of time and energy that this has taken and we are very happy to resume the task of teaching and learning to our wonderful school community.

It would be appreciated that the families who borrowed the loan devices return them on Monday to the Front Office so that they can be marked off and returned to the classrooms for use in the coming week. We will need them back asap.

As detailed in the communication to families yesterday the school will return under Stage 3 restrictions. Most notably in the expectations from NSW Health and the NSW Government is the directive to minimise physical contact and as such students will be allocated to cohorts for all classes and break times. The idea is to enhance contact tracing if a case occurs in the community and to prevent widespread transmission. We are still working out what this looks like because we have obvious limitations in regards to personnel and facilities. We are striving to minimise physical contact and we will do our very best to work towards this aim.

WEEK 10 COVID-SAFE PRACTICES:

The canteen will open for pre-ordered sales for lunch and recess only. There will be NO face-to-face sales through the canteen window, at least for this week. We hope to return to normal functioning next term. Please order online before 9.30 and indicate whether it is a lunch or recess order. Baskets will be collected for all cohorts to be distributed rather than physical contact at the canteen window or door. We apologise for this inconvenience but we are trying to abide by NSW Health directives.
Please ensure that students have a drink bottle as the bubblers will once again be closed until further notice.
No parents or carers will be allowed on site. If presenting at the Front Office the QR code must be used. All students are to be dropped off at one of the external entrances to minimise gathering of parents/carers. Please do not congregate at the entrances at the end of the school day. Teachers will be at entrances to supervise a safe end to the school day.
There is to be no sharing of food or drink.
On site students must observe physical distancing, maintain COVID hygiene practices and stay home if unwell until a negative COVID test result is received.
If a student is absent they can access their classwork independently through Google Classroom and/or SeeSaw.
NSW Health has mandated that all staff and secondary students are required to wear a mask at all times at school for the foreseeable future. Students are therefore required to be wearing a mask when they arrive on site each morning and continue to wear it throughout the day. Students are encouraged to wear reusable masks. It is not feasible for the school to maintain a supply of disposable masks that can meet the demand if students forget or lose their mask. It is the responsibility of families to ensure that each student has a mask to be worn at school each day. It is therefore strongly recommended that students have a second spare mask with them in their bag each day in case their mask becomes damaged or lost. We encourage Primary students to wear a mask if they choose. It is not compulsory.
School orientation activities are prohibited for now.
To provide a safe learning environment for students, minimise opportunities for transmission and enable the most effective contact tracing and containment measures in the event of a COVID-19 case, schools will be required to adopt a cohort model.

The principles of student cohorting are to:

minimise unnecessary physical interaction between students on school grounds;
ensure that students learn and play only with those in their cohort, wherever possible;
minimise opportunities for transmission and enhance contact tracing; and
minimise the potential for widespread infection across the school and wider school community.

We will endeavour to keep you informed as directives change and are refined for our context. We are appreciative of all that everyone has done to keep our community safe and learning. We look forward to reconnecting with our students and making the most of this final week of Term 3. Holidays will begin at 3.15 on Friday 17^th September.

A bit of exciting news is that we have been given the staffing allocation to have 2 KINDERGARTEN classes for 2022. This is wonderful and we are looking forward to all that 2022 will being our newest enrolments.

Remember: If you can be anything…be kind!

God Bless! Stay well.