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Last Sunday’s Gospel...
Last Sunday was the feast of Corpus Christi – the Body and Blood of Christ. This Eucharistic gift is what makes us different as Catholics. It is our belief of the true presence of Jesus in the bread and the wine as Body and Blood.
Did you know...
In many countries, there are still huge processions through the streets where people follow the Blessed Sacrament as it is brought out of the tabernacle and into the wider community.
From the Principal...
I spoke about punctuality in the last newsletter and I want to commend you and the students for the big improvement in getting to school on time. The students are much happier not rushing to classes at the last minute! So thank you for what you have done to bring this about. The afternoon pick up is working well too at the moment with parents kindly following the flow directions. So thanks again!
As you will have seen the works we were carrying out are completed. I hope you will agree that the changes have improved the look of the school entrance and made it feel more welcoming. We are hoping there will still be an upgrade of the break out and wet areas in Stages 1 and 3 but we are waiting to see how CEDoW needs to adjust their budgets with COVID 19.
We are closely watching mental health with everyone’s return – students and staff. We do have a CatholicCare counsellor on site and if you feel your child needs to access this service, please let us know. Feel free at any time to make contact with your child’s teacher about any concerns you have. An email or phone call to the office will be passed on to the class teacher who will make contact with you.
An interim report will be available to you on Compass on Friday. I have sent a letter with more detail about that already as well as information about parent/teacher interviews and the different way we are conducting them this year. Please let us know if you have any questions. I will be very interested in your feedback about the interviews to see if this is something that suits you well and we could continue to offer this as an option.
Following an extensive tender process, we will have a new canteen operator beginning in Term 3. There is a lot of information to give you about the services they offer and new procedures for ordering, including online orders, and I will send all that out to you separately.
The Parent-School Partnership Framework is now available in various languages. We are sending the link home with the newsletter. Please take some time to go through this document as it is a very useful resource to support our partnership.
God Bless,
Principal
We have an important update to share with you regarding changes to school activities now and in Term 3. We are committed to reintroducing these activities safely and in line with health authority guidelines. You will receive further communication related to the activities as they are reintroduced.
The following activities are allowed from Monday 15 June 2020:
School assemblies and liturgies (not Eucharistic celebrations), limited to 15 minute. Unfortunately at this stage we are not able to host external visitors, including parents, at assemblies.
● School photos (students only, there will be no group staff photos)
● Choirs and performing arts. This will be within the school only at this point, with no inter-school activities.
● Day field trips to outdoor locations with no physical distancing requirements (e.g. sport facilities, trips to local river/creek etc. to collect water samples).
● Students attending other schools for essential curriculum related reasons or placements (e.g. auditions or placement tests).
● Incursions/external adult providers at the school to support delivery of curriculum (e.g. music tutors, sport skills development programs, science demonstrations, drama tutors, Healthy Harold). All external visitors to the school must maintain physical distancing and hygiene requirements and complete a declaration form, which will be provided by the school.
● Use of school facilities by community groups outside of school hours. Any external users of the site will be required to maintain physical distancing and hygiene requirements and complete an acknowledgement form, which will be provided by the school.
● Face-to-face TAFE attendance in line with TAFE schedule
Activities allowed in Term 3
A range of additional activities are planned to be permitted from the start of Term 3. Please see the Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong COVID-19 Information Centre for the full list.
Thank you once again for your ongoing patience and support, as we continue to light the way together.
If you are proactive and keeping your child home because of illness and they are showing symptoms of a cold, runny nose, headache etc, they are required to provide a medical clearance before returning to school
If your child is sent home unwell, with the above symptoms, they are also required to provide medical clearance before returning to school.
Thank you for your assistance.
Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong (CEDoW) strives to create vibrant Catholic communities of faith and learning and believes this is best achieved when there is a genuine partnership between home and school.
The Lighting the Way Together Parent-School Partnership Framework has been developed to support the creation and maintenance of this partnership. It outlines for parents* and school the principles and expectations of the parent-school partnership so that together we can create:
- identifiably Catholic communities, inspired by the person and teaching of Jesus Christ, where all strive to act with hope, integrity, justice and compassion; and
- effective schools which enhance student learning and wellbeing.
*CEDoW uses the term parent inclusive of all adults who have the responsibility for the care and wellbeing of a child or young person. We recognise that the role of parent is fulfilled by a range of individuals within the variety of family structures that exist.
The Parent-School Partnership Framework is now available in six additional languages: Vietnamese, Hindi, Nepali, Malayalam, Tagalog and Arabic, to help support Holy Family School in our communication with EAL/D parents and carer. They are all available for download at www.dow.catholic.edu.au/
Mr Dodds, the Pastoral Support Co-ordinator for Holy Family has much pleasure in presenting our School's Mini Vinnies Leadership group for 2020!
