Dear Parents and Carers
Welcome back and welcome to Term 3. Thank you for a smooth start. I hope you all enjoyed a break from the routines associated with having children at school. I believe that TheirCare (onsite Out of School Hours Care and Vacation Care) had significantly increased numbers over the vacation period.
In the spirit of hope and optimism we have planned for a term that includes the type of events and experiences that we would have planned for pre-Covid, albeit with some minor tweaks. For example, we have planned for assemblies, but each will be presented by two classes to ensure everyone has an opportunity to host one in Terms 3 and 4. Term 3 also includes athletics events, several excursions, a Maths incursion … and hopefully an open afternoon/evening for families. P & C meetings will be held onsite (with an option for people to ‘Zoom’ in) and School Board meetings will be onsite as we focus on the development of our next three-year Business Plan. These events and others are still planned against the backdrop of an ongoing pandemic, so please be aware that scheduling or the way in which things are done may change at short notice. Thanks in advance for your understanding.
Special Events
It seems that almost every week of the year provides schools and workplaces with an opportunity to heighten awareness of something! Unfortunately, two that are particularly relevant and engaging occur one after the other in the middle of Term 3. For this reason, we have previously alternated between Science Week and Book Week being a focus for us in any given year. This year the theme for Science Week is ‘glass’ and we had originally planned for students to work with an artist-in-residence incorporating the use of this material. However, for several reasons we had to put this on hold, and we therefore decided to provide some activities on a smaller scale than usual, to enable us to focus on both.
Science Week falls in Week 5 and given that many within our school community have a family member working in an area of science, we are hoping that some of you might be available to share what you do! An important aspect of the Science curriculum is ‘Science as a Human Endeavour’ which is about helping students to see science as an essential part of our daily lives – as relevant, purposeful and accessible to everyone. We would be delighted if you could share something about your ‘work’ in this important learning area. If this is something you are able to be involved in, please help us to plan by responding to a couple of questions in this link by Tuesday 26 July 2022 https://forms.office.com/r/ARDQqzWCkE
Book Week falls in Week 6. Between now and then, teachers will take the opportunity to share some of the wonderful books shortlisted for this year’s CBCA (Children’s Book Council of Australia) awards. Mrs Moore ensures we have access to these titles in the library as soon as possible after the lists have been announced. You can find them here if you are interested CBCA. Each class will explore one of these books in depth, and I hope that they might even become part of a dinner table discussion one evening. At the end of that week, everyone is invited to dress as a book character for the day.
COVID-19 Changes
As you are probably aware the national advice re COVID reinfection changed on Friday. The State’s guidelines show reinfection can occur from 4 weeks after recovering from the virus. (This had most recently been defined as a case that occurs more than 12 weeks after an initial infection.) This means that recovered COVID-19 cases will be required to test for COVID-19 after 28 days if experiencing symptoms and follow the relevant advice if they test positive. More information is available at wa.gov.au At this stage, this is the only change since last term, relevant for us.
If your child or children had Covid over the holiday break, it would be helpful if you could send me a quick email if you haven’t already done so. Moving forward, when you are reporting an absence via the school website, if your child has Covid, I’d be grateful if you could note this, thanks.
ICAS
An email about 2022 ICAS (International Competitions and Assessments for Schools) will go home to families of children in Years 2-6 today.
Best wishes
Elizabeth
Elizabeth Blackwell
Principal