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Dear Parents,
Welcome back today to the Foundation and Grade One/Two students. It is lovely to have you back on site and we are counting down the days until we are all back at school.
As you dropped off the children to school this morning you will also have seen increased signage and social distancing dots on the ground outside the gates. These are a reminder to us all that we need to be vigilant and careful to follow the guidelines set out by the Chief Medical Officer. The health and safety of all the staff and students is our prime concern at the moment.
We are very much guided by the Department of Health and CEO Sale when making decisions, please understand that these systems and structures that are currently in place may change as we learn more about the virus. We will keep you informed via email and the school website if changes need to occur.
Finally, thank you for your ongoing support during this time. To change the way we teach, from face to face to remote has been a challenge to us all teachers and parents alike. I know the teachers have been very appreciative of the messages of support they received throughout this time.
Kind regards
Jodie
The leadership team at St Michaels Traralgon will provide a care and supervision program for some students. These students must meet one of the below criteria:
- The child’s parents/carers are classified as essential worker/s and cannot work from home during school hours
- The child is in statutory (court ordered) out of home care
- The child may be at an immediate risk of harm
It would be expected that this would only be necessary during the days you are at work, if you are working part- time then the days you are at home your child would be learning at home with you. We know that we will have families who meet one of these criteria and whilst the majority of staff will be working from home, we will have staff available to provide supervision during this time. To ensure we have adequate numbers please fill in the intention form each week.
| Students who can learn from home, MUST learn from home. |
Victoria's Chief Health Officer, Doctor Brett Sutton has amended the current stay at home directions to provide further clarity about childcare arrangements. You can have another person come to your house to look after your child if you need to go out for one of the four listed reasons (food and supplies, medical care and care giving, exercise, and work or education), or if you are working or studying at home. You may also drop your child at another person’s house to be looked after, while you are out, if it is for one of the four listed reasons. This may help some families who have concerns about how they will manage their work commitments during this time.
The intention form for Grades 3-6 for week 8 is due by Thursday 28th May by email to principal@stmtraralgon.catholic.edu.au
Onsite Intention 1st June - 5th June 2020
Audible
For those families that signed up for a free trial of children's books on Audible please be aware that once the trial has finished they will begin to charge your credit card. You will need to cancel your membership to avoid being charged each month.
As per the fee letter sent to families on 6th April 2020, Important Message about School Fees, there will not be an automatic reduction in school fees for term 2.
School fees are an essential portion of resources for the operation of our school and assist our leaders and staff to enhance curriculum and teaching programs. Therefore, we are asking, for those who can, to continue to support the school financially.
If you have concerns about your financial situation, please contact Maria Churton, School Administration Officer at office@stmtraralgon.catholic.edu.au so that we can explore confidential financial support arrangements to enable your child(ren)’s education at our school to continue.
2020 Camp Fees
At this stage all camps are still proceeding and therefore camp fees have not been removed from fee accounts.
Grade 4 camp - September, due 07/08/20
Grade 3 camp - October, due 30/10/20
Grade 6 camp - November, due 30/10/20 (this fee is not due in term 2 as shown on fee statements)
We will keep you updated on any activities that are cancelled such as camps and swimming and where no alternative is available those fees will be removed and not payable.
Thank you for your understanding.
The children in grade 3-6 used the prompt "Every picture tells a story" to create art based on their stay at home experience. Here are some of their very creative responses.
Violet Grade 5- Family bonfire
Archer Grade 5 - Playing soccer
Welcome to the 2020 Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge.
Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge
The Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge is now open and St. Michael’s Primary School is excited to be participating. A new application is being used this year that offers a range of exciting features including:
- access to a library catalogue (including book images and blurbs)
- a modern user-friendly interface
- rewarding students with badges as challenge milestones are achieved
- the option for students to mark books as a favourite, give them a star rating or complete a book review
The Challenge is open to all Victorian children from birth to Year 10 in recognition of the importance of reading for literacy development. It is not a competition; but a personal challenge for children to read a set number of books by 4 September 2020.
Children from Prep to Year 2 are encouraged to read or ‘experience’ 30 books with their parents and teachers. Children from Year 3 to Year 10 are challenged to read 15 books.
All children who meet the Challenge will receive a certificate of achievement signed by the Victorian Premier and former Premiers.
To read the Premier’s letter to parents, view the booklists and for more information about the Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge, visit:www.education.vic.gov.au/prc
As you know, reading helps ensure children develop important foundational skills –
setting them up for school and for life. Just as importantly, reading also helps our kids imagine, explore and learn more about the world around them.
This year, everyone who completes the Challenge will receive a Certificate of
Achievement – and with more than 12,000 titles on the Challenge’s reading list, there really is a book for everyone.
For children not yet at school, the Challenge invites parents and carers to experience
40 books with their child. For students from Prep to Year 2, the Challenge is to read or experience 30 books and for students in Years 3 to 10, the Challenge is to read 15 books.
I also encourage you to visit the Challenge Facebook page: facebook.com.au/VicPRC
There you can join the community of avid readers to share stories, stay informed and
recommend books.