Welcome to the Parent Memo for Term 1 Week 6.

We have been in constant contact with Catholic Education regarding the impact the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) may have on students, staff and our school in the future. The school, in support with the Catholic Education Office, has developed a School Coronavirus Operational Plan that will be implemented if required.  This plan will support us in operational matters related to managing an outbreak of the Coronavirus, if it eventuates in our school community. In the meantime, we have initiated the following:

• We have contacted our cleaners and have committed to financing extra cleaning of high-traffic areas such as door handles, bench tops and daily thorough cleaning of our sick bay etc;
• We will segregate our ‘sick bay’ to have those with grazed knees and bumps on the head in our waiting room and leave our sick bay for those with coughs/colds etc;
• We will check and fill our soap dispensers in all toilets every day. If a child notices that these are empty please ask them to notify the office;
• If any child is displaying flu type symptoms, we will be calling parents and asking for children to be collected immediately;
• We will be instructing and teaching students about thorough hygiene - washing hands etc;
• We will be sending home any staff who are unwell.

Good hygiene remains the best protective measure against the spread of the virus. Please spend time with your child and show them (demonstrate) the importance of the following:

• Wash your hands frequently and thoroughly with soap and water or hand sanitiser (for 20 seconds).
• Cough or sneeze into your elbow or a tissue (dispose tissue into the bin) and then wash hands thoroughly.
• Avoid close contact with anyone displaying cold or flu-like symptoms and stay away from others if you are unwell.

As the impact of the virus on children and healthy adults can be quite mild there may be a tendency to continue working and attending school and hence increase the risk of infecting others. This is in contrast to SARS and Swine, where most people were quite unwell if infected. The advice from ACT Health is that schools should be very strong on sending home staff and students who have the slightest sign of illness. This is not a time for soldiering on with coughs and colds. Please do not send your child to school if they are unwell. 

Travel

The Australian Government considers the following countries to be at higher risk for COVID-19:

• Mainland China
• Iran
• Italy
• Republic of Korea

There are travel restrictions for travellers from mainland China, Iran, Republic of Korea and Italy.

If you are returning from mainland China or Iran you should isolate yourself for 14 days after leaving mainland China or Iran.

If you are travelling from the Republic of Korea, on or after 5 March, you must isolate yourself for 14 days from the time you left the Republic of Korea.

If you have left or transited through Italy on or after 11 March you must isolate yourself for 14 days from the time you left Italy.

Please inform our principal, Mrs Kate Markcrow if you (or a family member) have travelled through these countries or have been infected by COVID-19 in the future.

Dear Families

Catholic Education, Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn (Catholic Education), has released an online survey to better understand your opinion of the value Catholic schools like ours provide and what that means for you and your children. The findings of this research will be used by Catholic Education to improve the offering of Catholic schools.

You may have received a survey via email in the past week.  This should take less than 15 minutes to complete.  

Privacy and confidentiality

Please note that Catholic Education has engaged JWS Research to host the survey, collect the data and analyse the results. JWS Research is an independent, fully accredited, Australian research agency (see www.jwsresearch.com for further information). Survey results will be reported in the aggregate with individual responses remaining completely confidential and treated in accordance with the relevant privacy laws, including the Market and Social Research Privacy Principles and the industry’s code of professional behaviour.

I encourage all parents to respond to the survey.  Thank you in advance for your time and participation.

Kate Markcrow

Principal

There has been a change of dates for the class masses for 6 Dhaura (Miss Corkery) and 4 Kanbi (Miss Gatt). 

The masses for these two classes have swapped and will now be as follows:

• 6 Dhaura will have their class mass on Wednesday 18 March 2020
• 4 Kanbi will have their class mass on Wednesday 1 April 

A reminder to all families that Term 1 school fees are due for payment by next Friday 20 March 2020, unless you are paying by regular instalments.

Please give me a call on 6292 4500 or email susan.rowell@cg.catholic.edu.au with any school fee related enquiries.

Many thanks

Susan Rowell

Our 2020 Ninja Warrior Colour Run will be held later this term - this is always a fun day and helps raise funds for our school.  This year money raised will go towards our new sensory garden playground.

Important dates are as follows:

Friday 13 March - Coulour Run launch assembly to be held in the hall commencing at 2.00 pm.

Thurday 26 March - Colour Day fundraiser: students make a gold coin donation and come to school dressed as colourfully as they can, all donations will contribute to the overall fundraising total.

Friday 3 April - Ninja Colour Run Day!

A reminder to all parents wishing to volunteer at our school in any capacity, you must have a current Working With Vulnerable People (WWVP) Card.

Please take the time to check your card's expiry date.  We do send reminders home but it is the card holder's responsibility to renew their card through Access Canberra.  If your card is due to expire soon, please renew your card through Access Canberra and present your card at the front office so a copy can be placed on the school register.

It is a requirement that you bring your card and have it with you when volunteering at the school.  Please remember to sign in at the iPad in the front office when on the school premises.

Thank you to all our volunteers!

A reminder that Issue 2 of the Scholastic Book Club closes tomorrow.  Please order online or bring your orders to the office before 3.00pm tomorrow.  No late orders will be accepted.