St Ita’s Catholic Primary School acknowledges and pays respect to the past, present and future Traditional Custodians and Elders of this nation and the continuation of cultural, spiritual and educational practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL

As we come into our fifth week back at school, it's nice to know that our countries leaders are working together to get our schools back up and running as close as normal as possible. Whilst many could argue, it’s been a slow turn of foot, we have done the hard yards and look forward to a sense of normality. Whether we agree or disagree with decisions being made on our behalf, we need to keep reminding ourselves that they are essentially about keeping everyone in our community as safe as possible.

Over the coming week’s I am confident that schools will be more open to restoring a sense of community. The following is a wish list, that I’m confident we can achieve in the coming weeks at St Ita’s;

Conduct outdoor assemblies, allowing parents to join in with us;
No more QR code sign-ins;
Presenting our Leadership Badges to our Student Leaders in front of parents;
A free Sausage Sizzle per grade level, where Mum and Dad can come into the school to spend a lunch time with their child, their friends and meet the teachers;
Musician Andrew Chinn to conduct workshops and present a concert;
Anthony Baker Golf Clinic at school as part of our sport curriculum;
Kinect to Dance school concert at the end of term;
Reconstruct our St Ita’s School Board and St Ita’s Parents and Friends Committee, and;
Allow for teachers to meet face to face with parents within the classroom environment.

GRADE 5-6 CAMP IS LOCKED IN AND GOING AHEAD

I am writing to inform all Grade 5-6 parents/carers that we have been given permission via DOSCEL to proceed with runnning our school camp at Arrabri School Camp on the original date of 28^th Feb - March 2^nd

In order to ensure camp goes ahead on these dates, we need to adhere to the camp’s Covid-19 plan, this means we will need to implement a few extra safety measures related to Covid-19.

All students attending camp must complete a RAT test administered at home on Sunday night or Monday morning showing a negative test result before attending school.

If a student, teacher, parent helper or camp staff member tests positive to Covid -19, the camp will conclude at that time and everyone on camp will be expected to enter a 7 day quarantine period. During this quarantine, we will offer offsite remote learning to students who require the support. More information will be sent to parents via the Grade 5-6 team in the following days.

Thank you for your patience while we fine tuned the details of this camp, we are sure that getting all our kids on camp will make the effort worthwhile.

Several cars are continuing to park inside the 'No Parking Zones' at the start and end of each school day. The 'No Parking Zones' at front of the school, on Victoria St, are active before school from 8.30am -9.00am and after school from 3.20pm - 3.40pm.

We have been advised that fines will be imposed on parents parking in the zones at these times. Please don’t park there even for a few minutes during drop off or pick up. Parents who are sending Grandparents or Carers please let them know that this is a 'No Parking Zone'.

CORONAVIRUS UPDATES

STUDENTS, PARENTS, GUARDIANS AND CARERS

If parents, guardians or carers are feeling unwell and are undergoing testing for COVID‑19, all children of the parent, guardian or carer who attend the school should remain absent from school until the parent, guardian or carer receives a negative test result.

This advice also applies to students who are unwell and are undergoing testing for COVID‑19 and have siblings who attend a DOSCEL school. The siblings (that may not be displaying any symptoms) should also remain at home until a negative test result is provided for the student awaiting a test result.

This decision will assist with limiting the spread of COVID-19 in our school settings.

We encourage all schools to communicate with staff, students, parents, guardians and carers that if they are feeling unwell they should not attend the school until their symptoms resolve and should get tested.

HOUSEHOLD CONTACTS

A household contact is defined by the DH as a person who lives with someone who has COVID-19 or has spent more than four hours with them at a private residence, accommodation or care facility.

Students, parents, guardians and carers who are identified as household contacts of a positive COVID-19 case are required to follow the isolation and testing requirements available on the Coronavirus Victoria website.

A student who is identified as a household contact of a person with a confirmed case of COVID-19 is not able to attend school until their isolation period has concluded. The DH will no longer send a text message to confirm the quarantine requirements of contacts.

Principals should ensure that students are supported with their learning when absent for an extended period of time.

EDUCATION CONTACTS

Students who are identified as an education contact will be advised by the school.

If a student is not experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, they can continue to attend school, but parents, guardians, carers and/or the student should monitor for symptoms.

Students who show symptoms of COVID-19 cannot attend school and should get tested immediately and isolate until they receive a negative result.

Students should continue with twice-a-week rapid antigen testing on school days.

Students who have recovered from COVID-19 do not need to participate in surveillance testing for 30 days after their isolation period has ended.

SOCIAL OR WORKPLACE CONTACT

If a student has spent time with a person who has COVID-19, and they are not a household contact, then they may be considered as a social or workplace contact depending on the setting they have has contact with a confirmed case.

STUDENTS WHO ARE IDENTIFIED AS SOCIAL OR WORKPLACE CONTACTS MUST:

if symptomatic, use a RAT or get a PCR test if a RAT cannot be accessed, and self-isolate until a negative test result is received if there are no symptoms, it is recommended that social and workplace contacts use a daily RAT for five (5) days if there are no symptoms and no access to a RAT, monitor for symptoms and get tested if symptoms emerge. 

A student who is identified as a social or workplace contact can continue to attend the school provided they do not have symptoms of COVID-19.

POSITIVE CASES

Parents, guardians, carers and students who test positive to COVID-19 must quarantine at home for seven (7) days after their test date.

No further testing requirements apply to people once they are diagnosed with COVID-19.

Parents, guardians, carers and students who test positive to COVID-19 are not able to attend a school until their isolation period as advised by DH has concluded.

We thank you for your continued support during these challenging Covid-19 times.

AUSSIE OF THE MONTH AWARD

I am very excited to announce to the St Ita's community that we have been selected to be a part of the Aussie of the Month student award program.

Starting this Friday, I will be asking staff to nominate students relating to our Whole School Approach to Positive Behaviours, and the way our students interact both in the classroom and outside on the yard. Our school improvement team will look at the nominations and select one student to be our winner each fortnight.

The winning student will receive an Aussie of the Month certificate, an Aussie of the Month badge and a stationary prize.

All winners will appear in our weekly newsletter under student achievements and I look forward to presenting our first winner this Friday.

CONVEYANCE ALLOWANCE

The Conveyance Allowance application is now open for Term 1 for any families that qualify for the travel allowance as per the criteria below. You must lodge a new application each year.

Eligibility is assessed when the School completes your child’s application on the Government Student Conveyance Allowance System (SCAS). If approved, the allowance payable is based on the one way distance to make the journey to and from school. No private car allowance is payable if the journey to and from school could be made using a public transport service or contract school bus.

You live more than 4.8 kilometres by the shortest practical route from our school and we are the closest Catholic school to your place of residence.

You live more than 4.8 kilometres from our school and you cannot access a bus.

You access a bus and live more than 4.8 kilometres from the bus stop.

Please complete the Conveyance Allowance Application Form and return to the school office by Friday 11th March 2022. Late claims cannot be accepted.

Conveyance_Allowance_Application_Form.pdf

Conveyance_Allowance_Application_Form _pdf 690.11 KB

SECONDHAND UNIFORM

A big thank you to all our families who have donated their good quality uniform they no longer need, we currently have a huge supply of secondhand uniform available to all of families.

If you children have had unexpected growth spurts, or have lost some of their uniform as they often do, please feel free to call the Office on (03) 5623 7222 or admin@stidrouin.catholic.edu.au we may have something to help get you through!

All items in our secondhand collection, have been washed and inspected to ensure they are of good quality. All items are for sale for $2.00 a piece, a nominal donation to the school so that we can keep this service available to families.

SCHOOL FEES & CONCESSIONS

Please contact the school office if you need to discuss your 2022 school fee payment.

If any families would like to set up a weekly, fortnightly or monthly direct debit schedule for school fees, please complete the Direct Debit Form below and return to the school office. For any assistance regarding calculations of payments, please contact us via email on: admin@stidrouin.catholic.edu.au

For any families that have recently received a Government means-tested health care concession card, please forward a copy of your card to the office to check your eligibility, as a fee concession may apply. The card must be in the name of the parent/fee payer for a fee concession to apply.

If your current Health Care card is due to expire this year and your card is re-issued, please send a copy of your new card details to the office as soon as possible for the concession to be checked and applied for next year's fees, if not already done so.

2022 Direct Debit Form

2022 Direct Debit Form 671.20 KB

2022 CSEF Concession Form

2022 CSEF Concession Form 309.21 KB

FICOFOLIA FESTIVAL

It was great to see families from St Ita’s being a part of the Ficofolia event in Drouin last weekend. Whilst it was not a school sanctioned event, it was nice to see Parents/Carers in the parade being a part of the Drouin Community.

RUNNING CLUB

A total of 526 laps completed this morning! Special mention to Mrs Gleeson for completing 5 laps for Gold House.

ST ITAS STAFF PROFILES

Commencing last week our Grade 6 students started interviewing St Ita’s staff members for the school newsletter. The profiles are designed to share some light-hearted information with the St Ita’s community about the members of our team.

This week’s staff member to share their profile is Grade 1 teacher Miss Maddy Baker who joined us as a part time teacher last year but has come back full time this year.

LIBRARY NEWS

Teacher: Mrs Catherine McKenna

Email: cmckenna@stidrouin.catholic.edu.au

BOOK COVERING

Borrowing is part of our library lesson each week and is a great opportunity for your child to borrow a book to read at home. I keep our collection current which makes borrowing time even more exciting!!

With books being purchased regularly, I’m after a few new volunteers to cover them.

WHAT'S INVOLVED?

Take home a small bag of books once a term to cover. We provide quality covering and you can do it in the comfort of your home. (These are mostly soft cover books.)

If you are available to help us out, please email me at cmckenna@stidrouin.catholic.edu.au

THANKS

Thank you to the families who supported Book Club Issue #1. This has now closed. There will be another issue this term. Commission from the sales of Book Club go directly to the Library

PARISH NEWS

LOG IN THE EYE

The “log in the eye” (Luke 6: 39-45) is one of Jesus’ most memorable images. Obviously ludicrous, so everyone gets it. Someone with a great lump of wood in their eye is in no position to be pointing out another’s speck.

Along with Jesus’ other witty examples here: the blind leading the blind and students leading teachers, this gospel is instructive as we anticipate the second session of our Australian Plenary Council and we make submissions to the global Synod of Bishops in 2023.

On reflection we see that some of us are a little like scribes and Pharisees – striving to keep the letter, rather than spirit, of the law and to make sure others do as well. Their sinful spiritual pride, assuming they are better than those who think differently or propose reforms to the church, is a log in their eye. So too might those with radical solutions to the church’s problems, who breezily dismiss the law and tradition, sure they are better than traditionalists.

We must never lose sight that we are all part of the one Body of Christ. Our diversity is what makes the Church work. We should strive to listen humbly and respectfully to sincerely held views, even when they are frustratingly different to our own. Praying for and recognizing the work of the Holy Spirit in our deliberations, we must be wary of potential logs of convenience and familiarity, bias and prejudice.

The circumstances we find ourselves in as Church are so different to any that have gone before. We are in uncharted territory, called to courageous, prophetic action. Rather than simply pushing our views, we must strive to move beyond our logs of comfort, convenience, familiarity, bias and prejudice, discovering common ground with the rest of the Body of Christ; discerning and responding to the questions, “What Would Jesus Do?”, “What Does God Want of Us in Australia at this time?”, what is God asking of our universal Church?

Deacon Mark Kelly

WE HAVE A NEW YOUTH MINISTER

Our new Youth Minister, Olivia Daly, has hit the ground running and Parish Youth Groups are off to a good start in 2022.

We are holding two Senior and two Junior Youth Groups on the First and Third Weekends of the month.

On the Saturday before the First Sunday of the Month we are holding Senior Youth Group [Secondary students] following the Saturday Evening Mass at St Joseph’s and the Junior Youth Group the next day at St Ita’s Hall following the 10.30am Mass.

On the Saturday before the Third Sunday of the Month we are holding Junior Youth Group at St Josephs from 5.30pm [prior to 7pm Mass] and the Senior Youth Group following 7pm Mass.

The focus for Junior Group will be the gospel of the weekend [as well as some fun activities] while the Senior Group will be following the Youth Alpha program on the First Sunday with alternative activities on the Third Sunday.

During the school holidays we are planning a combined off-site fun activity.

Rather than the often erratic and inadequate financial contributions to Youth Group activities [ie: food] we are asking for a contribution of $20 per term per child [plus $5 for each extra child in the family]. And we are asking that it be paid electronically into St Joseph’s and St Ita’s Youth Groups account in response to an account we will send out [by email] towards the end of each school term.