Dear Parents,

What a strange time we are living in! School continues to be very different since the students' return in Week 4. They have now settled back into the daily routine and a lot of hard work and productive learning is taking place across the school but it just isn’t the same without community events. We hope that further restrictions will be lifted from the beginning of next term and we can gather again as usual.

As you are aware, Linda Wells is leaving us at the end of this term. As you can imagine, this will be a huge loss to both the school and the community. A special assembly with the children will be held on the last afternoon to farewell her and thank her for all she has contributed to St Bede’s over nineteen years as the first point of contact whether it be in person, by phone or email. It is with regret that due to COVID-19 restrictions, we will be unable to invite the parents to this gathering. However, we plan to invite parents to a community event early in Term 3 so that families can say farewell personally. We are interviewing for Linda’s position on Monday next week. I will inform the community of her replacement by the end of the term.

The Year 5/6 classes will join together tomorrow for a faith formation day on the three Mary’s – Mary, the Mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene and St Mary MacKillop. This is a wonderful opportunity for the children to have a reflection day and spend time as a group in a more informal setting. The Year 6 students in particular have missed a number of special occasions during the pandemic so they all are excited about a special day together.

As mentioned in my last message, during the winter months, the library will open at lunchtime on Mondays and Tuesdays so the children have somewhere to go out of the cold. Activities such as board games, educational computer games and colouring are just some of the activities that will be offered during this time.

Reports are coming home with your child/children on the last day of term. The assessment and reporting process has been a very different procedure to previous years with teachers working hard to ensure that thorough assessment has taken place across both remote learning and work presented since returning to school. The reports are addressed to parents and therefore should not be opened by your children. I will include a covering letter explaining the abridged version set out by Catholic Education to cater for the interruptions in teaching and learning caused by COVID-19.

The ‘Snack Shack’ is scheduled to re-open, at this stage, for the beginning of Term 3. Due to health protocols, this will involve modified lunch orders only. Details on what is available will be up on ‘Flexischools’ by the beginning of Week 1 next term.

We have also commenced the process to change from ‘Flexischools’ in the near future to the Qkr! app due to cost, ease of use and reliability. Both the school and P&F are implementing Qkr! which will enable us to go cashless but it will take a little while to set up. With this in mind, we ask that families begin to use their credits as we transition to the new application.

In recent days we have had a number of emails or phone calls regarding children being ill and whether protocols have changed. Currently the procedures around sickness haven’t altered. If your child displays symptoms of cold and fever such as temperature, runny nose, coughing or sore throat, they are considered unwell and should not be sent to school. If children present at school with any of these symptoms, parents will be contacted for them to be collected.

Our main oval will be closed until next term. Although it looks green and healthy, it is actually full of a broadleaf weed. Our gardener, Mike, is trialling a chemical as an attempt to get this weed under control before the spring so we need to keep the kids away from it for the rest of the term.

To conclude, we have been informed that the new bus bay will begin next Monday, 22 June. This has been a long awaited project and I am still a bit sceptical that it will commence but keep your fingers crossed!

Have a lovely weekend and take care.

Regards

Julie Douglas