Dear Parents and Carers, 

How special it was to join as a school on Wednesday to ask for God's blessings for this new school year. We welcomed the new students and staff members and blessed the new student leaders for 2022.  

There are some very special traditions that St Joseph’s has that connect us with each other - including the Star Banner and “I have called you by name” song. These personal touches (which I have not seen before at another school) remind me how blessed we are to be a part of a warm and caring community.

We were sad that our parents and friends could not join us due to the Covid restrictions however we shared a video through Compass and our Facebook page, that we encourage you to enjoy with your children and we look forward to when we can join together as a community soon.

 Thank you to Mrs King for organising and leading the occasion for us.

Covid Update

Covid guidelines are easing - yippee!!  

I would like to offer my sincere thanks to all parents and carers for your continuing support for our school and staff as well as for your children as we have journeyed through the pandemic. We have appreciated your shared commitment to prioritising safety and learning during this challenging time.  

The NSW Premier and Minister for Education recently announced changes to school settings for the remainder of Term 1. These updated settings were developed in close consultation with NSW Health and key stakeholders to ensure we continue to keep our schools open for learning, while keeping up with changing community settings.    

The following changes are due to come into effect:

• From Monday 28 February, we will move to symptomatic testing. Tests are to be used at your discretion such as when your child is symptomatic or there are cases in their year group. Our school will provide each student and staff member with a further 8 tests per student and staff in schools. Beyond that, students and staff can access PCR tests or buy their own rapid antigen tests. We will be sending home 5 tests per student in your child’s bag today, when we receive our final delivery we will send the remaining 3 then. 

• Masks will continue to be required indoors for all school staff, volunteers and visitors including parents and carers in primary schools until Friday 4 March. This means that from Monday 7 March, masks will no longer be mandatory for all staff. However, those who wish to continue to use them will be supported to do so. 

• From Monday 28 February, visitors can be allowed back on school sites. Our school will consider activities such as assemblies, parent-teacher meetings and other gatherings in the coming days. We will let you know if these can proceed with our school in a COVID-smart way. All visitors are asked to follow our usual sign-in and sign-out process.  

• Cohorting no longer required 

As of Monday 28 February, students will no longer be required to be kept in year groups or other cohorts. However, in consultation with Catholic Education, I have decided that we will remain within our cohorts for the safety of students and staff until numbers stabilise. We currently have a number of active positive cases in the 2/3/4 class and to minimise the risk of spreading to other classes we will remain in cohorts for now. As soon as it is safe to do so, this restriction will be lifted. We strongly encourage our students and their families to consider vaccination including boosters when eligible.   

Lunch Orders

The P&F Committee have been working hard to make arrangements to be able to provide a lunch order option for students. This has been difficult due to Covid restrictions etc, however we are pleased to announce that we are partnering with Unwind Cafe to offer lunch orders to students twice per week starting next week. 

 We are trialling to see how the system works, including feedback from students and families and may make changes in the future as needed, including the option of joining with other local business that are interested also. 

 At the end of the newsletter you will find the order form you child will need to complete and attach to a paper bag. Lunch order days will be Tuesdays and Thursdays, however please note the orders need to be into the school office the day before (Monday and Wednesday). 

We are excited to be able to support a local business and thank Unwind for being able to provide a healthy and nutritious lunch option for our students! 

Music

I am currently in contact with the Young Regional Conservatorium to look at bringing some musical options to our school. This includes the possibility of specialised classroom music lessons, choir and/or private tutoring lessons.  

In order for the private tutoring to go ahead we need a certain number of families involved. I sent a Compass post with a link to a short survey for you to indicate your child's interest. The private lessons would take place during school time at the cost of parents. They would be on a rotating roster so that they are not missing the same class time each week.

 Can ALL parents please complete as soon as possible, it is a very short survey that will only take 2-3mins to complete. Even if your child is not interested, please indicate this on the survey. https://forms.gle/G3PwJDm9Fm45aYkJ8

Have a lovely weekend. 

Kind thoughts,

Melissa Hotham

Principal