St Colman's School Mortlake eNewsletter

Acknowledgement of Country

St Colman’s acknowledges the Girai wurung people as the traditional owners of the land on which our school stands and we respectfully recognise elders both past and present.

Our Prayer This Week

Loving God,

We gift thanks for the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Help us to approach new situations with wisdom, to show understanding to those who are different to us and to always look at this beautiful world with wonder and awe.

We especially pray for Billie, Cooper, Kate and Mason who received the Sacrament of Confirmation on Sunday. May their faith continue to grow.

Amen

From the Principal

Dear Families,

Winter has certainly arrived and making itself known to us! Thank you to families who are monitoring their child's health and keeping them home while sick. This ensures the safety and wellbeing of all of our community. Two cases of chicken pox have been confirmed at school so please continue to monitor your child for symptoms.

Congratulations to Billie, Cooper, Mason and Kate who celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation on Sunday. Special thanks to Rosie O'Connor for her work behind the scenes in ensuring its success.

Our SAC will meet on Thursday night. An agenda will be circulated to members in the next couple of days. Please speak to a SAC member if you have anything that needs to be raised at this meeting.

Thanks to those people who have offered to sell raffle tickets around town. This really is appreciated. Remember to share the link with family and friends. It's amazing how quickly numbers can add up if everyone does their bit.

Thank you to everyone for your patience while the works are completed out the front of the school. Fingers crossed that it's not much longer!

Don't forget- Monday is a public holiday for the long weekend.

Kind regards,

Stacey

Trivia Night 2022

After a false start last year, the St Colman's Trivia Night is back! Get some friends together and book a table for a night of trivia and laughs.

$20 includes all costs for the evening, including games throughout the night. No extra coins required.

If you or anyone you know, would like to donate a prize please contact us at school. A shout out on our newsletter and social media is included for local businesses.

St Vincent de Paul Winter Appeal

Vinnies are once again conducting their Winter Appeal. There are many ways to support the great work that the St Vincent de Paul Conference of Terang/Mortlake do to support people who are doing it tough in our community.

This year, we will be collecting non-perishable goods to support this appeal. For example, tins of food, pasta, tea and coffee.

We will be accepting donations at school and then presenting these local Vinnies members.

Donations can also be made via their website https://donate.vinnies.org.au/winter-appeal

Our New Parish

Those who were at Mass on the weekend would have heard Fr Gary speak about our new parish and our new parish name. The parishes of St Colman's and St Thomas' will be merging into one parish. This means that the parish finances will be merged and that there will be one parish council as well as other changes. In reality, we already share many things, including a Parish Priest and an administration office. There will be a new name for this combined parish.

However, the name of St Colman's school and parish will not change. We will be part of the new parish but will continue to have our own identity as St Colman's.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday this week to Isabella and to Ivy, who celebrates her birthday with a day off!

2022 Online Raffle- Volunteers Needed

Thanks to everyone who has already bought a ticket, sold a ticket or shared a post about our raffle.

This week, we are looking for someone to coordinate the selling of tickets at Bates' over a couple of days. Can you help?

Or, can you help sell tickets one night after school at Bates'? Please let Stacey know at school or email principal@scmortlake.catholic.edu.au

So far we have sold 271 tickets so we have a way to go to get to 600.

BUY TICKETS HERE

Footy Tipping Competition 2022

Congratulations to Bomber Remy who managed to do what no one else could do this week and not tip Melbourne and therefore, get all 6 correct. Stacey Atkins and Jenn Finn still lead the way with SmithPies and Sharyn Grinter still close behind them.

Kate Parker, BomberRemy and Bat Nat are leading the children. Great work girls!

A reminder about the entry fee of $20. If you haven't already paid, can you please transfer at your earliest convenience. If you are unsure if you have paid or not please Brianna bbarr@scmortlake.catholic.edu.au

Footy Tipping

Key Dates for the Diary

Term 2

9th June-SAC Meeting, 7pm

13th June- Public Holiday

17th June-School Trivia Night

20th June- Raffle drawn today

23rd June- Whole School Excursion to Annie the Musical (Warrnambool)

24th June- Last Day of Term

Term 3

11th July- Term 3 begins

1st August- School Closure: First Aid Training

8th September- School Closure: Liturgy (Religious Education)

Term 4

17th October- School Closure-Literacy

Our Schoolzine calendar is now operational so there's numerous dates available on the app.

MERCY REGIONAL COLLEGE - 2023 ENROLMENTS

The Mercy Regional College enrolment applications for Year 7 2023 are closing on Friday 24 June.

The College would like to invite prospective Year 7 families to complete an enrolment application form through the new enrolment portal - Enrolment Information. If you require any further assistance completing the form please do not hesitate to contact MRC Registrar Nicole Darcy at ndarcy@mercy.vic.edu.au or 03 5593 2011.

Our Junior O’Keeffe Campus will be open for tours throughout Term 2, to welcome those families who could not attend the MRC Open Day and O’Keeffe Afternoon in March. Please visit the following link to register - O'Keeffe Campus Tours.

Mercy Regional College understands that choosing a school is one of the most important things you will do for your child’s education and welcomes all enquiries about enrolment at Mercy.

Kindergarten 2023

Kinder 2023

NCCD

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) on School Students with a Disability:

What is the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data? Schools must now complete the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD) every year. It counts the number of students who receive additional adjustments or 'help' at school because of a disability. The NCCD helps governments plan for the needs of students with disability. For more information click on the link below to read the NCCD Information Sheet.

NCCD Information for Parents

COVID Reminders

A reminder that all students who travel on buses are still required to wear masks.

Children who are close contacts are permitted to come to school as long as they have a negative RAT result. Adults and children who are in Grade 3-6 who are close contacts are also required to wear a mask at school (indoors only).

It is still a requirement that if your child tests positive for Covid-19 that you inform the school.

Vaccination

Triple vaccination status will continue to be a requirement for all staff onsite with students and will be required for any volunteers and visiting workers. This will include:

Parents assisting in classrooms.
Visiting medical and allied health professionals.
Visiting speakers, presenters and performers.
Student teachers.

Parents visiting the school to attend school events (ie sports, performances, classroom visits) will not be required to declare their vaccination status.

Rapid Antigen Tests

RATs will continue to be required by students who are household contacts to attend school (5 negative tests over a 7-day period) or who have symptoms.

The ongoing supply of RATs to families in our school will ensure that parents and carers will have them should they need them if their child is a household contact or has symptoms.

Staff or students who have previously had a positive COVID test are not required to test for 12 weeks after their initial positive result.

Managing a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19

As soon as a staff member or student becomes aware of being a suspected case - that is symptomatic (fever, cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, loss of smell or taste):

The suspected case is required to leave the school site, or be isolated on-site until they are able to leave.
The suspected case is required to be tested with a rapid antigen test (if at home). A positive test result must be reported to the Department of Health.
Positive cases must be isolated for 7 days.

In the event that school receives notification that a staff member or student was infectious while onsite:

All staff must use a rapid antigen test if they have symptoms.
All students must use a rapid antigen test if they have symptoms.
Where a positive case is recorded from a staff member or student who has been on site, the school community will be notified. Personal information will not be released in this communication.

If a staff member or student tests positive with a rapid antigen test but does not have symptoms or has not been in contact with a positive case, a PCR test is recommended. If a subsequent PCR shows a negative result the staff member or student can return to school.

Close Contacts

A close contact (a person who has spent more than four hours with someone who has COVID 19 inside a house, accommodation or care facility) is no longer required to isolate as long as they follow the additional safety measures:

Notify the school if returning within the 7 day period.
Undertake RAT testing on school days within the 7 day period (unless the 12 week exemption applies)
Wear a mask indoors if an adult or a student Yr 3-6.
Not visit hospitals or care facilities.
Avoid contact with people at higher risk of infection.
If symptomatic take a RAT or PCR test.

Masks

Masks are no longer required to be worn by students, staff or visitors. However the wearing of masks continues to be a recommended practice which will still be required in certain circumstances including bus travel or a period of high levels of prolonged transmission.

Any staff of students who are identified as close contacts must wear a mask indoors.

RAT tests will be sent home tomorrow. If you do not wish to receive these please make contact with the school.

Holiday Program

CATS

This will be our third attempt at bringing CATS to Warrnambool, with Covid interrupting our attempts in September 2021 and January this year. Our cast, crew and orchestra will have been preparing for this season for over a year by the time we take to the stage.

We are calling on our community to sell our season out and celebrate the work of our extraordinary cast, orchestra and crew.

Warrnambool Holiday Actors and Theatre Company

Term 2 Week 7 Monday 6th June