Cross Country
The school is hosting the Cross Country carnival next Tuesday 14th June, for all students in Kindy to Year 6 to participate in. This is typically a fantastic event, where the students get to test their endurance running over the lengthy distances required.
Parents are welcome to come along and spectate the carnival. A ‘Parent Interhouse Cross Country Booklet’ has been shared with parents today, via SEQTA, outlining the start times for each year level.
Please note that parents are permitted to take their child/children home after the cross country race, however they must collect the child/children from the classroom once the students have returned.
Looking at the weather forecast for next week, there is a possibility, at this stage, that the cross country carnival may need to be postponed due to anticipated wet weather. If it is cancelled, the back-up date for the carnival will be Tuesday 21st June, with the start times remaining the same as the original carnival planned.
COVID-19 Update
Recently, the Premier Mark McGowan, announced that effective from 10 June 2022, ‘Western Australia’s mandatory vaccination policy will be updated in line with health advice and will only apply to workforces working with the most vulnerable to protect them from severe disease’.
This means that the Directions which required Education workers, contractors, visitors and/or volunteers to be fully vaccinated to attend schools will be lifted from Friday 10 June 2022. It also applies to other persons entering the school’s grounds, as the table below explains:
The main impact on schools is as follows:
· Parents may volunteer in the classroom/school on a regular basis, without being required to provide any evidence of vaccination.
· Staff, contractors and/or volunteers are not required to provide any further proof of vaccination to the school.
There are still some proof of vaccination requirements for other industries, particularly those which work with most vulnerable (health & disability care), but this does not impact our school.
Please contact me at school if you have any questions or concerns regarding this upcoming change to the COVID-19 safety guidelines for our school.
School Closure Day
Last Friday the staff engaged in a Professional Development day, which began with visits to other Catholic Primary Schools in the area, with the focus on looking at different models of learning and teaching and also how these schools were teaching Reading in their classrooms. The staff saw lots of different approaches to how students learn and this generated very good conversations between staff on how they will use this opportunity to change some practice in their own classrooms.
The second part of the day was spent reviewing the staff, students and parents’ feedback from the Vision for Learning Feedback sessions recently conducted across the school. The staff we very focussed and reached a point where draft statements were written and shared.
The next stage of this process is to draft a Vision for Learning statement and share it amongst the community for feedback.
Whole School Assembly
This Friday 10th June, we are hosting a whole school assembly, the Year 3 classes will be presenting an item. The assembly will take place in the Steve Dowie Hall, beginning at 8:45am.
Parents and friends are permitted to attend and enjoy the assembly.
PSSA Sport
This Friday 10th June, St Damien will compete against Assumption College in the PSSA Winter Sports competition. Venues for games are as follows:
St Damien’s: Soccer and Volleyball
Ocean Road: Hockey
Assumption: Football and Netball
All games will begin at 1:15pm and parents are welcome to come along and spectate. There is a forecast of rain for this fixture and the games will go ahead if the expected rain is moderate. Parents will be notified Friday morning if the Interschool fixture has been cancelled.
Principal Leave
I will be away for the last 2 weeks of this term, on Long Service Leave. Mrs Caroline Leighton will be fulfilling my role as Principal during my time of absence from the school.
Principal's Awards
Over the past week some students have been sent to my office to receive a Principal’s Award for completing some exceptional work. I congratulate Phoebe Gilbert, from Year 3 Blue and Charlie Spicer from Year 3 Gold, for their great work in Italian. Well done and keep up the great work!
God Bless,
Daniel Gooch
Principal
