It was wonderful to welcome all the children back to school today. Schools are surprisingly lonely places without the sound of laughter, learning and play buzzing throughout the environment.
I want to thank the community; staff, children and families for the supportive and responsible manner in which everyone has conducted themselves over the last week. Our staff and teachers have been working tirelessly to remain connected to our children ensuring some sense of normality remains for the children by transferring their planned learning to online learning. We acknowledge online learning poses many challenges for families, balancing work commitments and assisting children with their learning can be problematic. I know my own household had six people all competing for internet and locating a quiet space to undertake online meetings and meet work commitments. With the philosophy that we are all in this together, trying to make the best of an unusual situation, we can be rest assured in the knowledge that we have given our best while keeping our South Australian community safe. Finally, to the children thank you for your resilience, flexibility and determination to adapt to online learning, your teachers are amazed at the learning you have been sharing over the last week, you should all be very proud of yourselves, as we are!
For the next seven days we are being guided by government restrictions, meaning normal access to the school site by parents will not be possible during this time. I therefore ask you to make use of the kiss and drop on Marshall Terrace or collect your child from the front entrance on Lipsett Terrace. Can I please remind families to wear a mask and social distance when waiting outside the school grounds for your child.
Our OSHC service is operating as normal under the guidance of our new OHSC Director, Mirella Tsimiklis. Mirella and her team have been working throughout the lockdown period to overhaul the OSHC environment. Please take the time to introduce yourself to Mirella in the coming weeks. If your child has an OSHC booking and you do not require your child to attend please ensure you cancel your booking to avoid being charged for the service.
We welcomed our new Reception children into the St John Bosco community at the start of the term. A huge welcome to Roona, Sofia, Athul, London, Lily, Sara, Jasmehraj, Samarth, Shanaya, Sehib and Piera. We also welcome Dishita into our Year 3-4 community and Aedan into our Reception community. We look forward to being part of your learning journey and watching you flourish.
With the latest restrictions we would like to advise families that the SACPSSA cross country carnival event scheduled for Thursday, 5 August has been postponed. We will keep you up to date with incoming information from the organisers.
Our St John Bosco Be Active Day has now been rescheduled to the last day of Term 3, Friday 24th September. All sausage sizzle orders will be transferred to this date, the QKR link will reopen a couple of weeks prior to the event for children who are yet to order their sausage sizzle.
Finally a big thank you to our Parents and Friends for kick starting the term with a welcome back to school coffee and chat. It was wonderful to see so many parents drop in for a quick catch up. We are hopeful to make this a regular event at the start of each term. With the latest restrictions some of the P & F’s planned events for Term 3 will need to be postponed until restrictions are lifted.
Take care
Kate Turner
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