Monday Memos Week 6 Term 1

As we begin hump week, one must ask, where has the term gone? Here is another concept to ponder… have we checked all food to see if exploding them makes them into something better or did we just stop with corn?

Spelling - List 4 this week. 

Group 1: words that mean 4, 5, 6 

Examples: quad, pentagon, hexagon

Group 2: ie, y, igh, i_e (to make the sound ‘i’)

Examples: high, flies, life, dryer

National Portrait Gallery Virtual Excursion

Had a great time learning about and inquiring into portraits last Friday thanks to Lucie from the National Portrait gallery. A nice interactive experience was had by those who could attend that lesson.

Bebras

The CSIRO Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge will be held on Monday 21^st March.

The Bebras Challenge is a free online resource. No prior experience with computational thinking is required to participate. Students in Years 3-6 have 45-60 minutes to complete the challenge which comprises of 15 questions of ranging difficulty.

Forms will be distributed to interested children this week.

Whole School Updates

 

Learning at Home

 

·       We currently have a number of families who are isolating and students who are unable to attend school.  If your child is in this position ongoing Learning engagements are regularly being posted on See Saw and these are engagements that students on site are doing as well.

·       Additionally,  please see the announcements page on your class Seesaw account for instructions about accessing new home learning engagements, which include daily literacy and numeracy video lessons, from the Department for Education. We believe these lessons from the DfE are of very high quality and we commend them to you. 

·       Please note that if you have a child at home there is no obligation for them to attend to these learning engagements  - they are simply there to support students during these times.

·       Please contact the school if we can support you in any way while students are off site. We have a number of staff who are currently ‘off site’ as well and so it could be that a teacher other than your child’s normal teacher is the one offering that support. 

 

Covid

·       This continues to be a changing and evolving landscape.

·       If a person has had Covid, SA Health are now saying that anyone who has been positive are considered unable to be reinfected (and therefore don’t need to isolate/quarantine etc) for 8 weeks. (It use to be four weeks.)

·       School based extracurricular activities, if they are outside, are now deemed acceptable. Inside ones too where social distancing and measures can be put in place to minimise transmission.

·       Families are reminded to log all cases with SA Health as they will issue you with a document that says it is OK to re-enter school etc.

·       QR code check ins are no longer necessary here at school. 

 

Covid Safe Reminders 

·       If your child contracts Covid 19 you MUST notify the school as soon as you can. If your child is a close contact please notify us too.  

·       It is Ok to notify us via email, but for positive cases we will need to ring parents to gather some specific detail we need to make a school notification report to SA Health.   

·       The key message though is to please let us know as soon as possible so we can pass the information on to other families. 

·       Refer to https://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/  for symptom checker and other info on isolation etc.  

 

Phones and Smart Watches

·       We understand that children will sometimes need phones to contact family outside of school hours. As per our ICT policy, if your child has a mobile phone that you would like them to bring to school, we ask that students hand up their phone to their teacher in the morning and collect it at the end of the day. 

·       We have also noticed the popularity of smart watches being worn to school. While these can be a useful device for communication, there are some potential issues. Most notably, during the school day the point of communication with parents is via the front office as this supports good order and alleviates potential issues that can (and have!!) arisen from this. It is important that students speak with staff rather than being directly contacted by parents via their devices (and vice versa.)

·       We understand there are options to select ‘school mode’ to inhibit students receiving and sending messages, however we have observed they still prove to be a distraction in the classroom and it is our policy that all contact with students during the day is done via our front office. 

·       To minimise these distractions and ensure a safe environment we ask that students hand smart watches to teachers at the beginning of the day and are collected at the end of the day. 

 

 Carers Group

·       The Carers Group meeting scheduled for Thursday 10 March will be postponedfor now. Stay tuned for a new date.  

·       If you have an interest in being a Class Carers please let the front office know.   

 

Parent Volunteers -  ‘Valuing Safe Communities’ (VSC) training

·       Tuesday 15 March 2022 at 2.30pm or at 6.30pm in the Taikondi with Daryl Trigg. 
(Please RSVP by emailing jennyj@ilsg.sa.edu.au) 

·       We really appreciate parents and caregivers helping at Immanuel, however people who volunteer in a school need to have their VSC updated every 3 years.  

A Working with Children Check (WWCC) is also a requirement, and can be obtained by contacting Jenny in the office. There is no charge if you are volunteering in a school. 

More info can be found at https://screening.sa.gov.au/

·       Any person volunteering in a school also needs to be double vaccinated.

·       If you will have an interest to attend an excursion, camp or help in the SAKGP (garden, kitchen), as an Immanuel Sports Team Coach or in a classroom this year, please ensure you have the above paperwork in place.  

 

Andrea White - Peaceful Kids / Peaceful Parents Programs 2022

·       There are still vacancies in the Peaceful Parent program starting Friday 11 March.    Click here to find out more. https://www.togetherwemakeadifference.com.au/peacefulparents

·       We are seeking registration of interest for Andrea’s Peaceful Kids program to be held for Immanuel Students in Term 2.  If you have an interest please email jennyj@ilsg.sa.edu.au for more information.

 

Student Learning Conferences

·       These will go ahead in the coming weeks.  These are an opportunity for parents (and students) to talk to the classroom teachers about child’s learning.  

·       Dates are:  Thursday 17 March 3.45-7.30pm,  Monday 21 March 3.45-6.00pm & Wednesday 23 March 3.45-7.30pm. 

·       All Conferences will be held via ZOOM or TEAMS.  Students in years 2-6 are encouraged to attend also.  

·       A letter with booking details will be sent home shortly.   

 

Lyndoch Road Crossing Monitors 

·         Lyndoch Rd is a busy road for children to cross, so we use our the lolly pop volunteers to help.  

·         We are seeking a volunteers (parents, grandparents, local community people) to help on a Tuesday afternoon or be a back up volunteer for other day.  Training for volunteers is on Monday 21 March at 3.45pm  

·         Please let the office know if you can help with this important role.  

 

Circle Time 

·         This program has commenced again for 2022.  This week’s topic is “FAIRNESS AND RESPONSIBILITY”

 

iGOSH

Vacation Care

·       The April Vacation Care Program will be out next week Wednesday 16 Marchand bookings will open at 5pm on that day.

·       Bookings close Monday 4^th April at 10am.

·       Our program will have some of the activities / excursions we had planned to do in January.

·       Get in quick with your bookings as days are capped.

Observations

·       Our planning and programming cycle for the year has started. We have lots of different activities that the children can become involved in while at iGOSH. We look forward to sharing your child’s involvement through Seesaw. So please have a read when you receive an observation to see all the cool things that your child does while at iGOSH.

Bookings

·       Reminder that bookings are printed 2pm each Friday for the week ahead. Any bookings after this need to be emailed / texted / phoned to Katrina. This is important as we are staffed on ratios booked in, so having extra children without bookings, can put us out of child:Educator ratio.

 

Swimming Lessons – Year 2, 3, 4 students 

·       These are still scheduled to go ahead next week from Tues 15 March to Fri 18 March.

·       We understand that some families are in Isolation or staying home for various reasons.  We will adjust swimming charges accordingly following the event.  

 

Student Address Collection 

Our school needs to complete an annual online survey through the Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment Department. 

The Address Collection collects the following data from eligible schools, for each location at the school:

• Student residential address (excluding student names)
• Whether the student is a primary or secondary student (education level)
• Whether the student is boarding or a day student (boarding status)
• Names and residential addresses of students’ parent(s) and/or guardian(s)

Residential address information is used and combined with other data to calculate a non-government school community’s capacity to contribute to the costs of schooling. This may influence the level of Australian Government recurrent funding for non-government schools. The information is also used to inform Australian Government school education policy.

Please read further details in the attached letter.  

 

Subway Lunches 

·         Orders due into the office on a Wednesday by 3.30pm for lunch on a Friday. 

·         Please write clearly on the order form the full student name and teacher name. 

·         Please place in a clear zip bag so we can see order form or insert money in an envelope and stick the order form on the front.   

·         Please have correct cash per student as this goes direct to Subway Gawler for counting.   

·         Order forms can be obtained in the office, or on our website click here

 

Uniform Shop 

·         New Uniform Items:  please come see the office staff for purchases 

·         Second Hand Uniform shop: is open on Tuesdays 3:10pm -3:40pm

·         Old Logo’d Uniform:  at the end of this term, we will stop selling “Old Logo’d style Uniform”  (eg sports tops, rugby jumpers, jumpers) in our Second Hand Uniform Stall.  We have had our new Logo Uniform for 5 years now so it’s time to refresh.   

 

Gawler Lutheran Church - Office Administration 

·         Position Vacant – 22 hours / week 

·         Click here to see further details 

http://www.ilsg.sa.edu.au/contact/employment-vacancies-

 

Enjoy this Long Weekend coming up!   We will all enjoy the extra Monday off.