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We have RATS!

Dear Parents and carers,

As mentioned in previous correspondence, the ACT Government is providing all students and school staff in the ACT with two Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) a week for four weeks, as part of the suite of COVID safe-return to school measures.  The RATs are part of our risk mitigation strategies for the commencement of the school year.

I am pleased to announce that Good Shepherd’s allocation for the first week has arrived. We should receive the next three weeks allocation during this week so we will have to repeat the distribution process next week.

The use of RATS is strongly recommended for students and staff, twice-weekly at home before attending school.

How do I access the allocation for my child?

We would prefer parents/carers to collect these, rather than sending them home via children. Therefore, today, Monday 31 January (from 10am to 12pm and 4pm to 6pm) will be contactless collection at the front of the school.

Please drive into the main carpark and remain in your car. Please wear a mask and a staff member will deliver these RATs to you.

Those that are not collected today have to be sent home, via your child tomorrow in their school bag.

We will distribute Kindergarten and new family RATS to parents this morning when we meet you.

When do I complete the test for my children at home?

For Week 1, we are asking you to test your child on Monday or Tuesday evening. Please complete another test on Thursday morning.

What if my child records a positive RAT result?

If your child returns a positive RAT, he will need to follow all ACT Health instructions regarding stay-at-home directions.  ACT Health instructions for household contacts will also apply.  As well as reporting the test result to ACT Health as mandated via the online form, you will also need to inform the school.  Please email office.goodshepherd@cg.catholic.edu.au including your child’s name, Year Level, class teacher, date of the result and names of siblings that may be affected.

What if my child is displaying COVID Symptoms?

No child is to attend school if they are showing any COVID symptoms. They should undertake a RAT immediately and only return to school if the RAT is negative and symptoms have disappeared. More information about COVID symptoms can be found by clicking here.

Will I be informed when there are positive COVID Cases at Good Shepherd?

Yes. We will inform all parents daily of the current COVID situation at Good Shepherd. This will be done on the new COMPASS portal and on our website.

Do students and staff have to wear masks at school?

All staff (and essential adult visitors) must wear masks at school. All students 3-6 are encouraged to wear masks. K-2 do not need to wear masks but can if they wish. Students need to provide their own masks.

Can parents and carers enter school grounds?

Parents and carers should only come onto school grounds for scheduled appointments only. Otherwise, we ask that you do not enter the school unless there is an emergency.  If you are collecting a sick or injured child, our medical attendants will inform you of the preferred way to do so.  If you are coming on-site, please use check-in CBR, sanitise hands upon entering and ensure that you have a mask on.

May Jesus, the Good Shepherd watch over us and our safe return to school for the 2022 school year.

Best wishes


David Austin
Principal

Back to School reminders

Welcome to Good Shepherd for the 2022 school year.

We are really looking forward to welcoming all students (K-6) back on Monday.

I sent out specific COVID related information earlier in the week but wanted to send some general reminders before the commencement of the school year.

COVID-19

With school returning next week, it is essential that all students and families understand the new guidelines for schools, which will operate from next Monday 31 January. Please read the letter from earlier this week. Additional information and reminders are below:

  • You can access a copy of the Back to School plan developed by the ACT Government here.
  • RAT tests will be distributed to school soon. At this stage, we have been told we should receive these on Monday. As soon as we receive these, we will disseminate information regarding collection as soon as we can.
  • compulsory use of masks indoors for all adults in schools.
  • masks for Years 3-6 are encouraged.
  • restrictions to visitors on-site during school hours; parents and carers will only be allowed on school grounds for scheduled essential appointments only. New students, including Kindergarten parents (max 2) excepted for the first day only.

RAT Kits

  • All students and staff will receive RATs as soon as they arrive at Good Shepherd. One test is to be used once a day, two times a week with exact days to be determined next week.
  • If a student or staff member receives a positive RAT test, they need to
  • report the positive rapid antigen test to ACT Health. You can find more information on how to do that on the ACT Government’s COVID-19 website.
  • notify the school of the positive RAT or PCR test result as soon as possible
  • follow ACT Health advice to isolate for 7 days.

Negative results do not need to be recorded to ACT Health or to the school.

Unwell at school

Any student who is unwell and/or displays symptoms of COVID-19 will be asked to go home and stay there until they can complete a RAT or PCR test.

  • If a student or staff member displays even mild COVID-19 symptoms, they must take a RAT or get a PCR test and isolate until they receive a negative test result.
  • If students begin to display symptoms at school, they will be assessed by our First-aid trained staff and then isolated in a supervised space. You will be contacted to collect your child and should undertake immediate testing as per guidelines. We ask that if you are contacted to collect your child that you do so as soon as possible.
  • Students and staff must not come to school until they are symptom-free, even if they get a negative RAT result.

First Day of School – Monday 31 January

With 759 students all commencing on Monday, and with current restrictions in place for visitors and keeping cohorts separate where possible, it will be a challenging day for us all.

  • Kindergarten students to wait outside McGrath building with their parents and will be let in in a staggered approach to ensure safety for all;
  • New families (Years 1-6) will meet their teacher on the grassed area near the carpark;
  • All current students are to be dropped off at school from 8:30 am (no parents on site) and make their way to their new lines outside the classroom spaces (these will be clearly marked with staff assisting); and
  • If you need to park and walk your child to the gate, please do this in the Church carpark (as the front carpark will be busy with drop-off and new Kinder families parking).

Term 1 Events

Due to the current state of the COVID pandemic and guidelines from ACT Health and the ACT Government, many calendared events will be postponed or cancelled. We will inform you of these events affected in the upcoming newsletter.

Communication at Good Shepherd

Please download these apps and make sure you are familiar with the different communication platforms that Good Shepherd uses to communicate with parents.

Compass Parent Portal - Parents and carers submit absences, view attendance records, give consent to excursions, update contact information, book parent/teacher conferences and access their child’s school report through the Compass Parent Portal. Messages from the school, the Catholic Education Office and front office administration is delivered through the Compass app. Importantly, the school newsletter and any official school communication is delivered this way. Log-in credentials will be sent to parents and carers by front office administration staff next week.

App Store- search ‘Compass School Manager’

Search ‘Amaroo’

Our school website – The Good Shepherd school website is the reference source for all the school’s information. https://www.goodshepherd.act.edu.au/

Google Classroom – This learning platform is used by Years 3 to 6 teachers as a vehicle for delivery of learning to students, as well as communication with parents specifically regarding their child’s learning. https://gslearninghub.weebly.com/learning-platforms.html

Seesaw – This learning platform is used by Kindergarten to Year 3 teachers as a method to allow students to demonstrate their learning, as well as connect families to see students work and celebrate progress. Please note - teachers do not use SeeSaw Family to communicate with families.

https://gslearninghub.weebly.com/learning-platforms.html

Social Media - Our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts are used for community connection. Posted here are fun celebrations and good news stories. They are not intended for official information about the school. Please search for Good Shepherd Primary School on these platforms to locate us.

Facebook = Good Shepherd Primary School

Twitter = Good Shepherd

Instagram = goodshepherdcps 

Uniform

We also appreciate the effort that families make to have everything ready for the new school year. Can you please assist us with maintaining our uniform expectations by insisting that your child wears the correct uniform each day.  Please refer to the School Uniform Policy which is available on the school website.

If there are any issues in relation to meeting these expectations, please contact your child’s teacher.

Mobile Phones and Other Electronic Equipment

Current school policy states that mobile phones are not permitted to be used at school during school hours. Students who choose to bring mobile phones to school must have them switched off and securely stored during school hours. Mobile phones owned by students are brought to school at the owner’s risk. The school or staff will not be responsible for their loss, theft or damage.

Smartwatches, fitbits and similar devices with cellular, photographic and film capabilities are not permitted at school. The mobile nature of these devices poses a risk to student wellbeing and safety. When these technologies are misused by students, they can be very disruptive to students’ welfare, socialisation and in some cases cause various levels of harm.

Drop-Off / Pick-Up Arrangements

We share a carpark and land with Amaroo School, therefore we are certainly one of the busiest education precincts in Canberra. Nearly 3000 students arrive and depart from both schools each day and, as you can appreciate, can cause significant safety and traffic issues for our communities.

As such, it is essential that you are aware of, and follow these instructions regarding traffic arrangements:

 

  • Supervision commences at 8:30 am and no students are to be at school prior to this time. (TeamKids bookings excepted).
  • Drop-off commences at 8:30 am at the front of the school. Parents are not to exit the car to assist students and to move their car as forward as they can to assist with traffic flow. (If you need to exit the car to assist your child, please park and walk your child onto the school grounds.)
  • If parking and walking your child into school, we encourage you to park in the Church carpark as there is a lot more parking available.
  • When leaving the front carpark, please follow the ‘no turn right’ sign.
  • School finishes at 3:10 pm. After school pick-up commences at 3:20 pm. Cones prevent parents from driving through the pickup zone until 3:20 pm because it allows other parents and students to walk to their cars and clear the carpark area quickly and safely. Please do not queue behind the cones as it blocks traffic.
  • We strongly recommend parents find other places to collect students after school. Consider parking at Amaroo ovals and walking on the oval to collect your child. You can use Amaroo carpark too after school as this is vacated by Amaroo Pre-School parents generally by 3 pm.
  • The Church carpark is for park and collect only- there is no drive-through at this space. Students are not to run to parked cars (parents must exit the car and meet their child at school gates) for obvious safety reasons.
  • Please respect the privacy and accessibility of the school’s neighbours on Burdekin Avenue, Yule and Narran Streets.   Do not park across their driveways or their lawns.

The safety of our community is paramount.

Again, thank you in advance for your cooperation and support with all the above and for preparing your children for what may be a challenging commencement to the 2022 school year. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at school  

Despite the challenging COVID related circumstances we face to begin the school year, I look forward to working with all families and seeing our students return to school next week.

Have a great weekend,


David Austin
Principal

Important Back to School

Welcome to a new school year, an exciting time as the children begin or return to their school journey. We especially welcome all our new Kindergarten students, new students in Years 1-6 and our new staff members to Good Shepherd.

You will have heard the recent announcement by the ACT Government that school students in the ACT will return to on-site learning at the start of Term 1 2022. All students (Kindergarten to Year 6) at Good Shepherd Catholic Primary School, Amaroo are returning next Monday 31 January 2022.

I want to share how, with the support of ACT Health and Catholic Education, we are building on our experiences of the last two years and continuing to safeguard our school community while keeping our school open, where we know the best learning happens.

With the level of transmission of COVID-19 in the community in the ACT, our Back to School plans acknowledge the unavoidable reality that we will see COVID-19 cases in our school. We will start 2022 with a layered approach to COVID-smart measures that have been developed to help to minimise transmissions at school. The health and wellbeing of our students and staff remain our priority and these measures are designed to help keep our school open and our students learning in the classroom.

These measures are based on refreshed ACT Health Guidelines that have been endorsed by the Chief Health Officer and apply to all school settings, outlining risk mitigation strategies that have been developed and refined to enable our school to manage cases as they arise and where possible avoid closure.

COVID Safe measures

You can access a copy of the Back to School plan developed by the ACT Government here. Many of the measures in these Term 1 arrangements are very similar to the measures that were in operation in our school during Term 4 of last year.

Measures include:

  • provision of rapid antigen tests
    • two per week for all school staff and students for the first four weeks of term – see below for more information
  • compulsory use of masks indoors for all adults in schools and students in Years 7-12
  • masks for Years 3-6 encouraged
  • cohorting of children and staff
  • maximising outdoor learning and ventilation in classrooms to ensure good circulation of fresh air
  • increased cleaning across the school, including high touch surfaces
  • restrictions to visitors on site during school hours; parents and carers will only be allowed on school grounds for scheduled essential appointments
  • restrictions on school events – events that bring cohorts of students together will not go ahead (No sport carnivals, whole school assemblies etc)
  • restrictions on excursions – only essential excursions and activities (that form a core component of the curriculum) involving individual classes or year groups will be allowed
  • no interstate excursions at this time, with exceptions to be considered later in Term 1 for camps and excursions that are necessary to a student’s study program (Year 6 Camp in Term 1 will not go ahead and we are currently working on rescheduling this later in the year).

While this is not going to be a typical start to the school year, we know that being together in the classroom is the most effective way for students to learn and grow. Your child's relationship with their teacher is important, but as we manage potential disruptions to staffing due to COVID-19, they may get to meet more teachers than usual.

Rapid antigen testing

We will distribute packs of RAT kits for all students and staff at the start of Term 1.

When the school receives the RAT kits we will contact you regarding how these will be supplied to families.

The use of RAT kits is an important step to support the health and wellbeing of our students and staff. They are a quick and easy screening tool to help detect COVID-19. It is a simple process of placing a nose or throat swab in a chemical solution which is put onto a scanning device. Results can be ready within 15 minutes. Use of RAT kits is highly recommended but not mandatory.  

Instructions are included in the kits detailing how to: use the tests, check the results and dispose of the tests safely. You can also download the instructions through the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) website. The user guides will also contain a contact number for the suppliers if you need additional support.  

Additional information

  • School staff will not be administering the rapid antigen tests to students.
  • Each student will receive a supply of rapid antigen tests (RATs) to be used twice a week or when they display symptoms
  • If a student or staff member receives a positive RAT test,
    • parents/carers are required to report this to ACT Health. You can find more information on how to do that on the ACT Government’s COVID-19 website.
    • notify the school of the positive RAT or PCR test result as soon as possible
    • follow ACT Health advice regarding isolating

Negative results do not need to be reported to ACT Health or to the school.

Unwell at school

Any student or staff member who is unwell and/or displays symptoms of COVID-19 will be asked to go home and stay until they can complete a RAT or PCR test.

  • If a student or staff member displays even mild COVID-19 symptoms, they must take a RAT or get a PCR test and isolate until they receive a negative test result.
  • Students must not come to school until they are symptom free, even if they get a negative RAT result.

Thank you again for your continued support during this coming school term.

Parents and carers can be assured that the focus of our schools is always on the safety and well-being of our students and staff including continuing to provide the best possible education to our children and young people.

Looking forward to seeing everyone back next week. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Yours sincerely,

 David Austin
Principal

Holy Spirit Parish Christmas drama

It is not too late!! If you are here for Christmas please sign your children up to join our Nativity Play! Roles for children in Years 3 – 9 Christmas Nativity at Mass on Christmas Eve 24 December. Younger children are welcome to come dressed as a shepherd or angel and join the procession to Bethlehem – no practice is required.
If your child would like to be involved complete the form below
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Sacramental Dates 2022

Please refer below for 2022 Sacramental dates. For more information, you can email Katrina at sacraments@holyspiritgungahlin.org.au 

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Celebration food

A reminder to parents and carers that food brought in to school to share for celebrations is not permitted.  This includes birthday treats such as wrapped lollies and cupcakes, and at this time of year, candy canes, biscuits and other Christmas treats.  Please do not supply your children with food to share with classmates and friends.  Any food brought to school for these purposes will be sent home with your child, unopened. 

Thank you for your support in this matter.

Holy Spirit Parish Christmas Carols event

Please see information regarding Holy Spirit Parish's Christmas Carols event.

Community Carols

Second Hand Clothing Pool Open

Dear Parents and Carers,

The second hand clothing pool will be open tomorrow the 8th of December from 2:30pm until 4pm, in the demountable near the music room. Please Check-in on the App upon entering the school and maintain social distancing. Donations are happily accepted. Once you have purchased the uniforms please do not remain on school grounds. Cash or QKR only. 

Regards,
The Community Council

Defence Year 6 Parish School Kahoot

Dear Parents and Carers,

This year due to COVID the Year 6 Defence students are invited to participate in a fun Kahoot with the Defence students from Mother Teresa and Holy Spirit.

The children will be offered a juice popper, an individual packet of popcorn and a zooper dooper. The session will only be for one hour and will be held in either the Hub or the Year 6 breakout space. The children do not have to attend the Kahoot. Please email me if your child has any dietry requirements. 

taryn.ahern@cg.catholic.edu.au

Regards,
Taryn Ahern

DSM

Yr 6 Farewell Party RSVPs due today

Please be advised that the RSVP slip for the Farewell Party Dinner and Disco is due by COB today, Monday 6/12/21.