Latest News

Dear Parents and Carers,

I would like to begin by expressing my sincere thanks for your continued support, gratitude and kindness that has been shared in our School community these last few weeks. The strength of our partnership with parents and caregivers has been evident, as has the depth of understanding and patience within our community.  This, combined with the resilience, professionalism and determination of our amazing staff, has assisted all our students with the transition back to school as well as our continuing support for our students working from home.

The issues we have faced and will encounter in the coming months has certainly created many challenges and we will continue to work together to support the wellbeing of our community.

School Operations

We have been very happy with the way families have been managing the drop off and pick up of their children.

               Morning Drop Off

The morning drop off has been running very smoothly, as this is staggered due to arrival times of our families between 8:20am -8:45am.  Families can use the ‘kiss and drop’ zone in Birkinshaw Avenue, where students can enter the school through the pedestrian gate between the MacKillop Unit and the Parish Hall.  If you are using this zone, parents and carers are asked to stay in their vehicle and students to safely exit the car on the passenger side.  Please note a staff member is always supervising this area to assist students.  Families walking/riding to school can also use this gate safely.

Parents and Carers can also use the top yard area for drop off.  In this zone, families are able to park their vehicle and walk with their child/ren to the entrance gate to the breezeway.  A staff member will be available to greet the students and assist with opening the internal gate.

                Afternoon Pick Up

The afternoon pickup is a little more complex as it is a very short period, from 3pm -3:15pm.

In order to ease the complexity, students are being brought to the gates from 2.50pm.

At afternoon pick up families have a number of options.  I would suggest you talk with your child/ren about your preferred collection point so they can wait at the correct location.

• You can choose to use the top yard for parking and to wait for your child at the front of the school where staff will bring your child/ren through the breezeway to you.
• Another option is to collect your child/ren from Birkinshaw Ave using the Kiss and Drop zone.  You will need to stay in your car and your child/ren will wait in the collection zone (by the large service gates) as staff supervise and manage the traffic flow.  Please be aware that we do not encourage you to bank up along Magill Road as this can restrict traffic on this busy road.
• If you are parking and collecting your child/ren, you also have the option of using the church car park or you may park further down Birkinshaw Ave and walk to the service gates to collect your child/ren.  Please be aware this is a very busy area and safety at all times is important.

Staff will supervise the Birkinshaw Ave area from 3pm-3:20pm until all children are collected. After this time children at taken into OSHC.

Thank you for your understanding in this matter and we will continue to update you if there are any changes to these arrangements.

Staffing News

During this pandemic, we currently have three staff members who are taking personal leave.  This includes Cynthia Thompson our APRIM, Kathy Deegan in Year 1/2JK and Melanie Heaney our ESO and OSHC Director.  We hope they are staying safe and look forward to seeing them back as soon as possible.

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome a new staff member to our school community. We welcome Mrs Kathryn Beilby who will be looking after our Resource Centre, as well as supporting student learning.  Kathryn comes to us with a wealth of knowledge, having worked in many Catholic schools over the years, especially in libraries.  She has a wonderful passion and knowledge of books and we look forward to seeing our Library up and running very soon.

Parent/Teacher Conversations

This week you would have received an email about booking in for a parent/teacher conversation over the phone between 11^th and 22^nd May 2020.  Please log in to the school interviews website and, using the code provided in the email, select an available time when your child’s teacher will be able to call you for a PT conversation.  This will be a great opportunity to discuss your child’s progress and establish learning goals over this term.  Please book in as soon as possible - bookings will close at 4pm on this Friday 8 May.

Finally, we are continuing to manage our social distancing measures as well as maintain good hygiene in our school, for all to be safe and well.  We encourage you to follow the medical advice that, if your child is unwell, to please keep them home.

We hope to see the continuation of good results in South Australia due to the measures and restrictions that are currently in place by SA Health and the Government. 

We will continue to update families through all our lines of communication as information becomes available to us and may you stay safe and well.

Kind regards

Adrian Grbin