Dear Parents and Caregivers

I hope you have had a lovely week and have kept warm during our chilly weather!

Reflecting on our COVID-19 Experience

At this week’s staff meeting, we took some time to reflect on our learnings from our COVID-19 experience, particularly home learning. We reflected and brainstormed about what we did well and what we could do differently if there were to be a second wave in W.A. Whilst we hope and pray that there will not be another outbreak here, we want to be prepared if this does eventuate. Our reflection focused on three aspects: Communication, Operations (school process and procedures) and Education. This week we have also focused on ordering additional supplies so that we are prepared in terms of hygiene and PPE if there were to be a second wave.

To help us plan ahead, we would also love to hear from parents. Hence, next week we will send home a link to a parent survey to give you the opportunity to share your feedback and ideas with us.

Student Behaviour

Recently, we have noticed a spike across the school in student unproductive behaviours. This could potentially be a by-product of the anxious times that students have recently been through during the pandemic. We would love for you to support us at home by taking advantage of any opportunities that arise to discuss appropriate behaviours with your child and how we can treat others with kindness and respect. Some teachers have sent home requests for parents to reinforce key messages with your children so we ask that you support us by making this a priority.

Please don’t hesitate to touch base with your child’s teacher about our friendology strategies that you could also implement or support at home and if your child is experiencing anxiety or any other difficulties, our social worker, Mrs Lisa Mueller, is available on Mondays and Wednesdays to chat with you and/or work with your child.

Safety in the Carpark

Unfortunately, we are still receiving reports of dangerous driving practices around our school which are putting the safety of our students at risk. We have had some near misses recently due to parents not following the rules we have put in place. Most issues seem to occur on James St. Can I please remind all parents of the James St pick up and drop off routines and insist that all parents and caregivers follow these rules to ensure we do not have a serious accident!:

• please slow down when driving around the school
• please use the roundabout to turn around – parents are not permitted to pull into the staff carpark to turn around. We have had a recent near-miss here!
• please patiently wait your turn in the queue:
• do not ask your child to cross the road in peak traffic to enter the car, thus allowing you to turn into the council carpark;
• do not park in an unauthorised location, such as across the road from the school, and ask your child to cross the road in peak traffic; and
• do not leave the queue of traffic to pull in further up the drive-through line.
• If you are collecting your child/ren on foot, please do not call for your children from across the road. You must cross the road to collect them so that you can supervise them crossing James St.

Failing to follow these rules means you are putting your own child and other people’s children at risk!

If you don’t wish to wait in the queue, I suggest arriving a few minutes later – most of the traffic is gone by 3.10pm.

A reminder that a condition of enrolment at St. Michael’s is that you agree to follow all school policies and procedures. Our core business is education, please don’t put us in the position of having to be parking wardens or traffic police. If everyone follows the correct procedures it ensures our students, your children, are safe.

Kindy 2021 and Three-Year-Old Program (3YOP)

We still have a few places left for Kindy 2021 but these are steadily filling up. Please spread the word to friends and family in the area. A reminder that any existing families with siblings for Kindy 2021 must complete an enrolment form – we don’t want to inadvertently give your place away!

Have a wonderful weekend!

God bless

Dr Siobhan Galos
Principal

principal@stmichaelsbass.wa.edu.au.