Thank You for the resurrection of Your Son, Jesus. We want to celebrate Him every day of our lives. In a world that grows increasingly dark, help us hold up His light. Give us the courage to speak as boldly as Mary Magdalene did, and never be ashamed of proclaiming Your Good News. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. (Liz Curtis Higgs)

WELCOME BACK

Welcome back to everyone in the Columba school community. I hope you all had a holy Easter and that you got to have a restful break with family and friends.

There was a really nice buzz around our school as the kids arrived this week. It seemed they were keen to reconnect with peers and to me it was like there was a genuine sense of normality as we came back for the second term of school. Let’s hope like the last one we have minimal interruptions related to COVID-19. Please see the Corona Virus updates further in the newsletter.

This term, we are going to do our best to continue building a sense of community in our school by getting parents back involved in a variety of aspects. We look forward to welcoming all parents into the school and what better way to start than with our Mother's Day event next Friday. We also look forward to the completion of our 1/2 classrooms which is scheduled to finish at the end of term 2. I know our 1/2 students and teachers are very excited about their new learning spaces.

It is also with excitement that I launch a fantastic new resource for parents, SCHOOL TV. We all know that parenting our children is a complex, challenging and rewarding experience. However, the demands on parents to remain current with technology, drug and alcohol advice and safe practices in a virtual and social media world, as well as dealing with anxiety and well being, add to our busy and diverse family lives.

SchoolTV is a new ongoing resource that is now available to all Columba Catholic Primary School parents. Each online edition will address a major topic with expert interviews, fact sheets, a parent quiz, recommended apps, books and more. SchoolTV combines information from a host of reliable resources, including BeyondBlue and ReachOut. It provides a single stream of independent factual information that saves parents time and the confusion of searching across multiple online sites for information.You can access the SchoolTV archive here .

There is more information in our newsletter below. During the School year we will publish various topics for you to access. The topics covered may be pertinent to your immediate situation, or the resource may be useful for you at a later date. We hope that you find SchoolTV to be informative and a useful source of current well-researched information.

I hope that you make the time to access SCHOOL TV as it is truly a wonderful resource that can help us all get our heads around this parenting stuff. Again welcome back and I look forward to seeing many of you back in our school in term 2.

COVID Changes and UPDATE for COLUMBA CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL

WATCH FOR SYMPTOMS

• If your child is unwell, even with mild COVID-19 symptoms, you must keep your child at home until their symptoms resolve and get your child tested with a PCR test (nose and throat swab) or complete a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT).

• If symptoms continue, your child should stay home and take another RAT or PCR test in 24 hours. If that test is also negative, your child may return to school if another diagnosis is confirmed (such as an underlying health condition or medication).

TESTING

• RATs will be provided to all staff and students at no charge. Schools will inform parents, guardians and carers on how these kits can be collected from the school.

• Students and staff should take a RAT twice-weekly on the morning before attending school. Test kits will continue to be supplied by schools during this time.

HOUSEHOLD AND HOUSEHOLD-LIKE CONTACTS

• Household and household-like contacts are no longer required to quarantine but are required to undertake the following additional safety measures in the seven (7) days that would have been their quarantine period:

Parents must;

1. 1. notify the school if returning during their seven (7)-day period;
   2. undertake daily rapid antigen testing five (5) times within the seven (7) days;
   3. wear a face mask indoors (if aged eight (8) and above) unless a lawful exemption applies;
   4. are not permitted to visit hospitals or care facilities unless an exemption applies. 

• Household and household-like contacts are still permitted to participate in school activities, including camps and excursions, as long as they wear a mask when indoors (if aged eight (8) and above or have a valid exception) and complete five (5) rapid antigen tests within the seven (7)-day period that would have been their quarantine period.

• A household or household-like contact attending an off-site activity during this period must notify the school they are attending under these requirements.

• If a student, parent, guardian or carer cannot comply with the additional safety measures at any time, they must:

1. 1. quarantine immediately for the remainder of their seven (7)-day household contact period
   2. get tested on day one (1) (or as soon as possible) and on day six (6) of their household contact period
   3. not attend school until a negative day six (6) test result is received.

 COVID-19 POSITIVE CASES

• If your child has no symptoms and there is a positive COVID-19 case in their household, class, year level or other grouping, your child can continue to attend school in line with Victorian Department of Health advice.
• Staff and students who receive a positive RAT result must register it on the COVID-19 Positive Rapid Antigen Test Self-Reporting Form available on the Coronavirus Victoria website https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/report as soon as possible.
• Staff and students who receive a positive RAT or PCR test result must tell their school as soon as possible, and follow Victorian Department of Health advice.
• Students who test positive to COVID-19 must isolate for seven (7) days and not attend school during that period.
• Students who have recovered from COVID-19, are not required to get tested or isolate if they are re-exposed to a positive COVID-19 case within 12 weeks of ending their isolation period.
• If more than 12 weeks have passed since their isolation period concluded, students must follow the relevant testing and isolation advice depending on the type of contact they are.
• Schools will regularly communicate to parents, guardians and carers about the presence and impact of COVID-19 in their school community. Parents, guardians and carers should expect to be provided with details of any impacted grade, year level or other grouping.

 ACTIVITIES

• COVID-19 will continue to be considered in all activity risk assessments. Guidance will be provided to schools on applying appropriate safeguards across a range of activities, including school camps and excursions.
• Parents, guardians and carers will be made aware of the risk of exposure and will need to provide their permission for their child’s participation in extra-curricular, out of school hours or off-site activities.

VISITORS

• Visitors on school sites should be kept to a minimum to support essential school activities or student needs.
• Visitors will be required to comply with COVIDSafe measures, including physical distancing requirements and practise respiratory etiquette and good hand hygiene.
• The use of Service Victoria QR codes for electronic record-keeping is no longer required in school settings.
• Parents, guardians, carers and other adult visitors are no longer required to show evidence of two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine if not performing work or volunteering at the school.

 VISITORS AND VOLUNTEERS PERFORMING WORK AT A SCHOOL

• Any visitor or volunteer performing work at a school must be fully vaccinated (boosted) (with three (3) doses) with an approved COVID-19 vaccine or have a valid exception to attend on-site for the purpose of working.
• Visitors or volunteers working on school sites include, but are not limited to:

1. 1. Parent and Friends Committee members
   2. School Advisory Committee members 
   3. volunteers performing volunteer work at the school (for example, parent helpers and those participating in a school working bee outside of school time)
   4. volunteers attending school camps or excursions.

• Schools must collect, record and hold vaccination information for all workers, including visitors or volunteers performing work at a school whether inside or outside.

Take care

Andrew Greco