Dear Parents and Caregivers

I hope you have all had a great week! Today was Mr Ryan Powles last day before he heads off on Long Service Leave for the rest of the term and we will his all the best for his well-earned time off. Mrs Jemima Saunders will be fulfilling both Principal roles in Ryan’s absence. Miss Julia Hodson will be teaching Year 5 full time and to replace Jemima in Year 3, Miss Brescacin will be teaching Year 3 on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Mrs Marina Thompson’s teaching days will swap to Wednesdays and Thursdays to ensure that no changes are required to the sport timetable. Our staff work hard for their leave entitlements but we then rely on the flexibility and generosity of the rest of the staff to ensure as much continuity for students as possible, so I thank all our staff for being so accommodating!

Volunteer Gardeners Wanted

We are keen to get our garden beds up and running again. We are seeking volunteers to clear the weeds from the small area so that we can get the students planting some seeds. If you are able to help, please leave your name at reception.

New School Access System

Very shortly we will be having a new access system installed on some doors and gates throughout the school. These allow us to have keyless entry and control the times that each door and gate lock and unlock. Initially, the new system will be installed on all external (and some internal) doors in the admin building, the SJC main door, the library door and both main gates. Staff will have fobs to swipe for access and, where required, buttons will be installed internally to allow anyone to exit the door or gate. Some of the advantages of such a system include:

• increased security to ensure that all visitors sign in at reception and undesirable visitors cannot gain entry into the school;
• increased security to keep all students within school grounds whilst allowing a quick exit in case of emergencies;
• increased security to avoid user error (e.g. doors inadvertently being left unlocked overnight);
• ability to go into instant lockdown in an emergency;
• ability to control who has access to any given room/area within the school and digital tracking of access; and
• greater control over access to school grounds outside school hours to reduce school liability risks.

There are some implications for us to consider and plan for:

• Gates will unlock at 8.15am in the morning to ensure that students are not left unattended on school grounds prior to supervision times. Therefore, students should not be dropped off before 8.15am. Any parents requiring supervision before 8.15am are encouraged to book their child/ren into OSHClub. Please see Wendy before or after school in the hall or contact the OSH Club on 0427 945 406.
• Gates and the front door will lock again at 9am, allowing easy access to the school at drop off time. After 9am, parents and visitors onsite will be able to easily exit the school via either of the main gates by pushing the exit button (allowing better access to Hamilton Street). However, any visitors after 9am will have to enter the school through reception.
• To allow us to control who enters the school during school hours (and to keep students on school grounds), the front door at reception and the main gates will be locked between 9am and 2.45pm and parents and visitors can be admitted by reception staff using an intercom system. We hope that this will allow a good balance between accessibility for parents during peak times vs our security requirements.
• Anyone requiring access to the school outside of school hours will need to contact reception to organise access. We ask that any organisers of before school sports please contact us with your requirements in terms of access time so that we can ensure suitable arrangements are put in place.

There may be some teething issues so, once the system is installed, please let us know about any oversights so that we can come to a workable arrangement (whilst keeping in mind that student safety is paramount).

Congratulations – 30 Years of Service in Catholic Education

Congratulations to Mrs Marina Thompson who was recognised this week at the annual CEWA staff breakfast for 30 years of service in Catholic Education! The annual LEAD awards were presented at this breakfast and, whilst we did not win an award, we were very proud of our nomination this year for our Friendology program. Our poster is on display in our pin up board located between the Year 4 & 5 classrooms.

Outdoor Library

Our new outdoor library is up and running! To promote a love of literature and provide a quiet reading space for students at break times, we have established an outdoor library on the Year 1 veranda. This week we have started by rotating classes through the outdoor library, with each class allocated a day when the new space is just for them to experience during break times, and in Week 5, the space will be open for use by any student. The senior students have been provided with library passes for their class and clear procedures have been put in place to manage the space and supervision etc. The children are very excited about the space and have been enjoying reading in the comfy bean bags! Thank you to all those who very generously sent in second hand books for the outdoor library.

Compliance Matters

We have recently updated our attendance policy which can be found on our website: www.stmichaelsbass.wa.edu.au/policies

This week we successfully completed a lock down drill. Our emergency drills are an excellent opportunity to strengthen our policies and procedures and we were able to identify a couple of areas for improvement which, it is pleasing to note, will all be easily resolved with the installation of our new access system.

Wishing you a great weekend!

God bless

Dr Siobhan Galos
Principal