Dear Parents and Families,

We congratulate all the children who participated in the district swimming sports yesterday. 

Thank you to Grace Duffield and parents who were able to assist on the day.

PAM: Parent Access Module

As you are aware, we are implementing PAM (Parent Access Module) as a communication platform between parents and the school. We have a number of families that have already set up their account and thank them for their promptness. Admin staff are available to assist families and will be communicating with those who have not yet logged on, to ensure they have set up their accounts by April 1st 2021.

Please know that there is only one account or one “log in” per family/household.

Logins may be used by either parent to access PAM.

Families with specific custodial arrangements/orders may contact the office for further details.

If you have a PAM account with Catholic College Sale, you will need to set up a separate account for St Thomas’, as the information stored, is relevant only to the child/children attending the specific school.

With respect to student absences, families need to complete the notification prior to 11am. The school has a legal responsibility to contact families if their child does not present to school in the morning. Teachers need to have completed the school attendance roll prior to 9.30am. Messages are then sent out to families saying their child has been marked as absent. This is to comply with Child Safety Ministerial Orders that require schools to contact families as early as possible, once an absence is noted. This is to seek a response and reason for the  absence. The Schoolzine absentee form will be available on the website until April 1st 2021, however, all those with a PAM account are asked to use it.

Gastro

We have received an alert from the Wellington Shire sharing information from the Chief Health Minister, Brendan Sutton, that there have been a number of outbreaks in childcare centres across Victoria.

Please read the flyer attached with today’s newsletter regarding how to manage gastro at home, particularly, if your preschool child presents with gastro and has siblings attending school.

A 48 hr “stay at home” period is advised for those with gastro.

Easter Raffle

Thank you to families who have donated items for the Easter Raffle. Your kindness is appreciated. The donations container is found in the admin foyer.

P&F Committee

The P&F are looking to hold their first meeting for the year on March 25th at 9am. We look forward to seeing new and familiar faces. The venue will be determined once numbers are confirmed on the day as we are still required to adhere to one person for every two square metres as our density quotient

School Advisory Board

We also hope to hold an Advisory Board meeting during Week 9 of Term One.

Emails will be sent to current advisory members to confirm a suitable date and time.

Decommissioning of the Sion Building

This weekend, I will be attending the decommissioning of the Sion building/convent.

This will begin with a graveside liturgy for the Sion sisters buried in Sale, followed by the decommissioning of the Sion building at the convent site.

We are truly grateful for the contribution of the Sion Sisters to the education of children within the Sale community. As we move to a new era of Catholic secondary education housed at the one site, Catholic College Sale, we thank our Sion Congregation for their efforts to ensure that Catholic Education was part of our community. We value the contribution of the Sion sisters to  St Thomas’, with Sister Theresa Condon, Principal of St Thomas’ in its opening year of 1970.

Anita and staff.