Dear Parents

It’s hard to believe we are back again in Remote Schooling. This unfortunately is our reality at the moment. We currently live in a very unpredictable world where it is hard to plan for next week, let alone the future. What would have been a busy weekend in my household filled with sporting events and family outings, turned into a very quiet, flat weekend. I don’t know how your children are coping with another lockdown, but I know that mine are struggling. The questions are coming that I don’t have answers to. Dad, why are we locked down again? Why is it happening in Victoria again? Why us? How long will it be for this time? I hate COVID dad. As a parent it’s hard to watch them struggling with something that is out of our control. All we can do is be there for them and let them know that it’s ok to be upset, annoyed and frustrated with what is going on. They need to know that it's affecting everyone and that their friends are most likely feeling the same as them. It’s also about trying to find a positive while being locked down, even if this means playing the PlayStation for longer or walking to the local café for a take away milkshake. They need to know that it won’t be forever and we will get that holiday, or day trip one day. It is important that we continue to plan for the future despite the setbacks and disappointments as that ‘one day’ will eventually come and when it does, it will be wonderful! 

Essential Workers:
This time around tougher restrictions have been placed on who can access onsite learning with the introduction of the permit system. We cannot accept students onsite without receiving permits from parents and permits must clearly outline your permitted work as outlined from the Government list below (see link) https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/authorised-provider-and-authorised-worker-list-0 Whilst we understand Remote Learning is difficult for everybody, as a school we must stick to the Government regulations and no exemptions can be granted. The school and families face fines for accepting or providing false information on permits.

Face Masks:
Whilst face masks are not mandatory for students who are attending onsite learning, the Victoria’s public health team are strongly recommending that primary school aged children, when they are not at home, also wear a mask as an extra precaution against the virus. Of the current 494 cases in Victoria 112 of them are children under the age of 10. It is the parent’s responsibility to provide face masks for children if you wish for them to wear one.

Fee Concession:
There is an Interim Amendment to School Fee Assistance whereby we can temporarily Authorise a Concession for Term 3, 2021. Financial hardship due to the COVID 19 pandemic may result from a range of issues that have impacted significantly on a family’s ability to pay standard school fees and levies. Any family experiencing genuine financial hardship are encouraged to talk to myself or Lauren in the office about the possibility of a fee concession.

The following, Extra Curricular, school events have been postponed due to the current lockdown restrictions, we will advise of new dates (if possible) in due course;

• School Photos
• Father’s Day Stall and Breakfast

All other school activities scheduled for after the current lockdown ends will be decided upon once we know what restrictions will be in place.

Hard to Swallow

Always a difficult gospel passage for us moderns to swallow, so to speak, particularly in Covid times, the Pharisees seem to be right on the money at one level, questioning Jesus’ disciples for not washing their hands or observing the traditional “washing of cups and pots and bronze dishes.”(Mark 7:1-8, 14-15,21-23). Exactly our own observations!

But what is Jesus really getting at? He’s not saying, “Don’t worry about cleanliness.” In fact his point is not about hygiene at all but about those Pharisees and others hypocritically enforcing traditional rules and regulations (human traditions) while failing to observe God’s much more fundamental commandment of love.

Two thousand years later modern Pharisees are eager to pedantically follow traditional rules and understandings simply because they are “tradition” and to condemn those who don’t measure up to their exacting standards. Jesus defended and ate with poor, downtrodden sinners but the pompous righteousness of these hypocrites is “my way or the highway,” like those ancient Pharisees, proclaiming that they are ritually pure and therefore superior to the unwashed. Jesus has no time for such lip-service!

We are all in danger of falling into that same Pharisaic trap when we condemn others for being poor or rough, of different race or culture to our own, holding different values to ours. God is not interested! Jesus is not interested! First and foremost we are called to proclaim the Kingdom to them as Jesus did by loving and serving them without reserve.

St Teresa of Avila’s prayer reminds us, “Christ has no body now but ours …” and so, as the body of Christ, it is our gig to cherish and protect the vulnerable: the poor, the hungry, the uneducated and downtrodden, the unborn, women and girls, refugees and migrants, regardless of race or religion or meeting our middle class Christian standards. No room there for hypocritical superiority or condemnation.

Deacon Mark Kelly

Join St Angela of the Cross Primary School in fundraising for the MS Readathon.

The MS Readathon inspires kids to read as much as they can, all for one incredible cause. The rules are simple. Read whatever you like, as much as you can,
throughout the month of August.

Children can register with our school page by clicking on this link
https://www.msreadathon.org.au/fundraisers/StAngelaoftheCrossPrimarySchool.

Best of all, by joining our quest, not only will you awaken a love of reading, you will also be helping kids who have a parent with multiple sclerosis.

A reminder to please label all uniform items and to double check that the writing is still clear and legible.

Please also check that all items brought home belong to your child and if taken home in error, please return them to the office.

This week students participated in a range of multi-age activities to celebrate Book week and Literacy & Numeracy week. We read a range of short-listed books and students created some wonderful artwork from these books including origami birds, dragons and colourful cockroaches! STEM challenges saw students work together to problem solve and create some interesting solutions to the problems the teachers posed. 

In Art we are making mascots with fabric. Mia

A mascot is a person dressed in a suit trying to make you do something like buy Freddo Frogs or McDonalds. Luka

A mascot is a toy for cheering. Georgie

We drew what were going to make by designing our mascot. Aria

We are going to learn to sew the mascots. Oudam

We designed and drew the mascot and now we are putting it on felt and cutting it out. Next we will add the details and sew it. Liam

Students are all busy creating their mascot softies in the Artroom and many are finding working with the medium of fabric a bit challenging. They all did a wonderful job with the design phase and are now busy decorating and adding extra details. Sewing is challenging and all students are showing great persistence to create a piece of art they are proud of. 

The last two weeks we have been forming our ideas for our St Angela Olympics Performance at the end of term. 
It is disheartening that we will lose some preparation time due to lock down, however the show must go on!!
We will pull together what we have prepared and present it the best we can at the end of term. This may mean we use scripts and parents watch online at home. 
We want to teach our children how we can adapt, problem solve and still succeed in changing circumstances.