​Junior School News T1 W2 2022

I am so proud of how our students have settled into their new routines this year! As I spend time moving around the campus at break times and in different classrooms throughout the day; there is a buzz of creativity and curiosity happening. There are students creating, asking questions, making mistakes and learning something new from them, students helping other students and so much more. Our 5C’s are in full swing and our children continue to show each other what being a Faith student means with their actions. Our community is a place that continues to grow as new families settle in. I truly do have the best job in the world, and we look forward to the next few weeks ahead with many things happening around our campus.

CAFÉ FLOURISH – need a coffee after drop off? Café Flourish will be opening again on 7 March, pending changes to current restrictions. We look forward to seeing you all there as our community coffee returns…..we will keep you up to date with opening hours and some special events as the opening date comes closer.

WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT TO KEEP OUR STUDENTS SAFE – Drop off and pick up each afternoon are incredibly busy times on our campus, and we know that many families juggle before and afternoon school commitments as well as their own family schedules. We do ask however, that we all take the time to slow down and put student safety first.

When using our drive thru area, for the safety of all staff and students, please ensure the following procedures are always followed. Staff will ask you to move on or cease any procedures that are unsafe for our students and families.

  • Do not enter the drive-thru lane until 2:55pm each afternoon. Cars that arrive earlier than this causes a traffic jam and make it difficult to move the collection of students through as quickly as possible.
  • Between the hours of 6:30am – 7:50am and 3:30pm – 6:00pm drive-thru is a loading zone/parking area for OSHC pick up and drop off. This is the designated OSHC parking, parents should not park inside the school gates when dropping off or picking up their child from OSHC.
  • School bags must only be placed inside the car. No bags are to be collected from the boot or put into the boot when departing. This is a safety issue to ensure students are not being hit by a car from behind. If you have a baby seat in the car preventing you from being able to use the back seat, please advise our reception staff and we will ensure staff members assist your child to keep them safe.

Prep and Year 2 Collection Point – when waiting in this area to collect your child, we ask that you do not sit in your car with the engine running. This creates a lot of exhaust fumes for those parents and younger siblings who are waiting on the grass area. We thank you for thinking of others to keep this collection point safe for all.

Car Parking – Families are reminded that the following areas are staff parking only:

  • Front carpark outside our administration building
  • Back of the SPAH beyond the “staff parking only yellow line” that is painted on the ground
  • If the Prep carpark is full, parents will need to find a street park or use the drive-thru zone

Even if your child has sport training before or after school do not park up behind the SPAH. Last week we had many parents parking in this space, making it very difficult for staff to complete afternoon duties. It also increases risk of injury to have students moving in this area where cars are reversing. Parents are able to park in our Prep carpark if training is after 4:00pm, however, if it is earlier we ask that you park in one of the nearby street parks to assist us in keeping all our children safe.

WET WEATHER – Just a reminder to ensure your children have a raincoat, or one of our Faith showerproof jackets to help keep them dry, in their school bag. On our wet mornings before school, students will place bags down and head to the library until 8:10am. At 8:10am our classrooms will open, just as they do on connections morning, for our students to have some indoor play together until the day starts.

LET’S LOVE READING TOGETHER!

Our students are already enjoying our regular Drop Everything and Read Sessions during our school week, however, we would also love to support you fostering this incredibly important daily habit at home, for your students. Here are some tips to encourage this daily habit….


UNIFORM DAYS AND SPORTS TRAINING

Below is a whole school timetable of our uniform days in the Junior School. We hope that this quick table is a help for you to put on the fridge, especially for those families with children in multiple grades. A reminder that students must wear their formal hat to and from school on formal uniform day, whilst sport and bucket hats can be worn when playing at break times, the formal hat must still be worn to and from school.


If your child has sport training before school, and it is a formal uniform day, we ask that students get changed into their formal uniform at the end of training. If your child has sport training after school, and it is a formal uniform day, we ask that students get changed into their sport uniform after school before training commences. Students are expected to wear sport uniform for training sessions, not plain clothes. This can be school sports shorts with house shirt or tri colour shirt, or their team playing uniform if the coach has advised that this is ok. Thank you for your support of this to ensure our students continue to wear the correct uniform on the correct day.

UPCOMING EVENTS

JUNIOR SCHOOL PARENT INFORMATION NIGHT – ONLINE

This event is happening on Wednesday afternoon commencing at 4:00pm. An email was sent home to all families with a timetable of sessions for the evening and links to access the presentations. You can also access a copy of this timetable by clicking here: http://flcrjs.weebly.com/community-times--faith.html

MICHELLE MITCHELL

Parents of students in Years 5 – 7 are invited to join Michelle Mitchell on Zoom - Tuesday 22 February at 6:00pm. This will be a wonderful and informative evening for all our families. If you need to access the zoom link to join click here: http://flcrjs.weebly.com/community-times--faith.html

NUT AND SEED ALLERGIES

We currently have students on our campus with severe allergies to certain triggers eg. Nuts, seeds. These allergic reactions are extremely serious and can be life threatening in some circumstances.

For some of these children, even inhaling the smallest particle, or touching an area that has been in contact with these foods, is enough to trigger a severe reaction. Therefore, we are asking parents for their support in limiting these foods in their child’s lunchbox.

It is our responsibility to minimise the risk of harm to all children and in this instance we really do need the co-operation of our parents. The types of food which are of particular concern are cashews, tree nuts and seeds. However, we are asking that any foods containing nuts or nut products be avoided whenever possible.

We would greatly appreciate your understanding and support in this matter. Further information may be found at www.allergy.org.au.

Jodi Blackwell
Head of Junior School